dart, spear, harpoon, escort
鏢 centers on a pointed projectile weapon: a dart, spear, or harpoon. The escort sense is a rare extension, possibly from the idea of a guard armed with such a weapon.
鏢 combines 金 (metal) with 票, which likely contributes the sound. The metal radical points to a metal weapon, while the phonetic component 票 is shared with other characters.
The left side 金 is metal, and the right side 票 looks like a ticket or label. Imagine a metal dart with a ticket attached, marking it as a weapon for escort duty.
For ヒョウ, picture a hyō (雹, hail) of metal darts raining down: hyō -> ヒョウ, and the metal 金 darts strike like hailstones.