Tribe of Shadows: Alternate Timeline

Journey to the Northlands: Part Two

Day Six

Sixty-Seven Miles North East of the Ruins of Reagath

It was the dead of night. The wind howled like a rabid wolf as a lone rider mounted on his Thylacoleo, Jumper, traveled across a faded path while snow fell all around him.

Dilath gave a sigh of relief as he saw the bonfire that burned in Valenfell. He was bitterly cold, and hadn’t eaten in almost two days. Turns out that Jumper needed to eat a lot more than he did, and his rations had run out quickly. Dilath had caught a few stringy ovis, but he had given them to Jumper as to keep him going.

‘Sorry, boy. We’ll get you better food at the town, alright?’ Dilath said to his mount, as had become his custom on the long journey. The thylacleo perked his ears in response, a gesture that Dilath translated as “That’s fine. But first, I need to find a tree to sleep in.” The young hunter snorted, patting the thyla’s neck. ‘Alright, Jumper. We’ll stop for the night.’ Dilath muttered, veering a bit off the road towards the woods. Jumper climbed up a pine tree, keeping watch while Dilath set up his camp. There were two pieces of jerky left from his pack, and Dilath ate them. ‘Two more miles to go, boy.’ The hunter said to Jumper. The tree-lion seemingly nodded and stretched himself out on a branch to sleep. Dilath quickly set up his tent and made a small campfire to warm it, yawning as he did so. Dilath slept fitfully, the cold wind piercing through his tent and constantly waking him up. So, Dilath slithered out of his tent, watching the sun rise. The tundra was unforgiving, the hunter had learned, but had a strange beauty to it in moments of peace like this.

Dilath relit the campfire, warming by it for Jumper to return from his morning hunting trip.

Not long after, Dilath saw Jumper padding back to camp, carrying a surprisingly large ovis in his jaws. ‘Thanks, Jumper.’ Dilath said, scratching the thyla behind the ears. The hunter grabbed the axe from his pack and gutted, skinned, and split the ovis in pieces, quickly cooking it as he had learned earlier that, apparently, thylacleo preferred cooked meat. Dilath kept a goat leg for himself to eat, giving the rest to Jumper. The tree-lion, again, seemed to nod in thanks before dragging the dead goat up the tree to eat. (So, basically, the actual thyla acted roughly similar to a jaguar with its prey, dragging it up with it into trees to stop other predators or scavengers from getting it. Just a bit of IRL lore I found on Wikipedia). After eating quickly, Dilath packed up his tent and folded the cloth that made it up, placed it in Jumper’s saddlebag, and slung his pack back over his shoulder. ‘Let’s get going, Jumper. Only two more miles.’

That time passed by like a blur, and within barely forty minutes, Dilath and his tree-lion reached the gates of Valenfell. Two guards, mounted on yutyrannus, looked down at Dilath. ‘I mean no harm. I’m a hunter from down south, Reagath. It got hit by the Imperials a few days back, and I escaped ‘cause I was out hunting and they didn’t notice me. I killed their commander the day after, a man in a skull helmet that carried a bronze pike.’ Dilath said. The guards nodded. ‘Go on through. We are part of the Federation, the anti-Imperial alliance, so we bid you safe passage through the Northlands, huntsman. And you killed an important commander of the Imperials. That’ll certainly get you enough gold to rent a room in the inn for a week or two, and get some food for you and your thylacleo. Just tell the General.’ The guard on the right told him, swinging down from his saddle and unlocking the gate.’ ‘Thank you, sirs.’ Dilath replied. Let me guess, you’re here for the bounty?’ The left guard asked, and Dilath nodded. ‘Well, sorry to say, but that was dealt with by a man named Quint who passed by a day ago. He said he was looking for a man named Dilath.’ The young hunter’s eyes widened. ‘Quint’s here?’ He said, a surprised grin on his face. ‘Alright. So, I take it you’re Dilath.’ The guard on the right said. ‘Yeah. I’m going head to the inn, feed my Thyla, and find Quint. You know where he is?’ Dilath asked. ‘Should be at the bounty board in the center of the market. Can’t miss it.’ the guard said, nodding down the main road of Valenfell. ‘Thanks again. I’ll be heading in now.’ Dilath said, quickly walking in. Jumper silently padded next to him, but that was relatively normal in this city. Dilath heard snippets of conversations ‘…least he didn’t bring a rex. That would’ve been…’ and ‘…never seen a thyla this far north.’ Amid talk of fear about the Imperials full-on sieging them and ‘What’s that big cat thing?’ from a young child to their mother. Clearly, people weren’t as comfortable as they seemed. After a good five minutes of walking, Dilath reached the market, where a dark-skinned man with military-cut hair and a sword hanging at his side leaned against a currently empty note board. And I’m out of space.