Not In Front Of The Kids!
Two Lionesses, somewhere Dusty and Quiet:
What have you gathered?
She's from the far north. The pride is a major power, and they rule upon an ancestral seat that can be traced back to the last of the Old Ways. They do not rule like the Pridelander's, and do not pass laws and hold court. However just having claim to the land has made her pride wealthy with power and influence. Their breed is dark in appearance and they grow up to be lithe and smooth. They look more like hunters than warriors, which is ironic because they spend much more time at war then peace. They are prone to restlessness with neighbouring tribes as well as feuds amongst each other. All that we can gather of her specifically is that she is viewed as a threat to the current chief, even though she is his little sister and expresses little interest in the pride. She has was a rouge for most of her life.
Good... very good. Rouges disappear all the time, and a pride that fears her won't come searching, will they?
No.
Hmm, it's almost perfect. Lithe, you say?
Lithe and smooth.
Detective Maasi, out somewhere Chasing Leads:
This pride was a hard one, their attitude and nature reflecting the territory they lay claim to. The males had to fight for every scrap of social standing they had, constantly working to remain within the family. It made them harsh and brittle. The lionesses were always on edge, searching for orders or food, forged into soldiers by pure need alone. Disciplined, effective, blunt.
Some pride members reflected their land more so than others. Hostile, ruthless and barren.
The leadership circle was the worst of it, as hidden and misleading as the desert herself.
However, where most lionesses would have been unsettled by the pride, Maasi was a mixture of unconcerned and too preoccupied. She had lived amongst and once been a beast that would have rivalled this Wasteland pride for all they got. How had she ended up here, napping in the shade by her own den? She was a guest to the pride, verging on honoured guest of prestigious position. She was treated to whatever she demanded, not that she demanded much, and respectfully addressed by all, even the leadership circle. There was no need for her to ponder why, because this fact was painfully obvious.
They were a pride with ambition, aggression and cunning to match. They fancied themselves rulers of this domain, a stretch of territory semi-Wasteland, semi-Southerland. But best laid schemes and efforts stood to crumble as their pride dwindled. Half the beasts were sterile, and the rest suffered many complications when it came to child rearing.
She was a lone lioness, found lost in the middle of the Wastelands, cubs on the way and in no position to raise let alone survive the process. At least, that was what she let them assume. Half truths were easy for her to conjure and play along with.
They had meet by the Kudu's cave. She had been staking the cavern out for many days and nights, trying to find a way around the hyena clan. It amazed her that the hyena would care for a prey animal, but from what she had heard, this Kudu was no plain beast.
It was on the fourth night of waiting and watching that four other lions had arrived. Three lions and one lioness, moving like a hunting party onto the place. Maasi spotted the opportunity and went for it.
The deal was that she would aid them in getting through the hyenas, as long as they left the Kudu untouched for her to question. They told her that they weren't there to harm the Kudu, instead all they wanted was the orphan cub.
The cub? She had surprised herself with her ability to not physically jerk once they said that. Were they here for the heir, on behalf of some dark player or in an effort to increase their own power? Neither, it seemed. They were simply from a pride with little in the way of the next generation, and so had taken to adopting orphans. And indeed their word had proven true. The fight was over quickly, the hyena folding away and running off giggling, only a light sheen of blood covering their hides. They were more intelligent than she had given them credit for. Five fully grown lions was a force wise beast fled from.
The kudu, cornered where he lay in his cavern, told them calmly that there was no cub. He was long gone, half a year nearly he had left on his own. The four lions had been disgruntle, but after searching the place for cub scent, of which there was not even a linger, they left him untouched for her.
Her questions were simple ones to begin with, made up on the spot as she waited for the four to move out of hearing range. They consisted of revealing all the water sources in the Wasteland and where her long lost brother went. He was strangely compliant, giving her the information she wanted and apologising that he couldn't really help locate her brother. Once the four lions had wonder far enough away, she had hushed him with a question which struck fear into his heart.
Where is Simba? His face didn't change, his eyes didn't widen, his nostrils didn't flair. The control he had was impressive and she noted briefly, in the back of her mind, what he was capable of. Unfortunately for him it was all useless, she was a predator, and he was prey. She could smell the fear she had struck within him.
I am afraid I do not know who you are referring to. It was at that point his heart started to pick up and race. He must have realised that the game was up after that, with the look she gave him, while his heartbeat pounded in his ears. A big swallow, followed with an attempt to collect his nerves. She waited patiently.
It's the same answer I gave you and the others before. The cub left long ago. Maasi resisted the urge to let her frustration show.
Why did you harbour him, instead of taking him back to his pride?
