"Zeni!" she yelled one last time, which finally got him to open his eyes. "Wha...? Go without me, let me sleep."
She sighed, "Damn you, Zeni." The golden furred lioness looked up towards the rock wall. Her leg felt like it was in full health, however she couldn't walk better than before her injury. Today was the day she finally would see her pride again. It felt like over a year, but she knew she was over exaggerating. There was not an inch of fear that was living in her mind, only determination. Nothing would or could stop her from seeing her true family.
The lioness moved up closer to the wall, and took a deep breath. Looking back at Zeni, "Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"
"Just go without me..." he mumbled, before loud snores took over his voice , and he was completely asleep again. Eiena half wanted Zeni to come along with her, though maybe this was a sign that this was a discovery only herself could see. Eiena's attention was now focused on the wall, and she put a paw on one of the pasted rocks on the wall. Now moving her left paw towards the next rock up, now using her muscles to haul herself up. The climb wasn't easy, and she took her time, planning out her following move carefully. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead, down to her cheek.
She hadn't dare look down, knowing she was already high up. Eiena stretched out her arm to grab at another rock that was almost too far for her to reach. Then once again proceeding to push herself up with all her might, rough grunting coming through gritted teeth. She succeeded, and now moved her right paw to another rock, eyes searching for the next one to grasp.
Eiena closed her eyes, repeating to herself, "Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down." Her body instantly stuck to the wall soon as she felt another breeze tackle her fur. It wasn't as cold as last night, but it did increase the fear meter just a bit. There was no going back now though, she was already too high up, and she was sure as hell scared to go back down. After it passed by, she repeated the climbing process she'd been doing for the past minute or so. Her heart beat rapidly against her chest. It would've helped if Zeni were here with her, but sthe lion just wanted to sleep, it angered her.
Finally the climb of fright was near it's end, and she saw the top moving towards her. She paused for a moment, then started to pick up her pace, not giving a care in the world if she tripped, she just wanted this to be over with. Her brain worked on it's own, though hearing the rocks fall beneath her, she hurried to get to the next few to climb. Eventually, she leaped and jumped at the top of the wall, her claws sinking into the dried earth. In one last effort, Eiena used her arms to pull herself up, with the help of her legs scratching at the wall facing her stomach.
If I don't haveth the strength to climb this wall, how am I going to have the strength to fight the enemy that lies ahead!?
This thought was something that gave her motivation; her body heated up with excitement, she swung out a left claw and aggressively stuck it in the ground above her, doing the same same with her right claw. Her desperate attempt didn't fail, and with the summoned adrenaline she successfully pulled her head above enough to see tree's again. The sequence was going slow, but it was going well. Her chest now was above the ground, then her stomach, until she finally reached the top. Placing herself firmly beside the edge.
Her breathing was heavy, knee's throbbing as pain hit them. Seconds after, she crawled to her paws, looking at the path ahead. She did it. It was time to see her pride again, she thought. Pushing through the pain in her legs, she jogged straight ahead. There were so many ideas that were running around her head at that time. What would happen if she found what she didn't expect? Would she swallow her fear, and continue to fight? There was a brief roar from a distance, which encouraged her to accelerate despite the sudden wince from the pain.
Eiena was happy that there weren't many trees to move past, and it made running easier than dodging.
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a roar close by, and followed it discreetly. Lowering her body into a crouch, and peeking out of a bush. There she saw two male lions wrestling on the ground, each trying to fight for dominant position she could tell. Mane had been laying on the ground, and she saw some fly into the air as they clawed and bit at each other. She glanced at one of the males that had a light brown mane, but couldn't get a better grasp of his features. He created good separation between the two with a strike to his opponents cheek. They growled at each other, malevolent glares they sent each other, and both lunged nearly at the same time, going to the ground after they did this.
Now she scanned over the other male, having a darker brown mane than the other, and light brown eyes. He maintained dominant position before the roles were quickly reversed, giving her the better angle to look at him.
I recognize him- wait! Is that...? Now It all started to come together for her. Ignoring the blood on his face, it was indeed... The King! It's King Noah, he's alive! A grin came across her face, and she sprinted out from her bush. Rushing the rogue that changed positions once again on her king. Throwing all of her strength into a claw that aimed for his cheek, and with her aim being true, the claw made the lion trip on his own paws as he stumbled back, roaring in surprise and anger. She retaliated with a roar of her own shortly before glancing back at Noah. "Are you alright Noah?" The lion was breathing quickly, both of his paws pressing on the medium sized wound on his stomach, then meeting her gaze with his brown eyes.
