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There was a lion in her territory. There were several more just outside of it. They smelled similar, and so Kylig assumed that they were together, but she wasn't sure why one was separate from the rest. Maybe he snored, or farted in his sleep or something. Whatever it was, he could snore and fart somewhere else. Kylig did not tolerate interlopers in her territory.

Drawing herself up as large as she could, which was pretty large, thanks to her hybrid blood, she stomped over to the solitary lion, making no effort to sneak or be silent in the hope that if he heard her coming, he might wake and leave without her having to say a word. Alas, that did not prove to be the case and so she was forced to prod him with one paw.

"Get up. You're in my territory uninvited and I don't allow strangers onto my lands. If you don't move your unnecessarily fluffy arse in thirty seconds I'll be forced to hurt you."

Tall had not actually slept through the large female's approach, but it had seemed prudent to pretend otherwise in order to draw her in, which was his task. He was sleeping alone in the female's territory on purpose to draw her out so that he could either capture her himself or chase her into the waiting claws of the rest of his band.

When she prodded him Tall stirred slowly and eventually stood up leisurely, giving her ample opportunity to re-think her aggressive attitude. She was big, but he was bigger. He smiled with a lot of teeth while he decided what the most offensive thing he could possible do at this moment would be. It came to him in a moment of brilliant clarity.

"Is that so?" Tall asked. Then he lowered his hindquarters toward the ground and let out a stream of piss. "Looks like it's my territory now, so I'll leave when I feel like it. What are you going to do about that?"

Kylig's ears flattened against her skull and she bared her teeth at the blatant insult the lion offered by taking a piss on her territory and then claiming it right in front of her. How dare he?

A growl rumbled in her chest as she warned him, "I'm going to kill you for that, fluffy."

He couldn't just walk into somebody else's territory and claim it as his own just by letting loose a little water, and he'd better not think that she was afraid of him just because he was large. Given how thick his coat looked, he was probably mostly fur anyway. He was confrontational, sure, but probably he expected her to be all talk and no bite. Kylig would be happy to disabuse him of that notion.

Tall feigned a sympathetic wince and said to the large female, "Oh, that was not the right thing to say. Not to me."

He probably should have called to the rest of his band at this point, but he wasn't interested in doing so. Youthful and strong, he was confident that he could take the hybrid down on his own, and eager for the glory he would win by bringing in another thrall for the pride. Besides, Tall was trying to become a captain now, and that meant he had to start doing impressive things and building a reputation for himself.

He did not give the leopon any warning before he lunged at her with his claws unsheathed and reaching toward her. Training had taught him to ignore the face and focus on more vulnerable points, like the side, stomach, and paws. Since he didn't want to kill her and she stood facing him directly, he focused his attack on her forepaws. It was very difficult to fight with damaged paws, and harder still to run.

Kylig was going to respond to his vaguely threatening warning-thing, but as it turned out she really hadn't the time. He was already in motion. Startled by the intruder's sudden shift from insolence to violence, Kylig barely had time to shift her paws out of his way. Fortunately, she was swift enough that he did not land his attack and she was able to keep her balance, but it took much tail-flailing.

While she was dodging his first attack Kylig skittered backward and sideways so that he couldn't easily turn his failed lunge into a sideswipe that would lay her open at the ribs or something. She was definitely not afraid. She had simply been caught unawares. Just because the lion was huge and antagonistic and clearly willing to fight didn't mean she was afraid.

Being unafraid didn't mean Kylig was also stupid though. She moved warily to keep herself out of easy range as the lion turned toward her once again, possibly in preparation for another attack.

Tall laughed and shifted nearer the hybrid female, amused by the way she shuffled backward to keep her distance from him. She really didn't understand how far he could jump. He'd show her that in a bit.

"Wow, you are really scared of me, aren't you?" His grin widened. "Good. You should be."

He moved a little closer and smirked when she danced closer, genuinely amused by the way she kept reacting to his advances. "I don't remember the last time I saw someone this terrified. You will be a truly excellent thrall."

