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Description
Angrboda sat still like a statue on top of a rock overlooking the plains below. The only thing moving was her fur that slowly shifted as the wind blew through it. Her breaths came out as white puffs of smoke as she scanned the horizon. The sun had yet to rise, but the sky had started to shift from dark blue to purple with a thin red line. Soon it would get warmer, but not by much. It didn’t really get warm this high up on the mountains. A bit beside her Kai sat facing the opposite direction. He’d been looking for their prey for almost an hour, preparing for the hunt that would start in only a few hours. Looking back over her shoulder, her gaze fell onto her handler. Embla was huddled together with Lodur, the tawny wolverine keeping her warm despite the light cover of snow that laid over them. The other two male tokotas the girl had taken with them were sleeping close by, giving some contribution of warmth to the girl. Her gaze lingered on Nevan, for a regular tokota he was the biggest one she’d ever encountered. While she didn’t care who her handler decided to bring along on their hunts, as long as they did their part she didn’t see why they couldn’t come, not that she understood why she needed help anyway. But the more they were in numbers the faster they would be done, so that was always something.

Kai shot a quick glance at the black female, she’d been up by the time he’d awoke. He didn’t want to admit it, but she was a good hunter, or well huntress. But not as good as him, in his own opinion. Turning back to look at the mountain, he tried to spot any movement in the snow or by the rocks. Searching for even the smallest of movements turned out to be a hard task. The goats had the advantage with their white coats, but he’d find them eventually. He heard one of the three sleeping tokotas bark in their sleep. It wasn’t loud, but it did echo slightly. Keeping his eyes trained on the area in front of him, he searched for anything that might have reacted to the sound, but he still couldn’t spot any movements. He let out a small sigh, all the goats were probably still sleeping just like the others. He’d just have to wait until they woke up and they would start the hunt.

Feeling the warmth on her face, Embla opened her eyes and closed them immediately getting blinded by the sun. Holding her hand over her eyes, she opened them again. Kai and Angrboda sat a few feet from her, watching her. She didn’t need to ask why, they were both eager to get going, and seeing as she was awake, they could start the hunt. Stretching her arms, she nudged Lodur with her elbow, waking him up in the process. As he stretched himself and let out a long yawn, Nevan shook his head and looked around with a drowsy expression. As the large tokota moved, Cinaed lifted his head, looking over his shoulder at the group. Getting up he shook his body, sending snow in every direction. Giving the tokotas something to eat, and getting something quick for herself with something warm to drink. When they were all ready, Embla got up on Lodur’s back, and the tokotas started walking further up the mountain in search of goats.

The snow covered ground crunched beneath the paws of the tokotas as they walked. It was hard to find any scents with all the freshly fallen snow. Kai and Angrboda walked in front of the others, thoroughly searching everything they passed as they walked onwards. Behind them Nevan and Cinaed looked around trying to spot any goats on the cliffs around them. Their ears moved with every small sound, trying to hear a bleat or something they would associate with goats. Embla kept Lodur at the back, so she could keep track of the other four tokotas so she wouldn’t lose anyone. While they would most likely find their way back to her, she didn’t want to risk any of them getting hurt. So she kept her eyes on the tokotas walking in front of herself and Lodur.

Kai held his nose just above the ground, trying to catch any scent that might have been hidden under the snow. While he had caught a scent and dug a bit of the snow out of the way, it had been an older scent and nothing that they could follow at the time. Behind him Cinaed let his gaze move across the surroundings. Most of the cliffs had snow on them, making it a bit harder to spot any potential goats that might have been hiding there. He let out a long sigh, when a movement caught his eye. Stopping in his tracks, he kept his eyes on the spot where he was sure something had moved. The others stopped to look at him, then turned their attention to the cliffs he was looking at. They stood still, almost holding their breaths. Then they saw something move. A small while goat jumped up on the cliff, then back down again, disappearing in an instant. Since this was the first one they’d spotted, they started to move towards that cliff, in hopes that the small one wasn’t alone and had just given away the position of its herd.

It was harder for the tokotas to move up on the cliff then it had seemed when they started. Embla had moved over to Angrboda, who moved with more confidence even with the girl on her back. Lodur had kept slipping, not finding any good ways to distribute his weight along with hers in a good way that would make it easier for him to climb up on the cliffs. Looking back at him, she was happy to see that he was doing a lot better now when he only needed to think about getting himself up safely. Kai didn’t have that much trouble and moved nimbly up on the rocks, stopping at regular intervals to test a rock to see if he could step on it without having to worry about it coming loose. Embla was a bit nervous to be honest. They had gotten a good bit up the cliff, but if something were to happen, it would be a long fall and she wasn’t sure about how soft the snow below them would be if they fell. Cinaed followed the same path that Kai took, seeing as it worked for the brown tokota it was most likely safe, but he still tested some rocks just to be sure. While they didn’t all take the same path up, Kai had picked one of the best looking ones. Angrboda moved along a path of her own, Embla couldn’t even understand how the black female knew where to step it all looked uncertain to her. Nevan had taken on a path of his own as well, with Lodur following after him. The large tokota took careful steps as he moved upwards, being cautious with not putting too much weight in one place. It took some time, but eventually they all stood at the top of the cliffs. Embla let out a sigh of relief, happy that they had made it up safely.

Walking next to the tokotas, the group rounded a large rock. The tokotas perked their ears as they spotted a herd of mountain goats. Looking at Embla she gave them a nod, and they took off towards the unsuspecting goats. It would be risky for them to try and get down but if the goats knew of a better way that they would take while trying to escape the group would take it.