The Sunspire XXVI

@Avicus for visibility but aw!

the cold was bitter. and yet it hardly pierced through the thickness of augur's winterpelt.

her track had led into the marshes and mingled with cold blood. after that, and somehow, the young killer had made it into the shadow of the mountains.

it was here that the hunt-leader scoured for her step. and with each of them he moved further from the rise with a confident and seeking gait.

Here was a man with a purpose.

She watched him move with confidence, where she moved with a nimbleness. A shadow stalker alongside the mountains to the ice giant.

She crooned a low note to him, a brow pitched high above pale eyes.

What did he hunt for?

augur had never known why he chose the name of a bird for a strange woman.

but this one was jackdaw, from the dark wings of her fur to the glitter of her eyes.

and she did not speak in the words of others.

augur thrust closer so that she might search his pelt for the thick scent of the rise. and then; white fur, twined where he had hunted the killing girl.

her, he seethed in a roil to jackdaw.

She gave him a prize.

She smelled the scents of the Rise, caked thickest upon him first. The scent of health and numbers. Then she was awarded another piece. Something else, something distinctly not his carried cologne.

Yet here was an in, a way to find something out. Perhaps she would not be cold all winter away from Akashingo.

Her shoulders hunched, tail lashed, a rumbled note. She could follow him, if he needed it.

augur was not ready to trust.

but he was not ready to turn away help. the wolf of this fur must be found. and then his wolves would come, the hunters of the rise, and they would kill her together.

he turned away, sniffing for a spot of blood that might indicate where the girl had gone.

based this off of his next thread location! :)

He did not shun her and Jakoul saw the way to gain knowledge here.

Even if not of a pack, she would see what conflict plagued those around them. For this was not so far from Akashingo to be written off.

He went to work and she followed. Nimble, snuffling along the earth. The ways of old settled well into her.

She offered an alert sound and motioned northward from where they stood. Beyond the flush valley below their height. She had feeling it would be most promising — and further from Akashingo.

how a wounded creature had fled so far and so fast he did not know.

the shadow trailed.

he let her lead him downward, for the trail had ended where he saw. but he was not so quick to move away, turning in tight circles with snuffling sounds.

can be a fade! i know this is an important progress thread :D

They would move as one it seemed.

Along snowed slopes and down sharp trails. Jackdaw was not made to stay for the whole journey he would make. Nor did she wish to.

She would be needed elsewhere and once the man seemed content again, she'd be off. Cutting through stone and snow alone.