((Word Count: 2,556))
It had been several days since he and Gala had decided on their fate together, and Magnus was finding it difficult to tear himself away from her, no, their den. Had he thought marriage would come around in such a fashion as the two of them had found it, he'd give pause to think why anyone would do it. It had been ruthless on both ends, emotions laid bare and all that sappy woman-talk the lionesses always crooned over. In all honestly, Magnus had never thought it would happen to him, especially in recent years. He'd given his life away to the 'n** and other such things, but now it was time to cast it all aside. To become the lion Gala believed him to be. The old ruddy lion cast his gaze to the side, for next to him slept the beautiful form of the silver lioness, his love. Heh. Love. Magnus had never believed in such a thing in his younger years. Affection, yes, but not love. Now though, he gave pause to reconsider. If nothing else, it was a private thing not to be flaunted out in the open, but to be shared in the privacy of their own company.
Next to the resting Magnus lay Gala, her mind far cast into a world of dreams and beliefs that caused her to stir every so often. She dreamt of the old days, when they were young with Warlord Gunne to guide the pride into glory, and when Magnus still had the ability to reave with the rest of the lions of her pride. Those were younger days, dreams of her youth and early adulthood. They had been acquaintances at the time, as they had both befriended Thokk's parents on their own accord. Such a lovely couple they use to be, and they'd often joke of how Magnus should take her to wife. It had not come pass in those days, sadly. The dream ended with a darker turn, the remembrance of their friend's deaths, and the drifting apart of her and Magnus. Gala stirred then, awakened by the raw feeling of dread and hurt.
The day's events had past, night had settled over the pride, and her little visitor had gone off home. All for the best. Her eyes past over the remainders of what had been a rather large and tricky ritual; they leveled on the smashed bones, shredded pelts, and broken trinkets that lay strewn across her den floor. It would need to be picked up and done away with eventually, but for now Thokk was satisfied with the night's events and had no desire to clean up after herself right this minute. Or even this night, she supposed. It had been a long and exhausting couple of days just to prepare for the ritual, and now that it was over Thokk was feeling more drained than she had expected. The preparation had required most of her time and energy, and she'd barely gotten any sleep between the days it took to set up, and now it was catching up to her. A good night's rest would was certainly in order.
From the shadows of the priestess' den Raki worked quietly. The leopardess was careful not to make too much noise, but also quite determined to make quick work of the mess. Thokk had already gone to lay down on her bed of furs, no doubt exhausted from the day's work. And though Raki had been right there with her, the thrall knew better than to leave this mess over night. In fact, she was certain it would please her mistress to have it all cleaned up by morning! Happily the little leopard attended to her duties, left to her own devices and easily slipping into a happy medium between work and thought. This goes there, that there, and oh what a shame this will have to be thrown out! Busy, busy, busy all night long; she toiled until the priestess' den was nice and tidy once more, and much earlier than she had expected! Raki was proud of herself, not only did she get the work done, she was also able to get a little bit of shut eye before the sun came up!
He could feel her stirring next to him and he wondered what she might be thinking about. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, but normally his Gala slept a little after the sunrise before gently opening her eyes and greeting him for the morning. To say the least, it surprised him when she suddenly jolted awake, bumping into him as she did so. Instinctively the old male stiffly shot to his paws, a low growl vibrating in his throat as he surveyed the entrance of the den. He didn't know what he was expecting to find, some sort of intruder perhaps? When no one came into view his voice settled into a lingering rumble of warning before finally dying off. Hmmph. He felt like a fool for reacting in such a way, and even more foolish now that his bum leg was giving him protest. "You alright?" was his attempt to cover up that little outburst, as he half believed she may have still been too asleep to have heard it.
What a sound to wake up to! She'd be lying if she said a little trickle of fear didn't have her fur standing on end after hearing Magnus growl into the dark. Was someone there? For a few tense seconds she was stalk still, uncertain of what might have startled him, and not wanting to draw any attention to herself just in case. When his voice finally died off into silence she dared breath again, careful relief coloring her voice. "Yes, of course. What has happened?" Maybe it was nothing, and maybe it was something, but there was no denying the fact that something had spooked her bumbling giant. As adorable as that might sound, she very distinctly remembered when this very lion was young and fit enough to rip the throats from enemies, and though old and worn she had no doubt he could still pull off such a thing. Thus, her husband to-be had her respect, and any would-be transgressors: her sympathy.
Sleep had found her easily, and thanks to her thrall's quiet work so it remained. The priestess had a mind to sleep the whole day away while flitting around in her dreams, and certainly she would have had she not been rudely awakened by the glint of the sun reaching over the horizon and glaring straight at her. Straight. At. Her. On normal occasions the priestess was up with the dawn, ready to get to the day's work, but it had caught her off guard this day and so she awoke in a foul temper. The first thing she murmured as her eyes squinted open was a growl and a promise of painful death to the very sun that had woken her. Such a thing was not possible, so instead her attention fell on her thrall. The simple beast was curled up in the corner fast asleep, and snoring rather obnoxiously. "Thrall", the priestess sneered loudly, and to her satisfaction the leopardess started from her sleep, eyes open in a flash. Hmmph, at least she was quick.
The simpleton murmured a 'Yes, Mistress?' like she always did in her sappy, joyful voice; it was enough to make Thokk want to vomit. Raki was a willing worker, but her happy-go-lucky attitude grated on her nerves. It occurred to Thokk that she had nothing to chide her Thrall over, so her eyes scanned the den, expecting to find the mess she had left it in. Surprisingly it was clean, but not clean enough. Her lips twitched into an unhappy snarl and she gestured at a small pile near the den's opening. "Why is that there? If I wanted to live in a mess, I'd have a husband, not a thrall," she hissed unpleasantly.
