Helvegr had no interest in travelling, but his grandmother had made it quite clear that it was a necessary sacrifice of his time, to work his way up the ranks and make himself a much more powerful being within the pride.At first, the Captain had no interest in taking Hel along, claiming him to be young, but Hel had... ways of convincing him otherwise.
And although the older lion had a rather large chip on his shoulder now, he'd begrudgingly allowed him to travel with them.
He had demanded they spread out and search for supplies, but Hel wasn't going to be taking home something as ridiculous as that.
In fact, he had spotted movement and wandered off on his own to come across a lioness who was small enough in stature for him to consider taking her back.
By force, if necessary.
That was, until, the twig snapped. He mentally cursed and looked down, finding the offending object beneath his paw, and tossing it to the side before plastering an easygoing smile on his face. Time for plan B.
Kahs was, by all means, exhausted. She was travelling night and day, it seemed, trying to find somewhere to settle down that wasn't teeming with life and she had to participate in repetitive conversation.She hadn't even noticed she was being followed until a twig snapped, and she turned fiercely to face the younger male with a scowl.
"Is there a reason you are, quite literally, at my tail? Have I overstepped my boundaries?"
Though she was asking, she knew the answer, since there had been no scent of a boundary for quite some time. So whomever he was, he was following her for some reason of his own, and the idea angered her. She'd heard of quite a few prides, though she was sure she'd detoured them. Where had he come from?
The look on his face caused her to wrinkle his nose. It wasn't fooling her one bit.
Hel shrugged halfheartedly, though the next he spoke, he couldn't avoid his combative nature from showing, "You're alone and don't know where you're going. I think you should come with me, unless you have a better idea for wandering around out here."
And, up close, he quite enjoyed the strange pattern adorning her pelt, and it would be something to see the expression on his Captain's face when he brought her back.
"I'm from a pride myself, we could use the extra members."
Though telling her a Thrall, he kept firmly in his mind. If he could only get her back to the group, she'd have no choice anymore. His grandmother would absolutely love having her around.
Kahs took one look at the younger male and the hair on her neck stiffened. She didn't like that look he was giving her one bit, and rather than try to be civil, she turned away and kept walking.
"No thank you. I do better on my own than with a group anyway."
Lying? Yes. But no way was she going to go willingly to some unknown pride with very little information to go on.
She stopped rather suddenly and looked back at him, since he had kept right on her tail and seemed like he wanted to speak further, perhaps to convince her.
"Why don't you try bothering someone else, hmm?"
Hel smirked, his eyes flashing dangerously when she decided to dismiss him. Without warning, he lunged at her back, trying his best to get a grip and instead overestimating his jump and landing in front of her with a snarl.
"I didn't ask you, I was telling you. Come. With. Me." He stalked around her, making sure she didn't have a chance to run before making a second attempt to pin her down.
Kahs gave the boy some credit as she avoided his grasp, he was strong for his age. She smirked. But he had no idea who he was messing with, and the minute he made his second jump, she met him head-on and tossed him aside, hoping to frighten him off rather than have to leave him dead. By the look in his eyes, she didn't think he'd run off on his own, and she growled low before charging at him, ducking at the last second to avoid his claws and using the momentum to throw him over, even as he left damage on her legs as he flew overhead.
Hel hadn't been ready for this, and the second he went flying, he knew it. He'd been so used to the fighting style of the pride, he hadn't expected outsiders could fight so differently, and before he could regain his composure, she had locked her teeth on his throat, applying just enough pressure to warn him exactly what she was capable of. He did his best to shake her off, and when he finally did she took off at a run, in the opposite direction he'd been trying to herd her into moments before.
He stood up to chase after her, but the second his paw hit the ground he felt it and looked down. While he'd been so busy trying to get away from her grip, he'd torn open his leg and couldn't run on it, much less walk back defeated as she had intended. He looked off in the direction she had run and growled under his breath, the idea of her escaping something he would not stand for.
He made a silent promise to himself to hunt her down and drag her back out of anger, but he also couldn't help the admiration as well. She'd stood her ground in an instant, and he couldn't help the flicker of a childlike crush that passed through him.
He definitely, absolutely would hunt her down and bring her back to the pride.
But first, he had to make it there himself. Leg wounds like his wouldn't heal the way they needed to out here, and surely his captain would give him an earful for it.
Maybe he could bring down something for him first.
[Word Count: 1,017]