Tracking Shadows (Castien & Nocme)

Once more, he was out here in the woods…though perhaps that was not the best way to phrase it, Castien was more often than not somewhere in the wild woods rather than the Elven cities. It was his duty to do so as a Ranger, and…it was one he fully enjoyed.

Swift, his light steps taking him through the branches of the tall, thick trees, he moved the distance, sharp eyes on guard for any sign that may spell trouble, however minor, to his kin. It was not him, however, that spotted the trouble first, though he began to sense something amiss from the absence of bird song, the chatter of animal life around him.

A sharp cry from above, the flutter of a quick wind as his winged companion came closer, then maneuvered swiftly past trees, showing him a path. Castien quickly followed the falcon, beginning his descent from high up so that when he reached the scene, he landed lightly, eyes narrowed on the dead deer.

It was a male, and had been killed maliciously, its neck snapped, the body torn horrendously and left...to die. ‘This is no creature seeking nourishment.’ Something was amiss in this part of the woods, and the animals’ silence screamed it out plainly.

Castien knelt by the deer’s head, speaking a short prayer before he straightened, whistling as he looked up past the trees. A screech answered his whistle, a sign the falcon was ready. ‘We hunt.’ Castien thought.

This is not the first time they screw up. They just refuse to keep count of all of it. Besides if they do, Nocme will insist that almost all of it was caused by Dace.

“YES IT’S YOUR FAULT WHAT PART OF OPENING THE CAGE WAS A GOOD IDEA?” Nocme whisper scream to her companion who just make laughing noise on her shoulder. Still far too amuse that they let a seemingly peaceful creature and it turned out that the little cute thing has been experimented upon and are super aggressive. Dace literally is not regretful of his decision at all.

To be fair even she thought the creature was cute, despite the warning of the trader that the creature was taken in as a debt collection from a witchdoctor and can be aggressive or mildly deadly. Neither of them believed them and she did feed it an extra carrot through the cage. Just to help ease its discomfort, no one likes to be in cages surely.

Dace was on the same wavelength. Unfortunately he thought it was a good idea to open the cage. Now they have a race to find the creature and bring it back unharmed before the man noticed.

Suddenly Nocme stopped in her track, even Dace become on heightened alert.

Blood. Lots of it.

They could smell it and also a whistling and screeching. There is a hunting party here.

She doesn’t know whether its from the creature or not but either way they really have to find the little critter. Or else they just won’t get paid this time. Dace crowed urgently and Nocme immediately bolted up a tree, carefully trying not to disturb the leaves to draw any attentions. They don’t know what tribe the hunting party come from and frankly she want to avoid her old village as much as possible.

Castien once more raced through the trees, his companion keeping a look out from the sky while he sought out tracks and disturbed greenery from the thick branches, the elven ranger slowed his pace, pausing to scan the ground beneath him. He could see it; tracks made by disturbing the forest floor all too obviously, as if the creature did not belong in this forest and didn’t know how to move about it, Castien believed it.

Bushes were torn and he could see where the animals had scurried away, those who could, into hiding, and those who couldn’t…well, Castien sighted as he neared another dead animal. The same for the deer; killed for sport. He was already displeased with their unwelcome guest, now…he was coming close to anger.

Castien moved away from the dead animals, speeding up, now moving through the forest floor in search of the culprit, until he heard a voice in the distance. Careful not to make a sound, he climbed the trees and continued forward cautiously, pulling his bow forward and readying an arrow just in case.

What met his gaze was the figure of one of his kind having some sort of whispered discussion, but more than that, there was a cage at her feet, and it gave Castien a bad feeling.  He was very good at keeping quiet, but soon enough she became aware of a presence and began to climb the tree with a subtlety he expected. Castien straightened, giving a sharp whistle to notify her of his presence.

“I have questions you might be able to answer,’ he called, projecting his voice. “Where is the creature from the cage, and is it the one killing the animals that call this forest home?”

Castien didn’t intent to attack, but neither did he drop his guard or the projectile aimed at the other.

She know these area, she used to hunt in the place long ago. However as she returned to her old hunting ground she made an effort to hid herself and her appearance from strangers – also known as everyone else. Only Dace dared to pull on her hood and make her show her face. Sometime its for fun, most time its because Nocme is missing details because she covered her ears in her hood. If it wasn’t for him she probably would not have heard the hunter’s approach and be quick enough to hid herself in foliage.

From up in the tree, she could see the other person easily and the raised weapon. Nocme may have thrown away her bows in favor of faster and surer dagger stab, but she never forgot the glint of the arrow head and the way it catches in the sun. She made no movement or sound in her hiding place, holding her breath. Only Dace gently flew off to another branch, his red eye unwavering at the archer. He knew how easy it was for him to dodge that arrow and he trust Nocme to throw up a wind if things gets tricky.

