You did what – act two
"You did what?"
"Hey, don't look at me. It's not like I pushed them off personally, you know; they were tumbling down before I knew it!" Kali reacted defensively.
"So they both just ran off the cliff?" Seko asked, still a bit confused.
"Well, not exactly… I mean, Vincent stopped just in time, but the lioness bumped into him. A long fall ensued."
"Hehe, guess she's the one who killed him after all," Seko giggled, "Talking about playing her part nicely. Saved you a lot of mess, and me a lot of lying… That reminds me: keep the story straight when Shenya gets here, got it? We might have done that which was necessary, that which was the one right thing to do, but if word gets out about what we did... lets just say it won't exactly make our day."
"Don't worry; my girls won't slip a word. And I'll keep to the explanation you gave me. Let's just hope it sticks."
Yeah,
let's hope it does… Only thinking about what would happen if it
didn't made Seko's stomach turn to stone. He wanted to tell her, he
should tell her, he just had to tell her! After all, he had taken the
bold move of eliminating Vincent only for her, for Shenya. From all
his days spent with her, each one more brilliant than the one
preceding it, he had learnt one thing: the clan belonged to her, her
and only her. She had it all: charm, compassion, intelligence,
charisma, determination… If anyone could ever lead the hyenas to
greatness once more, it would have been Shenya... if not for her cold
hearted, power hungry brother, who had been prepared to do almost
anything to follow in his father's blood-soaked pawprints. But
since Shenya just couldn't bring herself to stop loving her only
brother, or see his through his manipulative schemes, Seko had had no
other option than to bide his time and plot with Kali, until the
opportunity presented itself. Seko had been reluctant to see his plan
through to the end, though, as he knew how much it would hurt Shenya
if he were to execute his plan. But after this day's events, Seko
had realized he was out of options. So he did what he had to do, to
save the clan, and to save his one true love who could now finally
step out of her brother's shadow and arise to become the greatest
matriarch as of yet.
That said, he still had to break the news to
her. He quickly silenced Kali as he saw Kim, the messenger,
approaching.
Poor Kim, who had hoped to finally get a good nights rest after half a day of running everywhere and nowhere, hadn't really been to enthusiast when she had seen Seko and Kali rushing her way, and even less so as they ordered her to assemble Shenya and Shetani. Shenya, accompanied by Banzaï, hadn't strayed too far off, and in a stroke of fortune, it appeared Shetani had been around the capital den as well. For the better: otherwise Kim had had to search for her far north, where Shetani had been the Northlander's matriarch for a while, or down south, where she might have been spying on the lions again.
Shenya was the first one to appear on the rocky plaza, at the edge of the rocks and caves that compromised the den, where Seko and Kali had called the meeting, away from possible listeners. She looked a bit confused when she saw Seko and Kali. Meanwhile, both Banzaï and Shetani had approached as well. Kim halted at the edge of the plaza.
"Now can I like, get some sleep, please?" she complained, even before Shenya had had the chance to ask what was going on. Seko nodded, and Kim took off with a big yawn. Shenya addressed Seko.
"Seko? Kali? What's this about? I heard Banzaï saying something about a lioness and Vincent, but I didn't really get what they were on about. Where's Vincent anyway?"
"Lioness?" Shetani frowned, looking at Banzaï, who was still trying forming a coherent sentence when Seko interrupted him.
"I think it is best we talk this over from the start, seeing as how some of us are not exactlky up to speed, or so it appears… Kali, can you tell 'em what happened this afternoon?"
To make sure she gave them the 'official' version, Seko cast one last glare at Kali, and she nodded compliantly in return. She started telling them about the 'hunting incident' first, as Shetani hadn't been informed about that yet, followed by a detailed account of how they had encountered the lioness. She subsequently told of how the lioness had been pushing for a meeting with Vincent (who had agrreed to stage one), up until the point where Kali claimed that Vincent had, after being introduced to the lioness, 'inexplicably' asked Kali and her girls to get out of hearing distance. That last scentance was about the only weak point in Kali and Seko's whole make-believe story, and Shetani didn't fail to notice.
