Chapter Text
Storm clouds gathered above; the air was thick with the scent of burning ozone as lightning split the sky and thunder rumbled in distant warning. Valuun hiked his pack higher over his shoulders as he made his way through ice-packed snow. More would pile high come nightfall which would make his return journey to the Bulwark all the more difficult. Still, turning back now and returning a failure wasn’t something he was willing to consider. More than once, his squad leader had reminded the young Tenakth that there would be no punishment for a fruitless hunt, but old habits were difficult to break. He’d rather the threat of injury than the shame of coming back empty-handed.
The thunder wasn’t enough to drown out the mechanical cry in the dense gathering of trees ahead. On alert, the young hunter pulled his bow from where it was slung across his back and had an arrow in hand, ready to be notched without wasting the effort until it was necessary. He crouched low in tall grasses, using the cover to keep himself out of sight as he was clearly not the only hunter out here this afternoon.
A convoy rumbled just ahead. A Behemoth, Valruun spotted. And there, three Watchers on patrol. A whirring of a mechanical roar to his right pulled his attention sharply to stare wide-eyed at the black-armored Ravager. The coils of its machinery glowed an eerie purple that reminded him of plasma weaponry. It was larger than any Ravager he’d seen before, and no doubt far too much for a lone warrior alone to conquer. As its steps thundered closer to where he remained crouched in the grasses, Valruun held his breath. He could hear even the movement of its eyes in their sockets, the grinding of its gear-like jaws behind those sword-sized canines. The boy – for he was scarcely more than that even by clan standards – let out a soft sigh of relief when it moved on, its red gaze passing over him as it continued along with the convoy.
Feeling the danger had passed, Valruun cautiously eased his way in the opposite direction of the convoy with the hopes of locating boar to bring back for the clan. A lone machine or perhaps two, he had a chance of taking down. But five, with the one seeming impossibly strong? He was brave, not stupid.
The crunch of snow under his boots seemed especially loud with the forest quiet once more save for the rumble of the convoy moving away. Valruun knew he was beyond their sensors now, so started at a normal pace. He didn’t account for the Burrower that popped its head from under the snow not four paces behind. Whirling, he stared wide-eyed as its large blue eye shot to deadly red. Faster than a heartbeat, the youth notched his arrow and let it fly. It landed dead center of the red eye, cracking the lens and splintering it. The Burrower lowered its head with the sudden impact but rallied by lifting its head skyward and letting out a loud, summoning cry. The answering calls of the convoy had the blood draining from the lone hunter’s face. Without preamble, he turned to run.
If he could get enough distance…
Valruun stumbled as the Burrower caught up with him, its tail lashing out at his legs and knocking him off balance. Grunting, he twisted and fired three rapid shots at the machine, the blows sending it careening into the snow where it lay stunned. They were vital moments he needed to gain his ground. Valruun didn’t waste them when he heard the Ravager racing to catch up. Heart pumping hard in his chest, the boy turned to leap down into a narrow ravine with the hopes that the machine wouldn’t risk the smaller space to follow. He clearly underestimated its greater aggressive drive when the Ravager slammed itself into rock and stone to force the entrance to give way so it could pursue its prey.
There was no time to waste on shooting at it. This was down to a race for survival. None of the Sky Clan came out this far. He’d known the risks when he’d traveled this far north. If it caught up to him, Valruun knew he’d face it with his spear as a true warrior should. He’d leave his mark behind in its hide and join the Ten if he had to, but not without trying. Running full-tilt through the ravine, he hissed between clenched teeth when rocks snagged one of his arm guards and ripped it straight off, the snapping leather leaving behind a welt he doubted he'd live to admire later. Leaving it behind, Val burst out of the ravine and cursed breathlessly. There was only an open clearing covered in snow drifts with no sign of cover. So his time had come. He'd face it down like a Tenakth, then.
Behind him, the Ravager roared as its forelimbs lodged in the exit of the ravine. The boy bared his teeth as he could hear its main weapon powering up. Spotting it mounted on top, he whipped out an arrow and let it fly. The projectile buried itself in machine muscle just shy of the mounted gun but did nothing to stop the actual firing. Valruun dove to the side in the snow, a glancing blow burning along the arm bared by the ravine's rocky face. From where he lay in the snow, he ripped another arrow from his quiver and fired again. This one landed in the canthus of one of its red eyes and had the machine rearing back at the blow. Yeah, he wouldn't have liked that either. The attack renewed the Ravager's efforts to free itself from the ravine until it finally ripped away, leaving behind bits of armor along its forelimbs for its effort.
