"Here go people! And now for something completely different. Actually, more Action! And some hilarious interaction between Danyal and Cubs! I hope you are enjoying yourself.
Also, I would like to thank you for your reviews, both here and In Judgement, which still gets a steady stream of views every month, despite being finished. If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment below.
Cheers: Haradion."
Chapter 10: Of Insects, Leopards and Wilddogs
Kiava breathed deep and took in the scent. His prey was near – he could taste it. Keeping into the wind, he made his way forwards, and pushed some leaves out of the way – slowly, so as avoid making a sound. There. He saw his prey perched on a rock before him, and stalked through the long grass. Closer. Closer. He unsheathed his claw, lowered his form, and prepared to pounce. Three... Two... One.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked. The voice startled Kiava, who tripped on a stick, and crashed to the ground. The butterfly on the rock fluttered away to his dismay. He rounded on Danyal, whilst Sara and Inti rolled on the floor laughing, and even Zuri giggled, before helping him up.
"Danyal – you distracted me!" He rounded on his elder. The other still laughing, he sank down in a sulk. Danyal paused, tensed for a moment, and then stuck out with his clawed paw, catching the butterfly in mid flight. He held it there, his paw holding its wings closed, whilst the butterfly struggled and writhed. Kiava stared, and Sara and Inti stopped laughing. Danyal released the insect, which went away unharmed.
"Danyal!" Almasi called over to him. "Shouldn't you be on patrol?"
"Damu isn't back yet – I think she was going to pick up some lunch. I'll go out when she gets back." Danyal called back. Almasi nodded and carried on, pausing to give her cubs a quick wave. Zuri licked her lips.
"I hope mom gets back soon. I am starving!" She said.
"You only had breakfast a while ago." Danyal reminded her. Zuri ignored him. Danyal sighed, and pushed a clawed hand under a tree truck, and brought out a fist full of wriggling bugs, worms and other critters of strange wild colours.
"Eat these then." he offered her the bugs.
"Ewww!" She shrieked. Danyal flinched at the noise.
"Shusshhh! Fool – you'll bring Ben-Kai-Ra whole army down on us!" He told her sharply. She glanced around guilty, as if expecting to see a tiger leap out at any moment.
"You know Simba was supposed to have eaten these when he was surviving in the wilds. It is said these are what gave him the unnatural strength to defeat Scar!" he told them. Inti grinned in excitement.
"Really? Unnatural strength? All right!" he asked, and took a pawfull, cramming them down his throat, ignorant of the taste and chewed them thoughtfully. Danyal grinned.
"Nope." he said. Inti eyes widened then he coughed and spat them out instantly whilst Sara, Zuri and Kiava laughed as he tried to clean his tongue with his paw. He glared at Danyal.
"Thanks." he said drily.
Vitani watched the cubs from a way off, Rafiki by her side. Rafiki nodded in approval. "The boy is good with the cubs..." He said. Vitani snorted.
"He's practically a cub himself. He's not much good for anything else." She grumbled.
Rafiki turned to her questioningly.
"What would you have him do? He already takes a full shift on the patrolling, and hunts what prey he can." He reminded her.
"True." Vitani conceded. Almasi returned with a kill, a Zebra – it was young, and sickly, but it was something. He said something to Danyal who nodded, rose, and left, without taking a part of the kill. The cubs dived into the meat, chewing it down as fast as they could and Vitani felt her own stomach rumble. She wanted to join in before all of the choice cuts were taken, but before she did she turned to Rafiki.
"Any word from the rest of the Pridelands?" She asked. Rafiki nodded.
"Aye. And none of it good. The snakes have elected a new leader – one sympathetic to the Shai'tan. An ugly black python. With purple eyes. More and more Wilddogs pour out of Golgorath every day. They must have been breeding for generations out in the wilds beyond the outlands."
"I wonder if the Shai'tan crushed them first, of if they always bowed and stooped for them..." Vitani wondered aloud. Rafiki shrugged, so she went down to join in the meat.
The wilddog sniffed the air impatiently. Three others followed suit. The wind was against them, and a dozen odors drifted through the trees towards them. Giraffes and wildebeest, buffaloes and gazelle. Delicate zebra. It made his mouth water. The grass beneath his feet was dry and prickly, but it mattered not to him. He ate meat. Raw and trickling with blood. Juicy and succulent. He barked once, and the dogs behind him drew to a halt.