"He asked you to back away? That's dangerous, why would he do that?" she asked Kali suspiciously. Kali hesitated for one second, but was then saved by Banzaï who, without knowing it, filled the only gap in the conspirators' story. Nervously, he told them about the border-meeting with Vitani and her brothers, way back, and how he had gotten the impression Vincent had gotten along quite well with the lioness.
"He probably trusted her, and I can imagine that when she would have asked him for a bit of privacy, he'd have been trustingly enough to allow it…" Banzaï concluded.
"What? Is he out of his mind? Alone with a lioness, talking about taking a risk…" Shetani sighed. Meanwhile, Shenya hadn't said a word since Kali had started recounting that day's events. Then suddenly, with a slight hint of panic, Shenya addressed Kali.
"But if you are all here... where is Vincent then? Why isn't he…"
She looked Kali in the eyes, who almost immediately averted her head away from Shenya's grey, steel gaze. She then turned to Seko, moving towards him.
"Seko, where's Vincent? What…"
Seko forced himself to look his partner straight in the eyes, knowing that the only thing which would hurt her more than his lies was the truth. He even tried to put some sincerity in his voice.
"He must have known he was taking a risk when he was alone with the lioness, but still… I'm afraid he misjudged her... He's gone, Shenya."
Both Shetani and Banzaï growled in disbelief, then anger. Shenya, on the other hand, just remained motionless, paralysed it seemed. Shetani demanded an explanation from Kali.
"He's gone? What do you mean? How? What happened?"
Kali sighed, hoping she had remembered the 'official' account of what had happened.
"Well… as soon as we had left Vincent and the lioness, or maybe a minute later, I'm not really sure, we heard this terrifying roar. Of course, it didn't take long before we knew what was going on, so we rushed to Vincent's aid. But we couldn't intervene as he tried to run of towards the cliffs; the wrong way. Then, when he stopped only inches away from the edge of the cliff, the lioness caught up with him. But before we got a chance to help Vincent, his struggle with the lioness had already pushed them too far… before we knew it they plunged down into the river… We then immediately ran here to tell you what happened…"
As Kali finished her story, Seko suddenly realised something he hadn't noticed before, not even when Kali had told him what had really happened. A pretty essential detail.
"Wait, you didn't check if they were…"
"What's the use, nothing can survive a fall from there, not into that rock-ridden river…" Shetani interrupted. But Seko didn't listen: he panicked. Genuine panic.
"He's not dead!" he exclaimed.
"If he fell, he's dead Seko. I know it's hard to accept…" Shetani continued.
"He's
really dead, isn't he?" Banzaï stuttered, alternating
between anger and sadness while Shenya remained motionless and silent
still.
But Seko on the other hand was neither angry nor sad. He
was frightened. Kali hadn't seen the bodies! She had explicitly
told him she had rushed back to Seko immediatelyafter Vincent and the
lioness had dissapeared. What if Vincent was still alive? Impossible…
but it was a risk he couldn't afford. The only question was what he
could do about it, and he had to figure out real quick. Working in
overdrive, his brains quickly produced the second improvisatory
scheme of the day, the first being the hastily organised (and
possibly failed) assassination of Vincent. But to make that second
idea work, he had to act swift, before the initial confusion and
anger that had taken possession of the others had faded away.
"He's not dead! I won't believe it! Not when there is still any chance he's alive," Seko shouted out again, now back in control. But then, suddenly, Shenya erupted, her voice filled with anger and her eyes full of tears.
"He's dead! He's dead! Don't you see, he's gone, Seko! They killed him! Those rotten backstabbers murdered him! They butchered him in cold blood. He trusted them, he gave the lions his trust, and they slaughtered him in return. He's…"
Before she could end her sentence she burst out in tears. But Seko kept on playing his game.
