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 Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:49 pm
 The skull was not so fragile as the cub may have thought. The bone was thick and strong and the horns powerful. The helm that had once protected a ram from the sharp blows of its rivals, had also served her well in the jungle, breaking through the thick foliage with far greater ease than her own skull alone could have. In battle it would not only protect her from an opponent's strike, but it would also inflict it's own wounds on whomever the horns struck. But this, this was a cub, and she would not tolerate his attempts on her prized possession.
The general's tail flicked with a snap that seemed to break through the harsh desert air. In a flash her paw lashed out, dark talons bared, her intent to seize the creature under the weight of her massive paw.
"You are a foolish creature. Perhaps I should simply destroy you now and spare the earth the trouble."
She was growing tired of this game, her patience wanning thin.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:04 pm
Startled by the sudden lunge, Kienge was slow to react. Before he could even cry out the lioness had his body pinned between her heavy paws and the hot earth. The breath was knocked out of him and his eyes bulged as he gasped unsuccessfully. She was going to hurt him! Kill him! The anger his previous wounds had roused was nothing compared to the fury that this realization fueled.
Kill him. The cub shrieked and clawed at her paw, but his attacks were rebuffed by the hard bone armor that shielded the lioness. Nearly incoherent with anger (and, though he wouldn't admit it, the beginings of panic) Kienge squirmed and fought to get close enough to sink his small fangs into her pads.
At last, when he admitted even to himself that there was little he could do to escape, the cub went limp. Every muscle in his small body trembled with the effort to remain still. But there was nothing he could do -physically- that would get her off of him.
Kienge took several sharp, deep breaths. He was begining to realize something.
"If you kill me," Kienge spoke calmly, but behind his words was a deep hatred for his helplessness, "you'll have half the Firekin pride at your den within a day. Even -you- can't hold them all off." The cub smirked. She could try to pass the killing off as a work of the heat or a snake, but the claw marks on his sides and the tracks in the sand and dirt were more than incriminating enough. The fear he'd begun to feel earlier was just as strong, but stronger still was the satisfaction at the thought of retribution.
Revenge.
He would get it, even if he wasn't alive. Though it wouldn't be nearly as sweet then.
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:31 pm
Her maw parted, fangs glistening like venomed daggers, malicious, mocking laughter falling from her jaws. Her eyes beneath the skull were demonic, the gaze of a horrific monster borne in the nitemares of hell. As she spoke, the words dripped from her fangs like blood.
"Naivety of youth, you're assuming I'd leave anything here for them to find. In this desert the vultures would pick your bones clean before anyone missed you, or maybe I'd eat you myself."
Her head lowered, fangs dangerously close to the young one's hide as if to emphasize her words, tail flicking like a dancing serpent, her other paw raised with flexed talons, taunting her victim.
"And even if they did find you, why should I fear mortal lions when I am the reincarnated general of a god."
She mocked the cub but did not strike, for though the monster was dark as the moonless sky, terrifying as the river styx, she did not wish to slaughter this cub today. He was not worth the effort, nor did she care to linger much longer in this place. And perhaps someday, this pathetic creature would find that fire, then he would be worthy of the end he would find on her talons.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 9:26 pm
He stared balefully into the dark eye sockets, his lips pulled back in an unconscious snarl. The thought of leaving -nothing- behind hasn't occured to him. The thought of being eaten by her... it made his blood boil, his heart pound like paws on the hard-baked earth!
...though whether in fear or anger, the cub couldn't tell. The two had become indistingishable, one fueling the other.
"Gods? Even if I believed that, I don't care what you are. I only know," Kienge snarled, "that there are lions like my dad, lions who are strong and proud. Then there are cowards who deserve to die." He would -never- be classes as the latter. Never. He would rather die than be a burden, a disgrace to his family and pride. Kienge held a desperation to prove his strength to his father, who had shunned him since birth - and maybe, to himself as well.
