The Pair, The Pack (Training)

The huntsman looked into the crackling of the fire, a small fire bloomed from his campfire as strong winds blew outside the small cavern, he and the rabbit wolf had made shelter in for the night, she had now reached the size of near enough 3ft and was maturing well, within rough expectation that Vodarara had of how a wolf would grow though she was significantly bigger than most of the tundra rabbits Vodarara had seen, Her coat was a mottle of grey’s and white’s for Snow, Tundra camouflage though her ears were far taller and more perked than a wolf the insides of them moving from white to red depending on how hot she was, her tail however though mostly white had some streaks of red in it not ideal for hiding but such things were life.

Vodarara himself still mostly covered in furs though he had removed his top layer to let any light ice and snow buildup slowly work its way off as it melted, his secondary of platted fur coat remained on to help him maintain body temperature as the conditions led to cooler local temperatures, his hood back across his shoulders, the huntsmans silvery grey hair like ice, snow or lightning visible and if his eyes were to be seen they would be almost completely grey at this time, the huntsmans equipment lay methodically sat out around him with his pack in-front of him, a chunk of dried meat clasped in his hands as he ate away at it, thankfully the Imuchakk could produce such nice foods that survived long term with little mess and furs made good trades, Vodarara’s slightly chapped lips hid the majority of his teeth as he bit off chunks.

Breaking off a section of the meat, he through it to Shevika for her to eat, today hadn’t been a good hunt, the incoming weather had disturbed the wildlife and reduced opportunities to hunt, but like any day, the predator can’t always be successful.

…

Sometime later into the evening before Vodarara would rest as he set a number of alarm and wounding traps at the entrance of the cave, he was considering his objective in doing what he was planning, he planned to return to the area of forest where the pack, he had gained Shevika was from, though it was most likely for his own feeling of peace of mind to observe the balance currently there, he did somewhat plan to return the Rabbit Wolf to its Pack, though he wasn’t sure if such a re-introduction could be successful, Shevika was of course the runt of the pups anyway.

What would happen wasn’t something Vodarara could predict after all he was only human and foresight wasn’t one of his traits, after all he was just an ordinary man.

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WC: 469

It was before the sun broke the horizon, that Vodarara was up from his light rest, the huntsman didn’t sleep like others did, he slept with one eye open though with an animal like Shevika around it did mean that it made up for the reduced senses of a human with the senses of an animal.

Before the dawn light could break the sky, he would already be deep into the preparation for this new day, stoking and relighting what remained of the fire of the day before, this would help him regain some warmth though with his sleeping arrangements he kept a good percentage of his heat, it was a good way to help ones-self get the muscles warmed through before setting out in the morning, his companion however didn’t have such issues, she was adapted by a long line to this environment where as he was just himself, though Vodarara didn’t know how well other humans could deal with an environment such as this.

As Vodarara worked, he could observe the slight movements of Shevika’s Ears and Nose while the animal rested, the creature like many was always observing its surroundings likely had a map of the area generated in its memory and knew where he and anything else locally was but that was the strength of many predators and prey.

Equipment Maintenance in this environment was of critical importance, after all you couldn’t afford for it to fail on you, it could mean death be it by freeze or by beast.

The next necessity of any creature was hydration and sustenance, though Vodarara would use animal blood for the gaining of minerals when he had it fresh at this time, it would have to be melted snow, packing it in above small fire into a stone bowl, he would not drink from it in till it had boiled through, this was to avoid any risk of pestilence and disease from unboiled snow.

Once this had finished Vodarara poured a portion of the heated water into another stone bowl, this with its colder surface would help rapidly cool it and he placed the remaining water in the heated bowl to the side for the Shevika to lap once she was ready.

Adding a small addition of herbs to his cooling water, Vodarara consumed the mixture allowing its mildness to run through his body before he would break off part of his treated rations separating a chunk off that would act as Shevika’s morning meal before they set out on their travels and hunting.

Vodarara was eating his morning meal when he felt a shadow creep up behind him, as Shevika pounced on him from behind, Vodarara leaned forward as she put her mass onto his back, taking a grip of her fur as he rolled himself forward, rolling her onto her back in front of him.

