Shadowland
Chapter 8
Cornerstones Shattered
I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 8: 'Cornerstones Shattered' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.
I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!
"It has already been found."
-Zira, Most Faithful Follower of Scar,
to her daughter, Vitani, First Outlander to See the Light.
"My herd!" called Tarot. Immediately, the hundred-odd heads of his tribe turned to face him. "As you all know, our young Kyomaraju here claims to possess the powers of the seer."
Kyo looked up at Tarot with a frown on her face. 'Claims to posses'? Didn't he believe her? Why didn't anyone believe her on this one? They believed her when she told them that Seer Waturi had been taken by a leopard. Why didn't they believe her when she said, that Waturi had told her that she had the potential to become the next seer? Why?
'Be weary.'
One of her front legs gave way. She wobbled, struggling to eventually regain her balance. "Kyomaraju? Are you alright?" asked Tarot, in a whisper. She just nodded subtly in reply.
'They're coming.'
The herd leader continued, "With Seer Waturi gone, she is the only one we can trust with our safety. She has a few things to say now, so, please give her your full attention." A few wildebeests from the crowd cheered and snorted as Tarot stepped back from Kyo, giving her the whole stage. Vienna, by far, gave the loudest cheers of them all.
Kyo began her speech, her voice trembling. "Well, uh… The last thing Seer Waturi said to me w-"
"Woo! Yeah! You go, Kyo!" shouted Vienna, from the crowd.
With all eyes on her, the young wildebeest gave a nervous chuckle before picking up where she left off. "The last thing he told me was that, if what I had told him earlier, about the lion's latest attack on us was true, then-"
'Look to the west.'
"Ah." she spat, wincing. It felt like something was digging around inside her head.
"Kyomaraju? Are you al…don't pay attention.'
"Wha- What?" She stumbled.
"Kyo…lions.' Real words and those of her 'imagination' fused together. It was impossible to tell what was really being said.
"I…" she trailed off, her eyelids closing themselves. "I can't hear what you're saying."
'Don't pay attention to him!'
"Ah!" she yelled, painfully, losing control of her limbs, and falling to the ground. Two wildebeests, closest to her, ran to catch her. Some on the crowd gasped and hit their hooves against the floor.
"Kyomaraju!" Tarot exclaimed, hurrying towards her. "What's wrong? Tell me."
"Nothing…" she panted. "I'm just a little tired."
'Tell them what I'm telling you.'
Kyo wheezed and fell again; this time she hit the ground. The pain that she felt when her head collided with the earth was like relief compared to the feeling that had made her collapse in the first place. It seemed to have stopped, but when she tried to get back onto her feet, her whole body began shaking violently. Everyone stepped back in fear and confusion, including Tarot. They must have suspected that the plague was back. Perhaps she had caught it from one of the still-unwell Elders.
'Tell them what I'm telling you!'
A wildebeest from the group rushed out to help, but Tarot stood in his way. "What are you doing?"
"Get back! She has the plague!"
"No! She wasn't sick before this! Let me go!"
'West!'
Kyo squirmed and cringed in pain. "West!"
"Get back!" yelled Tarot.
"Wait! She said something!"
"I don't care! You're not touching her!" He turned to the mob. "Where is the witch doctor? Where's the witch doctor?"
"I'm the witch doctor!" yelled the wildebeest, as he broke through and ran to Kyo's side. He began to chant strange words and spells.
'Hunting!'
"Hunting!" yelled Kyo.
"Hunting?" mumbled the witch doctor to himself.
'Lions!'
"L-Li-Ll" she gagged.
'Lions!'
"Li-"
'West! Hunting! Lions!'
"West! Hunting! Lions!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, still trembling. The crowd gasped and looked around, frightened.
The witch doctor looked towards Tarot. "What do we do?"
Tarot knew there wasn't much time. The lions must have heard the cries. They would suspect that his herd knew where they were by now, somehow. They would pounce before long. "Charge!" he yelled, darting to the west. Would his herd follow his example? Would they tear down centuries of solid foundation? Tarot had broken the barrier of natural instinct. All he could do now was trust them to do the same.
Out of the grass leaped Gharah, heading directly towards Tarot's horns. There wasn't one spare second for the wildebeest to think; he pushed off the ground, head set to impact right in the middle of Gharah's chest. Gharah swiped and roared, but that wouldn't help her. She was head-butted aside, thrown violently to the ground, as the rest of Tarot's herd swarmed ahead from behind him, like a wave sweeps up onto the beach. They overran the crouching lions, and the predators were forced to fall back; Gharah included.
For most of them, it was a triumph. Strength in numbers had just gained a whole new meaning. However, if the wildebeests kept doing that, and their technique was spread to other herd animals, then predatory animals would soon starve. But, if there was no one to hunt, then, it was all the better. Hunters were only living engines of consumption, sitting with their mouths wide open at the end of a meat assembly line. They did nothing good for those that they devoured.
