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Erling was not exactly thrilled about this, but he had volunteered. With all the recent ... distractions ... in the pride, there was a crop of young Freeborn desperate to prove themselves as Reavers, and not a lot of opportunity to do so. Erling had reluctantly volunteered to take one of the Freeborn adolescents out.

Hopefully this would be a short trip.

They hadn't gone too far beyond the pride's boundaries when they came across the track of a lion or lions. Not more than two, if Erling was any judge. "Yolla, come look at this," Erling called softly, motioning the younger lion towards the tracks. As unenthused as he was, his eyes had lit slightly. If the lion that left these tracks was suitable, catching a thrall would certainly prove Yolla's worth.

No one wanted to train her. It wasn't fair. Granted, some of the boys seemed to be having trouble finding people to train them too. Things were hard all around, she supposed.

STILL.

It wasn't right that Captain Erling was taking Yolla out and not her. It reminded her of the way Vol had snubbed her, and that stung. So Sehvi had followed after them, hanging far enough back that Erling would (hopefully) think any blunderous noises she made belonged to stupid Yolla.

Stupid Yolla would never notice her, because he was stupid.

Samsen wasn't thinking about Reaving or fairness of any sort that afternoon. He was thinking about his sister. Worrying about his sister, to be precise. She was ... well, she was soft. He didn't like her being out in the rogue lands with only him to protect her.

The adolescent huffed to himself as he padded through the grass, looking for sign of any prey animals. He was large and strong for an adolescent, but he knew he lacked the strength and skill of an adult lion. What if his poor sister was set upon by hyenas in his absence? A full grown male could charge into their midst and scatter them with blows of his mighty paws, but they would probably just bite Samsen.

Distressing thoughts, distracting thoughts. The adolescent was quite unaware of any strangers nearby.

The younger lion might look frankly bizarre -- probably one of the odder ones amongst the pack of odd splotty lions that had moved in -- but his wits were sound. Erling was reasonably pleased with Yolla's assessment and his attempt to sound confident.

"Small is good for us," Erling said, nodding. It was difficult to tell if it was more than one lion, but then, reading dusty prints had never been one of his strong points. "If we want to bring back a thrall, we want a female or a younger male." He grinned at Yolla. "One your size. Adult outlander males are not very trainable."

Now, where was this small lion?

So they were catching thralls, were they? Sehvi's ears perked up. She had hoped they were going to be fighting someone. Then she could just sort of, you know, sneak in and deal out a few lumps to some outlanders (who would fall around her like cut grass, undoubtedly). If they were catching thralls she would have to be a bit bolder. She didn't want them to catch the thrall before she joined in and then get left out in the cold.

Without any doubt or hesitation, Sehvi marched towards them. "I'm going to catch this thrall first, before Yolla," she announced, a little too loudly. She fixed Erling with a steely glare, daring him to order her back home. He wouldn't. He was an old gruff fart, but she didn't think he was quite as lecherous and misogynist as his buttbuddy Vol.

He hadn't heard the low voices of either of the two males, but he did hear the bullying tones of the female. Samsen raised his head from his study of the ground, confused. For a moment he thought it was his sister -- but she never took that tone, and anyways, she was waiting patiently back where they had stopped to rest.

The young lion was a bit alarmed, but he tried to quell his nerves. It was only a female, after all. Maybe she was in need of help. He would have to check. Samsen hoped that if his sister ever needed help, a kindly hearted lion would come to her aid.

Walking towards the voice, the young lion craned his neck to peer over the tall grass. It was difficult to tell, but he thought there might be others with the lioness. "Hello?" He called uncertainly. "Do you need help?"

Erling had just been starting to think that this venture would be swift and maybe even pleasant when he was hit with two very unpleasant surprises one after the other. First the idiot girl popping up, shooting off her mouth so loudly it was a surprise they couldn't hear her back home. And then the voice of the outlander.

"Shut your yawp, girl," Erling snarled quietly, lashing out with one heavy paw to cuff Sehvi across the cheek. He disapproved of females fighting, and would never have agreed to take this one along if he had known. But since she was here mucking about with he and Yolla's plans she could take her blows like the male she evidently aspired to be. He frowned at Yolla next. "No use whining now that she's here, boy. Let's not lose this one." This one meaning the thrall, not Sehvi. If they wasted time chasing Sehvi away, the thrall would probably scamper too. Erling started to creep towards the clueless outlander.

