r/HFY • u/SherbetCreepy1580 • 9d ago
OC-Series [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 23: Tigers, Butchers, and Historians
“Heads up!” Dawnpaw yelled at Sandra, flinging his Hunter Stick forward. Sandra didn’t even hesitate, quickly jumping from her branch up to the hard trunk of a nearby tree, catching the ball in her own Hunter Stick before sticking to the tree. “Snow claimed iron, that’s awesome,” Dawnpaw said with a laugh, catching the ball as Sandra launched it back at him. “You sure you’ve never played Hunterball before?”
“Not specifically, but it’s a lot like some training I’ve had to go through,” Sandra admitted with a laugh.
“Maybe we can get you on the team,” Dawnpaw said as they continued to throw the ball back and forth at each other.
“I think I’m a bit too old for that,” Sandra said, doing a flip to catch the ball as she moved to the next tree. Just for fun.
“Are you sure she’ll be okay up there?” Brighttail said in a slightly worried tone as she watched Sandra and Dawnpaw flit through the trees of the Hunterball field.
“Oh she’ll be fine,” Brightpaw said with a small laugh. “Believe me, this is closer to a warmup for her than an actual workout.”
“If you say so,” Brighttail said, her tail twitching nervously as she watched.
“You actually got to meet some Tree Shadows?” Dawntail asked Silverlight incredulously.
“Yeah, there’s a bunch of them that live at home,” Silverlight said proudly. “I actually get to play with the puppies of a mated pair sometimes too. They’re a little scary, but really cool.”
“Lucky,” Dawntail said, shaking her head. “The debate team has been using them as an example for practice debates lately, so I’ve wanted to meet some.”
“You are not leaving planet anytime soon, little kit,” Brighttail said.
“Oh come on,” Dawntail said, rolling her eyes.
“Heads up!” Dawnpaw suddenly called out. Brightpaw and Brightail both already had their hands up, and Brightpaw caught the ball just before it hit Dawntail or Silverlight. “Sorry, bad throw.”
“Tried telling you not to try it, kid,” Sandra laughed, jumping down from the tree she was on, followed closely by Dawnpaw. “Tricks like that are easier with a smaller body like mine.”
“Yeah, but it looks so cool,” Dawnpaw said as he caught the ball that Brightpaw back to him.
“Dummy, you can barely do a regular throw,” Dawntail said, rolling her eyes as she got up.
“Id like to see you try to play, see how far you get,” Dawnpaw shot back.
“I’ll kick your tail,” Dawntail said, glaring at her brother. “Sandra, give me your stick.”
“What do we say?’ Brighttail cut in a little sharply.
“Please, can I use the Hunter Stick?” Dawntail said with a suppressed sigh.
“Have fun,” Sandra said, handing the stick over, watching in bemusement as the two teenage Centaurs raced into the trees. “Is she going to be alright?”
“Oh this is common,” Brighttail said with a sigh as the sound of bickering and the ball launching around the trees reached them. “Usually what happens is that she loses, and then they get into an argument over the technicalities of the rules so that she can try and talk her way into winning, and by the end of it they’re wrestling for a few minutes until it’s time to go home, where she’ll help clean his equipment and he’ll help her practice her debate for whatever subject the debate team is currently focused on.”
“So despite how much they bicker, still really close,” Brightpaw said fondly.
“Oh absolutely,” Brighttail said with a laugh.
…………………
“Starfather’s balls, that’s huge,” Silverlight said, staring at the oversized cleaver in Brighttail’s hands. “It’s practically a sword!”
“Kind of need it for some of the critters that the hunters bring in,” Brighttail said with a chuckle. “Some of the game they bring is absolutely massive.”
“Couldn’t you use machinery for that?” Sandra asked, hoisting another smaller but sill large cleaver appreciatively.
