... A tawala standing tall in a swamp glade as he gave a speech...
... an army composed of jamaa warriors and their hulking cousins majamaa, with the odd swamp beast among them, marching out of the Death Marsh...
... said army slaughtering its way through the Pride Lands, cutting down anyone who stayed and eating their corpses...
... an army of Pride Landers facing off against the tawala army, led by a powerful-looking lion with a red mane...
... both armies bursting to green flames just as they collided, but not fast enough...
... two green eyes staring at the massacre from afar...
Adhabu woke up from the nightmare (what else could that be) with a shocked cry, standing up in a single jump and grabbing his head.
'What was that!?' He thought, panting as he calmed down from... whatever he dreamt about. He wasn't shocked by the first part of it, but what happened at the end. 'Well, at least it wasn't a memory of... wait a minute, where am I?' He then looked down and realized he was naked. 'And where's my armor'
The Swampspear looked around and realized that he was not in the village in which he fought, but in some kind of... cavern with red walls, illuminated only by a torch in the wall and with the opening covered with a wooden door with a small gap on its upper half, so small that he was sure he wouldn't be able to fit his hands through it. Looking down, the jamaa wearrior saw that he was standing in a pile of strange yellow grass, and giving to the curiosity and hunger he grabbed a handful of the stuff and ate it, immediately spitting it out. He hopped to the spirits that he wouldn't have to eat that.
Adhabu tried to remember what happened, pacing around the cavern to help his mind remember and rubbing his head. He was pretty sure he should be dead, what having his skull opened by a two hundred fifty pound caveman smashing it with a club.
'First, I found a lion village being sacked and by cavemen, who had the survivors in a cage and also somehow captured a tyrannosaurus and its hatchlings. Then, for some unknown reason, I decide to help the lions, the cavemen noticed, their leader tried to. We fought and we won, with the tyrannosaurus eating most of the cavemen, but then I get my head smashed in by that brute to save a lioness, and everything after that is black. But before that..'
Adhabu stopped walking, his knees getting weaker as the memories of Mshindi's attack came back in full force to torment him yet again.
'Mshindi finding the village... the fire... the screams...'
Adhabu sat down in the pile and began to sob, his face covered with his hands in an attempt to hide his grief to the outside world, even though he knew no one was actually watching him.
He didn't know it, but the 'cavern' he was hold in was actually a cell.
And he WAS being watched.
Someone gasped from the other side of the door. Someone female
Adhabu stopped crying abruptly, startled by the sound, and looked up at the door. He saw a green lion eye looking at him from outside, and judging by how wide it was the lioness it belonged too didn't expect either him being awake, or see a jamaa cry. He himself was surprised because he had seen those eyes before: it was the lioness he saved back at the village.
The two stared at each other for at least half a minute before the lioness stepped back and cried in his tongue. In another occasion Adhabu would had prepared himself for a possible fight, but this time, knowing that someone from the Pride Lands had healed him despite him being a jamaa, not knowing how many lions or others were outside, and not willing to attack someone who had every right to not warn him from that caveman. chose to simply wait.
After what seemed to be an eternity, the lioness came back and opened the door, but this time she didn't come alone.
Adhabus watched in confusion as something that could be best described as an old monkey with yellow eyes, blue cheeks and a red nose came inside the cavern after the lioness. The simian wore little and was clearly old, with a grey beard hanging from his head, and even with the aid of a staff with fruits hanging off it his gait was stooped.
But even without the staff the monkey carried, Adhabu could recognize him as he was: a shaman. He didn't know how, but somehow he could recognize the look the shaman gave him as he entered, the same stare that exhibited not experienced shamans of the jamaa had on their eyes as they got older, but also hunters and warriors that had survived through many battles.
Adhabu prostrated at the feet of the shaman, surprising the lioness but only making the monkey laugh.
"So, this is the lizard?" The shaman in an inquisitve tone, circling around Adhabu while touching his body with his staff. "He's that impressive, although I'd never seen one with red scales like these."
While jamaa acknowledged their link with common reptiles, and respected said animals to the point of worship in some cases, calling them just lizards was like calling a lion a cat, or an orc a pig (especially poignant in the latter's case, since they weren't even remotely related to pigs despite their tusks and porcine noses), and they also knew that Pride Landers liked to call them 'lizard men'. Plus, he was talking about Adhabu as if he were an object, not a sapient being.
And then he grabbed his tail.
Adhabu roared in anger, standing up and pulling his tail out of the shaman's hands. The lioness stepped back a little, and Adhabu could see something large roar back and get inside inside the cavern, but the shaman, despite angering a seven foot tall warrior strong enough to literally slap his face off, did nothing but laugh, which only infurated the Swampspear furter. "Just because you're a shaman doesn't give you the right to..." He began to shout before realizing something. "You just spoke in my tongue."
"Well of course my boy!" The shaman laughed, while also making a calming gesture to whoever had come inside. "The Royal Mjuzi has to speak the tongues of all races if he is to keep their knowledge! Well, that and being smart has some perks." The shaman replied as he tapped his head with his staff.
