Eventually the annoying, nagging b***h who had accosted him and thrown herself at him like a tramp with a tribal stamp on her back had bounded off to find a lawspeaker. At least that's what she had told Daffyd, but by the time he reached the top of the ridiculous climb there was no sign of her. For that matter, there was no sign of any lawspeaker either. Not that he would know what a lawspeaker was if one came up and bit him in the arse. He was still operating under the assumption that a lawspeaker was a lion who enforced the pride's laws.
With no audience to see him taking a moment to rest and revive himself after a difficult climb and an utterly epic battle, Daffyd took advantage of his solitude to flop onto the first flat space he saw that didn't have too many rocks to dig into him. There were really a lot of rocks in this place. He hadn't expected that there would be so many rocks or so much climbing. All he'd heard was that if he won a battle with a Stormborn the pride would accept him, and since the pride kept slaves that they called thralls he would be able to live his life as he knew he ought to.
That is to say, he would be able to sit on his arse and do nothing all day long and bang as many lionesses as he could until his virile manhood was chafed and chapped from overuse. It was the life he was born to lead, and would be leading still if his mother and sisters hadn't been such horrible bitches in the wake of his fight with his father. It wasn't as if he'd killed the old b*****d for personal reasons or to make their lives difficult or anything. It had just been time for a change.
Daffyd concluded his period of rest and realized that he didn't actually know which way he should go from here. He could see that there was still more in the upward direction if he wished to do that, but he was well and thoroughly sick of climbing. That was something he intended never to do again once he found himself a den and some thralls to keep it nice for him. He wondered if he would have to fight for his den, too, or if simply being in the pride guaranteed him one.
He strode off resolutely from his resting spot until he came to an area that had a great many young lionesses lounging around, apparently doing nothing but talking, as lionesses tended to do when there wasn't a strong masculine presence to ensure they remained useful and keep them at their gods-given tasks of providing for the men in their lives. He chuffed with disapproval seeing these lazy lionesses lounging around, earning himself a stare from the nearest lioness that he returned boldly. Did she think that staring at him would accomplish anything?
"I'm looking for a lawspeaker," he informed the lionesses, none of whom seemed particularly impressed by his revelation. Frustrated by the lack of response, Daffyd elaborated, "I've just won a challenge against one of the warriors down the way and I'm going to let the lawspeaker know that your pride has acquired a new warrior."
That got a reaction from them. One of the younger ones, a lioness with a largely yellow pelt and some of the creepiest white-grey eyes Daffyd had ever seen piped up and asked, "Oh, really? Which reaver did you beat?"
He wasn't sure if this was genuine curiosity on her part or if she thought somehow to trick him by demanding to know the name of the fighter he'd defeated. Was that what she meant by reaver? He didn't understand why every pride had to have its own stupid name for every single stupid little thing. Couldn't they all just use the same term? It would make his life so very much simpler.
No matter. His encounter with the brownish lioness earlier had given him a name to attach to the face of the cheating s**t eater who had been the one to respond to his challenge. With a very self-satisfied grin Daffyd answered the younger Stormborn's question: "Kjar. I defeated Kjar, even though he attempted to cheat by flinging dirt in my face."
One of the other lionesses turned to her neighbor and murmured to her that sounded like Kjar, to which the other lioness nodded in agreement. Not that Daffyd cared whether or not any of these oddly enormous lionesses believed him, but he was relieved that he wouldn't have to take time from his busy schedule to beat their uppity asses. So far his impression of Stormborn women was not positive. They were all too outspoken.
"Yeah, he's a real a**. So a lawspeaker. Tell me where I can find one."
The same yellow youth who had spoken before opened her mouth again to reply. Daffyd wished that she would talk less. She was still a little too young to be worth having sex with, even if she didn't have those freaky eyes, and so in his book she was virtually a waste of oxygen. He would rather discuss things with one of the luscious beauties who had so far remained silent observers. Silence was definitely a desirable trait for a female in his book.
"Well, that depends. It's not as if they're stuck in one spot all the time. They move around and do things like the rest of us. But probably right now you'd have the easiest time finding Tuomas," the yappy yellow lioness said. "He'll probably be in Kazul's den or the warlord's - I mean the former warlord's - den. He's making sure that the new warlord gets only the things that belonged to Aesir, I think."
None of that meant anything to Daffyd, and so he rolled his eyes and decided to move on to find someone more intelligent to ask about a lawspeaker. Not a single one of the names the yellow girl had said stuck in his head, and he didn't know why a lawspeaker would be doing...whatever it was the cub had said the one she was talking about was doing.
"Yeah, great. Thanks for nothing," Daffyd muttered as he stalked past the group of lionesses.
Word Count: 1,064
