One month has passed since Aerrow and Piper's fiasco in the elephant graveyards. Both are now bigger, stronger, and smarter than they had been. King Leon decided it was time Aerrow learned the basics of ruling: politics and fighting. Aerrow found the latter to be far more interesting, and was soon a capable scuffler. His father has taught him many tricks and techniques, and he is now easily the strongest cub on Aurora Rock. Piper has also been learning, though not from an approved teacher. Cyclonis has taken the young cub under her wing, teaching her the basics of hunting, fighting, and and strategy. She has also told Piper many things that the King and Queen never told her, such as her engagement to Aerrow, and many other interesting things. Of course, Piper hasn't told anyone about this, not even her adoptive mother, Dove.
Bone Canyon
Far in the Western territories of the Atmos the sun shone unforgivingly. The foliage of the area struggled to stay green, and found it very hard what with the severe lack of rain in the area. Grass was tough, brown, and brittle; the trees were gnarled and lacking in leaves. Usually. However, it was the rainy season, and the foliage thrived. Green grass grew
A herd of wildebeest were making the most of the situation, and spent their time grazing in a lush field overlooking Bone Canyon.
Bone Canyon was without a doubt the driest place in the Atmos. It was like a white, puckered scar on a very tan arm. The rocks that made up the canyon had been sun-bleached after years of relentless UV treatment. The trees that grew were thin and unhealthy-looking, offering little or no shade, even during the rainy season. They never received nourishment, for canyon was never wet, it was always bone-dry. Any rain that fell sizzled against the hot rocks and was lost in the many cracks and caves that lay beneath the canyon.
Aerrow's paws hurt as he danced along beside his Uncle, constantly shifting paws as he tried to keep the sensitive pads from burning on the hot stone. Ace, with his dark pads, was able to ignore the heat as he steered Aerrow to a small pile of rocks sitting beneath a small tree.
"Uncle Ace, why did you drag me out here again?"
"This is the third time you've asked me and me answer hasn't changed. Your father wanted me to bring you here. He was a surprise for you or something. Some sort of battle training, he said."
Aerrow's ears perked when he saw that the tree was giving of a bit of shade. He ran to the rock, jumped up, and sighed when his pads felt the cooler stone. He looked back up at his Uncle, who merely raised a brow before turning back in the direction they'd came. "Wait here, I'll be back with him soon. Oh! Before I forget..." The Dark Ace looked back and smirked, "You may want work on your roar, little king. A lion isn't a lion without a roar."
Aerrow snapped up and stared angrily at his uncle's retreating figure. 'Little king?' The cub shifted his stare to his paws and frowned. 'I'm not a lion... if my roar isn't good enough? But... if I'm not a lion, what am I?' Aerrow snorted and stuck his nose in the air.
"But I am a lion, so I guess my roar doesn't need work."
No one was around to agree with him.
Let's focus in on the wildebeest.
Grazing all day on the lush grass had lulled them into a false sense of security; they were unsuspecting and rather vulnerable. They didn't seem to realize this, they just went on grazing.
They didn't even realize they were being watched. By hungry hyenas no less.
"Snipe, stop salivating. I've already told you you can't eat them." Ravess glared at her little brother, who merely whimpered and looked at her stupidly, a trail of drool hanging from his mouth. Carver glared at the two, thumping his tail agitatedly against the ground. He wanted to get their plan under way, he was getting impatient. They'd been forced to stare hungrily at these dumb wildebeest, their stomachs growling, while they waited for the Dark Ace to give them the signal.
When he did, they scare the dumb creatures into stampeding, and if they were lucky then-
A dark, familiar smell hit Carver's nose. He looked up and smirked. The Dark Ace was there, standing his designated place, signaling for them to begin.
"Time to go, guys." Ravess and Snipe stopped their bickering and followed his gaze. When they saw the dark-maned lion glaring down at them, they immediately sobered and rose to join Carver. The trio stalked forward, and crept in among the herd. They split up, fanning out...
And the plan was in motion.
The Dark Ace watched the dumb creatures erupt into chaos as snarls and barks sprang up around them, and with a smirk, he set off to do his own part.
He only hoped the stupid scrap of a lion had stayed put.
"...Little roar. Puh."
Aerrow frowned at nothing in particular. He couldn't help being young. His father, King of Beasts .?docid=16006865imself, said that a lions roar doesn't fully develop until he hits a certain age. 'I'm just obviously not at my certain age yet.'
