On the Hunt (Tharasis)

It was twilight and the female dragon with black scales was flying through the sky, wings outstretched to reveal black wings speckled with silver scales, looking much like a night sky. Sting was out for a midnight hunt, her eyes peeled for any prey for her hatchlings in the morning. The hunt the previous day was unsuccessful, so the NightWing was eager to be on extra alert to satisfy her hatchlings.

After seeing nothing from above, Sting dove to the earth and landed neatly on her paws. She sniffed the snowy ground, trying to pick up a scent. Nothing. She sighed. Winter was always the toughest season to hunt in, not to mention her wings were freezing off. Suddenly her ears pricked as she heard something. Sting snapped her head in the direction of a hill, in which she saw two elk upon; a mother and a fawn. Sting immediately dropped into a crouch, sticking her belly to the snow and slowly slinking forth. She was careful not to let her tail drag behind her, and she kept her wings up and neat against her flanks. When she was finally close enough, she sprang out with outstretched claws. The NightWing felt satisfaction as she felt her claws slide into the pelt of the mother deer. Her head quickly snapped to the fawn, silencing its screech abruptly. Sting sat down and studied her kills. Both were rather scrawny, and she felt slightly bad for killing the baby deer. But Sting couldn't let fresh prey go in a time like this.

She ducked her head to pick up the kills, but a scent suddenly hit her nose. Sting went stiff and growled. Another dragon was here. She suddenly stood over her prey and lashed her tail angrily. There's no way any dragon would get this food from her without a fight!!

"Is anyone here?" the NightWing called out warily.

Winter. Tharasis had love/hate relationship with it. He loves it for its beauty and the serene feeling it gives him, and hated it effects the amount of prey available.

Today was hunting day, his stock of food had finally ran out and this is the day to, once again test his skills at being a hunter. He flew high above the skies, seeing and admiring the sight of the mountains. After a few hours of flying he found nothing, again he searched, and again had he found nothing. After a few hours of flying around in circles in his hunting grounds, he decides to fly farther. Picking a random point he flew straight hopefully finding something.

Finally after searching for so long, Tharasis stumbles apon an area where there was animals in. He could only make out 6 deer's. But he knows there is more, diving down onto the forest he quickly catches himself with a couple of beats from his wings. Finnaly settling down on the snowy covered surface, breathing in the scents. He was ready

1 by 1 he picked off the deer, elk and any other unfortunate animal. eventually racking up 35 animals, perhaps to much for Tharasis. But he cant let it go to waste now can he?

The sun has set. and Tharasis was still carrying his load. The amount made it near impossible for him to fly with out risking his load falling off of him, so he decides to find a cave for tonight. maybe feast on some of his prize to an amount that he can carry.

" CRUNCH " , " CRUNCH " The only sound Tharasis could hear as he walked, accompanied by the breeze or the rustling here and there in this dark, lone forest. It gave him a bit of an uncomfortable feeling but he did not worry. Besides who would be foolish enough to fight him.

Then out of no where he hears a voice. "Is anyone here?" The voice was feminine and its tone was warily. Tharasis sniffed and picked up the scent of a dragon, a female dragon to be exact. Is she in danger he thought, quickly dropping the 3 deers that were on his maw he dashed to the direction where the voice came from. Using the scent he picked up to help him find her. Tharasis knew better than to charge head first into something like this, but something told him he had to as if fate somehow was leading him. Coming to a clearing he looked around, his surroundings were faintly litted by the moons light. trying to make out anything all he saw was the still forest in front of him. " Hello! " He said, calling to the dragon.

Turning around he noticed his body was somehow lighter... Then realized that when he dashed towards the clearing had all of his catch had fallen off of him. But that could be taken care of later. Now he stood there patiently listening for any sounds.

