Public Hunting

[Amos]

"Pain is a language. The most honest language. When I hurt you, you tell me truths you would never speak otherwise. That is not cruelty, that is communication.”
-Darth Maladi​

Myrkyr - The Outer Wilds

The scent of dead meat lingered in the air.

Ahead of where Amos lurked hung a beast he'd captured that morning, it's skin half stripped, it's blood still dripping on the floor. Around him the sound of the jungle called out in all directions, a song that felt fantastically familiar. For once there were no throngs of people, no speeders, no starships buzzing and screeching in the skies above. Here on Myrkyr the wilds had won long ago, a blissful peace that his soul had been aching for.

Behind him a quiet hiss echoed out, the sound so close it should have sent a chill down his spine. "Quiet."

The Amphistaff slowly slithering up his back stopped almost instantly, it's serpentine head offering only an affronted glare as it stilled itself.

On Kiffu, hunts had been sacred. His tribe had seen them as a rite of passage, beyond gender, birth, or maturity, they had marked one in status beyond all else. The results of a hunt could mark you both good and bad, though now it all seemed so very trivial. He shifted ever so slightly, moving his weight from the top branch as he let his eyes wander across the dense jungles in his surroundings.

They would be here soon enough.

 

[Turok]

The Kiffar didn’t need to tell him to quiet twice, or even once for that matter. Turok held his voice, eyes sweeping wide before honing in on what might be the source of the noise. He had knives and grenades, a sword and a flying glaive, pistol and bow, but it was the rifle that filled his grip.

He heard another hiss, lower and slower, as if a predator was testing its prey. The Ewok trained his blaster that way, eyes peeled, and waited to take aim with a fistful of steel. A breeze tickled his fur. The temperature was mild but he could feel the heat between the trees. Something slithered. Something sinister.

“Hutar!” He whispered. Just then, something sprung out from a branch to pounce down at him. Green, lean and mean with four limbs, a long tail and vicious teeth. Finger on the trigger, Turok squeezed. The beast dropped at his feet before it could reach him. It wasn’t alone though, not by any means, as more poured forth from the trees.

Amos

 

[Amos]

Amos moved against the monsters almost as soon as they appeared. Fingers flexed towards the stolen weapon at his hip rather than the amphistaff which coiled around him.

He knew well that the creature would not stop itself from killing anything it touched. Though they had been bonded only a short while the Vong weapon was brutal in its way. Taken away from it's brethren it seemed even more vicious that Amos had Initially thought.

Better to use a lightsaber.

The hilt in his hand sprang to life with a bright blue, lashing out at one of the beasts that leaped towards him with a single quick swing. A loud hissing roar was the answer he received, the beast bounding backward as it moved away from the Sith.

"I need two alive." His words were a barking reminder.

He had not set this bait to gather himself trophies. Such things might have mattered once among the Kiffari, but now he had other purposes.

 

[Turok]

“Oodeed.”

Turok’s reply was no more or less yet the business of a Jedi or Sith wasn’t his. A hunter like him could take his prey in dead or alive either way, had plenty of trophies, but if one of these fiends got between him and a bolt then there goes its skull.

Another lizard jumped from a different direction. The Ewok shifted position just in time to send a bolt soaring toward its side. The creature was sent flying into a tree as its brethren seemed to pay it no mind. Whatever the identity of this species, they were not so chaotic in their advance, with efforts coordinated.

That was important for someone like him. The hunt was hypnotic, almost a trance, but with that surge of adrenaline. The greater the prey, the greater the pleasure as Turok fired away. The Ewok was shorter than the Kiffar, did not have the Force, but had other tricks within his fur.

His eyes scanned past the tree line in infrared. It looked like these creatures were thinning out. He didn’t quite have time to count but there weren’t more than fifty. He shot another down quickly. Somehow victory was sweet in its approach, though no less tragic. Hopefully they encountered a tougher enemy with greater tactics once they finished with this bunch.

Amos

 

[Amos]

Amos fought with quick and efficient strokes of the stolen blade. His lightsaber cutting in precise motions as the beasts howled and fell into themselves in pain. Twitching upon the floor and ending as little more than smoking husks. He moved through the battle with a detached disinterest, the work of a butcher rather than a fighter.

He didn't need anger here. He didn't need the darkside.

The fight lasted as long as it needed to. Their foe eventually pairing down to the two that Amos had required. His fingers twitched upward as the creatures cowed themselves into the corner, a loud breaking of the tree behind them echoing out as branches bent and formed a cage to trap the creatures within.

Both hissed loudly, clawing at their new prison before the Sith began to approach. Both of the creatures shying away from him as he glanced back towards his companion."They'll make good bait."

He commented dryly.

"The Vornskr should sense them." And then he would have his true prize.