"Do I know you?" he questioned, no bitterness detected from the question.
She moved beside Noah, and lightly removed his paws from his wound, placing her own paws on the wound instead. Using some of her weight to stop the pouring of blood from his stomach, "It's me Eiena. I am one of the lioness in your pride. You remember me don't you...?" she asked him.
"Eiena..." he stared at her as if she were a creature he had never seen before. He was older than her, middle aged was a term that could be used for him. "Yes... I remember you. Thank you for coming back for me, Eiena."
Thick tears were forming in her eyes, but she held them back. He looked awful. "Don't mention it, King Noah. I'm doing something any other lioness would for their king."
"I hate how I allowed myself to be beaten like that. Though I suppose it's not as bad as the others."
"Others? Who Noah?"
"Your pride sisters, the queen, they're all dead Eiena. I couldn't do anything to help. I'm sorry."
Now the tears were dripping down her face, and a sob escaped her. She couldn't allowed herself to look so pathetic in front of the king, so she looked down at her paws pressing down on his wounds. Then all of a sudden she felt Noah's paw lift up her chin. "Chin up youngling, you're supposed to be a strong lioness. Strong lioness do not weep." his paw fell from her chin, "However I do feel much regret for not helping out the queen more, it makes me question myself if I am truly a good king."
"It's okay Noah. You are a good king, a good mate. It was any honor to serve you." she complimented. The last thing Eiena wanted to see was hearing the king beat himself up for mistakes that anyone could have made. He was strong. Physically, and mentally, that's what she admired about him. Violent coughs came from her king, and she soon realized that pressing onto his wound was only increasing his final seconds in reality. His eyes were losing their color, and his breathing was slowly decreasing speed.
"Eiena. I want you to make a promise for me, and the pride."
"Anything..."
"Build a new dynasty. Find a mate, find things that would make you a good queen, because when I look at you... I see someone worthy enough to spread happiness into others. That's something I want you to never forget... you're special... and you must..."
"I must what?"
"you must realize what you will become..."
His breathing stopped. The inevitable truth made Eiena's heart shatter into pieces. The king was dead, and his final words were something she would prize forever. How chaotic was this? Who would do something so...
Her hackles raised. She stood on all four, and slowly turned to look at the murderer himself. Eiena's fangs were showing, a loud growl coming from her throat, claws unsheathed, hot angry tears streaming down her eyes. The lion looked scared for a minute, the glare burning through his skull causing him to wince. Her shoulders shuddered angrily, and proceeded to take a menacing step towards the rogue, then another, then another, until she had him backing away from her.
"Get the hell away from me!" he roared which she greatly ignored. A swift pounce that made the rogue blurt out a curse as he was tackled on his back. Eiena's paw's were wrapped around his neck, her legs stomping down on his to keep him pinned. Green eyes were heated with pure rage. Her weight was crushing down on him, the fact that he was almost skinnier than her helped a lot. She had trouble figuring out how Noah couldn't kill him with no problem.
"You killed him..." she said darkly.
"Please... mer...cy"
"Mercy!? You didn't even think about giving him mercy did you!" her grip tightened around his neck, squeezing out a weak grunt from him.
"I... was only doing what my pride instructed... I didn't have a... choice..." he wheezed, eyes squinting up at the sky.
"LIAR!" She roared, and the lion grunted at the claw that smacked across his cheek, blood seeping down to his chin. "You did have a choice, and you chose to kill! Do you know how foolish that is? Lying to me right in my face is very bold of you."
"I'm... sorry... p-please, don't kill me."
She snorted in disgust, "Looking at you now, I'd say you're a pathetic piece of waste that doesn't deserve to live. Murdering someone like you would make my day."
"You're... sick..." His statement sparked Eiena's anger, delivering vicious, and violent strikes to his skull. Not a single part of her mind telling her to stop, only telling her to continue, to rip him apart. The pain, the frustration, the anger was what drove her to slit his throat, bite on his neck where mane was missing, blood splashing on her coat as she repeated the same maneuver, twice. Finally stopping, her fury turned into a roar that echoed across the land. She looked down at her victim, and wiped away the tears that was prepared to release from her eyes.
"Good riddance."
Here she was, running again. Her nose picked up the scent of more blood north, and she hoped that it wouldn't be what she thought it was.
Eiena murdered. How did she feel about that? She felt nothing. She didn't feel any guilt, regret, nor satisfaction. Just nothing, which scared her. Why hadn't she felt any feeling towards committing murder? Was it wrong? It couldn't have been wrong she thought. He was a murdered himself who killed someone who didn't deserve such a death. Vengeance is what satisfies, right? So why didn't she feel satisfied?
