Nila spat the dust in her mouth out onto the ground she was currently lying on, a bit of blood mixed in with her saliva. The lion standing above her scowled. "You don't seem to be getting the picture, pretty bird. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." He snarled to punctuate the sentence, eyes narrowing. "Please pick the hard way, doll." A green leopard, sitting behind the lion with a predatory grin on his face, chimed in. The other two members of the lion's group, another leopard and a wild dog, chuckled. The cheetah swallowed nervously, not quite sure how she'd gotten herself in this situation.
Well, she sort of knew. Nila had just finished with a rather nice treasure hunt. The pull was a fairly large one: an assortment of amethysts and big white opals for her client. Honestly, Nila could go back to the cave and her bags up again tomorrow, and the day after than, and the day after that. In fact, there were so many jewels in that cave that Nila might never have to go out adventuring ever again. Which of course would be no fun at all. The hunting of the treasure was the fun part. There wasn't any excitement in going off down a road you already knew to grab loot from a place you were familiar with. It wasn't real treasure unless you nearly injured yourself to get it. Which made this extra-special-treasure, because Nila was already scuffed up pretty bad because of it.
A rival gang of treasure hunters had jumped her shortly after she'd left the cave, and were now demanding the loot, as well as the location of the cavern she'd gotten it all from. Cheaters. Stealing treasure wasn't treasure hunting! t was...treasure stealing! And Nila wasn't about to give up her bags without a fight. The amethysts were for a jewelry maker fashioning trinkets for his fiance's mate ceremony, and Nila was determined to make the delivery on-time.
"Apparently I'm not getting through to you." The lion stepped on Nila's throat, claws digging in ever-so-slightly. "Either you lead us to the stash, or we skin you alive and I let my friend over the wear your pretty little pelt as a cloak." The green leopard grinned wider, licking his lips. Nila whimpered, cowering in fear. She'd done nothing to deserve this! They had seemed so nice when they asked her what was in her bag, and Nila couldn't resist showing off her treasure. Honestly, she'd share it with them if she could, but she didn't know if what she had was enough or her client.
Small drops of blood were being drawn on her throat. This was a predicament indeed.