A chameleon sliding down off a tree branch and onto his rock brought him out of his thoughts. He stared at it as it lumbered down the rock and, on a whim, roared at it halfheartedly. The chameleon didn't so much blink (chameleons don't actually blink, but our future king doesn't know that...). Irritated, the cub tried again. Still, the chameleon seemed unaffected.
Angry now, the cub leaped down from his rock and approached the reptile from behind. Taking a deep breath, the cub roared as loud as he could.
This time, the chameleon started and scampered away as the sound, rather impressive in Aerrow's ears, reverberated around the canyon. Thoroughly pleased, he turned to go back to his rock, but something made him stop. A rumbling reached his ears, and his paws were trembling. He frowned and looked down. It wasn't his paws that were trembling... it was the very ground he stood on. The ground was shaking. Why was the ground shaking?
Aerrow looked up, and his heart flew up into his throat.
A stampede was coming. He didn't know how he knew that, but he knew. Instinct maybe. And when the first few wildebeest began charging down into the canyon, his instinct was confirmed.
Terror was clear on Aerrow's face as more and more of the beasts began tumbling down, there were hundreds, thousands of them, all kicking up a smoke that was so big and blinding that all of the Atmos could probably see it. The wildebeest thundered along, drowning out all other noise.
Aerrow turned, and ran for his life.
Carver, Ravess, and Snipe were having the time of their lives. They ran along at the back of the herd, snarling and nipping at heels as they herded the panicked creatures down into the canyon. Carver especially was in a good mood. The thought of aiding in the overthrow of the kingdom was simply delicious in his eyes. He'd resented the lions for so long, resented them for being in charge, and resenting them for forcing hyenas to the bottom of the food chain.
Now he was getting back at them. Now he was getting his revenge. Soon, they'd be at the top of the food chain, and no one would ever call a hyena a 'mangy poacher' again.
He'd make sure of it.
The trio forced the few remaining stragglers down after their brothers and sisters, and stood back to survey their work. They could single out the King's brat, a golden fleck running to save his skin just ahead of the pack.
But he couldn't keep it up for long, even now the faster of the beasts were overtaking him. He would soon be lost among a sea of hooves and dust.
Carver smiled and sat down to watch.
Aurora Rock
Stork and King Leon had just settled an argument between the cheetahs and the leopards and were heading home when Stork noticed something.
"Sire... the herd is moving." King Leon stopped short, and looked back over his shoulder. A column of dust was rising up from Bone Canyon, so large it could only signify a large group of animals moving at a fast pace. Stork was right.
Leon's brows knit together and he frowned. "That's odd... the rainy season's not over yet... they always stay near the canyons until-"
"Leon!"
Te Dark Ace was clamoring up beind them, clearly out of breath. "There's a stampede," he panted, "In the gorge." Here he stopped to catch his breath.
"Aerrow's down there!"
Horror was written all over the king's face as he turned around and started in the direction of the canyon, Stork close behind and the Dark Ace charging after them.
None were aware of a certain lioness watching them.
Bone Canyon
Lost among the thousands of hooves thundering around him, Aerrow darted around, looking for a way out. The dust was so thick it was hurting his eyes and if he hadn't been so worried about getting away he would have been coughing up a lung.
A dead tree loomed up ahead and he made for it, jumping up catching a hold with his claws. He hung for dear life as the chaos continued beneath him. He prayed for it to stop. He screwed his eyes shut and whimpered as the tree trembled and he dug in with his claws. He tried to drown the noise out and just focus on holding onto the tree, but it was just too loud.
Above the whole thing, Stork flew, his eyes narrowed in search of the young cub. He'd flown ahead of the king and his brother when the canyon had come into view, eager to see if the future king was alright.
He squinted when he saw a flask of gold and gasped when that flash turned out to be Aerrow. The bird folded his wings and dove down. Aerrow's eyes widened when he saw Stork, but their gaze broke when the tree he was clutching trembled violently.
"Aerrow! Hang on! If you fall there's no way you'll make it!"
"Gee, thanks Stork!"
"I'll go get your father, assuming he hasn't tripped on the way down and broken something, but if that's the case I'll get the Dark Ace! Oh dear god, please be alright, sire!" Stork flew away and if the circumstances had been different Aerrow surely would have rolled his eyes. However, he was dangling from a brittle tree branch above stampeding wildebeest, so he didn't.
