Thanks for waiting. i now have three chapters ready to post. Here's the first. Enjoy.
Chapter twenty-six
Within two days, the group was off once more, this time to the southern hemisphere to Nigeria. Chloe yawned as they boarded the plane. Putting their things overhead, almost everyone fell asleep as soon as they sat down, but Jasmine, Chloe and Felina stayed awake for a bit longer. Felina looked out the window for a bit, daydreaming about the beautiful lands of Nigeria that she'd read about while she had been cooped up in the Order's personal room for her. Jasmine stared out the window wondering if the Mai in Nigeria would accept their offer of peace and trust that Chloe was their new Queen.
Chloe was lost in thought as millions of questions raced through her mind. What if they don't accept me as their queen? What if we can't get them united with the Order? Does Jasmine really feel the same way? How does she play it off so well? Will we be able to unite all of the Prides? What's going to happen to the Jackals that will make them want to come under my rule? My rule? When did I start thinking like a queen? These questions continued running around Chloe's mind as she shot frequent glances over at Jasmine. Maybe I can tell her after the trip. Chloe thought resolutely. Then I won't have as much stress on my back.
Nodding to herself, Chloe relaxed back into the seat and awaited the land in Kano. The plane ride was fairly uneventful as all three girls dozed off. When Chloe awoke, the plane was landing onto a grassy, but worn path. She began waking the others and everyone gathered their bags together. As they were leaving, warriors, Mai and human alike, suddenly surrounded them.
"You are other Mai." One of the warriors said in a deep voice. "What business have you here?"
\Valentina slowly stepped up. "We have brought the Uniter."
The men all looked taken aback. "The queen?" they gasped, hurriedly kneeling. "We are sorry, your Majesty. We had no idea it was you."
Chloe blushed and thought, Well, at least they accept that I'm they're queen.
"It's alright." She said, motioning for them to stand. "Can you take us to your Pride leader?"
"Yes, of course."
Chloe took a small breath before following them with Felina, Jasmine and the others close behind. The men led her through the tall grasses of the Sub-Saharan and into a cluster of huts. The men began shouting and women and children came out of their huts to watch the twelve newcomers walk through the village. Chloe's blush deepened and she moved closer to Jasmine. The tan girl put an arm around her and continued walking. At last, they arrived at a hut that was a bit bigger than the others and out came the leader of the tribe.
"You have brought outside humans and Mai." He said to the leaders.
"This is the Uniter and her comrades." The first warrior responded with a slight bow.
"Oh?" the leader said with a raised eyebrow. "Well then, let him step forth."
Chloe shifted uncomfortably and the warrior coughed to cover a slight laugh. "Ugdablo, the Uniter is a woman."
The leader kept his eyebrow raised as Chloe attempted to step up. Her knees slowly began shaking and Jasmine put a hand to her back to steady her as they both stepped forward.
"This is the Uniter?" the man said, looking Chloe up and down. "You do not seem like much. How do you fight?"
"F-fight?" Chloe stammered. "Well, I don't know actually."
The man shook his head. "And what have you done so far?" he pressed.
"I've United New York, Spain, France, Ukraine, Russia and Hong Kong."
The Ugdablo's shot up. "For one so young, you are very experienced. How did you Unite these countries with their humans?"
"Um, in New York, we simply made a peace treaty with the Order. In Spain, we had to use force so that everyone would calm down and negotiate. In France, we helped the Order get the upper hand with the Mai since the Mai were overpopulating the area. Ah, in Ukraine, there wasn't anything to be done, but in Russia, we were made to use force again. And in Hong Kong, the Mai informed me that I was to become… queen."
Ugdablo nodded. "You have been informed correctly then. I admire your variety of techniques, but I would very much like to see you fight. Would you show us a demonstration?"