"Mjuzi?" Adhabu repeated in a puzzled tone, clearly confused by the term.
"Lorekeepers. But where are my manners?" The monkey said before grabbing one of Adhabu's hands and shaking it. "My name is Rafiki, and as I just said I'm the Royal Mjuzi of the Ndona Pride. I'm the one who healed your wound, and trust me, if not for me you'd
'I wouldn't mind that. In fact, I would have welcomed it.' Adhabu thought sorrowfully.
"This lovely lioness here" He said, gesturing to the lioness next to him.", is Sarafina, handmaiden and childhood friend of Queen Sarabi. Her village, Nyumba Namu, was decimated by cavemen, but if not for your intervention the survivors of the massacre, Sarafina and her children included, would have suffered something worse than death." The last part was said in a much serious tone.
Adhabu looked at the lioness, Sarafina, and she did the same, smiling at him. The Swamspear bowed his head.
"And this" Rafiki continued, gesturing to the being that entered, who gave a step forward. Adhabu's eyes widened in shock and a bit of fear when he saw that what he thought was just a lion... wasn't. His upper torso was that of a barechested, gold-furred lion alright, but instead of legs the creature had a feline body covered in the same dusky gold fur of the torso. Even his head wasn't fully feline; instead of an actual mane, the lion's head was covered in wild black hair that didn't reach his neck.", is Mnyama, personal guard of King Mufasa. Don't be afraid of him, wemics might look like beasts, but are honorable to a fault. Mnyama himself is a softy deep inside."
Adhabu supposed that Rafiki meant 'deep, deep, deep inside', because he was pretty sure that Mnyama wanted to kill him right there with his bare hands. In another occasion he would have snarled at the 'wemic', but this time he decided to play it safe, if only because the place was too small to let him fight at his fullest and Sarafina and Rafiki were there.
Mnyama then said something with a coarse, deep voice in an unknown language, and Rafiki replied back in that same language before turning to Adhabu with a huff.
"Idiot, he still thinks you're a threat even after seeing you come in with your skull split open. Well, what's your name lizard man?"
"Adhabu, war-former warleader from the Swamspear Tribe. And I'm NOT a lizard man."
"Yes, I know you don't call yourselves lizard men, obviously. But WE don't know what you do call yourselves either."
"Jamaa. We call ourselves jamaa"
"Ah, jamaa, 'the kin'; makes sense when you think about it. Well, Adhabu, welcome to the city of Jikubwa, the capital of the Pride Lands, the largest in all of Baramkoa." Rafiki said, gesturing to the cavern, which now Adhabu realized was not a cavern at all. "Or, to be more precise, to the prison of Jikubwa."
"Why are they here?" Adhabu said, pointing to both Sarafina and Mnyama
"Well, our King, Mufasa, even with his good nature is no fool, and asked Mnyama to watch over you."
"In case I were a bad guest I suppose." Adhabu snarked while glaring at the 'wemic', who glared back with a growl.
"Exactly!" Rafiki nodded happily, either not noticing or simply not caring. "As for Sarafina, well, you DID save her and her family from those brutes, and she in turn was the one who brought you here; who else would have been better to have near? Well, now that the presentations are done, and since you look fine enough to walk, we'll take you to Pride Rcok to see Mufasa."
Adhabu perked at that. "King Mufasa? Mufasa Ndonga, Lion King and Bane of Gnolls?" He asked, getting an nod from Rafiki. He knew about him, the firstborn of King Ahadi and the Bane of Gnolls for the many hyenas he had killed in a battle against them. The tale even reached the Death Marsh.
"Mainly for for four reasons." The shaman said while raising his hand to count. "First, you're the first friendly, or at least neutral, lizard-"
"Jamaa!"
"-jamaa to ever set his foot not just on Pride Rock or Jikubwa, but also the Pride Lands, and so he wants to see you face to face to at least bid you welcome. Second, he wants to know that you're really are friendly and not a spy from some warlord of the Death Marsh. Third reason, Sarafina brought you here on the back of an adult tyrannosaurus, which would be an incredible event by itself. I'm sure the guards at the gate crapped themselves when they saw ten tons of death and sharp teeth rushing towards their post, hahahaha!" He then turned towards Sarafina, said something and laughed harder still when she put her palm on her head and somehow blushed despite the fur on her muzzle, clearly embarrassed.
'Uh, something tells me that it wasn't funny'
"Of course, it stopped being funny when those same guards saw you and tried to kill you for being, well, you." Rafiki admitted. "They'd lynched you if not for Mufasa's arrival. And fourth, which you possibly already noticed, you don't know our language. Out of all Pride Landers there are less than a hundred scholars, priests and wizards that know yours, and only two of those are in this rock right now. The good news are that the second one is a magic-user that will allow you to understand our tongue through a spell. The bad news, well, you'll see."
Rafiki then turned and spoke to Mnyama, who grunted before walking backwards and out of the dungeon. Sarafina and Adhabu looked at each other and did the same. Soon, the small group was walking the outside of Pride Rock, with Rafiki at the lead and Mnyama behind them, watching Adhabu carefully.
