Wanderer
Alone he trudged through the dusty wasteland. His gaze was searching in the distance, but couldn't find anything that he could aim for. There was nothing to be spotted on the horizon, nothing than dust, withered bushes and small rocks. For three days he was wandering through the Outlands without any direction. In the first night after his escape the stars had shone bright in the sky guiding him but they had vanished with the second one when they had been covered by a thick layer of clouds. Since then, he hadn't found anything to shelter him from the elements. At night, none of the leafless bushes had been enough to protect him from the ice-cold winds and by day he couldn't find any rocks large enough to provide shadows that could hide him from the merciless sun that – other than the stars – somehow managed to reach through the clouds to torture him. He had vowed it to himself, vowed that he would see her again, his Tawili… and that he would kill the lions who had forced him to leave her. But now, he wasn't even sure, if he would even manage to escape this wasteland alive…
Exhausted and frustrated he stared at a withered bush in front of him and got ready to pounce on it to tear it to shreds, when something right behind it suddenly caught his attention. He blinked to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Once again, he looked at it. No, it hadn't been his imagination! There, fare in front of him actually was someone wandering trough the dusty land. And that someone was another lion! His eyes fixed on the stranger, even though he was too far away to make out any details. The dying hope in his heart began to grow again. Finally, he had a visible goal to reach!
The storm hit him completely unprepared. Within second, the soft breeze that occasionally had whirled up a little sand here and there had turned into a full-grown sandstorm.
Overcome by anger and desperation he pushed himself against the gusts, that lashed out at his face with dust and sand and roared, but even he himself couldn't hear his voice over the raging of the storm. His target, the lone wanderer he had been following was gone, swallowed by the masses of whirled up sand and dust that took his sight and threatened to suffocate and burry him. Slowly, very slowly he came to a realization… he wouldn't be able to keep his vows… here, without shelter, alone and disoriented… he would die. He closes his eyes to protect them from the relentless storm… and promptly opened them again.
The piercing pain, the sand had causes, like the thorns of a bush had caused by piercing trough his fur had vanished. He was still surrounded by the raging storm, but now, with his eyes opened he noticed, that he was standing in the slipstream of another lion. Silently the lone wanderer that Kani had followed for the whole day eyed him. He appeared to be an old lion. His fur and the ragged mane were streaked with gray. One of his eyes was missing, but the other seemed to twinkle mischievously. With a nod, the lion gestured Kani to follow him, then he moved on.
Startled by the unexpected meeting, the young rogue barely got himself moving, before the stranger disappeared into the storm once again and rushed after him.
When night fell, Kani finally was able to see the stars again. As if by magic, the storm had calmed by sunset and was gone as suddenly, as he had started, presenting the young lion with a cloudless night sky above him. In immeasurably relief, he ran to catch up to the wanderer, who had led him out of that hell and thus saved his life to thank him. The aged lion had just disappeared over the top of a hill that Kani hurried to climb too. Reaching the top, the rogue was presented with a sight, he had longed for. Grassland. In front of him lay a wide plane covered in savanna grass. Only a few more steps and he would have left the Outlands. A happy, hopeful laughter escaped him, as he looked around for his companion… but failed to find him. Confused, he kept walking a bit, intending to search the moonlit grass, but quickly noticed that it was too short to hide a full-grown lion. No matter where he looked, there wasn't even a pawprint of his savior to be found…
When he finally lay down in a trough of trampled grass to rest and fell asleep, the were back. In his dreams he saw blood dripping from his claws, pictures of gruesome wounds and death. Yet, he wasn't afraid of them anymore. It was, as if he was seeing the future, his fate awaiting him in this foreign land… and he gladly accepted it.
AN: Just as the first chapter, this one is based on a song by Amon Amarth. This time it's "Wanderer" the (you've guessed it) second song of the album "Jomsviking". I hope the connection between the song and the chapter was easy to make and you enjoyed reading it!