The Foreigner's Desert Hunting Challenge:
Nerah's Endeavor
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Occult species knew better than to ignore their gut feelings, and Nerah had been an occult canine once. That was why she followed her gut out of the forest and into increasingly more barren territory until she was in a desert. Still the feeling persisted, and she continued wandering.
Her instincts led her through the desert until she found...well...it was a hybrid. She had never seen such a creature before. He was exotic, flame-like fur combining beautifully with black patterned to resemble feathers. Other creatures - some familiar, others not - approached the stranger, and he watched them all as if he had been expecting them.
Once everyone had gathered, the creature spoke. His name was Altair, and he had summoned everyone for a contest, of sorts. They were to go forth into the desert and successfully kill three different desert animals. After that, they were to return to him, and once everyone finished he would decide a winner. After the explanation, he bade them good luck and the group began to scatter. Nerah watched the others for a moment, and then wandered off as well, heading in a direction that none of the others had picked.
The sun seemed higher in the sky than Nerah ever remembered, yet its oppressive rays beat down on her fur, the heat penetrating to her skin despite the thickness of her coat. Perhaps the coat contributed to it. She envied the shorter-furred creatures that had wound up in this desert. They would have an easier time keeping cool, for sure. But then, her fur might be protecting the rest of her body, keeping the bright star from roasting her where she stood. It was almost a shame she had evolved: her former body would have been ideal for this sort of area. She could at least give thanks for her medium-colored coat, though. Silva, with the sheer blackness of her own pelt, would be more susceptible to the intense heat of this place. Not only that, she was a shade of brown. She'd have an easier time hiding among the endless sand, where only the rare rock and stunted, dying plant could provide any cover, and only a sparing amount.
Nothing I can do about that now. The absconding canine walked, her footsteps quiet and deliberate. She, like all the others that had been assembled, was on the search for prey, and she needed to keep as quiet as possible. Her nose scanned the ground, sniffing for prey, and - only a moment later - she sneezed, having inadvertently snorted some of the sand in her efforts to locate prey.
The canine sneezed again, then a third time, and ran a short distance in the direction to which she had been headed. Noise didn't matter here. Her sneezing would have alerted all potential prey to her presence and everything around her would have fled. It was a setback, but she would make sure that it didn't keep her from completing the contest.
The canine ran, ignoring he uncomfortable heat that shot through her paws each time they made contact with sand. If she was going to succeed in her task, she couldn't let the heat bother her. Later, once the contest ended and she was back home in the forest, she could whine and complain and soak her pads in the nearest stream. In fact, a swim sounded really good right now...she would have to reward herself with such once she was back home.
An odd, uneven rectangular shape loomed in the distance. Curiosity overcame her, and she made her way toward the shape, her steps slowing as she neared the object, which turned out to be a rock about twice her height and a little wider than her at the narrowest point. The rock was vaguely rectangle-shaped, as she had noted before, but this close she could see that the sides were uneven, slanting to make the rectangle wider at the bottom. A shadow spread out on the sand, providing sweet, tempting relief from the sun that Nerah knew she couldn't afford to take. Not yet. Not until she'd done some hunting. A smaller stone lay near the rock, and when Nerah glanced up at the top of the larger object she could see that the two rocks had once been one. The top had a clear piece missing, and the corners where the piece would fit were sharp in contrast to the rounded edges everywhere else on the stone. What had happened there? Was the heat from the sun intense enough to burn even through stone? Perhaps a fight had occurred here sometime in the past. Whatever the case, she now had a landmark, which was good since most of the area was rather shapeless.
I should mark what way I came from so I can get back when I need to. Nerah attempted to pick up the small rock in her jaws, but it was too large and heavy. Her fangs grazed its surface and caught a corner, but she had only lifted it an inch above the ground before the strain on her mouth was too much and she had to let go. Clearly, that wasn't the way to move it. She then tried nudging the rock with her muzzle, keeping from inhaling with her nose so close to the sands. It was hard, but the absconding canine managed to move the rock a few paces back the way she had come, and it - along with her new landmark - formed an arrow of sorts that would lead her back to the beautiful foreign creature when she had caught all her prey.
Nerah stared at her handiwork a moment, satisfied. Now she had a "base" of sorts that she could work around and didn't need to fear getting lost. If she could keep within sight of her landmark, she would know where she was at all times and need not fear getting lost.
Hopefully, she'd be able to find all her prey while keeping track of the stone.
