Cloudbreaker

The zorse came in at a quick clip, hooves beating in rhythmic pace against the thawing ground. Behind Cloudbreaker flowed a cream-hued tail, and over the ridge of her neck stood an upright mane of her father's heritage, striped black and white just like her legs. She carried the stamina of her sire's wild heritage too, and that had brought her from the Eskers to the Prairie in record time.

Frantic, dark brown eyes took in the scene of rolling hills around her. Not seeing anyone, and not knowing where else to turn, Cloudbreaker reared back and bellowed out a cry for help, "Haunters! I need you!"

Axis

Lying beneath a tree, the spotted male lifted his head at a cry as it rang across the grasslands. Dark eyes rested on a large figure, legs reared against the sky. His ears flicked at the strange words, then he pulled himself to his hooves and lumbered out into the tall grass. The chital trotted some meters forwards before pausing and swinging his gaze around.

When his eyes returned on the stranger, he raised his voice to ask, "Are you in trouble?"

Cloudbreaker

The zorse's breath rose like expanding plumes of mist from her heaving nostrils, and one could almost see the heat radiating from her hide against the chilly morning air. Anxiety flared in her wide eyes, but she held it all in check with the composure of a creature who had seen and been through much in her young life, and though she started a little when a spotted deer suddenly rose from its resting place not far away, Cloudbreaker held her ground. She took a deep breath then and steeled her mind against the panic, and focused on the cervid that now approached her.

"Not me, but my friend is." Her words were a little quick as she began to calm her heavy breathing. "She is on the run from humans, and they were close to our trail. I'm trying to find help to fight them off." The zorse was skeptical about asking the chital for help in such a dangerous mission, but she was certainly not going to turn it down if he didn't immediately balk at her story.

Axis

The chital's ears flew forward at the mention of humans. His eyes darted over the zorse's head, as if searching for any signs of a hunting party closing in. A cold wind blew over the heads of frosted grasses, but that was the only rustling he saw.

Relaxing, the chital admitted, "I don't know if I can help." Compared to the equine he was a big undersized, and he could imagine her companion was the same; if they were having trouble, there was no way he could fight, of all things.

His gaze flickered to the velvet that hung from his antlers, draped like leaves from a willow. It was his second hard rack, and he could feel it was different from the first, but he doubted it was as impressive as it could be. Despite the freshly sharpened tines poking through, the idea of doing anything with them but sparring with another chital didn't even occur to him.

"But," he continued as he thought--pausing briefly to clear his throat and sound more confident than he felt--"I could distract them." His hide twitched nervously, but the blood was rushing through veins, warming his muscles and quickening his heartbeat. He knew humans were more than a little dangerous, but deers were experts at evasion and stealth; he thought perhaps he could channel a little bit of the fox to make a little more use of those skills.

"Best hurry," he said, shaking the dew from his body. The slightest extra weight wouldn't do.

He came closer, ready to bound after her should she lead the way. The question of why he would be willing to assist in this matter didn't occur to him until well after he'd started following her, and by then he was already determined to do something.

Cloudbreaker

Unlike her chital friend, Cloudbreaker was eying those freshly exposed tines in a very weaponized way. Growing up in the likes of the Shadow Haunters had opened her eyes to all manner of different things, with wolves, big cats, and even deer being her herd mates in those formative years. Training for warfare was part of life back then, and those memories were starting to trickle back despite the time that had lapsed between now and the Nuova's decimation of the Haunters.

Still, she was prepared to accept Axis' decline for help, and was just about to give him a knowing nod when a single -But- stopped her. Cloud cocked an ear and listened with renewed hope. A distraction! She could have smiled at him, if not for the rampant anxiety coursing through her adrenaline fueled veins.

"That would be perfect! Follow me." Cloudbreaker turned back in the direction of the Eskers and began to charge forward in a gallop. The zorse let one last bellow ring out across the plains as she ran, just in case there were any other ears in the area who might catch the rallying cry.