The day was coming to an end. As the sun was setting over the distant mountains, Audrey was trotting up a hill. She had been traveling since the crack of dawn, which wasn't much of a bother to her but she was worried about her companion.
Looking down over her shoulder, she saw the tiger staggering after her, hiding his strain behind a sour expression. Despite his stubbornness, Audrey couldn't help but admire his determination to keep going for an entire day, despite his weakened state.
He hadn't said a word to her all day, resulting in her taking the lead and scouting ahead of him. It made for an uneventful day, but Audrey supposed that was a good thing. It meant their journey had been going well, and she was used to playing the role of a scout.
As she reached the top of the hill, she saw two mountains flanking each other, forming a pass, and below them was more taiga, trees as far as the eye could see, dotted with a few small open fields, covered in snow. More notably though, Audrey spotted a large trail cutting through the snow. It looked like multiple animals had waded through it at the same time.
Given how yesterday's blizzard would have covered any tracks, it was a given that these were very recent. Audrey descended the hill and briefly glanced back to see Diego's form appear at its rim. Her keen ears picked up the tiger grumbling under his breath as he had to lurch his way down the steep hill.
Audrey put off asking him if he wanted a break, as he had made it abundantly clear that morning that he would not take a break for anything short of a snowstorm. Plus, as night was quickly approaching, she hoped that he would agree to finally rest instead of pushing himself further. He couldn't be that stubborn.
As Audrey reached the bottom of the hill, she spotted something in the middle of the trackway. Grimacing, she reluctantly lowered her head to sniff the large pile of dung. It was still warm and steaming.
She quickly jerked back, her ears flattened, and snorted the smell out of her nose.
"Don't be a cub about it, it's just dung." Audrey jumped a bit after hearing Diego jeering and saw him walking up to her.
It was the first thing he had said to her since they embarked on their journey and his voice sounded hoarse as he sniffed and rubbed his dripping nose with his paw.
"So what do we have here?" he inquired. Audrey didn't have trouble answering that.
"A herd of elk passed through here, recently."
"Elk? Great." Diego replied with moderate enthusiasm and followed the tracks. "I can finally get back into the game."
Audrey blinked in surprise before following him into the forest. He couldn't have been serious?
"You sure you want to take on an elk?"
"Yes." the tiger responded, not looking at her.
"Wouldn't you rather hunt something smaller til you recover?"
Audrey flinched as she was met with his piercing green eyes, twisted into an indignant scowl.
"I'll be fine, mom." he snarked bitterly before turning back. "And for the record, I am going easy til I'm all better.
"He's tough but his ego sure is fragile..." Audrey thought sourly before sighing. It was nothing unfamiliar to her. It seemed tigers weren't too different from her own kind in that regard, always needing to keep up a show of strength.
"...his leader probably didn't tolerate weakness much." she figured. Diego hadn't said all that much about his leader, but what little he had said didn't paint a very flattering picture of the deceased alpha tiger.
Part of Audrey was curious to know more. She wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was the novelty of getting a firsthand account of another carnivore's culture.
"By the way, what's your favorite meat?" Diego suddenly asked, jolting her out of her thoughts.
"Excuse me? Why do you want to know?" Audrey asked, having a hunch it wasn't idle curiosity.
"So I can catch it for you and you can eat at leisure."
Audrey's brow knitted. "Is this about eating the reindeer I caught?"
"Yes. And the stupid saiga." he responded irritably, still looking away from her.
Audrey could practically see him rolling his eyes as he curved around some fallen logs and some snow-covered boulders, and she followed him.
"I think one kill that weighs as much as the two of them combined or more should suffice, don't you agree? So what will it be? Just don't say "mammoth" or "rhino" cuz I ain't a miracle worker."
Audrey sighed again. She didn't really want this but knew she couldn't talk the tiger out of his personal sense of honor. It was a nice gesture at least.
"I dunno..." she shrugged "...not sure I have a favorite?"
Diego hummed gruffly. "Well, then think of one. You'll have plenty of time to think-ow!"
He stopped and pulled his right front paw out of the snow. Audrey saw a small bleeding cut on it.
Hissing in pain, Diego saw something poking through the snow.
"What is this?" he whipped the snow away, revealing a rounded object with spikes poking out of it in all directions.
