Unmerciful

The Huntsman's Horse Presents: Arctic Adventures

Featuring:

Christopher Burton on PS Skarlatsnorn

Dave Burton on NRR Bees in Braille

Arctic Taming Attempt 2 of 3

Follows after:  

(story summary below the wall of text, feel free to scroll on down for all your non-reading needs~)

    “And he's actually staying clean? He promised that?” Dave asked Chris skeptically. 

     “Yup,” Chris answered flatly, yet again. No surprise the peaceful ride into the snowy wilderness turned into an interrogation but by Dave's standards where the questions were loaded traps to pick apart later. Really, he was just arming himself if he met Fang again or if there were any problems between them. Chris knew what he was doing. He treated Kate the same way until he got to know her better. Boy, how the tables turned fast in that relationship. He ended up more friends with Kate than pity for Chris. 

     “Do you believe him?”

     Chris held back a snort and a chuckle. What a thing to ask. “Dad, I'm not that kind of stupid. He wanted help, he got it. And until he doesn't want it, he has it. People are allowed to fuck up. It doesn't make us unforgivable,” he looked over to Dave with a more serious look. He wrapped himself up in that remark on purpose. He had screwed up enough times in the past too. Hell, getting back together with Fang was probably another one. So how could he pass such bullshit judgement onto Fang while pretending Chris wasn't as guilty? Just because Chris wasn't the one snorting lines of coke didn't mean he didn't allow it to happen, didn't try to stop Fang, wasn't the one that even cared if he stopped or not. Chris was just as much of a bastard in his own right. He didn't lift a finger to help Fang until it became Chris's problem. Who was the real jerkoff in that? 

     Dave sighed, looking ahead. Finally, after years of disappointing his son, he had a sense he should drop it. Perhaps that sentiment was even pointed right at Dave too. “I admire your compassion, Christopher,” he managed to respond. 

     Rolling his eyes, silence came over them once again. That kind of response was equal parts resentment and surrender. Dave could stew in his jealousy and disapproval all he wanted. It wasn't going to stop Chris from having the freedom of choosing who exactly received the benefits of his deranged desires. Why not Fang? Time and time again Chris beat Fang down, berating and belittling him. And time and time again, Fang came back stronger for it. Really, not unlike his relationship with Dave- Chris scowled hard as his cheeks heated up. Gross. Thank fuck it was hard to tell from the cold already painting them a healthy pink to begin with. 

     “Multiple tracks,” Dave pointed out, following them ahead from where they were going. The prints they had been following were starting to fill with fresh snow trickling down in a healthy flurry. Nothing that would bury them. 

     Scarlet stopped, her ears alert as they could pick up a shrill squeal of what was probably another mare in the distance. Did she dare respond back? Bee also lifted her ears but didn't have the same interest Scarlet had. Finally, Scarlet gave into her instincts and huffed a whinny of her own, sending out her position to the snowy unknown ahead of them. She hardly needed the cue from her rider to walk on as curiosity pulled her forward anyway. 

     Dave hesitated for a moment, hanging back long enough to look over his shoulder and considered advising they should head back. With the snow falling, what were the chances they could get back on their own without tracks to follow? Reluctantly, he nudged Bee to follow. He was fairly confident they could easily get back. They hadn't gone that far and for the most part just in a straight line. Bah. 

     Keeping quiet, Chris strained to see through the snow to spot any of the horses. It wasn’t until Scarlet stopped abruptly and sidestepped, looking to her left instead. Chris followed her attention and could just make out a shape where the snow was interrupted. Staring back at him was one of the white arctic Tharoksu. He couldn't be sure if it was the one they had followed or not. As his eyes adjusted, he saw another one just slightly behind the first staring back too, ears at alert. And another. He looked more to his right and saw a couple more. They…were surrounded. 

     He only read about the accounts of the Tharoksu’s hunt trait. The ones he worked with came from captivity so he never really felt any difference from any regular horse. It was hard to say if Scarlet could do it or if she was just following sights and sounds like any horse could do. But all of these eyes staring back at him… it felt different. At first, it felt like curiosity looking back at him. That's not so different from any other horse. These horses didn't often see people and on a strange horse they didn't know, no less. They would keep their distance, he would keep his. 

     Why was he even out here? It wasn't like he wanted to take one home. Maybe it was his own curiosity. He was more mature now than when he only wanted to get the job done at the cost of peace. It felt better to just observe and leave. 

     These were not regular horses, however. They were not just merely being observed. Chris didn't understand what it meant to be hunted. His apex predator mind couldn't comprehend that an animal he was born to subdue could ever turn the tables. 

     A silent call was made. No more than a hushed thud of a hoof and then came a charge. Chris turned his head to see one of the white horses barrel his way with its ears pinned and the white of its eyes flashing. “Shit-!” He swore loudly, kicking at Scarlet immediately to get her attention! 

     “Chris!” Dave called, seeing the same problem and reacting much the same. They needed to get away and quickly! 

     The two scattered into the trees, snow and horses swirling around them in a flurry! Squeals erupted as some were frightened and others threw their hooves at them, standing their ground to the intruders! Scarlet skittered and scrambled as best she could between trees and gnashing teeth, bumbling into trunks, stumbling over roots. It was only now that the sheer number of them became apparent! All of them hidden amongst the snow, they had blindly stepped into what felt like an ocean of them when they thought they were just at the shoreline! Wave after wave, more and more just kept appearing from the flurries of snow like the wind itself carried them in! 

