AN: Thank you for all your visits :) I would like to thank Graywolf95 for following my story. As my e-mail said, I have a "new follower" Well, when I will gather an army of followers, I will invade the Pridelands like Zira *evil laughter* XD.
Seriously, I appreciate your visits and reviews, so don't forget to leave some. If you liked or disliked something, please write. If you have any questions, I'll answer them as well as I can (obviously without revealing the future plot).
I repaired some mistakes that I spotted in previous chapters. And here is a new chapter for you.
Chapter 6 'Hyenas have their own problems.'
'Tree – the symbol of power – the cub will be a great warrior and powerful pride mate. Lion – the sign of kingship, bravery, but also anger. It'll be a ruler and it will reign ruthlessly. Mouse – the symbol of destruction – it'll lead all the pride to death if given the power. And its name will also be bounded with mouse.'
Prophecy by hyena, the Highest Priest Disa, 20 years before the main plot.
Hillary returned to his pride after inspecting the representative battalion. His companions lived in caves, cracks and fissures around the Canyon. Hyenas occupied this place for many generations. It was a kind of fortress – hot and lacking of a water, but easy to protect and to supply through many secret entrances.
Hillary proceeded through the main passage which was guarded by two hyenas. They greeted him with small nods. The passage was quite narrow, not much more than 3 or 4 meters wide. Majestic walls in a sandy colour and all shades of beige and red rose around him. Above his head a narrow natural bridge, one of the stunning natural wonders, merged the walls. From there Hillary was observed by other watches.
After a short walk he reached the place where the passage became wider. He entered into a crowd of hyenas, heading into different directions in everyday hurry. Some of them greeted him with small smiles and nods, others ignored him. Every cave, den, bigger hole in ground, crevasses and most of the ledges were occupied as sleeping places.
Every hyena family needs its own home, apart from belonging to a clan. And Mahima Clan, called so from the name of the ruling kin, was probably the biggest one in the world. It consisted of about 350 hyenas, more than four normal clans. How such power could arise? It was matriarch Mahima - eponym of the ruling house, the half-legendary sovereign who united three small clans to protect the Elephants' Graveyard, the second most noticeable sacred place for hyenas in the world. She also ended war with lions, pledging allegiance to their king. Further expansion was connected with victories and conquests of the Pridelanders. When ancestors of Mohatu subjugated and vassalised surrounding lions' groups, matriarchs did the same with hyenas. Opulence of the Pridelands, even if it was struck with periodic droughts, enabled undisturbed growth.
Hillary noticed a well build hyena with sleek fur, an aristocrat, accompanied with two guards. When they were passing, the nobleman gave the commander a scornful gaze and the guards sneered.
'Screw the aristocrats!' somebody in the crowd yelled.
The trio visibly speeded up.
'The aristocrats are our saviors. The Divine Matriarch has chosen them to look after the clan, protect us and justly share food in the pride. They know what is best for us.' Hillary's mother told him when he asked why the lords took a zebra which mother's hunting party slew that morning, leaving just few half-rotten clippings. Hillary was only one and half years old.
'How that shit could be better for us than a fresh zebra meat?' he exclaimed with a high, childish voice.
'Shut up. You're too young to understand' was the only answer.
As a very low ranked hyenas, they were given only enough food to survive. Not enough for the young cubs to grow. The mother was a good hyena (for hyenas standards)– she let her children eat first, sometimes she gave her share to her three daughters. And Hillary was the only boy. He rarely got his portion. Obviously, he could hate his mother that she chose her daughters to live as a more useful and desirable in the matriarchate. And not him. But it was her decision, as Hillary's decision was to live. The mother died a few months later from some trivial illness. But the real killer was the famine. She was thin like a stick.
Hillary passed a female hyena with four small cubs, probably from the same litter, coming in the other direction. She looked a bit haggard, but proudly carried a nice piece of meat in her jaws. The kids stopped, staring in awe on the majestic commander. He waved to them. The cubs squealed in an almost hysterical joy and ran to catch up with their mother.
'If it is so good, why it is so bad? If the Pridelands can feed all of us, why most of us are hungry?' A rhetorical question appeared in Hillary's head.
'I'll kill ya!' he suddenly heard.
Two cubs bolted from the crowd, pursued by a guard. One of them vanished in a fissure in the gorge, second one, a plump male, was cut off by the enemy from a safe hideout. The guard pounced. In a flash, the cub slipped like a snake under Hillary and ran away. And his pursuer crushed into the commander.
'Get off my way!' The guard exclaimed, panting heavily, when he was brutally pushed away by Hillary.
'You're trying to kill some cubs so early at the morning? Maybe you should eat your breakfast first. You would have more strength and succeed.' Hillary scoffed and glanced over his arm. The cub safely disappeared in the crowd.