With a curious gaze, Diego looked at the pair of "boulders" near them and circled them while Audrey kept staring at the mace-like object and it dawned on her what this was, prompting her to follow Diego, who shoved away more snow, revealing not one but two faces.
They were short and square, with bulging cheeks and caps made of tiny scutes on top of their heads. Both creatures were covered in frost and long dead.
"Armadillos, figures." Diego noted as he felt one of their faces, which was as hard as stone. "These things are too slow and heavy for such an arduous journey."
Audrey couldn't help but feel some sympathy as she gazed at the two frozen bodies. It was a cruel bit of irony. Giant armadillos were practically immune from predation thanks to their dense armor and tail clubs, but that same trait made them incredibly slow and cumbersome, a fatal handicap when you had to travel far to escape an incoming ice age.
Diego wasn't so easily sidetracked, keeping his expression stoic as he reared up on top of one of the armadillo's shells with an inquisitive look in his eyes. Audrey watched him push a bit before shaking his head and turning around. "Let's go, it will be night soon."
Audrey wasn't one to waste easy meat either but trying to tip over the heavy shell of an armadillo would be a herculean effort and Diego knew better than to waste their time doing so. They were probably frozen stiff and likely stuck to the ground too. The hyena was about to follow her companion but paused as she sent the two corpses one final glance, thinking about why there were two of them.
She wondered if these two were friends, or maybe mates. If they both collapsed there from exhaustion and never left or if one stayed behind to comfort the other, who could walk no further? It was pretty sad but at least they went out peacefully.
Suddenly, she was tackled and fell onto her back behind some dwarf conifers. Looking up, she found Diego on top of her again.
"Stay quiet." he hissed before she could make a sound and glanced to his left. "We're not alone." he added in a low voice.
Audrey kept her mouth shut and heard panting noises as she something big crashed through the forest. Diego got off her and peered through the conifers in a crouching position. Rolling onto her side, Audrey squinted and made out a huge brown figure rear up between the taller trees. Her nose told her what she was looking at before she got a good look at it and it made her blood freeze.
It was an absolute monster of a bear. He lumbered about on two legs, sniffing the air and surveying the area with narrowed eyes. Turning to Diego, Audrey saw the tiger watching the giant with a hateful gaze.
"It can't be the same bear?" her heart started beating faster, though she was more worried for Diego's safety. Based on his account of their first encounter, that bear wasn't one to let go of a grudge.
The bear dropped down on all fours and started moving in their direction, limping a bit on one of his front limbs, still sniffing. Audrey stood up and readied herself to flee while Diego tensed up and raised his hackles. Fortunately for them, the bear looked in another direction and smiled in delight as he walked up to the two armadillos.
He was practically drooling before letting out a booming laugh as he grabbed one of the armadillos by the rim of its shell and effortlessly tipped it over, exposing its unarmored stomach. Audrey felt a shiver run down her spine seeing this display of raw strength. No wonder that even three tigers in their prime struggled against such a brute.
"Keith, ol'boy! This is yur lucky day!" the bear said to himself before digging in.
"Brainless oaf." Audrey heard Diego mutter spitefully before turning to her and nudging her away. "Move it."
Audrey didn't need to be told twice and snuck away. Diego paused to look back before following her as they walked a wide berth around the bear, who was entirely focused on gorging himself.
Once they were a safe distance away, Audrey realized she had been holding her breath and exhaled in relief. That was a close shave. Once more, they found the trail that was left by the elk herd and followed it.
Audrey turned to Diego. "Was that the bear you and your friends fought?"
"Yes..." the tiger grumbled "...don't know why he's strolling around instead of napping."
"Maybe he realized this winter was worse than normal?" Audrey suggested.
Diego seemed to be in deep thought before muttering, "Just my luck."
"Don't worry, I'm sure we won't cross paths again." Audrey tried to assure him.
He gave her a sour look. "I'm not worried. The lummox with probably gorge himself and be unable to move for at least a day."
Audrey smiled. "That's good news for-"
"Why didn't you smell him before he reached us? It's your job to sniff out any dangers."
Audrey flushed and lowered her head and ears. "Sorry...I got distracted by the armadillos."
"Stupid bungler!" she chastised herself before realizing that Diego was looking at her oddly before letting out a low grunt, clearly annoyed, and turning away.
"You can't let your guard down, next time we might not come across an easily distracted dimwit. So try and stay focused, will ya?" he deadpanned. At least he didn't seem too mad.