This type of thing was one of Shevika’s many games as she teethed and practiced her hunting, Vodarara held some of his unconsumed rations still among his teeth, Shevika snapped her jaw at the hanging meat gripping on and creating a tug of war between Vodarara and herself, Vodarara rolled her sideways while rotating his head away to pull the ration away from her, a section broke away and at this time Shevika went to skitter away in her victory as she did so Vodarara gave her a quick backhand to the Hindside.

These were the challenges of raising a young one, though it was all the necessary duties of a pack head to train the young of their pack, though it was also their duty to teach judgement and respect, Vodarara still understood that Shevika was a wolf at heart and thus displaying any weakness could be a downfall for him.

But for now at least these games prepared the young for the challenges of the world ahead, but now dawn approached as Vodarara stepped out what remained of his fire and began the process of wrapping his fur hides around his body as he finished donning his vestments and stored the remaining morning water in a water skin and collected his stone bowls, traps and other pieces of equipment into his pack, the huntsman finally raised his face mask and hood.

He let a small growl to get the attention of Shevika and to call her to his side as they entered the darkness of the oncoming light of a new dawn of a new day.

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WC: 743

The morning air was bitter like it always was, though the huntsman’s skin and flesh was hardened to the cold temperatures of Imuchakk, it was still rather dark out and the temperature was at its lowest point of the day as the sun began to peak on the Horizon as if it was in the middle of nowhere.

It helped leaving just before sunrise as it meant the reduced risk of suffering from sudden sun-blind when leaving your nights shelter, it allowed your eyes and senses to slowly adjust to the environment as it crept towards day.

Vodarara’s boots crunched down into the newly laid snow that had fallen over the night before as Shevika made headway through the snow, bouncing from section of snow to another, so she could get a vantage over it, her tails flying up and down as she went, for now they would be on the move towards hunting grounds and their destination, it wouldn’t be possible to hunt around here after all it would be far too easy to be detected by prey.

Vodarara remained on a constant swivel searching his eyes over the landscape, he wouldn’t lower his hood in till he wanted to more thoroughly search the area using his ears as leaving them exposed for length periods of time always increased the risk of frost damage though it would take a significant length of time, this was a weakness of people like him in this environment, the Imuchakk could make use of all their senses to the maximum however at times like this Vodarara had to rely on eyesight and instinct, as his mask and hood dampened some scents and sounds.

Though this location was barren, it did at least aid in the reduction of risk of Vodarara himself being hunted, though he still had to maintain his range on grounds that would have fresh hunting, the forest lands, that he and Shevika were heading towards were the grounds where he had first taken the pup from, though he doubted the pack she came from still held the same power with the strength of the wolves that he had removed from that area to allow restructure and new growth to the animals in that area, though it had provided an interesting challenge and had given Vodarara a new scar that set a permeant memory of that location and event for him like the many others that he had, after all every mark had a memory.

…

Though the journey would be long Vodarara expected with the rough distance, he and Shevika were travelling, they would reach their destination by the late morning of the next day, with the clear horizons, Vodarara planned to build a snow hole to sleep out the night in, as he didn’t plan to pass near any of the alcoves that he had scattered throughout the landscape of Imuchakk.

As they travelled the occasional predatory bird would hover above, though they didn’t seem to spend long, at the very least it didn’t seem to be worth any of their while to attempt to hunt them down and they couldn’t locate any prey around them at least not at this time with the pair traveling in the region.

Once the sun reached its midday height, Vodarara let out a low level howl to call Shevika near, it was time to consume another meal to keep up energy for the day, the jerky meat helped raise the energy and a journey such as this was taxing, the travel meant that Vodarara was burning a good chunk of his rations due to the reduced stabilization of his ration production and the lack of hunting and gathering, with the growing animal with him, the consumption rate had also increased with her being a carnivorous predator, it meant that much of his meat was consumed, which led Vodarara to vary his diet further by consuming more ground root flora that he had gathered.

