Thrasher came to the edge of her den, the red sun lowering in the sky and beyond the horizon. A scent caught her, with a growl, she began searching out this unfamiliar invader. It grew stronger, with a flash she was set upon by one of the armoured wolves from the city. No doubt trying to go in for a glory kill while the lioness wasn't paying attention.

Thrasher and the wolf scrapped for a while, the lion throwing strong blows against the beasts' hard armour. With a swift turn, Thrasher pinned the wolf down, skull under her large paws, claws ready to mutilate the animal if it should struggle.

''Shut your growling, you fucking mongrel. I take it the higher courts sent you?'' The lioness snarled, pushing her weight onto the head of the wolf.

''One call, the whole troop will be here...stupid cat.''

''Remember who's lands you are sneaking around, I could call every outlaw in this place and we'd terminate your unit and string your guts up as decorations for your superiors to scent as you decay!'' Thrasher barked every word out as she put ever more pressure on her victim.

''Doesn't matter, you kill me, they'll come for me.'' he snarled.

''What makes you think any of your army would care if one of you died right here, right now? You think they'd mourn? They will train someone just as fucking wasteful to fill your fur.''

The wolf squirmed as the claws of the lioness started to dig into his flesh, ''OKAY, I'LL GO! LET ME GO!'' He flailed.

''Tell your worthless leaders that no matter how much information you relay on me, the outlaws and outsiders, you will never bend our will and never will you break us down. You may have legions, you may have dragons following the King's every command. You will NOT intimidate me. Bring all Hell with you, i'll still be standing once the dust clears. Tell your King, if you have the balls for a worthless mutt...that we welcome the fight. We welcome the battle. We are warriors of the exiled, we will not fall.'' Thrasher snarled, releasing the canine.

The wolf darted off, tail between legs towards the city. Thrasher watched as he was joined by several other spies that had been around the rocky encampments. She snorted, it was always the same with the lower ranks. Relay information of an uprising, relay any weakness, illness within the large group of outsiders. Sure, they were disorganized as hell, but every creature living in the desolate wastelands outside the Harshlandic City, the keep, had their own way of survival.

Thrasher roamed around her territory, re-marking her scents and scraping the dirt, the rocks, the bones...making damn sure no more of the King's footmen had any lingering scent.

Blackie, the large war-torn Liger walked up to the lioness and scowled off his brow to the city.

''We need to set up more patrols and sentries at certain areas, lass. If that fails, we'll kill them on sight.'' Blackie sighed.

''I should have killed him...I SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM!'' Thrasher roared after a deep, bitter snarl.

''Easy, if they want to play games. We'll find a way to have at them. Don't you worry. This ol' Liger has a plan.''

Thrasher and Blackie both nodded before parting ways.

(That background took me ages. XD)