They continued walking side by side, not saying anything to each other. Audrey felt embarrassed about the whole ordeal, she was already failing her part of the deal. It was frustrating, she only let her guard down for a few seconds and yet that was all it took to mess up.
The forest eventually gave way to more open terrain with conifers dotted throughout it, making it all the easier to follow the trail. Like any other animal, the elks were traveling southwards and the two predators could follow them for the foreseeable future.
Audrey didn't need to ask to know that Diego had the same idea. As they neared the foothills of the twin mountains, the sun settled over the horizon and the sky was darkening.
With nothing else to do, Audrey watched the growing number of stars. She had little trouble seeing in the dark, and as far she knew, tigers had even better night vision, but they needed to rest eventually.
Even though her travel companion tried his hardest not to show it, she knew he was exhausted. Not helping matters was that the winds were getting stronger, blowing over the vast snowscapes, and Audrey found herself shivering.
"Diego? I think it's about time we call it a night?"
"Great idea." he snarked in response. "How about we hunker down here in the middle of the snowfield? Looks very warm and cozy."
He didn't notice Audrey stopping in her tracks and silently seething. "I only asked a question!"
"I was joking." he added, his tone suggesting he thought she needed the clarification, as he kept on walking before suddenly stopping.
Audrey herself saw some strange, dome-shaped objects on the horizon, blending in with it.
"Follow me." Diego said in a more serious tone, his eyes narrow. Unsure, Audrey followed him until the tiger stopped and scrutinized the sight in front of them.
"Hmmm...don't see any smoke?"
"Smoke?"
"This is...or was a human camp." Diego explained , making the hyena nervous.
"Human camp?" she took a step back, her tail tucked between her legs.
"Relax, I'm pretty sure it's abandoned." Diego said with a smug smirk. "But how about you make sure?"
It took Audrey a few seconds to realize what he meant, before sheepishly taking a few steps in front of him and sniffing the air.
"The scent... is old?" she thought out loud. "Nobody's been here for days."
"Now we're talking." Diego walked ahead of her, inspecting the place.
Knowing there was no danger here, Audrey felt free to do the same, finding herself surrounded by three round, snow-covered huts and a pile of charred rocks in the middle flanked by two logs, which she figured was probably where the humans made fires.
While she inspected the rocks, she noticed something casting a shadow on her and let out a startled yip as she came face-to-face with a tall, tubular figure.
"What is it now?" Diego asked as he caught up to her before arching a brow at the strange sight.
Realizing that it was inanimate, Diego walked up to it and touched it with his paw before knocking on it. The hollow thunk it made confirmed that it was made of wood.
"It's just a tree trunk, it's not going to eat ya." Diego dismissed it but Audrey noticed something peculiar about it, prompting her to curiously approach it and take a closer look.
"It's not just a trunk?" Audrey said, more to herself than her companion. She noticed that it sported a face at the bottom, and another one on top of the first one, and another one on top of the second one. Six faces in total, stacked on top of each other.
Diego noticed that two and gazed at it for a while. "What is this..." he squinted "...another one of the human's weird art projects... like the cave paintings?"
"Cave paintings?" an intrigued Audrey asked him. "So humans really do draw pictures of us on cave walls? I thought it was just a tall tale?"
"It's no tall tales. Me and my friends have seen those things on our journey, twice." Diego sat down before turning to the stack of wooden figures. "This though...it's new?"
"Fascinating?" Audrey sat down herself before locking her gaze on one of the grinning faces in the middle. It sported a pair of huge fangs, had three lines carved into both sides of its face, resembling whiskers and/or sideburns, and tucked close to it were a pair of paws with extended claws.
"Hey, I think that one is a tiger?"
"I'll be..." Diego looked genuinely amazed.
Audrey turned her attention to the other faces. The two below the tiger looked similar to each other but the lowest one had a more pointed muzzle and smaller ears, while the one over it had larger ears and a broader muzzle.
To Audrey, it looked uncannily familiar. "I think that one's a hyena and the one at the bottom a dire wolf?" she deduced before glancing up at the uppermost faces.
The largest one at the very top had a long muzzle, flared nostrils, and mangled teeth, including tusk-like canines. Audrey grimaced, realizing what that one was meant to represent but it made her wonder what the purpose of this... thingamajig was. The second face was clearly a bear, further evident from its long claws.