"Rest." he said. The other dogs sank to their knees gratefully, sighing with relief. They had been running for hours now, on the orders of Rish'ut, and Sekmet. Lord and Lady of Golgorath some called them, though not their faces – at least not both at the same time. The idea that they were equals seemed to offend each of them... equally. The word sounded odd, even in his head. The Pridelands had Kings and Queens for generations. To have their rulers styled differently was... unusual. But he could adapt. He and his kin had done so for generations.
"Captain! How much further must we go today?" One of his subordinates asked him. Grimspite shifted.
"Our orders remain the same. We go as far as five stones if we have to. Or until we find our target. Either way it makes no different." He reminded. The wilddog spat.
"Screw our orders. We're exhausted Grimspite! Let's just go back and say we never found them!" he told them. Grimspite walked up to him.
"Storn." He said, calling the dog by name. "Give me your paw a moment. Let me explain." he said. Storn looked uncertainly at Grimspite, and then held out his paw. Grimspite looked at it for a moment, then bit down hard on the soft pad. Storn howled in pain, and pulled away but his teeth held firm.
"I will be merciful, and not tell our masters of that little suggestion Storn. Be sure though, if they knew, you'd be lucky to walk away with any paws at all." he said. The other two wouldn't look him in the eye, and Storn continued to blubber, cradling his injured paw.
"Rest up for a few more minutes, then we –"
He paused, the wind changed, and a new scent hit their nostrils. They knew it instantly. Grimspite grinned.
"You should have had more patience Storn." he said. They had found their quarry.
Danyal stalked along the bank of the river. A distance away a green shadow moved under the water. Possibly an alligator or crocodile, but no threat as long as he stayed well out of the water. He moved away all the same – he disliked being so close to such a creature. They sent shivers up his spine. A noise behind him made him freeze. He turned slowly, and then roared.
"Come out! Come and fight me if it's a fight you want, or else be on your way!" He called. The bushes shifted and out rolled... A lion cub? Kiava grinned up at him.
"Did I scare you?" He asked sheepishly. Danyal groaned.
"Great Kings... What are you doing so far out here? It's dangerous!" he said. Kiava shrugged.
"Doesn't seem to bother you..." He said.
"It's different for me." he said.
"How so?" The Prince demanded of him.
"I am older. Stronger. And I can protect myself."
"And I am the Prince. That means you can't stop Me." he said smugly. Danyal groaned inwardly and wondered who had put that idea in his head. Probably Inti.
"Kiava. Listen to me." Danyal said, trying to imagine what Vitani would say.
"I am patrolling the borders around Rafiki's tree. It isn't safe out here. Outside Marsade could sense us. Outside, the Shai'tan have many spies." he said.
"But –"
"This isn't a game Kiava!" he told him.
"I know that! Those tigers killed my parents, Danyal." The Prince said hotly.
"Then you see why it's dangerous? You should go back to the others. Why did you even follow me anyway?" He asked. Kiava shrugged.
"I was bored. I wondered what you kept sneaking off to do. Zuri said it was probably to see a lioness..." Danyal was astonished.
"Kiava! I have a job to do! Besides who would I see? Every single lioness I ever knew is dead! I come out here to do the same things your aunt and the mother's do." he said. Kiava paused.
"Hey Zuri said it! I was just curious..." He said. Danyal sighed again.
"Whatever! Just head back to the others, before I beat you senseless!" he said. He was not in the mood to get into an argument. Kiava smiled.
"You know technically, you can't beat the Prince. I could order –" But one look at Danyal made him stop. He had seen a similar look in his aunt's eyes when she got angry at him.
"I can when the prince is being an idiot." he said.
"Fine I –" The Prince said.
He was cut off by a shrill scream.
"You! Back to the others! Now!" He shouted.
"By myself?" Kiava asked. Danyal ground his teeth.
