Have you ever sat down and just watched an ant colony? Observed how they moved. Watched them from an outsider's perspective? Stopping to actually see how they lived, wondering if perhaps you were also being observed by some larger force you were unaware of?
That was a good way to describe how Angel felt today. The sun was barely above the horization. The sky painted in purple and orange hues as the world woke up. But he wasn't ready to return to reality just yet. His conversation with Cherri being a little too awakening and real for him. So instead, he sat atop the tree branch, and watched the creatures below him.
The creatures they lived with were never really dangerous. Not unless you didn't know how to handle them. In fact they didn't even eat the animals, the only use for the hunters were to gather food that isn't meat related, or hunt animals for the materials they had on them. Fur, antlers etc. It was another way of life for them. The animal he was observing right now appeared to be something similar to a buck. Angel himself didn't know what bucks or deers were, but to humans if they seen these creatures. It was the first thing they would compare it too.
The buck-like creature had the body of one, sure. But it was larger than any animal that would be found in the human realm. It was probably 6 feet tall, taller than Angel. It would likely be far taller if it stood on its hooves. It had a very light and fine coat of hair that resembled the leaves of the trees around them. Its coat was brown, and its undercoat where its chest and belly were, was a dark green. It had several spots of green on its back and tail too. Its antlers were brown, long and pointed at the ends. They looked like branches. And its eyes, they were pure black with a speck of blue in the middle. Honestly the eyes were what freaked Angel out the most.
He continued to watch the buck, It jutted its snout out towards the sky. Its black nose twitched and its ears did too. Angel's ears perked as he heard the flap of wings and his eyes darted over to a bird landing on a branch not too far from him. The bird was around the size of Angel's hand. Its feathers were blue and the undercoat was white. But as it settled on the branch and twitched, shaking its feathers. Angel watched, unimpressed as its feathers changed colors, from blue to brown. Its undercoat from white to a lighter shade of brown. Its slitted pupils narrowed on the buck. Its head tilted this way and that as it examined the buck.
It spread its wings out, as the deer leaned its head down to nibble on a patch of berries close to the ground. The bird's head twitched and Angel stayed quiet, barely breathing.
It happened in a flash.
In a blink the bird was off the branch and soaring towards the deer. It spread its beak revealing an array of sharp rows of teeth. Angel didn't react. Staying stoic, observing. The bird hit its mark fast, biting down on the deer's neck. The buck roared its call loud and monstrous. Something inhuman. It groaned as the bird flapped quickly trying to stay on the deer. Its sharp teeth sank into its neck, blood oozing down its green coat. The deer charged towards a tree, knocking itself against it. Hitting the bird off. It flapped flying up. The deer turned quickly towards its target and the bird let out its own cry. It sounded like...like a thousand different animals screaming all at once, including the deer. It was so loud Angel covered his ears in pain. The two creatures stared each other down, and the bird charged again. The deer lay its head low, and Angel watched with bated breath.
The deer waited...the bird got closer...closer..closer..
The deer swung its head up at the last second, skewing the bird on its antlers.
Just like that the battle was over.
Angel sighed, watching the buck trying to get the dead bird of its antlers, blood dripping down and onto its coat.
Maybe the forest was safe for them. But then again, Angel had never gotten up close and personal with any animal out here. The parts of the woods his people were allowed to explore were always guarded and deemed safe. But nobody told the villagers, himself included about how scary it actually was out here. Or how it looked..at least.
Angel peered towards the sky, or what of it he could see. And he could tell at the very least by the orange to blue of that sky, that it was starting to get later and everyone would be waking up soon if they weren't already.
With a sigh, he stood and drew his bow. He aimed it square at the buck who had finally stopped moving. He steadily pulled the air back, the buck shuffling, Angel's ears twitched and he fired.
It hit its mark and the buck was down immediately with an arrow in his neck. Angel eyed the buck for a moment, eyes still open in shock, mouth agape and fresh blood seeping from the wound.
He frowned.
Quickly and like a bolt of lighting Angel leapt down the tree, descending from branch to branch until he landed on the ground. He was quick in his movements not intending to be down on the forest floor for long. He strided up to the bucks corpse. Angel looked at it for a moment, the color from its green fur was somewhat faded now, not as bright and vibrant. As if the very light in its soul had been snuffed out. Angel knelt down beside the bucks carcass. He frowned, raising his hand and resting it on the creature's snout.