What she saw next horrified her. Taking a rough swallow as the previous dinner almost came from her mouth, the sight was disgusting. Her eyes caught aware of some pairs of bodies that were lying on top of each other, their necks slit open much like what she did to the rogue earlier. Eiena stepped over a few as she looked at them. There were some from her pride, some that weren't. She only came up with the conclusion that the rumored war was a war she didn't take part in. The scene was sickening, and it smelled of blood. It hurt her head.
"I'm sorry..." a voice spoke up from behind.
She was surprised to see him here, "You followed me, Zeni?"
His expression was showing guilt like he committed an accidental murder. "I'm sorry Eiena."
She chuckled, "don't be sorry you idiot. It's fine."
He shook his head at this. "You don't understand, I'm one of them..."
Eiena trotted up towards him, wanting to make sure her hearing deceived her. She asked softly, "What did you say?", eyes looking deep into his, "I'm one of them Eiena. I was apart of the pride that slaughtered yours. That explains the reason why I don't let anyone up here... because there was a war going on, and my orders were for nobody to interfere."
"Zeni please tell me you're lying..." she begged. He only looked away from her, "Look at me Zeni! Look at me!" Eiena exclaimed. She moved her paw to his cheekbone and pushed to meet his eyes again. "Look me in the eye, and tell me you're lying."
No answer.
She fought to keep her rage in check. He betrayed her! Zeni actually led her to believe that they would become allies. Eiena backed away from him, shaking her head in disbelief. Her eyes moved rapidly to see the dozens of bodies on the floor surrounding her as she backed away from him, "I trusted you! You traitor!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry Eiena, really I am."
"Your words don't mean anything to me anymore." she hissed. Her voice was tied in with hatred, hurt, and disdain. "Don't try to cover up what you tried to do with me! You made me think that we could become something in the future." He caught notice of her nails digging into the dirt, her tail lashing back and forth wildly.
A tiny bit of fear struck him as her stance became more hostile, angry emerald eyes encouraging him to talk more. To try to get to her with more sympathetic words. "Please you have to believe me... I feel remorse for what I did."
"I don't have to believe a thing you say to me." she bit back angrily with narrowed eyes.
Zeni seemed hurt at the scathing retort. His brows jumping up in surprise. The words that came out of her mouth hurt more than any wound, or bruise he had on his body, or any previous wounds he's had in the past for that matter. Had he really messed up that bad? "Please Eiena, forgive me," he begged, taking a step towards her in which she backed away again.
Her angry expression faded slightly, the sudden glisten of her eyes made him think that she was searching for any body language that proved he was lying about everything he just stated. He tried his best to look as pathetic, and weak as possible by dropping his shoulders. Until the hard frown that left her face, returned, and all of his hopes of getting her to believe him crashed.
"I guess this means that everything we said and did before means nothing now? Did you want to surprise me by admitting this?"
Zeni was shocked at what he was hearing, "Of course not! It meant something-"
"Get out of my sight Zeni."
"What?"
"You heard me! Get out of my sight!" she roared, and lowered her head below her shoulders, "Before I make you." the threat cut deep inside of Zeni. Her ears pinned back, and muscles twitching out of anger. The blood on her face made her look more savage, more insane like it was an enemy of his. He gulped and began backing away from her, though she still continued to growl at him until he finally dashed off leaving her alone to cry.
The sound of her soft cries the only thing that filled the silent night; nearly dropping onto her stomach. Eiena felt weak, cold, lonely. The familiar words that had popped into her mind after she nearly froze last night, before Zeni gave her the comfort she needed- wanted. Remembering his body wrapped around hers. Eiena thought she would never see the day a male sleep right next to her. This whole situation was something that she now wanted to forget.
"He...hello?" a quiet voice piped up.
Her claws unsheathed instantly, and she growled angrily over her shoulder. That is until she realized it was only a mere...
Cub... it's a cub.
Eiena regretted threatening a cub that couldn't even hurt her- something that was so tiny, and with confused, scared, little dark brown eyes, he shrunk back, hugging his tail while they were in between his paws. Eiena turned around fully to look at the cub, and the cub flinched at this. She wanted to try to kill the fear he already had for her. Wanting to pull out a kind, loving smile, but only came out as a weak one. "I'm sorry... I won't hurt you..." she whispered enough for him to hear.
The cub had a light brown color in his coat. He removed his paws so that she could see a pink color on his nose, bringing his voice to a whisper as well, "who... are you?" he asked.
