It had been a long and trying hunt. His prey, an old buck still in his prime, had not wanted to go down easy and had led Kato in a merry chase. But finally, after a great deal of persistence and no little stamina, the black lion had finally managed to finish the job he had begun that morning and bring down the beast. Now, having gorged on his hard-won meal, the male lay stretched out on his side, resting during the heat of the midday sun.
Unbeknownst to Kato however, there was another creature skulking about in the vicinity. Samael, a reaver from the Stormborn, had ventured out of his homeland territory with the view to scoring himself some glory. Unfortunately, the only reavers he could persuade to come out with him were Captain Lucivar, a big white male named Lennart and a couple of older lions. The small band stood off to one side, looking irritated, clearly eager to be off. The only reason they were even out here was the simple fact that neither Luciver nor Lennart, the Captain’s Second, trusted the patchy black male as far as they could throw him, so when he started making noises about wanting to go reaving, the pair had rallied up a couple of reavers who owned them favours and took it upon themselves to escort the unpleasant Samael . Since it had become apparent that he wouldn’t shut up and let the pride get any rest until his wanderlust had been sated.
The band had scented the blue-maned male from some distance away and had tried to go around the dozing male. But Samael had also caught wind of the carcass and seemed to think scavenging was as noble a pursuit as any other. Lucivar curled his lip as he watched their blond compatriot edge ever closer towards the remains of the stranger’s meal but Samael seemed oblivious to the disgust of his fellows, eyes intent on the well-chewed meat before him.
Kato had been napping pleasantly, but as the scent of five strangers slowly grew in strength, he was tugged from his rest by instinct. Now, he watched the blond male inch closer and closer to his kill, jaws salivating. It hadn’t escaped Kato’s notice that the blond’s four companions had stayed some distance away, and seemed repulsed by their bolder friend’s actions. Yet none of them looked weak, not at all. The biggest, a large white lion with yellow marks, was simply massive and all of it clearly muscle. The youngest of the four, a more slightly built male, appeared wiry and lean, not an inch of fat on him. His coat was marred with many a scar and a heavy looking medallion glinted about his neck. The other two appeared to be seasons fighters, as scared as the brown male but noticeably older, one even had grey whiskers starting to show around a grizzled maw.
Had it been just the presumptuous and opportunistic blond, Kato would have had no qualms about taking him on and defending his kill simply on principle, even if he was still stuffed to the gills from his feasting. But the other four warriors, for they had to be from some kind of militant-based group, gave him pause. He was under no illusion that he would be no match for those four if they decided to join their creepy-looking friend. Still… he could hardly continue to lie there and feign sleep. Finally, embarrassment more than anything else prodded him to open his eyes fully and yawn in a most obvious and rather theatrical manner. This caused the blond male to jump back like the proverbial scolded cat, ears flat to his head and fangs bared. Kato was interested to note that despite the blonde’s dramatic reaction, his companions didn’t seem half as surprised. The medallioned male even looked faintly amused. Kato had to hide a smile, far more interested in those four than the growling male before him. Yet the afore-mentioned blondie was demanding to be dealt with, and loudly at that, making Kato wonder if the stranger was always so vocal. Judging from his companion’s reactions, the answer was quite possibly ‘yes’. Sighing inwardly he pulled himself to his paws and shook his dark coat, electric blue mane falling heavily over his brow. He was fully grown now, in his prime as a male, and having grown up in the rogue lands, he was well used to facing off against other males.
It was interesting to note that he and the blond lion were of a similar size and build. Though the stranger had many more scars criss-crossing his mottled black and grey fur. Certainly he and the other four were warriors, for they all wore that peculiar expression of alertness, and all but the blond held their bodies balanced, even while seemingly at ease. Finally Kato decided to break the stalemate which he sprung up between them, though truthfully it was only the blond one who was showing signs of hostility. “Greetings. You seem a long way from home..?” He ignored the bristling blond and levelled his gaze on the band of four still stood to one side, eyes lingering on the smaller brown male with the medallion, sensing that he was currently their leader.
Lucivar supressed the amused smile that wanted to stretch itself across his maw and instead inclined his head in agreement. “I suppose we are. Though the Myrsky Syntynyt lands are not too far from here.” After all, they had only travailed since dawn, the pride was easily within a day’s hike for a normal lion. Suddenly Samael, having grown annoyed at being ignored, growled and lunged at the kill, chops slavering. Kato, thoroughly disgusted by this undignified display, reared and spun to the side, running a few strides away before slowing down and turning to regard the blond male tearing messily into his kill. “You might want to gain some control over your comrade.” He commented dryly, lips lifting as the splotched male made a right mess, getting blood all over the place, despite the dried out state of the carcass. Lucivar made a rather annoyed face at Samael, yet he knew they couldn’t leave the male unattended, or he would cause some serious trouble and quite possibly bring it home with him. “I know. I’m sorry.” He dipped his head differentially to Kato, offering his apologies. By the kill Samael paused and lifted his head, a snarl lifting his lips yet blood red eyes showed a thought of nervousness… for he knew that Lucivar had just been forced to show subservience to a total stranger, by way of being forced to apologise for Samael.
Burying his nose in his hard-won meal, he watched the stranger take his leave of his ‘keepers’, resentment for all five a cold knot in his chest.
(Word count = 1,147)
