Above all else
"Almost there now… just a tiny bit more…"
Not.
Kiruhu had been
repeating himself for hours on end now it seemed, but the more he
tried to talk courage into her, the longer it began to take Vitani to
advance yet another step towards the shrouded peaks emerging in front
of her. And the surroundings didn't really help to improve her mood
a lot either: gray rocks, gray clouds, gray shadows… even the
already scare vegetation seemed to be turning gray as well.
Reminded
her a bit of the Wastelands where she had first encountered Vincent,
save for the steep slope she was now walking, which made each lifting
of the paw an endeavor on its own. Not to mention the cold winds
which seemed to be slicing through her like burning claws, nor the
ever blackening clouds in front of her which enshrouded the
White-Pass peaks. She didn't like the regular clouds to start with,
but the thought of having to pass under those near-black abominations
was almost unbearable. But strangely enough, Vitani seemed to be the
only one to appreciate the grimness all around them, as both Kiruhu
and Vincent were only focused on racing to the actual White Pass,
much to Vitani's annoyance.
"Y… You guys… I-I can't keep this up, slow down, will ya…"
Vincent halted almost immediately upon hearing Vitani's voice, as her talking finally ended an awkward silence which had lasted for hours it seemed (though it was actually more a matter of minutes). He immediately, but carefully as not to slip on the steep surface, retraced his steps towards Vitani, who was sitting down by now.
"Hey, are you okay?" he considerately asked.
"What do you think? I'm exhausted and I'm freezing… And I'm pretty sure you are too."
"Who wouldn't be… but the sooner we get to the pass, the sooner we're rid of all this."
"I don't know… I'm getting the feeling that crossing this damn pass ain't working, coming here might have been a mistake… Can't we just turn back?" Vitani complained.
"No!" both Vincent
and Kiruhu suddenly shouted, be it for different reasons.
Vincent
still hoped crossing the passes would give him enough time to
confront his sister before she went and did whatever it was she
planned on doing when she had started plotting against him (if she
had indeed been the one behind the thwarted assassination attempt at
Vincent's life, which Vincent deemed likely). Too bad he still
thought he could not mention it to Vitani, for her hearing what
Vincent's sister might have been up to could render Vitani reckless,
though Vincent began to realize that was just an excuse he made to
fool himself. The truth was, he just didn't have the guts to explain
to Vitani how he himself had in fact been the one to prepare the clan
for a confrontation with the lions, both mentally and physically.
Indeed, before Vincent had met Vitani, the only thing stopping
him from leading an attack against the lions himself had been the
prospect of a possible defeat! But having to confess that would of
course put a real damper on his developing relationship with Vitani.
Kiruhu, on the other hand, was not just willing to let the lioness turn back, not now that she had followed him this far onto his road towards personal redemption already, a road which would finally lead the cheetah away from a past that would otherwise continue to stalk him for the rest of his days, or so he thought.
Both males contemplated on a way to persuade Vitani to stay the course, and it seemed Kiruhu was the better liar, as he spoke up first (to Vincent's relief). First, the cheetah turned back and approached Vitani.
"Ma'am I know you're tired. I know you're cold. We all are, I'm just better at pretending I'm not, and the hyena just doesn't want to look weak in front of you," Kiruku spoke in his most compassionate manner, whilst still retaining his characterizing cool.
"Don't ma'am me..."
Vitani mumbled.
Vincent was a bit embarrassed at Kiruhu's sharp
observations, but did not protest. Kiruhu continued.
"Look, miss, I'm trying to help you here. We're just minutes away from the Pass, turning back now would mean that all the cold, exhaustion and hardship we're enduring now would have been in vain. And once we get to the Pass, you'll have nothing to worry about anymore, it'll all be over before sundown."
"Come on, Sunshine, you heard the man, just a bit further and you'll have seen the last of these bloody passes."
Kiruhu suddenly giggled at Vincent's comment, and both Vincent and Vitani stared at him, a bit confused, as for all they knew Kiruhu usually wasn't the giggling type. And although he felt a bit like he'd been caught of guard, the cheetah was able to ignore their stares and quickly addressed Vitani once more, before any annoying questions could arise.