The great beast prepared to lunge, its back legs bunching just before two arrows struck home, one in each eye, from above. In a flurry of sparks across its metal frame, the machine crumpled into the snow. Another pair of glowing purple arrows embedded in a pair of canisters on its back. "Shoot the canisters!" came a cry from above just as a screeching Sunwing drew his attention. Hekarro's Champion...on the Wings of the Ten, just as the stories said! While Valruun could have stared in awe, the groaning of metal ahead of him reminded him he wasn't safe yet. Nocking his next arrow, the boy changed his target to one of the glowblast canisters near the machine's rump. His first struck a glancing blow against it, scratching the surface, but the next buried deep inside and set off a chain reaction that had the machine lurching to its paws and bucking wildly.
Seeing his chance, the boy tossed his bow aside in favor of the short spear at his back. He waited for the machine's next spin before driving it up in its chest between two plates and severing the bits of wiring that fed the heart. His weapon broke in half, the shaft splintering as the ravager managed one last swipe of its paw before it fell prone in the snow. The swipe sent the young hunter crashing into the snow with enough force to knock the breath from him, leaving him stunned. Staring up at the sky and gasping for air, he would have been rendered breathless regardless while watching the Sunwing dive down to land roughly in the snow nearby and for Hekarro's Champion to throw herself off the machine and run through the snow towards him.
"Lay still," she implored, her tone reminiscent of a Commander's. It was the shock as much as his inclination to obey that had him remaining prone instead of shoving back to his feet.
"There are others," he warned, surprised that his voice managed not to shake even if it sounded rougher than usual.
"They moved off. It was only the Ravager."
Had she seen that from the sky? Or...
Valruun frowned as he watched her hands move in the air between them as if she were swiping at bugs in her face like what he heard frequented the Raintrace. Squint as he could, he saw nothing of what afflicted her so.
"You'll need stitches," she informed him, sitting back on her haunches with a relieved sigh. "But nothing is broken."
"Sti--" Confused, the boy looked down at where she indicated blood dripping from beneath his armor. Huh. He hadn't even felt it. But now that he was looking, now that his heart was starting to slow, he could feel the burn of the ugly laceration along the inside of his forearm. From his broken spear, he supposed. It must have caught beneath the vambrace when it splintered. If that was all he'd managed from a battle with a Hunter-Killer, Valruun knew he could count himself lucky. He busied himself by tightening the straps on his vambrace to help slow the bleeding even as he eyed Aloy with awe. "I've heard the stories, but I still didn't know anyone could fight a machine like that. It's more than an honor to be rescued by She-Who-Flies-On-The-Wings-Of-The-Ten."
Valruun didn't miss the slight wrinkle in her nose at the title, or the way she shifted uncomfortably and stood to survey their surroundings. While he recognized the distaste, he couldn't, for the life of him, imagine what he'd said to cause offense. "If I've offended," he began, his face paling beneath his paint...
"It's not that," the Nora huntress assured, managing a smile. She offered a hand and tugged him up with ease when he accepted it. "I prefer just Aloy."
The boy went even paler. He was nothing but a lowly foot soldier. None of the Squad Leaders would dare consider calling her anything less than her titles of honor. For one such as him to do so...
He knew she misunderstood when she set a worried hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright? Is it your arm?" She cast her eyes on the darkening sky. "We should find shelter with this storm on our heads."
Looking down at the crimson drops leaving tiny trenches in the snow at his boots, Valruun shook his head. "It's not--" Ah, what use was there in explaining that? "I have a shelter nearby," he said instead. His eyes fell behind her to where the Ravager carcass lay in the snow. "I can help you strip it for parts. Its heart will give you a lot of shards at the Bulwark." At Aloy's frown, the boy shrugged, some color returning to his face. "I would never have killed it on my own. I owe you my life. The Ravager's heart is worth more." When her frown deepened, Val turned away and went to fetch his abandoned bow. She'd find out soon enough at the Bulwark that some lives were worth more than others.
