"Right up there?" Futhans asks as we come to a stop at the somewhat familiar place. Admittedly, my memory is being a bit shoddy right now. I've been banking on finding some blood trails and we seem to have found it.
"Yeah, it crashed up there after I knocked out half of its left wing." I tell the young hunter, glancing around for the mess I made when I took that jawbone. I know for a fact I was trying to clean my claw a lot in the grass. My eyes move onto Futhans' father as he inspects what seems to be the safest way up onto the rocky path. He hops up onto a boulder for a better view.
"How damaged is the body?" he asks and I almost feel like snickering under my breath. A fair amount, I really want to answer. Just said I tore up its wing and the pair have seen the jawbone.
"Outside of the obvious and already told... Not much? Body is still largely intact though it is bloody." I answer, keeping my tone serious while I wave a claw back at their sled.
"So you'd be able to bring it down without the body falling apart?" the father asks as he tests some possible places to put his grip. The stone cracks and slips away into a small roll of debris. Despite being the furthest away, Futhans flinches the most. His father, however, merely stares with a thoughtful noise in his mouth.
"Should be able, yeah." I answer, moving away from the pair so I can leap up without issue. I'm getting better at this whole magic thing, but not enough to say that I am confident. Confident enough to boast about it, anyway.
"Well, be careful with it regardless. More intact it is meat and bone wise, more we get for it," the father explains and I nod in response. Sending myself into the air, I end up overshooting the area I was aiming for. Unable to adjust my trajectory, I hit the mountain face and its immediate area shatters like pottery. Grumbling to myself, I focus my magic into my claws properly and slide. Pebbles trailing after me as the cracks split smoothly down the way.
"I wonder if you being fresh is particularly important...?" I ponder with quiet vocals as I look over the gory mess I made earlier. A frown starts to form as my self-reflection reaches far into my past. To think I took apart an animal earlier today. I killed it not long prior before that as well.
Looking down to my palms, one thought lingers, 'All with nothing more than my hands... Claws.'
Turning my focus away from my thoughts and palms, I stare at the corpse and take in the details properly. Six legs, serpentine body, leathery skin with no hair in sight and, of course, the saw jaw. Yet, oddly enough, I feel like I've seen stranger. What a strange 'somehow' to have in my life.
A noise escapes my mouth, one other than these new chitters I make. I cannot get a particularly good grip on this thing. This long, damn body with its drooping belly is nearly impossible to lift! I can't get the bloody thing entirely above my head...
Bah!
"Guess I am wrapping myself in a dead body." I remark, coiling the corpse around my torso somewhat so I can waddle down. Maybe this isn't a good idea. I cannot see where I am going and have no clue as to how far the ledge is. One wrong step and I am falling onto this corpse with a splat.
Rolling the body up, I try my hardest to get at least one eye facing downward. A fairly hefty, difficult task because of my need to keep my body a secret, too. Regardless, I am able to catch the end of solid stone and I take the jump. As close to a gentle leap as I can get too...
The dirt thuds and compacts underfoot.
Letting the body slide off with a sigh, I look at the pair of hunters, "Here you go."
Their four eyes widen as the creature's skeleton forces some straightness to it. I help it straighten out fully, but try to avoid the mess I made of its head. Futhans starts poking the creature over and he seems fairly elated at how tough the muscle seems to be. His father, however, is making walks up and down the length of the creature.
"How long do you think?" Futhans asks.
"Easily more than ten halfmans, maybe thirteen at best," the older man huffs.
"Wasn't the one we were informed of half that?" Futhans recalls and his father nods in agreement, a smirk on his lips when he turns to me again.
"Indeed. So, that means our friend here dealt with an even bigger one." Futhans' father explains and his expression sours a little. Curious as to what he's up to, I grab the leg he wanted Futhans to grab. A rear one. The aged man then shoves his hand straight into the slot in its crotch with a slimy squelch. Instinctively, I twitch suddenly.
"Yep, I get that feeling." Futhans chuckles as his father pulls out the creature's penis. A strange, oddly hammer-shaped thing. I barely catch a glimpse of a little notepad or something coming out of the old man's pocket as I turn away.
"You said it nabbed your aelenvari?" Futhans asks while I keep my eyes firmly on the mountains and trees.
"Yeah, while she was resting on her stuff. We're lucky the bag didn't break from how sudden it was. She... She had been injured prior, so I didn't want her straining her wounds and I put her up there." I explain, still concerned over her safety, even though it's all past tense now.
"Why didn't you just heal her?" he asks, the question filling me with confusion. Yet, he himself is equally confused. He does not understand in the slightest. And I have no idea how he can think like that. How in the name of all the gods was I going to heal her?
I'm no doctor, one in training or a student one nor a nurse or anything like that. Whatever Vapooliar and Rose-sweerui were able to do for me in the flower is beyond me. And, well, with Vapooliar being able to do it, it seems like such a far away achievement. She can do all sorts of amazing things that I can only dream of doing right now. So, any comparison between us is pointless.
"How would I do that, exactly?" I ask, hoping he'd be able to pass onto me some helpful wisdom. It would help me a lot with looking after Rose-sweerui and myself for that matter. But, mostly, it would help me make up for what I did to her before I died.
"You don't know? All you got to do is put your magic into her. You are clearly stronger than her, as she is head over heels for you. Bulbs over points? At least, that is how it seems to me."
"I don't suppose you could show me how...?" I ask and he shakes his head.
"No, I thought you would have kno- Oh! Wait, sorry. I forgot you said you were going to, not that you were from Suhurlodst." he goes, a hand covering his embarrassment as he steps back.
"Can you two help me? Especially you, Futhans!" his father snaps as he continues to struggle the body away from us. The old man drops the body and goes off to the sled to sort out the straps instead, leaving us to haul it over. I send Futhans off to help with the straps and I let the pair guide me about once I arrive with the body. If any force is needed, I push and they direct it more finely.
"Back to the town, then?" I ask as we come to a halt with all the strapping and folding of the dead animal. The pair of... Humans... Kick its parts onto the sled proper to prevent needless drag.
"Quicker the better. If another sadroobell sees this, then it will come in for a go at hefting it skyward. This one will pass its dream of finding a lady sadroobell onto the other. Just a damn shame we need to go out on another trip to get that same one..." Futhans' father explains, his tone taking on some bitterness at how they need to do a second tiring trip.
"Why not just tell them it is, Dad?" Futhans asks and the old man scoffs.
"Don't be preposterous! We do it honestly. But I am sure they won't mind paying more for us getting a larger one as well." Futhans' father answers with a laugh and pat on the back, his work ethic respectable. He's keeping to his word while also showing some cunning in regards to it. Hard work, but paying work.
The pair then crawl up onto the beast and keep their guns pointed at the sky. The ropes and straps used to keep the body still serving as their seats for the time being. Scoffing at the assumption, I get to the front of the sled and pick it up. They give me what seems to be gestures of appreciation.
"Forwards?" I ask the pair as I adjust my grip on the thick-handled rope. Walking regardless of their answer, anyway.
"Yeah, keep going down the way you are facing, be quick enough and I'll buy ya more than a few barrels," the father tells me as we move. I shrug at his offer, trying to recall what he's on about specifically. Slambarrel...? Spring barrel? Does he mean kegs? No, wait. Swingbarrel, that booze thing the soldiers showed me in the flower before I died.
Either way, I see how fast I can get going without causing them any danger. This Nin-powered sled will get them back quick yet!