The wolf rider's stalk

(OOC: Hopefully this fits the bill)

A soft crunch-crunch-crunch of snow and ice could be heard as two figures, human and wolf made their way slowly through the cold landscape. Every so often, they would stop and study the ground, looking at the tracks or other sign left by the party in front of them. Then they would continue to follow the trail leading away from the battlefield they had come upon earlier. Whomever this group of people was, they were clearly not hiding themselves. This made it easy to follow them…almost too easy.

The two stopped again as Naurfast, a huge and powerfully built winter wolf, sniffed the ground. Simultaneously, her rider studied the group with her one good eye. The wolf hunkered down close to the ground, concealing both behind a fold in the ground about 150 yards away from the others. Naurfast was wary. In fact, both she and her rider Amdir were. Who were these newcomers, and why were they so foolishly easy to find after a battle?

Reassuringly, Amdir stroked the back of her mount. “I know, I know,” she quietly spoke to Naurfast. “And I don’t understand it either.”

Amdir was a wolf rider of the northern woods. Trackers and brave warriors par excellence, wolf riders were well known to many in the northern civilized lands, though others would say infamous, due to their perceived swagger, rough manners, and occasional village raids. Even if she was not riding a huge wolf, the markings upon Amdir’s skin and fur lined cape would be a dead give away. Her clothing also seemed too light for a person who lived in frigid temperatures, but like her kin, Amdir had a natural immunity to the cold.

But the key reason the wolf-riders were so powerful a people was neither their tolerance for cold, nor their bravery, but the close bond riders and their mounts shared. Both were usually paired together from youth and grew up learning how operate as a close knit team. Such was the case here between Amdir and Naurfast. Amdir had been with Naurfast since the wolf bitch had been whelped. And between the long years of combat, travel, and shared hardship, wolf and rider had forged a bond so close, at times it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. And both was curious who these strangers were. They were clearly powerful enough to have survived the battle.

Amdir figured she would need to deal with them sooner or later. For now, however, the wolf rider wanted to study them and perhaps learn why they were here. Nobody would come out here unless they needed too. And if that was the case, they were powerful indeed. There were things out here, Amdir knew, which were far more dangerous than the cold. But this land was also her home now. Amdir and Naurfast had left their people years ago, and had recently come here after a string of bad luck had forced them away from the south-lands.

“So, what do we do?” Amdir asked the wolf. Naurfast got back up from her crouch, yellow eyes staring at the group ahead of them. It was obvious the wolf’s curiosity seemed to override her innate caution, though her tail remained low.

“All right then,” Amdir replied quietly, again trusting her wolf’s powerful intuition. The two moved forward. Despite her huge size, the winter wolf was nearly silent in the snow, a natural skill honed from years of stalking enemies. A light breeze blew towards them, further hushing Naurfast’s quiet foot falls. She could smell the group now, and something else…less reassuring. It unsettled the wolf a bit, something Amdir could sense in the way her mount moved. Naurfast was too well trained to let the smells scare her. Still, almost as a reflex, Amdir rested her right hand near the large saber, whose scabbard hung from the saddle. She absently rubbed Naurfast’s fur to silently signal readiness for battle.

The single-edged sword, also known as a shashka, was the signature weapon of her people. Specifically designed for fighting from wolf-back, it was also awkward to use without considerable training, something Amdir had in spades. Of course, Amdir had other weapons at hand, notably the scimitar she on wore her left side for dismounted combat. But she hoped it wouldn’t come to that, as wolf and human continued to shadow the others, trying to find out if they were friends…or foes.