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 Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 6:17 am
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 Jasiri had returned to the trampled ground where a small battle had taken place a few days ago. The corpse of the large red male lion had been picked clean, most likely by the usual scavenging crew. A vulture tugged at a flap of hide, but when he growled at it the bird clumsily flew away. Was that one of the nasty vultures from the pride? Jasiri was willing to admit that the birds were useful sometimes, but he didn't like them and certainly didn't want them to get too close.
The corpse wasn't interesting to him, however. What he'd come to investigate was if he could find any evidence that the other two lions continued to hang around. Even better would be to find the trampled corpses of the ones that got away. The yellow male snorted. It would be nice, but it wasn't very likely at all.
The next best thing would be to find no traces of the intruders at all. That would mean some good news to take back to the pride. He couldn't stay away for very long, but equal parts curiosity and lust for vengeance drove him here. He'd be back to protecting the pride soon enough.
---
 Zrathi usually kept an eye at the sky when traveling. Circling vultures could mean food, or that someone was in trouble. Sometimes a bit of both. Following vultures had helped her in the past, and she hoped to find something worthwhile today too.
Born and raised to be a shaman she had taken a vow to travel the lands and heal others. Traveling the rogue lands on her own presented many challenges, but after meeting the genet that currently rode on her back she'd become better and better at basic survival at least. A dead healer was a pretty lousy healer after all. She looked up again to check the location of the vultures and then kept walking in that direction.
"I hope they didn't get all the good stuff," Fluess said. The genet preferred fresh food to leftovers, but protein was protein. If they could get some easy energy out of scavenging it'd keep them going for another day. Her lioness was better at healing than she was at hunting, so they couldn't afford to turn down opportunities. |
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Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 1:11 pm
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It wasn't hard to find the place where the three males had waited to make their ambush, but those scents and tracks were old. Good news in a way, since it suggested that the males had really fled after their bothced attack. His next order of business was to try to find the tracks of the lion he had been fighting. Last time he saw him the pale lion had been heading into the spooked herd.
The ground was still a muddy mess, and it was hard to find any lion tracks among the many tracks left by the herd when it moved on. He lowered his head close to the ground, trying to catch any scent of lion. A task made even more difficult by the fact that Gabedi had tried to follow the lion. As he was trying to determine if the scent he felt was lion, and if so if it was the intruder's scent, he heard a noise behind him.
Jasiri spun around roaring, flashing his teeth at the lion that had dared to sneak up on him. He quieted down when he saw that it was a female. She wasn't one of the Bonelands females, even if she could probably fit in at least color wise.
---
Zrathi hadn't meant to scare or threaten the male, so she backed several steps. Her ears were almost completely folded back and she took a low stance. She could only hope that the male wouldn't try to attack her, because she had no combat training at all. Her self-defense options were limited to 'run away', 'run away' or 'be really lucky'.
"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to..."
She almost said 'I didn't mean to scare you', but closed her mouth at the last second. Some males could take offense if one so much as hinted that they were capable of being scared, or surprised, or that someone could sneak up on them.
"Run?" Fluess whispered, hoping the lioness would take her suggestion this time. "No? How about now?"
She debated taking her own suggestion, but figured she'd have a better shot if she didn't present herself as a target. Most large predators attacked without thinking when presented with something small and furry that tried to run away. No, it would be much better if Zrathi did the running. Now would be great... Any day now...
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Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 1:54 pm
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The female shrank back, but didn't flee. Jasiri silently looked her over. She wasn't very well fed from the looks of it, since her fur lacked shine and she was on the skinny side. He noted the leather pouch she carried and something that could be a larger fur bag on her back. Rogues lugged around the strangest things... Well, some pride members did too, come to think of it. Most adornments were practical enough not to get in the way when hunting at least.
"What are you doing here?" he asked with a bit of a growl in his voice.
As far as he knew she was together with the intruders. Or they could have talked her into scouting the area for them, or something. Perhaps not a very likely scenario, but he wasn't about to take any chances.
---
Zrathi endured the males gaze. She felt uncomfortable, but staring was better than attacking she supposed. Still, she hoped he'd stop soon. He did, but instead he demanded to be told what she was doing here. She wasn't sure what to say to make him less angry, so she decided on the truth.
"I followed the vultures," she said, "Someone might be hurt... I'm a healer."
She decided against telling him the other reason she followed vultures. He didn't look like a lion that had to scavenge. In fact, he looked well fed and healthy. She could see subtle signs that he'd been injured while fighting in the past, but he had either healed well or ended the fight without many injuries in the first place.
Fluess would probably have taken offense at being mistaken for a bag, so it was lucky that she wasn't a mind reader. She had decided that the next best thing to running away would be to hide right there on Zrathi's back. She listened to the talking lions, prepared to fight or flee only if she had to.
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Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 2:13 pm
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Jasiri furrowed his brow as she started to talk about vultures. A healer? Some of the females in the pride knew how to fix minor illnesses and injuries using the plants of the plains, but no one called themselves healer. He narrowed his eyes. Was there something she was hiding from?
"Did you come looking for them?" he asked, "Do you know these lions?"
He watched her face for signs of guilt or recognition. Perhaps she could lead him to the remaining ones.
---
Who? Zrathi looked around, only now noticing what had once been a lion. The vultures and four legged scavengers had done a thorough job, and there wasn't much left. In fact, some animal must have dragged away part of it. The number of limbs and bones left didn't add up to a complete lion.
"Um... He's dead," she said, afraid to look directly at Jasiri, "I'm sorry, I can't help your friend. I'm not that good as a healer."
Not the best time to joke around, perhaps. She hoped that the lion wouldn't think she was mocking her.
"Did you say there were other injured?"
Fluess groaned. Of course! With her stupid vow Zrathi would be all over any and all casualties she could find. Sure, she had helped a fair number of creatures since they started traveling together, but she had also managed to get the two of them in trouble doing so. This seemed like it could be one of the times it ended with trouble...
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Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 2:41 pm
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The lioness looked surprised, but if she knew the red lion she hid it well. Or perhaps there wasn't enough of him left to recognize?
"I know he's dead," Jasiri said impatiently, "He was killed for attacking our pride."
He wasn't sure what to think about this female. She looked genuinely confused, but he wasn't about to invite her to the pride just because she claimed to be a healer. His son would be better off in the care of females they knew and could trust.
"We can take care of our own," he said, "And the other two got what they deserved."
---
Zrathi thought this over. There was a pride, and they had been attacked. There were injuries on both sides, but the pride was apparently a hostile one and didn't want any help. Well, there was only one thing for her to do.
"Could you show me the way away from your pride border," she asked, "I don't want to trespass."
She intended to see if she could find any signs of the injured lions, but she wasn't about to say that. The angry yellow lion would probably take it the wrong way.
The genet suppressed an urge to face-paw. Leaving the pride peacefully was the best idea Zrathi had come up with today, but she had a feeling that there was more to it than that. She'd given up on using her healing skills far too easily.
---
Jasiri motioned towards the roguelands and then watched the female leave. There was something fishy about her, but he wasn't sure what his gut feeling meant. She made good on her word and walked away. When he couldn't see her anymore he headed back towards the pride. It didn't look as if the hostile males were hanging around still, but he'd tell Andhaka about the strange female lurking around. Let the Umholi decide what to do with that information.
-fin-
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