Chloe looked up at Jasmine and nodded. The man gestured to a ropy human warrior not too far away and the crowd of people made a circle around the two. Jasmine gave Chloe's shoulder a squeeze and backed away. Chloe took off her heels and faced her opponent. Moving down into a defensive crouch, Chloe let the Nigerian warrior make the first move. The warrior charged her way and Chloe crouched as low as possible, coiling her body before springing at the warrior and slamming into his chest. He toppled backwards, caught off guard and Chloe delivered a few punches to his stomach before he raised his feet and kicked her off. Landing on her feet, Chloe's face split into a feral smile as she and the warrior charged. Just before they crashed into each other, Chloe leaped into the air and landed on the warrior's back, causing him to lose balance and fall flat on his face. He lay there panting as Chloe stood.
The people around clapped for her and Ugdablo gestured to a muscular Mai warrior. The man took his place across from a slightly panting Chloe and the two lowered into their fighting crouches. This time, Chloe took the first initiative and ran gracefully at the man. Watching the man's actions closely, Chloe ducked just as his arm snapped out to punch her and slid between his legs. Spinning, she kicked him in the back and made him stumble forward. The Mai turned and snarled lowly before running at Chloe quickly. Chloe dodged to the side and avoided the coming blow, but was a little too slow to avoid the foot that caught her side. She rolled to the side for a moment before standing and facing the man, coming out of her crouch. The man looked at her in confusion and stood as well; using his momentary bemusement, Chloe lunged and landed a blow on the man's chin, forcing him backwards while raining more punches to his chest and stomach. At last, the man fell to his knees and surrendered.
Chloe took a deep breath to focus her breathing before turning back to Ugdablo. He nodded and stepped forward. Chloe raised an eyebrow apprehensively and slowly shifted into her hunting crouch. The old man moved forward quickly and Chloe braced herself for an attack. The man stopped right in front of her and held an arm ready to punch. Chloe ducked just before the man snapped that fist forward. She continued dodging his attacks until she saw an open chance and jabbed the underside of one of his arms. The arm went limp and Chloe stared in fascination.
"Wow, it actually worked." She murmured as she ducked blows from his other arm.
Jumping over a kick, Chloe sent another jab at Ugdablo shoulder and rendered his other arm useless for a few moments. Ugdablo stared in shock as Chloe took a breath. She had only seen this on TV, but decided to give it a try. Focusing herself on her very core, Chloe put a finger to the man's forehead and stood very still for a moment before pushing back gently. To everyone's astonishment, the man crumpled to the ground.
Everything was silent for a moment before all of the warriors stormed forward. "You have killed our leader!" they roared, advancing on Chloe. Felina and Jasmine jumped in front of Chloe and growled threateningly.
"Back off!" Jasmine snarled as Felina pulled knives form her boots, ready to use at a moment's notice. The warriors pressed forward and raised their machete's to strike down the two Mai in front of them and possibly the third Mai next to their leader. As the first machete fell, Felina raised her knives to meet it and Jasmine jumped into action, punching and kicking left and right, both girls hindering the warriors' advances on Chloe. One warrior tried to sneak around the fight to get to Chloe, but a nicely thrown and perfectly aimed knife from Felina caught the hand holding his machete and he screamed in pain as he dropped the overgrown knife. Chloe knelt next to the downed man and patted his cheek slightly, coaxing him out of his temporary incapacitation.
The leader opened his eyes and smiled up at her, groaning as he slowly got to his feet. "Very impressive indeed." Ugdablo muttered, looking around at the fighting warriors.
"My warriors!" He called. "Make peace this instant!" No one paid him any mind as Jasmine continued taking down three warriors at a time.
"Stop this madness!" He cried again.
When, once again, no one paid him any mind, Chloe put two fingers to her mouth and whistled. Everyone stopped and looked over at her. The warriors gasped and knelt to the ground before them both.
"You have recovered him so quickly." They mused.
"Nah, just a bit of patting and he was fine. It wasn't meant to be permanent; just to knock him out."
The warriors stared at her in amazement and turned to their leader. "My warriors, I am resigning my post to the true ruler of the tribes and human race. Bow before your new queen, Chloe King."
