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Despite the feeling that something unknown was coming nothing had yet happened. The days had gone by rather uneventfully. Walking, finding food and sleeping, with the occasional detour when something interesting popped up. It was on one such day that the pair found themselves by a small pool of water, no longer than Taiga himself was, but it was a good spot to stop for a break. The pool lay within a sparse group of trees, allowing for a bit of shade as well. After taking his fill of water Taiga stared off in the direction they had thus far been travelling. He sat down and looked back at Mana. “This might be a nice place to rest for the night. Food will likely not be too hard to find around here with the water hole there.”





Rex’rhi had hidden himself in a shallow hole upon seeing the pair near. Dirt was scattered through his already brown fur as he watched the pair near from the hastily dug hole beneath one of the trees that sat at the edge of the area. He waited silently, watching as they came nearer and finally entered the area. It wasn’t until they had fallen out of sight that he slowly pulled himself up and shook the dirt from his fur. The male was surely the one his lady was searching for, and she was sure to be pleased of his news. Without further delay he turned and trotted off a distance away, to a makeshift den dug out beneath some rocks. He stopped at it’s entrance, smiling widely at the form within. “The lion is here, not far off in the trees.”

Taiga’s gaze had shifted out between the trees, getting a broken view of the area ahead. There appeared to be a few more trees out there, but otherwise it all seemed pretty open. He stood back up and made his way to sit closer to the water, stretching his weary limbs before lying down. This place was nice, enough trees to hide them while they slept, and not too many that he could not keep watch through them, as he would likely do for some time, as he had done every night. As tired as he was though he was enjoying having Mana with him. “Not yet, but I’m not worried about it. Where ever we are headed I am sure we will get there eventually.” He stretched out further on the grown, enjoying the cool shade wash away the heat of travels fro his body.


A small shiver ran through his body as the female’s tail brushed against him. He did not have much time to revel in the touch though as she was soon demanding his attention. Rex nodded quickly before stepping around her, stumbling in his haste to do as she said. After regaining his footing he trotted back towards the sparse clump of trees, going back to where his shallow hole of a hideout was, glancing back evey now and then to make sure that Deinocti still followed. His words were a bit rushed as he tried to get the information to her quickly, wanting so for her to be happy with him. “He is in there, I saw myself. A lioness walks with him though, but no others.”

“I’m sure we will.” Taiga smiled. It was certainly nice to have a break from all the travel they had done. He had not meant to push forward so hard, but he felt he had to. Now that feeling lessened and he was looking forward to a good rest. Any thought of food was put aside for now, that could be seen to later. Weary and presently content it did not take long for Taiga to start to drift off, sitting on the edge of sleep and consciousness as dreams flitted in and out of his head, taunting him, but something else tugged at his mind as well.


Rex’rhi lowered his head as Deinocti growled. Was he supposed to answer that question? He didn’t know, but decided on sticking to silence for now. Then a smile came upon the maw of the female, making Rex a bit uneasy as he was unsure why she was smiling until she spoke. “Yes, of course!” His ears perked forward and he followed Dei out of the hole, but left her side to prowl further around the trees before moving in to the brush as well. He crept forward as slowly and quietly as he could, eyes locked on t he pale lioness laying by the larger male. He would get her away, do what Deinocti wanted, then she’d surely be happy with him. A wicked grin spread across his maw as he waited, muscles twitching, before springing out of the brush and landing only a few bounds away from the female, which he cleared quickly. Jaws snapped down on the female’s tail and he pulled frantically backwards, paws digging in to the dirt as he attempted to get her away from her larger companion.

The cries pulled Taiga from his light sleep, though his mind was slow to clear as he stumbled up to his feet and looked quickly around. Mana was moving backwards, something behind her pulling her towards the trees. He turned and made to stop it, but before he could do anything for the lioness another form had appeared and spoke, the words directed at him. His confusion only increased as the dog charged at him, yelling out as she did. He took a few quick steps back before lowering his head and baring his own teeth towards his attacker. “I don’t know what you think it is I have done, but you are surely mistaken!” He was about to swing a heavy paw towards thwe charging dog when his mind fell abck to Mana, his attetion quickly pulled away from his own situation as he turned his head to find her, to make sure she was alright.

The lioness was getting hard to pull as she flailed and clawed at the ground, but he wasn’t going to fail. He couldn’t. He was doing this for her, and for her he had to do it right. His grip tightened as he jerked backwards, his footing starting to slide on leaves as he was coming nearer to the brush within the treeline. Rex growled around the tail in his mouth. He was almost there, almost away from the lion and his lady. Can’t fail.

Taiga barely noticed that his paw had actually hit, his attention focused on Mana for the moment. They had bee attacked, but it looked to be only two. He was at least glad for that. Mana appeared to be fighting back as well, and though he desired to help her he decided to leave her for now, to help herself. Should her situation worsen though he would not hesitate to step in. However for now he turned back to the gray dog, brows furrowed and teeth bared. “Why are you attacking us? What is it we have done to you?” His voice was a deep growl as he advanced on the fallen dog.

Rex was nearly there, leaves brushed against his backside, however his victory was cut short as claws raked across his face. His hold on the female’s tail was released and he let out a series of high yelps, stumbling back through the leaves in his surprise and pain. After a moment he shook himself off, sending blood droplets flying on to leaves and bark. “I am not going to fail her!” With a growl he leapt forward again, jaws snapping at the female, anywhere he could manage to reach.

Taiga noticed the pale form running away from the small clearing, and as he glanced over he saw it was Mana. His gaze fell back to the fallen dog as she spoke. His mind racing to figure out what she meant, and then it hit him The ambush. It was surely what she meant. Before he could question her further though the dog lifted her head and let out a howl and the look afterwards told him that there may surely be ore. With Mana already running from the place he felt no desire to stick around. With a growl he spun and took off after the lioness.