[PRP] Where You Lead (Hroarr, Gabriel)

[Talencia]

Hroarr's heart thudded in his chest. This was his first viking as a Captain, and the weight of responsibility weighed heavily on his shoulders and mind. He'd gathered a handful of new recruits after hearing a rumor about a caravan. So it was now that his small band was creeping up on the group of cheetahs. He was fairly certain that this was a group of the merchant cheetahs. He'd heard about an entire pride of them, but he had no idea if this group was from there or not. Regardless, they were certain to provide some sort of loot. In fact, any sort of loot would be good news to Hroarr. He had a flash of what his father's face might look like if his son's first viking as Captain came back empty-pawed. He shuddered his hide at the thought, and applied himself to the task.

The sun was shining directly overhead, the hottest point of the day. This was why the cheetahs were dozing in the shade of a squat tree. Though the sun's heat soaked into his dark pelt, he knew this was the perfect time for an ambush. He nodded to the two he'd instructed to circle around the other side, to prevent them from rushing off with the goods. A third was already up close, ready to signal if something indicated they'd been discovered before they were ready. Turning to the one reaver left beside him, a female, he rumbled softly, "Are you ready? Let's sneak in close, then I'll roar the signal, and we'll already be on top of them."  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel had gone along with the new Captain more for the chance to go on a Viking than really any feeling of good grace toward the male. He was one of those not known to her, and since he didn't have a problem with having her along, she was going. She had found some of the male Reavers not very pleased with her desire to fight and go on Vikings. She had no desire to sit at home and train Thralls or raise cubs all day. Her mother had taught her to fight, and she would use it. Besides, she was certainly the better choice for this sort of work than her brother since she was more serious.

Gabriel watched the Captain set everything up. The cheetahs were in sight and he had everyone get into position for a very nice ambush. She had to give the male credit for at least having sense. He had put lions in all the right places to keep their target from getting away easily. The only way they were going to exit was going to be by leaving everything and even that was not likely to be an easy way out for them. The female liked the odds in this fight. She looked over at the Captain when he spoke and nodded to him. "Lead on, Captain."

The lioness felt the hot sun beating down on her dark pet, but she was accustomed to such things as she and her brother had been rogues and used the hottest part of the day to their advantage in hunting all the time. Not only the predators liked to lounge when it was hot. This would be just another hunt, though the prey was a little different, and the idea was to try NOT to kill them if they could be taken for Thralls. She crept forward after the male as silently as death. She was careful not to step on any sticks that might snap and give them away. She refused to be the one to screw up their ambush.  

[Talencia]

He was pleased at the professional attitude of the female he'd kept with him. He'd seen some females who became reavers for all the wrong reasons, and thus crumbled in the heat of battle, or the tension of the stalk. Though there were some similarities, hunting prey was not at all like viking. Being met with teeth and claws was a good bit different than antlers and hooves. Not everyone could handle that difference.

They were just drawing near, able to see the tree but not the figures beneath it, when the lookout called frantic warning. Hroarr leapt forward one bound, ready to give chase. He expected that it was he and the female that had tipped off the cheetahs, and that the others would be chasing down the escapees, while he and the other two would need to secure the camp. But no, out of the shadow of the tree two sleek figures bolted... towards him! He slammed on the brakes as they shot past, spinning his large bulk nimbly. Looks like it was going to be a chase!

The two cheetahs jingled with the sound of precious metals, and waving cloth behind indicated that likely other things were also stashed upon their fleet bodies. This was not one he was willing to give up! "They can only sprint to far!" he called as encouragement to his companion, and then took off after them, his eyes set firmly on the fleeing hindquarters of the lefthand cheetah.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel was watching for any sign of movement around them when she heard the warning call. She narrowed her eyes and looked toward the sound. That outlook couldn't have seen them, then again, perhaps they smelled them. Either way, there was no time to waste. She had to chase! She took only a moment to assess the situation and see who was moving where. She had expected the cheetahs to run toward the others, not herself and the Captain, so she was as surprised as he that two cheetahs came right for them and past. She turned to follow them before the Captain even spoke.

Her hesitation of a few moments on moving gave her the advantage when it came to turning to follow those cheetahs. Gabriel was glad of hesitating for the first time in her life. She could congratulate herself later, though, for now she had cheetahs to chase. "Make sure you don't lose sight of them when they are sprinting, though, Captain!" She was already running after them when she spoke. She hoped the Captain would be coming along, since they could use a second set of claws to go after two cheetahs. If he did not follow, though, she was just going to have to deal with it herself.