Why did the humans make it? All the featured animals seemed to be predators and the way they were stacked on top of each other gave Audrey some ideas.
"Very intriguing." Diego rolled his eyes while shuddering from the freezing winds. "But how about we-"
"Why do you think they made this?" Audrey asked, too enthralled to notice the tiger's blatant disinterest.
"The heck if I know? Humans have odd customs."
"Huh...I think it's meant to represent some kind of... hierarchy? All of these seem to be predators."
"Hierarchy?" that seemed to catch Diego's attention before his gaze fell on the face between the tiger and bear.
Audrey pointed with her paw. "Yes. The wolf is at the bottom, and the hippo is at the very top. The hyena is above the wolf, and the tiger's above the hyena-"
"What is that?" Diego narrowed his eyes at a particular face. Audrey saw that he was looking at the one face that didn't resemble a mammal, but rather a bird. One with a large, hooked beak.
Audrey thought about its potential identity. If this man-made thingamajig indeed represented what she thought it did, a tribute to the most dangerous predators in the land that the humans feared, or perhaps even felt some odd reverence for, it could only be one thing.
Audrey had never actually seen one in the flesh, but she had heard tails of them when she was young. They evidently weren't fond of cold weather and had become rare this far north.
"Must be a terror bird." she shrugged but Diego scoffed.
"Terror bird?" his voice was laced with disgust as he gave her an incredulous glare. "So you're telling me these humans think a terror bird is superior to a sabretooth?"
"Seems so? Maybe I'm wro-"
"Of course you're wrong. I mean...this is plain ridiculous! Humans are a lot of things but they aren't stupid!" Diego argued with sudden passion. "Either these bozos never met a tiger, or you're completely off the mark."
Audrey didn't know why Diego suddenly got so upset, but then it hit her. Saber-toothed tigers and terror birds hated each other with a vengeance. In the short time she'd known him, she quickly realized that Diego was a very proud tiger, and seeing this must have stuck in his craw.
It was actually kind of funny seeing him get worked up and she stifled a chuckle. She stopped as he turned to her, but his glare gave way to an awkward grimace, trying to conceal his embarasment.
"I'm going to sleep." he grumbled and turned around. "You can marvel at this art exhibit all night if ya want to."
Audrey's mirth waned as she was reminded of how cold it was and began to shiver once more from the biting winds. This man thing piqued her interest but it was not worth turning into a popsicle.
As Diego entered one of the huts, she soon followed him, as the winds continued to howl outside. Inside, Audrey found Diego hunkering down and both examined the structure of the hut. Instead of wood, it was made from interlocking mammoth tusks, with animal hides draped over it.
Diego observed the architecture with a cold grimace, but Audrey attributed his mood to what they had seen outside.
"Inventive?" Audrey couldn't help but marvel again as she hunkered down, away from the entrance. Humans were strange and sometimes scary but also rather intriguing creatures.
Elsewhere, another tiger was walking through the taiga. He was quite exhausted and was looking forward to hunkering down somewhere and sleeping. Not just for the simple pleasure of resting after a long trek but also for evading almost certain death. He was attracted by the sound of running water. Despite the below-zero temperature, he felt quite hot from the endless walking.
And he wasn't alone, as he was being followed by a second, scrawnier tiger. His buggy eyes were half-lid and he was constantly yawning. Besides the usual night critters such as owls, the pair heard a distant noise, an elk bugling. Zeke didn't seem to care or even notice and just yawned again.
"Oscar, I'm tired..." he whine in a drowsy state. "Can we sleep?"
"I can tell. You aren't running headfirst to slaughter some unfortunate elk." Oscar sneered as they continued to hear bugling in the distance. The tiger smiled to himself, knowing they wouldn't go hungry traveling onward. His fortunes had indeed turned.
They stopped by a river and the duo lowered their heads to lap up some water. Still feeling a tad antsy, Oscar couldn't help but look over his shoulder. He knew he shouldn't worry but he couldn't help himself. This ghost from their pack's past should never have returned, Soto made sure of that. Almost like he was an actual spirit having come back for vengeance.
Despite his grogginess, Zeke noticed Oscar's action, and it made him nervous.
"You think they're still following us?" the scrawny tiger gulped. Despite sharing his sentiment, Oscar sent him an indignant glare.