"I tell you he's not dead! I won't have it! And I'll get him back, even if I have to swim down the White-Pass river myself," Seko uttered with the necessary pathos to fit the act. He then walked over to Shenya, and whispered in her ear while lovingly stroking her manes.
"He's alive, I know it! And I'll get him back, I promise."
But Shenya turned away, continuously mentioning whilst crying "No! He's gone, they murdered him…"
"Face it Seko, he's gone…" Shetaini tried to calm him. But Seko didn't calm down, as he had everyone right where he wanted them.
"He's alive and I'm going to try and find him, whether you like it or not. Kali, get your pack together, I'll need all the help I can get if I were to run into a lioness myself…"
"Stop it!" Shenya suddenly commanded. All of a sudden, she sounded calm and confident, although still a bit shaken, her eyes still gleaming with tears "Stop it! No-one is going anywhere. We'll need every hyena we can get…"
"Ma'am?" Shetani asked confused.
"We'll need everyone who still has the strength to grind a bone, if we ever want to make them bloodthirsty savages pay for what they did to us…" Shenya spoke determined. Seko on the other hand was on the verge of panic again, as his plan seemed to have been thwarted. But he had no choice to try and push it through either way.
"Shenya, I'm going through with this whether you like it or not. Vincent is alive, and I'm going to find him. If you want me to do that on my own, that's your choice."
"Ridiculous… Vincent is dead. You going out searching for him, alone or with a group, is just a waste of good yaws. And we'll be needing those if we're going to do what I think we're going to do: get back at those stinking lions on their own ground," Shetani frowned.
"I can't believe you're all just giving up on him!" Seko shouted out again, as he knew how important it would be for him to find Vincent, if he were still alive. After all, if Vincent would just show up again all of a sudden, Seko's days were numbered. So if there was even the slightest chance of Vincent still being alive, Seko had to find him:... and do something about that. Problem was he could use some extra jaws to take the load off of him, and securing those was only possible with Shenya's permission.
"Come on, Shenya, don't you at least hope he's okay?" Seko whispered in Shenya's ear.
"I
do… but I know he's not… they killed him, and I'm going to
make 'em pay. No false hope can get in the way of that," she
whispered back, "But I can't let you go on your own either. I
wouldn't want to lose you as well…
Certainly not now, not now
you're going to be a dad…"
Overflow. Too much information to cope with. Seko needed a couple of seconds to realize what Shenya had said: for one, she was allowing him to search for Vincent, and she was lending him some protection as well. That alone was enough to rejoice him. But that gratification was instantly shoved aside by a deeper, more intense and more sincere feeling of absolute joy. Finally she knew for sure! Finally he knew for sure! He absolutely forgot all about the incidents with Vincent, lost his calm and lost control, but still kept on whispering, probably to the annoyance of Shetani and Banzaï.
"A-are you sure? Are you really expecting?You-you're absolutely sure? It's finally happening? When?"
"Soon, not overnight, but soon."
By now, Banzaï was fed up enough about the whispering to declare his annoyance.
"Hey? How 'bout letting us in on the news too? Is he going to search for Vincent or isn't he?"
"Huh? Eh… yeah… yes… I'm… going any minute now… no time to waste," Seko grumbled as he fell back into reality, "And I'm taking some of Kali's packmate's with me…"
"I suggest we keep Kali here. We can use a set of yaws like hers…" Shetani suggested.
Kali, who had been feeling very uncomfortable throughout the entire meeting, felt relieved as she was offered both the chance to quit the meeting and not go along with Seko on his search (or rather hunt). Taking her vengeance she could handle, but the scheming to cover it up afterwards she wanted to get away from as soon as possible, not to mention the fact that Seko's swift and effective response to the possibility of Vincent being alive scared her. She got the feeling Seko was a bit too dangerous to hang around with.