At the sound of the voice Sting stiffened, her tail lashing and the spines on her neck standing up slightly. The voice sounded friendly, but Sting knew better than to put her trust in a dragon so quickly. She stood over her kill and turned towards the voice. "If you're going to get my food," Sting began, growling, "you won't be successful! This is mine." She normally wouldn't be so hostile, but she was desperate. The NightWing squinted her eyes and saw the dragon. It was male, she realized, and blue in color. Sting assumed he was either a SeaWing or IceWing, but in any case she stood her ground, chin raised confidently.

The voice he picked up matches the voice he once heard. It was her, but he could not see clearly where she was. Her voice was hostile, but he could sense a bit of desperation in it. In an attempt to calm the dragoness he said" Im not going to hurt you. " His voice was calm, and reassuring. " I already have my catch!...well i had my catch. " He looked to his side and saw the line of bodies that fell off of him as he dashed to where he was. " So can you reveal yourself? " He asked. and slowly began to walk to the general direction of the voice.

Sting hesitated. Should she reveal herself? After wrestling with her mind for a bit, she finally said, "Okay." and picked up her prey in her jaws. With that, she galloped towards the dragon in the distance, snow kicking up behind her. She stopped when she was mere yards from the taller dragon, her food still in her jaws. Sting dropped her prey and ran her tongue over her paws before looking back up at the male dragon. "Here I am." As Sting studied him, she realized something. Perhaps he wasn't full IceWing or SeaWing. . . Those dragons can't get that large. Maybe he was a hybrid?

Tharasis heard snow kicking as he neared her. Eventually she finally came into view. She was smaller than he was. she had smooth black scales across her body, a white underbelly, and a crown of horns on her head. her design was simple.....yet Tharasis somehow finds her more attractive than any other dragoness he had met. Maybe its because she just stood out?, he thought.

"Here I am." She said. Snapping Tharasis back to reality. He could see her looking at him, as if she was...studying him? he thought. Eventually he broke the silence " M- my.. my name is Tharasis " He said stuttering in his words. He never felt uneasy to meeting new dragons, but this particular dragon had somehow made him feel so...so weird...

"Tharasis?" Sting tilted her head up and looked at the male dragon with purplish-blue eyes. "A nice name." She flared out her wings and bowed deeply. It seemed formal, but it was her way of greeting a dragon kindly. "I am Sting Yoru of the NightWings," the female dragon announced, folding her wings back to her sides. "It's a pleasure to meet you. What brings you here at such a late hour?" It was past midnight, and the moon was high in the sky. Overall, however, it was a beautiful night.

"Tharasis?", "A nice name." Tharasis felt happy to hear her say that his name was nice. It was a nice compliment. Then she does something Tharasis never had expected, she bowed. This act caught Tharasis by surprise, it even made him think if he was talking to someone of royalty. But what would she be doing out here all by herself?

” I am Sting Yoru of the NightWings, ” ” Sting, what a lovely name. “ Tharasis complimented.

Finishing  her bow he was about to ask her that question, but she had already beaten him to it. ” It's a pleasure to meet you. What brings you here at such a late hour? " ” Well, I was just about to ask you the same question. “ Tharasis looked behind himself to see, again the line of food he had dropped. ” I was out here hunting, I see you were doing the same. “ Tharasis said turning back and began walking to the his catch. Turning his head to her he asked ” Care to help me pick up my catch? “ He felt a bit hesitant to ask her to help him with such a simple task. Yet he still asked.

Sting padded forth to Tharasis, stopping at his side to look at the line of freshkill he left behind. Her eyes widened. "You caught so much!" She felt envious. Obviously, Tharasis wasn't too far away this whole time and he caught a lot of prey while Sting only managed two pieces. If only I ventured a little further. . .

Well, it is what it is. Sting turned to Tharasis and nodded. "Yes, of course. Give me a minute." She went back to bury her catch, just in case something came by to steal it. The NightWing then returned to Tharasis. "Okay. I'm ready." She went along the line, picking up what she can gingerly in her teeth, careful not to draw blood. What she couldn't carry in her mouth she hooked onto her wings.

"You caught so much!" Tharasis nodded at her reaction and continued forward. She nodded at him when he asked her to help him, eventually he and sting had picked up all of his catch.

