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 Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:51 pm
Asper kept his belly low to the ground as he crept forward. Of course these Stormborn lions would have to live near the ocean. One way up, as far as Asper could tell, and one way down. If they were flanked from the rear they would be in trouble. Probably taken as slaves like his stupid brother had been.
Ridiculous.
He peered over his should to make sure that Isti was right behind him. He was glad to have his cousin there because honestly he wasn't sure what they were going to be up against. All Asper knew was that failure was not an option. They were here to find out more about these Stormborn lions, and most importantly they were here to rescue Atheris.
Stupid, stupid Atheris.
With a soft exhalation, Asper continued moving forward. The onslaught of night was in their favor, the moonless sky offering even more protection. In the distance loomed one or two large lions and Atheris gave pause, gesturing at Isti once his cousin drew up beside him.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:05 pm
Following literally in his cousin's paw prints Isti was also slinking forward into Stormborn territory. Everything here smelled of salt. It was really distracting to him. He wasn't much of a tracker at the best of times, and if he'd been trying to track someone whose personal scent wasn't so similar to his own and that of his cousin he probably wouldn't be able to get over the salty smell to do any real tracking. Warm nose indeed! It was a good thing he was following Asper.
He wasn't as irate at Atheris as Asper was, but that was probably because he wasn't Atheris' brother and his cousin's stupidity meant that he was no longer the family idiot. Not that he'd ever been the family idiot in truth, but he had been the butt of so many jokes he had left his pride to get away from the majority of them. What irritated him more than Atheris was that he'd somehow ended up with family again, but no one had made fun of him yet, and so maybe he had reason to hope things would be different now.
Isti crept forward so that he was next to Asper when he heard his cousin sigh and then move, but he didn't move very far, having seen the same thing Asper had seen, presumably. The lions were huge, and Isti's blue eyes widened, taking in the sight by the starlight. He had no plan for how to proceed, but maybe Asper would.
"They're kind of big," he whispered. "Do you think we can take them both?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:11 pm
"I doubt it," Asper whispered back to his cousin, resting his chin on his paws as he thought about their options. While the black sky gave them protection, he highly doubted that the sky could protect them from two hulking lions. Asper knew they could take one of them no problem, but that would only be due to the advantage of having one up. Fighting dirty.
"If only there was just one of them." Another hearty sigh, this one of exasperation, slipped past Asper's lips and as if some higher power had been listening, the larger of the two lions slapped a paw against the others shoulder before strolling away.
Shooting Isti a shocked look, Asper began belly-crawling a little closer. I have no idea what I'm doing, he thought darkly to himself. Maybe he'd send Isti in as bait and then attack from the rear. That actually sounded like a good idea. As the distance between the duo and the hulking lion before them shortened, Asper stopped again.
"We have to come up with a plan," he hedged, his voice a mere whisper.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:19 pm
"Yeah, really," Isti agreed, still whispering.
The lions were big. Really big. But if they fought two against one, surely their superior numbers would prevail. And besides. Just being big didn't mean that they were good fighters necessarily. Well, they probably were, but they might not be. Maybe they were just big.
Isti returned his cousin's shocked look with one of his own. That had been completely unexpected. Things like that didn't just happen. At least not in his limited experience. Generally if he wanted something to happen, it didn't, or if anything happened it was the exact opposite of what he wanted. Being with Asper definitely had its up sides.
While he reflected on this Asper was inching forward again. When he realized that Isti mimicked him, doing his very best to be silent even when he had to drag himself over a rock that lay in his path but hadn't lain in Asper's. Some lions had all the luck, he reflected, shaking his head slightly until he realized that Asper might think he was disagreeing with the idea of needing a plan, which he absolutely wasn't.
"What if we threw something at him and then when he came to look for us we got him from another direction," he suggested, failing to consider that they'd have to move very quickly for that to work. "I found a rock, you see."
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:10 pm
Asper liked the sound of that plan. Throwing the rock would put neither of them in immediate danger, and both of them would be able to attack from the back when the lion was caught unawares. The only problem was, how would they throw the rock and leave themselves enough time to move away?
"You throw the rock," Asper ordered pointing with a paw, "throw it that way when I am flanking his side." It was clear that Asper was not a master tactician, but he was hopeful their ploy would work. Hopefully.
"And then move swiftly to me." It seemed simple enough. With luck they would take the big lion down. Now, what they would do with the lion after they'd taken him down, Asper had no idea. He was just going to have to fly by the seat of his pants.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:37 pm
Isti puffed up with pride at his idea being accepted as actionable. It had just come to him in a moment of inspiration, brought on by the damn rock under his belly. He would be only to happy to fling that damn thing away. But...wait!
"Why do I have to be the one to throw it?" he demanded. "You're faster than I am. You should be the one to throw it."
He glanced toward their quarry to make sure their discussion wasn't attracting any attention. So far it didn't seem to be, so he felt secure in adding further facts to support his argument.
"Besides I have more combat experience, so if anyone should be making sneak attacks from the side it should be me."