"Of course not! We gave them the slip days ago, you moron." he said firmly. "You know those things have practically no sense of smell. And even if they managed to follow our trail, we surely lost them in the blizzard, which covered all our tracks."
Oscar couldn't believe that he was actually grateful for a blizzard for once. His response seemed to ease Zeke's worries and he laughed.
"Yeah...you're right. Not like they're gonna fly high into the sky and find us that way! Caw! Caw!" he jeered while rearing up to flap his front limbs.
Oscar rolled his eyes and shook his head. What tiger hadn't made that incredibly obvious joke? He couldn't wait to find a new pack and ditch this useless little cretin.
Zeke suddenly stopped fooling around and his eyes widened, seemingly fixated on something behind Oscar. Tentatively, Oscar turned around and saw nothing, until he craned his neck up and saw something perched on a snowy branch.
It was a large dark bird, a teratorn. He observed the felines with his yellow eyes, sporting a wry smile.
"Good evening, tigers." he greeted them casually, his voice deep.
"Get lost, scavenger. We've got no kill." Oscar looked away in disgust and went back to drinking. The gall of this rat with wings to actually talk to them, even Zeke didn't deserve that indignity.
The teratorn's expression didn't change. Zeke couldn't help but feel unnerved by the bird's demeanor, he seemed to know something they didn't.
"Jus' curious, but ya two wouldn't happen to be part of the Half Peak pack?" the teratorn inquired.
Oscar didn't care to engage with the lowly carrion-feeder anymore but Zeke couldn't keep his yap shut. "Yes, we are! I mean...hihi...we're all that's left."
Oscar groaned and made Zeke flinch with his glare. "There is no Half Peak pack anymore, nitwit. They're dead."
The teratorn cocked an eyebrow curiously. "Interesting." he thought. "So the mighty Soto has finally fallen?"
"Let's go and find shelter." Oscar grumbled and walked away, Zeke obediently following.
"Travelin' south I see." the teratorn asked.
"None of your business, buzzard!" Zeke snapped at him while Oscar ignored the bird.
"Oh, I know." the teratorn shrugged with an air of nonchalance. "But I think ol' Al will be curious to hear 'bout this."
"Al? You're..." Oscar stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, agape. The teratorn smiled, clearly enjoying the cat's terror.
"What? Birds gotta stick together." the teratorn smirked. "You probably know that he and his crew are a bit...flight-impaired, so I volunteered to offer a helpin' wing...for a fair price."
"Where is he!" Oscar demanded to know.
The teratorn offered a devilish smirk. "That would be tellin', wouldn't it?" he toyed with them and didn't even flinch when Oscar roared and stomped the ground.
"Soto's dead! So is everyone else, I swear!" Zeke begged him. "They're chasing us for nothing!"
"Oh, I heard ya. But I'm not sure how Al will take it." the teratorn didn't seem to care. "It might break his lil' heart and he'll take you two as a consolation price."
"I'm warning you, vulture!" Oscar roared. The teratorn chuckled softly. It was always fun to see the haughty squirm.
"Oscar, we gotta run!" Zeke panicked and Oscar was tempted to listen to him for once.
"Of course..." the teratorn shrugged "...I might decide to turn a blind eye on you runaway kitties this one time... if yall make it worth my while."
"Huh?" Zeke didn't follow. Oscar did though and he felt his blood boiling. This was degrading, humiliating, infuriating. But he was desperate.
Hearing bugling, the teratorn turned in the direction of the sound before shifting his gaze back at the tigers. "There's your chance."
Oscar seethed but his pragmatic side won over his pride this time. At least he knew in advance that his troubles were far from over.
In case anyone's wondering, yes. That is the Will Arnett vulture from Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. Can't say I'll include any other character from that movie in this AU, but I liked his ominous and cheeky vulture, so I decided to use him here. As you can see, he's living up to the vultures' reputation by being an opportunistic bastard who plays both sides for an easy meal. And because I care about these little details, I made him a teratorn here (Teratornis merriami), which are essentially bigger and somewhat more predatory ice age relatives of today's condors, turkey vultures, and black vultures.
And I think I forgot to clarify that the "hippos" in this setting are entelodonts (specifically the big ass Dinohyus hollandi), distant relatives of actual hippos (hence why the Hyaenodon have a beef with them), and the elk is (a bit obviously) the Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus).