Sword vs Lion I

The lion flinched and roared. Its front legs spasmed wildly and its hind legs kicked fiercely, leaving long gouges in the half-dirt, half-stone path. In other words, the lion tripped.

Its huge head hit the ground with a thump. Shai didn't wait to see what would happen next. She quickly prised her kodaichi out, saluted the frightened children heroically, and...ran like a bat out of hell.

She wasn't that stupid! She wouldn't just stand in that narrow alley and face down a lion. Screw what heroes were supposed to do! She'd rather be alive than go down in history for saving two kids from a lion and having an epic sword versus lion battle. So, like any sensible, cowardly, non-heroic person, she chose to run.

Unfortunately, the lion had been blocking the way to the city outskirts, so she didn't have any option but to run back toward the market square. It roared furiously behind her. Shai couldn't help but look back over her shoulder at it.

The beast was being encumbered by the narrowness of the alleyway and the slipperiness of the occasional cobblestone, but it was still gaining on her fast. She didn't have time to think about how to lure the beast back outside the city walls. All she could do was redouble her speed and hope the guards were actually doing their jobs and would come to help soon.

After a minute or two of mad dashing, Shai had already reached the market square, but there was still no sign of help from the guards. Gods above, what were they even paid to do?

She wildly leapt over a stack of wood to enter the market square proper. The toe of her sandal caught on it precariously so she hit the ground and rolled. She was up on her feet again in half a second. Then, she noticed that the market was strangely empty.

So that's what they were doing, she realized. Suddenly, she felt sorry due to her harsh thoughts toward the guards. I've wronged you, friends, she thought. You were doing your job after all!

After that thought, she had to quickly dodge to the side. The lion burst out of the opening of the alley.

Instead of avoiding the items in his way, the lion simply trampled over them. Savage, too savage. She shook her head sadly at the scene of all that waste. Wait, were those labelled with the design of the white moore flower? Shai imagined that rude, presumptuous man's face turning purple with the discovery that his caravan's items were smashed. Suddenly, she felt a strange camaraderie with the lion. Then, it swiped at her with its huge claws, and any amicable feelings she had dissipated.

"Just distract it a while longer!" someone shouted at her from the sidelines.

Shai looked over her shoulder, then crouched to duck the lion. The city guards had dragged a monstrous crossbow on wheels out from who knows where, and were cranking various levers to pull the string back, and to adjust its aim. The crossbow was easily the size of the huge lion, and the bolt was heavy and thick. As long as it hit the lion, she should be safe. She just needed to distract it while the guards got ready to fire.

Distract it...

Distract it...

As if that was an easy task!

Shai leapt away and rolled some barrels at the beast. It snarled and batted some of them away. As for the rest of them, it dug its claws in , and after clawing at them for a few seconds, the barrels split apart into large, unrecognizable chunks of wood.

Shai started hiding behind larger items, like small carts and the wooden booths some folks used to sell their wares. The lion couldn't split those things as easily, but after it clawed at them for a while, they were damaged beyond repair. Shai dashed madly among the broken planks of wood and freely rolling cart wheels.

Her sword had long been sheathed. It wasn't as if it would be very useful against the lion, anyhow. The carts were the most useful for shelter.

Oops, did that one also have the white moore flower on it? Shai paused for a second to pay her respects to the major losses faced by the Marshwater family, then dashed to the next pile of items to hide behind. Oh, did these have their logo too? Well, you couldn't blame her! That family simply had too much stuff.

It felt like Shai was dodging and running about like this for ages, even though in actuality, it had only been a few minutes. Finally, one of the guards on the sidelines shouted, "We're ready! Bring him back around!"

"No!" A shriek pierced the air.

Shai was still running from the lion as it chased her around the market, so she couldn't spare a moment to look at the commotion. However, she could still hear it. A loud ruckus came from the corner where the guards were stationed with their crossbow.

"Hey, let go of me!"

"This crazy lady—"

"You can't hurt him! My lion!" she screamed.

"Ow—she bit me!"

"Hey, let go of my hair! You're under arrest—oof!"

Shai could have thrown up blood. What were they doing? Couldn't they hurry up and shoot the damn lion? It wasn't as if running around like this was easy. She was tiring, her breaths heavy and her legs burning, yet the guards had the audacity to play around.

"Watch out for the crossbow!" one of the guards called. Evidently, they weren't talking to Shai, because she was on the other side of the courtyard.

"You can't kill my baby!" the female voice continued to scream hysterically.

"Grab her. She's with the tamers."

The lion behind Shai crashed through another stack of barrels. They fell all around him, fencing him in. He tried to climb over one, but it rolled out from under him. The lion fell, stunned for a split second. Shai took this chance to look over at the city guards.

Weren't they ready yet?

The scene that met her eyes left her flabbergasted. The orderly group of guards had turned into a messy knot of people. The person at the centre was a brightly-dressed young woman with huge, fly-away hair. She was clawing at the eyes of the guard manning the crossbow. Another guard grabbed her from behind in a bear hug. She struggled so hard, they both nearly fell. Failing to escape, she jabbed her elbow sharply behind her, into the poor man's groin. The guard let out a strangled scream, and fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, curled breathlessly inward.

Cold sweat appeared on Shai's forehead just watching them. That was the last of the lady tamer's defiance, though. A group of four guards managed to pin her arms behind her.

The lady tamer started sobbing loudly as the rest of the guards re-aimed the crossbow. "You—you can't kill my baby. My precious kitten, my beautiful kitty cat!"

Shai froze upon hearing those words.

...

Cat?