Hunting - Test Run

Tokotas: Karenina 3236, Cyrano 3957, Coraline 2317 & Lolita 5015
Handlers: Ahnah and Eska
Wordcount: 1271

With the advent of dire days beyond them, and Cora under Eska’s care for the time being while Crusoe was being trained by Nika, the two cousins met up regularly to exchange information from the city to the tribes, as Ahnah’s path frequently crossed Issorartuyok’s campgrounds. Ahnah and Karenina were beginning to gear up toward the near future expedition of completing Karenina’s rites and Ahnah was eager to make sure that her other tokotas were well exercised and their training wouldn’t suffer. She decided to give a test run to allowing Eska to maintain Cy while she was away, as the male’s mother belonged to the tribe, and he would be able to spend a lot of time among his siblings, being more efficient at his wild traits. Lolita might join him, but that still was up for debate.

Ahnah and Eska traveled astride their respective animals. Ahnah keeping hold of Nina’s reins while Eska sat atop Cyrano, learning the tokota’s movements. Cora was already well-used to Eska and had allowed others to work with her, but her hunting instincts were key in this case. Lola, a proven sight-animal, was taking the lead again, even though she held the lowest ranking among them. The youthful greying halfmane bounded ahead, sniffing and seeking the scent of their quarry. The high mountains were a place for finding ample bounty, even though they could be treacherous, as Eska had learned not long ago. The grey female seamlessly blended into the background, her coat complementing these steep thresholds and and Ahnah called them to a halt as she waited for the young female to make a few rounds.

The winds whipped their hoods and furs, swirling around them with cold, brisk force. No snow had yet fallen, but the sky seemed to swell and darken, threatening an oncoming storm in not too long of time. Ahnah and Eska exchanged a quiet, comfortable silence as they waited. Cora had not followed Lolita quite so far herself. Karenina’s motherly instincts had not entirely disappeared, and she whimpered softly as the minutes passed. Ahnah glanced at her watch, and decided to wait another five minutes before trying to go after her.

A chirp from Lola broke the silence, followed by the chuff from the mother, and Ahnah took the signal as a positive discovery, the team of tokotas surging forward toward Lola’s point. As they climbed, the wind flew in their faces, Karenina’s massive mane billowing compared to the relatively less cumbersome manes of the halfies. A ways down the hill, the white furred bodies of the mountain goats speckled the rocks. This was a larger herd than Ahnah had seen before, and as they nimbly moved between the rocks, Cyrano and Coraline selected their respective targets. Lola’s golden eyes gleamed in excitement, as Eska gave her verbal praise for her work finding their prey.

The cousins dismounted from their seats atop the tokotas, Ahnah leaving on Karenina’s halter, while Eska removed Cyrano’s, the younger male more bothered by the halter than Nina. Karenina’s age and status gave her position at the head of them all, though Coraline stood beside the matriarch with equal resolve. The four tokotas surveyed the situation before the older halfmanes hurried uphill further, and mother and daughter made their way downwind, moving down the hill, sideways, to cut off their retreat.

Ahnah and Eska trailed behind the stalking tokotas, Eska following Cora and Cyrano while Ahnah followed Nina and the dam’s daughter. Both human handlers stood a ways behind the hunters, watching carefully so as not to disrupt the progress of their movements, watching carefully guarded.

Cora and Cy stalked their way around the ledge, until they were almost directly above the goats. The female and male were equally built, both large and strong, two sets of blue piercing eyes watching the quarry with a guarded expression, as the goats continued their journey, munching on the dry, dying grasses and bushes as they balanced precariously.

The brown and tundra carefully surveyed the the situation, and prepared to make their way down to the goats. Eska watched as they began to make their move, leaping silently down the hill toward the nearest of the goats, facing away from them. Only a few moments before they reached the prey, the animals saw the shadow of death and began to flee in terror, bleating out to their fellows to head for safety.

The few in the back moved first, sprinting away from the hunters, their thin legs carrying them up the spires and turrets of stone as the other fell in line, ambling after them in like fashion. Coraline and Cyrano looked as buffoons following, their usually graceful gaits compromised by the rough terrain and steep incline. Cora’s powerful haunches brought her within the killzone for one, and she leapt forward, her jaws ready to close in on the smaller animal’s neck as it barely evaded her gaping maw. Cyrano struggled to catch up to his target, as they began to flood away from them, toward where the mother and pup lay in wait for them.

The first of the goats passed by without incidence, leaping over the heads of the crouching tokotas before either party had a clue what had just happened. Lola jumped up, surprised and perked her eyes toward the oncoming onslaught of bleating masses. Using the weight of her body she felled the smaller animals that collided with her, though the impacts continuously began to wear her down. Nina kept an eye on them and moved with more strategy, her aim more true and her balance more capable. She leapt into the air and caught the larger bucks with her teeth, though many escaped her grasp, she was able to cause most dire wounds to one that Ahnah expected she could find it not far from their path.

It wasn’t too long before the halfmane pair caught up with Ahnah and her two tokotas, they came to a slow, panting heavily, as Lola raced after the stragglers that had limped away from the scene, bounding to the nearest one and ripping into it with voracious excitement. Ahnah sighed, knowing that the animal’s pelt was ruined by the pup’s exuberance, but hoped she’d be able to at least salvage the horns.

Eska strolled up a few minutes later, having tagged the goats that had already been badly injured or killed by Cora and Cyrano. A wry grin on his face told Ahnah that they had some work to do in training these hunters.

“They’ve got the killing part down,” Eska smiled. “But not all of ‘em are good at keeping the pelts clean. Nina should show them how it’s done!” Eska laughed , pointing at Lola feasting away at her own smaller kill. “She might even eat those horns if you let her!”

Ahnah grumbled to herself, but her true feelings couldn’t be dampened. Eska seemed to handle himself well enough with Cy and she wasn’t worried about Lola being an overbearing handful. If anything, the presence of more sled-trained tokotas could be a benefit for the tribe, as the winter was drawing even closer, and more firepower would be needed to bring in resources, especially if said animals wouldn’t be consuming said resources. It would have to suffice since she knew she couldn't leave Nika with so many mouths to feed and care fore while she traveled the wilderness alone with Karenina.