[PRIVATE] A Rogue's Light

[Nakisisa]

"Please, Tell them to stop Master" Ra said visibly shaking and on the verge of tears, "Ill stay with you, forever if you want" she said "Ill be your pet, master" her voice dropping to nothing more than a whisper, "Just please, don't let your friends hurt them"

[Skittakallista]

Auni watched what was happening before him. He had tried to talk, it had failed and he could not fight so, like a coward, he had fled, leaving the brave lioness behind with the insane Mufalfa. And now he was being completely ignored by the other two. He knew he was quiet and eisily overlooked but it hurt. The way the male (Tanga was it?) looked at Imani... Well she was very attractive and Ra had all but blessed their union. Not that Imani seemed interested, however. She seemed to want to go it alone. He would never be able to fight for her however. Even agaist the scrawny |Tanga he would lose. So this was it. He'd left a beautiful (for Ra, he thought, had been VERY beautiful) lioness to fend for herself in a hopeless battle. Well done, idiot! His brothers vioce, cruel and malicious broke into his mind. Well done, coward...

"We must go back for her." He said. The other two looked at him as though they'd just noticed him. A small prick of annoyance came over him but he ignored it. It wasn't their fault he was quiet, after all. "All together, we could overcome him. She dosn't stand a chance on her own."

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga heaved a very loud, very open sigh of relief when Imani finally agreed to his company. Now that he had been given a chance at someone's company, he would have felt even more lonely than ever before if she had forced him to leave. "Thank you," he said, the relief still more than evident. "My name's Tanga, by the way."

But before he could say or do anything else, the third male spoke, imploring them to go back. Tanga's mane whipped around as he spun, the sound of another male voice putting his danger instincts on high alert. But when he was certain it was not Mufalfa, he relaxed immediately.

But the words left Tanga feeling helpless. The male was making a lot of sense, it was, after all, the exact sort of line of thinking he had taken. But Imani's sister had crushed his attempts at helping her, insisting on confronting Mufalfa alone. "I know," he finally resplied, a little hesitantly. This male had been exceptionally quiet up until now, and the hint of annoyance Tanga picked up in his body language made it difficult for him to guage the lion's intentions. "But I already tried that. I don't understand, but she wants to do this alone." With this, he turned back to Imani, who must still be reeling from what had just happened. "Look, your sister wanted you to leave, but if you want to go back, I'll help...and I'm sure he will, too." He said that last part with a gesture back at the other male, Tanga once again cursing his apparant inability to recall names.

[VitanisMate]

Mufalfa looked at the sister, "My associate is on his way now fool. He will leave none of them alive."

===

Soon a male lion came toward them. They had no idea of his true intentions. He looked and said, "Hello my friends. I am just a lonely traveller here. Perhaps if you would be so kind you would let me travel until we reached the inner lands. You all seem like nice lions. I will leave after I reach there okay?" He looked wondering what they thought.

"My friends have you happened to see my brother around these parts? I would very much like to find him?" He looked ahead studying the best ways to strike them. Mufalfa promised him an endless supply of food if he helped. He could not pass that up. He saw the female and felt like he would regret killing her. No matter. It must be done.

[Nakisisa]

"Please..." was all Ra could manage before she fell crying, the thought of her stupidity, sacrificing herself to save her sister, only to find out soon she would be dead, Last ditch attempt Ra thought as she stood up, looking him streight in the eyes, she said "Please... Stop Him" she begged with a croaky voice as she gave him a pleading kiss on his lips.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga instinctively backed away from this new lion several steps, which coincidentally took him close to Imani. Last time he had been faced with this many faces at once, back at Mufalfa's den, he was fuelled with adrenaline from the danger of the situation, and had paid no notice of just how many others there were. He had told himself many times in the past month or so that he desired some company, but to go from being completely alone to surrounded by lions in such a short space of time was unsettling.

What also unsettled Tanga was the fact that, unlike Imani and the other male, this new lion was a complete stranger, and had not been part of the earlier incident. Tanga's boldness from before had long since disappeared during his attempts to convince Imani to let him tag along, and all he could do was watch this male carefully. He could detect no sign of a threat within this new male...but he could not detect anything else, either, and that really scared him. It made the male unpredictable.

"I..." he tried to form a sentence, but his shyness was back in full force, and he was fighting just to stop himself from backing away from the male further. "Wh...who are you?" he finally managed to stammer out, although he looked to Imani and the other male for help. He might not know the two of them that well...but they had all dealt with the situation with Mufalfa together, and as such, he trusted them.

[VitanisMate]

Mufalfa laughed and smiled. "If you do that again if I might consider it." He looked at her and said, "Come on I might let them live if you do that again." He laughed cruelly.

===

"Oh me? I am just a lonely traveller. My name is Neru. How are you lions? I am looking for my brother Assani. Maybe you can help me and take to the the inner lands?" He looked at them still studying them. "What are your names?" He also looked at how they grouped themselves. He knew if he could get them alone he could take them down. He looked at the male again. "Uh are you guys planning something? Can I help if needed? I am a really good fighter."

[Nakisisa]

Ra's heart lifted slightly at the chance of her sister being saved. "Yes master" Ra said as an obiedient pet. She moved closer to him, putting all her troubles behind her and kissed him. However when she kissed him, she was more pationate, trying to convince him otherwise.

[AustralianChaos]

Please, protect her...

The words rang in Tanga's ears as he took a couple more steps back towards Imani, still watching the male - Neru - nervously. His words and demeanour seemed harmless enough, but Tanga knew, from painful experience, that such outward harmlessness could hide vicious intentions. Neru seemed to be guessing a little too accurately at what they were up to for Tanga's nervous mind to like.

"My...my name is Tanga," he finally forced himself to say. Without any concrete evidence that Neru hid malicious intentions, there was little his conscience would allow him to do. And besides, he had just escaped a rather dangerous situation with Mufalfa...it was entirely possible that his distrust of Neru was nothing more than paranoia.

And then, even if Neru was not to be trusted, giving out his name was no problem. He was a rogue, a nobody...his name did not matter in the slightest. But what else to tell the lion? He once again looked to Imani, and their other friend, and decided that he would leave any explanation of their situation to them. but he still had to get some sort of take on Neru. "If...If I may ask, what, and where, exactly are the 'Inner Lands'?"

[VitanisMate]

Neru looked at the lion before him. "Oh the 'Inner Lands' are just due north of here. Just two days travel." He looked at this lion and got the suspicion the lion did not trust him. He cursed in his head. "Well I don't mean to bore you with my sob story but while we were out hunting my brother and I were separated. You see we are rogues forced to wander forever."

===

Mufalfa savored the kiss and looked at her cruelly knowing what his answer was going to be. "NO!" He laughed and hit her again savoring his own cruelty.