Once Shevika had closed, Vodarara had already dropped his hood and mask opening his senses completely to the environment, the huntsman retrieved their meals for this period, throwing a chunk of the meat to Shevika, after all any creature would get protective over its food, it was their lifeblood, he consumed a mixture of meat and ground root, Vodarara didn’t eat slowly it wasn’t worth burning much daylight, he and Shevika could digest on the move though before they started moving again they would hydrate.

Vodarara rationed a portion of one of his waterskins down his throat to quench his thirst, if it was necessary you could consume the snow but that in itself carried other risks, Vodarara would then approach Shevika, using the waterskins funnel like teat to run some of the water down her throat, though her systems were far more hardy for the consumption of snow, fresh clean water always served better.

It wasn’t long before they were on the move again, before the day got dark, Vodarara planned to hunt as their range closed on the forestation, the increased level of food types would once again increase the amount of prey stock, much like the mountains and rivers did.

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WC: 864

It was a good four hours later before Vodarara reached a location he was happy to hunt from, though they were still a fair distance, the terrain had begun to gradually have small outcrops and vegetation, though it was only the occasional outlying icy shrub, these were key to survival for many creatures such as rodents and small mammals that lived towards, in and around the forested regions of Imuchakk.

It was time to go for a hunt, it would take at a good few hours but one had to hunt careful, Vodarara let out a small command growl to order Shevika to move to his far right flank, by keeping their positions spread it reduced their chances of being spotted as well as they begun working their way up wind, by hunting into the wind it aided with disguising and hiding your scent, many animals made use of their sense of smell to detect predators.

Removing a bow string from one of his pouches, Vodarara begun stringing up his bow after all a hunter that uses the bow couldn’t always have it strung though rampaging unicorn horn was incredibly strong it wasn’t worth putting it under pointless pressure, which could thusly increase the time you spend repairing your equipment.

Locking the string into the top notch of the bow, Vodarara set the bow into the ground and began pulling the string tight down towards the lower notch of the bow, slowly generating a curvature to the bow, The string of the bow had to be tough it was made from the hair of the same creature that produced the horn.

The hunt began, stillness and observation was the key initially it Vodarara sat as still as a tree stump as Shevika lay into the snow off a short distance from Vodarara pushed down into it with her ears propped up into the air searching for sounds, slowly Vodarara’s eyes bounced across the landscape observing small locations on the ground, searching for movement at any of the burrows that scattered this area of the landscape within the light vegetation.

The target Vodarara searched for was a hare, that would act for a fresh meal as well as giving some blood for the gaining of minerals, Vodarara waited hours in this state waiting for the time as creatures emerged and returned to their burrows going in and out, The huntsman had to wait for the right time as they changed their distances from their burrow, he would only get one shot at this before they would become far too wary to make a successful hunt.

As his requirements were gradually met, Vodarara made a slow gradual movement of moving two fingers forwards on his right hand, as he did this Shevika slowly became crawling up low to the ground towards the Hare’s.

Shevika worked her way through the gradual changes in the terrain following a low path, circling around the creatures, Vodarara himself had already locked his eyes on his target waiting for Shevika to strike, like a quick flash Shevika rushed in to pursue the target she had set on as the animals began to scatter Vodarara himself would strike for his target.

Swiftly drawing an arrow from his hip hung quiver, the huntsman drew back the arrow and launched it airborn, its weight of its head brought it down with a thunk into the hare, into its flank towards its heart though he would still need to confirm that it had stopped moving.

Meanwhile, Shevika dashed in pursuit of a hare she had set her eyes on, dashing after it towards its burrow, Vodarara observed her movements as she pursued the hare though he could already tell she wouldn’t be successful in her pursuit, she had flushed them out too early and as the hare made it into its burrow, Shevika could only end up with a patch of hair in her mouth.

Vodarara reached the hare though it had stopped movement, Vodarara seized the shaft of the arrow and drove it further to make sure the animal would at least certainly be dead, this creature would suit for their evening meal, Vodarara called Shevika to his side as they headed further out though Vodarara observed that Shevika seemed rather down about her failure to capture her prey.

