Hunters and Prey

Writers: Avery, Miriah, Suzee
Date Posted: 24th July 2014

Characters: Karhal, Corran, Tafar (NPC)
Description: Trackers find remains of their prey.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 7, day 24 of Turn 7

Karhal

The canine that he had chosen to mate Livie to was not as good as his
own canine, but Karhal had enough confidence in his tracking ability
to take him along. Settling on his runner, he looked at the two men
beside him. "We'll start at the cave. My father tracked him for a mile
north of the cave before he went to water. We'll go through the creek
and search for his trail."

Karhal knew the chances of finding anything this late were slim, but
the Harper had been more sly than they had imagined. Sheer
determination to catch the man drove him. "Search every nook and
cranny. We'll go slow and steady. Leave nothing unturned."

Tafar nodded. He knew this was personal with the Captain but he also
had hopes of actually finding something to tell them where the Harper
might have gone. He was a practiced back woods tracker and knew the
challenges of locating any kind of spoor after so much time and snow.
But, he would do his best both for the Captain and for the Lady.

"With the temperature as it has been, he couldn't have stayed in the
water for too long, right?" Corran asked Tafar. The weather had been
nasty, with some blizzards, and wouldn't the water have been cold?

Karhal nudged his runner into a fast walk. "No, he couldn't have. But
he was on a runner and he was rushing. With luck he'll have left an
trail from the creek to whatever direction he was headed. Lets not
waste time." Perhaps a bit abrupt, but Karhal was not in the mood for
chat. He dug his heels in and his runner took off at a quick gallop
headed for the cave.

Tafar trailed the Captain until they got to the stream then he
dismounted and told the others to stay on the near side. It was frozen
most of the way across so he crossed carefully and then crouched down
to examine the far bank. He moved first slightly up stream and it was
natural to cross and move down stream and he'd probably would have
gone upstream just to throw off any trackers himself.

It didn't surprise him when he found hoof prints in the stream bank
frozen in perfect condition. "Captain," he called. "Over here."

On his runner, Karhal crossed the creek, the mare moving with steady
feet. When they reached Tafar, Karhal dismounted to crouch to check
the print. He tilted his head, checking the depth of the print and the
spacing. "He crossed at a gallop looks like." He frowned and noted the
direction that the runner was facing and his lips thinned. "There's
cotholds in that direction." He turned to Corran. "You know people out
that way, don't you?"

Tafar listened to the other guard for confirmation but at the same
time walked in the direction of the hooves to see if he could find
more tracks.

"I have cousins in that direction," Corran confirmed.

Karhal nodded slowly. "We'll start that way. Move carefully and
search. Check for blood stains on leaves and brush. He was wounded."

Tafar stayed along the edge of the stream as the others spread out. He
saw more prints and then finally some blood drops when he brused snow
away from a fallen log. But the prints turned. "This way," he called
to the others and headed into the woods.

Intensity grew in Karhal's face as he followed, now leading his runner
through the brush. Now that he was on the ground, he could see the
evidence of broken branches and frozen prints. Crolarin had definitely
come this way. His eyes spotted the blood and pride in Livie grew; she
had wounded him well. Was it too much to hope that the bastard had
bled out?

The tracker bent down to check for signs here and there and then he
spotted the tracks of a big feline. "Look here," he pointed to the paw
print. "Looks like he was being hunted."

Karhal looked and his face became grim. "Follow the blood." He nodded
to Corran and gestured him to follow. "I want this over with."

Tafar stayed on the tracks for some ways and they they came to the
base of a rocky incline where he lost the trail. He searched back and
forth along the angle they'd been traveling but there was just no
spoor. "I've lost the trail," his voice trailed off.

There wasn't anything along the side Corran was taking either. On the
other hand, if he remembered correctly... "There's a small building used
for shelter nearby," he said, pointing and beginning to head that way.
"Maybe there will be tracks over there?"

Moving carefully, Karhal walked in the direction Corran had indicated.
He entered the brush, leaving his runner behind. He was gone for not
quite a quarter of a candlemark before a shrill whistle split the air.

At his feet lay the mangled, bloody remains of a small runner.
Trundlebugs and other small insects covered the remains, but the onset
of rot had already began to permeate the air, despite the freezing
weather. Karhal grimaced as he looked at the ground around him. Dirt
was torn, dark congealed blood spattered the leaves and froze into the
ground.

Tafar came running and then squatted nearby scanning the ground around
the body. Then he looked up in to the trees and rocks. "Looks like a
large predator got 'em. Ate most of the runner." He shook his head.
Such a waste of a good runner.

"Not a good way to go." Corran winced. He looked at the others and at
the ground. "Without a runner, and wounded, how far could he have
gotten?" There were a couple small caves not far from the clearing.

"Depends on if he got any help." Karhal crouched to examine the body
of the runner. "With it being so frozen, I can't tell how long its
been dead. He's got a good head start on us. Sevendays. He could be
long gone from the area." He exhaled. "But there's been thread since
then, he was bleeding badly and word has gotten out. I don't know if
anyone would have helped him get away. " He rose to his feet. "Spread
out. Look for any trail he might have left."

It wasn't too long before they picked up the trail again and it led
into a cave system just as Corran predicted. The odor alone led them
to the remains. "Oooof," he said with a scrunched face. "Harper robes
alright, he said lifting up a familiarly colored scrap of cloth
liberally splashed with gore." The hair was the color he remembered as
well.

Karhal stared down at the body without expression, but his knuckles
cracked as his fists clenched. Carefully nudging the body with his
boot, he looked at the remains with a critical eye. It had been
savaged by wild beasts, perhaps even the large feline that had been
following him. His eyes flicked to the scrap of cloth and narrowed,
back down to the body. "Good riddance. Tafar, get the tarp from the
back of my runner, if you would. We'll wrap him up and cart his
carcass back to Zathris. He'll want to see this for himself."

"Yes sir," he said and trotted out to where the runners were tethered
and grabbed the tarp. He threw it down over the body and together they
rolled it up and whipped ties around the ends.

"I hope it hurt," Corran muttered, one hand over his nose. He'd seen
the dead before, but not at this level of rot.

The runners would not allow the body to be placed behind the rider,
they were too unsettled by the smell of rot and death. Karhal ended up
tying the tarp with a long rope to his saddle. They would drag the
body back. Crolarin didn't deserve any consideration as far as he was
concerned. He mounted and nodded to the pair with him. "Lets go home."

Last updated on the July 26th 2014

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