RoK - SparklyWitch

         The morning was chilly. It was nearing the end of Autumn and the night before had left a light frost on everything. All the trees that would be loosing their leaves had lost them leaving a thin layer along the ground. The new day hummed with the sounds of the forest.
        The camp lay along a trail cut through a thick wild forest. The camp was situated in a small break in the trees. Three tents sat around a burnt out campfire. The tents themselves surrounded by scattered tokotas five in total all sleeping soundly in the early morning.

        Padfoot and Lia rose early climbing out of their respective tents. They had made the trek out and made camp the day before. They gathered all of the tokotas they had brought on the trip. Aurora and Blood where the guests of honor today the pack mates had been partnered to complete their third and final rite today. The tree other tokotas Snow, Clyde and Ghost where to be their targets. They had also been accompany by two other tokota handlers to help manage the rite two of Padfoot's tribe mates Hidu and Era.
        Padfoot and Lia fed and watered all the tokotas preparing them for the day ahead before waking their friends. Padfoot crawled into the tent she shared with Hidu the night before and Lia went to Era's tent. Once they where all semi conscious they had a quick breakfast and started gathering their supplies. Padfoot checked over the bag her and Lia would be taking while Lia tacked Aurora and Blood. Aurora would be paired with Padfoot for the day. Aurora was the fastest tokota there and thus she and Padfoot would be in charge of roping the tokotas once they where found. So the sphinx was given a saddle so Padfoot could ride with her. Blood and Lia on the other hand would be handling the tokotas once they'd been caught. The bloodmarked tokota was fastened into a harness so the caught tokos could be fastened to her. Without a saddle Lia the dog shifter was planning to accompany Blood on paw.
        Once everything was ready the four that would be participating in the rite headed to the Starting location. Era and Hidu where aware of where the group would be starting but neither the tokotas nor handlers in the hunting party knew where the loose tokos where going to begin that was for them to discover on their own.

    Hidu and Era waited till the party was out of sight before they began preparing their own part of the rite it was their responsibility to release the tokotas, time the event and call back the tokotas should they trackers be unsuccessful. The pair checked over their own supplies and started down the trail.
        Along a path five sets of feet came crunching two handlers and three tokotas came to a large clearing. Hidu and Era marched the tokotas to the center and set down a bag. This is the last place they'd tracked the pack of wild tokos who owned the surrounding territory. These three tokotas would be temporarily joining their numbers. One by one they where released.
Snow was first the beautiful albino halfmane. Era grabbed a can of spray paint from the bag at their feet and gave the corner of her ear a light coating of blue paint before removing the halter from her head and letting her know she was free to go. Snow trotted slowly away from the clearing and out of sight.
        Clyde was next wagging his tail slightly at the promise of mischief to be caused. Era took another can of paint spraying the sand roan's ear red and removing his halter. Fast as lightning the toko was off.
While Clyde had been getting prepped Hidu had been taking care of Ghost the graying tundra had been sprayed with the green paint but even after the halter was off he sat by his handler waiting on his command patiently. Hidu gave him a scratch behind the ear.

“Go on buddy give 'em hell”

        Ghost wagged his tail happily bounding off into the trees. Hidu and Era collected the spray cans and halters into the bag heading back down the trail to the camp.

        A couple of miles off Padfoot and Lia where waiting in position with the tokos of honor. They watched the direction of the camp waiting for the signal that they could begin. As they waited Blood enjoyed the scenery playing with the fallen leaves around her.

        Era and Hidu walked into the camp setting the bag down and finding their flare gun. Hidu loaded the gun with the correct color and Era prepared a stop watch. As Hidu shot into the air Era hit start on the watch and the rite began.

        As soon as they saw the trail of smoke the four hunters where off running against the clock. They spread out Blood and Aurora searching for a scent. It didn't take long for the practiced trackers to catch a whiff of a tokota. It was Aurora who caught it first alerting the party. They wasted no time following it Aurora in the lead relishing in the speed as her paws took her as fast as they could Blood and Lia trailing behind.

        Meanwhile the tagged tokotas had also seen the flare and knew the hunt had begun. Once she was released Snow had found herself drawn to the closest river. She had smelled it from the clearing and decided a quick fishing trip couldn't hurt. The air around her was chilled but the water coming up to her belly was still clinging to a sliver of warmth from the summer. Snow splashed about lunging at fish that dared to come within striking distance.
        Clyde had other things on his mind and as soon as he was released he'd began circling the clearing in large overlapping trails. He wanted to see a tracker try and find him in this criss-crossing mess.
        Ghost had a plan of his own he had stuck near Clyde keeping and eye on the troublesome tokota if all went right he was going to become quite a big problem for Clyde today.

