Tesbel sniffed the air. It was pleasantly cold, and on this morning compare to the last he relished in it. The cold was something of a fortunate pleasure for Tes. Reason being was he could crack the faintest of smiles apart from his otherwise glaring expression he held. With each morning he saw the first specks of snow as they tumbled to the ground and it filled him with a joy to be apart of his colony.When the hunt for pelts finally began Tesbel was not hesitate in rushing down the snowy mountain as fast as his paws could take him.
He was going to make a difference. No one was going to stop him from doing that. When his paws finally reached the part of the mountain where it sloped up from the downward route it had been taking and became a flat expansion of ground was when the guard finally relaxed. He was able to hunt in peace and a quiet it seemed, with it being so early in the morning light few others had ventured outside of their dens.
Fewer had ventured out to begin hunting game.
The first catch he spotted was small, a hare, unable to to provide much after Tesbel was through with it. Still, some game was better than no game. The hare would provide him with a meal, and whatever fur was left over would provide the pride with warmth.
It had taken him three minutes, tops, to bring that one down. The hare must have been ill, as it had some weird bumps and bruises along it's body. Tesbel began to think he had put the poor creature of it's misery when he spotted something that wasn't necessarily prey, but it was much better than a hare with the plague as a catch.
A hyena had picked this place as a worthy spot to keel over and die. Not "this spot" particularly but a few feet away in what looked to be a heavily wooded area. He could tell it was dead because the scent was disgusting. It caused his nose to curl in disgust and cough to breath of normal air again. Apparently it had been eating something before its death.
With his two "prizes" the leopard felt satisfied and began his trek upwards the mountain. Tesbel had only stopped when a final catch, something deemed an actual catch and not something he had just picked up or killed for mercy.
A jackal stood and faced him innocently. It had no clue of what future Tesbel had in store for it. And my, what a beautiful creature this was. It's pelt was like that of a wolf, a black wolf with sleek fur that looked cozy and comfortable in the cold. The thing had seemed to not have spotted Tes, which was perfectly acceptable given his own splotchy coat was the perfect cover and camouflage in such an environment.
"Hello!" The jackal seemed to squeak. Tesbel knew not of the familiar tongue and could not speak it for the life of him.
"Hello." He grinned devilishly. Rare was the moment Tesbel found hunting amusing like such. "And goodbye!" He lunged, with claws out and fangs bared.
He had some worthy catches for tonight! He could imagine the look on the merchant faces when he traded them in. He for one, would be grinning with glee...
Found:
2: A fair quality jackal pelt. Worth 2 points.
4: A large, luxurious pelt from a hyena. Worth 3 points.
5: Small, torn and barely useable. Worth 1 point.
((WC: 566)
