SORRY I'm late /
Busy-ish day (if you count Applebee's taking a fucking eternity to prepare my lunch as busy)
But anyway here's chapter four. Enjoy :)
As the days passed and tensions rose, the number of deaths began to increase.
Two cheetahs and another lion had died. The herds had left the plains completely. Blazing Sun and Rhoam had consulted several times. Now was one of them.
Zelda paced outside her father's nest, her mind running itself into circles, while the lions that had accompanied their tribe leader sat a few feet away, alert and distrustful.
The cheetahs sat as far from them as possible. They alternated between keeping as much space between them as possible and making rounds of the camp, as if to let the lions know they didn't have the run of the place.
As if the lions would try it, with Blazing Sun here. So they sat stiff, golden eyes tracking Zelda as she paced.
She just couldn't understand it. Why were anima dying? Was it a new strain of the virus? How was it spreading? Were they carriers--the anima who had gone to the House of Skulltulla?
Unbidden thoughts of Howler invaded her mind, his eyes blue and his smirk infuriating. Zelda wrung her hands. Was he facing the same turmoil? Were his anima dying? How was his tribe handling the virus?
Sudden roaring jerked her from her thoughts and she whirled, heart slamming against her chest. Cheetahs and lions leapt to their feet, chirping nervously, pawing the ground. Then the nest burst open and Blazing Sun strode out, and the fear in Zelda spiked.
Blazing Sun had always been imposing. Tall and heavily built, he was the biggest lion in his pride. He looked down at Zelda with narrowed golden eyes, and behind him, Rhoam exited his nest. "Sun, do not be rash about this."
Blazing Sun's eyes narrowed further, leaving them golden slits, and he turned to face Rhoam. Zelda sucked in a breath, feeling as if she couldn't breathe. A hand rested on her shoulder, and she accepted her brother's support.
"You have insulted me enough, Rhoam," Blazing Sun boomed, and the use of her father's name made Zelda gasp. Her father showed no signs of the force put upon him, standing tall as ever.
Blazing Sun was unimpressed. "There will be no treaty," he hissed, and now the lions were growing violent, snarling at the cheetahs. One of them swiped at a cheetah mother, who barked sharply.
Zelda whipped her head around to glare at Mania. He narrowed his eyes, but cuffed the lion's ears.
"If one more lion dies while you show no signs of the virus, we will have no choice but to attack," Blazing Sun cried. "Let the Anima Triumvae hear this declaration, and make it so."
He left the tribe grounds then, taking his lions with him. Their paws left indentations in the dirt, and the cheetahs stepped back from them, glaring, hissing, spitting.
Then they were gone.
Zelda rushed to her father, who still showed no signs of weakness. She felt a flare of rage at Blazing Sun.
"How dare he use your name," she hissed, hands fisting. "He of all anima should know better."
She knew Sheik and the other cheetahs felt the same. Names were precious, attached to power. The more powerful the anima, the more golden their eyes were--and the more using their name debilitated them . . . or strengthened them. The way Blazing Sun had used Rhoam's name had been linked to a clear desire to weaken him, and they all knew it. Such was why names were never given out to anima of other tribes. That was what call signs were for. Once in a great, great while, perhaps, if the two were close enough . . . But that had ended long ago, and it was beyond rare.
"The price of a mistake long past," Rhoam sighed, steering his children into his nest. "I should have known better."
Zelda knew what he referenced: he had once been friends with Blazing Sun, in years past. When they were adolescents, and Rhoam had not yet met his mate.
"Where's mother?" Sheik asked, worry making his brows scrunch.
Zelda felt a flare of pain and jealousy and shoved it down savagely. It wasn't Sheik's fault, she told herself. It wasn't anyone's fault.
Rhoam said, "She is in her nest. I did not want Blazing Sun anywhere near her."
"Good," Sheik growled, hands fisting.
Zelda changed the subject. "What do we do, dad? Blazing Sun may as well have declared war on us."
"He will not attack as long as we behave ourselves," Rhoam said, but she could hear the defeat in his tone.
"But we haven't been killing the lions!" Sheik erupted. "It's the virus. And we have seen the virus here. Siles is dead!"
Rhoam gestured for Sheik to lower his voice. "I know, son," he sighed. "I have tried to explain this to Blazing Sun, but he will not listen. We have no choice but to prepare for the worst."
Zelda felt defeat crawling up her throat and pushed the tears away. She swept away and ran to her nest, ignoring calls of her name, and curled up on her favorite patch of grass. She hugged her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. She tried humming her mother's tune, but for once, it did not soothe her.