Sehvi had enjoyed her fair share of scuffles with lions her own age, but she was big for a girl. None of the boys she bullied had ever landed a blow like the one from Captain Erling's paw. With a shocked gasp of pain, Sehvi fell on her rump in the dust.

Much to her disgust, tears of pain sprang to her eyes. No! This was not how a Reaverly woman behaved. Captain Erling would probably smack her again if she sniveled. As for Yolla, woe betide him if he laughed at her. Biting her tongue hard, Sehvi pulled herself together and got to her feet, wasting no time in following Erling. Maybe she could trip Yolla or something. She wanted to pounce on the thrall first.

There was no reply, only some muttering and some soft, rather confusing sounds. Samsen stood still, bewildered. He had met aggressive lions before, but your usual aggressive lion stood there yelling about how if you didn't step lively and get out of his territory he would eat you up right now. This was the kind of aggression and danger Samsen understood.

No one had ever sneaked up on him before, and it had never occurred to him that anyone would want to. He felt uneasy, but more baffled than frightened. "Hello?" He asked again.

That was a good idea Yolla had. A great idea! Sehvi didn't want Captain Erling to think Yolla was the one having all the good ideas around here. She would have to appropriate it for herself. That was called teamwork.

"Yes, I need help," she called, before Erling could say anything. She tried to make her voice a bit more high and feminine than it usually was. "I got bitten by ..." Her voice failed briefly. Lying was not Sehvi's strong suit. "... a rabbit, yes, a rabbit. And now I just can't walk on my poor paw, do you think you could help me?"

Erling wasn't so sure they should respond to the stranger. He seemed to be milling around uncertainly instead of fleeing. That was good enough. Anything they said might send him sprinting off, and while Erling thought he was in pretty good trim he had no illusions that he could catch up to a fleeing youngster. Sehvi and Yolla would catch him, and Erling had no idea what they would do. Probably something stupid.

But then Sehvi broke the silence with an idiot falsetto squeal. Erling groaned aloud.

"Charge him, Yolla," Erling snapped. "Go to the right. Loudmouth, you go left." And he ran directly towards the outlander, hoping his two students would cut off the stranger's escape.

"A rabbit?" Samsen echoed, more bewildered than ever. He couldn't imagine how incompetent a lioness would have to be to be brought low by a rabbit. And why was the female talking so oddly? Maybe she was soft in the head. He felt rather bad for her.

He took one hesitant step towards the voice when he heard the unmistakeable sound of people crashing towards him. Samsen hesitated for a terrible moment before turning and trying to run himself. He didn't know what these strangers wanted, but the situation was just too odd for him to deal with.

Samsen had never been attacked by another lion before. He let out a surprised "Oof!" as the other male plowed into his legs, sending him thudding to the ground. His head spun, and he scrabbled at the ground, trying weakly to get to his paws. What was going on?

Sehvi did indeed cut to the left, pushing herself to match her pace with Yolla's. Good thing Captain Erling had smacked her in the face instead of the leg. Her cheek was throbbing and she was sure it must be puffy, but it didn't slow her down any.

Yolla got the first hit in, sending the stranger crashing to the ground. Sehvi echoed Yolla's warcry with one of her own. She didn't know any good warcies yet, but she did her best. And now what was she supposed to do?

Show initiative.

Sehvi threw herself on top of the stranger, sitting down on his belly and making him Oof! again as the air was rudely pushed out of him. "Give up or we'll eat your face!" Sehvi shouted.

Well, they weren't doing too badly, but despite the surely punishing weight of the female on top of him the yellow outlander seemed to have regained some strength. He was flailing under Sehvi, clawing at the air. He supposed crushing the life out of a thrall wasn't really that bad of a strategy, but while the female was large she wasn't a full-grown male. If one of those swipes caught her, she would be ripped open.

"Finish him off," Erling told Yolla, waiting to see what the dark lion would do.

If it looks stupid and it works, it's not stupid, Erling thought to himself.

But it looks so stupid.

