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 Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:40 am
 Brìghde was slipping on silent paws through the tall grass, as the sun set behind her. Twilight was the best time for the young lioness to hunt. She had learned that the hard way during adolescence, which she had just grown out of, and prey could spot her and her brother's bright fiery coats against the noon sun.
She missed her brother, and spared a thought for him, but only for a moment, she could not afford to lose the concentration she needed to bring down one of the gazelle in front of her. Brìghde would go for the outside of the herd, move toward one of the young or the sick. She was alone, did not have the benefit of Pride behind her, and if she wanted to have a full belly tonight, she needed to bring down some kind of kill.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:57 am
 For once he was on his own, a rare thing for the young Captain. Ever since his sudden promotion he had barely had any time to himself, between organizing those that were loyal to him, and recruiting new reavers into his band he had been run off his paws even without accounting for the many small raids they had been on. Though in all, he was pleased with how things had been going. The reavers were training hard and fighting well, Erlendr was his usual cryptic self but Lucivar thought his reports had all been encouraging so far, and Lennart was as stoic as always but had nothing worrying to report.
Lucivar had just recently returned from a personally appointed trip out into the new lands where the stormborn had moved south and south-west, colonizing an older pride's territory as the pride itself died out. Wanting to familiarize himself with their new land, Lucivar had gone down south, visiting even the small outposts that had been set up in yet another pride's land. He wasn't entire sure what had wiped out three of their old neighbors, but whatever it had been, it did not seem to affect his own people.... as the outposts were thriving. While down there, he had met a pride lioness, a female on a self-proclaimed cub-making quest. Happy enough to oblige when she had asked for his aid, he had partook of her offer and then left. He had certainly not felt any hankering to stay and see if his seed had quickened within her, nor did he have any desire to return once any cubs had grown... Yet the encounter had planted a different kind of urge. He had fought his way up the ranks in the pride, from a green cub to a scarred and tough adult, and recently he had taken over the command of his fellow reavers after his old captain's untimely death in battle... But there was one are of his life that he had previously given no thought to, but which lately had been becoming more and more distracting...
He had no one to warm his den.
Neither thrall nor mate nor even a casual friendship. Until now he had been so focused on his training and raiding that he never considered taking a woman, but since meeting the Ithambo lioness, the thought had seeded and slowly grown. Shaking out his full thick mane he sighed softly, strong limbs carrying him across the savannah with ease. He had no idea what he was supposed to do about this sudden desire that filled his breast and so had found himself beyond the boundary of his pride with half a thought to hunt and feast and spend some time alone to think.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:18 pm
Brìghde had come upwind of the herd, keeping her scent concealed as long as she could, and keeping to the thick cover of the grass. Her jewel bright eyes narrowing on the stragglers as the gazelle began to move toward the shallows of the river to drink. This was the most dangerous time for the animals, the best for those that hunted them.
How lucky could I get that a crocodile would grab one of the bigger ones, distracting them enough so I could pull one of the smaller ones down? She thought a little wistfully as she crept on her belly as close as she could get to the now spread out herd.
Picking the one she wanted, Brìghde gathered her back legs behind her and leapt forward out from her cover, in the short burst of speed and power that a lion had, claws extended as she closed in on her prey. A bright flash of color in the gathering darkness.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:27 pm
As it happened, Lucivar had also singled out the herd as he had drawn closer. His brown and tan body was far more easily camouflaged than the female's and with his lifetime of often brutal training, he stalked smoothly and as easily as if he were merely strolling along, for stalking other lions was far more difficult that stalking prey. Drawing close he burst out of the grass at the exact same time as the red blur flashed off to one side, aimed for the very same beast as he was. Yet he was already committed to the hunt, massive, powerful muscles drove him forward with great bounding strides, his fully mature body far larger than a regular female. Leaping he landed squarely on the back of the gazelle, fangs sinking into the base of its neck as his claws dug deep into soft hide, fighting to keep his grip on the agile body as it flailed under him yet could not fight his weight and within moments both were on the ground.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:42 pm
A string of curses that would have made her brother eye her with surprise and make him wonder where she had learned them streamed from Brìghde's mouth as she realized her prey had been stolen right out from under her, literately since she already had momentum. If she tired to just stop, she'd run the risk of injuring herself badly, so instead she gathered up a little more speed, braced herself, and leapt.
It was a graceful arc that carried her over the heavily muscled male and his dinner, and as Brìghde landed on light paws, she looked back over her shoulder at her stolen meal and the male with bright green eyes that glinted in the last of the light. She'd said nothing to the male, she did not wish a fight.
A injured lioness, alone in the Rogue lands, was a dead one. She'd go hungry another night. Turning her back, she padded back into the tall grass, her goal now to find a place to shelter for the night.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:57 pm
By the time the doe was dead and Lucivar had settled at its side, the red female had vanished amid the grass. Surprised she had not at least stuck around to give him an ear full, he turned to his meal and ate until he was full. Not only was it strange to be alone without even the sounds of his reavers close by, but the brief glimpse he had gotten of the red lioness would not leave his mind.