I never kept him here. I simply tried to nurse him back to health, and left him to make his own decisions most of the time. Then, his eye had narrowed dangerously onto her. Besides, why on earth would I return him when he was running for his life? The cub was exiled by his own father.
I don't believe you. His parents mourn him even now, his pride is kind. Running for his life? She echoed the last sentence like she was asking herself more than the Kudu. The dark forces, perhaps?
His father disowned him and passed the banishment decree, and his own uncle, hunted him to the ends of the Pridelands.
How do you know this?
Small words add up. He peeked at her from under his eyelashes. And he was most talkative after nightmares. Only a cub. They crave comfort and say more than they ever realise.
After that, he refused to tell her anymore. She decided that there wasn't much more that she needed, anyway. She knew that Simba had been here, half a year ago, and had believed his life in danger.
When she mentioned ravens and the beasts they serve, she saw hatred bubble up in his eyes.
She needed no more. He was not a player, simply an old Kudu who had saved a cub, then lost said cub to the desert a long time ago. At least she knew she was headed in the right direction. Maasi had left him with a parting observation.
There are many rumours of your strength, but you look very fragile tonight.
I once was a strong beast, I'll admit, but my health is gone.
She offered him a soft compliment and a rough apology as she left the cavern. He inclined his great horned head to her.
It was one of the most pleasant interrogations she had ever conducted, come to think of it.
She had travelled with the four lions for a week, tagging upon their hunts to get meat she didn't realise she needed so much. There was a lot she could learn from the natives in the short days she spent with them. Originally the goal was to learn how to survive better, make sure they really were just clueless orphan seekers, then be on her way.
She left it too long. The food was too good, and it was too hard to leave. She had underestimated how much of a toll her body would face, and quickly a new plan needed to be formed. It was funny when they brought her back to the pride, how everyone seemed to assume it was one of the three lions that had taken her. She had been travelling alongside them for a good two weeks by then and had hardly so much as brushed up against any, but rumours spread like illness, and every lion simply assumed it was one of the others. Did her hormones smell like a tiny two weeks? Maybe they did, she wasn't very knowledgeable of cubs in her own right, so maybe she was wrong in her assumptions.
She could see it in their eyes, the way they glanced at her slowly expanding womb. They think her a lone rouge, someone who would happily leave her cub behind once she was rid of it. They probably hoped for that, prayed even.
There was also something else there, within the leadership circle, the way they eyed her too. Like they were evaluating her worth and being incredibly pleased each time they did it. Either they were trying to get a handle on what her cubs were going to be like, or they were judging her. When it came to the barren lionesses, all who had made an effort to get on her good side, she felt like it was in regards to the cubs developing inside her.
When it came to the lions, thought, she realised that a fertile lionesses would be more of interest to them than a stranger's cubs.
She had three months. For three months she allowed herself to be dotted on by the pride. She lazed around and thought, long and hard. She thought about her cubs, of which she was gaining a steady protective sense towards. She thought about what she knew, and how incredibly upheaving she could become if she kept on the trail. She planned and plotted extensively, till it felt like she had exhausted all options and followed all trails to the point of death. There were many plans, each with their own positives and negatives, each that she was torn between in different ways. It wasn't until she was as bloated as a cow that she turned, looked upon her stomach and let a new strain of ideas enter her schemes.
She thought about the father, his wellbeing and his kingdom. What was his cub, and his heir. What her child's inheritance would be, what their place in the lands would be if she managed to carve that place out for them. Still most things were up in the air, and Maasi struggled to know. Usually she followed gut instinct, but her gut was currently busy being squished between her ribs.
It wasn't until her gave birth one night, and her single, perfect cub squeaked an annoyed squeak, that her decision was made. This thing was the sole child to the King of the Pridelands. The heir to Priderock. And even disregarding those birthrights, she was still an incredibly special cub. Her grandmother was the legendary Uru, her great-grandfather was the almost mythical Mohatu. Their blood ran in her veins. They were her ancestors, and they now watched over. Her blood, 'royal' blood, 'true' blood, 'first' blood. There were many words for the strain of lions she came from. There were fewer words for Maasi's bloodline, but they carried the same infamy. War, shadow hunters, of the old ways...
It was strange how she had once had all these plans, but upon seeing her cub for the first time, they evaporated like fog on a desert day. There wasn't a trace of anything other than complete devotion.
Maasi had now become a mother; some might be inclined to think this made her softer and weaker. In reality, she had just become one of the most dangerous beasts alive.
That night, the ancestors showered the Pridelands with warm rain. The patterns of the wind threw the grasslands around and the trees grew ripened loads of fruit seemingly before the animal's very eyes as the centre of the storm passed over them.
