When the sun finally rose and they found a suitable hiding place to bed down for the day they found that they had traveled a pretty good distance. Now all they needed to do was stay hidden and find a way to look for these ruins that some old man gave a very vague point to and a general direction from where they were two days ago.
They rested for a time and Acharya and Aiman, along with Asclepius, began looking around and scouting the area around themselves for anything that might look like the ruins of a village. Of course, if it was anything like the villages of today, the wood would have rotted long ago, and the adobe brick, if there even was such a thing back a few hundred years ago, would be ground down to rubble, completely unfamiliar to their eyes. They weren’t Archeologists. But they had to try.
Asclepius moved over the hills with ease, while Acharya and Aiman, were tired and took their steps cautiously around the rocks and crevices, and everything else that could twist or break their ankles.
They moved out maybe a mile or two away from the rest of the pack and studied the hill tops as best they could. They didn’t see anything worth noting. Acharya’s back was getting sore, from hunching over and climbing all this time. Aiman was silent and endured his pain with his usual quiet determination. They marked the hills that they had searched as best they could on Aiman’s map. After studying four different hills they went back to the pack.
Acharya was just climbing up through a crevice when he stopped cold. Aiman pulled himself up next to him and saw what his Alpha stopped for. There, calmly squatting in the middle of the hill they now clung to the side of was a hyena.
There was nothing terribly special about the animal. Except that hyenas were pack animals and if there was one there were others nearby. Asclepius might be able to take it by himself, but if the thing got his jaws locked around him in anyway, their Healer would probably die unless one of them shifted into werewolf form, but in broad daylight, that was not the best solution. They decided to move sideways and try to get around the animal.
As they slowly tried moving along the side of hill to sidestep the animal, the hyena got up and moved to stay in front of them. He sat down again when the two humans stopped moving. Asclepius was on top of the hill. He moved the opposite way away from where the two humans had been travelling, off to their right, but the hyena didn’t seem interested in the maned wolf at all.
Aiman raised himself up onto the hill and moved sideways to his left, keeping a very close eye on the hyena. Acharya watched the Enforcer move slowly, methodically. At first the hyena didn’t seem to want to follow just Aiman. But after the Enforcer took a few steps to his left, the hyena left Acharya and moved with Aiman. Acharya took the opportunity to get up onto the hill and moved to the right towards Asclepius.
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The three had managed to split and surround the hyena. They didn’t want to hurt it; all they wanted to do was get away from it. The hyena sat down in front of Aiman calmly and made a very characteristic cackling noise as it raised its hind leg behind its head and began licking itself.
Asclepius didn’t mask his disgust at the vulgarity of the animal in front of them. And Aiman took the opening to move a few more slow steps to his left. Acharya stayed where he was, watching the animal in front of them.
Asclepius moved around the curvature of the hill, soon he was directly behind the hyena, then he was on the far side of the hill. Acharya moved along that side as Aiman was stationary, holding the animal’s attention.
The hyena yawned; his teeth filled maw opening to a size bigger than any of their heads. Its jaws opened to an impossible angle. The animal slumped down onto his belly as he laid down, still looking at Aiman.
Acharya moved to his right following Asclepius. While Aiman began moving again to his left. At his movement the hyena’s ears picked up and he lifted his head from his paws. Aiman stopped. The hyena looked around himself letting his eyes linger on Asclepius and Acharya before turning his attention back to Aiman. Acharya moved quickly to join Asclepius and they moved toward the far side of the hill.
Acharya wanted to draw the attention of the hyena away from their Enforcer. He realized the best way to do that was to get the animal’s attention and have it chase them. If they got a big enough head start then it would allow Aiman to get away. Maybe they could lose the animal in the crevices of the hill side. And if nothing else they could try to escape into the lake. Hyenas could swim as well as any dog but maybe it would get tired and leave them alone if they stayed in the water long enough. It was risky but it was better than doing nothing.
Acharya yelled, “Hey you! Slobbering mangy mutt! Come and get me!” Without waiting for a response from the beast he and Asclepius part jumped, part ran, part slid down the east side of the hill. They skidded and stuttered and hopped their way down, barely avoiding seriously injuring themselves.
When the two reached the bottom, they looked up thinking they would see the hyena charge down the hillslope after them. But it was quiet and there was no sign of the beast in pursuit of them. Acharya looked down as Asclepius, who returned the look with a cock of his head. He nodded to the wolf and together the two sheepishly climbed back up the hill. They wouldn’t leave Aiman to fend for himself.
When the two topped the hill, they saw their Enforcer sitting calmly on the ground, right where they had seen him last. They saw no trace of the hyena. What they did see was an aged man sitting calmly, facing Aiman. He was dressed fairly well and Acharya had a fleeting thought, where did he come from?
“I could smell you before I could see you, young ones.” The man said without turning his head. “I would very much like for you to join us before you hurl anymore undeserved insults at people you have never met before.” Acharya looked to Aiman who only nodded calmly.