Journey to the trinity tree - Prompt three
The young group had spent the late hours of the day training and building up their resources. Tasso had learned a few fighting techniques while Pecora had learned about a new herb that wasn’t native to the land around EchoLake. Most of the lions were now socialising on the main field, some were scared but others were excited.
Tasso himself was excited, he loved a challenging battle and the mystery of it all egged him on even more, to be able to prove to his queen that he was worthy. Xia was apprehensive. She believed they were more than capable of defending themselves against whatever was coming, however the fact they didn’t know what they were fighting made her anxious. Pecora was happy with the knowledge she had gained and just hoped she would provide at least somewhat useful throughout the fight. The silence of the deep cave was tense, everyone was uneven, the invisible clock was ticking. It was then a horn blew, it was deep and long, penetrating the silence that was like a blanket over the valley. Within seconds the denizens of all shapes, colours and genders raced out of their homes ready to risk their lives for the goddess and their homes. Some foreign lions and cats raced off to join the fight.
Xia instructed that the group stay back for now, there were so many cats it would be easy to get lost in the wave. In no time at all the crowd thinned enough for the three lions to make their way to the entrance where they met a sight beyond their imaginations. Rusty black monsters made wood and soil were in combat with the lions and cats. While they were strong, they were heavily outnumbered, was it really going to be this easy? Without waiting any longer Xia and Tasso raced forward while Pecora stayed back scouting the area for any injured ally cats. Tasso immediately locked into a larger enemy which represented the shape of a wolf. Teeth made of mossy stone snapped at the neck of the male while cold claws slashed at him, not missing a beat or tiring at all. Tasso jumped from side to side evading each attack launched at him. Spotting an opening he launched forward wrapping his teeth around the foes neck. It whined and screeched in pain as it bucked, trying to displace the lion. While the taste was fowl Tasso kept his grip, carving into the wooden and soil elements of the creature, black ooze leaked into his mouth replacing the metallic taste of blood. After a few seconds of struggling the creature fell limp, melting away the only remains was a pile of murky dark mud. Shaking his face and body Tasso tried to get rid of any sticky remains.
Meanwhile, Xia was face to face with her own foe. It was extremely large, almost as big as the bears which could be found back at the pride. It was a rule to only take on a bear if there were at least three pride mates. To say she was out of her element was an understatement. Refusing to back down she stood strong, curling her back and snarling, long fangs shone in the night’s sky. The foe let out a loud growl before lunging forward, its huge black paws swinging backwards and forwards. Unfortunately, Xia is not quick enough to dodge all the deadly swings. She lets out a small whine as she feels a sharp pain in her leg, the beast’s black ooze dribbling slightly from the open claw wound. Annoyed she lunged at the creature knocking it over. While she wasn’t as large as most of the males in the pride, she had trained her whole life which made up for her small size. With a quick swing of her claws she makes a lethal swing of her claws, ripping out the creatures throat. Like Tasso’s foe it proceeds to melt into the ground leaving behind a trace of black mud, the only memory of the previous encounter.
Cursing at herself for being caught out Xia got to work investigating her wound. Strangely enough it wasn’t bleeding as it appeared that the mud was clotting the wound. From her knowledge she knew she had to get it checked out or it may become infected. With a slight limp she made her way back to the tree where Pecora and the other medics were waiting.
On the way back she was suddenly stopped by another oozing creature, this one looked very much like her in shape. She wasn’t keen on getting into another fight soon after getting into a fight, but she would do what she had to do. Getting down into a fighting stance she bared her teeth, trying to seem large and initiating. It was then that there was another growl from beside. Turning she was relieved to see it was only Tasso. He whispered to her while keeping an eye on the creature. “My Queen, you are injured! I can take it from here, you must go and get help!”. With that the male leaped onto the back of the enemy lioness biting at her wooden nape. Xia took this distraction to sneak away, now successfully making her way to the medic’s den where Pecora greeted her immediately. She was rushed into the den where her leg was washed out with clean water before being wrapped with a large leaf known for its healing abilities. She limped to the entrance just in time to see Tasso finally finish the foe shaking it off before it also melted. Suddenly there was a loud horn noise, higher pitch to the one earlier. As soon as it ended the enemy creatures immediately stopped what they were doing before running away into the surrounding ways She was then able to scan the whole of the battlefield. Relieved she could see no one had died in the fight. Even through it was just a warning Xia couldn’t help but think it was a forewarning as to a larger event that was left to berevealed.