"Then keep close! And if I say to run, run!" He said, as anther scream echoed throughout the surrounding long grass. Without another word Danyal sprinted off in the direction of the screams. Within a few moments, he came upon a clearing, and skulked low, peering through the parted leaves. A pair of leopards were on the ground in front of him. They were shorter than lions, thinner, and more elongated. One was held down by three wilddogs, spitting and growling angrily, whilst the other, a female, wept and screamed. Another wilddog, taller than the others stood in front of her, a leopard cub, held to the ground in one paw. The male leopard struggled to its feet, but the two wilddogs around him bit on his front legs and he crashed to the ground again. The mother screamed as the wilddog unsheathed a claw putting it between the terrified cub's eyes, holding it just before it could draw blood.
"Tsk tsk tsk... Sloppy. I thought a mother was supposed to die before surrendering her cub." The lead wilddog said. The male leopard spat at him.
"That was rude." He said and the wilddogs sank their teeth into the leopard once more, more blood spilling onto the ground. It made Danyal's stomach twist. He wanted nothing more than to rip out the throat of this wilddog – but it held the cub just beneath its paw.
"You know you should never have run Serina. You should have remained in Golgorath where Rish'ut could keep an eye on you. It's the law – all creatures need the permission of the Shai'tan to hunt." He said. The male leopard roared in pain and anger. Grimspite continued anyway.
"Otherwise it's stealing. All of the prey between here and Golgorath belongs to Sekmet and Rish'ut. Its theft to take it without his leave."
"I do not serve the Shai'tan! Nor do I bend and kneel to a tyrant! Not even Scar claimed every piece of meat to be his own – this is insanity!"
"I hold your son in paws – you really should choose your words more carefully... Stealing would have resulted in being dragged back to Rish'ut. Treason – now that is death." He said. Danyal gasped, as the wilddogs leapt at the leopard they held down, tearing into his wounds. Then the world blurred. Danyal leapt out of his cover to strike at the wilddog holding down the cub. Grimspite had a moment to see a blur of gold, when he was thrown off the cub to crash against a tree. As soon as her son was free, the female leapt up at the wilddogs attacking her mate, and they met a clash of tooth and claw. Three cats against the three wilddogs. With numbers, and the cub as hostage, the wilddogs would have easily over powered them but now the tables were turned. The first wilddog collapsed when a clawed paw sliced through his chest. The other was crushed in a vice like bite around the neck which snapped the spine.
"Wait stop!" The last one cried out for mercy. Danyal slashed and the wilddog screamed in agony. Then died. Danyal turned to the leopards. They were his size – half the size of a lion, but deadly against weaker foes. They were all panting hard. Kiava stared up at them, looking at the blood, his face a mixture of horror, awe, disgust and fear. All three were panting hard.
"That was close..." The male said, as the female seized her cub and started licking it all over.
"Is the cub alright?" he asked the leopards.
"Yes – he is fine. Thank you so much!" She said. Danyal sighed with relief.
"Thank goodness."
"Thank you for helping us. If you hadn't come, they would have killed him for sure!" She said. The male struggled to stand, his wounds were great but none looked fatal.
"Why did they come after you?" He asked them. The leopard shifted.
"We refused to serve the Emperor. We bowed to the Lion Kings out of respect, but the Shai'tan make too many rules, too many constrictions. It is actually a crime to hunt now, without the Shai'tan's permission! What are we supposed to do? Starve?"
"I believe that may be the idea..." he said. That would be why so many were turning against them now. The Shai'tan would demand loyalty in exchange for food, simply hunting down anyone who disagreed. It was crude, and bloody, but effective never the less. Scar had done something similar, using his hyenas to regulate the lioness's water intake. Nobody regulated the Hyenas however, the Hyenas stayed strong as the lionesses grew weaker. Something Scar later came to regret. There was a loud crash behind him, and then several shadows leapt out of the grass. Danyal crouched for battle again, but then rose when he saw who it was.
"Vitani..." he said. And she did not look happy. Kiava took one look at his aunt and gulped.
"Ah..." he said.
AN:
I shouldn't think Vitani will be particularly impressed with Danyal taking the crown prince into a battle with wilddogs do you? Or with the Prince running off on his own? What is it with royal cubs and their attraction to dangerous place? Am I even spelling wilddogs right? Oh well...
Grimspite was vicious, and the Shai'tan are controlling people meat intake? No wonder things are going downhill outside the influence of Rafiki's magic!
Anyway, stay tuned, more coming soon!