They however knew hiding was pointless. The hunter already knew where they are, but they have no answers for them. For all they knew they just accidentally released an experimented creature. It could be the one getting hunted by the one doing the killing, it could be that the little one manage to kill or even that the archer pointing their arrow at them is the poacher she was warned about.

Nocme don’t have much time to think about it. The silence between them was broken by a beastly shriek echoing in the distance and the soft quake they could feel underneath their feet. Fingers and talons crossed that it was not their creature that did that. It is just a white bunny after all.

Once his questions were voiced, Castien fell into silence, waiting for the other to either offer an explanation, or to make a move. The answer however, came from another direction in the form of a shriek. His gaze flickered in its direction before returning to the silent figure, but Castien had little time to spare them now. He loosened his bow, returning the arrow to its quiver while he held on to the bow.

“If you have no business with whatever is spreading this death, I suggest you make yourself sparse,’ he called to the other elf. “Lest you find yourself a victim.” He leapt from his current perch to another branch and hurried through the forest, following the path of the sound, hoping to stop the creature from taking another life.

It wasn’t to be. Castien reached the site in time to see the brown bear take its last breath, already lying on the floor, and greenery to Castien's right shaking as the creature passed through it, its passage quicker than it should have been for a creature a size that could so easily overpower a bear.

The ranger made a quick movement with his hand, and a swift shadow answered, Zephyr racing ahead, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature even as Castien followed, determined to catch it and bring it down.

Only when the bow is lowered and away did Nocme dare to move. She instantly go for the source of the shriek, hoping against all hope that what was killed wasn’t her creature. Dace was faster in reaction time. Instantly flying off following the sound of the shriek, he didn’t stop the check the bear’s corpse. That becomes Nocme’s job.

She ignored the other elf for now as she knelt down next to the bear. Their throat is torn out, bleeding out too fast to be saved. There are very little signs of struggle for the bear, not even indication around that shows the bear put up much of a fight. In fact the only other injuries he could see were scratch marks around the neck area and a bit of blood on the bear’s claw. As if they were clawing something off of them.

Dace meanwhile know another bird is nearby and made a warning screech. Telling it to leave, the critter might be theirs and they must not let any harm come to it. They wanted to eat tonight!

However before he could think of more ways to chase the other bird off, he has to dash to a nearby tree immediately. There was a white flash that went past. If he had stayed in the same path, the thing would have knocked him down to the floor. Dace crowed again, this time warning the other bird for the other animal. He wasn’t sure where that white flash went, and also hopes that Nocme could catch up soon.

Castien was not surprised when the other elf followed, but when she did, Castien had already said a prayer to the departing bear's soul and was already racing away, nimbly avoiding large thick bushes and following in the wake of the creature's path. The shriek made his step slow, but only for a second. It wasn't his Zephyr, but Castien knew his companion could take care of himself.

The next shriek was another from the other elf's companion, and although different from the falcon, Castien could tell it was a warning. Castien grabbed the lower branch of a tree, pulled himself up and began to climb before a quick jump set him on a branch thick enough to support him. He ran it, jumping onto another and raced through branches, focusing on the white flash even as Zephyr dove down, slashing at the creature.

Castien gave a sharp whistle, warning the falcon to pull back. Zephyr did, his flight seeming almost reluctant as he climbed back up, giving a shriek of warning, another to pin point the creature’s current location once he was higher up.

Castien pulled an arrow forward, slowing as he aimed, stopped as he locked onto the creature and pulled back the string of the bow, waiting for it to slow before letting his arrow fly.

It was fortunate the bird pulled up at the last minute. The critter turned at the last second and there was a gleam of sharpened fang and a iron smell. Before the white fluff drop down on the floor for all to see, it caught the arrow and snap it in its little jaws. Yes it is the bunny that Nocme and Dace were supposed to take care of. Not sure how the sharpened teeth and the tendrils coming out of its mouth were part of the contract. If the bird did not pull up in time they would have been broken to pieces.

Dace screeched out, hurrying Nocme to the same location. She unfortunately only saw the broken arrow and white rabbit standing in the clearing. More than a little annoyed she turned to the other elf up on the tree, “did you just shoot a rabbit? We need this one alive. I thought you don’t kill for fun-”

She couldn’t really finish her sentence before Dace screeched again. Her reflex and years of spending time with the Xavar made her move without much thought to get away from the rabbit’s attack. It’s teeth sink into the tree trunk behind her and it easily tore out a decent amount of wood. It’s red and black eyes just showed blood crazed frenzy that was a far cry from what they were looking at this morning. It hissed once before dashing into the bush again with lightening speed. Dace did not hesitate to follow suite.

“Okay yeah never mind... We don’t get paid enough for this shit...” Nocme grumbled and took out a small knife. She looked around her area to see where it could run and what she could use to get the thing back into its cage again. Injury free she can’t guarantee no more. Without much words to the other elf she chase after the bird and the white rabbit that she was TOLD to be HARMLESS