Rafiki danced within it, unsure of what it meant, but knowing its importance all the same. His fur starting to grey, but his joints still fluid.
A child. Somewhere, a child.
Mara. She was named, after the great river of her mother's homeland. A water so deadly and strong even the might of the Gnu Migration froze on her banks.
An Out-Of-The-Way Lioness, below Priderock's Shoulder:
A young lioness lay at her brother's feet, motionless, blending in with the male to her side seamlessly. Her coat was grey like rain water and the brother's fur was but half a shade dirtier. Their resemblance to each other was uncanny, only growing more similar as they aged and filled their lanky young bodies. Black rimmed ears perked in interest and yellow eyes traced a flock of birds as they spun down from the darkening sky. For three days and three nights it had rained, and today, just in time, it had cleared, leaving a cloudless sky that seemed so much bluer than it had ever been. It was very fitting.
Today they were being appointed their mentors. Her brother hoped to be apprenticed to a warrior while she prayed for a mentor as lazy as her. It was the start of their official place in the pride, and the end of their cub hood. The ceremony was due to begin soon, but neither of the pair seemed in a rush to leave the den that had been their home all their life. It was expected for them to move away from their mother after today, so the day had been spent enjoying the last of the time they had.
Their mother walked up behind them, smiling softly at the identical looks they shot her. Nerves, excitement. Diku chuckled to herself as she studied her children; the volatile mixture of what they were feeling was visible in their tensed backs and keen expressions. When their King's roar rumbled through the rocks, they flicked to their feet and shared a desperate glance amongst each other.
Her cubs were so tense that they forgot to nuzzle her goodbye. Diku didn't mind that much. She stretched out upon the rock that was now solely hers, and watched as they dropped down along the rocky path, headed for the ceremony.
Her happiness for them lasted all of ten minutes, before she realised how lonely it suddenly became. Diku swiveled to look back at her den, a small, homely niche among the rocks. In the beginning it had been mother and her, but once mother took her rightful place beside Mufasa, it had just been her. Not that she complained, because by then she was due for the cubs she had carried all the way from the Lakelands, and it would have grown quite crowded.
This den was where she had raised her children, small things, morphing into big things before her very eyes. Tender moments with her babies, rainy nights only she remembers as they slept snuggled tight in her fur. It wasn't like she was never going to see them again; it was just that they weren't going to be a family anymore.
She knew what the other lioness would say to that. Oh, to be a young mother again. I remember when my first little left the den, you get over it. You gotta watch out or you'll have grandcubs sneaking up on ya soon! You're free now, your own lioness! Embrace it, you've been looking out for those hairballs for too long, go have your own fun...
Hmpft. Sure that thought did tempt her, but she wasn't like them, she didn't have a mate to curl up with and celebrate long, uninterrupted nights with. And it's not like she could just go out and get herself one. There were only, what, two unattached lions in the Pridelands, one was old enough to be her great grandfather and the other never had much chemistry with her. Diku kept itching to go down the rocks and involve herself with the ceremony, but knew that it wasn't proper. It was for the cubs and their new mentors only, plus the King. They had nothing like this back in the Lakelands, so she always failed to grasp the importance of such customs, but Diku had learnt to respect the Pridelanders' ways in the time she had been among them. She would have gone and mopped on the shoulder of her mother, but Sarabi was down in the ceremony too. The large flux of cubs meant that the pride was stretched for mentors, and her reluctant mother had been finally roped in. Mentally she catalogued the cubs in her head, working to distract herself from the sad mood.
There had been Naanda's two boys. They were a fair bit older than the other cubs, and had been assigned their mentor's three moons ago. It had been around the time that Scar's lioness had arrived in her pride's party. She remembers how one of the boys, Kalifa, had tried impressing the young niece with his new position, but the girl had know nothing about the system and became more confused than anything. The two boys weren't exactly sweet, even as small cubs they had never really been described in such ways. However it didn't matter when what took its place was intense loyalty and strength. Hodari had taken up the calmer boy, Kalifa, and their resident tough-as-bull-horns lioness had the more vindictive one, Enma, placed under her tulitage.
Tonight it was her two cubs and the five cousins. The youngest cubs among them, Nala and Berta, had been bumped up so that it could all be wrapped up in the same ceremony. Diku had a feeling that was Scar's meddling, since she knew Sarabi was adamant that the younger sisters have at least another month.
Diku chuckled as she thought of her late half-brother. Simba was the youngest of them all. He would have been pulling his hair out watching all the other cubs go on without him. She wondered what mentor he would have been paired with, and what sort of place he would have been trained for within the pride. He always talked about being a warrior, didn't he?
