Ulfric woke late the next morning, and found the leopardess sleeping beside him. He watched her for a moment, then made to get to his feet slowly. His body was weak, but he managed to stand and looked around. There was no sign of the male leopard, and the female lioness had not returned either. He sighed, thinking it best that he not see either again, and then he looked at the leopardess beside him. She stirred and opened her eyes, yawning and glancing up at him.
“You’re standing,” she said in wonder, getting up. She was much smaller than he was, and she had not noticed this before. Him laying down dwarfed his size, but he was incredibly large by comparison to the small leopardess. She was not intimidated, though: she had not spent the night tending to him to be scared off when he woke. She considered her him a friend, even with how little they had spoken.
He was a good beast: he had endangered himself for the sake of another. That was all she really needed to know
Ulfric, for his part, had decided this chapter of his life was done. He would sooner forget about the lioness and the leopards, and continue on his path to find something bigger than himself. His destiny, whatever it was. He bowed to the leopard, though, deeply and with full respect.
“I owe you my life, my lady, and one day I should hope to repay my debt. If we do meet again. Good luck in your search for this leopard of yours: I hope you defeat him. He is a danger and a dishonorable one at that.” He snorted indignantly, needing a reason for everything he did and not seeing one in the way Tailung acted. Petty and juvenile, needing to seek revenge against someone who had wronged him by hurting a hundred people who had nothing to do with it. That was how immature rulers started wars, and how lives were wasted carelessly and kept from fulfilling the destines they each had. Ulfric knew his own path had very nearly come to an abrupt end. And it angered him.
If he had not been Kita’s enemy first, Ulfric would have liked to hunt Tailung down and teach him a lesson for his miserable behavior. A permanent one.
“Maybe we can walk a bit together?” Kita asked, not wanting to let him go without making sure he was strong enough for it. She knew he would not hear any insistence to lay down, and would not heed any order from her, so she was going to take care of him a different way. He saw through her intent immediately, but nodded his head anyway. Because he knew he was strong enough, and he did not mind her company. She would get tired of doting on him without need, and she would have to go and find Tailung eventually. So he chose their path deliberately.
In the direction Tailung had gone. The scent of his blood was still on the air.
She noticed this choice and silently thanked him, smiling thinly and walking at his pace. It was slow going, but his legs did not shake and she did not see any crippling weakness in him. The wounds must have looked worse than they were, and he had not continued to bleed through the night if he had strength enough to walk now. All of these were good things, and she smiled to see them. Walking beside him, she felt dwarfed by his sheer size and intimidating presence. No wonder Sitiri had been so scared of him: she imagined without knowing anything about his character it was easy to assume he was not a lion meant to be messed with.
Hell, even knowing of his character only confirmed that fact.
“Why did you help Sitiri?”
“Is that her name? The little lioness. She was screaming. It is difficult to go about ones day when there is such terrible screaming going on. I have no done great things in my life. I have done some terrible things, to be truthful, but I have never made an innocent young life scream in such terror. And without cause to do so… he was only tormenting her because he wanted to. That I cannot abide.”
She wasn’t expecting such a long answer, and she watched him as he spoke. He continued, with the air that he had forgotten she was there, or was he was speaking to many lions who needed to learn how to be like him. She wondered if he had lead others before, like a soldier or even a King. He certainly carried himself with respect, even if he was dark in aura and his gaze was unnerving.
“I will not let creatures who believe their soul purpose is to cause pain and misery go about their sorry excuse for fun. I may not hold any power out here, or over any other lion in these lands, but I know enough of myself and the world to see that beasts like your Tailung cannot be allowed to act on their whims. They cannot learn, they cannot be cured of their affliction. They need to be stopped. Permanently. I thought I was strong enough to do it, but I suppose I did not know enough of my opponent this time to put him down.”
He looked at Kita, stopping and glancing down at her so she looked up into his eyes.
“You need to keep your word to your master. You need to bring that leopard to death.”
She watched him and felt pain in her chest, knowing he was right. But things were more complicated and painful than she had ever wanted to admit. She nodded her head, then bowed it a bit. She made a promise to him, silent as it was, and she would have to keep it now. Once more she was promising to do the same thing she had needed to do for ages. That she was out here to do.
Kill Tailung.
(Word Count: 1,017 in Word)