"Just try thinking 'bout something warm, ma'am, that always helps me out."
And as soon as Kiruhu saw the grin on Vitani's face, he knew he finally had her convinced.
"I'll try thinking 'bout last night..." Vitani grinned at Vincent who was by now sitting next to her. He smiled back and gently licked her muzzle, after which she returned the favor.
Finally! Seeing as how neither Vincent nor Vitani had really acknowledged their mutual feelings after they had gotten up that morning(still locked in a firm embrace from the night before), they both felt relieved to know the other one had no regrets about what had come to pas earlier. To the contrary: Vitani, for one, had never felt better for a long, long time. She was still a bit confused though, as she couldn't really name the feelings she had for Vincent. She supposed it felt a bit like love, but in a rather unusual way (the least one could say considering she was a lion and he was a hyena); certainly not the way Kovu loved Kira for example, nor the way she had loved her brothers or her mother. Maybe it was a bit like the love a mother has for her cubs. Yeah, that was about it: she loved Vincent like the big, smelly cub he was, always getting himself into all sorts of trouble. And one way or another, she had felt like that since the first time they had met, nearly two years ago at the edge of the Wastelands.
With renewed energy,
the group continued the climb towards the pass. The weather, however,
kept deteriorating: the winds got stronger and the clouds got both
thicker and darker. And as he stared at the ever-shrouded twin peaks
that comprised the White-Passes, Kiruhu contemplated on how seemingly
fortunate he had been: everything seemed to be going his way, from
his encounter with the lioness and her unlikely companion to the
blizzard which enthralled the pass. It had to be Destiny, no doubt
about it.
'No-one lives to be that lucky,' Kiruku thought, 'Let's
just hope I do.'
Kiruhu's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Vitani suddenly terminated her whispered (and undoubtedly intimate) conversation with Vincent and called out to Kiruhu who was leading the way.
"Hey Kiruhu!"
"Ma'am?"
"Don't ma... whatever. I just wanted to ask you 'bout that tail of yours..."
"Real smooth..." Vincent sighed. Not that he hadn't noticed the shortness of Kiruhu's tail, but Vitani's way of pointing it out was just a bit blunt. But that was Outlander-style for ya, love it or leave it. Kiruhu, however, didn't seem to mind.
"I'm guessing you're referring to it's length. Or rather the lack of it," Kiruku calmly responded.
"Eh, yeah. Sorry I asked... It's just..."
"Don't be, I do not bear secrets regarding my tail. It is just a tail after all... Part of it got bitten off, 's all."
"Ouch... who's the culprit?"
"Well, I didn't really get his name, being busy running for my life" Kiruhu smiled, "All I know is it was a lion."
"Ah... Awkward..." Vitani whispered, "Sorry..."
"Don't be, ma'am. After all, why oh why would I hold a grudge against you, if it wasn't you who bit of my tail in the first place?" Kiruhu commented, trying his best not to sound ironic
"Besides, it could have been a lot worse. I say he got off lucky, just losing his tail," Vincent noted.
"Yes, how lucky of me indeed to lose nothing but my tail to the lions..." Kiruhu grumbled, now unable to hide his irony.
Suddenly, both Vincent and Kiruhu were startled at a cry from Vitani.
"You guys! There's something really weird falling from the sky here!"
Only vincent bothered to look up, instantly noticing a few lone, fluffy white specks gliding down from the clouds. Kiruhu however, as always, kept his cool.
"Don't worry, ma'am. That's just snow. It won't hurt you, you can even eat it, although it will turn to water if you do. It's just a bit chill, nothing that extraordinary once you get used to it," he explained. Meanwhile, Vincent looked a bit surprised as the snowflakes he caught disappeared as soon as he touched them.
"I'm not liking what I'm seeing here... Couldn't you tell of this sooner?" Vitani complained.
"You're right, maybe I should have," Kiruku considered, "But then again, did you never wonder why the White Passes were white to start with?"
"You mean there is more of this stuff uphill?" Vitani gasped.
