Note: I had an itch, and wrote a TON for this. If you're not in the mood to read alot, skim past the hunting scene to the lakeside-conversation. I hope you like it, and if not tell me, and I'll try again.
Well shit, here it goes.
Four years ago......
Two figures crouched at the base of a tree, on a hill overlooking a clearing. They were somewhere in Ashenvale, they didn't know or care exactly where. Both of them had sinister intentions, waiting for prey to pass through their field of vision. One was roughly 7-4, standing upright against the ancient tree. He clutched his longbow tighter, ready to set arrows towards anything he could see, anything he could eat. He was in his early twenties, but had lived like a hunter since his thirteenth birthday, when his uncle who had taken care of him had died.
The other, was about two hundred and fifty pounds of Nightsaber, the hulking mass of an animal hungrily sweeping the clearing with its cobralike eyes. As he wore nothing but his own fur, the man was dressed in a raggedy leather outfit, fashioned from Ghostpaw wolves. White fur still lined most of his armor, and his spider-skin boots had Nightsaber fangs on the toe. He thought this to be a good idea. Faunas, the panther, thought it made him look like hell. He'd mocked Elladari for days, saying the claws were something of a child's story, not a weapon. He reconsidered this after Ell had kicked an attacking spider, and the boot had mangled it open, bleeding to death. Almost as vicious looking, was the helmet, which was pretty much a wolf's head, with Elladari's face in the jaws.
It had been a big wolf.
Now, as they silently gazed over the clearing, Faunas heard Elladari's longbow string pull back as a lone, yet very large stag bounded into the clearing. Judging from the size of the deer, it would feed either Ell for a week, or Faunas for a day. Both of them thought about this as the large creature strayed towards them. With a snap of a twig as Faunas moved to circle the animal, the stag stopped, surveying the clearing and the surrounding woods. Elladari felt the eyes roll over him, not spotting him in his abslute stillness.
As soon as he saw Faunas across the clearing, he let out two crudely fashioned arrows. The stag squealed in surprise, as one of them struck it in the leg. Faunas rushed out to finish it, and Elladari caught up to him, knowing whenever you score a kill in the wild, other predators will come, as it's easier to take what someone else has done for your own.
And it was in the fact that he was searching the woods, that neither of them saw the shadow pass overhead. Neither of them heard the beat of an enormous wingspan. Faunas didn't notice as he drug the stag into the forest, going to hide the meal whose neck he had snapped with his powerful jaws. Elladari didn't notice as he shouldered his longbow, or as he turned to follow the panther that had dissapeared already.
But he sure as hell noticed when the starving and desperate hippogryph screeched, diving gracefully through the air towards the Night Elf. Faunas nowhere to be seen, and his longbow no longer drawn, the hunter cursed himself and reached for his dagger. But he was too slow, and the large bird slammed into him like a ton of bricks. His dagger flew from his hand as he stumbled backward, landing on his side. He rolled onto his back, struggling to rise to his feet through the pain of a possibly broken rib.
The hippogryph came down upon him, standing right above him, screeching at him as it raked at his chest with its vicious talons. He cried out as a talon tore through his leather, leaving a wicked scar across his chest. He brought up his arms to defend himself, trying to blot out the immense pain with blind rage, batting at the hippogryph uselessly. He glanced for his dagger, but it was nowhere to be found. He flailed wildy against the bird, trying to disrupt it or knock it off. He screamed for Faunas, but the panther was nowhere to be seen.
He was on his own. Knowing this, he mustered up all of his strength and slammed against the hippogryph. It shuddered, stumbling back slightly, just enough for him to escape it. He saw his dagger, and dived for it. Rolling to his feet, he looked back to the hippogryph, which expanded its wings and screeched as loud as it could at him, attempting to frighten him. He winced at the noise, but simply edged himself towards the bird. It let out something of a growl, then leaned back and prepared to throw itself at him.
It lunged at him, a feathery torpedo, screeching all the way. It was at least three feet off the ground, trying to slam into his chest again. But Elladari had anticipated this, and he dropped to the grass, the bird passing over him, its longest talons grazing his flesh as it did. He rammed his small blade into its side as it flew, and knew he'd hit home when it cried out. It reared around to face him, not seeming to care anymore about the jagged piece of metal protruding from its side.
Ell scrambled for his longbow, then realized that when the hippogryph knocked him over the first time, his quiver, and all his arrows, had spilled out. He saw them, resting against the weeds a few yards away. He lunged towards them, grasping one in his hand as the bird rocketed towards him again. Knowing the bow to be useless now, he grasped another arrow in his other hand, holding them out towards the screeching ball of bloody feathers.
The screeching suddenly stopped when it slammed into him, impaling itself. He cried out in pain, his arms seeming to pop from their sockets as the force struck him again. He coughed as the dead animal collapsed onto him, the weight almost crushing him. He tried to shove it off, but he was weak with fatigue, and his arms ached from the fight. He was bloody, and not sure if it was his or the hippogryph's.
He shoved it again, and was surprised to see that it jerked violently a different direction. At first he thought it to be alive, then saw the large panther dragging the carcass off of him. He used Faunas to support himself as he rose to his feet.