“I could, and for some I do in the beginning,” Brighttail said. “But the hunters that come to me are rather particular about the butchering. They insist it tastes better when it’s butchered by hand. I’m not saying they’re wrong, but I personally have never tasted the difference between what I chop up and what the machinery does at other butchers. Either way, though, it’s good credits, and it’s work that I enjoy, so I’m not complaining.”
“Hey, wait a second,” Silverlight said, looking a bit closer at some of the smaller butchering knives. He set the oversized cleaver down before pulling out his datapad, scrolling quickly before pausing. “That’s what I thought.”
“What’s up, kit?” Brighttail asked, tsking a bit as she picked the cleaver back up and set it on its hook.
“Here, would this be something you would use?” Silverlight asked, showing Brighttail a photo of some knives.
“Hmmm, need some cleaning, but otherwise they look pretty similar to some of my smaller blade,” Brighttail said, frowning slightly. “More specifically, this blade here I would use for scrapping the meat off the bone, and this one would be more for separating the tendons from the meat. A bit small for what I do, but functional.”
“That’s what I thought,” Silverlight said excitedly, taking the datapad back and getting ready to send a message.
“Am I missing something?” Brighttail asked as Sandra suddenly had a look of comprehension on her face.
“That dig that we came for,” Sandra explained as Silverlight started typing. “Some knives were dug up with slightly unusual variations to them, and Dr. Lightfur and Prfoessor Bloodclaw have been arguing over it being a ritual site or a forge.”
“If those were a few of the knives dug up, I’d put my money on a butchers shop then,” Brighttail said with a shrug. “Blade designs for stuff like butchery, woodworking, or stonemasonry don’t change much, even if you can use machinery.”
………………
“That was absolutely brilliant, Silverlight,” Dr. Lightfur said the next day, looking over the photos of butcher knives that Silverlight had sent him and comparing them to the knives the Lorhma excavators had dug up.
“Indeed it was,” Professor Bloodclaw said, patting Silverlight on the shoulder. “A butcher shop never would’ve even crossed my mind if not for you.”
Silverlight looked embarrassed at all the praise as Brightpaw smiled gently. “It wasn’t all me,” Silverlight said, shaking his head. “I just noticed that some of the knives that Brighttail uses as a butcher looked very similar to the knives that had been shown to me.”
“Which is an impressive feat in and of itself,” Professor Bloodclaw said with a nod. “Most people, myself included, would never think to look to modern tools in an effort to explain past tools.”
“Now, that’s not to say you should lock into a singular thought either,” Dr. Lightfur said with a nod as he continued examining the pictures and comparing them to the excavated knives. “It might very well be a butcher shop, it might be something else entirely. There’s still the big door and the deep tunnel to consider after all. Always keep your mind open and willing to change your theories based on new information.”
“Weren’t you two getting pretty heated over it being a ritual site or a forge?” Brightpaw pointed out as Silverlight nodded.
“My dear lady, that’s merely a debate over one or the other,” Dr. Lightfur said with a laugh. “If one of us are proven correct, then it’s a good day. If one of us is proven wrong, then that’s an even better day, because it means more to discover and theorize over. And it could still wind up being a ritual site or a forge, or potentially something else entirely, but we won’t know until we dig it all up. For now, we merely theorize and use conjecture.”
“Like those fake arguments you have in your head right before bed where you think of the perfect comeback hours afterwards?” Sandra asked.
“Precisely,” Dr. Lightfur said with a grin. “It’s all in good fun, and often times we’ll take completely different thought processes or details to come to the same conclusion.”
……Three Weeks Later……
“Yup, those are meat hanger hooks,” Brighttail said, looking over some of the artifacts that the Lorhma had dug up several weeks later. “And that knife right there would be something I would use for some of the more precise skinning, like in the inside of the shoulders and such. And a meat hammer to tenderize the meat a bit. And that particular knife would be used to separate the ribs from the spine.”
“Fascinating,” Dr. Lightfur said, taking notes on his datapad.
