Cyris was a quiet traveling companion. It wasn't too uncomfortable thought, Ceto thought. She did an equal amount of hunting and spoke briefly about her pride. When he would ask more personal questions, like about her family, she usually would brush it off, never going into much detail. He started to avoid asking her questions and instead switched to talking about himself. She seemed to have little to no interest in his family though.
When they reached a rest stop she told him to stay put while returned to her pride. She had explained to him that she needed to inform the pride of his arrival. He nodded in agreement and watched her leave. It was strange being alone again after traveling for three days with someone. Oddly enough he liked the comfort it brought. But the silence did not last.
“Excuse me.” He heard a whispering voice. Ceto looked up to see who spoke. Amount the green grass stood a plainly visible white leopard with rainbow markings. The leopard looked around skittishly. “You are not with that lioness are you?”
“Are you referring to Cyris?”
“I don't know her name. The red one with black markings, white mane.” He spoke quickly. “Please tell me you are not her friend.”
“She invited me to her pride? I guess that sorta makes us friend.” Ceto responded, tilting his head. “But we haven't talked to much.”
The leopard started to pace around. “You shouldn't go. You shouldn't trust her.” He muttered, shaking his head. “Her pride, they take rogues like you. They took my mate Lyra.”
They took his mate? Ceto thought, frowning at the leopard. Why would anyone do that. He had heard some more violent prides taking rogues and making them slaves, but the idea of Cyris' pride doing that seemed off. Though, he recalled her depiction of her pride. A paradise, is what she called it. He wondered if that had been a lie to trick him.
“Why did they take your mate?” Ceto asked.
“I don't know. If you go with that lioness you will be captured to. I need you to help me save my mate. Please can you do that?” the leopard sounded despite. Cyris was a quiet lioness, who shared little about herself, but he wasn't sure that was enough to assume she was trying to capture him. However, he could not deny the desperation in the leopards voice.
“What would you need me to do?” Ceto asked, giving in. If the leopard was mistaken, he could always apologize to Cyris and if the leopard was right, then Ceto would owe him everything.
“When the lioness comes back, she will not come alone. She will have at least two other with her. They would plan on fighting you until you are fully exhausted or surrender. Then they drag their victims to their pride.” the leopard explained. “You cannot be here when they return. We must go far away and hide.”
“But I want to watch, I want to see if what you are saying is true.”
The leopard shook his head. “No no no. The group will be angry if you aren't there. They are not your typical hunters. They specialize in hunting lions, leopard everyone. If you tried to hide, they would find you and me. Trust me when I say that if we fought them we would only end up losing.” the leopard said. “If you want to hide, then go for it. I am going to get as far as I can away from here. The choice is yours if you want to come.”
The leopard seemed more stable, Ceto noted. His voice didn't hesitate once.
At this point, he wasn't sure what he should do. The leopard could be lying just as much as Cyris was. He took a moment to think. Other then the leopard's breathing the area was quiet and peaceful. He thought of his journey with Cyris, how most of the time she was in a bad mood, but sometimes she would break out into a smile and be rather nice.
“How can I trust you?” Ceto finally said.
The leopard looked at his as it he had been slapped across the face. “All I am doing is trying to bring you to safety. I am not taking you anywhere other than far from here. You can lead the way for all I care. After that if you need more proof I will do everything in my power to prove to you that I am good and that lioness is evil.”
“Alright, I will go with you.” He got up, glancing in the direction that Cyris went in. He really hoped that this was all a huge misunderstanding. But for now, going with the leopard seemed like the best option. If he felt in danger he could always separate from the leopard. “My name is Ceto by the way.” Since they would be traveling, potentially running for their lives, he figured they should at the very least know each others names.
“Thank you. I could not bare watching them capture someone else.” The leopard said. “My name is Zeruan-Izar, but you can call me Zeru if you would like. Now I will let you lead the way. I know of a safe haven we can go to. Allies who would like to help me rescue my mate.”
Ceto nodded. “For now, I will travel with you to safety. After that I make no promises.”
“I guess what is fair enough. Lead the way and I'll follow you. We must travel quickly though.” He said. Ceto nodded and started off. He ran away from the direction he saw Cyris leave in. If this was a misunderstanding, he hoped that she wouldn't be too mad at him. Though, even if it was a mistake, the chances of him running into her again was slim. Zeru was not too far behind him. The leopard was back to being fidgety again, looking around, searching for any sign of danger.
His attention went back to the path ahead. He wasn't sure who to trust yet, but hoped that everything would become clear in time.
WC: 1,044
