While a difficult hunt had been expected- desired, even- Carnegros still had to admit that he hadn’t quite expected to need as much help from the Ghurneth ambassadors as had been necessary in the end. Certainly he hadn’t expected to required collapsing a building on the creature to end it, a precious resource in the fledgling commune the Aelves had come to assess in the first place.
Still, a kill was a kill, and the spoils of victory were more than worth it.
As the towering warlord watched his motley (and, certainly, it had grown far more motley as of late) apostles of Aelves, Beastmen and Human butched the beast, his attention became quickly consumed by the Ghurneth diplomat that had, at some point in the last few minutes, apparently appeared at his side. Though, given her movement was as silent as a rocktusk of the Steppe, he couldn’t say exactly when she’d arrived.
Though clearly her attention was as much on him as his was on her, instead her eyes sat locked on the hulking beast that had been both their quarry until only a few minutes ago. Though it was quickly being reduced to a bloody mass as its most useful parts were stripped away, even in this state it’s unnatural nature was obvious- a hulking mass that looked as if one of the more common steppe predators had its most violent features exaggerated, almost as if a scared child’s drawing had come to life.
After several long, silent moments the aelvan woman spoke, voice flat but forceful.
“I cannot abide by what you have done here, done to this creature, as much as the hunt excites the blood.”
Carnegros, in return, tilted his head to the side, furrowed brows visible even through the holes of his helm. “Do we not tend to life here as your kind has?”
“I see no desire to uphold the steppe’s balance in such acts your people commit.” The Aelf’s eyes turn to the chaotic warlord before her, then stretch out across the grasslands just barely visible through the bones of the commune’s construction projects. She lingers there, speaking without turning back. “Your followers were not subtle about it. My kin know you tainted the waters around you with realmstone, you create monsters where none were before.”
The warlord follows her gaze, an unseen stern smile hidden beneath his helmet, but more than apparent in his voice. “Yet- do your kind not hunt these creatures, as they are? Do these predators not in turn hunt the grazing beasts, and the lesser creatures below them?” Carnegros gestures a gauntleted hand towards the bloodied form of the beast in his town-square, and the steady flow of varied species slicing away its various parts. “Nothing has changed, no new monsters threaten the wilds, there’s simply a challenge where none was before.”
The Aelf woman’s voice softens just a touch, but her gaze remains on the horizon. “What is to stop these creatures from seeking easier prey beyond your borders? The plains are far more vast than what you have carved for your.. people. Who is to stop them- you? Or will the burden lay on those who seek to protect their own slices of the steppe?” She turns back to Carnegros, expression now filled with a mix of curiosity and steeled scrutiny. “Do you earnestly believe that you can uphold the balance by changing it? Perhaps more prudent- do you earnestly believe the Huntmasters will believe you when you say it?”
“My question to you, is what would your kin rather- the maws of the steppe open, and a single rampaging beast gorge upon the bounty within? One of the other opportunists flocking to the steppe as vultures to a carcass rip the teeth from its mouth, and use them to tear their way through whatever else stands in front of them? Here, at least, we equalize- The predator grows strong from the prey, regardless of whether they are man or beast. Are you to say your packmates would reject the hunt, and the bounties such creatures offer?” The words are offered as statement more than question, a flat projection of an ultimatum. He holds forth a chunk of bone, the familiar faintly yellow ivory interwoven with swirling patterns of golden amberbone, the untapped veins of magic rippling as if still covered in muscle, a reflection of life now ended and power left untaken.
The Aelvan woman returns only a well-practiced smile, collecting the bone and turning to leave in a single swift movement. Following several paces of silence, she pauses, and turns her head just enough to speak towards the warlord.
“Your tongue is certainly silvered, I see how these people have put their faith in you- rightly or wrongly. But I cannot pretend such an offer is not worth considering, even as it is not mine to consider.”
Carnegros says nothing in return, simply watching her disappear into the grasslands. Perhaps the Huntmasters would deny such an offer, perhaps they’d even take offense at it, but he cared little for that- the word was out there, now. The Ghurneth would know Providence’s Rest is synonymous with some of the more dangerous hunts on the steppe, and that would attract just the kind of people he was after.
That, above all else, made him smile.
