Thread: Souls Bound in the Sand (Closed to Armphid/Misanthropiclove)

He watched the owl sail away without comment. Hardly a random act. It seemed that Sunscorner cared more about the outcome of this than hesheit let on. After a moment, the young Exalt walked over to where the snake had nested, carefully edging in, checking warily. Ah. The lidless box of golden treasure. He drew several eggs from the cactus, slipping them into a sling formed from his shirt. With the snake, assuming he could find the corpse, it wasn't a bad start. But he had a long way to go. A whole tribe to feed a tribe whose numbers he had no knowledge of. He also didn't know how much time he had to work with. Tomorrow was a very vague term. He retrieved the cactus snake's corpse, taking care to use his belt knife to remove the head and the dangerous venom sacs. The night proved kind, or his searching more able than he anticipated, and by dawn he had managed to catch a pair of scrub hares to add to his menu. It was good fortune in the desert, and would last him alone for many days. But it was not enough. As the sun began to come over the horizon, it's light kissed his pale flesh and an idea sprang up in his mind. There was one kind of animal that was easier to trap in the desert. Though any of them would hardly be food animals...he had little choice. He knelt covering the eggs, the hares, and the snake with sand. Sunscorner's scent should keep all but the most depserate scavengers and predators away. Then he picked up the mauled and half eaten carcass the Lunar had left behind. After he was a few hundred feet from the campsite, he began to drag it behind him. So it was as the sun rose and began to beat down that Radiant Kissing Son lay on the baking sands, feebly moving. The carcass was by his side, the stink of it's meat and blood in the blazing sun rank and fetid. The perfect lure. He heard sand shift slightly, one of his eyes cracking open. Creeping ever closer was a pack of jackals, scavengers and cleaners of the desert. Good. He really didn't want to try buzzard, his other option. Radiant Kissing Son lay still. The large canines began to feed on the carcass, tearing it apart, but he did not move. Then they circled him, growling, sniffing, but he did not move. They darted in close and then away, testing, but he did not move. One crept up close and sniffed, licked his arm, then bit. The powerful teeth barely marked the skin, and still he did not move. The creatures moved in, convinced at last. In an explosion of blows, sand, yelps, and flaring Essence, he moved. The jackals flew up into the air, a snap kick knocking one out of its arc as it broke the animal's neck. The rest landed, shaking themselves. Radiant Kissing Son wasted no time, appearing before one just as it rose to its feet. His fist of iron crushed its skull, the thing flopping down into the sand. He felt a third darting at his calves from behind, teeth intent to hamstring this resistant meal. Radiant Kissing Son leaped up, letting the jackal rush under him. His hands came down on either side of its neck as it did so, a tearing crack answering the strikes. A fourth leaped, snarling. He turned on his heel and ducked beneath it, grabbing its backlegs and swinging the hunter down onto it's back in the sand, his heel crushing its throat a moment later. He relaxed, the rest of the pack had fled, scurrying away over the dunes howling out their fear. Radiant Kissing Son nodded with satisfaction. Four was acceptable, he'd wanted five, but this would have to do. On his forehead burned a solid disk of golden energy, the mark of his Caste. He spread his arms out, his face turning up to the sun, For your bounty, I thank you. May it be enough. His knife sung free of it's scabbard as he knelt beside the bodies. Dress and skin. It would take time, but even if it had not, he had the sense that his hunt was at an end. What he had would either be enough or it would not. Now he could only prepare for whatever end came of this.