"Don't worry; it's just a bit frosty. And if we make it through the Pass fast enough, it'll be a walk in the park."
"And what if we don't make it through fast enough?" Vincent asked more or less rhetorical.
"Compare it to walking through a desert: if you get from oasis to oasis in time, the heat won't get to you. Snow is a bit like a desert, only that you have to get out of the snow before the cold in stead of the heat gets to you."
Both Vincent and Vitani looked very disturbed after that comment.
"Don't worry, it's not even half as bad as it sounds. I've already gone through the pass countless times without the slightest hints of trouble, so I'm sure predators like you can manage it too."
Vitani groaned profoundly, and so did Vincent. But having come this far already, they decided they could just as well take their chances and face the so called 'snow'. And in doing so they also acknowledged their curiosity concerning whatever it was that seemed to make the White Passes white. It was curiosity that killed the cat.
Not before long though, the snowfall increased dramatically as the group got higher, up unto the point where it covered most of their surroundings in a thick, white veil, which presented a new difficulty: their paws began hurting more and more because of the cold, until they finally started feeling numb, a situation which could not be allowed to endure for too long. And as the snowfall kept increasing still, the visibility decreased in equal measure, as the still present vicious winds blew the snow into their eyes, obscuring their view. To make things worse, Vitani became increasingly tired, deviating dangerously far from Kiruhu, who kept a steady pace.
"Stop! It's too dangerous to go on like this... Ma'am, you okay?" Kiruhu asked Vitani as he paused and turned back
"I can't keep this up," she huffed, barely audible above the noise created by the forming blizzard.
"Right, new plan; we can't lose anyone here, not with zero visibility, 'cause we'll never find you back if we do. Miss, you take point, because you're obviously the slowest of the lot. Me and the hyena will take the tail position" Kiruhu commanded, "Just keep moving forward 'till I give you a pat on the back, okay?"
Vitani nodded: if she'd be up front, she'd at least be the one choosing their walking speed. Vincent agreed as well, seeing as he had absolutely no experience whatsoever when it came to hiking in a blizzard and thus had little choice but to trust Kiruhu in the matter.
"Ok, Miss, I'll make sure you don't take a wrong turn. And you, hyena, make sure you never lose sight of me, okay?"
"Why don't you just call me 'sir'?" Vincent grumbled, commenting on Kiruhu calling him 'hyena' all the time whilst he addressed Vitani as 'ma'am' or 'miss'.
They set of again,
Vitani now up front. Early on, Vincent could still see way past
Vitani, as well as most of his surroundings. He even sometimes
managed to look back. In doing so, he quickly noticed they were
becoming surrounded by two slopes; the peaks. That meant they were
about to go through the pass in between the peaks; the White Pass.
However, in time, Vincent's vision became more and more
obscured by the increasing snowfall swept up by the relentless winds,
not to mention the trouble he had walking through an increasingly
dense layer of snow lying on the ground. After a while, he didn't
bother to look around him anymore and didn't even dare too look
behind him, fearing he'd lose sight of Kiruhu in front of him (as
Kiruhu's back was about the only thing he could still see through the
white shroud all around him).
If not for the snow blocking his
vision, Vincent would have been able to see the White Pass in front
of him: a small maze of deep and shallow canyons, riddled with small
cave-ins and ledges. The only way he noticed they had reached it was
when the slope began to fade away, signifying they had reached the
more or less flat pass. However, after a while, he started feeling
they were going up again, and as he looked to his right side, Vincent
suddenly saw a massive rock wall rising up next to him: they had been
walking in a small canyon and were now climbing out of it. Good thing
Kiruhu guided them, or they'd have never found their way across the
pass, not in that kind of weather anyway.
As they continued to
climb for quite some time, Vincent began to feel that the winds were
more or less subsiding, probably due to the unusual fluxes the
canyons, combined with the pass and the blizzard, created. And while
the rock wall next to him was slowly evening out (probably signifying
they were nearing the top of the canyon), some of Vincent's vision
returned, although the snowfall was still omnipresent, forming a
white layer on his fur. But at least he was now, for the first time
in quite a while, able to see past Kiruhu's backside: his paws, his
ears and in front of him nothing but endless whiteness... Nothing but
endless whiteness? Vincent froze (albeit still not literally of
course). Where was Vitani?