Her tribe was going to war, in the middle of a virus. Could it get much worse?
Link leapt over a fallen trunk and landed lightly before launching forward again. He was close.
He put on an extra burst of strength and lunged, paws skidding as he caught it. His jaws crunched down, crushing the creature's windpipe, and he let it hang from his jaws, panting lightly.
It had been two weeks since the debacle at the House of Skulltulla, and things had been going steadily downhill.
The tribes were closed off, borders shut down. Even Haze of Twilight and Black Moon Pack weren't communicating anymore. And prey was scarce.
The tribes had been hunting like crazy, and with the number of predators in the Deku Forest, the prey had been nearly wiped out in a matter of days. Black Moon Pack had had to call a restriction on hunts.
Not that any of the other tribes had been so generous, Link thought bitterly, trotting through the undergrowth. Silver Scale Pack hadn't given any such notice, and even the Lightpaws weren't restricting hunts. Link didn't even want to think about the audacity of Blue Fang Pack.
Impa had called a meeting, despite the closed borders, and the alphas of each pack in the forest had met to discuss hunting. The Lightpaws and Silver Scale had been decent enough, despite not restricting themselves, but the Blue Fang alpha had treated Impa with such disrespect that Link had nearly leapt across the table and ripped the mutt's throat out.
Blue Fang's alpha had just sneered at him and said, "Watch it, pup. Don't start a war you can't finish."
Then Impa had shoved Link back into his seat and told the alpha to eat shit, and Link had fumed.
Why they bothered fraternizing with scum like Blue Fang, Link could not fathom. They were strong, yeah, but so was Black Moon. He supposed they were useful for outing outsiders . . .
In their past days, the packs had formed a coalition to beat back invaders--some kind of monkey anima. Annoying, loud, and prey-stealers like nobody's business--and a weird obsession with bananas. So Link could understand that aspect of business with them.
But that didn't mean he had to like them.
He trotted through the undergrowth with his kill--pitifully small--clenched in his jaws, when he heard the ferns rustle.
He stopped, dropping the squirrel to taste the air. His muzzle scrunched. It was a nasty smell, and familiar too . . .
Then his golden eyes widened. It was the smell of the virus.
His paws launching him forward, pushing him through the forest, dark in the twilight, and he kept his jaws open, tracking the scent. It was fresh.
And it was fast. The owner of it flitted ahead of him somewhere, he couldn;t see--if it was anything like the shadow in the House, then he'd have to be quick when he caught it. He didn't want it killing itself again--
It veered suddenly right, but Link was too focused to realize he was nearing the border, his breath panting, legs flying through the leaves--
A flash of red slammed into him and sent them both tumbling. Link snarled and disentangled himself, but by the time he'd stood again, the scent was gone with the wind.
He snarled again, searching for whatever had smacked into him, but stopped when he realized who it was.
The red fox stood on delicate legs and glared at him before shifting. "What's wrong with you?" Midna raved. "I was trying to track that shadow thing--"
"So was I!" Link retorted, straightening his bandolier. "Why the hell didn't you see me?"
"Um, hello? I was right in front of you." Midna threw her hands up. "Seriously, how did you not see me?"
"I was kind of busy," Link ground out, clenching his fists, "tracking."
Midna rolled her eyes. "Well, you suck at it."
Link's response was cut off as the trees rustled, and members of both their tribes appeared. Colin and Talo grabbed Link while Kel and Mandos dragged Midna away.
"Hey!" Midna ripped her arms away, but they just grabbed her again. "Get off me! What the hell is wrong with you two?"
"What's wrong with us?" Kel demanded, whipping Midna around. "You're between borders, Sunset! And so is he!"
Link stopped struggling against Colin long enough to actually look at the ground. Before he hadn't stopped to wonder why Midna was there, but now he realized, with no small amount of dread. Somehow, in their tumble, they'd ended up on opposite sides of their territories.
Mandos gestured at Link. "See? Howler understands. Now come on. Shadow Sight is going to be furious."
"Wait!" Link called, taking his arm out of Talo's grasp for the third time. "We were tracking something. It's not from any of our tribes, and we accidently ended up on the wrong side. It wasn't on purpose."
Kel and Mandos gave him a look, the same as when they were trying to decide whether or not to let him go, but this time, unlike the others, it was laced with pain, and they shook their heads. "You don't understand, Howler. Sunset needs to come home now."
Something in the tone of their voices gave Link the chills. He turned and looked at his tribemates, and saw the same looks of pain in their eyes. His blood froze.