Gabriel followed the jingling and was just seeing the cheetahs slow down when something flashed out in front of her and she collided with it. To say the female was irritated was a VAST understatement. She rolled and pulled herself up as soon as her paws hit ground again, skidding a little as she got them back under her. The hyena that she hit, was not so good at getting it's paws under it again, apparently. That was fine by the lioness, she turned to go after the cheetahs again, figuring the creature would likely remain down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tatit had been watching the rabbit she was going to make her lunch for some time. It was a nice fat rabbit, and if she wanted to eat, the hyena was going to have to grab it in this hot part of the day when it did not want to move. She took her time, sneaking as close as she could to the little creature as it was slightly skittish as it watched the group of cheetahs lounging some way off. Thankfully, its distraction kept it from looking toward the hyena that was sneaking up on it. The female could not afford another meal getting away from her today.

This day had just not been Tatit's day. She had managed to lose out on three different kills already, and gotten her paw stuck in a mud hole earlier. She needed all the luck she could muster to get this rabbit. Unfortunately for her, luck was not on her side as the call from the cheetahs spooked the rabbit and sent it running for cover. She grumbled under her breath as she took off after the rabbit. The only saving grace the hyena had was that she had been fairly close to the rabbit when it bolted.

A little luck shined through for Tatit as she managed to catch up to and pick the rabbit up in her mouth while running. That was where the luck ended though. She had barely registered the cheetahs going past her, let alone see the lioness that was running after them. The hyena was hit full force in the side and skidded on the ground as the feline somersaulted over her. Tatit didn't bother getting up right away, she just killed her rabbit before it could try to escape. When the lioness turned her back to follow the cheetahs, Tatit rose and lunged at her.  

[Talencia]

His ears had flattened a little at the admonition of the female. He wasn't a complete newcomer to this sort of thing! He knew to keep them in sight, so that he could see where they had gone... anyone fresh from the roguelands would know that! It rankled that she had taken off ahead of him as well. It couldn't be helped, of course, for she was much smaller and lighter than he, and thus did not have the mass to maneuver that he did. A rise in competitiveness urged him on to a burst of speed, his eyes pinned on the cheetahs, though he kept the female in his peripheral sights.

Consequently, he shot by her right about the time she went down. He saw a flash of brilliant green and heard grunts of collision. However, he was going too fast to stop, not to mention he had to try and press the fleeing targets into stopping and facing them. He gave a great roar, vibrating the ground beneath his paws as he flew across the ground. Granted, he wasn't nearly so fast as the cheetah's sprint, but he was in good shape, and had no problems keeping a steady, swift pace. One of the cheetahs darted for what looked like a possible bolt hole. He plunged after it, abandoning the other that he very well might not catch. Thankfully, it was a shallow, if narrow, hole. He panted heavily and growled into the niche wordlessly for a moment, blocking all escape, too out of breath for words just yet.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel saw the male cornering a cheetah and saw the other not too far ahead, looking like it might be slowing. She had to get moving or they were going to lose one of the creatures! Gabriel started forward only to have her progress halted by the pesky hyena she had run into before. The lioness had not been expecting the thing to be stupid enough to attack her one on one. Back turned or not, the lioness was more than a match for the canine that was trying to take her and she was going to show just that very shortly.

Gabriel shook the hyena off her back with relative ease, since the hyena really could not latch on with its claws like a feline would. There were some disadvantages here that the dark lioness was really going to take advantage of, not the least of which was the fact that the hyena likely was not as well fed as a pride lion. The lioness might not have been with her pride long, but even before that she had eaten better than most rogues for having a brother to help hunt all the time.

Gabriel turned and pretty much punted the hyena head over heals. The lioness just pulled back and back-pawed the canine like it was nothing. She had not given the thing a chance to get back up again since she had seen how it liked to fight already. She was not going to give it a chance to get back up and get a free attack again. With that in mind, the dark feline pressed forward and took another few bats at the hyena while it was still down, making the other creature scramble to retreat while it was still down.

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Tatit was quite satisfied with herself when she managed to lunge onto the lioness's back and get a bite in on the feline. But her bite found only hard muscle and did little other than bruise the creature. She should have aimed for somewhere else rather than the shoulders of the lioness, but what was done was done. The hyena had no doubt she would get another strike in a better place. It was just ONE lioness after all, so it would be no big deal to fight, right? She had no idea just how wrong she was.

Tatit hit the ground hard when the lioness threw her off and while she managed to keep her paws from that, she was not prepared for the back paw that nailed her immediately as the feline turned. The hyena lost her footing and went down under the force of the blow. She could not get back up before another one landed and then another. This lioness knew how to fight better than any the canine had seen before and it was all the hyena could do to back up and try to minimize the damage the blows did.

The day had started bad for Tatit, and it was getting much much worse in the hyena's opinion. She just wished she could get away from the lioness in front of her that was wailing on her hide. The hyena was sure that at least one blow with those claws had opened her up and took fur with it! She had to get her wits about her and attack, but those swinging claws kept getting to her first forcing her to scurry back. She had not even been able to rise enough to retreat properly.  