'They have stolen the best meat from the prince Maharashta. He will slaughter me for losing his property.'
'Oh, you're talking about killing all the time? You guys are on killing spree, or what?' Hillary earned a hateful look from the guard.
After a few minutes of walk into the gorge, Hillary reached the Matriarch's Palace. It was a large complex of caves and dens, situated in the highest and most distant part of the gorge, with only one steep and narrow path leading to the entrance. Hillary climbed up, carefully observed by guards. Most of them were trained by the commander, who felt proud that they stay aware even in such peaceful day. It might also be connected with last strikes between guards and protesting low-ranked hyenas.
Hillary entered the main tunnel and walked to the representative chamber, where the matriarch received her visitors.
'The Saint Council's meeting will end in a few minutes' A majordomo, an old haggard hyena, informed him.
The Saint Council consisted of the ruling family members, The Highest Priest of the Divine Matriarch, the ministers of war, of supply and foreign affairs. They were the government of the clan, and were thought to be in care of the Divine Matriarch, who was supposed to give them wisdom and justice.
'Such people like my mother believe in it.' Hillary thought bitterly 'That's why there were no revolts in the clan's history. Even if there was no justice and wisdom.'
The coming out minister of war greeted him with a small nod.
'Ahh, How I'd love to be you.' Hillary thought. 'Leading the army of one hundred and fifty conscripted hyenas – how wonderful!' It was his dream since youth. Since he saw the soldiers for the first time.
He entered. The chamber was enormous, with a light coming in as white columns from holes high in a wall on the left side of the cave. The other walls were covered by some mysterious paintings of past wars and noble deeds of the previous matriarchs, created by mandrills many years ago. And a ceiling was blue and painted in stars. For Hillary it looked like a real sky.
'Every time you come here, you stare at it stunned like a small cub.' The matriarch chuckled. 'Greetings to you, the commander.'
It was true. Hillary had never seen something like that before and on the first visit a few years ago he gazed on the ceiling with an opened mouth.
On the right side of the matriarch her oldest daughter and probable successor, Hatyara, was sitting. She was a stern, muscular, green-eyed, grey hyena with a short black and brown mane. She was well known as a great fighter.
On the left side, her younger sister Sajjana was lying on the ground. She was slim and extremely graceful; her sleek black mane was very long on shoulders and neck and ended with a longer bang, sometimes covering archly her left eye. She had a silk gray fur, with black markings on her legs looking like stockings, ending over her knees, much higher than most of the hyenas' socks. It gave her a unique, elegant character. And she had placed a red hibiscus flower behind her right ear. Her position was The Highest Priest of The Sacred Place on the Elephant Graveyard.
'Greetings to the honorable matriarch and you, the princesses.' Hillary courteously addressed matriarch's daughters, and then spoke to his ruler. 'My Madame, was I as useful as always?'
The matriarch opened her mouth, but it was Hatyara who started speaking earlier.
'Are you kidding us? A drunken chimpanzee with a banana could negotiate more from the king.' She scoffed angrily.
'Hatyara!' The matriarch warned her daughter.
'I'm pretty sure that you, Milady, would be so much better than me. That's because as a female you could have jumped into bed with a king, which I as a male, sadly, couldn't have done.' Hillary answered Hatyara with a falsely polite voice.'
Hatyara looked as if she was going to explode from anger and the matriarch sighed.
'Hilly, could you just once try to restrain yourself from insulting my daughter?' She said, furrowing her brows. Then she addressed Hatyara and Sajjana 'You should appreciate Hillary's work. His friendship with the king is very useful for us and his achievements for a clan are tremendous.'
'And underestimated.' Hillary murmured theatrically.
'I heard that, Hilly. What could make you fell… sufficiently estimated?'
'Bloody hell. I don't know. Maybe I'd like to make my job without feeling that somebody is constantly backstabbing me?'
'Oh Hilly, you're so cute when you get angry.' Sajjana chuckled. The matriarch and her other daughter snickered maliciously.
'Don't you think that you're appreciated? You're given much more than any hyena from your innate social class was ever given. You became the commander of the battalion.'the matriarch added.
'The king designated me.'
'But not without our agreement. You were adopted by a noble family so that your children will be aristocrats. I gave you the PAW of my youngest daughter, Akela.'
Hatyara snickered again. I was well-known that the matriarch agreed on this marriage only because she had hoped that her daughter will have fallen in love with a handsome officer and 'chasten' a bit. Obviously matriarch was wrong.
'Oh Hilly, have you managed to recognize if any of "your" children are actually yours?' Hatyara scoffed cruelly.