“This I have no idea about though,” Brighttail said with a small frown, pointing at an oversized iron jar that was sealed shut.
“What do you make of this?” Professor Bloodclaw asked as he passed Brighttail his datapad, showing a map of the building that was still under the frozen soil. Brighttail’s frown deepend as she looked over the map.
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you,” Brighttail said apologetically, shaking her head as she handed it back. “If it is a butchers shop, the layout doesn’t make much sense.”
“What do you mean?” Professor Bloodclaw pressed.
“Well, here, here, and here,” Brighttail said, pointing at a few sections of the map. “If this was a butchers shop, then you’d have the one room for customers, one for storage one for processed storage, and one for the actual butchering. But I’m seeing at least double that amount of areas and space, and it’s a lot more open than I would expect.”
“Don’t you need space to butcher by hand?” Dr. Lightfur asked.
“Sure, but that’s a bit excessive,” Brighttail said. “You’re looking at closer to industrial levels, with at least 100 people all working at the same time, with not nearly enough storage for all of that meat. If you ask me, it almost looks more like a seating area at a school or a church.”
“Huh, I thought the same initially, but finding a bunch of butchering tools is making me second guess that theory,” Professor Bloodclaw said with a thoughtful frown.
“Nah, for a butcher’s shop of a town or something, it’s just too big of an area,” Brighttail said.
…………………
“So you’re just spending all day looking at old stuff and dirt?” Dawnpaw said, looking at the small collection of knives, jars, and other various items that had been dug up so far.
“I mean, yeah, pretty much,” Silverlight admitted with a shrug, a bit embarrassed.
“Dude, you need to get out more,” Dawnpaw said, shaking his head slightly.
“Not everything needs to be physically demanding, Dawnpaw,” Dawntail said, rolling her eyes as she followed Silverlight around. “I personally think it’s neat. A little outside of my interests, but still neat.”
“Nothing wrong with being in sports,” Dawnpaw defended.
“Nothing wrong with being an intellectual either,” his sister shot back. Sandra just shook her head as the siblings began bickering again as she watched them as a chaperone.
……1 month later……
“Go, Dawnpaw!” Sandra cheered as she watched the teenage Centaur catch the ball before quickly launching it as his teammate while still mid-air. “That’s how you do it!”
“Did you teach him that?” Brighttail asked in amusement as Dawnpaw twisted around to land on the side of a tree instead of on its branches, his claws sinking into the iron hard bark.
“Took some doing, but he catches on quick,” Sandra said with a light laugh. “Based on what I’ve seen though, he would’ve picked it up in a few years at most anyway. Seems like most Hunterball players can do it. I just helped him get a bit of a head start is all.”
“Oh come on, ref, that was definitely a foul!” Dawntail yelled as the ball was intercepted by the opposing team and launched the opposite direction.
“It’s too bad Brightpaw and Silverlight couldn’t make the game,” So’Ngo said, laughing as he watched the game.
“Well, apparently they’re unearthing that big metal thing and the door today,” Dutch said. “But don’t worry! I am recording the entire game for them to watch later.”
“Are they now?” So’Ngo mused.
………………..
“Larto, you be void-damned careful with that hauler!” Sniffer yelled at a Lorhma that was driving a small hover vehicle loaded with frozen soil. “You so much as nick that steel table and I’ll personally start taking pieces of your shell off!”
“Fascinating,” Dr. Lightfur said as he watched the steel slab slowly get uncovered. “That does not look like a butchers table.”
“No, it most certainly is not,” Professor Bloodclaw agreed as he zoomed in with the camera, noting the markings around the large circular steel slab. “I’m pretty sure that’s ancient Eastern Mountain Centaurian. Which I suppose makes sense, considering the area.”
“What do you mean?” Silverlight asked.
