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It was a few days after Kadryn and Kirosh’s run in with Sameal and Carrion. Kirosh was still unhappy about them and they way they’d acted. Kadryn, still clueless as to what Carrion had said, just shrugged and didn’t press him for information.
Kadryn was in the sky currently, stretching her wings and seeing if she could spot any Ayrala’s or something to attack. They’d been wandering about, watching scenery and stuff for many months without any real fights happening. Kadryn wanted to keep in practice so she figured she’d have to go and hunt down some creatures while they were on their way to the ferry. As she swooped about in the twisting wind, enjoying herself, she noticed some dark shapes closing in on Kirosh and the Hastars.
Grasping her mace, she dove, giving a loud call and hoping that Kirosh could hear her over the whistling of the wind.
Kirosh was yawning when his Hastars began to prance about nervously. He grabbed his bow; they only did that when they scented something on the wind. He often relied upon their better senses when he was traveling in the wild.
“Guard.” He gave the command to his Hastars to go into a defensive stance and wait to see if anything attacked. He glanced up through the wind stirred snow and saw Kadryn diving towards them. Something’s coming from the ground, which meant it wasn’t a dragon.
He pulled off his bow and grabbed an explosive arrow; his eye’s scanning the snowy slopes about him. He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye; turning quickly, his loosed his arrow and watched it hiss quickly through the air towards the slinking shadow he’d spotted. It hit and exploded in a rumbling ball of smoke and fire. A deep yipping cry came from the shadow as it rolled about trying to put out the fire that consumed it. Kirosh, recognizing it as a Rajsha, quickly glanced about, looking for the others. Rajsha hunted in packs after all.
Kadryn, having seen the arrow loosed, directed her dive to take her towards a different shadow, one that was no longer quietly slinking but instead bounding full speed towards Kiorsh and his Hastars. Her mace swung out and hit the large and sleek red beast on its side. Swung with all her might and backed up by her dive’s speed, the large metal spiked head crushed and broke the body with a bloody crunch.
The beast she’d killed was large and covered with short red dish brown fur; its body sleekly muscled with a deep barrel chest. The tail was long and thick, flexible and used as to help control the beasts direction as it bounded about at high speeds. It’s large and thick mane had two long horns protruding back over the head, matched by two large jutting canine tusks. Rajsha! Kadryn though, we must have wandered too close to their lair... or they just wanted the Hastars . Most of the time, she remembered from her talks with Kirosh, they were wary of strangers and tended not to attack Magescians.

Kirosh had his bow out and was firing arrows, but the other two Rajsha remaining were wily and dodged them. They jumped about fast and in unpredictable directions, always moving closer to the Hastars.
As they reached them, the Hastars went into action, kicking out with their strong hooves and biting with their sharp fangs, shrill screams of anger coming from their large thick necks. Kirosh, used to riding and fighting on top of his bucking Hastars; slung his bow onto his back and pulled out a slim sword. He preferd to strike from a distance, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use other weapons!

Kadryn, launching herself back into the air to do another dive, heard a growl behind her. Looking back, she saw the rest of the pack cresting the ridge.
“Damn,” she growled. While she was certain she and Kirosh could survive, the Hastars wouldn’t. Not when that was what the Rajsha wanted. “Kirosh, get out of there! The rest of the pack’s coming!” She called out as she dove down once more, using her body and mace to bully the Rajsha away. She was trying to kill, but now the Rajsha were proving to be quite intelligent, and managed to dodge her weapon. Kirosh sighed and pulled on his Hastar’s reins, giving a shrill whistle to tell them both to run.
With a last kick out that hit the Rajsha attempting to bit its legs, the Hastars turned and ran. Aisklana Hastars these were, the strongest and most vicious of Hastars. They lived in the deep snowy wastes of Aisko and were preyed on by Jabrvin and Bykaldrta, both large and dangerous predators like the Rajsha. They knew how to run in a way to preserve their strength for a fight should they get caught. Plus, they knew how to run on the snow. In this winter landscape, full of icy patches and snow drifts, they could and would be able to stay ahead of the Rajsha, no matter how agile and fast they were. Kadryn, flying above, kept an eye out for any Rajsha as well as to see where they were going. She saw at once when the Rajsha gave up, a shrill cry of anger as their dinner ran away.
She flew back down and glided along side and slightly above Kirosh.
“We’ve gotten away from them.” She said with a smile. Kirosh nodded;
“I heard the cry. But let’s keep going a bit further to make sure we’re out of their territory. They ike to play with their prey sometimes. And as much as I want one as a mount, I don’t think trying to grab one from a pack like that is a good idea!” He said with a chuckle.
Kadryn giggled, “They are quite fast! But your Hastars managed to slow them down by using those icy patches.”
“They’re well trained. As much as they like to fight, running from something that tries to eat you is part of their instincts. Me and the other trainers though it’d be a good idea to train them to use the terrain in their advantage. Took forever, but it paid off. I’d hate to lose one.” He said with a smile as he patted the lathered neck of the Hastar he was riding. He pulled on the reins slightly and sat back, signaling to his mount that it was time to stop galloping.
Slowing down, he waved for the less lathered Hastar to come over, “Sorry Kadryn, looks like you’re gonna have to fly for a bit. I want to give Shena a chance to cool down a bit.” He said as he slipped down off his current mount, loosened some ties so she could breathe a bit better and then hopped onto Kadryn’s normal mount.
“That’s fine. It’s fine weather today with the wind not being too bad. And I’m not tired too much either! Flying’s easier than galloping!” Kadryn said as she rolled over in midair and flew above the group in a circle to show she was just fine with flying. Kiorsh smiled as he nudged his mount into a slow walk.