In retrospect, it wasn't the smartest thing she had ever done. Unfortunately, Aluka was not a seer and couldn't have foreseen such a terrible outcome when she had decided to rest upon a rock on the beach. She somehow remained oblivious to the fact that she had wandered into a pride's territory, probably missing any scent markers while she was distracted by the salty smell of the sea.
She was distracted looking out to the waves, and down as she examined her paws, when she noticed some movement along the shoreline. A lion. He looked big and tough enough, but Aluka made no move towards him. She’d only call out a greeting or anything if she needed to. As far as she cared, this was just another rogue and she wasn’t the sort to go about saying hi to everyone!
Perhaps she should have fled then, but she didn’t. Neither did she when the lion began to quite clearly move in her direction. Instead she stayed put while he came closer, and made sure it didn’t look like she had seen him. Maybe he’d give up on trying to talk to her.
She had no such luck! “And what brings a little lioness like you all the way out here?” A voice asked somewhere behind her. She laid an ear back and glanced to the side with the corner of her eye, debating whether or not to answer.
Finally, she decided it would be childish not to. She sighed curtly, and looked at him. What was he, a creeper? “Nothing. The sea. And I’m not little.” Mistweavers hadn’t been large lions, but she had more foreigner blood in her than otherwise. Sure, she wasn’t large, but… Come on, little?
The lion smiled, but he looked almost scary when he did. It was a… scary smile, yes. But Aluka wasn’t easily scared. “The sea is something. And you look little enough to me.” She scowled at that, and scratched her nails against the stone. Aluka wasn’t liking this guy at all! “So I assume you’re not from around here, then.”
“No, I’m not. What’s it to you?” She didn’t usually go out of her way to be impolite, but she had been feeling a little cranky today, and this stranger wasn’t helping matters at all. “And who are you, anyways?”
She saw his brows furrow slightly, before he raised them again. “You are a trespasser, then. Which means you should be telling me who you are.”
That was a fair enough point there, even Aluka had to admit. She made a face, before shrugging. “My name is Aluka.” She relented, sounding at least a little bashful. But she didn’t feel that bad about it, really. “I guess I can get out of here, if it’s really an issue.”
Njal smiled at that. She thought she would just walk out of here? “No worries, that won’t be necessary. You should just think twice before you do stuff like that.” The lioness, Aluka, frowned. Darn, maybe he hadn’t been subtle enough with that threat.
“What are you getting at, mister?”
“Oh. You’re staying here.”
That was when the lioness made a very dumb mistake. She struck out with a paw towards his face. Unexpected as it was, there was one thing Njal was definitely good at, and that was fighting. It hit the side of his head, and he turned to bite onto her wrist. The lioness growled as he pulled and leaned back, clinging to her rock to avoid being pulled down.
So she had some fight in her. No matter! He let her pull him back, a bit, then sprung up onto the rock. She was there first, sure, but he was larger and heavier… and he still had her paw in his mouth. With that swift move, the only reasons Aluka was still on the rock was because she had reached for his neck with her other paw and clung on, and his hold on her. A hold he didn’t mind releasing. She pulled her paw back immediately, and he raised his own to her chest, and pushed.
Aside from knocking her onto her back off a height, went down and landed on her with his paws, which only made the fall all the more painful. The lioness grunted, painfully, and for a few moments couldn’t see very well. All the same, Aluka kicked around with her hind paws, and tried to bring her injured one to a safer position even as she coughed and sputtered. “Let go of me! Get off!” She hissed, scratching at anything she could reach.
“I don’t think so.” Njal growled, starting to get angry by her struggling. She was beginning to wriggle out of his grasp, so he let go. Once she managed to get onto her paws, he grabbed her by the scruff and puller her up, swinging her and trying to toss her.
Aluka felt extremely silly and useless now, as the jerk-lion successfully tossed her a short distance. She tried to land battle ready, but even though she landed on her feet, when she spun around to meet him she only managed to make his crashing into her worse. She was sent sprawling when her face collided with his shoulder, and for a moment she must have blacked out.
When she came to the lion was standing over her, a paw pressing down on her shoulder. She pulled her lips back and snarled, but it must have looked rather weak, because she heard something of a chuckle in response. Insufferable p***k. Once he let her up…
“What I was getting at, is you’re coming with me, back to my pride. You’re going to be a thrall.” Had she been more polite, he might have invited her in as a freeborn or something, considering the pride could always use a few more females, as wives for the men. “Which means you will do as you’re told. Now you are coming back with me, and there is no arguing that.” She struggled immediately then, but his paw pressed down harder and she was already having trouble breathing, especially with all this sand in her face. She tilted her head away from the male, lips still pulled back.
“Are you going to walk with me, or will I have to teach you a lesson first?” Aluka snarled, and tried to kick at him with a paw. “Fine.” He’d keep his claws sheathed for this, but Njal was capable of dealing quite the punishment without them.
In the end he had to drag her. Aluka was too stubborn for her own good, and had passed out. Njal frowned as he pulled the lioness across the sands. This was one thrall he was not bringing home to Akatta.