 

[Die Shize]

oops

 

[Turok]

Turok had witnessed the lightsaber and the Force before, whether Jedi or Sith. Yet he never failed to appreciate the finesse of such warriors. This one was no different. The way the blade took off one creature’s head, another’s legs, left nothing to be said. Of course, the Ewok was impressed but too busy battling his own beasts to gawk in awe.

One lizard-creature-thing had sprung from a higher branch. Had he been any taller it might have landed on his back to bite his neck. Instead, it knocked him forward. He dropped his rifle and rolled with it, springing upright at the same time as swinging his own sword, slashing his enemy in half. His was no lightsaber but the vibroblade paved its own way.

Trap made, cage sprang. The Kiffar wanted his prized pair of creatures and got them. Bait, as they were. The Ewok sheathed his sword, retrieved his rifle and paced over to the cage. His eyes met theirs and neither party looked away. He was glad that his companion was on the same page, those trophies hardly worth taking.

“Thees.”

Of course, one vornskr was not enough so he held up his two fingers for the other hunter to see. They would both claim such a predator one way or the other. For the moment, Turok found a severed leg on the ground, the end of which was scorched by a blaster blast, and bit down. A chunk of meat ripped between his teeth, bone exposed, he swallowed and offered the leg to his newfound friend.

“Roda.”

Amos

 

[Amos]

"Three." Amos said in quick response as he held up his own fingers. Shaking his head at the offer of food from his companion.

He wanted two of the beasts for his own. "Mine I want alive."

He had found that similar to his Amphistaff, the ewok had a penchant for violence. It was best to make his own desires clear before there was a mistake. So far the little bear had proven to be a useful companion, and he'd hate to turn him into more bait for any Vornskr that might meet an unfortunate fate at his companions hands. "Better if they are young."

The Sith noted as he motioned towards the far end of the clearing.

"They take up most often near the cliffs." It would be best to move their bait closer to where the cat-like hounds took up residence most often. Though he had enjoyed this excursion, he was also eager to get back to work in the greater parts of the galaxy.

 

[Turok]

Three was more than two and just as good. Gesture refused, Turok retracted his arm and took another bite. The lizard’s leg was gamey which was fine. In conditions like these he didn’t want to taste anything terribly fancy and it wasn’t terrible at least.

Nodding at his companion’s condition to take the beasts alive, the Sith would get no argument from the assassin. Right, in this instance, they were both hunters.

Under the cover of trees, other beasts could keep from being seen, but that would work in the favor of these two predators too. Turok, at least, knew how to move in environments like these. He wagered a Force-user was the same way.

“Acha.” In agreement with the cliffs, all that was left to do was move which meant someone was going to have to haul the cage of bait. “Tyatee.” At that, planting his rifle over a shoulder and with the rest of his lunch’s leg in his other hand, Turok began to advance toward the cliffs. Along the way, he imagined what a vornskr’s skull would look like for decoration in his ship.

Amos

 

[Amos]

Amos let his fingers twist once more, the barking of breaking tree branches echoing out as the cage he had crafted twisted and tightened. The creatures caught within whimpering as the trap around them began to float and slowly eek along the forest floor. Following along with the two hunters as they were dragged towards the distance cliffs of Myrkyr.

As they walked he did not speak to the Ewok, did not try for any pleasant conversation.

It's language was base, close enough that he could understand if he tried, but he had no interest in understanding the creature better. Instead he focused on the path ahead of them, the sound of the jungle around them. This world was dangerous for those like him. Filled with creatures that could take his greatest strength on a whim.

As they continued their path through the dense jungle the monsters of Myrkyr lurked. Some peering down from the trees, others lurking beneath the very earth. Amos could feel them. Watching, waiting, trying to understand.

With the cliff stalking into the sky above them, Amos signalled for a quiet halt. "Something is following us."

He noted in a whisper.

 

[Turok]

The Ewok might not have looked like it, what with the idle position of his rifle and meat between his fingers, but he was ever alert to danger that might linger near his presence. That was just his nature. From Endor to whatever that lab of shadows was he remembered, planet after moon, station after ship, the dangers changed, but danger never did.

By the time the Kiffar signaled for a halt, the Ewok had since finished his meal and was hungry for something else: the hunt. One hand on the handle of his rifle, the other under its barrel, lips rigid, his eyes swept the vicinity. They were alive with infrared yet again.

Combined with his innate sight and sense of smell, Turok might just give this Sith hunter a run for his money even with his Force abilities. “Chak,” he agreed with a whisper. Something was indeed following them. After all, the whole forest may as well have been given the bait in the cage.

“Ee chee wa maa!”

Turok exclaimed as the creature emerged. It had four legs, a tail, pointed ears, a small nose, big eyes and looked like a loth cat in reverse.

At that, the Ewok waved the cat toward him. It was probably curious, following them hoping for scraps. Whatever it wanted, it wasn’t uncommon for certain species to behave differently between planets.

“Oodeef. Oodeef!” Lowering to his knees, he began to pet the cat, scratching its ear as it purred.

Amos