He flinched slightly when the lioness taunted him, expecting to feel the red-hot flare as claws raked across his hide. When the pain didn't come, a bubble of laughter came instead. Kienge sneered, his body - still pinned beneath her massive paws - shaking with laughter.
"I thought so." The cub wiggled against the pressure and sought to break free. All this excitement was more than enough to exhaust him, and he wanted a break in the shade! If she wasn't gonna kill him, that is. He giggled again.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 9:06 pm
The demon's grip tightened, the weight of her paw heavy on the cub's small form pressing him into the sandy earth, talons pricking at his young hide. Her tail flicked in her growing irritation, maw parted, fangs dripping their bitter venom over the pitiful creature.
"Watch what your words, runt, or you may find them to be your last."
The talons of her free paw tapped harshly on the earth, scraping across a rock with an ear piercing screech, blood-curdling as the cry of a tormented soul trapped in the depths of hell.
"A firekin who does not believe in gods, you best not let Finar-si hear you speak such words, or the rest of the pride for that matter. That is, if I don't just kill you right now."
Her expression was malignant, murderous intent clear in her blood red eyes, the lust for blood now clear in her malicious sneer and snarling voice.
"You are a pitiful excuse for a firekin, you're not even worthy of my claws."
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 11:30 pm
"Pah, stupid outlander! I didn't say I didn't believe in Gods!" Kienge sneered, although fear was clear in his wide eyes now. "I said I didn't believe that -you- were part of a god!"
He winced as her claws pricked his sides, his breath leaving his body in a whoosh as she pressed her weight against him. Caught between an angry lion and a hard place... the cub managed to catch his breath, only to giggle it out. A strange exhilaration rushed through him and he bared his own fangs, struggling to reach her paw and sink them into her flesh.
If the desert creatures tasted so good, their blood hot in his mouth, how must other lions taste? His purple eyes narrowed balefully as she slandered his own blood, but he put up with it. He'd learned - fire was good, when you could back it up. But it didn't do any good if he died before he was able to do that!
"If I'm not worthy of your claws, then get them OFF of me!" he struggled and squirmed, ignoring the pain of her claws as they seared his sides. "Let me grow into something worthy! Let me grow into something that would give you a good fight... and a good death." He grinned, but there was a faint note of pleading in his voice. "A cub is no match for a full grown lioness."
There. He'd said it out loud.
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 3:41 pm
"Every word you speak only brings you closer to your death."
She mocked him with bared fangs, massive paw holding the struggling for to the earth despite the small fangs that reached for her own hide, eyes narrowed beneath the skull in a hellish glare.
Mahakali was not a creature to be taken lightly, nor one to be underestimated, not by a god, and not my a mortal, firekin, pridelander, or otherwise. She was a largel lioness, powerful muscles etched into the form of a trained warrior, a merciless general, one who had grown and battled at the side of the god of war himself. She was as large as any firekin, her white pelt marked with black and red hauntingly similar to the very cub that lay pinned under her paw, perhaps she could have passed for one of the blood herself.
These details would have been seen by any warrior, and a true warrior would have thought of a way to use such to their advantage, rather than foolishly charging in, counting on strength or words of blood to save them. It was such foolish creatures who quickly met their deaths, watering the earth with their worthless blood. To the unforgiving general, youth was no excuse for such foolishness.
"You squeak like a pitiful mouse pleading with the cat for its life. What reason to I have to listen to the words of one who so quickly changes his story?"
A smirk parted her maw, perhaps a hint of pleasure shining in those blood red eyes. So perhaps this creature could learn after all, and perhaps there was something worth sparing his life for.
"Admitting weakness to yourself is the only path to overcome it," her tail lashed as the warning of a striking serpent, sharp mocking laughter falling from her jaws. "I have lived and served at the side of War, I have died and reborn for him, and I will continue to do so for as long as my god desires. Do you really think a creature such as yourself could bring that fate on me again?"
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 7:03 pm
"Would holding my tongue keep death any further at bay?"
