Behind the Curtain ||DISCONTINUED||

Gone

Sitting and waiting in my cage, I barely feel the time pass by. I can hear Raze shifting in his cage. As the time lengthens, a subtle light creeps into the tent where we are situated. After what feels like hours, the tent flap is thrown back and King walks in. He seems upset, and as the flap falls back into place, he storms over to the racks. The racks hold all the training equipment, like hoops and stands and whips, and even riding crops. There are even muzzles.
He picks up the new whips and strides toward our cages. He pulls a large ring of keys from his back pocket and inserts a different one into each of our cage's locks. As the door to mine swings open, I push myself onto my paws. King whistles, and all three of us come out into the arena. Blade let's out a soft growl as King lifts one of the crops into the air. He whistles again, and we begin trotting in a circle formation. We swing our tails and whip our heads, as if an audience were watching. Then, King taps his foot twice, and we line up. He brings out four stools. He hits us each with the crop and we jump onto the stools. He then brings out the whip.
it is brand-new and very slick. It even has a pointed metal tip. A show whip. He grabs a stool, and, in classic lion tamer fashion, holds it up in front of him. He taps his foot, and we start a routine that has been burned into our memories.
First, Raze launches off his stool, a fake attack. King whips him and he retreats. Then, I jump forward and bite the stool. A leg falls off. King readies the whip, and I leap back. Blade charges up and almost bites him, but he swings the whip. This goes on for two more rounds, and we get hit more. Eventually, we back down and lay down, admitting defeat.
It is all a charade.
All of it is fake. It us a routine we were trained to do. It is the bane of my existence, the lion tamer's routine. The show whip hurts like crazy because of the metal tip, and droplets of blood have splattered the arena floor from our cuts.
I stare at King with hate. Why should I bow before him? Why don't I fight back?
Apparently, Raze was having those same thoughts, because he suddenly leaps forward. He seizes King's arm in his jaws and bites down hard. Blade and I stand, stunned.
King and his trainers have been our oppressors our whole life. Can we really beat them?
King let's out a strangled scream, and begins shouting in humanspeak. Blade rushes forward and clamps down on his leg. I decide that, now, I have the chance to fight back.
I race forward and land on top of his chest. I scratch at his face and neck. The whip flails around us, like a great, angry snake. The stench of blood fills the air. I can hear people shouting, but all I can focus on is mauling and scratching the evil human in front of me.
Suddenly, I feel a small pain in my shoulder. My vision begins to go blurry. I see Raze collapse, still biting down on King's arm. Blade slumps down, a small dart embedded in his hind leg. I slowly lose conciousnes as trainers rush around, and then everything goes black.

I wake up to find myself back in my cage, except this time strong iron shackles encase my legs. I am chained to the floor. Blade is chained as well in his cage, but Raze is nowhere to be found. I look all round the tent but don't see him. I even call out his name. He never appears.
For five days, I wait. No one enters the tent, no one brings us food. Blade had already woken, but we don't talk.
But finallt, finally, the tent flap opens. It is King.
He has bandages all over him, across his arms, legs, and chest. His face is half covered. As he approaches, I expect to see fear, or at least a grimace of pain.
But instead, I see something much worse. King wears a smug, satisfied and slightly manical grin.
Horrified, I realize what happened.
I turn to Raze's cage. Raze...
As Raze's last act, he attacked King and mutilated him.
But now...
Raze is gone.