Wordlessly, the young hunter moved to the Ravager and slung his bow over his shoulder to get to work. A small blade made short work of prying machine plates away so he could reach in and cut the tubing that once supplied the inert heart. Tugging it free from the carcass with care so as not to damage it, Valruun held it out in offering. "Please." Much to the boy's relief, she didn't decline. Much of the rest of the carcass had been damaged by glowblast, making scavenging better suited to scroungers than hunters. "The shelter is this way," he added with a nod to the North.
"I'll follow your lead," Aloy promised, taking the heart back to where the Sunwing waited nearby. Val watched with fascination as she strapped the heart into its webbing and tugged a pack from it to throw over her shoulder. The machine just waited patiently, its blue glow never veering. It was truly mastered. And it bent its head down to accept a fond pat along the beak from the red-haired huntress before taking off and disappearing above the storm clouds. "It'll recharge its power cells above the storm," she shared, mistaking the boy's marveling gaze for a questioning one. She learned the difference quickly.
"How do you know?"
"Oh, I- Uh. My Focus..." Her face scrunched up as she tried to find the best way to explain, but Val had noticed the way she lifted her hand towards the triangular piece of metal at her forehead.
"Is that what you were looking at before?" he asked curiously, face open with wonder where so many other Tenakth were guarded and wary. "When you were looking at my arm, you were moving your hands in front of your face like you were seeing something."
"Oh, yes! It lets me see data and scan for..." She must have noted the blank look of one not understanding and shook her head with a fond smile. "Yes. It's how I knew it wasn't broken. But you do need stitches. Sooner, rather than later." In so saying, she nodded towards his arm that was still dripping slowly into the snow despite the way he'd tightened his vambrace to stem the flow.
She was right, though the boy imagined that wasn't uncommon based on all the stories he'd heard. "It's not far," he promised with a reassuring smile.
The pair hadn't made it ten paces before the threatening storm arrived, spitting out fat, heavy flakes as another din of thunder shook the mountains around them. Halfway to the shelter, Valruun navigated by muscle memory alone, scarcely able to see two feet in front of him in a whiteout. The Champion seemed to have no trouble following him, which made the trek all the easier as he was able to keep his focus ahead. By the time they reached the hide-covered shelter, snow piled on his pauldrons and similarly on Aloy's armor. He shook it free from his armor and his shock of russet hair alike before stepping inside and holding open the hide flap for her to follow.
Though the shelter was small, it could fit two comfortably enough for what it was. Shucking his pack, Val began digging through the supplies and found the med kit he'd stashed three weeks prior. He found what he needed readily enough; a bone needle carved from a boar's femur and sheep's gut cured into thread would make quick, if painful, work of his lacerated arm. Letting the Champion organize herself and get settled, the boy scooted into a far corner and tugged off the armor on his injured arm. Reaching out from under the shelter, he snagged a handful of snow and pressed it to the bloody wound, letting the cold numb the site and help to clean it, though running water would have suited better. Not at all bothered by the mess, Valruun scrubbed until the wound was weeping before he flung bloodied snow from his hands in the corner and began suturing. Tying the first knot was always the worst with an arm injury and this particular angle required his neck to be bent painfully askew to grip the end of the thread with his teeth. He was in the process of trying to manage it blindly when the Champion spoke up.
"Would you allow me to assist?" she asked while she unpacked. When he lifted his head to eye her, she shrugged. "I'm sure you can do it on your own, but it would be easier with help."
That was neatly handled, he observed. Kind enough to offer in the first place, and aware enough to want to help save his pride. She may have been born an Outlander, but she seemed plenty Tenakth by his assessment. Val held out his arm with a sheepish smile. "If you could manage the first knot and the last, I can handle the rest." Without even a hint of squeamishness, she reached over to deftly tie the first knot for him before going back to her task after swiping blood-stained fingers along the furs covering her thighs. "Forgive me for saying, but you seem awfully young to be out here by yourself. I was under the impression that the Tenakth hunted in squads."
