Word Count » 1,006
The days had passed peacefully thus far with his master at his side and a baby that they were raising together. Even though his cherub had allowed him to keep the pup, Janos couldn’t help but be greedy and want more. He wanted his master to really play with the pup and love him and so far Bastion had really stepped up and was playing with the puppy and it was so heart-warming to see the two of them playing around. But today was all business, or so his master had told him when the plans were laid out. The pup was to go to Eris to be babysat and they were to go on a mission. Janos of course agreed readily as he readied himself to go out and hunt a moose to bring to the table during the conversation with Inferni. He didn’t know much about the pack other than that they could be quite violent so he was going to have to watch his little master like a hawk to be sure that nothing bad came of him. It was his job and his pleasure after all to do at least that. But first he had to go and find the moose in order to fulfill his master’s wishes. So he went hunting, looking and tracking for a moose that would not be too heavy for him to carry back. After all, dead weight was so much harder to lug around than those that were alive.
He hunted and hunted and finally came across a small herd of moose with a young yearling amongst the older and far more dangerous adults. He barely had stubs of antlers so he would be perfect for the take down. Janos crouched in the bushes, ignoring the sudden pang from his bandages that were wound around his torso in order to keep his Salsola brand from being shown off. His jacket rustled the leaves and frightened the moose. Giving a sigh, Janos took after them, using his easy grace as a hunter to separate the young buck from the rest of the group. A sudden animalistic instinct took over, and as he hamstrung the beast and it went down, he went to the front of him and closed his jaws over the baby’s mouth. The yearling struggled and tried to kick but it couldn’t quite reach the seasoned predator. Eventually, the body lay still and Janos took a step back, not slicing the throat since he figured his master would love to do that himself, but he had to make sure that the creature was dead, which he was, his eyes rolling in the back of his skull. Janos sighed again, something he seemed to be doing often, and he closed the creature’s eyes, looking down at him and trying to fight the rising wave of nausea at the sudden memories that this dead calf brought him. Bodies strewn in front of him, limbs splayed, intestines dragging…no. No that was his past and now the only deaths he did was on command of his master, something that was actually pretty few and far between as of late.
After a moment, he knew that it was time to go and he tried to pull the moose along behind him but finding that it was just too hard to do it that way, he turned to the yearling and hefted it up around his shoulders before standing, readjusting the weight before he started off through the forest, considerably slower than when he first started out on his day. On the way there, lo and behold, he came across his master and he turned so that Bastion could see the kill and seemed to be pleased that his cherub was pleased. Words were unnecessary right now and he easily took his place behind Bastion as they loped along. Now that he was back with his master, all of his senses were on high alert just in case his master was in sudden danger. He was ready to drop the moose at any time in order to protect his master. They came to the border and with the order; he did not hesitate to drop the yearling. He moved out of the way and watched Bastion as he struggled with it. He wanted to help his master but he would not act if his help was not wanted. He watched him, inwardly urging the other on to be able to pull the yearling but even though it was bigger than Janos, it was much, much bigger than his cherub.
But then the other fell down and he took a step towards him as if wanting to pick him back up but then the other seemed to get distracted by something, and he frowned as he watched him go to one of the skulls and take it down to start licking at the blood that was still on it. Looking down at the beast, he knew that it was up to him to bring the creature close, so he hoisted it back up and then approached the border, letting it flop down in front of them as he turned to watch his master. Realizing that they hadn’t announced their presence and that his master wasn’t going to do so, Janos sucked in a deep breath before throwing back his head to call for the Inferni pack, calling for whoever was close enough to hear them. He then turned to his master and watched him, tilting his head to the side. ”Is it tasty master?” He asked the cherub as he squatted beside his kill, a little behind it as he kept his eyes open, looking from his master to the land that was behind him. He itched to ask his master to come back a little bit so that he would be away from the line of fire but he knew that that would make him definitely out of place and so he stayed quiet and was just on extremely high alert.
