The Bane of My Existence

BK2 :Chapter 1

Sashi raised her head inadvertently tossing back her ash blond hair in seeming defiance as she lifted her violet gaze to stare searchingly at the lioness who prowled so restlessly  before her. It was obvious they were awaiting further instructions. But from whom? The King?

Sashi wasn't dumb enough to not realize it had been these lioness who had been silently tracking their every step since crossing the borders of this land. And quite possibly even a long while before that. There were none more superior a tracker then lioness of the wild. And there was certainly nothing tame about these lioness.

Then again, Brett and Sashi had not been the most stealth-like of travelers. They had been noisy for the most parts of their journey. Mostly with Brett bunching up and bundling through shrubbery and other similar natural obstacles instead of nit-picking his way around in a more cautious effort. Sashi herself had let loose many a surprised yelp from all those self-preservation manuevers she had been forced to undertaken simply to survive the journey to this end. Brett hadn't always taken her precarious perch on his broad back into consideration through his many bludgeoning efforts. Sashi was not all brawn like him but was gifted in speed od reflexes and a limber form and had been more than able to toss herself up and over in a graceful arch over each obstacle as Brett charged on by.

But there was no charging through their present obstacle for Brett nor through any means of acrobatic feat for Sashi. Certain death from a crushed thorax from being clutched between strong jaws was what clearly awaited them for even conceiving such a ridiculous notion as escaping these lioness. They wisely chose to refrain from such drastic ideas and kept as still as was possible. The only alternative when caught between the interested paws of not one but five feline predators.

Heavens knew the females were temperamental as is add sharp canines, sharp claws and quite possibly the sheer force of a ton of bricks between them, into the mix and that was just asking for trouble.  A point of fact Sashi had no qualms accepting as the sole truth for that moment and when Brett shifted uneasily on restless paws, her hand flashed out of its own accord to swipe the back of his large wolfy head with an outright smack.

But then the lionesses were closing in on them and resuming the age old practice of herding their prey back to home turf quite possibly to make mince meat out of them.

Sashi followed their unspoken bidding meekly and with a rough tug at Brett's lush brown hair had him trailing after her to follow suit.

The trek back was long but covered swiftly by their lapping strides. Sashi was reduced to an outright run to remain abreast so that she was panting hard when they finally did reach the fortress like castle. The Weres on duty paid them little notice knowing the felines had them well in hand.

They were led straight to the pen or more appropriately the kennel that housed unwanted dogs. Sashi was nudged unceremoniously into a large iron cage that with Brett shoved right in beside her became instantly all too small.

"I need to see the King," Sashi yelled out at their jailer's retreating form and then at the deep growl that rumbled out right at her ear she swiftly corrected herself. "We need to see the king. "

But all she got for her efforts was a disgruntled snarl that, what must have been the head lioness, tossed lazily over her shoulder. Sashi could tell her request bored them. She could also tell that they found her and Brett decidedly uninteresting as predators. But she decided to be big about it and not take their obvious slight to heart. Its was not as if she could do a thing about it anyway. So she merely reached out to grip the iron bars, one in each hand and rested her face, squeezed out of shape, in between.

The slightest shift in the air followed by the sounds of bones reordering and reconnecting themselves back into human form had her cringing her distorted face further as she tried to burrow further between the two unmoving and inadequately spaced bars.

But she knew there was no real escape.

Hot breath fanned out over her heated cheeks. Burning scarlet more from the knowledge that Brett was standing buck naked right beside her than anything he actually had to say to her.

And he had plenty to say. Not the least of which was his opening remark. A blistering tirade that was peppered with as many colourful an adjective as the many variations a rainbow of colours could provide.

He breathed down heavily at her after a bit. The worst having already been said leaving him speechless for a bit as her gathered his thoughts to regroup.

"This was your freaking idea to seek the Kings assistance so I suggest you better do something and do it quick to get us out of here."

Sashi bit back a nasty retort at that. What was she supposed to do that he couldn't? It was not her fault they hadn't listened to her earlier when it really mattered. When seeking to pay their aliegence to their King would have prevented a misalliance with demons. But she refused to be held accountable for this fiasco. If t h ey had followed protocol they would have been invited in as guests but as the demons they alligned with offered no stay in the repercussions of their actions there had been no time for administrative protocols.

Barging in uninvited and unannounced had been the only recourse. But Brett was right they didn't have time to play at being prisoners.