He squirmed in his spot even as his shoulders stiffened and chin lifted with pride. "I'm permitted to hunt alone by my squad leader," he replied, lips thin. While it was true, the more honest truth was that he preferred it, and so did his squad. Even if he'd been accepted amongst their ranks, the boy still suspected the invitation had been a begrudging one rather than a welcome one. Even if he'd proven himself to be a survivor, it didn't make him the most likable among Sky Clan who prided warriors above all else. The sad fact of the matter was that Valruun was smaller than most his age and thin despite his prowess for hunting. And the tribe knew whose blood ran through his veins. Dishonorable blood. Even if he'd been the victim of it more than any, the association tended to stick steadfast in the minds of his clan.
She must have sensed some of his discontent. "It's impressive. I was out hunting alone a lot when I was young, too, but even I had someone nearby looking out for me."
Valruun squirmed again. It wouldn't take her long to narrow in on why there had been no one looking out for him. While most would find it bewildering even still, it was normal to the boy. He'd been outside of the Bulwark on his own since he was scarcely older than a toddler. He knew it wasn't natural. The Tenakth tended to be especially protective of their young. The thought of shooing a toddler out into the wilds without a chaperone was, to most, unheard of. To Val, it had simply been life. Compared to the alternative, he'd come to prefer the dangers of the wilds to the dangers of his home.
"There's dried mutton in my pack if you'd like," he offered quietly, more than eager to change the subject. "And I have an extra waterskin, too, if you need one." Valruun bent his head more over his arm, a clear indication that he was going to focus on the task at hand instead of discussing why he was out alone. His fingers were sticky with blood by the time he made the last throw in his stitches. They were evenly placed, proof of a steady hand as much as a practiced one. When it came time for the tie, he shifted uncomfortably again and held out his arm for Aloy. "Sorry. Could you?"
Wordlessly, the Champion nodded and made the tie before tugging out a blade and cutting the unused bit of thread herself, and holding it out for him. "That's good work. Shouldn't be much of a scar." Digging in her own pack, Aloy tugged out a roll of cloth bandages. "May I? You've done the hard part. It'll just help it keep clean."
He felt guilty now for his defensiveness and his shoulders sagged as he sighed. "Yes. Thank you, Champion."
Aloy's scowl was obvious this time. "I take it back. I won't unless you call me Aloy."
Valruun bit back a smile as he responded, "Then I'm afraid I'll have to go without, Champion."
Whether she sensed he was teasing or not, she huffed and tugged his arm closer all the same to apply the bandage. "Cheeky," she grumbled without malice.
His grin flashed quick and bright then, but was just as quickly tempered as he watched her work. No one had ever accused him of being cheeky before. He...rather liked it.
"What is your name?" Aloy asked. Before he could do more than open his mouth to answer, she interrupted. "Wait! It doesn't matter. I'm just going to call you Cheeky Boy regardless." She pinned him with a poignant expression as if to make her point clearer.
Unrepentant, Valruun replied, "I'd be honored to be given a title by Hekarro's Champion, the Savior of Meridian, She-Who-Flies-On-The-Wings-Of-The-Ten." He snickered when she gave his arm a light pinch as she finished his bandage. "I'm Valruun." He shrugged a little. "No fancy titles." Some of that humor returned to his gaze. "Aside from Cheeky Boy."
Feeling more comfortable in her presence now, Valruun swiped the blood from his hands with more pilfered snow before piling saved kindling up near the entrance to their shelter. With a hole in the hides above for smoke to escape, there was no risk of blizzard winds blowing out a fire, so he set to work lighting one. The sharp strike of flint had sparks shooting to life among the dried branches. With larger branches added, they soon had a fire roaring to life and chasing off the cold.
"Hey, Kotallo," Aloy said suddenly. The greeting had the boy whipping around only to look back at her with confusion. He definitely would have noticed if a Marshal entered their shelter. "Sorry, I got waylaid. The storm's pretty bad, but I can send you the coordinates." Valruun watched with fascination as she held an actual conversation and seemed to be getting responses back from...the ether. Or her Focus, he supposed, based on the way her hand did that funny waving thing again. "Sent. Oh, you are close. Not sure if it's worth the trip though if you're already bedded down. You don't have-- Alright, we'll see you soon then." Her smile was wry as she met Val's eyes. "Yes, 'we.' I've got a young Sky Clan hunter here with me." There was a pause followed by a huff of fond annoyance. "You can ask when you get here. Be safe."
Aloy grinned as she lowered her hand and Val was beginning to suspect that Aloy's grinning spelled sure disaster for those around her. "It's about to get very small in here."