[Talencia]

The feline he'd cornered dropped everything it had been carrying, letting the straps or bindings slide off its sleek body. Hroarr bared his teeth, and might have demanded that the rings in its ears and the thong about its neck be dropped also, but a series of ear-splitting yelps distracted him. He turned his head towards Gabriel to discover her whipping... a hyena? Where had that one come from? As he puzzled this, the cheetah shot past him, small enough to squeeze out almost between his legs, now that its burden had been shed. He gave a roar of a shout, turning to pursue again, but the glitter of metal within the alcove stopped him.

It had dropped much more than it had carried out. A pile of loot lay quietly where he'd trapped the cheetah, and even as he noticed this, the fleet-footed feline was already a distance away, running at top speed again. The Captain shook his head, conceding defeat. Perhaps the others had managed to take thralls, or capture more treasure, but at least he had something to show for the effort. He was certain the others would find things in that pile that appealed to them. Gabriel, however...

He turned to watch as she kept the canine scampering. Well, perhaps she had won herself a thrall, at least. "Taking a thrall, Gabe?" he called, his deep voice carrying to her over the ruckus. "Leave her hide whole enough to tend your den, or there'll be no use in keeping her!" It was both jest and warning. A useless thrall might as well be a dead thrall, after all.

Kathryn Dragonna

 

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel kept beating the hyena back every time the thing so much as looked like it wanted to rise. If the canine so much as twitched in an upward motion, the lioness took a swipe at it that forced it to back up again from another blow. She was not going to have this thing try to attack her turned back again! It had made the lioness very angry to have had her time wasted, to have had her target robbed from her by a stupid hyena that not only ran into her path but then had the nerve to attack. The lioness was going to make sure this creature new better in the future.

With the heat of the moment as it was, Gabriel had not really given much thought to what she would do AFTER she taught the beast a lesson. She was much too concerned with making sure it did not try another sneak attack on her when she decided to let it alone again. She was smart enough to pay attention to the others in the party, though, as she should be ready to drop her lesson to the hyena if one of them needed assistance, not that she thought they would.

Because of her attention to what was going on around her, Gabriel heard her Captain call over to her. Her ears turned toward him even as she took another swipe at the hyena. His words made her snort and hit harder than she intended, knocking the canine flat. The thing looked stunned, and Gabriel stopped hitting it for a moment. "Teaching it a lesson about attacking lions first, then we shall see... oh if I decide to take it as a Thrall, it will be well enough to work." The lioness watched the hyena for signs of rising again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tatit kept backing away, scurrying really, from the lioness. At first it was trying to back away enough to be able to get an attack in, but that hope of fighting back was dwindling fast. The hyena was starting to just want to be able to rise to turn and run. The desire to run was getting stronger with each blow that landed across her face or shoulders, making her yelp and whine. Who would have thought a lioness could be this scary? She had seen male lions do things like this, but a female? Never. It was not something the hyena was enjoying seeing first paw, either.

Tatit wanted to run. She wanted to get away, but she could not even so much as stand before she was hit again. Losing hope that she was going to get to leave any time soon, the hyena just kept scrambling backward and trying not to get beaten to death by the repeating blows. The lioness sure knew how to hit, that was for sure. Had she been able to, she would have put her paws over her face to protect it, but she was too busy using them to propel herself away. She was by no means ready for the last blow that hit her.

Tatit went down hard, laying on her side and blinking in a daze. The lioness had not been gentle before but that last swipe had left the canine's head spinning. She did not even have enough clear space in her head to think about rising this time. She just laid there and tried to gather her run away thoughts. The lioness did not advance and the hyena's mind grasped that someone else had spoken right before the blow, went over the words, did not understand them, and finally cleared enough that she could register that the lioness was standing over her.  

[Talencia]

Hroarr scooped up the knotted sashes that the cheetahs had shed, being forced to carry them in his mouth, as the loops were much too small to slip over his head. They were surprisingly heavy, amazing him that the slender felines had been able to make so much speed with them on. No wonder it had been easy for the one who had carried this to dart away so quickly. Likely they had been the strongest and fleetest of the merchant group.

He padded over to Gabe and the hyena, dropping his burden before speaking. "She attacked you?" His wide gaze turned to the smaller creature, both baffled and surprised. "Either this is a very brave or a very stupid creature. Be wary of the latter, though the former could be of use to you." Though admittedly, the stupid ones did well for simply cleaning out dens, or watching over the very smallest of cubs. "Do you suppose she has learned her lesson? It looks as if you have quite knocked the sense out of her, rather than knocking it in." He leaned forward to sniff the hyena cautiously, inhaling scent to check for defects or serious injury that was not visible.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel was pleased to see that the hyena was not making another attempt to rise. She really did not want to beat the thing to a bloody mess, just teach it some respect. "Yes, it attacked me. I think I have made my point to it now." The lioness was not sure if she had, but if the message had not gotten though the canine's head, she certianly could try to knock it in a little harder. The only problem that might arrise from further lesson teaching, Gabe's opinion, was killing the hyena in the process. She would like to aviod that.