"Well, that's for a fact. But no time to waste: Seko, I'll introduce you to your new companions, so you can begin searching for Vincent immediately. And I'll stick around while you're gone," Kali quickly replied.
Seko, still a bit confused, nodded and turned to Shenya.
"She's
right, I gotta go, no time to waste… Just watch yourself, okay?
I
can't imagine going on without you, not now that you're gonna be
a mom," Seko quietly told Shenya as he licked her muzzle. That was
his manner of saying goodbye to his partner, who had just declared
she was carrying their offspring. What joyous news, if it hadn't been
for all the trouble Seko had just gotten himself involved in.
"Stay safe. And… and if you find him…"
Shenya hesitated.
"No, why bother… you won't find him, he's dead…" she uttered, and for a moment there, her sadness overcame her calm again. But while looking in Seko's large, yellowish-green eyes, she regained her confident tone again. She quietly whispered in his ear again.
"Don't turn this into a farewell, 'cause it isn't. I'll see you in three sunrises time – at Priderock… dad."
So she was actually going through with it. She was bent on taking the Priderock, and if they would ever meet again, it would be under its shadow. If. And even though she told him it wasn't a farewell, Seko couldn't help but lick her muzzle one last time, stare into her compassionate gray eyes one last time, and tell her something he actually really meant one last time.
"Love you," he quietly whispered, after which he and Kali took off without further ado. To Shenya it felt like a farewell after all, at least until she could convince herself they would indeed meet in three sunrise's time, at the Rock. She was sure of it; nothing would get in the way of their happiness now. But she was equally sure her brother was dead... and she would make his alleged murders pay for that, starting now, or at least when Seko would have ventured out of sight. Seko looked back however, and for a moment it seemed as if he wanted to turn around and head back to Shenya, but Kali, who accompanied him, applied some mild pressure, pushing him out in front of her.
"Watch yourself!" Shetani shouted as Seko took of.
"See ya…" Banzaï grumbled as well, even though he couldn't stand the sight of Seko. But Seko meant a lot to Shenya, and that's all that mattered to Banzaï. When both Seko and Kali had disappeared, Shetani addressed Shenya.
"Ma'am, maybe now is a good time to decide how to react to the lions' aggression."
"Not a whole lot to decide there I'd say…" Banzaï mumbled, "We make 'em bleed."
"Indeed. And it's happening in three sunrises time, when we take Priderock" Shenya replied, suddenly calm and confident again.
Shetani seemed a bit disturbed at the idea.
"Isn't that a bit… well, ambitious? In such a short time?"
"We've trained years and years for this, we can take 'em," Shenya noted, "And the sooner we do it the better: I'm confident that with their murder, they were hoping to disorganize and confuse our clan, so we wouldn't retaliate after what happened on the hunting trip. But we'll prove them wrong… dead wrong."
"But going after the Rock? It is too risky: the Outlanders' pride is in between us and Priderock; we ought to take them out first."
"No, that's what they'd expect us to do, if anything. And besides, they'd just pull back and amass at the Rock: the Outlanders' den isn't worth a rat's ass to them, they won't risk losing lives to defend it. But if we assault the Rock first, the residents there'll defend it to the end, they'll never give up their precious home. And then, in stead of facing one big pride, we can crush two small ones, one at a time."
"But we'll need the whole clan to pull that stunt… It'll be hard getting them to Priderock undetected, certainly if we set a timetable."
Shenya smiled.
"And that's where you come in, you and your gang."
"Yeah,
that's the perfect job for you Graymanes," Banzaï grinned at
Shetani.
Shetani was the leader of the so called Graymanes, who
were by the way named after her (or to be more precise after the
abundance of gray hairs woven all through her otherwise dark manes).
The 'Graymanes' compromised the best the clan had to offer: big,
tough, well-trained, intelligent and loyal hyenas, not to mention
that most of them, like Shetani, were Northlanders. Right after the
clan's unification, Shenya's father had formed a small band of
the best and brightest of the three former clans with the explicit
task of reconnaissance and infiltration deep into the Pridelands.