He faked a lunge, hoping to see her actually hop backwards, or something equally entertaining. Maybe she'd even fall over and land on her tail. At this point he was having more fun toying with her than he would fighting her.

He had definitely just called her a coward. Not only that, but he'd said that she would make a good thrall, whatever that meant. Kylig didn't exactly know what a thrall was, but it sounded insulting, and she had been insulted more than enough already by this a**.

"Hrragh!" she cried as she moved to intercept his most recent lunge. It was a gamble, but she figured she was close enough to his size that if they collided she could probably keep her footing.

She hadn't expected that he would only be feinting, and so when she struck him, he was able to pull back far more easily than she had anticipated and suddenly she found herself overextended and partially sprawled as a result of her own lunge gone awry. She cursed as she tried to scramble to her feet, but she was not fast enough.

There it was. Tall had been certain if he gave her the opportunity, the leopon would manage to get herself into a position she couldn't get out of, leaving herself vulnerable to an attack from him. Of course, he would have been happy to toy with her for a little longer, but either way worked for him. He shifted and pounced and then she was trapped with his claws caressing her throat.

"All right, thrall. Your life belongs to me, and you will obey me, or else I will begin removing body parts. And I won't start with nonessentials. If you push me, I'll begin with an eye. You really only need one of those to perform most of a thrall's duties, after all."

He brought his face close enough to hers that she could make a pretty successful attempt to take out his eyes instead, but it was a calculated risk. Tall wanted her to know that he was in charge and he was not afraid of her, no matter what she tried. It helped, of course, that he still had his claws resting casually against a major artery, ready to simply kill her if she tried anything stupid.

Feeling the multiple points of splayed claws against her throat, Kylig held very still, unwilling to make any sort of movement which would but her in danger of losing her life to this lunatic lion. It wasn't until he began to speak about her belonging to him that she figured out she might have more value to him alive than dead, and then she decided it was a risk worth taking.

With all of her might she thrust her head backward. As long as his paw was against her throat, she wasn't going to move it in the other direction. That would be suicidal, and Kylig was definitely not suicidal. It took a lot of strength to pull free of her captor's grip and she cried out as his claws raked her along the side of her neck, but she didn't let the pain stop her. She jerked away and as soon as she had enough room she began to run, heedless of direction as long as it was away from the lion.

The mud wasn't helping, though. It slowed her down, and from the squelching sounds behind her, her pursuer was not slowed as much, which was horrendously unfair. He weighed more. He ought to be more susceptible to the sucking stuff, not less!

With an awkward hopping step Tall leapt after the attempted escapee, thankful that he had developed strong muscles through his training, since he was basically muscling his way through the gods-bedamned mud that clung to his paws and tried to slow him down. At any rate, his muscles were better-developed than his quarry's, it seemed, for he gained on her rapidly.

When he jumped again it was to bowl her over and use his superior size and strength to press her into the mud, forcing her head down until she was practically smothered in a puddle. From this position of mastery he repeated himself, informing her of her new status while she struggled to breathe, gasping mouthfuls of muddy water along with her air.

"You may signal your understanding by remaining still. I will allow you to stand then, and we will return to my band. Otherwise I will see you drown in the mud. It truly makes no difference to me."

Kylig thrashed and struggled while the lion spoke, again informing her that she was basically his slave now, but in doing so she only succeeded in covering herself more thoroughly in mud. It even went up her nostrils, and with her face held in a puddle only very careful mouth breathing would allow her to avoid drowning. She had thought she was afraid before, but this was so much worse. To die in the mud was so...ignominious.

So with an effort she held still and waited for the pressure on her head to relent so that she could jerk her head up, spitting out mud and gasping for air all at once. Her limbs felt weak and her throat burned. The lion watched her while she shivered and retched, and then told her to follow him.

With murder burning in her eyes, Kylig obeyed, hating him with every fibre of her being, and hating herself for the fear that had led her to give in. She resolved that she would fight him and escape as soon as she was able.