( Jor POV )

High above us the sun is blazing away, off towards the horizon the air is shimmering due to the heat.

Rightening myself up right I raise a hand to protect my eyes from the sun and inspect the horizon.

“This heatwave is both a blessing and a curse.” I say wiping away the sweat from my brow.

On my right the Alpha is standing upright defiantly catching as much sun as possible.

Garuu however is close by inside of the shade of a nearby tree, trying to achieve the exact opposite.

"How is this heat a blessing of any kind?” Garuu asks.

I take a quick swig of water before answering

“We are hunting an ambush predator, and due to this heat most animals will be looking for a place to drink, which will also limit the area where we will need to look for our prey.”

Alpha seems to have run out of patience and grumbles at me.

“I have waited long enough for this fight, now tell me did you find tracks?”

“Yes, I have found tracks. It seems like an adolescent Putrikan headed north-west from here.

It probably was force to relocate due to a lack of prey.” I say while pointing into the direction I mentioned

I don’t know how he felt about my answer but Alpha heads off following the tracks, not even considering the state his brother is in.

I follow him but at a slower pace allowing Garuu to catch up.

When he does I ask him a question: “Is he always like this?”.

Garuu chuckles.

“Not always, he used to be though.”

When I offer a drink of my water he shakes his head before continuing on with his answer.

“He used to only look forwards to the next fight.

When he was nominated as the next Alpha his fire got tempered.

It wasn’t so much the challenge of the next fight but the responsibility that came with each fight that became his driving force.

But with age the fire diminished until he was happy sitting in the cave watching the tribe flourish.

But now I see sparks of his old fire starting to rise once more. He is enjoying this more than you think.”

“He has a weird way of showing it” I grunt in response.

We followed the trail for another hour before reaching a small clearing near to the river’s edge. The ground is covered in tougher plants then the savanna grass we were trekking through up until now.

I kneel down and carefully check the ground for tracks.

Not finding anything conclusive I stand up and whisper the others.

“This seems like the perfect place, but I’m not certain. We should check the outer rim of the clearing and see if there are any signs of it leaving.”

A few minutes later we gather in the shade of a nearby tree.

Taking the lead I report my findings first.

“I didn’t find any evidence of it leaving the clearing, what about you two?”

Both of the wolfkin shake their heads.

“In that case we have found your prey” I conclude.

“We should try and lure it out, maybe…”

“No need, we will take it from here!” Alpha proclaims loudly.

Before I can stop them Alpha walks out of the shade, while Garuu places his hand on my shoulder.

“Whatever happens, don’t interfere.”

After those last few words he lets go of my shoulder and joins his brother in the clearing.

Alpha notices his brother joining and raises his club above his head before bringing it down with full force.

Dust and pebbles fly away from the point of impact, and on the other side of the glade the earth starts to move.

Slowly a huge shape rises out from the ground, soil and sand fall away to reveal a dull brown carapace.

When it has fully dug itself out of the ground its countless legs steadily hit the ground dislodging the remaining assortment of pebbles, twigs and dirt from the ridges and joints of its armour.

Meanwhile the Wolfkin duo has closed their distance and are starting to spread out.

The beast raises its armoured head up until it towers over the two wary hunters. A horrible screeching bellows forth from its throat trying to intimidate the defiers of its territory.

Instead the Alpha dashes forward and swings his colossal club with the kind of grace that comes from years of use. The Putrikan tries to lower itself back to the ground but fails to do so before getting hit and having a few of its legs damaged.

The giant centipede quickly recovers and lunges towards the Alpha.

Using his own momentum the huge wolfkin manages to turn his club into the path of its head, changing the trajectory of its jaws enough to escape injury.

On the other side of the creature Garuu moves forward holding his spear, a heavy armament more mend for thrusting then the light throwing spears he based it on.

When he stabs it towards the creature, the spear merely scratches the heavy plates of chitin that protect its back.

Still it’s enough to pull its attention away from Apha and towards Garuu himself. He manages to avoid most of the follow-up move from the Putrikan but does suffer some scratches from its frontal legs before Alpha manages to draw its attention towards itself once more.

This pattern repeats itself a few times. The Putrikan losing a handful more legs on spread over both sides of its body and even suffers a large crack in one of its back plates.

Although by now one thing becomes clear, it can outlast the wolfkin with ease. Although wounded the centipede doesn’t slow down, while Garuu and Alpha are.

The brothers decide to stick closer to one another as so defend each other better, but I don’t think that it will be enough.

I look around trying to determine whether there is anything that I can do, but I couldn’t ignore Garuu’s words. This is important for them, an for their tribe.

Focusing back unto the fight it seems like the Putrikan has decided to be more careful and is circling around the hunters.

Garuu seems to take the opportunity to regain some of his strength, while Alpha is keeping an eye onto the beast.

A few words get exchanged between them and Garuu shakes his head, but I can’t hear what they are saying.

Whatever happened seems to energize them and they move up once more towards the creatures head.

Suddenly the Putrikan charges forward in between the two brothers splitting them up and then turns towards Garuu.

Garuu tries to back off but instead finds his way blocked by the rest of the Putrikans body.

I hadn’t even noticed but I am already halfway across the clearing to help them when Garuu see me.

“No!” He shouts.

“This is between me, my brother and the creature don’t interfere!”

Alpha arrives just in time to stop the massive mandibles of the beast from ending his brothers life but in order to do so had to drop his club in order to grab each chitinous blade.

I see an opportunity and although I am not allowed to help I decide to yell anyway.

“Through the mouth!”

A moment later Garuu thrusts his spear into the maw of the creature, which lets out an unearthly hissing sound and starts to thrash violently.

Alpha gets thrown off missing a few fingers on his right hand but otherwise fine, while Garuu manages to get up and over the creatures back with nothing more then a few more scratches.

Both me and Garuu head over to where Alpha was thrown.

By the time we reach him he is already back onto his feet clutching his hand.

“Don’t worry about me instead watch the beast” He grumbles

Garuu turns to watch the beast while I grab one of Nym’s pre-made bandages and quickly wrap it around the remains of Alphas right hand.

Before I am ready a loud sound comes from behind me.

Expecting the Putrikan charging at us I turn only to see the beast lying close to the place where Garuu almost got caught, doing not much more than feebly twitching every so often.

Besides me Garuu slowly starts laughing, the volume growing with each syllable.

“And we thought that this beast was gonna be our end!” he roars.

“We were fully prepared to valiently fight till the end!

But instead it is us who are victorious this day, you hear that Hordu? We won! You are Alpha no more.”

Alpha gets up and walks over to his weapon. Although he isn’t as boisterous as his brother, he seems happy nonetheless.

“Don’t call me that yet, we still have to get the beast back home.” he calls back.

I join Garuu near the beast.

“So what we do now I go back to the village and get people to help carry this thing back?” I ask him.

Garuu looks at me with a big smile on his face.

“Off course not the three of us are perfectly capable of bringing this beast home, just watch.”

I look at the carcase before me. Although the beast looks a whole lot less imposing than when it was alive, it’s still at least 9 paces long.

Still feeling high from the adrenaline I roll my muscles and laugh loudly.

“I bet we can get this thing back to main camp before sundown”