With a scowl aimed towards herself, Diku realised that he wouldn't have receive any of that. He would have been mentored under the King, just as he had been before his death, and his place would not have been in common roles like hunter, scout or warrior, but instead as rightful king.
It was customary to give your cubs a present upon completing their ceremony. She didn't have much to give, but she knew it wasn't a fancy object her children wanted. Maybe it was time she opened up about why she left the Lakelands, and why she never discussed their father.
Actually, maybe it wasn't. Too soon. She wasn't ready, and they weren't ready. Once they became grown adults, with the ability to understand to a higher degree.
Hmm, yes. Later, much later. No matter how much her daughter haggled and poked at her for information, they weren't ready for a truth which would sound so unreasonable and abstract to a lion born and grown within the Pridelander's culture.
Diku stretched before strolling back into her newly empty den. If only she could have been appointed as a mentor, the responsibility of training a cub would have been a nice distraction. Obviously she couldn't take her own children as apprentices, another Pridelander rule she saw no point in. But perhaps Berta or the quiet Sade? Those two lionesses were well on their way to becoming strong hunters, and she was one of the best at the current moment. Nala on the other hand... did that girl even need a mentor?
No. Too many of the hunting party were already being assigned cubs. If she went as well, the pride would start to struggle to feed itself. Who even was left? Herself, Dwala, Naanda, and Hono. Dwala and Naanda were experienced, Hono was still rather young, but it was a manageable, if not a slightly exhausting tag team. Only four lionesses running the full-time hunting stint? And they had to feed not only seventeen adults, but also nine rapidly growing cubs. Ancestors! It could work, barely, as long as the apprentices actually managed to make kills during their lessons.
When it came to the males, it was an even worse situation. Only Scar, Mufasa and the new Lakelander lion were without apprentices, all three for obvious reasons.
Curse them! Why did the season have to be so fruitful last year? Just because the lands seemed to be flowering and lush, suffering little to no dry season that created a unique climate upon the Pridelands. Moral had been at an all time high, she remember the stupidly extravagant party they threw when she and mother finally arrived. The King was recently engaged and the pride seemed set to waltz off into the sunset. Once one lioness started, the rest happily piled on.
If they could get through these coming seasons, and see these cubs grown into competent pride member, she knew the pride stood to gain a lot in terms of general power and place. She knew through her mother, who had been managing the entire process, that she was very pleased with what she had put in motion.
Deciding to get a leg up, and bored out of her mind, Diku hopped down her rocks and into the Pridelands. The growing night was a good one for some solo hunting. The Lakelander turned Pridelander flowed into her adopted homeland effortlessly. Her personal cave, tucked amongst the bottom of Priderock allowed her the freedom to drift in and out without cutting through the ceremony or disturbing others. It was one of the main reasons that she stayed there, instead of moving into the communal caves like her mother had.
The hyenas were quiet tonight. Most of the clan was out doing the patrols, stepping up to fill the spaces for tonight. Living among the bedrock meant she was the closest to the hyenas, and she was starting to grasp their ins and outs. The Pridelanders seemed to hold a strong aversion for the bone-crushers, but they weren't that many of the beasts back in the Lakelands. When the clan had first moved down to the dirt behind Priderock, she had toyed with the idea of shifting to a newer, quieter cave. However, after a few weeks of getting used to the clan, Diku came to live in a precarious sort of harmony. It was like a noisy flock of parrots had moved in, and she had simply come to terms with it. Feral laughs and screams no longer stirred her from midday naps, instead the noise easily filter out, along with the whistling wind.
Diku prowled along, stopping to drink her fill from a puddle when it crossed her path. Her eyes, enhanced in the night, darted around searching for a herd, or if she was lucky, a loner. The Pridelands buzzed, more alive now than it ever was during the day. It would slow down during deep night, before stirring back to life as a fresh dawn approached. She gnashed her teeth together as she moved, an old habit bore from long nights on the patrol. The twitch made the three empty spaces on her left jaw more apparent as she ran her tongue over those spaces - another old habit – one started when her gums had ached for seemingly months after they were smashed from her mouth. Half an hour passed pleasantly, it felt as if not only were the animals in good spirits, but the plants were enjoying themselves too. The three day rain had been very rich and fertile it seemed.