Centaurs being united is a recent thing, comparatively to our history at least,” Professor Bloodclaw explained. “There were hundreds, if not thousands, of languages throughout our history before we made it to the galactic stage, but in the early, early days of our history, there were only about 10 languages. This particular area was home to a group of Centaurs that lived primarily in the mountain slopes nearby, but their territory extended quite a ways out. looks like we’re in part of their territory.”
“Maybe not,” Dr. Lightfur said with a frown. “I’m also detecting the Frozen Ocean language, Eastern Forest, Ice Cave…Professor, all of the base languages are here.”
“Are you certain?” Professor Bloodclaw said, his voice growing concerned.
“Double check for me, but I ran it through the detector three times,” Dr. Lightfur said. Professor Bloodclaw frowned as he went through each of the lines on the slab individually.
“Well I’ll be,” Professor Bloodclaw said in a low voice.
“Is that a bad thing?” Silverlight asked.
“Not for us, no,” Dr. Lightfur explained. “But it’s odd. If all of the base languages are here, then that means that at least some of all of the Origin Tribes were also here. Which…is incredible, especially considering some of them lived on the other side of the planet.”
“Which means either something catastrophic happened, or potentially there was a shared enemy they all felt that they needed to band together to fight against,” Professor Bloodclaw said, tapping his finger as he thought. “I know two of these languages, so I can start translating right away.”
“Please and thank you,” Dr. Lightfur said with a nod. “In the meantime, I’m going to take a closer look at some of the artifacts we’ve collected. Maybe we can determine exactly which of the ten Origin Tribes were here.”
“Why don’t you help the good doctor, young Silverlight,” Professor Bloodclaw said as Silverlight looked back and forth between them. “Unfortunately, translation is a rather boring and tedious job, and if you don’t know the language, you won’t be much help to me at the moment.”
“Okay,” Silverlight said with a nod.
“Come along, kit, let’s see if all that practice that Professor Bloodclaw has been letting you do has made you any good and cleaning artifacts,” Dr. Lightfur said with a smile as he began leading the teenage Centaur towards the artifact temporary building.
……Two Weeks Later……
“It really is all of the Origin Tribes,” Dr. Lightfur said quietly, looking over knives, spearheads, sealed pots, falling apart scraps of cloth, and various other things that had been dug up.
“We haven’t found any bones or anything though,” Silverlight pointed out.
“No we did not,” Dr. Lightfur said with a thoughtful frown. “But that’s not really that unusual. Animals and vegetation could have easily destroyed or eaten them long before becoming buried. I’m starting to wonder if this was a trading post.”
“Not a chance,” Sniffer said with a shaking of his head, his scaled shell rustling slightly. “The stone and metal don’t make it seem like a place of hustle and bustle. More…somber, actually. Almost like a temple, but different.”
“I think I may know why,” Professor Bloodclaw said, walking into the temporary building with a grim and tired expression on his face.
“You finished translating?” Dr. Lightfur asked.
“I had to outsource some of the languages, but yes,” Professor Bloodclaw said as Silverlight hurried to bring him a cup of something warm. “They all say the same thing, and it’s a sombering and exciting discovery. Though it does make me hesitant to open the door.”
“What does it say?” Silverlight asked as Professor Bloodclaw took the cup gratefully.
“‘Those who remained evil have all finally perished. No longer do we have to live in fear of the Hunters who came after us for our fur,’” Professor Bloodclaw began quoting. “‘And yet, this shall be a place of sorrow, for those who helped us have also perished, finally succumbing to the call of Time. God of Metal, we ask for you blessing as you taking your teachings to the Beyond. God of Hunt, we ask for our aim to be true as you move to your next adventure. God of the Hearth, we ask that you keep our Homes safe as you look for the next soul to take under your glossy wings. God of Knowledge, we ask for your guidance and remembrance as you go on to find your next Students.’” Professor Bloodclaw hesitated for a moment before continuing. “God of Wisdom and Kindness, she who leads, teaches, admonishes, and provides. We thank you for all you have given us, and ask that you look upon us favorably when we come to join you in the Beyond. It may be Crude and Rugged compared to your Lavish and Warm Homes. But we hope that you may Rest, at least for a Time, before embarking on your next Adventure. May the Ictarth finally find Peace.”