     Chris winced, getting his knee or elbow bashed into a tree more than once but it was hardly the time to reprimand when she was just trying to dodge getting her head kicked in. His heart jumped into his throat as a loud clap of teeth right by his ear caught him off guard. He saw the flash of wild eyes staring back at him, nostrils flared, teeth clamped and bared, ears flattened all just an arm's length away. Snow exploded from the tree branches above as it was the only thing that stopped that Tharoksu from shutting those teeth around Chris's throat. He only had a sliver of time, feeling the slight heat from the horse's breath brush his cheek before they were nearly blinded by the snow dropping all around them like a smoke bomb, decreasing visibility tenfold. 

     “Dad!” Chris called back with a tone of desperation, wiping at his eyes frantically to have any kind of chance of navigating or dodging these insane horses! 

     “Just keep going!” Dave called back, having to manage his own bobbing and weaving. They were going to be fine. They were going to be fine. Nothing was going to hurt Chris. He wouldn't allow it. They'd both get away and laugh about this. He was not going to allow himself to panic. It would be scary for now, but this would come to an end. He saw the horse that nearly snatched Chris off his horse and Scarlet returned fire by kicking madly at it, tree bark splintering away with a loud crack. A shame she caught the tree, it would have been a good strike at its knee and may have changed its mindset. Instead, the beastly Tharoksu pursued, slipping in between him and Chris. 

     Scarlet was in a blind mad scramble by now. She squealed loudly, bucking kicks back at the Tharoksu chomping at her haunches. When she wasn't kicking out, she was frantically trying to run through the others to get away from them. Chris looked back, trying to find his dad in all of this mess. If he was struggling to get through in the lead, what of Dave has it worse behind him? What if he fell off? Could he just leave him? But even if he had to go back for him, what could he even do? A pure and simple thought jumped to the front of his mind: don't hurt my dad. 

     Scarlet landed a hard blow on the Tharoksu's jaw, making it rear back and skid away from them. Only then, could Chris see back behind them that Dave was still on Bee and still slithering through the trees. A sigh of relief- 

     His breath caught in his throat as the ground gave out below him. He felt the sickening sensation of falling. The disgusting floating sensation right before everything was yanked downward by gravity's unmerciful pull. Chris's eyes widened as his will succumbed to widespread numbing terror. Scarlet had charged into a Tharoksu that stood its ground. It reared up, aiming its hooves at her, daring her into combat. In an attempt to dodge it, she had caught a root and they were falling down an embankment. All Chris could see was this horse stretching into the sky, hooves striking at him as he was powerless to do anything but fall with Scarlet. 

     What was going to kill him first? The fall? Bash his head into a rock? A tree? Scarlet falling on top of him? He already knew exactly the amount of debilitating pain coming his way, if so. Her rolling over the top of him and crushing his bones. Leaving him there to slowly die in the cold. Snow freezing his tears to his cheeks. His lungs, unable to call out for help. So fucking cold. Making his body numb everywhere but his shattered leg. No, it couldn't be so merciful. It wasn't Hakuna’s fault. Chris had put him in this position. The horse was just doing what he told him. Just pretending to be Dave. A dumb kid that just wanted to be like his dad. Just to die trying. 

     Dave stopped breathing, seeing Chris's mare flip sideways and fall down a small embankment. He couldn't see either one of them. “Chris!” He shouted for him, yanking Bee’s reins that direction and thudding his heels to her sides. He slapped at her flank, anything to unsettle the mare to get her to move faster than she was already giving him! It wouldn't be enough until he could see Chris again. He refused to believe he'd find his son at the bottom of a hill, unresponsive and shattered. No. It would never happen again!

(1887 wordcount)

TLDR SUMMARY;

--Small talk about Fang "going clean"

--Dave takes the hint he should just leave it alone -fatherly grumble noises-

--They find multiple tracks from the singular set they were following

--They spot one, two, three, four...five...more and more Tharoksu amongst the trees and snow watching them

--Chris figures just keep their distance and that's cool

--Uh, no. These Tharoksu have a unique trait called "hunt". Not "stand and chill"

--Dave and Chris are under attack by this herd of horses almost immediately for stepping on their turf!

--The boys yeehaw tf out of there, getting chased, kicked, and bit at as its hard to spot the white horses in the white snow

--Chris almost gets his head bit off but phew, cool, dodge that only to nearly catch hooves next

--Scarlet goes down, tripping and falling over a drop

--Chris gets tossed like a salad and he's down

--Cue the dumb cliffhanger voice "To be continued..."

Previous: Not as Hard as You Think || Next: Ranger Rudolph's Snow Removal Services

What's an adventure without a chase scene?? High octane, suspenseful chase scene xD Yee and Haw. I do love playing with the Tharoksu lore~ Being horses that actually show traits of "hunting". Even though they aren't, like, consuming what they hunt necessarily, imagine getting lead into a trap and then ambushed by a whole herd hiding in plain sight :'''D That's not great~ I always tell my clients, the only thing keeping us on top of them is they don't know how dangerous they really are to us.

Man down, man down! It was not my intention to have Scarlet toss Chris a second time xD I swear, she's better than this! 😭We're just going through a tough time right now! And to be fair, Chris doesn't really blame her for this one. Would have been better if she just, ya know, jumped down but, sure, cool, let's just fall over and kill him instead. Cool cool cool.

Meanwhile Dave is about to fight a horse if he has to He will lose and he will die but nobody hurts baby.

For this one, I made myself NOT do a sunrise/sunset snow scene xD I sucked it up and picked a different pallet lol Blues and reds~ Mixed with some browns~ Originally wanted to go more greys and flurry to capture the "ohshit" vibes but nah, couldn't do it. This was more fun. I thoroughly enjoy getting to draw action! It make me so happy 😭I needed this so bad. A brain break from the "norm"

Chris/Scarlet/Dave/Bee/Fang/Art © @Drasayer

No specific refs for snow hell, mean pony, nervous pony, or fall down go splat pony, or the fall down go splat lad, or big daddio hero man~

Procreate/PhotoshopCS6