Finally finished he spent some time cleaning his fur, knowing better than to go around stinking of old blood, it tended to give away your position. Once done, and with the female still firmly in his head, he sighed and drew himself to his feet. Shaking out his great blond mane, he gave into the urge and set his nose to the ground, slowly casting about until he got her cent, a rich, full flavor, and set off at a ground-eating trot, tailing her to the place she would have picked to bed down for the night.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:07 pm
She had made sure to travel several miles from the water and the male with his kill. Blood attracted scavengers and other predators. All things she wished to avoid. She was not a fool, her brother had made sureof that, and so when she had found the grouping of boulders that would give her three walls, but a front and top opening, Brìghde had decided it was a good choice to sleep the few hours she would let herself.
Life was hard alone, with no one to watch your back, but the young lioness was not about to let that hardness wear her down. She'd find her brother again, someday. laying her head on her paws, he nose facing the front of her shelter, she closed her eyes, trying to ignore the hollow feeling of her belly. She'd best find something tomorrow, even if it was scavenged, or she would start to lose her strength and that would not be a good thing..
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:19 pm
When he finally tracked down her den for the night, she had already settled to sleep and the stars were high and bright in the darkness above. Standing some distance off, the wind blowing her rich, warm scent directly to him, the muscular male watched her silently as the stars slowly traced across the sky.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:29 pm
Something made her start awake, her head coming up with a sharp snap as her eyes caught the moon above, almost making them go silver.
Pushing herself half upright, she scented the wind, her whiskers twitching as she tried to sense what had woken her.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:34 pm
Lucivar stayed in the shadow of a thicket, his patterned coat mingling perfectly with the twisted branches in the silver-spun half-light of the moon. As she woke and stood, his vivid blue eyes watched and followed her, tracking her motions, observing her awareness. She had woken only by sensing his gaze and that pleased him. She was alert and attuned to her surroundings...
Yet still he remained hidden, not moving a muscle, letting himself slowly take in the very essence of the female as he watched. He had no intention of doing anything, had not meant to disturb her slumber. He told himself it was guilt that he felt when he looked at her, for he had taken her meal and she was clearly on her own. He had seen no sign of a mate or cubs and he was concerned. Once she hunted on the morrow, he would take his leave, at least that was his plan...
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:03 pm
No, there was something out there. She knew it, she could feel it watching her, and she did not like it. Sitting up, she lifted her lip, growling softly. Whatever it was, there wasn't any way she was sleeping now.
Brìghde settled onto her belly, her head and chest up right as she looked out into the night, the fur on the nape of her neck standing up, her hunger and weariness forgotten as she watched for the danger she could not see that waited in the jungle before her.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:08 pm
All through the hours of darkness he watched her, as still as the brush within which he sheltered. He grew neither stiff nor weary, for his training had long given him other skills than simply fighting. Eventually the shadows began to lighten as darkness gave way to dawn. Silent as a shadow himself, the stormborn slipped out of sight, deeper into the thorny thicket he had rested within. Yet still he watched her while remaining out of sight himself. Without his knowing, it had turned from curiosity to something far more serious and only his inexperience in such mattered hid the truth of his actions.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:24 pm
Morning brought no relief for her, the sun doing nothing to lighten the feeling of being watched..of being stalked, like she stalked her own prey. Brìghde was reluctant to leave the relative safety and defensibility of her shelter, but her stomach was empty and she had to find something to fill it.
Growling low in her throat, she glanced back toward where she thought whatever it was waited, and jumped up over the top of boulders and broke out into a ground eating lope across the other rocks that littered this part of the plains, working her way north before doubling back once she caught scent of another, smaller herd of ibex.
Once more she began to stalk them, hoping that in the morning light she was not to easily seen. She'd have preferred to have waited, when the sun was setting, but she was far to hungry to. So she set her self once again to trying to fill her empty belly.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:27 pm
Lucivar watched her all morning, shadowing her as she finally left her temporary den and started her hunt. He had not been made Captain for nothing and he followed her easily, always keeping downwind and out of sight. This time when she started her own stalk, he did not interfere but remained hidden in low scrubland grass, watching her as she worked. He admired her determination and drive, she was skillful in her movements, not least when she had known he was there despite not being able to find him and had kept up her vigil constantly. Even now he knew she would bolt if he revealed himself so he remained at a distance, watching, waiting.
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:42 pm
Brìghde saw the beast she would bring down with some luck and no little skill. It was lame in its back leg, probably from some other failed hunt. Better to kill it now, before the wound festered and painful.
Tensing her hindquarters, lowering her body, her green eyes focused on nothing else, the lioness burst from the long grass and in two strides was amidst the scattering herd, two more and she had separated the wounded one from the rest, one graceful leap and she had her maw around its nose, her weight twisting it down as her claws griped its neck, finding purchase pinning the animal to the ground as she transferred mouth from nose to neck, suffocated the ibex to death.
Panting hard, Brìghde lifted her head to look around her, to determine if she should drag her kill into the long grass or if she could eat it here and now.
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