Out on a Limb

The pungent sting of the scent of goat stung at Apex’s nostrils. Anticipation, joy, and apprehension mingled and twisted together in her head as she caught the scent. Goat certainly wasn’t her favourite - but she was hungry. In spite of often being the one that went out to get food for the pack, she usually let others eat before her. The well-being of her pack was more important than how she felt. So long as she was relatively healthy, she would always provide for her comrades. Plus - her legs were twitching whenever she tried to rest as of late. Nightmares of fire and burning cities haunted her sleep. It helped to put their incessant urges to run to good use chasing down potential prey.

The five of them - Apex, Bestiarius, Varla, Nekhet, and Calliope - had set out on a somewhat grim mission: to find a new potential place for the Skullites to live. Unfortunately for them, they lost their nerve halfway through the wide expanse of plains to the south. Apex and Bestiarius, as much as they hated to admit it, dreaded the thought of leaving their home. To Apex, it held the only memories of her parents that she ever had. To Bestiarius, it represented his freedom and his long-sought-after safety from the Winterkills. To both of them, it was a home. Both of them found their noses and minds eager to chase the first whiff of prey they caught. It happened to be the bitter-sweet scent of mountain goat, straying down to the lake for a drink. With only a mere moment’s worth of second thoughts, they charged after it.

It was only after they had been running after it for twenty minutes did they realize that there was another scent coming to them from across the way, carried long by gusts of wind - that of another tokota and an upwalker. By the smell of it, the upwalker was a feathered creature - not unusual, but it had been a while since they had seen an upwalker with them. The last time was the raid - the time before that was too distant to immediately recall. Apex was feeling braizen. She decided to continue leading them towards their quarry, knowing full-well that it could mean a scuffle with a scarecrow or a rival pack. She found comfort in the fact that there was only two of them, but more could always be nearby. They would not back down if it came to a brawl. She and Bestiarius were too eager to avoid their problems to stop themselves from running face-first into distractions.

As they approached, the scent of goat and the scent of tokota grew stronger at approximately the same pace. The simple explanation was that the tokota and its handler were also tracking the same group of goats. Apex snorted with frustration, hot steam spewing from her glistening black nose. There was no way that the Skullites and company would be able to get to the hooved creatures first if the strangers had already been tracking them. It was impossible to tell from a whiff how long the interlopers had followed the goats, but there was a good chance they had been doing so for the better part of an hour. One thing that Apex refused to do was to steal kills. She had never had to do it, not even in the most dire of times - and she didn’t plan to. The thought repulsed her. If the strangers had already gotten ahold of their target, they would have to walk away.

The group briefly entered a dense patch of trees, but came to a stop when they heard the scratching of claws on rock. It scraped softly but firmly, bouncing off the trees and filtering through like water around rocks. The five of them looked onwards in concern, gingerly approaching what appeared to be massive black silhouettes beyond the wood. Nekhet shot Varla a glance full of worry, but Varla nodded back comfortingly. They were all together - even if it was a dire, they would likely be able to fend it off. As gruff and curt as both of the Skullites leading the hunting party could be, they cared deeply for those who followed them into battle. Varla knew this well - and Nekhet, too, would learn this in time. Keeping their breath steady and their paws quiet, they crept up on the figures low and slow. Apex narrowed her eyes as they adjusted to the abrupt change in light and the silhouettes became clearer.

It was impossible not to look at the handler first. When Apex first laid her eyes on him, she couldn’t help but flutter her eyes. She thought she must have been hallucinating. He was the brightest red she had ever seen, his feathers brighter and more scarlet than any flesh or spilled blood she had ever laid her eyes on before. His long, clawed fingers were as green as the grass in storybooks, his arms the yellow of dandelions. Blue feathers draped elegantly down from his underarm. A long, stiff, purple tail ran rigid from his lower back, the thick feathers ruffling gently in the breeze. His legs, on the other hand, ended in black feet with wickedly sharp silver claws - a strong contrast from the rest of his vibrant body. Atop his head waved an orange crest. He wore some sort of black shirt with jeans much like Chewtoy’s.

His accompanying tokota was much more blended in than he was. Her entire body was varying shades of white, with patches of black along her muzzle, tail, ears, and toes - with a smear of it on her shoulder blades as well. Her aquatic blue eyes were focused at the top of a barely-standing, rotted away tree, her dark gray nails dragging along its withering trunk. Without warning, she bolted back into the woods and launched herself at the tree. Panicked bleating filled the air, but the tree wouldn’t budge. It was strong in spite of its appearance.

Apex saw this as an opportunity. Slowly and purposefully, she nosed her way through the remainder of the thicket and set foot into the clearing. The unknown tokota whipped her head to face Apex, but it took the handler a moment to realize she was there. He jumped with a start. Valiance raised her head and puffed up her chest, walking towards Apex with a swagger. They locked eyes, but there was little tension. Neither of them seemed to have any intention of actually fighting with each other. Any thoughts that Valiance had of earning glory through battle were washed away swiftly as Bestiarius, Nekhet, and Varla crawled out of the underbrush. Calliope worked her way through as well, but she was far less intimidating.

“Oh, uh, hey!” Calliope chirped nervously. The stranger took a look at her and relaxed. “We’re not raiders or anything.”

“Ah, good!” The raptor’s shoulders and crest relaxed. “I can see that now. You startled us.”

“Sorry about that.” Calliope chuckled. “We were worried that you were, too! It looks like we’re just on the trail of the same prey.”

“Oh, the goats?” He asked, perking up a bit. He drummed his fingers on the bark of the rotten tree. “They somehow managed to get up in this tree. We’ve been trying to shake them free, but it’s surprisingly sturdy.”

His tokota scoffed and lashed her tail in frustration. She eyed up Apex and her group with suspicion and a general distaste at the thought of sharing. Her handler rolled his eyes and shushed her.

“Valiance, cut it out. It’s fine.” The upwalker shook his head. “Sharing is caring. Wouldn’t you rather have some of the food than none of the food?”

Valiance snorted and made her way back over to the tree, scoring deep lines into the soft outer bark. She grumbled something under her breath, but Apex couldn’t make it out. She decided that she would ignore it for the good of the hunt.

“I’m sure we can help with that!” Calliope nodded enthusiastically as she clasped her hands together. “Bestiarius is usually pretty good at taking down heavy things on his own, but with all of us, there’s no way the goats will be able to escape!”

The four tokotas joined Valiance at the foot of the tree. Nekhet gingerly stuck out a foot and pushed on it. It bent, but not much. The surface was somewhat spongey and made her scrunch up her nose in disgust. Varla bumped it with her nose briefly and did the same thing.

“It definitely reeks of goat.” She commented.

“It does. If we can get this down, we eat.” Bestiarius nodded. He turned to face Apex. “You might not be the best one for this job.”

Apex flicked her ear in annoyance. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, I’m small. I’ll stand back to chase after the first goats you shake loose - you all just throw yourself at the tree and try to get it to snap.”

Bestiarius blinked slowly and put his paw on the trunk. He felt around a bit, giving a firm shove to all sides and patches of the tree. Finally, he seemed satisfied with a particularly mossy portion just above his head. It gave away the most under his paw pads. Varla, Nekhet, and even Valiance all pawed at the spot curiously as he padded back towards the thicket to get a running start. Bestiarius’ paws thudded thunderously on the dirt as he charged and threw his body at the tree. The others barely managed to scramble out of the way before he collided mid-air with it.

A deafening crack split the air as the decaying tree toppled at his shoulder.