The sun rose slow over the mountains, casting a long shadow that Sigrid knew she would have to traverse. Her journey to the large pillars of stone was a long one, filled with many pitfalls and hang ups. Her legs ached to the point of muscle weakness and the lioness had been forced to rest during the early morning hours under the shade of a thick tree. It was cooler in this area than any other which was a blessing to her thicker hide, but also a curse to her growling stomach. The need to feed was a constant one, brought on by hours of walking and little in the way of meals.
The feeling of being watched consumed her once the sun had risen completely over the cresting mountain. Sigrid turned her gaze this way and that, hoping to catch sight of the stranger. There was no scent to go by or even the slightest sound. It annoyed her greatly. "If you've the indecency to spy on a Lady, surely you have the bravery to show yourself as well." It was a spoken challenge, one that was taken almost immediately.
The trees had gone silent when the large boulder of a lion made himself known. His stride was one of absolute confidence and he carried his thick muscles as one who knew battle well. He supposed there was something to be wary of in that glacier gaze, but the male backed down from no one, least of all a female.
"Indecent, am I? If ye don't know when to shut yer mouth before being told ta speak, ye'll be seein' just how indecent I can be."
His voice rang low and gruff, bringing with it enough aggression to choke a bull elephant. "I've got questions for ye, Viking b***h, and ye'r goin' ta be answerin' 'em."
Bristling under the sharp bite of his words, Sigrid rose up to her full height. Surprisingly she was still so much smaller than him, even when she stood as tall as any rogue born male. His eyes, sky itself before a storm, bore into her. "What did you call me? I'm not some waif for you to bully into submission, and I'll be treated with more respect than whatever whore you've topped in the past."
She was angered, but pensive. Sigrid was no fighter, that much was plainly evident, and he could very easily rip her limbs from their sockets. Swallowing back very unladylike phrases, she stood as tall as she dared under his scrutiny. "You know nothing of me, but you dare to accuse me? Under what grounds?"
In just enough time for the female to gasp and fall on her rump he had a paw slammed against the tree at her back. The bark itself had been softer, but it crumbled completely under the weight of his attack. Salazar saw on her face the scream that couldn't come out due to fear, and felt a small bit of guilt mixing with his pride.
"I know ye be from a Northern Pride by the sea, and that ye carry ye'r'self as a Viking." Lowering his muzzle until it was just a whisper away from her own, his breath mingling with hers in the tight space, he seethed, "And that ye were the last to speak with 'em. So out with it. What have ye done with them?"
Sigrid couldn't help the way her breathing hitched, or the fearful width her pupils had taken. Her back was pressed completely against the bark of the tree now, head tucked down just under his paw. "I don't understand what you're asking." She tried not to waver as she had been taught, but her voice quivered.
"I don't know how you heard about me, but my home was further North than the Vikings. Look at my fur, it's too thick to survive to be one of theirs. I'm built for snow and mountains, glaciers, not the warring seas." Sigrid couldn't stop babbling, but it seemed to be the only thing to calm him. He had grown quiet, and she dared to hope that was a good sign. "Who is it that you think I spo-"
With a roar, he raked his claws down the bark and pulled away from the now shrieking female. It was obvious she either knew nothing, or was a damn good liar. Both options left him more bitter than before. "Shirou and Bonni." Salazar forced out through a rumbling growl. His fangs ground against each other, restraining not to take his frustrations out on her. "A male with a pink mane, spotted, and a female with a pelt like mine."
Placing a paw on his face, Salazar groaned into it and tugged at his mane. This was getting him no where.
Turning her face to the side, Sigrid bore his anger as one who had seen it one too many times. The males ire was nothing to get worked up about despite her fear, and the scream only made her feel weak. Rising back up slowly, she peeked out at him from behind her now tussled mane. "....You weren't wrong, I did see them." When he whipped around to look at her, she hurriedly added, "We traveled together for a little while, but then we went on our separate ways."
As soon as he had turned the other way she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Wait..." Looking at him now, everything began to fall into place. The curve of his jaw, the hard set of his eyes, his pelt...the very way he walked. There was dominance there ,yes, but also an open sexuality that gave him swagger. "You're their son. Shouldn't you be the first to know where they went?"
"Ye would think tha', wouldn't ye?" Salazar commented snidely.
He had forsaken his homeland just to find the parents who had disappeared, vanished without a trace, and for what? This? "...I heard rumors ye had been with 'em, so I thought...it all made sense. They go missin', ye'r a Vikin', they're captured." He shrugged as if it made all the sense in the world.
Everyone had called him a fool for believing rumors, and had told him straight up that he should put his parents behind him. Salazar just couldn't do that; family was everything, even when they left. The anger was still inside of him, but it had simmered down so that his weariness replaced it.
That is, until he perked suddenly, and looked at her as if he were judging which pile of s**t stank less. "Ye know where they are. Ye could lead me to 'em."
Smoothing down her mussed fur, Sigrid snorted. "Rumors are just that; rumors. No one should believe the gossip spun by lesser creatures with too much time on their paws." Now that he was calmer, she could pick herself back up. Fixing her mane was a must, as was making sure her heart had slowed it's rhythm long enough for her to learn breathing all over again.
Her eyes widened at his peeked interest, and she was quick to rectify that, "Oh no. No no no. You just assaulted me and now you want my help? I do not think so. No, I wouldn't help you if you were the last lion on earth."
Saddling back up to her, Salazar gave Sigrid a grin that let her see behind all of his bluster he was a fairly handsome lion. Not in the traditional sense, but there was a confidence within him that both attracted and frightened. "Poppet, for ye, I might as well be. Ye'll help me, and then ye'll go free. If'n ye don't, well...ye've seen me irritated. Ye'll not be wantin' to make me mad."
"You're nothing but a bully is what you are." Sigrid seethed. She huffed indignantly and clucked her tongue. "Fine; I'll be your guide, but once we find them, I'll be telling your mother just how you treated a Lady." Instantly she smirked, because behind his exterior confidence was a little cub who feared his mother's wrath. Rising up, she squared her shoulders and began to walk. "And I doubt your father is going to be very happy with you, either. He's a seer too, yes? You're sure to have a welcoming trap when we get there."
Feeling a little more confident in herself, she led the way with a trailing ape behind her. She knew he would be fussing over that for a while, and thankfully it kept him quiet.