But now she had to get a move on. Checking the direction the air was flowing, she set off, heading upwind to increase her chances of success. Her steps were once more slow, almost painfully so. The less she disturbed her surroundings, the more likely she wouldn't be detected. At least, that's what she hoped. She couldn't afford any mistakes out here: it was a completely different landscape from which she accustomed to using for hunting.
The faintest of smells wafted on the breeze, but she caught it. It was unfamiliar, but she knew it to belong to an animal of some sort. She could smell something similar to her own heated fur in the scent, as well as a sour, tangy element that was familiar to all creatures. She sniffed around, pinpointing the scent before making her way toward it, crouching as low as she could go without brushing the burning sands with her underside. She then crept forward, her honey-hued form gliding over the soft, beige landscape.
Then she saw it: a short-furred creature whose color matched the sand so closely that Nerah almost missed it. The top of the creature's head only came to around one fourth the way up her leg, but it was wide and plump and nearly rivaled her length from the end of its short snout to its clublike tail tip. The creature currently lay dozing in the sun, completely comfortable in its habitat.
Perfect.
Nerah inched forward, eyeing the creature. When she was sure she could make the jump, she pounced, her jaws aimed for the creature's neck. The scaly thing awoke and noticed her at just the right moment, its eight short legs scurrying effortlessly over the sand in its effort to escape.
It succeeded. Her jaws clamped on one of its legs instead of its neck. It retaliated by smacking the side of her face with its tail. Nerah yelped, and the creature escaped, burrowing into the sand and out of sight.
Nerah pouted after the creature. It was a fast digger, and there was no way she'd be able to catch up to it. She needed to find at least three more creatures, and had wasted precious energy. She could still move and hunt, so she was determined not to give up.
Fortunately, she spotted a flash of orange nearby, and turned to see a scaly creature staring at her. The creature's long body was supported by two thick legs, and its head came up to her chest. A long tail dragged behind it, a river of shimmering orange in the sand. Two large red eyes stared directly into her own amber-hued ones.
The creature, upon noticing Nerah, turned and fled. The two legs and weight of the tail seemed to inhibit running, so she gave chase, leaping on top of the creature and dragging it to the ground. Its tail thrashed as she closed her jaws on its neck, and the creature let out a long, terrified wail, but the thrashing and wailing both stopped with a quick, bone-snapping bite.
And that was prey number one caught and killed. Excellent.
Nerah released the creature and gripped it again by the base of its tail. She then headed back to her landmark, where she buried her kill before going off to hunt down her second piece of prey.
The sun continued its gentle, yet harsh assault on the canine's frame as she crept along the sandy land that offered virtually no shelter for animals or plants that couldn't or wouldn't bury themselves underground. Tempting as the thought was, Nerah was simply too tall for that to be feasible, and she had come to hate tight spaces since her latest evolution. A burrow would be a disastrous idea even without that handicap, as it would be a waste of precious time that needed to be spent hunting. The sooner she caught her next two animals, the sooner the contest would end for her. In the meantime, the thoughts that comforted her were that her skin wasn't blistering yet and that she was at least in a wide, open area. Lately, she craved open lands. A clearing in the forest was open enough, but something like this was much better...though she'd prefer a wetter landscape. Her throat was starting to feel parched and gritty, mirroring the feel of the sand beneath her feet. As she wandered, she wondered if there was any source of water nearby. Any small puddle or stream would do. She didn't smell water, so she assumed she was out of luck for the moment.
A flash of green was visible in the horizon as she made her way to the top of a dune and ten started down the other side. Was it her second piece of prey? Green was such an odd color to be in the desert, though the orange birds she had hunted back when she was an aboriginal hadn't exactly blended into their environment either. Still...the forest was much more forgiving, and a species could afford to stand out a little. Perhaps it was just because the place was unfamiliar to her, but the desert seemed to offer a much harsher life. The slightest mistake could get one killed.
Even a top predator.
She shuddered at hat thought and put it at the back of her mind. Her face still hut where it had been smacked by the tail of her first target. It probably would hurt for a few days, though she doubted the creature had caused any lasting damage. At worst, she'd have a nasty bruise to deal with later and maybe a welt. It wasn't her idea of a fun time, but she'd have her packmates to help her through it, and at least the bones seemed to be intact. The wound, while painful, had been a lesson - she would have to really watch herself, no matter how harmless her next targets seemed. She simply had no idea what anything here was capable of.
