Get Your Paws Dirty

The cold season of winter made for excellent hunting weather. It was one of Alastor’s favorite times of the year, especially given how cold and how much snow the northern territories of Boreas got, and though Elysium just bordered the north, they were close enough that they may as well have been a part of it. It was early morning when Alastor roused his youngest son to start his hunting training. Young Malico was just as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as Saracyn had been to learn about hunting. There must have been something in his genes that inspired a predatory urge to hunt in his boys!

Alastor led he purple-hued pup down from their mountain home and across the land bridge from Alias Island to mainland Boreas. He wouldn’t take Malico far from home given how young he still was; just across the channel to the Rock Gardens. He had seen a herd of deer grazing in the woods nearby a few days prior and had found their tracks encroaching in Elysian lands. They should make for easy prey for the two wolves. Keeping his son’s disability in mind, Alastor made sure to communicate each turn or shift of his body with a flick of his tail or nod of his head. Eventually they rounded some boulders and tracks in the fresh powdered snow came into sight.

"There, up ahead. Do you see the tracks?" he pointed out to his child, leading the way up to the hoof prints in the snow. There were several of distinct sizes, a small herd had been through. "Tell me what you can see. What you can smell." The first skill a good hunter had to develop was his ability to draw information from what his surroundings were telling him.

"Alastor Mendacium"