All of the Nigerians around bowed to Chloe and made the blonde blush self-consciously. Jasmine laughed and bowed to her as well, causing the others to do the same, making Chloe blush even harder. Nodding to those around, Chloe gestured for them to get to their feet and turned to the leader. "I know absolutely nothing about being a queen. Could you give me some lessons?"
Ugdablo nodded and said, "It would be my pleasure your highness, but I think it would be best for you to continue your missions first. I am sure that you are missing two very important Prides to unite with their humans."
Chloe nodded and bowed her head respectfully. "Thank you."
Two warriors stepped up and said, "We think it would be best if we were to accompany her highness on to the most deadly of Prides. Brazilians do not take kindly to other Mai trespassing on their soil." Raton groaned, but Safire jabbed him in the ribs to make him hush.
"We have money to pay for it, but we just wished for our queen to be protected." The warrior went on.
Chloe nodded and asked, "Do you have an extra hut, my family and I can sleep in for a few days before heading out?"
The leader nodded and gestured to the huts behind his own. "My wives and I will sleep in my hut for the night and you can sleep in theirs."
Chloe smiled gratefully. "Thank you so much. I'm just really tired right now."
Ugdablo chuckled. "Completely understandable, Your Majesty. Make yourself at home."
Chloe and the others went back and found six huts waiting for them. Splitting into pairs, they coupled into the huts and took looks around. Chloe found a bed with furs and slowly laid down on it, sighing in relief at being able to rest. Jasmine chuckled and climbed in beside her.
"So, how does it feel to be the queen of two countries already?" The tan girl laughed at the groan she received. "Come on, Chloe. I know there are tons of countries in the world, but you have to admit, this is definitely going to be fun. There shouldn't be any wars with you as queen because we'll all be one big country and the scientists say that we're all going to mold back into one continent again."
"Somehow, the thought of Pangaea coming back to life does not make me feel better about this situation." Chloe muttered.
"Ah, funny you should mention Pangaea…" Both girls turned to see Valentina and Meredith standing in the doorway.
"Mom! We could have been making out or something!" Jasmine and Chloe shouted simultaneously before glancing at each other with raised eyebrows.
Meredith and Valentina both snorted and said, "Not likely."
Valentina cleared her throat. "But, it is said in the myths and legends that once all of the tribes have fully accepted that you are their queen, regardless of the humans know it or not, the entire planet is going to mold back into one continent so that you don't have to do a lot of work. But the Prides must all have good human relations and be interconnected like they've never been before."
Chloe nodded and sighed. "It's just all coming so fast, it's a lot to take in in just over maybe a month?" she looked to Jasmine and the other girl quickly did the math, deducing that it had been roughly between a month and a month and a half since they first set out. "It's just so much and I'm just one person."
Meredith strode over to sit next to her daughter on the overcrowded bed and Valentina leaned against it next to Jasmine. "Chloe, I know it's a lot for you and it would be a lot for any one person. But you have me and Jasmine and Felina and Valentina and all the others. We'll figure out a way to do this together so that the pressure isn't completely on you. Can you stick through it until then?"
Chloe took a breath and slowly nodded. "Yeah Mom," she smiled. "I think I can hold out until then."
Meredith grinned down at her and kissed her forehead. "Good. Now get some sleep so we can talk about Pride relations tomorrow."
Chloe raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes, smiling felinely at her mother. "Love you Mom." The blonde murmured.
"Implied." Meredith replied, getting up and moving over to Valentina.
The tan woman put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her nose. "You need to get sleep too if you're going to be accompanying your daughter."
Meredith giggled. "And who says Jasmine won't be with Chloe? Your daughter could be there too."
Valentina chuckled. "Then let's both sleep."
Meredith nodded and they waved goodbye to their daughters before heading back tot heir own hut. Chloe and Jasmine stared after them before looking at each other. Shaking their heads simultaneously, the girls simply climbed under the furry covers and drifted to sleep, Chloe snuggling into Jasmine halfway through the night.
There you go. Gimmie a few minutes to upload the other two for you. Review and tell meh what ya think.