The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

Of Blood and Baths

Solar gave a rundown on the list of animal species present at the watering hole. Apparently there were American mastodons, Bison occidentalis, Camelops, Steppe bison and Megaloceros. "So, here's the game plan. Since most of these herbivores are too big for us, we're gonna have to hunt the Irish elk. If not the camel. Either way, we can't hunt an adult," Solar told the two wolves. "Look," he pointed to a young, antler-less elk. "That one's perfect. So we just have to do what we always do back home during hunts. One of us scares the prey to the rest of the team who take it down. Atsuguk will herd the deer. Got it?" He asked them, to which they nodded. As they were going to move to their positions, Solar gasped and fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder.

Taggak went to catch him, but merely held him in his arms when he didn't collapse. "Dude..." Atsuguk muttered. "You must've exacerbated your wound while transformed. You shouldn't be hunting," Taggak said, worried. "Alright, alright fine. I'll stay here," Amaruq relented, now in his normal form. When they saw that he wasn't going anywhere, they continued their hunt. Amaruq watched them from the bushes. Atsuguk had circled to the other side of the clearing, near their target, while Taggak hid opposite. On the count of three, the chief's nephew burst out of the underbrush, scaring all of the animals there.

His position caused the elk they targeted to get separated and run towards the black wolf's spot. When it was close enough, Taggak jumped out onto the beast. He then proceeded to club it's head multiple times, until eventually the cervid collapsed onto the ground next to the pond. The trio gathered around the fallen beast. It's breathing was laboured. Amaruq did what he always did with caught prey. He sliced its throat with a sharp knife so as to sever the trachea and the jugular. He did not like having blood in his meat, but it was fine since their tribe had gotten used to it as just him being 'Amaruq' again. They then sat in silence as Taggak prayed to the deities for blessing them with this hunt and to give their gratitude to the deer's spirit for giving them sustenance.

After their little religious pay of respect, they began to skin the deer and cut the meat up before storing it in their packs. They went back to their campfire and Amaruq started it back up again since it had died. Normally Taggak and Atsuguk would just eat the meat raw, but they knew that Amaruq was grossed out by that, so they would humour him and let him cook their meat for them as well. It was nothing fancy, just roasting on a fire, but it would make the food edible to Amaruq. He's a little sensitive. His dad had always known that, and would tell the others of his son's strange requests. When the meat was cooked, it was already evening. "Hm?" Atsuguk and Taggak sniffed the air. "What is that smell?" The youngest one asked curiously, his mouth watering. "Ahh, it's nothing special. Just the roasted meat, that's all," Amaruq answered shyly, while taking off the food off the sticks.

"Well, it smells divine," Atsuguk complimented their packmate. The two then took the deer meat from the chef's hands. They ate hungrily, and soon finished all of the cooked meat, burping. "That was so good. I think Imma go to sleep now," Amaruq said as he took out a bed he made out of the fur. The other two just settled down on wherever softer ground is. "Goodnight," Amaruq bid to the others, to which they replied the same. The night was met with sounds of soft snoring and Rocky Mountain locusts chirping.

When dawn broke, the only thing that could be seen were the mountains in the Pacific Northwest and the boreal forest our trio were currently sleeping in. The chickadees, robins and jays were chirping their morning chorus. This had the effect of waking the sleeping trio up, the canine ears twitching. Amaruq yawned as he stretched and sat up. Then he covered his mouth quickly. Don't want the spirits to get inside your body. As the others were waking up, he decided to go to the watering hole. There, he stripped before taking a dip. The water was so refreshing on his skin. He hadn't taken a bath since the lake, although that wasn't really that long ago.

He washed himself up then scrubbed using a bar of animal-lard-and-potash Solar had invented which could supposedly cleanse your body of dirt. Amaruq didn't know if it really worked and he didn't like the alkaline texture but he believed in Solar. Once he was clean, he got out of the water and dried himself using a very absorbent furskin. He looked at his body. Oh, how he wished he was normal like the others. The only thick fur he had was on his head, the ones on his forearms, legs and torso were so sparse. He covered himself up with his otherworldly clothes, which made him feel a little better. He waved at and passed by his teammates who were only had loincloths on as they headed to the pond.

After they had gotten ready and gathered everything up, Amaruq noticed his wound didn't hurt anymore. That relieved him. It was such a huge burden. Afterwards, they followed Taggak's lead and headed Southwest to Pile-of-Bones. Hopefully, there wouldn't be an evil gang there. Hopefully.