She spoke slowly, "I'm Eiena... what is your name?" Eiena tried her best not to release a demanding tone when she asked.
"My parents call me Aiden..." he answered, "what is the red stuff on all of these lionesses? Are they sleeping?"
Eiena took a deep breath. She didn't need the cub to be traumatized forever, and giving him the information that this was blood would be terrible, so she decided with the smile still on her muzzle, "yes they are sleeping, Aiden... they..." her words almost froze on her tongue, "they won't be awake for a while." she said painfully. "What pride do you come from Aiden?"
"Uhh... the Ludwig pride..." he said. Eiena's pride.
"Who are your parents?"
"King Noah, and Queen Adena. Can you tell me where they are, please...?" he took a step towards her, eyes making Eiena's chest warm up a bit. It was such a pity to find a cub, who's parents were dead now. How could she tell him that his parents were murdered by another soul? She bit the inside of her cheek, sliding a paw down her face to clear the exhaustion off.
Then she looked down at him, a weak smile forming, then she drew a paw.
"But where are the-"
"Please, you must come with me Aiden, or you'll die." she entreated.
The cub took in her words, his tail unwrapping around his body. A flash of fear passed by on his face, but it soon subsided. Aiden took slow steps towards her, and grabbed ahold of her paw, in which she pulled him into an embrace. The lioness was warm, and her paw blanketed over his back. Her head nuzzling against the top of his, then their gazes met.
"I'll protect you, love you... until the end of my days.
"Eiena?" a voice called her, interrupting the memories that swarmed her mind. Her eyes met with a blueish-green eye color who belonged to the new queen, Nala, whom Eiena didn't notice that she was standing behind her while she sat inf front of a clean river.. Eiena shook her head to clear the flashbacks, giving Nala a forced smile. "Yes Nala?"
The queen frowned at her, Eiena's forced smile easy to notice. "Did you hear what I said? I'm going out on patrol, would you like to come with me? I really need someone to talk to about..." Nala looked at her paws, crossing them both, Eiena raised a brow, "I need to talk to someone about Simba... he's been acting like a jerk lately, and I'm trying to found out why. I was hoping to get some possible answers from you."
Eiena was surprised at this. Why would the queen come to her? Not only did she dread the idea of talking about a boy, but it was the king, the one who had accepted her into the pride. "I don't want to get involved with your personal business with the king, plus I'm not the one you would want advice from." she said.
Nala nervously glanced at Eiena, "You're right, it's silly. I should probably get back to arranging a hunting party for this evening."
She saw the slight disappointment in the queen's expression. It wouldn't hurt to at least give a try although she was terrible at providing comfort, but who could live with themselves if they left a queen disappointed? "I mean... if you're really desperate, I could give you some theories on why he's been so pissy."
"Thank you. I won't forget this."
Eiena nodded, and the two lionesses walked together for minutes. Eiena thinking of a way to break the silence that hung over both of them, avoiding to look at the queen. Her head processed something that she hoped wouldn't make things weird. "Soo... about Simba listen, I could only guess that he's still on edge about the whole thing with Scar, or whatever his name was. Maybe adapting to change is hard for him."
"I suppose. But he doesn't have to be a jerk to others around him." she took a deep breath, "I want him to know that I'm here for him, and he needs to know that he has to open up eventually. He can't shut everyone out like he already has. I'm doing most of the work, he's supposed to be doing."
"Like what?" Eiena asked.
"This patrol! He's supposed to be doing this, not me." she explained frustrated-ly, "at first I thought it was because his mother had passed away, but that happened nearly a month ago. So I'm just confused even more." Eiena heard the hot anger rush out of her mouth as she spoke, her tail sweeping against the grass at a fast pace, she even had to walk faster to keep up with the queen.
Eiena decided that this was the comfort part she had to play. "Well, it does take some time to get over a loved one's death. That couldn't possibly be it."
There had been no reaction, no change of expression from Nala. She still had the hard frown on her face, like she wasn't listening at all, this made Eiena irritated. What was the point of coming if she wasn't even going to listen? Determining that she had to push herself more to get to Nala, Eiena sped in front of Nala, and shoved up a paw up to her chest. She only hoped that the right words would come out of her mouth when she did this, "If you want advice, you're going to have to listen to me."
Eiena half expected the queen to question why she dare touch her queen, but to her surprise, she only sat down, a tiny bit of shame passing by until a grim appearance replaced it. "Sorry, I'm just really mad at him."she removed her paw from Nala's chest, chuckling at the obvious reply. "I can see that." Eiena put a smile on her muzzle, and confronted with Nala's eyes again, they were the same height which made it more intense. "Like I said, it takes a while to get over the death of a loved one. It can take years, months, but you have to trust him to pick himself back up, alright?"
