[SRP] You want to know what it's like? [Dhikk, Ebumnyami]

[Puhterodactyl]

Dhikkara looked nervously, awkwardly, over at the lioness. Purple, a little bumped, a little bruised, expression shifting from enraged to scared to defeated to nearly every emotion a lion can experience besides joy or hope. The white lion kept his eyes down, feeling uncomfortable about his role in all of this. The lioness, he had not caught her name yet, was just the latest prize for the Myrsky Syntynyt. His mistress' had loaned Dhikkara to her father, Phlegyas, for the old, purple male's first viking. Delphi was... Dhikkara swallowed hard, a painful, tight knot in his throat.

Well, she was ******** scary is what she was.

The Myrsky Syntynyt was filled with Phlegyas' descendants as it just so happened, most rather distantly related, but Dhikkara flinched at every paw print, every light purple, every orange red or vine marking and so on. At this point, he thought it best to assume any and every dark pelted, red or light purple coated lion related to Phlegyas and therefore his mistress. That meant he had to be on his best behavior at all times. Never speak ill of his mistress. Never bemoan his position as a thrall. Always do as he was told, and promptly.

He had begun to wonder if his name that meant "curse" was not for how his mother felt carrying and delivering 15 cubs, but instead portended his fate.

And now... he looked again at his unwilling companion.

Now he was just a part of the system that he hated so much. He wished he could bring himself to let her go. To tell her to run off and the best direction to avoid any more reavers or freeborn. But...

He had become a coward. It was Ebumnyami or him, and he picked himself.
Still, he wished he could offer her a bit of comfort...

"Hey... I-... I'm sorry about all of... this..." Wow, just a great job there Dhikkara. She must totally feel better now.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Through a swollen and puffy eye, the lioness glowered, then growled at her escort. Her reaction, her instincts were primal. They were all she had left of herself. Her steps were heavy and slow but her heart and her mind were racing. She could not think straight or process what had happened, what was happening now, what would happen in the future. Her mouth was dry, her stomach was flipping over itself again and again. But... All hope was lost.

That purple lion, what was his name, Phlegyas? Phlegyas had come to her territory and hunted her as though she was some foolish empty-minded prey animal. Stalked her, tracked her. She felt violated by the thought. But he had not been the first to attack. He tried to talk to her sweetly. Convince her and fill her mind with ideas about where he wanted to take her. But Ebumnyami would not leave her home, her family, without a fight.

She just was no match for the enormous male. She really had not stood a chance. Truthfully, he looked worse than she did. Not for her prowess or his own lack of skill, but because he had been so careful and hesitant to hurt her. Most of her injuries were result of miscalculation on her part. She limped along.

So what was this lion, an errand boy? Phlegyas had entrusted her to him while he was wrapping up his "viking." Her bright blue eye probed him thoroughly. It did not seem like Phlegyas merely outranked this white and green lion, but that he was his master. Or something to that effect. The way he had ordered him around led her to believe that. Would she also be forced someday to help take other lions into slavery? A tool, just because she was weaker?

She felt a tear leak out of her eye.

Or perhaps it was blood running down her face.

"...Why?"  

[Puhterodactyl]

He knew that the lioness did not mean why was he sorry, when she spoke. It was the first time she had said anything in front of him. Her voice cracked and croaked. Maybe her throat had been hurt, too. His orange eyes searched the ground, as if for answers, flicking back and forth rapidly.

"I, uh..."

His ears laid back, flat on his skull, and he looked around anxiously, checking for anyone who might listen and rat him out to Delphi, but in the vastness of the plains, they were alone.

"I do not have a choice, just like you. Phlegyas is my mistress' father. And while he has never been unkind to me (besides making me do this), his daughter, is wrathful. I did not think one lion's body could contain so much rage and hate and fury, but every day she surprises me. My sister and I were taken as thralls a few seasons ago. My sister has fared much better, less formally a slave of another lioness on the viking, more of a general pride thrall. I have to serve Delphi, though..."

He cleared his throat. He was not sure if that would help, but it was all he had to offer...

"Phlegyas is good, though... He has a family who loves him..." He trailed off. Truly it was remarkable that the monster Delphi was capable of love towards anyone or anything. That must mean something for the kind of lion Phlegyas was, right? Or he could be the one responsible for making her so cruel...  

[Puhterodactyl]

Ebumnyami snorted. Was that supposed to make her feel better? She limped along, no response for the white lion. Whoever his mistress was (and she hoped never to have to meet this lioness) must have messed him up pretty badly psychologically. He bore only a few faint scars, and she could only discern them because she had ample time as they walked to search him for any, so it did not seem to be clawing and gnashing of teeth that made him so afraid. But blows could still be struck that could break bone and not draw blood.

Ebumnyami was afraid.

There was nothing she felt she could hope for. To be a family thrall? That still meant being a thrall, being subservient, slave to another's desires and wishes.

The purple lioness cried now. Large tears that plopped onto the dusty ground beneath her feet. She tasted their salt and bitterness as they mingled with the blood on her muzzle and ran into her mouth.

And as they walked, the air tasted all the more salty, the ground more damp than her tears could ever make it. They were now within the land of the Stormborn.

And from there, she would never leave.

the end.
Ebumnyami: 524 words
Dhikkara: 588 words