Combat experience was an exaggeration. Isti got into lots of fights, but he didn't always win them, and he had no particular style that he followed, no technique. He was, at best, a berserker, and sometimes that worked better for him than others.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:44 pm
Asper had been questioned like this by Atheris when the brothers had been at play. Asper could always use the whole 'I'm older than you' routine. He couldn't pull that with Isti. Isti had been born before Asper. Even still, Asper narrowed his eyes at his cousin.
"I'm bigger." Yeah, that sounded good. "Besides, Atheris is my brother and I should be the one to bring down the lion. And save the combat stories for another time. I don't think fighting your own shadow counts, Isti." Asper rolled his eyes and started slinking away.
He didn't slink far. Unbeknownst to the cousins, the large lion had moved remarkably closer. Asper halted in his tracks. He was close enough that if he moved farther, the lion would assuredly spot his pale mane stark against the darker ground.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:03 pm
Isti growled, unaware that they were finally beginning to attract unwanted attention. Oh no. Asper was not playing the "I'm bigger" card. No way, no how. It was harder to argue with the brother point, but that didn't change the fact that Isti knew with a certainty that he was the better qualified lion to lead the attack.
"Well, that means you''re emotionally compromised and can't be objective," he argued, catching Asper's tail with one paw. "And that's important."
In the stories it was always important that the heroes were able to remain objective, or else their feelings got in the way and things got complicated and went wrong, and only by luck or divine intervention did they get out of it. Isti wasn't willing to rely on luck and he sincerely doubted that there would be any divine intervention.
Isti's mane was as pale as Asper's. Paler in fact, and more inclined to glowing in moonlight. Not that there was any of that, but starlight would be just as telling, and as he poked his head up to see why Asper had stopped it was likely his location would be very obvious. But Isti could see him, too, and he ducked down quickly, barely managing not to swear.
With wildly wide eyes he tried to point toward the Stormborn, directing Asper's attention. His eyes were beginning to bug out a bit.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:32 pm
At this point in time being emotionally compromised was the least of Asper's worries. The big lion was nearly on top of them, and how he hadn't seen Isti's shock of white hair and his own pale mane, Asper would never know. As his gaze darted between his annoying cousin and the big brown lion with the bright mane, Asper did the only thing he could think of.
He threw a small rock at the lion.
Ideally the rock would've sailed over the lion's head, sending the lion a more comfortable distance away. As it was, the rock pinged harmlessly off of the lion's forehead.
Asper squeezed his eyes shut as if doing so would provide him additional cover. Maybe Isti would do something productive instead of nagging him about being emotionally compromised.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:40 pm
"Asper!" Isti moaned.
There was no point in trying to be stealthy any more since it was impossible that the lion would have failed to notice a rock hitting him in the face. When he turned to offer further admonishments he saw that his cousin had his eyes squeezed shut like any cub would do in the face of danger. That meant...it was all up to Isti to save the day. He would get to attack first after all, even though he'd lost the element of surprise thanks to Asper.
One eyelid twitched and then that whole side of his face twitched, and before anything even vaguely resembling common sense could assert itself Isti had followed the path of the stone, launching himself at the significantly larger lion with a blood-curdling shriek that fell somewhere between a battle cry and the sound made when realizing that you had just stepped off a cliff. Small portions of a latent self-preservation instinct asserting themselves there.
Still, his claws were all bared and his mouth was open wide so that he looked like he was either grinning maniacally or getting ready to attempt to swallow an entire wildebeest at once. The fur along his spine stood up straight and his mane was marginally more fluffed than usual, although it had become too long to stand up quite like normal fur would. His blue eyes both looked wide and wild, except for the twitching that continued on the right side, despite his wide-open maw.
"Hrraaaaiiiighhhhg-yaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 4:02 pm
Oh, great. Isti just had to vocalize his name, and now what happened? Well, Asper wasn't sure. He still had his eyes squeezed closed. This was all just a bad dream, right? It would all go away and he'd wake up in the den-cave he'd found with Atheris and all would be well. The unholy scream that came from Isti's mouth dashed away all of those hopes. Asper opened his eyes only long enough to see his cousin sailing towards the big brown lion with a maddened look on his face, one that matched the insane, blood-curdling cry that tore from his throat. This was not going as planned. Perhaps the insanity ran in the family, or perhaps the sight of Isti sailing through the air ignited something in Asper's chest. He sprang to his feet in one smooth motion and leapt towards the brown lion that Isti was already attacking. The look of surprise on the Stormborn's face was incredible. Asper wasn't sure which of them knocked the lion down, but down he went and down he stayed when his head thudded solidly against a rock. Breathing heavily, Asper turned to his cousin. "Now.. what.. do.. we.. do.." he wheezed. Taraxa After Tyr had left, Taraxa had planned on spending the rest of his evening by himself. He could sit with his mint and berries and enjoy the stars. He hadn't been expecting to happen across two males. One of which looked remarkably like the Thrall he'd just acquired for Ulrika. He also hadn't expected to have a stone thrown at him. He hadn't expected an insane-looking white-maned lion leap at him, nor had he expected the Thrall-twin to leap at him. And he certainly hadn't expected to fall beneath the weight of both of them, cracking his head on a rock. So this is how Mopani felt, was the last thought he had before he blacked out.
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