Gabriel kept an eye on the hyena, just in case, as she turned her attention to the captain. "I failed to catch my target. This hyena, stupid or brave as it might be, will have to do for loot, I guess. Let us hope it makes a better Thrall than it did a fighter." The dark lioness smirks at her owe words. "Any protests to my keeping what I caught, Captain?" Gabriel doubted very much that Hroarr would challenge her on it and anyone else had no right. Those that wanted to push their thought up rights could always have a go at her, but Gabe doubted any of them actually wanted to do that over a hyena.

Gabriel poked the dazed hyena with one paw and was pleases with the response she received. The canine's whine was music to the lioness, ears. The lioness took that sound as a sign that the hyena had recovered from its daze and that meant they could get it moving soon enough. For now she let the thing have a moment to recover from the beating it had taken at her paws. Gabe was well aware that she had put the creature through quite a bit of hurt in a very short time. It was going to need a bit to recover itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tatit was not really responsive when the male put his nose down and started sniffing at her. She still had to get her brain back into thinking mode. While she struggled with that, she just laid there, letting the two speak over her. The tones of voice were about all the hyena was really picking up while she tried to clear her head and take a breather. The pain had not even really hit her yet. The shock was keeping it at bay for the moment, but that would change soon enough.

As she laid there on her side, listening to the others talk and not understanding a word of it, Tatit managed to get her fuzzy head to clear and tried to get her wits about her again. The lioness had royally trumped her, and the hyena was starting to gather what the others were talking about. Did they say something about claiming her? Did they mean to make her a slave? Oh dear, there were a lot of these lions in a group out here. If one lioness had beaten her this badly, she certainly could not stand up to the whole group of them.

Tatit was not liking the sound of her fate. Belonging to anyone was not something that she would have liked the idea of, but to a feline? The only thing that could be worse was if it was a male that owned her! The bright hyena felt a poke and whined in pain. She hurt, ached really. She was bruised in a lot of places and the lioness had drawn blood in a few spots as well. She hated to admit it, but this lioness had certainly earned the right to be respected.

Talencia

 

[Talencia]

He'd already had a hyena pup given to him as a thrall, and he wasn't exactly keen on it, though the little thing had ended up being painfully eager to please. This hyena, however, seemed a bit thick in the head, stubborn and willful. He did not relish the idea of having to continue to pound sense into that thick canine skull, though he rather pitied the creature. Not all individuals did well or were meant to be good thralls. This one... well, perhaps it would work out for Gabriel. Thus when she asked, he held up a paw in gesture that she was welcome to do so. "I have no objections whatsoever," he answered, relieved that he'd not have to oversee keeping the female canine in line. "I'm heading to see what the others caught. Follow when you and your thrall are ready," he added, scooping up the bundle of jingling goods and following his words with actions. Time to see how they'd done, and who had done the hard work to obtain it. Being a captain was tough sometimes, but he wouldn't give up the rank for anything, not now that he'd finally begun to rise in his father's eyes.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Gabriel noticed that the hyena looked like she had gotten her wits about her again and was glad to see it. She was not carrying the darn thing back to the pride. Keeping one as a thrall was one thing, carrying it back to do so was another. The lioness was not going to coddle the creature after being attacked by it for no real reason. The canine was likely daft anyway, so she would just have to see what came of keeping it. At least she would not have to fight anyone over it from the looks of things.

None of the others seemed at all interested in the hyena, so that made Gabriel's keeping it a whole lot easier. She was not int he mood to fight anyone else at the moment. Really she had not been in the mood to fight the hyena, which is why she had been so nasty with it. The lioness poked the hyena again and gave it a stern look. "Up. On your paws and moving." She was quite satisfied that it did what she told it without any trouble. Good, it wasn't completely stupid then.

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Tatit was glad that the male lion did not protest the lioness' claim on her. There was a small comfort in the fact that it was a female that was her new master so to speak. It was a strange concept and not something that she wanted to think about too much, but she was not about to argue with the lioness after getting the snot beat out of her by the other creature. The hyena might have been moody and nasty at times, but she was not stupid. It was in her best interests to cooperate for now.

When the lioness poked her, Tatit got to her feet without protest. She hurt all over, but she had to do what the lioness wanted. IF she didn't move, she might end up hurting more. The hyena whined a little at the thought. This lioness was quite something, and for the first time, Titit had a reason to actually fear another creature's wrath. It was another new and odd experience for her. The canine had a feeling she was going to have a lot more of those before things were done.