Maaike rarely left Espur (save for her infrequent trips to see her son) since there was an overabundance of criminals to keep her busy in her home town. She dealt with animal bounties even less, having a sympathy for the creatures who in most cases were only trying to scrounge up enough food to survive and doing what came naturally.
But she'd spent a bit more time in Alexshire lately, trying to churn up enough information to put her husband's cohorts at the very least out of business, and she'd found that people were far more forthcoming if they got something in return. Trouble was, despite her husband's wealth, most of it was tied up in property and the business so she couldn't really afford to go waving around wads of cash. Besides, most folk were offended by the assumption that they were hard-up enough - or greedy enough - to take a bribe, so she was helping out the best way she knew how instead.
“And you're sure it's in this neighbourhood?”
“Aye. They mark out turf and stick to it, and every morning there's some kind of evidence it's been nosing around. Footprints in the mud, bloodied feathers or fur, animal bones.”
Maaike nodded her acknowledgement and let loose a shrill whistle that launched Magda from Cailean's saddle and into the air where she'd scan for signs of the gytrash's presence. At this time of day the creature would have to be either daring or starving or both to come out of its hiding spot, but then again with lunch time came tantalising aromas and tasty trash.
“How under Hel did you get one of those?”
Maaike glanced around in the direction Samantha was hissing, already knowing she'd find Cailean at the end of the female's line of sight. “Luck.” The short answer made it clear she wasn't willing to go into specifics even with one of her own, and Samantha backed up with a curious but miffed frown. “None of you can sniff it out?”
“We tried,” came the ready response accompanied by a shrug. “None of us have a good smeller. If we ever need a climber or a runner, though, we're solid.” Her self-deprecating smile brought an answering smirk from Maaike, who jerked a thumb in Cailean's direction and back-stepped toward the azani.
“I'll let him do the sniffing.” Azani were aggressively territorial and Maaike wasn't convinced she could handle him if he took exception to her wolf form. Besides, why use up energy she might need later to transform just so she could track the gytrash's scent when she had Cailean to do it for her? “I'll check back after dark. Keep your guy on stand-by.”
She wouldn't kill the gytrash if she could avoid it, so Samantha had supplied her with some sleeping darts and her husband had a cart ready to get the creature out of the city where it belonged. Maaike was concerned about the darts since she wasn't trained with throwing weapons, but if she could get close enough it wouldn't be an issue. The trick really, she supposed, was going to be keeping Cailean from ripping the gytrash's throat out.
Average : Bounty : Stray Gytrash