Winter is coming

Something was dragging him over the sand, no it wasn't sand but is sounded similar. The feel was that of snow, drenching his clothes with a wet layer to keep his mind awake. He remembered feeling pressure on his arms and feet before feeling weightless as if he were levitating inexplicably. Then his mind went blank, everything became unintelligible to him and time faded away as did his consciousness.

When he came to, there was a series of hushed voices and slight murmurs facing him. His vision was foggy at best, a throbbing pain was keeping him up from succumbing to slumber once more. By now he was placed in a sitting position somewhat, his hands bound and ankles tied not by rope but by large thick blades of tall grass it seemed.

One thing that was hard to miss was the masked figure staring back at him.

"Hey, how are you feeling? Everything working fine for you?"

He tugged at his hands to find them tied around the pole he was leaning back on.

"Sorry about the hit, it may have been a bit much. You were bleeding, but you seem fine now yes?"

"Are you going to kill me?" He asked with a serious look, though his voice cracked. It made her snicker a bit, someone was trying to act tough. The figure tilted her head.

"Actually, the girls were voting on whether we should let you go or un-alive you."

"Yea?" He swallowed hard, beginning to recognize her voice as his vision became clear. He was inside a teepee it seemed with a lit fire not too far with him.

The masked individual curled her tail around her mask before removing it, revealing herself to be the Nekomata from before. E-Emyri, I believe is her name? His eyes went down to her ankle, noting the missing bandages and the green stain stuck to her leg instead.

"You're adding weight to your ankle, you won't heal well like that."

She looked down before sitting on her butt and wiggling her leg. "Actually I am feeling a lot better down there. Family healing recipe, does wonders on the skin."

He raised his eye as she chuckled. "How fortunate for you, am I being killed?"

"I wouldn't be talking to you if you were. In fact, they didn't want me to talk to you anyway."

"Please be a bit more vague for me."

She rolled her eyes. "My family, stupid. You're not dying so far, not from us anyway. We aren't like... like them."

"You mean like me?"

She shook her head, placing the mask aside. "Be honest, were you going to kill me? Don't-don't lie to me, hunter."

He sniffed and looked away. "What does it matter to you?"

"I was being attacked by wolves, I was going to die but you saved me. Was it so you could turn me over later?"

He kept quiet, listening to other feminine voices outside their hut talking about him.

"Winter is going to hit hard, we're going to be stuck for a while. We hit you pretty bad, lucky for you Zimi was able to fix you up there."

"Zimi, weird name. You're Emyri right?"

She nods. "And you are?"

"I'm Leone, Leone Nisha Nohera."

"That's such a stupid name."

"It's my name, the only thing I kept from my parents."

She waved her paws. "Okay, don't get all tragic with me-"

"Where is my stuff?" He had noticed he was tied up with only his underarmor on.

"We aren't stupid Leone, we stripped you of all that. If we let you go, it won't be with those things at your disposal. Wouldn't want you to act nefarious and turn on us, would we?"

He closed his eyes, resigning himself to being kept prisoner. Trapped by a tribe of cat girls, that was just silly.

"Get comfortable, Leone. Winter storm is coming soon, so..."

"Where is my horse?"

She paused at the exit. "He's fine, don't worry about it. Get some rest, okay?"

"She's a mare."

"What?" She spun around with Leone lifting his head.

"My horse, she's a mare not a stallion."

"Oh, well she is with us too so. Just... yea. Rest well, Zimi will be checking on you soon while we see what happens with you."

"Thought you said they voted not to kill me?"

"They are not convinced yet, so we'll see. Rest well." She disappeared out through the opening hole, crawling out through all fours. He leaned back with a sigh, deciding to get comfortable. Well, he could feel the injury on his head but their talk had helped him ignore the pain for now. He should get some sleep, clear his head before planning on how to escape.

May as well take advantage of their hospitality to know the enemy better.