Detouring into a stretch of land that was rarely hunted by the native pride, too shrubby for them to bother, Diku slipped effortlessly underneath vines and between branches. She spotted many birds nesting for the night, grass peasants and ground fowls, but past them by. So quiet that they never stirred. After a few long minutes of creatively picking her way along the forest floor, the sounds of a bigger animal carried across the distance. Its noise slight but enough for an experienced hunter like her to pin down. Diku slipped even deeper into the dry forest, her black tipped ears twitching as she tried to pick up the noise again. She narrowly avoided prowling head first into a thorn trap, managing to pause immediately as the first thrones tickled her nose. Sidestepping the aggressive plant, she breathed a sigh of relief. It could have taken her days to disentangle from the vines, not to mention how noisy it would have been – plus painful. When her son was young he had run into one, being such a small cub there was less vines that had to be pulled out of him, but it had still taken hours, and the thorns had given him wounds so deep he still carried little red scars under his coat. As a young mother in a strange land, it had traumatised her.
Something thrashed, perhaps caught on thorns? Maybe there was a few of these plants in the area. As quickly as it came the animal stilled and silence returned. She went, very cautiously, down a crater in the landscape, where the soil gave way to silver rock. Her soft paws kept her footfalls soundless. The clicking of hooves against the rocks was a giveaway, as another beast in the area shifted his weight. Diku slowed to a snail's pace as she felt her way down the dip in the earth and through some more low lying trees. When nearing the bottom, the wind lifted and she smelt the blood of an injured animal. For a few seconds this smell was her sole focus. She snuck closer and closer, her eyes glued to the outline of an antelope concealed in the grasses.
It was as she was threading through a particularly snarly shrub that she picked up the other scent in the area. She paused, drawing it in and redirecting her attention. It was of another beast who had crept underneath this very scrub. It was... familiar. It tingled along her memory. A lion, male? Diku inched back, searching for the source, the point where he brushed up against the trunk and along the ground. A male lion, she could pick it now. The concerning factor was that she couldn't recognise him. If he wasn't any of the Pridelanders, than this was a major problem. While on the subject of problems, the scent was ridiculously fresh. Guerrilla warfare had forged her well, and those instincts flew back to her. More silently than she had been before, if that was even possible, she slipped away from the wounded animal. Was he wounded from the lion, or was the lion here following the noise, just like her? Her eyes darted around, every twig and shaft of moonlight now a rouge lion lying in wait. Blood pumped through her body, heightening her state of mind.
Ingrained instincts was all she had when the male burst from his concealed ambush. She escaped with no injuries after a flurry of twisting and rolling. Obviously he thought it would be enough to send her running, but she never knew to stop when it was good for her. This was her land, she was the one with a pride at her back, how dare he posture around in front of her. Enraged by his nerve to attack her, she threw herself back. She noticed with smugness that his larger body was causing problems for him. Slipping into another scrub she let him chase the disappearing end of her tail.
Diku knew she didn't stand a chance if it came to a battle of strength; the brief lighting attack they had exchanged was enough for her to feel that he was far bigger, solid muscle wrapped around heavy bones, but she stood a chance in this terrain. She headed for the thorn vine that had nearly captured her a minute ago. Surging up the incline, her claws scrambled over the rocks as she tried to press the advantage for all she had. She brushed within an inch of the infamous vines, teeth as sticky as sap running like razors along where they hung innocently. She wrapping around the other side of the large clump. The plant seemed to be growing around and through a particular group of smooth barked trees. She peeled around so it was between her and him as he cleared the slope in one large leap. Catching her out of the corner of his eye, he charged blindly, plunging himself in between the low hanging branches. He roared with hurt and surprise as thorns gripped him. The older vines were covered in what looked like the talons of eagles, and the youngest were coated in hundreds of tiny curling hooks. They gathered across his chest and head, clutching at him and yanking him to halt. That whole section of scrub gave a loud zipping sound as the vines were lifted and pulled. The plant was a mature one, and the foundations held unfazed, its hooks relishing in the opportunity to grapple. The trees leaned before flexing back up, a shower of dried leaves raining down. When he tried to back out the vines managed to clutch him tighter, lassoing and gripping him more securely with each move he made. The attacker quietened, his body shivering and flinching as the pain started to be processed more clearly.
It was dark and had been a long time since they last met, and the blood scent blanketed the area. She felt those were good enough excuses for why she didn't recognise him the moment she stood back and took him in. In her defence, the thicket obscured his profile and made for a very dark environment, hardly any moonlight was creeping through the canopy. Besides, he had attacked her and aggression was something she had never associated with him. The male pushed against the multiple vines bunched up around his neck and chest. Using the moment to her advantage, Diku rushed the then-thought-to-be-rouge-attacker and swiped his front paws out from under him. She attempted to crack, dislocate, bruise or anything the joints with all the force her powerful body could muster. If he couldn't put weight on a limb, then it put her at an incredible advantage. She instantly wanted to follow the attack with a hiss and spit to his face, but instinct pulled her back. The vines that held him in place could give way, possibly, and she didn't want to be two inches away when that happened.