"Kiruhu!" Vincent tried shouting out above the shrill screeches the wind produced as it sped through the canyon below them. Kiruhu, however, just kept on walking (though 'wading' might be a better word in the given circumstances).
"Hey Kiruhu!" Vincent shouted again whilst making an effort to gain on the cheetah, "Kiruhu, Where's Vitani? You've lost Vitani!"
But the cheetah kept ignoring Vincent's plea, until eventually Vincent caught up with the cheetah (which took a comparatively long time because of the hindrance the snow presented).
"Kiruhu!"
Finally, Kiruhu stopped and turned around. Upon seeing the look on Kiruhu's face, Vincent found himself backing off a few paces. He knew that look, it was the same one the cheetah had briefly given him upon their first acquaintance, and now that Vincent came to think of it, it was also the same look Kali had given him just moments before she had chased Vincent down the cliff a few days ago.
"Where's Vitani?"
Kiruhu didn't answer, but in stead just stared at Vincent in contempt, after which he turned around.
"You got of lucky, hyena. I've got nothing against hyenas... good thing for you I just wanted to start of with a clean slate."
Vincent just stared in disbelief. That was it?
"Hey! Don't you turn your back on me! I'm talking to you, you bastard! What did you do to her? Where is Vitani? What the hell did you do to her?" Vincent shouted angrily as he tried following Kiruhu, whilst the winds were coming back again.
"I didn't do anything, hyena. She just got lost walking the White Pass. Accidents can happen 'round these parts, though I do have to admit I was more than happy to accommodate them," Kiruhu commented without the slightest hint of emotion, as he was still continuing his way up the flattening slope. Vincent, however, now fueled by anger, wasn't about to just let him walk away. And although gaining on Kiruhu meant slipping and falling down in the snow twice, it didn't take him long to reach the cheetah again.
"You damn bastard! What do you think you're doing? You're out of you're mind? What did you do to her?"
"I guess I intentionally lost track of her..."
"But... why in the
Spirits name... what did she ever do to you?" Vincent gasped in
disbelief. This couldn't possibly just be about Kiruhu's tail? But
when Kiruhu gave Vincent that look of his again, he suddenly realized
what was going on. Vengeance.
Nothing more, nothing less; just
vengeance's blind justice. The only thing which all predators seemed
to have in common, the one lingua franca to unite all under
the heavens. The thought of it sent a shiver down Vincent's spine,
one which even the frostiest of winds could not ever have forced upon
him. Standing on the snow-covered ledge with Kiruhu, Vincent suddenly
realized how omnipresent it had become, vengeance, how it covered
everyone's life like a thick layer of snow, and his own most of all.
His father trying to avenge the injustice done to the clan at
Priderock all those years ago, Kali trying to avenge her mother, the
clan (probably) avenging Vincent's supposed death, and now Kiruhu,
taking payback for whatever wrong it was a lion had probably once
done onto him. Was that it, was that the purpose of life? Forget the
Circle of Life, the one thing that bound every creature great and
small called itself not life, but vengeance. And its closest
relative, of course: hatred.
Maybe it was that ghastly notion
which made Vincent cross the line between controlled anger and
unleashed fury, but more likely he just conformed himself to the
principle that one wrong should be undone by another, wanting to make
Kiruhu bleed for whatever fate it was that he had condemned Vitani
to, as that unfortunate lioness now found herself deserted in a
frozen maze, with no-one around to acknowledge her desperate screams
for help. It was the thought of Vitani helplessly standing in a snow
covered wilderness, left for dead, that ultimately pushed Vincent
over the line. Whilst screaming various profanities, Vincent tried
leaping forward towards Kiruhu. His attempt, however, was cut short
by the abundant snow under his paws, which made him trip. Kiruhu, who
had more or less expected a somehow what emotional reaction from
Vincent, did of course do his utmost best to counter Vincent's attack
by using his superior speed to try and outrun his adversary. In doing
so, however, the cheetah made one miscalculation: his speed, combined
with him being much lighter that the hyena, meant Kiruhu was actually
at disadvantage, as his puny mass meant he had less grip on the
slippery surface. Realizing this, albeit too late, Kiruhu was
suddenly caught by panic and tried desperately to wade away from his
opponent, to no avail: in a matter of seconds, Vincent had come close
enough to Kiruhu to pounce him, what he thus did.
