//------------------------------// // Saving the Slaves // Story: Roar // by Aku //------------------------------// Seven of those ape-dog's stood before me, cowering as I slowly paced towards them, walking this way and that in a slow and deliberate manner. My roar, which sounded more like the Disney interpretation of a lion's roar, had shaken the beasts up. The one closest to me, a scrawny little thing with a pugs face, dropped it's spear in fear as I got closer to it. Even the taller, buffer ones looked ready to run at the sight of me, and for good reason. Not only was I a mother loven lion, I was apparently a huge one. I hadn't noticed when I had been examining myself three days ago, but I was big. I easily stood a head taller than the largest dog here, and the pony looked like it would barely be half my height! For a guy who had always been on the shorter side, this was a dream come true, I was tall! Or they were all short. Damn you brain! Always ruining my fun. The dogs let me pass without any interference, which was good, considering I didn't want to fight. That was the whole reason I roared in the first place, to scare them enough that they wouldn't want to fight me. It wasn't that I doubted that I could take these mutts on, I am the Nemean lion, my hide can not be cut by the sharpest of blades and my claws can slice through the strongest of armors with ease. Or at least that's what the legends say. No, I didn't want to fight because that's not who I was. I'm a lover, not a fighter. I took no joy in violence and the pain of others. The one time I got in a fight, I was in a depressed state for nearly a week after. I won though. Slowly I approached what I was guessing was the leader of the pack. He was holding a rusty metallic collar to the terrified pony's neck, frozen in fear as I stood in front of him, eye's wide in terror. My nose, now far more powerful than it had ever been when I was a human, could almost smell the fear wafting off him. The pony behind him collapsed, the poor creature had been shacking as I approached and it seemed it had just reached it's limit. I frowned a little as the little thing collapsed on the cold, hard ground. Sure, I was fine with sleeping on it, but my hide protected me from all those poky little rocks. And it was filthy! The pony was covered in dirt, sweat and . . . was that blood? My nose picked up a faint scent of copper coming from the pony. It was blood, and now that I was looking for it, I could see scratches littering the pony's body. It didn't take a genius to figure out how she got hurt. And I did not like the answer. Turning my head towards the lead dog, who was looking quite a bit calmer than before, I frowned at him, which had him looking just as nervous as before. "Give me the pony." There. Short, sweet and to the point. I just wanted to take the poor creature away from these things, and based on her earlier actions, she wanted to get away anyway. I'd be doing her a favor. The dog managed a strained smile. "I wont be giving you anything, kitty, for soon you'll be dead!" The dog cackled wickedly, before chocking, a look of disbelief and terror on his face. Behind me, the six dogs that had just oh-so rudely shoved spears into my back let out fearful whines as they dropped their spears. Turning my head so that I could look back at them while still keeping the head dog in my sights, I shot a haughty smirk at the cowering dogs, "That tickled." I turned back to the head dog, giving him the meanest glare that I could muster. "That was not a very smart thing your friends did." I growled out, flexing my claws. The dog looked like he was about to soil himself, probably imagining all the horrible, horrible things I was going to do in retaliation for his comrades attack. I wasn't going to hurt him, physically at least, but I was going to use his fear to my advantage. "I should kill you now. You and all your little buddies." The dog threw himself on the ground in fear. "No, no!" The dog cried, "Please spare me, demon kitty! I did not tell those fools to attack, no no no. They did it themselves! Spare me, please!" He pointed at the other dogs that had backed off after realizing that their little sticks were going to do them no good, "Kill them, yes. Kill them for attacking you, but spare me!" He bowed to me, actually freaking bowed, pleading for his life. It made me sick. He was just going to throw his followers under the bus to spare his own skin, as far as he knew I was going to kill them, and yet here he was, sacrificing them to save himself. Those dogs might have family, friends, pets that needed them, and yet he was willing to just throw them away to save himself. Pathetic. I almost wished I could kill the sniveling creature before me, but that wasn't who I was, I am no killer. I put one massive paw on the cowardly dogs back and pin him to the ground, he lets out a pained yip, and turn to the others. They stood still, fear in their eye's, but also loyalty. They had heard their leaders begging, they knew that he had tried to sacrifice them, but their they stood, spears in hand and ready to fight for their leader despite knowing their weapons will not work against me. "Your courage and loyalty serves you well," I began, my voice