Just Another Day

Jakko growled at the retreating form of the rivercat until it was out of sight.

"Good job, Jakko," Dai praised his dog as he hoisted the calf onto his shoulders. "Now, it's time you two came back to the herd." The calf bellowed to its mother and she lowed worriedly to him.

"You really should be more careful," Dai continued. "You lost an uncle to a rivercat, you know."

Jakko barked excitedly, which agitated the calf, and thus the mother as well.

"Kindly do not bark, Jakko. The calf is excited enough and he keep swatting me with his tail."

Jakko made a whining groan and fell silent as he trotted along near the cow.

Dai lived simply as the guardian of a herd of Urych cattle. It was his duty to drive them back to the main herd in the south where other cattle herders would join him each autumn.

The Urych were a very gentle breed. Dai's grandfather was one of the first to breed them. They were a cross of the ox and the local bison, and had the characteristics of both. It was possibly a gamble or bet that had led to the creature's existence. Before, none knew if the pairing would work. But it had and there was now a small business of it. The Urych made good work and meat animals. Every spring the herders would set off from their home city of Wynfall to the plains for the herds to graze and raise their young. After the seasons begin to shift to autumn and before the cold winter set upon the land, the herds were driven back to Wynfall for shelter and for the bloodlines to be monitored.

Jakko's job was rarely to herd the cattle, as they were quite docile. His main purpose was to chase off predators and generally keep his master company. He had been in few fights. There were no wolves this far from the forest and the vicious rivercats that lived in the water were easily chased off with a few piercing barks. There were also coyotes, but they were content to yip at his passing and scamper off. His master always lavished attention on him and Jakko had an easy life.

Dai usually spent the winter months with his mother, who lived in Wynfall, after gathering his wife and child in the autumn.

Zihna, his wife, was not native to Wynfall, much less was she the same species as her husband. Zihna was a nomadic kurach, native to the rolling hills of the prairie. Kurach were creatures that resembled a man, yet had ears, tails, fangs, and claws like that of a wild canine, and had large, feathered wings. Like the others of her tribe, Zihna possessed the ability to change her form from that of a bestial creature to that of a human being.

Dai sighed as he thought of his beloved companion. He had met her out in the open years past. One of his Urych had been injured and would have died had Zihna not treated it with a concoction known to her people. Dai had offered her one of his best milk cows in gratitude for her help. She led him back to her people, the Heyen clan. Since then, Dai had changed the territory he usually had his herd roam to that which would follow the wanderings of the Heyen clan so as to see her more often.

The two started courting after a few short weeks. Within a year of their meeting they had wed with the blessing of her clan. A few years later after that they had a son, who surprisingly bore none of the obvious kurach features.

Dai continued to follow the clan so he could be near his wife and son. When winter came the Heyen clan would take their usual journey into the forest to escape the harsh winter on the plains, and Dai and his family would enter Wynfall.

Life continued uneventfully this way for him for years and he was never away from his family for more than a few days while he was out in the plains. He had few complaints, all of which pertained to calves wandering too close to predators. His life was peaceful, and he couldn't have asked for anything more.