Here, it was
Vincent who made the mistake, as he forgot pouncing Kiruhu would get
them both sliding, and sliding is not necessarily a good thing when
you're fighting on a narrow ledge. And so, even before Vincent got
the time to gnaw at Kiruhu's neck, they found themselves both falling
down the ledge, towards the maze they'd been trying to get out of.
As Vincent had been the one to jump Kiruhu, he was the one on
top, and so the cheetah was the first one to hit the scattered, snow
covered rocks spread out all over the slope as they sled down (as the
ledge was actually more of a very steep lope than an actual ledge).
And although Vincent got his share of rocks smashed onto his body
too, he was still in a notably better shape when he hit the bottom of
the canyon with a muted thump, not audible because of the still
ever-present screeching winds around him. Although stunned for a
moment, and feeling like he had fallen down a cliff two times in
succession in under three days time (which happened to be the case,
again), he was still able to get up. It took him a while to regain
his orientation, not to mention he had to overcome the pain that
comes with falling down from high elevations, but eventually he
spotted Kiruhu, a few meters in front of him. The cheetah jut lay
motionless in the snow, which had already started partially covering
him.
"You happy now, huh? You been anxious for this? You stupid bastard!" Vincent shouted as he dragged himself towards Kiruhu. He tripped halfway.
"Ow! Uh... look at what you've done, damn idiot! Look!" Vincent coughed as he laboriously tried getting up again. The cheetah, however, remained motionless still.
"Like hell I'm letting you of so easy... You're gonna bleed for what you did to Vitani... Ow!" Vincent shouted, until he bumped his paw onto a stone which had been obscured by the snow, and tripped yet again. Angry, desperate and frustrated as he was feeling colder by the minute and kept tripping over, Vincent turned to the heavens and produced the loudest swear he had ever mustered, but the only response he got was the winds' never subsiding howling. And as despair got a hold of him, he then just sat down, sobbing, contemplating on the events that had led him there. But most of all, his thoughts went out to Vitani, who was probably in a comparable mess by now.
Then, suddenly, like a lone ray of sunlight to break through the cloud deck, Vincent imagined hearing a faint sound above the noise produced by the winds. He turned his head in the hopes of hearing something again, and indeed: not before long his big ears caught the sound again. He imagined hearing someone's voice. Could it be? Seeing as he was really out of options and hoping he had really heard someone, that someone being Vitani of course, he tried shouting again with all the strength he had left in him.
"Vitani!"
Immediately after
shouting her name, he broke out in cough again, as the fatigue and
cold air started to hamper his breathing. But as he had to listen
closely again, he tried his best suppressing his cough. For a moment,
all he could hear was his own echo, be it real or imaginative, but
then, suddenly, he heard his own name resounding through above the
wind's empty howl. As he felt too tired to both move and shout
simultaneously, he tried pouring all his effort in shouting even
more, hoping Vitani could find him through the blizzard, although he
knew the chances of that ever happening were slim at best when taking
the distortions that come with a peculiar location such as a mountain
pass into account.
But against all odds, against all laws of
nature it seemed, Vincent began hearing his own name being shouted at
an ever closer proximity. Maybe it had been the Kings of old guiding
her paws, or the Spirits directing Vincent's voice towards her, or
maybe it was just sheer luck; regardless, within a few short moments
that seemed to drag on for an eternity, Vitani's posture appeared
through the curtains of snow. Vincent didn't believe his own eyes at
first, as the snow made the image of her pale and blurred, nearly
unrecognizable. But when he could finally appreciate her heavenly
blue eyes, he knew it was Vitani. Now fueled by sheer joy and relief,
Vincent managed to crawl back onto his paws and stumble forth towards
her. His exclamations of relief, however, got stuck halfway his soar
throat.