A few hours before sunset, Vodarara came to a halt finding a location that would be protected from the wind on a number of sides, this would be where he would set up his snow shelter for the night…

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758

Vodarara began his camp preparation setting a stake into a section of a piece of rock, from here he would hang the Hare, he had successfully hunted earlier by hanging up the animal it allowed Vodarara to drain outs its blood as such Vodarara set a bowl beneath the creature before he slit its arteries that passed through its throat, the blood of an animal would run down into the bowl gradually and then Vodarara would be able to store it in an external water skin, the cold temperatures would allow it to keep longer and then Vodarara could drink it as a ration on the move.

The next objective was preparation of an area for a campfire for the evening though he wanted to start it before night fall so he could cold camp through the night, to do this he began to clear down the snow until the bare ground below it was visible, clearing the snow it allowed him to make a base from some thicker branches of what he could muster from his fire and tinder supplies, though in this terrain it was limited.

The huntsman worked some dried plant fibres together on top of a thick chunk of wood, he carried in his pack, using a central pillar of wood a few inches long wrapping another alongside it using a thick hair based string he worked the horizontal piece backwards and forwards until a light smoke was produced by the tinder, as this started to occur the huntsman took it in hair blowing air slowly into it until it began to catch before introducing it to the small firewood pile.
Once the fire began to take, Vodarara would pack a stone bowl with snow and set it over the fire for it to melt down before he could consume it.

Vodarara’s second objective was preparation of his snow shelter, this would be constructed of a number of bones and a thick piece of hide, the bones would provide rigidity to the structure curving over between two points, the hide would help spread the weight of the snow across the bones, the shelter was just enough of a size that Vodarara could squeeze in with his pack and equipment with himself though Shevika would most likely have to sleep outside, though with this sheltered area and her fur she would be fine.

The reason Vodarara had set the water to melt down first was so that it could be consumed before he began cooking the Hare meat, the meat would be prepared and cooked after he had skinned the hare and was prepared into small blocks the meat cooked to a medium rare quality.

The night would close quickly with Vodarara working through his many tasks, the Hare and its blood ended up being their meal for that day and before it got dark Vodarara would head downwind from his camp and dig a pit, so that he could do his business before covering it up to avoid any wind change pulling any scents back.
They were nearly there and would arrive the next day.

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519

Before dawn break Vodarara and Shevika were ready to set out, having collected his equipment and the ashes left from the campfire of last night, after consuming another mornings worth of rations both Vodarara and Shevika headed out into the rising dawn.

The air was bitter, the exhaled air breathed from Vodarara’s mouth trying to quickly condense on his face mask that protected his lips from the bitter chill, over the morning it would cause his mask to become more crisp though giving it occasional movement in addition to lacquering it prevent it from freezing over on his face.

Shevika on the other hand was well adapted for this sort of environment, it was her home after all much like the Imuchakk.

By around the middle of the morning, they arrived at the outskirts of the forest, this forest was where Vodarara had hunted certain wolves of a certain pack, in the aim of stability for a mixture of the sake of the Imuchakk and the wildlife after the avalanches, he had found a rather interesting pup both wolf and rabbit features which was not normal in the very least, with the occurrences such as those towers that had appears out of nowhere creating calamity, it was something for him to observe.

Though in truth he never found anything he could work out that made the wolf pup that had now reached a fair size to be unnatural, maybe she was an odd mutation of sorts, though the huntsman couldn’t be sure, it was of sort Vodarara’s feelings that he should return the creature to the wild around the area her pack was originally.

Vodarara and Shevika would continue on into the woods, Vodarara took the front leading onwards, working from his memories of the hunt, after all he had a scar to tell the tale.

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306

The woodland areas of Imuchakk tended to be held by venerable trees, trees that had set their roots long ago, the pathways below them sometimes leading to some of the dens of beasts, wolves, wolverines, foxes and the like all lurking with the wilds of these forests away from the plains to raise their young.

It was here that Vodarara had first found the weird and unique rabbit-wolf, taking it from the den after he removed the venerable alpha’s from the pack, though in truth the huntsman should really have left the creature behind to see if it would live or die.

The fact she was something unique, something maybe with links to the towers that had risen twice in Imuchakk.