Leon and Ace leaped down onto a ledge out of reach of the chaos, and were met by a frazzled Stork. "Oh, sire, thank goodness your alright! I was afraid I'd have to rely on- Oh! Never mind! Aerrow's down there! On that tree!"
When Leon saw his son he didn't hesitate, he jumped right into the stampede, causing smaller wildebeest to trip over themselves as he stepped into their paths. He kept his eyes trained on Aerrow's form, so small among the insanity around him. He tried dodging the many thick bodies hurtling past him, and nearly succeeded, but one especially large wildebeest caught him in the leg and he went down.
Coughing and blinking dust from his eyes, Leon's head shot up when Aerrow screamed. A wildebeest had run blindly right through the tree Aerrow was holding, snapping it clean in half and sending the small cub flying through the air.
Aerrow was truly afraid when he realized there was nothing between him and death by trampling except ten feet of dusty air. Gravity forced him down into the stampede, and he screamed, but that did nothing to help. He was falling, and no on was going to save him.
Or so he thought.
Leon forced himself to his feet, despite the pain in his leg, and sprang into the air. He caught Aerrow in his mouth and as soon as his feet hit the ground he was off. He saw a ledge that looked saw and out of reach of the stampede and ran for it.
The Dark Ace frowned when he saw his brother save the brat, and eyed Stork, who had perched on the edge of the rock, watching with obvious panic in his eyes. The dark lion smirked and stalked up behind the bird, who heard his approach and turned to look at him. "Ace?"
"Sorry bird, but I need you out of the way so I can deal with the situation properly. Nothing personal." And with that, the Dark Ace smacked Stork so hard he hit the ground with a smack, and as he laid there out cold, the Dark Ace went walked along a path overlooking the canyon, following his brother's progress through the stampede.
Leon had again been met by another wildebeest, and the blow was enough to dislodge Aerrow from the king's mouth. The cub went flying and landed ungracefully on the ground. He looked up and saw the oncoming wildebeest, tried to get up, but found that his legs wouldn't listen.
He heard his father coming and turned to see him diving beneath a wildebeest's belly to get to him. The king snatched him and this time, made it to the ledge. He deposited Aerrow on the ground but had no time to climb up himself; an oncoming wildebeest hit hi with enough force to drag him down into the stampede, and the king disappeared into the dust.
"DAD!!!"
Aerrow frantically looked through the crowd, trying to spot his father. Seconds that felt like years passed, and the king's fiery red mane nor his golden pelt revealed themselves within the chaos.
Suddenly, King Leon emerged from the stampede, leaping up to catch hold of the side-wall of the canyon. Relief showed on Aerrow's face and he nearly called out, but when his father slipped and nearly lost his grip, he decided not to. He turned and saw a path that looked like it led to the top of the canyon, so he took it and prayed his Uncle Ace was hear to help his father.
The Dark Ace was here, but not to help.
Just the opposite.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" King Leon looked up and saw his brother, the Dark Ace, looking down on him with an unreadable expression.
"Brother, help me! I can't hang on for much longer!" The Dark Ace smiled, but did nothing. Leon scrabbled at the rocks, trying to find a proper foothold so he could hoist himself up, but found none. His claws were tearing, they wouldn't last long, and the pain in his leg had amplified so much that it was hard to stay focused.
Leon bellowed in pain when Ace grabbed his fronts paws, claws unsheathed, keeping him from falling but not helping him up either. Confusion lined the king's face while disdain showed on his brother's.
"Brother? Hm. I don't know anyone like that. I don't have a brother... at least not one I'm proud to admit too."
"Ace what are you saying?" The Dark Ace snarled and dug his claws in deeper, enjoying the pain etched on the king's face.
"You certainly don't see me as your brother. You only acknowledged me when it was profitable for you. When that wasn't the case, you acted like I didn't exist. Especially when Father chose you to be the next king. As far as I'm concerned, we weren't related."
The look in the Dark Ace's eyes scared Leon so much that he almost didn't say anything. Almost.
"...W-what do you mean... 'weren't'?"
The Dark Ace smiled and flung the king from the ledge, and no one was going to save him. No one. No one could save him, he was falling. The wildebeest still stampeded below him, unaware that they would from that day on be murderers.
The king screamed as he fell.
And Aerrow screamed as he watched his father fall.
And Piper would have screamed as well, had she been with Cyclonis, who had seen the whole thing.