"Post easui hi."
Angel withdrew his hand, and grabbed the rolled up bag on his back. He unraveled it quickly and took a rope to the buck. Tying its hooves together so it could fit more compactly. Then he laid the mat out, and rolled the deer onto it. It was still bleeding a lot naturally and the blood would probably seep through the bag.
Suddenly he stopped his movements, his long pointed ears twitched. He froze in place...
Snap
Went the sound of a twig far in the distance. Angel steadied his breathing.
Crunch...crunch...
Something was approaching.
Angel's ears moved with the directions of the sound...they drew closer...closer...closer...
He suddenly leapt high into the air and in the same movement had his bow drawn. Arrow ready at the fire. But before he could shoot another air whipped past him nearly nicking his ear. It caused him to stop and for his eyes to find the other elf standing by the dear carcass. Angel huffed, allowing gravity to take him back down. He landed with a huff and stumbled a bit until he regained his balance.
The elf was a male, naturally. No female elf should be out here. He recognized this elf though, of course. It would be weird if he didn't. The elf was taller than him but only by a little. His hair was long as all the males' hair was. But it appeared more shiny than his own. It was a dark black like his eyes which blended well with his brown skin.
Angel frowned his eyes further inspecting the elf.
The man's chiseled jaw, his long narrow lips, his dark and mysterious eyes.
Features like these, ones that he knew the female elves found attractive were things he always felt he lacked. Maybe that's why he always found himself staring at these sorts of things.
"You nearly shot me there, what would the elders have thought?" The dark-haired elf quipped with a sly but friendly smirk.
Angel huffed, he walked forward. "I don't remember asking for assistance on my hunt, Travis."
Travis smiled, it was a smile that accepted the silent challenge between them. "Well I thought you could use the help. Besides, the ceremony of binding will start soon and I figured you wouldn't want to miss that. So I came out here to bring you in."
"Of course you did." He said, resisting an eye roll.
Travis' smile faded soon after, he took a step closer. "You seem unhappy. Why?" Angel kept his gaze down, out of the man's line of site. "Today is supposed to be a ceremonious day for everyone involved. You're not unhappy about it are you?"
When Angel looked up, he was smiling. He scratched his cheek and laughed, "no, just a little nervous that's all. I just hope my mate likes me as much as I will her."
Travis' expression brightened.
Before either could say another word a loud bell rang far in the distance. It was nearly deafening with their heightened hearing. Travis looked excited, in the split second he turned away Angel paled.
"Well that's the first bell, the ceremony will start by the 3rd so we should get going. Oh but first-" Travis strolled up to the buck corpse and without warning he leaned down, lifted its head and pressed his lips against it Angel grimaces. He could see Travis moving his tongue around inside the creature's mouth. Ew. He suppressed a gag. It only took a few seconds before Travis was dropping the corpse again. When he looked up and saw Angel's disgusted expression he rolled his eyes. "You'll never get used to that, will you?" Angel shook his head.
"Sorry." He apologized.
Again, Travis rolled his eyes. "You're a hunter, you should be used to that." Sticking his tongue into the creature's mouth? Never. Travis stood, wiped his mouth of stray saliva and blood and clicked his tongue. He cleared his throat then spoke in some foreign language Angel could not understand. But it sounded like groans more than anything. It sounded like the deers speech. Travis grinned, "good this'll come in handy later. These breeds have been hard to pin down but will know their hiding spots now for sure."
Yeah...that was one of the things his species could do. Or at least the males, as far as he knew. Just absorbing a creature's saliva into their tongue for a few seconds granted them the ability to speak and understand their language. It was gross, honestly and Angel had done it. But only a few times when he'd learn to be a hunter. He almost gagged. He was always doing that to corpses of animals because it was sure hard as hell to do that on one that was trying to kill you. Or run away.
"Anyway let's get back. I'll help you wrap this but we need to be on our way then." Angel nodded.
Once they had the corpse wrapped and hidden securely Angel hauled it on his back and the two made their way back to the village.
Hello my lovely readers! I'm back that's right! Next chapter things will ramp up from this snails pace, I promise. Stay tuned!