Or, did they?
xxx
Gharah returned from the hunt, bringing back to her pride only her hunting party and a few cuts and bruises. She tried to avoid Torres' line of sight, walking to the opposite side of the group, but he would not let her go.
Torres growled and stormed through the crowd, not caring who he happened to step on, or who he knocked over. "Where do you think you're going?" he spat, wrestling Gharah onto her back, pinning her. The whole pride simultaneously stepped back.
His cold glare pierced her eyes, and from her viewing platform on the ground, just centimetres away from his empty, doll-like eyes, she could see small sparks, like sparks from a fire. And just like sparks from an actual fire, they were contained. They were a raging, wild inferno trapped in one small particle of energy.
'Gharah, you're going to be a great huntress one day.'
What were they? Why did she feel so comforted when she gazed at them blankly, even when pinned by this evil tyrant, close enough to feel his breath brushing against her face? What were these strange flickers doing in his eyes?
'Tell me a story, Uncle Torres.'
"Why don't you have a kill?" he roared.
She tried to struggle out of his grasp, his crushing weight, but it was no use. She could not break free.
"Tell me!"
"We did not have anything to kill." she replied, calmly.
Torres removed the barrier preventing her to get up, and she rolled to her feet immediately. He looked out to the north, easily seeing a herd of antelope. "There are antelope over there! Why don't you hunt them? And look!" he glanced to the southeast, effortlessly spotting a scattered group of zebras and giraffes. "How about those things over there? Can't you hunt them?" He paused to move his face so close to Gharah's that she could once again see those sparks. "Are you blind?"
'You better watch your back. She's a mischievous one, she is. Heh, heh.'
"No. We just couldn't-"
"You couldn't what? Catch anything? Your claws have grown blunt, have they?"
'…Going to be a great huntress one day.'
"Torres, you have to understand, even the best of us all can't always expect to return with a kill."
He grunted maliciously. "Sapphire never returned to this place and returned without a kill. Not even when she was ten years of age! She could stalk an entire wildebeest herd for hours when she was a child, and furthermore, bring an adult back here for the pride to eat! You're sixteen now, Gharah. Sixteen!"
"Only sixteen."
"Sapphire is fifteen!"
"Then you shouldn't have exiled her, along with your precious Coyle and her friend, Orion!"
"They murdered a cub!"
"Oh, please! Don't make me laugh, you fool! Do you really think you can trick me into believing that lie? Everyone knows you're the one who killed him. Admit it!"
And, with nothing but a short breath, the mass was silent again.
Torres backed her into a tree and, in her face, he whispered hard and fast, "I will never confess."
The many small sparks in his eyes had disappeared.
And then, the sound of grass being disturbed.
xxx
"There are antelope over there! Why don't you hunt them? And look!" he glanced to the southeast, effortlessly spotting a scattered group of zebras and giraffes. "How about those things over there? Can't you hunt them? Are you blind?"
"Stay together… Don't be thrown off by their needless quarrelling." whispered Domin, crouched in the grass. Her hunting party; her pack hid near her in tranquil silence. It was very different from Hiero's technique of running in, barking and snarling. And, so far, it seemed to be a lot more effective.
"No. We ju…… ould…-"
A growl vibrated from behind her. She turned around and gave every one of them a nerve-racking stare.
"You couldn't what? Catch anything? Your claws have grown blunt, have they?"
Inch by inch, they made their way closer to the unsuspecting lions. To everyone else, Domin's plan of attacking those people was as crazy as Hiero's 'smart' idea of hunting down elephants. Not to her. She had everything planned out. She knew things that they didn't.
"Torres, you have to understand, even the best of us all can't always expect to return with a kill."
"Keep moving…"
"Sapphire never this place and returned without a kill. Not even when she was ten years of age! She could stalk an entire wildebeest herd for hours when she was a child, and furthermore, bring an adult back here for the pride to eat! You're sixteen now, Gharah. Sixteen!"
Every day and night, back at Utopia Lake, she would listen hard. She would concentrate. And she would hear the voices of the thousands of animals in Amber Valley. From Julia's childish schoolyard teasing, to Diego attacking and killing Seer Waturi- she knew it all.
"Only sixteen."
"Sapphire is fifteen!"
"On three, my brothers and sisters… One."
"Then you shouldn't have exiled her, along with your precious Coyle and her friend, Orion!"
And she knew that with Sapphire, Orion and Coyle gone, the pride was as weak as they ever were.
"They murdered a cub!"
"… Two."
"Oh, please! Don't make me laugh, you fool! Do you really think you can trick me into believing that lie? Everyone knows you're the one who killed him. Admit it!"
Domin eyed the fallen branch of a nearby acacia tree in reach of her foot. In her understandable confidence, she lifted her front leg over the copse, and with a swift jab, snapped it in half.
"Three!"
A cleaving surge of wild dogs burst out from the concealment of the grass, pushing off the ground and soaring through the air like a terrifying swarm of giant locusts, claws ready, prepared to draw blood from lion flesh, and maws open, set to crunch into some long awaited foodstuffs.