Adhabu, however, wasn't overly worried for the wemic. He knew that something with four legs wouldn't very dexterous. Instead he decided to look at the city they walked through. He never thought that the living, lions, jamaa or anyone, could build something so... majestic, the pinnacle of civilization. At that distance he could see hundreds, thousands of not just lions, tabaxi, hippos, elephants and crocodilians mingling about, but also more exotic races, like bull-like minotaurs, short yet stout dwarves, alien mantis and even the odd but impossible to miss giant.
Unfortunately, those that noticed him either stepped away from their path or stared at him in shock, fear or anger.
"Incredible sight, isn't it?"
"I've never seen a city before. The closest thing in the Death Marsh is when several tribes join to..." He said before trailing off, and Rafiki nodded, understanding what he meant, decided to change of topic.
"Say, Adhabu, was there any reason that pushed you to free the survivors of Nyumba Namu?" Rafiki asked as they approached a large rock formation standing right in the middle of the city. "You could have left and saved yourself the trouble, yet decided to help them and earn that bump in the head."
Adhabu, who had been looking at the city around him, took a few seconds to realized he had been asked something.
"Rafiki, I know what your people think of mine: cannibals, savages, barbarians... We've earned some of that reputation, and some are even proud, but we are not monsters with no feelings, and if there's something we hate as much as lions do, is slavery." He said, his tone getting more and more serious. "Sentient beings, not matter who or what they are, are not things to play with at leisure and then throw away like trash after being done with them. We jamaa may eat our own dead and be ruthless, but at least we have some standards"
Rafiki nodded at that and then spoke to Sarafina and Mnyama. The former smiled to Adhabu, and the latter's glare lessened and even nodded in respect, which Adhabu returned.
They didn't need to know that Sarabi and her children reminded him of his own.
Eventually the group arrived at the rock formation, with the entrance flanked by two particularly large and well equipped hippos, who looked at him warily until Mnyama growled at them. But Adhabu wasn't focusing on them: Pride Rock was even more awe-inspiring than the city surrounding it.
"Adhabu of the Swampspear Tribe, welcome to Pride Rock." Said Rafiki while making a whole-body gesture similar to a greeting. "Now prepare yourself to meet the current Lion King Mufasa, and his family. Don't do anything stupid during the meeting, and everything will be fine. Do, and, well, I can't assure you'll live to see tomorrow."
Adhabu simply shrugged. "That's fine, I have no reasons to live."
This made Rafiki look at him with shock and confusion, but before he could inquire further Adhabu walked ahead of him and into Pride Rock's main hall.
It wasn't exactly a throne room, more of a decorated cave, but it served as one nonetheless. In the other side of the cavern stood two ebony thrones, flanked by two other wemics, not as muscular as their leader but just as intimidating. In the thrones sat two lions, male and female. The lioness, who was obviously Queen Sarabi, had orange eyes and whose fur was a tad darker than Sarafina's wore what seemed to be rich clothing, and was looking at him with interest.
Far away in the room, he could see another lion. He was tall but thinly built, with dark fur, black mane and green, piercing eyes, which unlike Sarafina's were of a darker shade, and one of them even had a scar running over it. The lion himself, who by his clothing, the strange bag hanging from his hip, and overal physical complexion was most likely the magic-user that would help him understand the others. He was looking at him with something akin, but not exactly, to interest.
At the other side, but much closer to the thrones, stood a blue-furred avian with a long beak and black eyes, possibly some kind of scribe.
However, it was the male in the throne, Mufasa Ndonga, Bane of Gnolls, who was staring at him with an stoic look, was the one who took Adhabu's attention.
Mufasa was a red-headed, gold-furred male with gold sclerae and black pupils. Rather than wearing the stereotypical kingly clothing he instead was covered in iron half-plate armor, which left his muscular arms and legs free, and even at that distance Adhabu could see several small, thin scars on his muzzle, plus one much more obvious one on his left bicep, and which unlike the others was obviously a bite mark.
A majamaa bite mark.
Rafiki said something and gave a small bow, and Mnyama kneeled to his king, while Sarafina do nothing, possibly related to her relationship with Queen Sarabi. Everyone stared at him expectantly.
Adhabu looked at the older lion, and Mufasa did the same, before Adhabu stood up as straight as he could and slammed his clenched fist to his chest: the standard warrior salute among jamaa if no weapon and shield were avaiable, in which case the weapons would be slammed to the shield. Mufasa wasn't his king, but as a former warleader Adhabu could recognize a fellow warrior, especially one that killed hyenas.
Mufasa, confused at first by his gesture, realized what it meant and stood up to repeat it, and after a giving a look to his bodyguards the wemics did the same.
And then the magic-user, who until then had been standing still and observing from afar, approached him slowly while tinkering with his bag.
Adhabu was about to ask Rafiki what was he doing when the mage grabbed his head and stared at him with glowing green eyes for several seconds. Adhabu, while not hurt by the magic flowing through him, still didn't like it, but then...
"Well?"