After a year of constant travel and sneaking, without one single
detection by the lions, it's needless to say the Graymanes now knew
the angle of every leaf on every bush by heart, and they had the
stealth to put that knowledge to good use. Shetani, along with three
companions, had even managed to sneak up to and study the Priderock
(from a distance be it). Word had it they now knew their way around
the Pridelands better than Simba himself (that, of course, would be
giving them too much credit, but the assessment came pretty close
nonetheless).
"You think you could handle that?"
"Probably," Shetani nodded, "But we'd have to take one big detour, and it'll be hard keeping more than eighty of us out of sight for the duration of a twenty-four hours march, not to mention we'll have to take a rest in enemy territory if we want everyone combat-ready."
"Right then. That settles it. Banzaï, you assemble the clan at the den, as quick as you can manage. Don't tell them why; leave that to me: I'll address the clan myself. Just get everyone at the main den. Go!" Shenya commanded. Banzaï, who had been sitting down for the better part of the meeting, got up compliantly and took of towards the main den. As he left, Shetani addressed Shenya again.
"I couldn't help but notice… you're handling Vincent's death pretty… well, calm. You feeling okay?"
"No, I'm not. I'm feeling like someone butchered my brother and spat in my face afterwards. And I didn't even get the chance to say I was sorry for the fight we had this afternoon…"
She suddenly started laughing, though she could have been crying as well. Shetani guessed it was a combination of both.
"And to think me and Vincent got into a fight because he wanted to let the lions go free after their previous butchering… The lions killed the one hyena who believed it didn't have to come to this… So no, I'm not feeling ok… But there's an entire clan out there depending on me, and I can't let them down. Not now. We'll have time to grieve once we're sitting atop Priderock."
"Hey…"
"Hey, Kim! But girl, you're looking awful… what happened?"
"Thanks… What happened? I'll tell you what happened: at sunset I had been up like, all night, so I wanted to get some sleep, but then all of sudden that arrogant Kali shows up and tells me I gotta go tell Vincent he has to come over, so I was all like 'go find him yourself, lazy tart', but then she tells me all this stuff about some lioness, so I'm all like 'yeah right and..."
Kim paused to yawn, then looked around. Judging by the enormous crowd, the whole clan must have already assembled. Kim had to shout to get over the noise all around her.
"But I'm tired of yelling this… bottom line is I had to run around all day and when I was finally able to get some sleep, one-eyed Banzaï shows up and makes me get the whole clan to come over here… and now everyone's here… and I still haven't got no sleep at all…"
"Poor thing… they probably didn't even tell you why they had you runnin' around all day, did they?"
"Like, what were you expecting? They never tell us anything, we just have to like, sit, roll over, play dead and then shut up…"
"Ah darling, don't let it get to ya. We can't all be matriarchs, and for the better: we'd just mess up if we were, we low-enders are not cut out for all them politics."
"I wonder… but you don't know either why like, everyone is here? Or why I had to go and get everyone?"
"Well... word has it there's gona be a big announcement. No-one knows what it'll be about though, and the big femmes ain't talking."
"It'd better be good or I'll like, pass out of fatigue. I'm so tired…"
"Seeing as they're making all this fuzz, it'll probably be something huge…"
Meanwhile, the noise around them continued to increase, and Kim's friend tried to peek over everyone else's heads, when the crowd in front of them suddenly split open, allowing Banzaï to get through.
"Right, here you are," he told Kim, who had just lain down, "Hey, great job at getting everyone here on such a short notice, Shenya's real pleased of you."
"You're welcome," she yawned back, "What's all this about, I've like, never seen everyone in one place before, ever…"
"Yeah… I'm guessing you've already guessed Shenya'll be giving a speech real soon… and she kinda asked me to come get you so you could come sit on the front row. That is, if you want to."
"Who, me? Well I... eh... o-okay…" Kim stuttered, seemingly confused.
