Quote:
Continuation of Bridge Breakers, Ylva and Reko's viewpoint.

Wordcounts:
--- Ylva || 1080 words
--- Rajko/Reko || 1011 words words

Total Wordcount: || 2082 words


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Reko breathed in the icy air like he had taken a lung full of cinnamon in his face. He hacked restlessly. The pain swirled in his lungs like nothing else before. It was alarming! It was- it was painful! Reko wasn't certain he was glad to have "awakened" as the others called it, so far north as he had!


"Y-ylva!" He cried. "The air- it hurts to breathe!" He fought against the snow as it battered against his face to gaze in Ylva's direction. Oh! The pain, the singe. He might have been blessed by some high power to wear his glorious thick fur, but it still hurt when snow got in his eyes! His thoughts astray he suddenly called out "What about... Finny. Will he be okay?" He was concerned for their light furred friend. He was guarding Momoka but that meant nothing in the long run if he froze to death and was unable to do anything but act as a popsicle. Ylva had told him to keep low and avoid the high winds but Reko didn't know if Finny would listen to her.

Heck, he wasn't sure if he would listen to her!

The duo had climbed over the small hill from the river, and walking further towards the mountain in the far distance they had reached an icy overpass. A cave with no roof, it stretched like a gorge and echoed voices as they moved about it. They were currently standing in front of it.

Ylva originally snorted at Reko's coughing and wheezing. The wind was restless but rightfully so. Those caribou were on the move, and Ylva wasn't leaving until she had the pelt of one in her paws. Unfortunately though, Reko and her failed to match their speed. They were gone, but the scent of them still lingered. It wasn't a lost cause to hunt them yet.

"He'll be fine." Ylva assured her partner. She had faith in Fintan's ability to keep it together long enough to avoid freezing, and she was confident that Reko and herself would return with a pack of caribou on their backs.

"What do you think?" She was curious for Reko's opinion. Ylva herself held no doubts in her mind. She was nothing but confidence and self-assured stability. She rendered no thoughts through her mind that related to the ice of the cavern cracking and splitting underneath. She was however, concerned for if an attacker was under foot. Since Reko had acted violently towards her at their first meeting Ylva wasn't sure if it was a good plan or not to trust anyone else.

But then Reko had turned nice. It had to be a sign that others could be trusted. Mis-communication was what had ailed them previously, not any aggressive intentions...

Ylva's yellow eyes turned to pierce their gaze at Reko's frostbitten red ones. "Well?" She asked.

Reko slid and his claws extended fiercely as his paw pads touched ice underneath him. This ice wouldn't break though, it was tough as a rock, slippery, but tough. It was clear too, he could see his reflection in it! "Ylva look!" He declared while placing his feet on the ice. She easily moved forward and Reko, soon enough gained the hang of it to follow her. The icy passage amused him greatly and Reko gazes at the walls to stare at his distorted reflection.

"Heh." He laughed, "bleah" he stuck his tongue out, acting more amused with a jolly smile upon seeing the fat looking face and crossed eyed image before him. Ylva was lesser impressed.

"Enough!" She turned and snapped at Reko. She growled and bore her teeth with a growl. "We're hunting remember, stop acting so loud and keep it together. The caribou could hear you." She turned her wolf-like eyes away at that point, and snuffed out a sigh of icy snow while treading towards the exit to the small cavern. When she heard something fall, her ear twitched and she called out "Reko!" In the tone of a whisper.

Ylva's nose had yet to fail her, and what she felt was that delicious smell of meat still living. The female's lips curved upwards in a grin. She wore a mean, a determined look at accomplishing something deemed important. The caribou, it was right there! Right outside their little cavern that Reko was still admiring the beauty of and it was oblivious to it's two hunters. To be frank Ylva had never eaten caribou before. This, as a matter of fact, would be something of her first meal since she awakened. She had few ideas on how to go about hunting the thing, but she trusted herself. She trusted her instincts. Yes! Instincts drove her. They told her what to do and how to do it. It was like the creator was watching her, eyeing her and wanting to be impressed.

For all she knew, he was watching. Ylva's stomach growled meanly however and distracted her from thoughts of a ghost watching her presence. 'Claws out, fangs ready.' She thought to herself, and waited until Reko brushed alongside her. She was already crouched and prepared to sprint at this point!

Reko, indeed, brushed alongside Ylva, who in her current stance was much shorter then he. His red eyes gazed down at the wolf like female. She had lighter fur then him, and blended in easier. It also didn't stick to the ice when she walked, his was long and with it still being wet his fur had attached itself to the cavern without sign of letting him go. He had to practically gnaw his way free in those short seconds to catch up with his companion. "Ylva..." Reko said in a somewhat whine of a tone. She shushed him quick and Reko determined to speak softer. He found he didn't like it when the females growled at him as Ylva seemed to do frequently... "Ylva..." He whispered lowly, bending down to her level. "What are we suppose to do? I've never hunted before..." He was suddenly overcome with an emotion resembling fear. He wasn't certain of what he was suppose to do, were they suppose to kill the creature before them? Ylva seemed ready to do just that... Reko was less certain.