I wonder if we get to keep our kills, she thought to herself as she trekked across the flats, leaving deep pawprints along the way. If she could keep them, she could bring them back home to the pack. There would be three of them, for her three best friends. She could find something else for herself in the forest, like those birds. Or, perhaps, if she caught something big enough, she could share it with one of them. The thought would have made her drool, if her mouth wasn't so dry. Thinking about that made her realize just how badly she needed a drink.
The object in the distance grew more detailed as she neared it, and soon she could tell it was a plant. A stunted, bulb-shaped plant with a prickly base, but still evidence that this place did see water, no matter how rare wetness might be.
She wasn't the only one that had spotted the plant. Another creature - a tan-colored furry thing that looked almost familiar - was hoping across the sand, leaving a light trail of long prints. The creature was something between the elk-like animals she had seen before and a lapine in miniature, about as tall as the orange birds she was accustomed to hunting. Two rows of short, rounded horns lined the top of its head, neck, and back and two long, square-shaped teeth protruded from its short muzzle, going down well past its chin. Its ears were short and triangular, and currently flattened against its skull.
Nerah crouched down and watched the creature as it approached the plant and bit into it near its top. Moisture leaked out from the plant's wound and the creature lapped it up. Was that how life survived here? They quenched their thirst from plants instead of pools? She would have to try that, but first...
The creature was distracted, and Nerah was swift and silent as she crept across the sand, willing her paws not to make a single sound. Not wanting to risk a pounce - a miss would land her in a bed of needles and a world of pain - she continued forward until her shadow fell upon the creature. Her target noticed her, but it was too late: powerful jaws snapped down on ribs, crushing them and the organs underneath. Another snap split the neck bone into several pieces, and the creature knew no more pain. Bloody fangs released the broken body ad it fell, limp and silent, to the sun-parched ground.
Nerah then tasted blood that hadn't belonged to the creature. Looking own, she noticed that one of the horns on the creature's back was bloody, where a fang hadn't gone near. Pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth, she felt the wound. It wasn't deep, but it was a bit painful, and the taste of her own blood was foul, unlike the sweet blood of her prey.
Well...at least she had killed it. She would have to take it back to her rock. First, though, she had a thirst to quench. Not wanting to waste time with lapping at a trickle of water, she bit into the top of the plant and chewed. The outside of the plant was thick ad rubbery, but the inside was quite soft and moist, and her throat felt better almost instantly as the plant oozed down into her system, soothing the passage like a tongue caressing a wound. Nerah continued to eat the plant, consuming as much as she felt she could while avoiding the needles at the base. She was still thirsty after this, but it wasn't the pressing need it had been. With any luck, she would find another one of those plants during her next hunt.
Nerah finished off the safe portions of the plant and licked spare droplets of moisture from her lips. She then bent down to scoop up the fallen creature in her jaws and journeyed back the way she had come. When she arrived at her landmark, she buried her new kill near the old. Then she immediately set off for the third and final time, seeking her final target.
She wasn't sure how much time she had spent in this area by this point. Hours? Half a day? Most of a day? It felt like weeks. She missed her pack. To her knowledge, none of them had come out here and taken part in the hunt with her. It would have been nice, even though they probably weren't allowed to hunt in groups. That would have given them an unfair edge over everyone else. She was actually surprised that she had been allowed to enter...but then, her size and strength and abilities had as many disadvantages as advantages. As she was better in some things than other creatures, they were better than her at different things. Her size certainly provided a disadvantage in denying her the chance to really hide from her prey. She was lucky she had managed to kill two prey animals so far.
The sand seemed to stretch endlessly without interruption in this direction, but she kept going. As long as she could look back and see her landmark, she would be fine, and she hadn't gotten her scent all over the earth in this area. In the other directions, prey creatures would smell her and the blood of her kills and bee too scared to come out of hiding, so this vast empty land was her best bet for finding prey.
The land was still. The sun was still. Even the wind seemed to have stopped. Nerah stopped as well, sniffing the air. No scent but her own greeted her. She looked back the way she had come and was relieved to see the now-familiar rock in the distance - a beacon to bring her back when the time came. Tempted as she was, she couldn't stop yet. She wasn't finished yet. Surely there was someth--wait...
It was faint, but he saw it: the tiniest disturbance in the sand, heading to her right. Something was moving underneath the burning sands, burrowing around in the considerably cooler underground.
