sealle on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/sealle/art/Hare-raising-549868379sealle

Deviation Actions

sealle's avatar

Hare-raising

By
Published:
5.6K Views

Description

This amazing thing is a collab with the incredibly talented Ebbarie. I did the sketch/BG and she did the AMAZING lines and colouring. I cant get over how much i love this image, it all just worked together so wonderfully. It was such a joy to work with a tribe mate i had not collabed with before. :heart:

Ebbarie's Version: Dire Days - Task Two - Hare-Raising by Ebbarie (Share the Love!)

~~~

Tuaq

He sat still, eyes glued to the behemoths in the valley below. He had been scouting with Naasir for the last few days, departing each morning from basecamp to try and locate the elusive pack of Dires they were gathering information on. The first days had been long hours in the saddle with little signs of the giant’s, it was yesterday evening that they had managed to find traces of their presence. They had followed the trails and finally caught up with the elusive Dires this morning as they fed on a fresh kill.

The males muzzles were bloody as they tore into the small mountain goats carcass. It was not a large meal, and the snarls and snapping echoed up the slope towards the watchers. The tawny male spent most of the time dragging the kill away from the darker merle, and both males exchanged swipes as they tried to eat as much as possible before the kill was gone. They had managed to grasp it firmly between then and with several vicious shakes and pulls the small body gave way and tore in half. The males separated, settling in the blood stained snow to crunch through the remains of the kill in peace.

Tuaq turned, looking down slope to where his own tokota’s lay, Igi snoring softly as he lay sunning on the rocks, as always patient kaniq kept a watchful eye on him. At his movement the halfmane shifted into a crouch, watching him in case he needed her. He held up a palm and she sighed, shaking the snow from her spiked mane before rolling onto her other side and resting her chin on her legs. He reached into his pack, grasping the canteen of water and unscrewing the cap brought it to his lips for a drink. The icy water almost burned as he swallowed so after a small mouthful he settled to sipping slowly, eyes watching the wild dire’s as they crunched through the bones.

At first he thought it was the wind, or some snow sliding off a rock as the sun’s warmth melted it. He took another sip before more movement brought his eyes back to the snowy hillside. Narrowing his eyes he loosely scanned the landscape, another movement finally bringing a figure into focus. The short haired Dire blended so easily with the white snow it was easy to miss her at a distance. She was moving slowly, each paw placement precise as she slunk towards the preoccupied males. They had not noticed, but she finally was close enough that with a powerful leap she knocked the Merle male away from his prize. Snarling and swiping she clipped him across the head, sending him staggering back and shaking his head. Dipping her head down she tore her first bite of the kill away, blood merging with the blueish smear that marred her pristine white hide.

Tuaq frowned, eyes catching on something out of place, there seemed to be something on her neck, almost as if she had a collar on. “Naasir, do you have binoculars? Does that look like the female has something around her neck?”

Naasir

“Keep still Zhaitan” murmured he silence. The tawny Tokota fidget around all the time, since they reached the small rope where they were hiding since the early morning, hidden from the ice-cold sight of the three Dires. They had a hard time finding this pristine creatures here in their dangerous domain. The Tartok mountains were always the home of the primordial Tokotas and not many dared to enter their territory until now. He was really excited when he heard that the Researchers at the Tokota Cultural Association called out for help from the Tribes and the other Tokota Owners. They got a really big response on that announcement. The decision had spread fast, like most of the other Issorartuyok-Tribe Members he was itching to see the mountain and the wild dires by himself.

The way up to the research base was even harder than he imagined. Zhaitan was a well experienced Tokota, but even he had some struggles on the way. But since they reached the base, he had overcome by an strange feeling. Something as going on here and Zhaitan seemed to feel the same way. The always calm Tokota was noticeable nervous and in a bad mood. “Stay calm boy, or do you want that the Dires notice us?” he asked and fondled him behind the ears, that normally settle him down really fast, but not this time.

The next moment he heard Tuaq’s steamed voice. “Yes, wait a second” he answered and started to search for the binoculars in his saddle bags. After he almost unpacked the whole content of the bags, he finally found the field glasses.

Quietly he stepped besides Tuaq. “Why should a wild dire have something around the neck? I thought the researchers wasn’t able yet to use tracking devices on them?” he asked and frowned confused. But a look through the binoculars confirmed Tuaq’s guess.