"Big baby." Ylva rolled her yellow eyes at him. To which Reko gasped in preparation of rebuttal. She quickly spoke over him however. "Look, we just need to take it down. This is the only caribou I've seen since we lost 'em before at the bridge. Don't go soft on me and ruin this chance!" She bolted at this point, away from the ice and back into the snow. Her feet touched ground under a light layer of ice and her nails made a click! noise as she ran. Her heart pumped fast and her eyes focused purely on her target. With a roar she leap, aiming for the deer's flank.

Reko watched as Ylva pounced on the caribou before it even had a chance to react. Was Ylva always that fast?! Reko himself still was frozen in place, everything seemed slow and calm, even when his eyes were widened. "Attack." He told himself, and somehow his legs pumped forward. He then decided he'd end the creature's misery and go for it's throat. While Ylva clung to it's rear, attempting to kick at her face Reko suddenly became aware they could both get really hurt. Ylva in particular.

"Get away from her!" He growled and charged at the antlered creature with rage. Reko was big, but the deer was bigger. It stood on it's hind legs, promptly knocking snarling Ylva off and into the snow. She gasped for breath while turning to stand.

"After it!" Ylva called, although Reko seemed to already be taking off. Ow. Ow. Ow! That hurt! Her paw felt bruised and the female licked it in an attempt to make it feel better. Their prey was now running downhill, towards a stream, much smaller then the one Fintan and Momo were at, but a stream nonetheless. She jumped to her feet, and surged at her target once again. She had managed to scrap it's butt up pretty good from her claws, and her teeth did sink into it's hip... But the thing still swung her off and Ylva was in no mood for forgiveness over that. Her legs pumped and she dodged a few snow covered trees while darting after the hooved animal. "Reko!" She snarled. He was ahead of her, thank goodness. He could actually prove useful after all! "Reko, cut it off! Get it!"

Reko was not deaf, and although running was taking away his breath and panicking his heart rate he still heard Ylva clear as day. "Got it!" He called back to her, and curved on the snow before ramming into the deer. Luckily for him, he knocked it over and onto it's side. Now was his chance! Their chance. The only chance. If it got up and ran any further he wouldn't be able to cross the stream and continue chasing it!

With a paw he held the struggling beast down, snarling into it's ear. "You hurt Ylva..." He said. "But I'm still sorry it had to come to this..." Then, he chomped down into it's neck. It cried out in pain but Reko paid no mind. He was hungry, and this, this poor creature Ylva had him hunt was food. When he felt it's life fade and the kicking of it's legs stopped Reko released it from his grasp. Ylva had finally caught up.

"Perfect!" She told him. "Excellent hunt." She praised Reko further. Maybe he wasn't so useless after all! In fact he seemed almost good to have around. Until five seconds later when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Ylva..." He sobbed. "I killed it! I killed this... der."

"Caribou." She corrected him. Ylva's eyes were frowned, she didn't understand why he was so upset. They needed to eat, this here was food. Finny needed a pelt, and Reko had been insistent they get him one. Was the newly awakened brown b'alam so stubborn and idiotic to think pelts magically poofed out of thin air? Still, she did not snap at him. Instead Ylva said next to Reko, sympathetically. "One life for another." She told him. "Finny lives, the caribou dies. It had to anyways, because we're all hungry. So really it's more like one dies and four live, y'know?"

Reko sniffed, he was crying now too? But he seemed to accept what Ylva told him. "Alright." He told her. To Ylva's surprise the large b'alam actually turned and snuggled into her. As if she was a soft blanket or protection. She was tempted to smack him for that but resisted dearly. "It had to be done... For, Finny and Momo..."

"That's right." Ylva reminded him. "Now, let's hurry and drag it back to where those two are. If we don't... I don't want to think about it." For all they knew Finny had frozen to death during their hunt and Momo was dying as they spoke. Ylva wasn't pleased with the idea of either of her friends being left to die in the cold like this and gnawed on the antlers of the deer to begin dragging it back to their camp. Reko was helpful, and being much bigger then Ylva to begin with was able to do most of the heavy lifting!

"We have to skin it." She reminded him. Reko seemed alarmed.

"Skin it?" He said. "To make the pelt right? Who are we going to give it to?" His guess was Finny, and Ylva said

"Who do you think? Finny of course." Which confirmed to Reko that it was indeed, the poor guy with the water orbs on his face who would receive a precious gift.

"Come on Reko." Ylva said as encouragement.

Reko nodded to her. "Yes." They both wanted to hurry. To see their friends still lived. Reko wanted to curl up next a nice warm spot right now, he imagined that Ylva would have an idea of what was warm enough to be near. He also imagined that Fintan was going to at one point give him his face gems. But Reko was wrong about that as well.

"Ylva." He said, this time a tone of confidence in his voice. "I killed the caribou." He said, and Ylva grinned as Reko smiled happily.

"Yeah." She said. "You did."