        The hunters slowed as the scent became more defined they where approaching the clearing. As they came closer they noticed something peculiar Clyde was there in the center sitting patiently as if he we waiting for them. Padfoot sighed she knew Clyde. This was not going to be as simple as it seemed. As soon as the group started for him Clyde bolted to the side moving into the thick brush and quickly out of sight. As the trackers searched for his trail they realized the trap he'd set and their hopes of a quick first catch fell.
        Lia sighed leading the party back to the clearing. She figured this was where the tokos had been released by the scents and decided it would be a good place to start. It was Blood who caught the next scent. It was one she knew well her pack mate Snow.
        Ghost's plans of tormenting Clyde where just beginning. He followed along Clyde's circular path he was searching for Clyde's most recent trail. The clever tokota had followed Clyde while he made his original trails marking all the old ones with his own scent as well all he had to do to find the new one was find the one that veered off without his own. Once he found the separate trail he left to find Aurora and Blood.
        As the party started out of the clearing Ghost popped out at the other end downwind. He made as much noise as he could to get their attention before bolting back into the bushes. They where off the party following close at Ghost's heels. It didn't take long to find Clyde at such speeds. Ghost ran right past him changing direction again and leaving Clyde the easiest target as he escaped into the trees. Blood and Aurora paused for a second deciding between the two tokotas. Padfoot chose Clyde throwing a rope towards him. Clyde jumped back coming to his senses and sending a glare in Ghost's direction before bolting towards the clearing which was still behind the party again the tricky tokota lost them with his scent trail though it was much more difficult now that they knew his trick. The tokotas and their handlers where all very frustrated at this point. They broke through the trees back into the clearing each debating what to do.

        A short ways away Snow was enjoying the prize of her little fishing trip by the side of the river happily munching away at the fish she'd caught. When her peace was interrupted by Clyde. He'd come in search of a drink. But the albino tokota gave him an idea. If he was with Snow Ghost wouldn't rat on him. He smiled to himself. Clyde was polite and Snow enjoyed the company of others so she let him stay. But she didn't share her fish if the roan wanted some he'd need to do the work himself.
Ghost wasn't far behind Clyde and when he saw the clearing his ears flattened this was dirty even for Clyde. He turned silently trotting the way he'd come. Clyde noticed the retreating form and perked up a bit heading quickly for the clearing.

        At the clearing the hunters where discussing strategy Padfoot in dog form to allow everyone in their party to communicate. At first they discussed one tokota sending their targets towards someone lying in wait then they decided their query was too smart. Then they thought about splitting up to catch both tokotas when they tried to get each other caught but they didn't like the idea of thinning their ranks by splitting up. Eventually they came to an agreement and set their trap.
        Blood noticed Clyde first her and Lia jolting forward beginning the chase. What Clyde didn't notice was Aurora and Padfoot didn't follow they where circling around in a wider arch hoping to trap the tokota between them. Clyde led them in the direction Ghost had run but when he saw Ghost and tried to veer off to the left away from Blood and Lia he noticed Padfoot and Aurora to his right he was trapped. Clyde panicked a bit and with his lapse in attention he ran right into Ghost knocking them both to the ground in a tangled heap. Lia and Padfoot quickly threw ropes around their necks congratulating Blood and Aurora on their catch.
        The two troublesome tokota's where fastened to Blood's harness. After a bit of celebration and many a glares between Clyde and Ghost the party headed back to the clearing in search of their last target. The scent was easy to find Blood and Aurora knew this tokota well. The trail led a short distance away from the clearing to the river. 'Of course' Lia smiled to herself she knew Snow could find water in a desert so this was no surprise. The place was full of the tokota's scent even without the trail they wouldn't have had a problem tracking this area down. The tokota in question however was no where to be seen. They sniffed the edge of the area eventually pinpointing the direction she had gone. They walked for a while slowly following the trail up river.
        They found the halfmane about a mile away laying under a tree dripping wet with a fish hanging from her mouth. As soon as she saw them she bolted deeper into the forest. Aurora, Padfoot and Lia employed the same strategy they used against Clyde. Aurora had no trouble outpacing Snow and cutting her off soon the halfmane had also been caught. Once all the tokotas where secured at Blood's side they began the walk back. The trek to camp was a happy one they'd caught all of their targets and where going home victorious!