slicing through the silence that had fallen over the canyon, "If you had fled upon hearing your leaders offer, I would have slain the fool and come after you." A lie. "I respect your loyalty to your leader, though he does not seem to deserve it," I unconsciously put a bit more pressure onto the leaders back, making him yip in pain," and your courage at standing against me. Your choice is foolish, yes, but commendable. And that is why I offer you two choices." All the dogs perk up, hope filling their eye's. "Give to me any slaves that you may hold, and I shall let you live." "And the other choice?" One of the dogs, a tall one with long, shaggy hair, asks. "You die." I bluntly reply. "How you know we have slaves?" The really short one asked. I jerk my head in the direction of the unconscious pony. "If you have the one I am willing to bet you have more. Besides, even if you don't, I still get this one. So, are you going to release your prisoners, your slaves, to me, or will you die?" The dogs looked amongst themselves, and then to their leader, trapped beneath my paw. The dogs led me through the twists and turns of the canyon slowly, doing their best to not appear to be running away. I had made sure they understood that ditching me would not be . . . pleasant. I walked gently behind the dogs, doing my best not to jostle the pony sleeping on my back. It amazed me that she was still asleep, we had been traveling for around an hour and a half now, and though I did my best, the trip was not necessarily the smoothest. Still, I was kind of grateful that she was still asleep. I had a feeling that she would be asking a lot of questions when she woke. Eventually we came across a cave guarded by two more dogs, though these wore armor. The brutes at the entrance raised their spears upon seeing me, but the dogs I had traveled with had them quickly back at ease, though I could see that the guard dogs were not very pleased with the why of me being there. But they wouldn't do anything without their alpha telling them to, and currently that alpha was doing everything he could to keep me from killing him. "Would you like to come inside while we get slaves for you?" The alpha asked, twitching ever so slightly in fear as he addressed me. I smile at him, showing my teeth a little, "No, no. I am fine out here, just please hurry, I want to get out of this canyon as soon as possible. And I'm sure you are eager to see me gone." The dog nodded his head like a bobble head, rushing into the cave as fast as he could, barking orders as he ran, others of his kind rushing to obey. I found it odd that he was the alpha, he did not seem particularly bright, nor was he the physically strongest of the dogs I have seen. Even from my position at the mouth of the cave I could see dogs that were both bigger and stronger than the mutt that claimed supremacy over the rest of his kind. Perhaps it was a genetic thing? Or maybe this race of dog-like slavers had a form of democracy? Or maybe he just killed the last ruler and took his place? I know dogs on Earth fought for the right to lead the pack, but what do gorilla-dog people do? It was really kind interesting to think about, and if they weren't a bunch of slaving scum, I'd love to study there culture. Maybe you should focus on what they are doing, and not on how they choose their leaders! My mind screamed at me, snapping me back to reality. I was surrounded by dogs. I don't know how they did it without me noticing, but they had somehow got into a semi circle, effectively trapping me and the pony between the canyon wall and a wall of at least thirty dogs, bearing all types of weapons. Lances, spears, swords, maces and even one with a bow and arrows standing further back. Hell, one guy was holding a net and trident. I shot the alpha, who had foolishly decided to stand in the front, nearest me, a furious look. "I thought you were going to give me the slaves?" He smirked, clearly confident now that he had his pack backing him up. "I was," He began in a cocky manner, "But then I decided that it would be better to just kill you!" He let out a evil cackle, though it sounded more like a series of cough-barks to me. "You are not very intelligent, are you?" I asked sarcastically. Slowly, so as not to gain any unwanted attention, I lowered my self towards the ground in a crouch. "You saw what happened when you tried that surprise attack earlier, this wont work." I twisted my body, ever so slowly, allowing the pony to slip of my body and onto the ground. I didn't want her to get hurt in what was to come. "That was a fluke!" He howled, "Those idiots could never do anything right, it was amazing they could even hold their spears! They must not have sharpened them before hand. Yes, that's all it was, a stupid mistake caused by my stupidest pack members!" "And yet they were the ones you took to hunt down. But that doesn't matter now. I gave you the chance to give me your slaves and live. And you have refused." I don't like violence, I didn't want to fight, but there are times in your life when you must fight. One of those times is when you are surrounded by savage slavers who want to kill you and enslave a innocent (I think she is anyway) pony. "Now, you die." I pounced, and roared.