"You're right," she admitted, her gaze breaking away from Eiena's, and she sighed. "Just hope he's not like this forever. He's already been through so much... I don't want to make it worse when I try to help him."
"But you can still be there for him, just wait for him to return to his normal self."
"But like you said it'll take a while, and I want him to be the Simba I knew when we were cubs again as soon as possible."
She didn't know how to reply to that. The reply came and hit her straight in the mouth; it was unexpected. She glanced down at her paws, bit her lip, and tried working her calculating brain to come up with a reasonable retort. It was unfortunately blank.
"Eiena?"
"You said there was a hunt going on later, maybe we should attend to that. Then get back to this. It will take your mind off the subject for now."
Nala nodded. "Yeah, hopefully. Sorry for bothering you with this sort of thing, wanted to talk to someone about this."
Eiena decided to leave the conversation there and walked off, Nala following right behind her. Eiena wished she was good at this, because the look on Nala's face caused daggers of guilt to stab her in the heart. She clenched her eyes. A few sympathetic words wouldn't help at all, knowing how concerned and angry she was at Simba. Nala had already ignored her once, she was sure it would happen again. There had to be another way...
The walk back to pride rock was quiet, similar to when they went to their 'private' location. Eiena was drowning in her own thoughts, while Nala was still stuck on what to with her king. When they reached the slope of top of Priderock, the two had greeted with the kingdoms majordomo Zazu. The bird flapped his wings until he landed in front of the two lionesses, bowing his head specifically towards Nala after. "Queen Nala, welcome back." he eyed Eiena where he disbanded his formal introduction, "Eiena." he said sharply.
She curled her lip slightly, distaste igniting in her eyes "Bird." she regarded him as, tone covered with the same level of sharpness.
Zazu turned his focus towards focus back to the queen. "I saved you the trouble of organizing your hunting schedule for you. I got the word out to all the other lionesses."
"Thank you, Zazu. That was very kind of you."
"It is no problem ma'dam. I'm here to help, always."
Nala laughed lightly, "I can see why the kingdom has kept you around for a very long time Zazu, we're lucky to have you here."
The bird smiled as he puffed out his chest. A brief glance at Eiena then had his attention back on Nala. Eiena knew what that quick look at her meant, gloating because of the appreciation he received from the queen, trying to get a rise out of Eiena. It didn't work of course, but she hated the damn bird just enough to beat him at his own game. She picked out a smile, looking at Nala. "Hey Nala, can we take a visit to your shaman, Ratiki? I would looove to hear more about the pridelanders past." she stated, putting much more emphasis on 'love'.
"Rafiki." Zazu corrected, "and I'm sure the queen has to determine what to do about the current rogues leaving trails behind, it's very important. Isn't that right Nala?"
"I'm sure that can wait. They won't do anything to us, right Nala?"
"There is a responsibility the queen has to carry in this pride, outsider, and I'm sure she won't join you in your little hang out. For once, understand that."
"He's right." Nala confirmed and sighed. "I'm sorry Eiena, maybe some other time, but I have stuff to do. I'll see you both later." she concluded, walking past the bird, and back into the den. Also greeted by the awoken lionesses.
Eiena glared hard at Zazu. "Y'know one of these days you'll be eaten because of your stupid mouth."
Zazu returned her glare, smirking. "Am I sensing a tad of jealousy from you Eiena? I never began to think you were that type."
"It's sad how much you practically bathe in all of the attention from high royalty. Tell me. Does getting praise from the king and queen help you sleep at night? Does it help your heart beat? Please do enlighten me."
Zazu folded his arms, and looked away stubbornly. "I don't have to tell you a thing."
Eiena smirked, that exact answer that came from Zazu's mouth was what she expected. She decided to ruffle his feathers further, "By the way, did Nala tell you about her little problem with the king?"
"What problem?"
She got his interest, almost all too easy. Eiena walked beside the hornbill, dipping her head beside his ear, whispering "Ooooh, you mean the queen hasn't told you her secret? That's a shame... and I'm standing here thinking that the kingdoms majordomo has to know everything about what's been going on around here..." she teased and began making her way inside the day.
"I do! How dare y-"
"Whatever you say, bird. I have a cub to take care of. I'll talk to you some other time, alright?" With that, she felt she had won a small victory over Zazu. The angry glare she had sensed from Zazu, bounced off of her like it was nothing, and she made her way back down the slope to see her newly adopted son...