Roar, Lioness. Roar

Roar, Lioness

Over the sounds of firing rifles and revving engines, Donna calls out to the others on shift. Just like her, they're all too drunk to even walk in a straight line. She rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands, trying to ease the pressure and steady her vision. Donna looks up at the brightening sky and reels from the sharp pain in between her eyes. Running over to the fire barrel, she pukes up the contents of her stomach.

In the distance, the moving fortress honks its booming horns. The warband sets out to lead Bellgrave's army to victory.

"What's the big idea?" one of the others asks. "We're not going until the third wave, waster."

"Look," Donna hisses, pointing through the bars of the rabbit's nest.

"Look at– oh fuck. Someone better get Karen."

"What the fuck happened here?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" Donna asks. "Open the gate."

One of the guards runs off, while the others ready their batons. The gate is opened and the three cautiously enter. Sprawled out in a puddle of blood and guts is Bellgrave's prized Yellow Sun cat. One of the seedboys must have torn her apart, opening her with what looks like a sharpened rock. The giant seedboy, Trunk, rocks back and forth beside his brother. Both look untouched by the carnage. Donna follows the trail of blood leading down the hall while the others check the body.

Baton ready to strike, she reaches the end of the hall and the end of the blood trail, and...

Her blood runs cold and it's hard to breathe. In the light of the hall are two bodies, gutted, their throats slit and innards missing. Cuts cover Yacki's arms as if he'd tried to defend himself, but poor Fish must have been caught unprepared. Whoever did this, must have snuck up on them in the dark. Her mind tries to make sense of it all. It's still early, the other boys are still asleep. Who could have done this? Who could have taken them out as well as that Yellow... Sun... huntress?

Donna runs down the hall, fear filling her heart for the first time since she'd left her mother's little shack in Market Town and joined Bellgrave's slavers. No longer wanting to be prey, she'd become a predator, hunting wasters and selling them to the highest bidders. She'd casted away fear, but here it is again, dogging her heels and riding her shoulders.

More blood. More bodies. The others lay dead, their blood coats the ground. Donna hadn't heard a sound.

"Where is she, Trunk?" she whispers, unable to push herself to speak louder. She glances at the empty spot on the ground where a gutted huntress should have been. "Damnnit, Trunk. Is she still here?"

"You're afraid that I've gone without spilling your blood, yes?"

Donna turns slowly, her heart thundering in her chest. The daughter of the Lioness drops down from the ceiling like a pouncing cave spider. Her face is covered in the blood of the dead and her eyes burn with a faint red light.

"Get... on the floor with... with your hands behind your back," Donna stammers. Her body shakes and she can't stop. "Ge...get down!"

"Make me," the huntress snarls.

She crouches low and Donna drops all pretense of authority, making a break for the gate. Her foot slips in the blood and she tumbles backward, hitting her head. Everything goes black.

Coaly snaps awake to the sound of women rushing in every direction. Her chains rattle as she tries to free herself from her hanging position. With arms sore from a night of hanging and a night of whipping, it's a daunting task. Her shoulders ache, her wrists chafe, yet somehow she feels vindicated. The pain is a small price to pay. They'll think twice before insulting her.