With a toe curling roar he lunged for her, but the vines refused to give. Unfortunately, something else gave way instead, a branch that most of the vines were hocked over cracked off, allowing him to catapulted a meter more. His paws thrashed out as he surged, looking to repay her for the hit, but only managing to skirt across the barrel of her chest. More of the thicket was snapped and pulled down around him as he lunged again.
His roar was soaked in anger and frustration. Moonlight flooded through the holes he had ripped into the canopy, revealing that the thorns that had sunken and ripped into nearly every inch of him as he continued to lash out. Diku hissed at him to shut up while easing herself back.
"The more you move the worse it gets, calm down!" Her words seemed to have great effect, because he stilled instantly.
"Diku?"
Erghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuuuuhh? For a split second she panicked, thinking she had attacked the King. He was always slinking around alone these days, hiding in dark places and all that. The moment passed, however, when she realised that the King was busy at the ceremony, and this lion didn't appear like him at all.
As the male stopped struggling and instead held still, she got to see him clearly. His eyes were glued to her, as if he was seeing his own dead mother rise from the grave. But slowly that look changed as the stunned seconds ticked away. His stare made her body stiffen. It was like she was the gnu and he was the crocodile, and right now she was currently ankle deep in his river. Now that they were both tense and still, the moonlight he had let in was able to absorb his features. What she saw made her think that maybe she was a walking corpse and the look he was giving her was a justified one. Because she certainly was starting to feel like dead meat. The first coherent thought that occurred to her was denial. Flat out impossible, this was not happening, couldn't be happening, shouldn't be happening.
Instead of her name being gasped, it was now growled.
"Diku."
It was a very dangerous growl, one that made her start to back up, and him strain at the thorns once more. The noise the forest made as he pulled it snapped her back to earth; it had been so quiet just a moment ago. So silent nothing in the forest had dared to breathe. The noise steadily grew as the shock waned off him, until he was building like a storm. He didn't roar, growl or so much as whisper. Sometimes he would huff after a particularly desperate struggle, but nothing more. His eyes remained fixed to her the entire time, staring right back, like he was trying to hold a telepathic conversation or perhaps search for answers in her eyes. Currently the way he was looking at her made it seem that he was pleading for an explanation, begging for answers, having a silent meltdown in front of her.
She had to go. This was scaring her. Branches above creaked and moaned as his struggles grew. Somehow he wasn't tiring at all, in fact it seemed like he was getting stronger. He had become numb to the thorns and to his body, adrenaline and fear grasping him by the base of his spine and yanking him around like a plaything. Already he had churned the ground underneath him into pieces, but still he dug his claws in and lunged again, twisting and angling, fighting like his life was on the line for each and every centimetre.
Then, a branch was snapped so savagely it sounded like an explosion. Horrid tearing filled the forest as he rushed towards her, the thorns which had been embedded so deep, now clawing long lines into the flesh. Quickly he had made half the distance between them, and her fear climaxed.
Plunging forward so she could meet him on her terms, she twisted and went low. Her shoulders dropped but her head was swung up in an attempt to bite his face off. She expected him to lift away and slam his heavy paws into her as he came back down, but he did not. She expected him to meet her attack, going for her throat as she went for his, but he did not do this either. There was no roar drowning hers out, no anger. The attack found no resistance. Her jaws wrapped firmly around his throat, the intense momentum of her attack taking the rest of her body forward, her chest thudding against his shoulder, sending him flying off balance. Claws rose up instinctively to dig into the flesh there, trying to secure her hold as he was forced backwards and wrestled onto the ground before he could get his feet under him. They both froze and stilled.
He had either been so confused and distracted by her, that he forgot how to fight, or so injured and exhausted from the vines that he couldn't. The skin she held stretched before her teeth, the massive force she had at her whim sitting tightly against his jugular. Those two possible reasons sounded plenty plausible, but she knew they were far from the truth.
She raised her tongue, to hold it against the throat she had at her mercy, and felt the shiver it enticed over his entire body. Closing her eyes, she focused on the blood thrumping under the skin, the sucking of his windpipe as he breathed soft, small breaths. He breathed like he was afraid of startling her into realising that he was a beast, and not just some funny shaped tree she was strangely biting into. His muscles crawled under the skin when he swallowed, travelling up and back as they contracted. A mane which before had seemed to billow now felt thin as it gave way to her slightest touch.
It was possible to clamp down and rip his throat out, it was what she had intended on when making this move, but, now that he had given the choice to her, laying lax beneath her, and she was faced with it... slowly, she loosened her hold and inched her face away. She was stuck down with a mixture of mortification and enlightenment. He leaned up, following her as she pulled away.