"Vincent!" Vitani cried out as she too waded forward. Just before reaching her, however, the hyena tripped again, falling face down in the snow, unable to immediately get up again.
"Heavens! What happened to you!"
"I... fell... down..."
"Thank the Kings you're still all right! You were gone all of a sudden."
"I... thought I lost... you," Vincent mumbled, hardly audible. Vitani licked his muzzle, but he couldn't feel a thing, as it was all numb of the cold.
"What happened back there?"
"K... Kiruhu..."
Both stared at the cheetah, now covered in snow for a moment, when Vincent addressed Vitani again.
"I thought I'd lost you..."
"You did, for a second there, you did. But we can't talk now, we got to get out of this place!"
Without further ado, Vitani waded forward towards Kiruhu and gently grabbed him between her yaws, dragging him forward. As he had the energy nor the spirit to tell of Kiruhu's betrayal, Vincent just followed Vitani, stumbling behind her. She was right, if they didn't got out of the snow and wind fast enough... Then, suddenly, Vitani stopped to look around, after which she put Kiruhu on the ground again .
"This is useless, we can't see anything... and we don't know where to go anyway now that our guide is out cold..." she sighed with a hint of despair.
"Te ledge... there's
a way out of this canyon... just stick to the rock wall," Vincent
uttered, not willing to give up now that he'd finally found Vitani
again, not willing to face the inevitable, though he was pretty sure
he couldn't make it out even if they were to find the ledge.
Nonetheless, Vitani picked up Kiruhu again, and then followed
Vincent, who had by now reached the snow-covered wall, leaning
against it to combat the fatigue.
But as they stumbled on,
Vincent, regularly using the rock wall for support, began to face the
facts: they weren't getting out of the White Pass alive, chances were
they wouldn't even find the ledge: they were probably going the wrong
way anyway. Then, whilst Vincent once again tried to secure support
against the rocks, he suddenly disappeared from Vitani's sight.
Panicking, she leaped forward, fearing fate had once again spat in
her face, only to find Vincent had stumbled upon a small hidden cave,
the entrance of which had been previously covered in snow. Whilst
still carrying the unconscious (or maybe dead, she wasn't sure)
Kiruhu, Vitani stumbled into the cave as well to check on Vincent,
who seemed to be about KO. She put the cheetah on the stone floor and
looked behind her, at the blizzard which still raged on outside. They
weren't going any further, that she now knew. Their story 'd end
here, in a cave somewhere in between the White Passes' twin peaks.
Staring outside, she heard Vincent groaning.
"Hey, you're still with me? Don't you walk out on me, you hear?" she tried encouraging him, though Vitani's voice was by now losing much of it's force.
"I... I'm sorry..."
"Come on, Vincent, don't give up now... It's not over yet... We can still..."
But Vitani couldn't end her sentence, as her words stayed stuck in the back of her throat. She wasn't fooling anyone, it was over.
"I...'m sorry I got you mixed up in all of this... sorry I dragged all the way up here..."
Vitani felt her tears slowly making their way down her face as she cried. She just wasn't going to give up, she couldn't just give up.
"No! I won't have it! It's over when it's over!" she suddenly shouted, "No Outlander just gives up like this!"
With renewed determination, she grabbed the now seemingly passed out Vincent and dragged him to the back of the cave, and Kiruhu as well, after which she returned to the entrance and shoved as much snow as possible towards the opening.
"We're getting out of this, you'll see," she mumbled franticly, "We're safe here... there's no wind here, and the rocks will keep out the cold, yeah, they'll keep it out, you'll see..."
After she had nearly shut the entrance, she headed back to Kiruhu and Vincent, setteling down next to them and pulling them closer to her.
"We'll just keep each other warm 'till it's gone, 'till the snow and clouds are gone, 'till it ain't cold no more... and the sun 'll shine..." she sobbed, believing not a word of what she said. And as she drifted ever further away from consciousness, she eventually became convinced she'd die in that cave, a lonely lioness laying side by side with a cheetah and a hyena.