He cleared his throat, trying to squash the laugh that was fighting its way past his irritation. There would be time for laughing about this later, when he tried to describe the two of them sitting on the outlander to Vol. Vol had seen his share of new Reavers trying their tricks. He would get a good laugh out of it.

"Good," Erling said stiffly, still fighting that laugh. He walked up to the thrall, holding a paw in front of his face with claws extended. "If they let you up, you'll do as they say."

Sehvi grunted irritably when Yolla shoved her over, making room to sit on the thrall himself. Stealing her idea, he was. Oh, well. She supposed the weight of two lions would be more effective at getting this thrall to give up. His struggles were definitely failing with the added weight of Yolla pinning him down.

"Yeah, you'll do just what we say," Sehvi said, parroting Erling. "You're a thrall now. That means you're our slave, and if you put a toe out of line I'll eat your face for real."

The claws being waved so close to his eyes were a bit more frightening than the girl's talk of eating faces, but Samsen didn't like what she said one bit. He lay still, wheezing under the weight of the two jerks on top of him.

If he tried to fight, he was sure they could kill him. And how could he fight from this position anyways?

He would have to bide his time and figure out his escape later. He didn't think he could beat the three of these assholes, and the longer they stayed here the more likely it was his sister would come stumbling into their midst and be captured as well.

"Lemme up," he gasped. "Can't breathe."

The male half of the squashing duo was probably right: if they didn't let him up, Samsen would black out soon. He was finding it harder and harder to draw a breath. Every time he exhaled they settled their weight more firmly on him. It was like being suffocated by an extremely large and hairy python.

"Fine," he wheezed. "I'll do. What you say."

With this humiliating admission dragged out of him, he waited hopefully to be let up.

The young male sounded properly beaten (although it was difficult to tell with all the wheezing). Erling was satisfied for now, though he was under no illusion that the outlander wouldn't try to escape. In his experience females could be properly cowed in a reasonably short period of time, but males tended to be fussier. Pity, since male lions were stronger and so useful as thralls.

"All right, let him up," Erling said, keeping a close eye on the new thrall. "But watch him. He'll try to run. Remember that. Trust new female thralls little, and don't trust new male thralls at all." It would be good for Sehvi and Yolla to keep that in mind. A panicked and angry male lion with nothing to lose could do a good deal of damage to his captors if they were unwary.

Sehvi got off the thrall reluctantly. She had kind of wanted to squish the breath out of him. It seemed like it would be easier to drag him back to the pride unconscious. Now they would have to keep an eye on him, as Captain Erling said. Sehvi had bullied her way into this trip without Erling's favor, and she was determined to learn as much from him as she could as long as he was allowing her to stay. Don't trust male thralls. Got it. Sehvi held up a paw threateningly to the thrall as he rose to his feet, extending her own claws. She liked that gesture of Erling's. It was a pretty good one. Sehvi had begun to realize that she might not have the sheer brute strength of a male lion when she reached adulthood, but her claws were as sharp as anyone's.

She would sharpen them more when she got home.

Samsen didn't like being called butterbutt. If anyone was going to be called butterbutt, he thought it should be the two lardos who thought it was a great idea to sit on people who had been minding their own business.

He had more sense than to say this aloud. The male lion's stomp to the gut had winded him even more, and he stood with his head down, not wanting to look at any of his captors. He didn't want to give them a reason to castrate him. He found it hard to believe they would, but then, until a few minutes ago he would have found it hard to believe that a bunch of a*****e lions would attack him for no reason and then announce that he was their slave.

"I'm not going to do anything," he muttered, waiting for them to tell him what to do next. He wouldn't try to escape here. He didn't want them blundering around after him, stumbling over his poor sister.

Yolla sounded properly ferocious, which was good. That was a nice little threat. Erling nodded. "Good. Let's march him home, then. Yolla and Loudmouth, you walk to either side of him. Tear him up if he tries to run." With that, Erling turned and began walking back, not waiting for Yolla and Sehvi. They would catch up if they had any sense, thrall in tow. They had captured the thrall, and they had damned well better bring him back to the pride without incident.

"Move, thrall!" Sehvi snarled, jabbing the yellow lion in the ribs with a claw. She took up her station at his side, reading to claw his face open if he tried to dodge around her. "Try to run and Yolla will castrate and bugger you."

Just adding her own little flourish, you know. Sehvi smiled evilly.