Noticing her catch was no where in sight he turned to her and asked. " Wheres your catch sting? " Tharasis felt a bit worried that something had stolen her catch, and if she did lose her catch just because he needed a bit of help he would feel bad about himself.

Snow began to pour from the sky, The surrounding forest was made even darker as the snow that now fell from the sky prevented the moons rays from lighting the ground. It picked up beginning to become more stronger, the wind was now much more colder as it blew hard. Tharasis noticed this sudden change and muttered to himself, " Blizzard... "

"Oh no." The NightWing noticed the sudden change and she quickly turned to fetch her prey, but the onslaught of falling snow covered her scent and footprints. Sting could not find her catch. Her heart plummeted. "No. . . No. Cyclone and Typhoon. . . I'm sorry." Her head was lowered in shame as she stood in silence before she finally raised herself.

"I'll catch some later," she declared, her voice trembling. "Show me to your den, so I can bring your catch."

Tharasis found it harder to see as the blizzard came down harder, as he moved to Sting he heard her utter to herself. "No. . . No. Cyclone and Typhoon. . . I'm sorry." Tharasis was curios as to who Cyclone and Typhoon was but that could be taken care of later. Now Tharasis needed to find some sort of shelter, looking around he could not see anything but snow. The only one he could see is Stings black figure that pierced through the white snow.

"Show me to your den, so I can bring your catch." Tharasis knew he was far from home very far. " Well...um my den is uhh.. very far from where we are right now " Tharasis said to her in a saddened tone.

" C'mon we need to find shelter quick " Tharasis then began to walk to a random point " Stay close, it'll be hard to find eachother if we get separated " He said hoping to find a cave soon.

Truth be told, Sting had underestimated the blizzard. She thought it would be like travelling through rain, but the NightWing had just realized it was much more difficult than that. Snow whistled down like tiny white bullets and flew into her eyes, causing her to hiss and shut her eyelids. The female gritted her teeth and nodded at Tharasis' words. "Aye!" She shouted her reply over the screaming wind and followed the larger dragon.

She looked left and right before seeing something black a few leagues away. "Tharasis, over there!" Sting tucked her wings close to her side and powered over to the cave. She looked inside briefly before twisting her head back around to look at the rogue. "It's empty. Come in!" The female walked in, relieved to be away from the snow. She set down Tharasis' prey and flopped onto the floor of the cavern, panting. Snowflakes were slowly melting from her scales, causing her to shudder. Brr, what I would give to be warm again!

The blizzard would only continue to rain down harder on the two dragons as they moved through the snow. Though it did not concern Tharasis as he is an icewing, his concern was towards Sting. Looking around he couldn’t see anything, only the white, gray, and black. And he knew Sting might not last long if they don’t find shelter soon.

When he heard Sting call to him, he could see what appeared to be a cave not far from them. He could traverse the snow with ease but looking towards Sting it wouldn’t be so easy for her. So Tharasis decided he would help her as best he can, keeping low to the ground he extended his wing in an umbrella like form shielding sting from the cold winds. He moved to match stings speed as they slowly made their way to the cave.

When he saw her get inside, he too was about to follow only to be stopped. A slight pause as he turned back to see the endless sea of snow. He could sense something, hear something out there. Though the only sound that could be heard was the sound of snow fall, he felt as if he was hearing something else. That noise whatever it was, was somehow loud enough to pierce through the sound of the blizzard. Yet quiet enough that Tharasis was having trouble hearing it. But his thoughts however ended when he heard sting call out to him.

“ Coming. “ He said to her, brushing the thoughts aside as he gave one last look outside. Before entering the cave.

He could see where sting had laid down his catch, and once he had also laid the rest of his catch he turned to walk over to a spot of his own. Settling down of the cold hard stone floor. He looked to sting who was shuddering. He could sense she was very cold.

“ Are you alright, sting? “ He asked with genuine concern. The last thing he wanted was for her to get sick, or worse.