"Who was it."
Kel didn't turn. Mandos took Sunset by the arm and whispered in her ear, too quietly for Link to hear, and when he led her away, she went without restraint. The type of walk of someone who'd just heard terrible news.
Kel sighed. "Take care of yourself, Howler."
He left, disappearing into the shadows, leaving Link to stare after them, the shadow that had gotten them there lingering in his mind.
Then he whirled and shifted in one movement, his earlier squirrel forgotten, and raced back to camp. He burst through the entrance and skidded to a halt, claws digging into the earth.
He shifted and pushed through the crowd till he stood at the front, and looked down at the victim.
Link felt despair creep up his throat, and he clenched his fists. He stepped around her body, around her mate, sobbing at her side, and didn't stop until he was inside Impa's nest.
Ilia was there already, consoling the dead wolf's sister. Navi sobbed into her shoulder, oblivious to Link's presence. He nodded numbly to Ilia, who pressed her lips together and swallowed.
Link croaked to Impa's back, "Tatl is dead."
Impa's voice was quiet. "I know."
"What are we going to do about it?" Link asked, voice breaking.
Impa did not answer him, not that he expected her to. It was a pointless question to ask. What were they supposed to do about it? What could they do? It was virus, for hell's sake. There wasn't anything to be done.
The helplessness made Link want to burn down the forest. It made him want to be violent, but there was nothing nearby to take it out on. So he left, feeling Ilia's eyes on his back, and left the camp again. He ran until he passed the squirrel, then kept running, until his legs burned and his breath was ragged and there were no more trees.
Link slowed to a stop, his head turning westward, to the Plains. What was she doing now? She was almost all he could think about now. He couldn't understand it. Were her tribemates dying? Was she dead? What about her aggressive brother and obnoxious lion? Why did he care so much?
He pawed at the ground, growling softly. It hurt to be away from her. His chest ached whenever he thought of her, and it ached whenever he didn't. She was the center of all he did. What was wrong with him?
Link tried to regain his breath from the run, but it seemed she had stolen it away again. He sat, panting, trying to figure it out.
He didn't know how long he sat there, bouncing between thoughts of Spitfire and agony over Tatl's death, but when the sky was barely beginning to lighten and pawsteps sounded behind him, he knew it must have been several hours.
Midna stepped up to his side and sat delicately, curling her bushy tail around her feet. Together they watched the sun slowly rise, and when the sky was a pale pink, Midna shifted and spoke.
"Zant is dead."
Link stayed in his wolf form. Sometimes it was just easier not to talk.
Midna kept speaking. "I never liked him. He was always harassing Shadow Sight to give the leadership to him."
She shifted. "Still, though. He was a member of my tribe . . . and now he's dead."
Link let out a little whine, lowering his nose.
Midna pulled her knees to her chest. "You're leaving aren't you?"
Finally, Link shifted. He sighed, leaning back on his hands. "Yeah."
Midna looked at him, brows drawn together. "What makes you think you can stop it by yourself?"
"First I'll try to track the scent from yesterday. Then I'll go to places I know have been touched by the virus. And maybe . . . I won't be alone."
It was ridiculous to try. And stupid to hope she'd say yes. Midna stared at him, eyes wide. Then they narrowed.
"You're going to ask that cheetah to go with you, aren't you?"
Link blinked, his expression shifting from one of bewilderment to one of annoyance. "Uh, no, stupid, I was going to ask you."
Her lips pursed, the only sign that she was embarrassed. "Right. Well get on with it."
Link smirked, leaning back again. "I don't know, was that jealousy in your tone? It almost sounded like you were upset."
"Oh, spare me," Midna muttered. "When are you leaving?"
The smile faded from Link's face and he became serious again. "I don't know," he murmured. "I thought about now, but Impa, and the tribe . . ."
Midna nodded. "I know."
Link took a deep breath. "But I can't sit around and wait for the virus to destroy us. I don't know if it'll even make a difference, but . . . I have to try."
He stood, brushing the dirt from his hoodie, flexing his arms. His Marks tingled, basking in the new light shining from the horizon. Midna stood beside him, her black dress flapping in the light breeze.
Midna's assumption had given him an idea, and as they set off, he searched the western horizon, knowing he couldn't see her.
To the Great Hyrule Plains, then.
Whoooo baby. Have I ever made it clear how much I love banter? I just love it. It's so fun. Anyway drop a review please, y'all know I love them. They keep me going. Feed me!
Anyway here's the review replies:
To StJames1: somebody mildly important, no, more mildly important people, no.