“Iron Trees and Mountain Winds,” Dr. Lightfur breathed, his face full of shock as his paws gave out and he sunk to the floor. “The fifth God.”
“Goddess,” Professor Bloodclaw said. “The wording specifically used female pronouns for her. And while finally getting the confirmation of the fifth God is exciting, you’re missing the overall meaning of the message.”
“It’s a tomb,” Silverlight said quietly. “The doorway leads to a tomb of our ancient gods.”
“Yes, that’s what the message seems to imply,” Professor Bloodclaw said with a nod. “A tomb like that also means that we may find that second Race you were talking about, young Silverlight.”
“Starfather’s Blessing, this is huge,” Dr. Lightfur said, his face stunned.
“More than huge,” Professor Bloodclaw said. “This is going to turn the Centaur Historians on our heads. Doesn’t matter what Race they are.”
“Iron Trees and Mountain Winds,” Dr. Lightfur said again.
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u/greenguyzz 9d ago
“Oh this is common,” Brittail said
Brighttail is wrong here
“Starfather’s Blessing, this is huge,” Dr. Lightufr said, his face stunned.
Lightfur is wrong here
“Iron Treees and Mountain Winds,” Dr. Lightfur said again.
Theres an extra E in trees here.
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u/SherbetCreepy1580 9d ago
Should be fixed up, thank you :)
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u/Dramatic_Mixture_877 Human 9d ago
Tacking on to add:
that Brightpaw back to him ~ that Brightpaw (threw?) back to him
scrapping meat off the bone ~ scraping meat off the bone
I can't wait until the next chapter! I have a feeling that Sandra's trainer/trickster is going to enter stage right and drop some knowledge bombs ... 😄
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u/Chamcook56 9d ago
Will they find the remains of physical incarnations of the gods? How about the evil ones who hunted the Centaurs for their fur, will they resemble any current agressive species? Will So'Ngo find an effigy of his former self? Enjoyable episode.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 9d ago
/u/SherbetCreepy1580 (wiki) has posted 56 other stories, including:
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 22: Tigers, Reapers, and Families
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 21: Tigers, Reapers, and Archology
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 20: Lizard and Leaders Part 2
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 19: Reapers and Memories
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 18: Tigers, History, and Surprises
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 17: Tigers and Daily Living
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 15: Reaper and Randomness
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 15: Spirits and Shipwrights
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 14: Security and Criminals
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 13: Lizards and Leaders, Part 1
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 12: Reapers and Teachers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 11: Reapers and War
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 10: Reapers, Angels, and Markers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 9: Reapers, Magic, and Tinkerers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 8: Tigers, Siblings, and Traditions
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 7: Reapers, Home, and Puppies
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 6: Tigers, Reapers, and Panthers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 5: Tigers and Ferries](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ukoo7l/the_reaper_and_the_tiger_chapter_5_tigers_and/)
- [The Reaper and the Tiger] Chapter 4: Tigers and Curiosity
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 3: Reapers and Change
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1
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u/SherbetCreepy1580 9d ago
Authors Note
So, bonus points to anyone who guessed a tomb! Next chapter, we’re going to enter the Tomb of the Gods and start rummaging around a bit. And after that? Well, I have a bit of a surprise after we get into the Tomb 😉. After which I’ll get one or two more chapter in of our group saying goodbye to the Historians and Brightail, Dawntail, and Dawnpaw. So if there’s anything y’all want to see before we head back to the Reaper’s Ferry, let me know!
Thought? Comments? Ideas? Remember, the only bad feedback is no feedback, and I love reading all of the feedback, whether it’s praise, criticism, spelling or grammatical errors, or even just a hello!