Oh dear! Raki felt ashamed of herself at that moment, having forgotten to get rid of the shredded trinkets and such that had been used in the ritual. Her body sank to the floor and she wished she could go further down into the dirt. "I-I am sorry Mistress Thokk! I'll get rid of it immediately", came her hurried whimper, the leopardess close to tears. She was use to Thokk's indifference and it took it as a sign of doing a good job, and was usually upset at any small indication her mistress gave of displeasure; so, this sudden outburst of anger was beyond her comprehension.
Body low to the ground, ears flat, and tail trailing close behind her legs Raki made her way past Thokk and towards the den's opening. A sudden smack to her flank from her mistress' paw sent the leopardess bolting towards the opening, clumsily gathering the items before hurriedly darting out of the den.
Her answer annoyed him, but that was mostly due to the fact that he would sound foolish if he told her the truth. She had startled him into thinking something had happened, and like an idiot he jumped up to growl at it. Well how do you like that? Instead of directly answering her question, Magnus mumbled something about the wind, but before he could rejoin her on their pile of furs he actually did hear something from outside of their den. A cold shiver went down his spine for a split-second before the old lion whirled around to stalk off in its direction. He was in no mood for games at the moment as his leg was giving hell, so he did the most sensible thing possible. "Who's out der?" he grumped loudly, only to have a hiccup and a surprised wail as his answer. Not exactly what he had been expecting.
From behind him he heard Gala rise to her paws and so he squinted into the dull light of the morning, attempting to spot whatever might be out there. Gala's den was somewhat secluded from the rest of the pride, as the older lioness had preferred her privacy, so as a result they didn't get much early morning traffic. When his eyes did finally focus on blubbering and whimpering heap he was even more surprised to find a leopardess was the source of all the commotion. Magnus snorted, rolling his eyes at the spectacle. "Its justa thrall", he grouched. They did this every so often, and in his younger days he may have given her something to cry about, but now that he was old and grumpy he didn't want to give her the time of day.
"Its Raki!" came Gala's surprised gasp. The leopard rarely left Thokk's side, and when she did Gala had always seen her so pleasant and happy to be around. "Maybe something's happened", she worried, brows knitting together in concern. Thokk, after all, was the daughter of their deceased best friends and Gala would hate to think something had happened to her! In a rush the silver lioness fretted over the Thrall, trying to find any sign of injury or struggle, and when she found none save for the leopardess' continued sobbing she was left puzzled.
Leave it to Magnus to get straight to the point however, as Gala's suspicions about her husband's strength were reassured. She watched as the old lion simply limped over to grasp Raki by the scruff of her neck, picking her up off her paws and into the air like a cub with seemingly little effort. "What are you-" she didn't have time to finish chiding her husband when she noticed several items clatter to the ground. Her curiosity got the better of her and Gala stepped closer to get a better look. She was stunned, almost horrified, but with renewed conviction returned her attention to her husband. "We're returning Raki to Thokk. Let's go." She didn't explain what was going on, but her tone was strange. Thick and with a tinge of anger hiding in its depths.
What she had found were the items she and Magnus had given to Thokk several days before, promised to be returned in perfect condition. They were not. Dear gods they were not! Magnus shot her a look, but the silver lioness merely picked up the items and marched ahead of him. She did not dare explain to Magnus what she had found, as she knew his anger to be a terrible thing. Gala was going to get to the bottom of this before said anger was released, as she feared poor Raki would not survive such an encounter. As for Thokk, well, she had some explaining to do.
Finally. Her den was empty of useless space. No more items strewn about for complicated rituals, all of her herbs and such were away in their places, and Raki was out of her hair for what she hoped would be more than a few moments. The priestess felt like she could breathe again, like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. The small lioness curled her tail around herself as she sat back, rather pleased with herself. Her mother's curse was broken, and she no longer had to fear 'true love'. Who needed such a frivolous and demanding thing? Certainly not her. Not the daughter of a priestess who'd killed herself for just that. Thokk scoffed, turning a smug smirk into the shadows of her den. She hoped it stung. If her mother was somewhere she could see her precious daughter, she hoped it stung like lightning. And don't forget about dear old dad. Her nose scrunched up at the memory of the old reaver. He'd best be turning in his grave, the p***k. Now there was nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the life she'd made for herself. Oh, splendid sacrifices, they'd truly given her the life she deserved. A high rank as a priestess in the greatest pride of Africa. The gods had seen to that.
Her mind raced. Darted back and forth as her mouth clamped tightly against her tongue. Had Gala seen them? Had Magnus?! It didn't take much for her to remember that the large old lion had his teeth around the nape of her neck, not when her paws dangled just about the ground as he walked. Her hearted pumped wildly in her chest and for a moment the thrall thought she would pass out. Oh dear gods, what had she done? If... if they found out what Thokk had done, Raki didn't know what her fate may be. Her mistress was already angry at her! Would she toss her to the sea, and let the waves swallow her? Or would her dear mistress throw her to the reavers...? A-At Kjar the Breaker? The leopardess shuttered at all of these thoughts. No matter what though, she dared not loose herself from Magnus' grip, afraid that it would earn her harsher punishments, and terrified even more so that the old lion may just kill her for attempting such a thing. No. No, she much be calm. Maybe Gala hadn't seen anything? Maybe she simply wished to return her to her Mistress? Raki could only hope, but she dared not do much more.
