Hooves crashed on the stoney fields that lead down south. Fighting the thin current and the steep hill, the elk climbed and pranced up north, climbing the steep hill of the forest. The trees were thin here, new saplings sprouted near their parent tree. The older trees roared with the wind, blowing a warmer breeze that had traveled from the south, guiding the elk.
Tahliz and Qahnaar crouched near the edge, watching the herd stumble and climb their way up. "They're sure are pretty" Tahliz whispered to his sister, setting his bow ready for the hunt.
"The herd's a lot larger than I had expected" Qahnaar whispered back, her bow already aiming at a loan doe that stood too far from the moving herd. Tahliz followed her lead, a small group had stopped to drink from the cool stream. He aimed his bow at the head of a doe that was on lookout, behind her was a young stag, grazing on the few blades of grass.
Qahnaar's arrow hit her target, piercing the side of the doe's head, causing her to drop, alerting the rest of the herd. Tahliz had to follow quickly, his arrow wasn't aimed straight but he couldn't risk waisting time when the herd began to stampede. His arrow missed his doe completely but the stag behind her ran right into it, causing his skull to be pierced with the arrow that caused him to fall down to the earth.
"Nice work! Aim for where they were heading, smart" Qahnaar patted his shoulder, complimenting him for an accident. Tahliz gave a shy grin and nodded, despite knowing the kill was an accident.
"Yeah, thanks" he put his bow back on his back, then followed his sister who was already scouting a way down the cliffy hill.
They skidded and slowly edged their way down, Qahnaar was inching her way down. Tahliz huffed and decided to jump down to a rock that was just below them, impatiently. Causing the rock to dislodged and slide all the way down to the bottom, taking Tahliz with it. He yowlled as he failed to grip onto anything solid, feeling his knee scrape on the sharp edges and tumble his way down to the bottom. "Ow" Tahliz complained, only to hear the barking laughter of Qahnaar as she still had solid footing half way up the ledge.
"That's why I took my time" she scoffed, more amused by how he had tumbled down than teasing him.
"Whatever! At least I got to the deer" Tahliz pouted up at her, his twin only smirked back before slowly making her way down to him.
"Could've injured yourself though, then what? Have Agiles and Vires take your kill back to camp for you? A true warrior brings their own game in" Qahnaar schooled, repeating what the other warriors had taught them.
"But I didn't" Tahliz shot back, more embarrassed that he fell then irritated. He looked over at the stag that he shot and hulled it over his shoulder, looking around for an easier way up.
"Yeah, looks like the only way back would be the way the herd went" Qahnaar voiced his thoughts; beginning to lead the way through the broken bracken and disturbed bushed the herd had left in their paniced escape.
Tahliz followed, taking his footing carefully since the land this far south in their tribes hunting grounds were uneven and had many steep hills to trap you in. "What you think caused the ground here to be like this?" Tahliz muttered a wonder, it was hard to see with all the trees but the ground went to a steep downwards bowl. A crater of some kind.
"Could be anything, I guess?" Qahnaar shrugged, the doe on her shoulder shifting slightly, following an easy path up hill that wasn't too steep. "Maybe it was a lake? I mean a small stream is being fed by the river that goes down to a small puddle down there" Qahnaar pointed to the small lake, she was right, Tahliz realised. It really was just a puddle.
"Maybe" Tahliz furrowed his brows, as much as the crater interested him, he had a tribe to feed. The path was ragged and every other step could've easily sent the twins falling down to the bottom of the crater. Each step caused a crack in the snow and fallen twigs, the elks on their shoulders bobbed and layed limp as they travelled. Tahliz felt his heart jump with every little misstep and the icy ground didn't help keeping their balance.
"Looks like we'll have to take the long way" Qahnaar spoke up. She had tried going up multiple times but had her boots slip on the loose ground and the few patches that were stable were icy. Tahliz sighed, realising that his sister is right, they would have to go around the crater and then back around to make their way up to camp.