He took a deep breath and sighed as he buried his face into her shoulder. Warm breath tickled at her whiskers, mingling with her own as she leaned lightly to feel him against her cheek. It was like all the strings that had been holding him back were cut and he started to press against her. She wasn't being crushed by him, far from it, it was instead like he was drawing against her, trying to wrap her up in his arms. She hadn't realised how much of him had been hovering uncertainly out of touch. This was the last thing she wanted, the last position she wanted to be in. Not after what had happened, especially after what she had done to him, what she was doing to him. It was like he was trying to absorb ever inch of her, trying to convince himself that she really was here, with him.
This could not be happening. She pulled out of the embrace so fast that she knocked her skull against his. Neither of them so much as blinked. Standing back to hiss, all her shock and panic was funnelled into her words.
"What are you doing here?!" She whispered it, as if afraid someone else would overhear. He looked floored by the fact that she could talk. Various emotions flashed across his face before he snapped back, voice as close to breaking as it was to yelling.
"What are you doing here?" When he was done sighing angrily through his nose, she turned to glare at him.
"You can't be here. You shouldn't be. You need to leave, now, and don't come back." She shook her head furiously, unable to believe what was happening.
"What? Diku, I-" She cut him off with a furious roar.
"No!" Of all the times, this had to happen now, like this? Typical of him to cock up her life in the easiest way possible. "And if that bloody brotherhood is with you then leave twice as fast! You do realise my mother is the Queen here, right?" He listened to her in silence, grinding his jaw side to side before it popped open to retort. She cut him off again.
"Leave." Her simple word made him flinch. Taking her own advice, she spun away and ran. He didn't call out after her, but she knew he would attempt to follow her, the trees yet again shuddering and crashing as he strained against the last few vines that kept him. They wouldn't hold him for long, and she knew he would probably chase her into a volcano if she let him, so she galloped like a mad gazelle, almost outpacing the wind. It was fruitless to try and cover her trail, since her destination was obvious. What she needed to do was get there first, far ahead of him, so that the formidable presence of the pride was enough of a barrier to give him pause. Perhaps the blood loss would be too much, and he wasn't even racing after her. That thought made her feet falter, but the moment passed.
A trio of hyena barked at her when she passed their patrol. Obviously they weren't doing their job very well, she had been ambushed tonight!
"Hey! Where's the fire girl?" One gruff female asked her. Diku slowed down to a stop, casting a darting look over her shoulder as she took the moment to catch her breath. If he caught her now, at least she had three hyenas on her side.
But would that be enough? It's him after all. Swallowing the grit from her mouth, Diku shook her head in what she hoped was a casual manner.
"No fire."
All three raised their eyebrows. "Well it looks like there's a fire," one grumbled to his friend. She started to move again, trotting sideways as she tried to keep an eye on Priderock, an eye on the hyena, and another scouring the direction she had come from.
"Just want to get home. Ceremony and all that. See ya." She left before they could ask her anything else, jumping only a little when a cloud blocked the moon and the land went dark. Behind her she heard the female grumble to herself.
"Well...alright."
Her paws struck a few more strides before she came to a decision. Priderock sat in the distance, the King, her mother, her children, her pride. A harsh decision was made, but one she felt no guilt over. She would not endanger her children.
"Oi, hyena!" They had been watching her leave anyways, so it's not like they spun around or anything, but she wanted to know they were listening. "I saw a rouge lion far back that way. So keep on your toes."
Their response was two shocked what! and a low chuckle from the female.
"So there was a fire?"
Diku ignored her smirk before twisting and racing on home. She didn't anticipate how much it would hurt to do that, to cast him away as a rouge and seal his fate, but still there wasn't any regret. Once the rest of the pride was alerted, he would be hunted off to lands far, far away from her.
No regret, no guilt, but a burning stone in her gut, like the sadness was trying to light a fire in there.
The ground that ringed Priderock was packed and smooth from generations of herds and ceremonies. The pale dirt, which was dusty and pliant everywhere else, was so hard it was like running over rock. At the pace she was going, it shocked her bones to jar against, but she didn't slow. Priderock was still too far away. She could be attacked right here and they probably wouldn't notice. Getting closer, the details in the rock started to appear, and she could make out a few lions moving around up there. She rounded the base and leapt up the front of Priderock, charging along the main path. Halfway up she nearly collided with a lioness and cub.
"Hey, woah, what's the rush?" Diku gasped in deep breaths as she skidded to a stop and tried to formulate her words.
"Don't worry, honey, the ceremony has only just concluded. You're not too late," her mother laughed lightly as she observed her trying to work a stitch out of her ribs. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. "Is that blood? What happened. Diku..." The cub at her side, who had been acting rather disinterested before, now started to walk forward to sniff at her.