"Get down!" bellowed Gharah, the first to react to the incoming danger. Her lionesses roared and lengthened their claws and reacted in turn. Some charged to the front, and some jumped back. Sapphire had taught her hunting party well. Now, all Gharah had to do as her replacement was to keep them in check.
And that was all she ever was. A replacement.
Daeon sprang to action, running forward to face the threat, smashing apart the enemy's formations like a battering ram demolishes closed doors and gates.
The fight was favouring no one on either side at any time. When one wild dog was knocked out, a lioness suffered the same, and when one was killed, another was soon to lose their life as well, shortly after.
But in the thick of the fray, Torres was nowhere to be seen. Not that he was trying to hide, but because no one bothered to look for him. When a pack of barbarians have launched a successful ambush that involves you, and you aren't a barbarian, you generally don't have time for playing 'I spy'.
"We can't hold them off!" screamed one lioness, just before she was thrown to the ground and ripped apart.
Daeon began, "What are we going to-" He dodged to the left and allowed a wild dog to land safely on the ground, instead of landing on him, before engaging the canine in close combat. "What are we going to do?" he yelled, directing his question towards Gharah.
She didn't reply as of yet. She didn't have time to reply. Not many people would, outnumbered two to one. Taking a quick look around, she saw all the pain, and the conflict, and all the carnage that had already occurred. She couldn't allow any more of it to happen.
"Retrea- Ah!" She winced and fell to the ground as pain overwhelmed her front limbs. They had been simultaneously gashed by her opponents- a harsh and pain-causing art form.
"Gharah!" shouted Daeon, rushing to her side to fight her attackers off. He immediately saw that she had been deeply cut, two times. Whatever hope they had of retreat, it was gone now. If they were to leave Gharah behind, they must as well surrender. There was no one else fit for the role of hunting party leader, but now, after her injuries, she would probably be worse off than her 'sisters in pursuit' when she recovered, if she did.
And when everything teetered on the edge of a cliff- ownership of Lion's Den, survival of the pack and death of the pride, and species status and reputation, something unbelievable and supernatural happened.
A bolt of dark lightning- or, at least, what looked like dark lightning, struck from the clouds, right in the middle of the combat, pushing the lions back, and throwing the wild dogs into the dust. In a second, the tides had turned. The lions moved forward, as one, like the gale of a storm. They overran their enemies, and, once again, the dogs had missed their day.
xxx
"What is it?"
"I've never seen anything like it before."
"Be careful, it may be dangerous."
"Someone talk to it."
"You go."
Voices whispered amongst themselves from the crowd of strange grey creatures surrounding Sapphire and Coyle. They all stared at the two lions with curious eyes. The two of them seemed just as scared and cautious as the foreigners. When they lay down to sleep about a day ago, they didn't expect to wake up with these things around them.
"We come from a distant land over the mountains." began Coyle, like he was performing a speech. Growls could be heard coming from the crowd as he ended his sentence. "We mean you no harm. We are exhausted from our journey, and all we want is food, water, and a place to sleep."
One of them stepped out from the crowd. His mane was slightly thicker than those belonging to his kin. "My name is Kalandro. I am the leader of these people you see before you. We will gladly offer you a place to sleep, but as for food and water…" he trailed off.
"Yes?" asked Coyle, hopefully.
"Food and water are very scarce in this land. Some of us have not tasted the sweet taste of either of these in weeks. You will most likely not find all of what you're looking for, here." replied Kalandro.
"Does your land possess no food and water at all?"
"You misunderstand me. Food and water are scarce, not because of drought or death, but because of some taking more than they need. Through this cursed land runs Utopia River, and near this river, a waterhole has formed. Our staple food is warthog meat. There are many warthogs around these parts, but few other creatures." said the hyena.
"So why do you say that these things are limited?" asked Coyle, slightly confused.
"The tyrants- there are hundreds of them, and they are the ones preventing us from eating and drinking. This is all I will tell you for now… So if you still want to enter our land, then do so at your own risk."
Coyle glanced at Sapphire. She nodded. They had to go in. Both of them desperately needed food. If they did choose to keep going, then they would probably have starved to death. And besides, they had seen nothing of this 'cursed land' for themselves.
"We will return with you to your home if you will have us do so."
"Very well, then."
"I see you have named your water supply 'Utopia River'. By what name do you call your land?"
Kalandro's face darkened. Subtly, he looked away and paused before replying.
"Shadowland."
"And after one more day, the lions will find themselves in the territory of creatures that they have never encountered before, creatures that will be worlds apart from them. Creatures in distress, creatures that ever so desperately need their help to survive. Creatures that hate, without ever knowing what exactly it is that they hate. These creatures will be under the control of their tyrants; tyrants whose reign will be a thousand times worse than that of Scar; Brother of King Mufasa."
-3rd part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of
King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.