"Think we'll make it back before dusk?" Tahliz asked, his tone showing a hint of complaint.
"No, we may even have to spend the night out, depending on how icy the ground would be" Qahnaar responded, she always had a tone that could encourage Tahliz to continue further. He simply nodded and continued to follow her as she lead the way to find a path to walk on without slipping in the ice.
The trees were loose here, the forest felt more like a randomly picked place to plant a tree, half were older trees and the two or three near the large tree were much smaller and younger trees. Tahliz took in the environment, there was a story here but he couldn't picture what this story would look like. For now all he could do is focus on taking his kill home, trudging through the melting and slippery ground.
After hours of walking and carrying the elk on their shoulders, the twins soon made a brake from the crater finding themselves in an unfamiliar clearing. "Sis, where are we?" Tahliz asked, looking around at each tree and shadow of the night forest.
"I don't know, took us longer than I thought to get out, I didn't think it would be that steep" Qahnaar looked around, she too looked puzzled and slightly paniced.
She looked around, even turning to the setting sun but frowned. "Was the sun behind us when we traveled here?" She turned to her brother, gripping at the elk on her shoulders nervously.
"I think... it was to our left?" Tahliz tried, he didn't pay attention to the sun when traveling, he'd usually just follow whoever was in charge.
"That's not all that helpful, east or west?" Qahnaar turned to her brother, sighing as she tried to contian her composer.
"The sun sets west" Tahliz reminded her, pointing to the setting sun that could no longer be seen over the trees.
Qahnaarin looked at where the sun was setting, then straightened herself to face north. "Home is north right?" She nervous laughed, Tahliz could tell that she didn't focus on where to go until it was time to head back home.
"I think so?" Tahliz shrugged, looking just as unsure as his sister. The shadows swallowed the ground and distorted the little landmarks they had.
"You two are awfully close to the border" a rougher voice called, causing the twins to jumped and snap their gaze at where the voice came from. "What are you doing down here? Isn't your tribe focused up north?" The voice emerged from the shadows, an older warrior showed himself. His armour was light and had the symbol of a wolf at the front, nothing like the armour that the twins had on. With their plated armour and chainmail layers, the apprentices looked ready for a battle while this warrior looked to be dressed to hunt.
"We, urr" Tahliz stuttered, did they really travel this far south? The border was miles from camp or did they find themselves this way down by trying to find a way out of the crater?
"We were just on a hunting mission" Qahnaar finished, putting on a better brave voice. The older warrior narrowed his eyes and presented a frown.
"Hunting? Since when was the crater your best hunting grounds? Half of it belongs to us, don't tell me your poor old cheif is struggling up there" the warrior smirked, almost teasing.
"No, we just lost our way" Qahnaar defended, raising her shoulders, trying to look tougher than she is. Tahliz narrowed his eyes up at the warrior, joining his sisters side.
"Sure, kid" the warrior chuckled, his throat dry, turning his chuckle to a dry cough. "No need to be embarrassed that your lost, need a place to stay or you better off wondering back into your own grounds?" The warrior offered.
Qahnaar looked back at Tahliz, she didn't look too sure but the both of them knew that they would just end up more lost if they tried to travel back on their own. "You don't mine?" Tahliz asked, stepping forward.
"No, not at all, even if Cheif Saxum has an issue, giving us one of those elk would be sure to calm him" the warrior explained. The name, "Cheif Saxum" didn't ring a bell to Tahliz, even thinking back to all the names that he had learned back at the map.
"Sounds like a good deal" Qahnaar answered, nodding at Tahliz to follow.
"Very well, come on kids" the warrior went back the way he came, his armour looked familiar to Tahliz, though he couldn't seem to picture why. For now Tahliz followed the older elf, heading further south and until thinner forest. It was dark but yet the warrior seemed to know where to go, leading the apprentices into a hillier landscape, the lights of a distant camp just about in Tahliz's view.