"Well well, someone's climbing the social ladder today…" Kim's friend grinned not at all without envy.
"That'd be the day…" Kim commented cynically as she followed Banzaï through the crowd. Everyone had gathered in front of a mildly sloped, half-open cave which had a low boulder near the entrance, round which the clan had formed a semicircle. Kim quickly spotted Shetani and Shenya. When Shenya saw Kim, she blinked.
"There you are! Thanks again for getting everyone out here, you did a real good job at that," she smiled a bit nervously, "Now... whish me luck!"
"Huh?"
But in stead of replying, Shenya strode towards the flat boulder.
"Shhhsss…" Shetani hissed at Kim, who realised Shenya was goint to give that speech Banzaï had been talking 'bout. Shetani then signalled all the other Graymanes scattered throughout the crowd, who in turn urged everyone around them to keep quiet. Eventually, all background noise subsided and everyone's eyes turned towards Shenya, who was now sitting atop the boulder. As hyenas were gathered in front and beside her, it looked from a distance as if she was standing amidst the crowd, and judging by her ever increasing nervousness, Kim guessed Shenya felt like that too. An uncomfortable silence set in. Shenya, eyes filled with mild panic, stared at Banzaï first, then at Shetani, and then at Kim, who tried to smile back as a means of encouragement. Finally, she spoke up, hesitating, stuttering and not loud enough at first.
"Hi… I-eh, I appreciate you all being here… Sure are a lot of hyenas out here…"
She paused.
"You-eh…
you're probably wondering why I wanted you all here tonight… It's
been a while since we last gathered… I'll try cutting to the
chase here, I've brought you all here 'cause I've got some bad
news… Hell, no, not bad news… bad doesn't even begin to
describe it… It's tragic, terrible even… Where do I begin...?
I-I guess it all started yesterday evening... or no, it didn't
start yesterday evening, it all started decades ago... but that'd be
stating the obvious, I guess.
I'd better start by telling you a
story, a story 'bout three of our sisters 'n brothers. Their
names were Nya, Keavy and Seko, but it could've been anyone of
us.
Yesterday, they had to go out hunting. Hunting out into the
Pridelands, hunting in the lion's land. They didn't hunt on others'
lands because they were decadent, lazy or thieves. They had to,
because they were hungry. Hungry, as we all are ever since those
lions, consumed by their burning and never ceasing greed, forced us
to live our lives in exile, out in these barren Wastelands, of which
they knew could not support us, thus forcing us to organize raids on
their lands, simply to be able to continue existing. But are we to
expect any compassion, understanding even?
No, for us they have
nothing in store but hate and blind, murderous rage. So we do the
only thing we can do: we hide, we creep, stalk and hunt in the
shadows. Alas, it appeared we could not hide forever, because
yesterday, one of our hunting parties got caught: they ran into a
bunch of lions. What happened then, you probably already figured out.
The lions did not leave our sisters be, even though they didn't pose
a threat to the lions. The lions did not warn them, nor did they
chase them off. No, the lions attacked, not as to chase our sisters
away, but for one purpose only: to kill them, relentlessly butcher
them. Only one hyena escaped... Keavy and Nya however… They did not
make it back."
The crowd became noisy again, as everyone was shocked at the news. Especially the closer relatives of both deceased became quite emotional. Not that hard to understand really, as their deaths hadn't been mentioned before, even Kim had been left in the dark, and as she herself had known Nya personally, she to was quite upset. And to think only one week earlier she had been babysitting Nya's daughter… thank heavens she was already old enough for the communal den. The noise ensued, and some began to openly question why they'd been left in the dark for almost two nights. But Shenya spoke up again, now loud and confident as she had finally found the right tone.