Vodarara’s eyes scanned among the tree lines, seeking out eyes glinting within the dim light or darkness under tree roots, memories were scars for the huntsman, some form of mark made a more vivid memory, each scar was something that most defiantly must be remember, for each scar could possibly have been the last.

It took several hours before the first of the scouting wolves made itself visible, though they had been following from much earlier, since he had first entered their territory it was more than likely that he was detected.

Vodarara shifted his body, dropping his right hand to the ground into a squatted posture locking his eyes onto the creature…




WC - 234

Vodarara had come to the decision that he had to reset the change, the mistake he had made, the huntsman could not be sure if the decision he made was that of simple human choice or the guidance of the world itself, though it would continue the curse of his lone wolf life.

The huntsman could always talk to the voices that come with the cold, in a sense he never felt truly alone there was always solace in ice.

The huntsman moved his body as he sent, Shevika forwards to inspect and sniff the Lupine Scout. Vodarara had planned with the intention that some of the scent of Shevika's bloodline would allow her to be understood as one of their own, though he would not remain to see.

The huntsman felt as if he had further died, it was an odd feeling an even deeper feeling of emptyness, before Shevika would even be able to look back the huntsman disappeared into the wilderness, into the silence of snow.

.....

It was sometime later that day, the huntsman heading for a cavern that he would use to rest and reflect, the sun set in a rather wonderful hue of colour its energy flushing across the open sky as the icy air nipped at the flesh through the huntsman's lesser clothed areas.

Vodarara felt a rather solemn reflection of the day, could he really live within and help sustain the balance, he was only human, he would one day die, though the Imuchakk lived in a balance with their lands and no one had taken interest in their land.

Nothing was eternal and one day his vigil would drop, he would become one with the earth.


.....


For Shevika, her interactions had started of rather neutrally. However, it would not last, she after all was far too different and fathered and mothered from another alpha, after they had been ended others took their place and their would be no place for Shevika.

The rabbit-wolf ran out from out from her true home, would only have one thing to track a scent and head away from her own family.

The wolf herself was still young, she had few options and little experience with the true elements of surviving alone, set to an objective the scent she tracked was that of a human.

....

Once the sun had set, the huntsman had found himself a shelter and build himself a campfire within. Propping himself on his pack as a seat, he stared into the fire, its flickering form though it was the same as every other fire he made though each had its own unique traits, it felt somewhat colder.

Maybe he had grown to used to having another creature around the fire, for both the safety and companionship. The huntsman removed some of his rations from his pack, though he would normally have no issues eating, he felt empty within.

The meat a fine dried and treated meal, the jerky like meat kept well in these conditions. It was well prepared by its maker and allowed the huntsman additional sustenance alongside his diet of roots, berries, meats. However, he could not bring himself to eat, he sat there empty in some sort of solace.

The huntsman had no origin, he had forged himself and had little to no memory of what his family or pack once was, he walked alone forsaking or becoming alone from any pairing or group he had, yet again it had left him.

The wind at the end of his shelter, changed though the sound traps did not trigger. Soon enough the sounds of the air passing the caves entrance began again, though the sound was muffled slightly and a few squarks soon began to register in his ears, the squarks of a young bird of prey.

The huntsman felt his food be pulled from his hands, a snout of an animal. When Vodarara heard the sound of the animal laying down, he put the effort in to raising his head.

Maybe it was luck, maybe it was fate, though Shevika had returned, she had brought a guest a young close to fledgling chick clumsily rocked forwards between her ears before it rolled down to the ground as it attempted to get towards the feed, that Shevika had recovered from the hunter.

Vodarara observed the two creatures, it was odd for a animal like Shevika to take on a creature like a bird, Vodarara almost had the urge to laugh though the cold somewhat restrained him. Vodarara scanned them all, maybe it was so bad in truth he had a pack.....

No, its wasn't his pack, he was no leader, he was just a Lone Wolf, in truth it was their pack. Three creatures without homes, The Man, The Wolf, The Bird. Vodarara had to realign what there pack was it was no longer his but there's.

(Training end) - 819 words