The cub ceased to struggle for a second time, his sides heaving as he fought for breath. Pinned between the hot sun-scorched sands and the general's heavy paws, air was something of a commodity and Kienge sucked it in greedily. His lips were pulled back in a soundless snarl, his tail whipping wildly back and forth.
"I don't think so." The white cub snorted rudely. "I think you would kill me if you wanted to, whether or not I said anything." He knew that if he didn't say the RIGHT words, he would end up as bleached bones in a bone-white landscape. But that only meant that she wasn't -sure- she wanted to kill him. Yet.
Although outwardly his expression remained the same, inwardly the young firekin burned to prove himself. He ached to be able to take this b***h down, show her how wrong she was!
... but she wasn't wrong, not right now.
Not yet.
"I don't think I am," Kienge's snarl shifted into a wolfish grin. "I know I -will- be."
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Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:28 pm
"Or perhaps I simply wish to see that last light of hope die in your eyes as I rip your life from your pathetic body."
The hellish fire in her eyes was enough to make even the bravest warrior think twice about his words, the infernal snarl in her voice a chill to even the strongest soul. With each passing moment, each click or her fangs and lashing of her tail, the general seemed more demonic, as if the abyss radiated through the scorched sands, surrounding her with unearthly darkness.
Though the cub was right about one thing, the bloody general had not yet decided whether she wanted to end his life or not, to rend his soul from his body, and stain the earth with young blood. It did seem a waste to dispatch the creature, to put out that young fire she could see behind purple eyes. Foolish though he was, this cub would one day grow strong, perhaps into a warrior.
But then with each moment that passed, with each word that was spoken, Kali grew impatient, annoyed, tired of the game. And thus with each moment, the idea of simply slitting the creature's throat to silence him became that much more attractive.
"Perhaps, perhaps not, but is your challenge worthy of a general of war?"
There was mockery in her tone, talons slicing into the sandy earth, one fang barred vampiricly. But there was also a hint of intrigue at the thought of such a challenge, perhaps the young cub had found his path to life after all.
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:27 am
The grin remained, lips stretched taunt over pearly fangs.
"Not is, lady!" He hissed, laughing softly, "Will be!"
The cub fell silent for a moment, eyes fastened on the general's own bloddy gaze. He hesitated admittedly out of fear - it wouldn't do to lose his first real battle! How would he earn his name? No. He wouldn't die here! Couldn't!
Kienge licked his dry lips and felt his strength seeping into the hot desert earth. If he didn't get away soon, he'd die - whether or not her paws inflicted more wounds. This was his last shot.
"Grant me life, general, and I'll be someone to watch out for."
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:56 pm
"You would do well to think of your current situation, for if I so choose there is no 'will be'."
The large paw that may have seemed to grow lighter for an instant again grew heavy, pressing the small body to the earth to punctuate her words. As her maw moved just outside of striking range, eyes narrowed in a menacing gaze clearly showing that murderous gaze, as if for that moment she had chosen to give into the temptation to spill young blood on the desert floor.
But that moment, though it may have seemed an eternity, would soon pass, and though the taloned paw did not surrender its grip, it did fall lighter on the cub trapped beneath.
"Very well, I will accept your challenge, I suggest you not disappoint me."
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:25 pm
The breath was squeezed out of him in an explosion of air, young bones creaking in protest as her paw hammered him into the earth. Kienge opened his mouth, but any sound he meant to make was lost.
His heart beat faster and faster, blood rushing in his ears like a flood. His vision misted and narrowed until all he could see was her face, looming above him. No! His mind screamed, but he couldn't escape! He wouldn't die, he couldn't! Not here --
-- the pressure relented. The cub drew in an experimental breath, then another, sucking greedily at the scalding desert air. His limbs tingled as oxygen worked its way back into his system, and his lungs no longer burned with a need for a breath.
But the cub didn't notice any of that beyond a surreptitious accounting-for; he grinned up at the towering lioness, intoxicated with triumph.
He would live! not only that, but he would live with purpose.
To defeat this general.
"I won't." The grin widened, teeth bared in a wicked parody of joy.
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