"I
know we should have brought you this awful news sooner, and I wish
apologize personally, especially to the relatives, Nya's daughter
in particular. But we had to wait until everyone was gathered here,
for an even worse tragedy has unfolded since the brutal murder of our
dear sisters Keavy and Nya…
You see, immediately after the
butchering, the lions sent an agent or an 'emissary' as she
called herself. Indeed, they sent someone who pretended she wanted to
'discus' the tragedy they had caused… You now probably ask
yourself who might, seeing as how previous experiences have made it
painfully clear no lion is to be trusted, even bother to acknowledge
the emissary's plea in stead of just making her pay for what her
pride did to our sisters, not to mention the years of misery they
condemned us to?
But there was one hyena, one who still had faith
that somewhere in their black and tiny hearts the lions would still
have one speck of decency left. One who believed in a future where we
might one day coexist… a future where there is place for both lion
and hyena, a future we could only reach if we ended the bloodshed
here and now. One who was compassionate enough to even be willing to
forgive our worst enemies, and for the better of both our species was
willing to reach out. You all know of whom I speak. The only son of
my mother, Great-Matriarch Shenzi. The one I speak of is my brother
Vincent… Some of you might be surprised to hear me praise my
brother so, it is common knowledge we didn't always get along…"
Why all those past tenses? Where is Vincent anyways? A worse tragedy… she couldn't possibly mean…
"But even though we had our differences, I do know one thing about my brother: he was good at hearth, in ways a better hyena than I am. But… in all his kindness and understanding, Vincent made one mistake: he reached out to the lions. He reached out to the emissary, even trusted her enough to lose his guard… and facing that much trust and compliance, the lioness they had sent did what lions do best. She attacked. She murdered Vincent."
Silence. The entire clan descended into a collective muteness. Maybe it was because Vincent had few relatives – only Shenya remained. Or maybe it was the fact the clan had to cope with three grave losses in succession. But the real reason they all kept silent was because they had lost their actual leader. Sure, he had never been proclaimed matriarch (or patriarch), his sister wore the title. But even though he never got to eat first, Vincent had always held the power: he had been the one to, as his father had done before him, keep in touch with all the leading families, befriend anyone regardless of their social stature, clear out all arguments that arose between clanmembers, organize hunting trips, welcome or decline any newcomers and most importantly, keep the clan in fighting shape and train them to defend themselves against the lions. And now gone? Dead overnight without warning? Shenya continued, although now that she had mentioned her brother, she sounded a bit more emotional.
"I-I can hardly believe it myself really… Vincent gone… I have to admit, it's hard to bear… But as heartless as it may sound now, after the loss of so many lives, we cannot afford to grieve now. We cannot afford to stop and mourn about the losses we suffered, for now we have to act. Because let us not forget what has happened: Vincent offered the lions a paw, but they shamelessly gnawed it off. Vincent died believing there was still something good in lions, that we might one day live without having to fear them. But in their vicious, murderous blood-lust, they have once again proven him wrong. There is nothing good in lions, there is nothing reasonable in them, save their cunning. We'll never live peacefully side by side. Not now, not now that they've once again showing their ugly, disgusting nature. No sisters, it pains me to say it, but my brother was wrong: we can never live in peace with the lions. We will never live in peace with the lions, we will never coexist, I even fear that the lions' mere existence is an ever ongoing threat to ours. We can no-longer tolerate their presence. As long as the lions keep these lands in their choke-hold, we shall never live at ease. Twisted and perverted in nature these lions are, and as such we can not and will not surrender our future generations over to their mercy, to live at their whims. No, the time has come, sisters, now that the lions' behaviour has reached a new low, to finally, after all these years of living in fear and oppression, to take matters in our own paws. Now is the time, after yet another provocation, to finally claim our rightful place, by force. Now is the time for vengeance!"
Silence.
"Vengeance!" she shouted out again.
"Vengeance!" a part of the clan angrily replied. They shouted that single word gain, and again and again... some even raised their paws, clenched in a fist, along with the almost rhythmic shouting until finally everyone shouted out as one, their voices full of anger and bitter hate, their eyes filled with a dark fury.