Whatever it was, it didn't notice her on the surface. It traveled at a leisurely pace, confident in its safety and cunning. It was a clever trick, she had to admit, but this was possibly her only chance, and so she stalked after the shifting sand, following it at just enough distance that she could pounce as soon as the unseen creature popped out of its tunnel.
The shifting sand turned into a mound, and Nerah pounced. The sand lie flat again, and she saw the mound raise a bit to her left. She turned and pounced again. Too slow. The sand shifted ahead of her and the mound rose and split at the top. She pounced. The creature ducked back into its tunnel. The sand shifted and Nerah once more chased after it.
"Hehehe!" She knew she was on a time limit, but she had to admit that this was actually rather fun!
A shadow fell over her, blessing her for a moment with relief from the heat. The shadow circled around, and she looked up in time to see something swoop into the ground. She jumped back, startled, as the thing reappeared a moment later and a few tail lengths away from where it dived into the ground. The thing - a tan birdlike beast with long, thin wings and no legs - had dived into the ground and shot back up to the surface with no more effort and grace than most birds needed to move through the air alone. It was a spectacular sight that left the canine awestruck and unable to move as the bird settled on a small dune nearby - holding its body up with its wings - and began to consume what appeared to be a long, rodent-like creature with two short, bald tails and long claws.
Then it hit her: she could take the bird! It was distracted with its meal, and she used that to cover her approach. Inching forward silently with her body slinking low to the ground, she watched as the bird's long beak tore apart its meal and consumed it in small, messy bites.
The bird then screeched, and the sound was so loud and high-pitched that it rang in her ears long after the sound itself had ended. Rather than run away, the bird lunged at her, and Nerah felt its beak graze her skin as she attempted a dodge.
The bird came after her again, and she jumped back to avoid that long, horrible beak. It thrust its wings forward, hitting her hard in the shoulder when she attempted to dodge the attack. The impact was surprisingly painful, and the force of the blow brought the canine down onto the sand, causing a tiny, grainy cloud to rise around her before settling back down.
The bird reared its head back, intent on finishing its kill. Nerah pushed painfully off the ground and leaped up along the bird's body, clamping her jaws down on its neck with everything she was worth. The bird let out a strangled cry and attempted to fly off. Its wings beat against sand, creating a cloud that made it painful for the canine to leave her eyes open. The bird couldn't support the weight of its own body and the canine's, however, and remained grounded as Nerah's jaws worked, eventually breaking through bone, flesh, and arteries.
From that point, it only took a moment for the bird to die. Its half-eaten meal remained on the dune, useless to the creature who had killed it. Nerah didn't want precious meat going to waste, so she stepped onto the dune and consumed the creature in a few bites. She looked around to make sure she could still spot her landmark and then grabbed her third and final kill by the neck and dragged it back the way she had come, leaving a deep, solid trail in the sand behind her as the bird's body dragged across the ground. Her injured leg half dragged across the ground and her gait was much slower than normal, but she was determined to make it back. She had come too far in this to quit now.
She made it to the stone without incident and dropped her kill beside the small stone that pointed the way back to the foreign canine/feline mix. She dug up her other two kills and placed them carefully on the bird's wings. She then sat down in the shade of the stone and stared at her catch, admiring it. Such diverse prey in such a harsh climate! She had done well for herself, and looked forward to seeing what everyone else had caught.
After allowing herself a few minutes of rest, Nerah pushed herself to her paws, gripped the bird by its neck, and dragged it toward the place where she had seen the foreigner. She stopped only for a moment every now and again to rest her injured leg and to make sure that her first two kills still rested securely upon the third, adjusting them when necessary to ensure that she didn't lose them before finding Altair.
She was among the first to return to the hybrid. He nodded to her as she stopped near him and together they - along with the other early arrivals - awaited the return of the other participants.
One by one the other creatures returned to their starting place, some with their kills and some without. Altair seemed to know they had succeeded, for he said nothing to those who returned with nothing. He simply waited and watched until the last creature arrived, and then stood, announcing the challenge's end.
Nerah hadn't been the best at the challenge, but she was pleasantly surprised when Altair told her she had ranked second. He touched noses with her, and an indescribable knowledge passed from him through her. Grateful and more than a little overwhelmed, Nerah thanked the foreigner, grabbed her kills, and teleported back to the den. She said nothing to her pack at that moment, simply leaving the desert prey there for them to share - taking a bite out of each so she could know their taste - and making her way back to the Orchard. She had been gone for far too long, and she yearned to check up on her unborn son.
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