'Ignore her. She's so green-eyed that she doesn't have such a sweet boy as your Banagi' Sajjana interfered.
'Very funny. Especially that my eye colour is green.' Hatyara grinned.
'I should become a minister of war. It's quite obvious that by leading both my representative battalion and a matriarchate army, I will be able to make us a real military power, stronger and better commanded than any force in the world. Quite useful in the time of war that is coming…'
'Over my dead body, Hilly. I'd never give you so much power.' The matriarch grimaced.
'Oh Hilly, we were going through that so many times' Sajjana smiled 'Now you'll say "we could arrange that" with your cutely evil grin'.
'It's just a mercy. You won't know what to do with such power.' The matriarch said with ill joy.
'That's why I'm so humble that I just ask for a small favor. My wife should be able to participate in meetings of the Saint Council. She's a part of your family, she has her rights.'
'I won't oppose.' The matriarch agreed 'I'm happy she changed her mind. Last time she said, let me quote: "I f-word your f-word-ing meetings. F-word you." ' She was so mannerly that she skipped all the swearwords.
'Thank you' Hillary bowed down 'May I leave now?'
'Yes, yes. You're free.'
Hillary stopped for a second in the exit of the chamber. He wanted to say something dramatic, like: 'It's not end. I'll rip that minister of war nomination out of your throats.', but he gave up. A diplomacy is a basis of a good politician.
'And I'm the best one.' he thought.
Sajjana caught up with him.
'How is Akela?' she asked with sympathy.
'Fine, especially when her mate isn't constantly offended.' Hillary said coldly.
Sajjana answered with a smile.
'Maybe you could visit me one day at the Elephant's Graveyard.'
'Maybe.'
'Good day, Hilly.' she said mildly and came back into the chamber.
Uru returned from her trip almost at the sunrise so she got up very late. She stretched herself and looked around for Makali. The older sister wasn't there. Uru came out of the cave.
The sun was really high. It must have been after the midday. Uru noticed Makali in a shadow of the Priderock, playing with Mpira's brothers.
'Probably Mpira "had to help somebody" again. Poor Makali.' Uru thought. She descended to them.
'Hi, sleeping princess' The cubs exclaimed in a choir, snickering maliciously.
'Oh, shut up, you buggers.' Uru growled. Makali smiled to her.
'Okay, that's the new game. I'm a good princess imprisoned by a bad dragon.' Makali said. Small nod in Uru's direction clearly suggested who that dragon was. Uru snorted in response. 'To win with the dragon you have to find two magic stones. One is white with red "vessels" and other is gray with silver sparkles in it.'
'Where are they?' Kidogo asked.
'I can't tell you. But I'm sure that they're around the Priderock. Just stay in the sight and remember what your mission is!' Makali said dramatically and leaned to Uru. 'Now we have half an hour.' She whispered.
'How did you like our small starseeing trip?' Uru asked jokingly.
Makali covered her muzzle.
'I… I never did such things… I'm a nice girl.' She giggled.
'But what things?' Uru was interested. Makali had never looked so abashed in her whole life. 'Tell all the spicy details.'
'Well, there was nothing spicy. It's just… Joma is really fluffy!' Both lionesses burst into laughter. 'He has absurdly long fur and his mane is like… a small bush. When I was lying on his chest, I almost sank like in a moss pillow. It was so relaxing.' Makali said. 'I'd love to have such carpet in the cave!'
'Or a bed.'
'And how was your Usiku? I could hear some giggles from your side.'
'Usiku tried to teach me "the art of love of the Outlands". But it came out that he knows nothing about it. He's such a sweet liar.' Uru told. She was quite surprised when she noticed that Makali became very serious.
'Uru, when will you have a season?' she asked.
'Well, in 10 days, I think. Why do you ask?' Uru wanted to know. There was no response. Makali rubbed her chin in thoughtfulness.
'Oh, sweet Aiheu, I remember now. Once you calculated that there's 10 days of interval between our seasons, right? Okay, don't panic!' Uru whispered, probably panicking a bit.
Makali sighed.
'I'm not panicking. It's just… My seasons aren't very distinct. Sometimes I can barely say if it's already or not. I don't know if I had it yesterday, but today I have. And the ease with which I fall into Joma's arms… I've never done such things before… And today I feel somehow weak…' she murmured hesitantly.
Uru enfolded Makali with her arm.
'Dear, everything will be fine. You're just overtired with a nice night. I'm tired too. It isn't so easy to get pregnant. If it was, I could set up a nice kindergarten.' She said. Makali couldn't help smiling. 'Try to forget about it. We'll wait two weeks and then we'll think what to do next.'
'Thank you. I love you, Uru.'
AN: Please review.