“You’re right” he said strained. “It really looks like a tracking collar. But...why? I don’t really believe that the researchers have lied to us. Why should they? They know that some of us would find the dires and would be able to the the collar...so someone else must have put it on the female. The question is who and why.”

Tuaq

“We need to let the scientist know about this. Perhaps they are aware of it already, but in case it is an unknown group we need to get this to them as fast as possible.” Tuaq took a last look at the wild pack. The Merle was trying to beg some food off the tawny male, but the goat carcass would not keep them busy much longer. They needed to get going now, or they would have to wait until the Dires moved off to avoid their path.

He waved his hand, bringing Kaniq to her feet in a moment. Igi yawned, rolling to his stomach and watching the sudden rush that took over the humans. Tuaq slid down the slope, away from his lookout point and began to tighten the fastenings on the Tokotas harnesses as he buckled his gear back onto them. Kaniq seemed to pick up the urgency and lowered herself again, allowing her human to swing astride her, within moment they were ready to leave. Tuaq looked at his companion, happy to see he was equally swift in assessing the situation. Signalling to Igi to follow he urged Kaniq down the opposite side of the ridgeline.

The snow shifted underfoot as the Tokota’s powerful legs steadied the controlled slide. They would have to ride fast to make it along the valley and across the mountain pass towards the base camp. They reached a slight level area, Tokotas shaking the snow from their coats and Tuaq turned Kaniq along the side of the mountain. Her steady ground covering stride ate up the distance and even Igi seemed all business as he loped along beside her, his head never swaying from its place at her tail.

They passed over a rocky patch, hard ground increasing their speed, if only for a moment. They had just passed another rise when sudden movement caught his eye. A flash of grey was all he saw before the small hare careened downhill. Kaniq’s stride broke for a moment before she settled again, but a moment later Naasir’s warning call brought Tuaq’s head spinning around. Igi had fallen for the chase. The young wolverine was racing after his target, packs shifting on his back as he ducked and wove along the small mammals trail. Tuaq shifted slightly and Kaniq raced after him. They could not afford this waste of valuable time, the last thing they needed was for someone to be injured or lost so close to the hunting pack.

They were gaining upon the stupid pup, Kaniq ready to unleash a fierce reprimand on the youngster and Tuaq clenching his jaw in frustration. It seemed every few steps forward the young tokota took, he took one back. The wolverine let out an excited yip as he finally drew close enough to the Hare to lunge for it.

Naasir

“You're right” he nodded approvingly. Then he rushed to Zhaitans side, putting the binoculars back into the saddle bag and reassured himself with a fast look around that they haven’t forget anything here, before he swung back in the saddle. His Tokota seemed almost relieved that they finally would leave the slope and bring some distance between them and the mighty dires.

“Lets go” he murmured and lead Zhaitan on the path behind his companions.

He winced when Zhaitan suddenly changed his direction. His mistake, he shouldn’t be that absent but more concentrated on a such a challenging ride like this. He was thinking about the whole situation so he doesn’t really realized that the other Tokos had left the way. Now he needed a few moments to realize what has happened, but he doesn’t really could see anything besides Kaniq’s hind legs and much whirled snow, that made it impossible for him to see the young wolverine.The only thing he could do was trying to get a safe seat in Zhaitan's back where he won’t hinder his Tokota, because he really seemed to know what was going on.

A few seconds later, the tawny male passed Tuaq and Kaniq, so Naasir could finally see the reason for all this mess.”Really?” he grumbled exasperated. Only moments later, he was almost near enough to lead Zhaitan before the reckless pup to slow him down but then he noticed something.

First he saw only big amounts of whirling snow in the distance, then he heard a deep, furious roar and finally he could saw the snarling face of the big, tawny dire, running directly towards his little group. Behind the dire he saw the shadows of the other two Tokotas, following the tawny male.

“Tuaq watch out!” he yelled tensing.

~~~

Word Count: 1,675


:iconissorartuyok-tribe:

Tokotas Name: Deniigi 1067
Link to Tokotas Import: Deniigi 1067
Handlers Name: Tuaq
Task/Bonus Objective: Task 2
Expedition Journal: Dire Days Tracker

Tokotas Name: Zhaitan M327
Link to Tokotas Import: Zhaitan M327
Handlers Name: Naasir
Task/Bonus Objective:
Task 2
Expedition Journal: Dire Days Expedition Journal


Also Shown: Kaniq 744WF16WM15Gilgamesh WM14 (Owned by PippinDraws )
Image size
4208x2298px 9.07 MB
© 2015 - 2024 sealle
Comments34
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
MoonlightOwlArts's avatar

AMAZING! But... Im new here, what are these species called?