"A little late, don't you think?" He growled, at the cat. They both ignored the now dead hippogryph, as bird meat was stringy, and the feathers almost useless.
Faunas grinned, or as close as a giant panther can get to grinning. "Better late than never, right?" He rasped, his voice like gravel on Elladari's ears. It never ceased to amaze him how he'd learned to speak, the panther insisting that if you heard it enough, you picked it up.
Elladari shook his head, wincing as he did. Something was definitely broken, just neither of them knew a damn thing about actual healing. His uncle, Garien, had taught him first aid as a child. In fact, he'd taught him everything from how to use a weapon, to how to make one. He drew a cracked vial, luckily still intact enough to hold the greenish-blue liquid within. He sipped it, knowing it would kill the pain well enough for him to function.
He chuckled, as he slid the arrows that hadn't been crushed back into his quiver. He checked his bow, then groaned as he realized the bird had crushed it as it had died. "Ah hell," he said. "Let's just get back to the lake."
Faunas nodded, and strode beside him back to their small hut. It was near the lake, but not on it. Too far and it was too hard to get water. Too close and you were near everything else that wanted water. Including hippogryphs.
When they finally got there, Elladari washed the blood off of his arms, and rinsed out his cuts in a futile attempt to clean them. As he looked into the water, he saw his reflection. He saw the wolfskin leather, he saw the blood. He saw the fangs, he saw the dagger. He didn't see himself. He saw a savage. He stared blankly at the water, unable to accept what he had become. When his uncle was alive, they had lived with moderate dignity, wearing normal clothes as they hunted. Not barbaric animal hides.
He looked at Faunas, and didn't see the witty panther he'd been in Garien's life, when Ell had brought him home on a hunt as a small cub. He didn't see the foolish look in his eyes anymore. All he saw was a bloodstained Nightsaber. He turned to the reflection, and sank to his knees as he did. He yanked off the wolfskin helmet, throwing it as far as he could into the lake.
Faunas stared at him, confused. "What the hell are you doing? It took us days to make that!" The panther's tone was annoyed and angry, and slightly confused.
"Don't you ever question the way we live, what we do, how we eat? There has to be something more to life than hunting, Faunas. This isn't what I want to be." Elladari stared at him, coldly. The look sent a chill down Faunas's spine, he'd never seen his master so upset. Then he reverted stubbornly back to his beliefs.
"Question how we live? This is the only way we've ever been! The only way we'll ever be! We live for the hunt!" Faunas said, a bit loudly.
"Damn it we don't have to! We can change things!" Elladari screeched.
They were glaring and yelling at each other now, neither caring if something heard them. But luckily, nothing wanted to disturb a hunter who'd just killed a hippogryph on his own, or a giant hulk of muscle and fur.
"This is how we survive, this is the only way you know how. And I'll be damned if you try to change that!" Faunas growled.
"I don't want to survive, Faunas. I want to live. You need to learn the difference, and you sure as hell need to learn who's boss." Elladari said, quieter now. He gripped his dagger, unsure of Faunas now.
But the panther just sighed, submitting to his master. "Fine then, so be it. What would you have us do, to become 'civilized'?" The final word dripped with sarcasm.
Elladari shrugged again. "I was thinking we could go to Astranaar, see what jobs I could get. I could hunt dangerous animals, and then not have to sleep in the middle of nowhere. We could have friends, Faunas. We could finally have normal lives away from this."
Faunas nodded as best he could. "Alright, we'll leave tomorrow. I want one more night in the wild."
Elladari scratched Faunas's head appreciatively. "That's fine. You'll see I'm right, we'll live much better now."
Faunas made a sort of coughing sound, and Elladari took it as laughter. "I hope so Ell, I really do." Faunas was glad that Elladari had forgotten the deer, because Faunas had devoured half the damn thing in the time it had taken him to kill the hippogryph, greedy bastard that he was.
They arrived at their makeshift home, which consisted of a battered tent, colored with various substances to blend in with the surrounding woods somewhat, with some makeshift bedding inside of it. Makeshift as in, some leaves and rags on the ground inside the badly made tent, which smelled of bird droppings and rotted kills.
As Elladari settled down, his favored dagger, still stained with hippogryph blood at his side, he thought about how long, if ever, it would take Faunas to adapt to the lifestyle Elladari had longed for since so many years ago. Not for long though, as his thoughts were suddenly shattered by the wave of exhaustion that hit him. He collapsed onto the bedding, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Faunas, on the other hand, finished choking down the stag as he pondered how the hell he could survive any other way then the way he knew best. He lied himself down a short distance outside the tent, falling asleep to the familiar sounds of the forest he'd lived in so long. The forest which had forced him through so many violent encounters. The same one which had nearly killed him and his best friend nearly six times before. The forest which had robbed him of Garien, who had been like his father.
He was going to miss it here.
TO BE CONTINUED.....(Unless I get shitty reviews. Be gentle, it's my first story I really tried at.)
Subject: Early years (Ell's Story) 
Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:46 am
