The Preserve, Wednesday Evening
Firekeeper and Blind Seer
Graduation had come and gone, and soon familiar faces would be leaving, to be replaced with new ones. Firekeeper found herself unreasonably melancholy at the prospect, more so than any of the impending new student arrivals she'd faced yet.
Which was why she was out in the preserve with Blind Seer, bow strung and ready. A hunt would hopefully clear her mind of those unwolfish thoughts.
The leaves rustled in the breeze. It was quiet. The forest laid calm and peaceful under the night sky.
And then the leaves rustled again. A little further down the line.
A squirrel chittered nervously and flitted further into the forest.
Firekeeper and Blind Seer
Blind Seer's nose twitched, and he turned to face the direction the rustling had come from.
Rabbit? Firekeeper asked hopefully.
No, Blind Seer replied. Something else, unfamiliar.
Firekeeper's pulse quickened at the thought of a challenge greater than a rabbit, and she grinned at Blind Seer. His tail twitched in acknowledgement and he bounded forward. Firekeeper followed, her own two legs not as swift as his four, but fast enough, especially with the promise of a good hunt to spur them on.
The rustling was louder the fourth time around; it sent birds fluttering away quickly into the darkness.
It was quickly followed by the sound of large paws hitting the ground. Something big and heavy-- a large stick snapped apart under its weight.
Firekeeper & Blind Seer
Big and heavy did not bother this pair. In fact, it did not so much as cause a moment's hesitation. Onward they went, hoping to catch up with the source of the rustling.
Beast
The rustling gave way suddenly to silence.
And then the silence gave way to an unearthly noise, a growl mangled into a hiss. A tree creaked-- and then it appeared, shooting out of the bushes a hundred feet ahead.
It had a serpent's head and a leopard's body, and it was large enough that it could have swallowed a cow without much difficulty. And it was headed, inexorably, towards them.
Firekeeper & Blind Seer
Maimalodalu! the exclamation from Firekeeper was part disappointment, part... concern was perhaps not strong enough a word. Worry? A proper maimalodalu would recognize their- or at least Blind Seer's- status as Royal Beasts, and would approach them as an intelligent creature. Blind Seer crouched, snarling and ready to leap at the creature, as Firekeeper pulled back her bowstring and loosed an arrow, aiming slightly above the creature's head. The first shot was a warning, made in the hopes that if this were a creature capable of rational thought, that it could be shocked back into doing so.
Beast
The creature's head lowered closer to the ground, increasing the distance between its skin and the arrow. It showed no interest in stopping: if anything else, it sped up, snarling and puffing. Fifty feet now - no, forty.
Firekeeper
Well, in that case, it would find another arrow sailing its way, this time not intended to sail wide of the creature.
Beast
It was a clever beast, and fast: and durable. It could be that the arrow struck, and simply did not leave a mark - it could also have been that it dodged free of it.
With another ghastly screech it thundered towards her. Then veered off to her left, sudden as anything, and dove into the bushes with its tail flicking behind it.
Firekeeper & Blind Seer
There were two options here; pursue the creature back into the forest, or leave it be. Firekeeper expressed as much in the glance she exchanged with Blind Seer, and it was then that she remembered a conversation she'd had with Arthur not too long ago, after the strange fog. He'd mentioned a creature whose description had matched what they'd encountered tonight.
Perhaps it would be best to let him know of its presence, Blind Seer suggested.
Firekeeper nodded, glancing skyward and noting the position of the moon. At sunrise, then, she agreed. A few hours will make little difference in the larger scheme of things.
[ooc: preplayed with the fabulous bitch_prince, who is usually much better looking. NFI, NFB, No Purchase Necessary, Offer Void Where Prohibited.]