"Are you alright?" The cub asked. Diku nodded quickly, looking down at the girl before squaring her shoulders and lifting her head.
"It's nothing, there was some thorns, I think most of it is the other's blood." Mother's expression twitched a clear signal of her thoughts. Other? "I encountered a rouge male, south-west from here, about four miles. He seemed reluctant to attack a Pridelander, but he was still very protective of the prey he had. I've already alerted one of the patrols. I should go and let the King know." Her mother nodded sharply, the authority she held easy to see in the way she responded to the situation.
"Yes, do that. He should still be talking with some others up on the platform." Diku thanked her and passed by them.
"Awh. Sarabi, does this mean we're not going hunting anymore?" The bemused words of her mother followed.
"We're still going hunting, just a different sort of prey."
Stranger Lions, somewhere Far and Secret:
The night was at her darkest, hiding two lions flawlessly in the shadows.
"Don't let the herds see you, otherwise you could well be screwed. Every beast knows the pride's strict laws on rouges, so they would go crying to the King pretty quick. Even though there is a lot of lost trust issues with Scar..." One male stood at the entrance to the den, another lay sprawled inside, underneath the giant red stone slab, like a god come down to earth. Or perhaps more fittingly, a demon crawling up to the surface. Said immortal being had shifted his head to regard the smaller speaker, one ear twisting as he considered what he had been told.
"So we can go hunting?" He was being difficult. The smaller lion looked up to the stars for strength.
"What did I just say?" The way he hissed made the other glare.
"Don't snap at me!" The larger lion got up and walked out from under the stone slab, forcing the other to take two small steps back.
"As your spy and informant, please just listen to me." His tail swished uneasily as the other drew himself to full height. The bigger male pouted.
"Awww, you're lucky I need you." Again, the smaller male found himself rolling his eyes all the way up to his ancestors.
"I'm going to pretend that's the only way your socially incompetent arse can say you see me as a friend." That got one dry ha from the bigger.
"Incredibly lucky I need you," he scoffed while starting to move past the messenger.
"Okay, go it? So keep following my advice and don't you dare go thinking about starting any hunting parties." His face twisted, but the smaller could not see.
"But I need strong buffalo meat, I need a big hunt. Do you know how boring it is to sit here licking my coat thin? Me? Me! Hiding out in a hole like some sort of lowly prey animal." At the same time they both picked up the scent of blood and turned to inspect the third member of their group shuffling towards them with an antelope.
"Why can't you be more like Bukoba?" The smaller sighed, carrying on the conversation while the hunter was still out of ear shot.
"Because that guy is a rock born into the wrong body. He would be over the moon if I ordered him to find a sunny spot and stay there." The lion started to move towards the fresh meat while he talked, the other tagging behind him.
"What, so a rock is your most feared guard?" He found that funny.
"Hard to kill a rock." He found that hard to argue.
As they walked forward, Bukoba stopped suddenly and dropped his kill to the ground. The Alpha kept going for the kill without concern, wrapping his jaws around it and pulling it onto its back. The smaller lion paused, knowing in the hierarchy he was below Bukoba and had to wait for him to eat. He kept inching forward silently, curious about the kill and the lion – he hadn't really met Bukoba yet, and he was just standing there like a statue. It was hard to pick any sort of expression in the particularly dark night, which was probably why he didn't sense any danger until it was on top of him, going for his throat.
Almost as if he had crossed a clearly drawn line, Bukoba sprung to life and barrelled into his body. Scrambling to keep the maniac off him, he was forced onto his back. His eyes widened as paws slipped across a chest already slick and dirty with blood. The blood scent had seemed a bit too strong for the small antelope, now that he thought about it.
It was taking all his strength to fend off Bukoba's attempts for his head and neck. Dimly he was aware that the Alpha was trying to drag Bukoba off him, the big lion's efforts were the sole reason that he wasn't a shredded pile of cat meat by now. The side of his head had been cuffed with all the force of a zebra kick, contributing to both a splitting headache and a loss of hearing. Somewhere in there, Bukoba's roars started to filter through to his conscious.
"Why didn't you tell me about Diku?" It was like he was trapped under a mountain. A mountain that was trying to bully him into talking. Tell him about what? Who? Diku, that sounded familiar... with what felt like his last breath, he managed to choke.
"The other lioness?" He looked to the Alpha as if searching for clues, but that proved to be a useless effort. All he got was another slap, this time to his sensitive nose. It was a wonder Bukoba even heard his wheezy question over his own constant growls and quakes.
"Yes, the other Lakelander you piece of shit!" The battle of strength came to an end with Bukoba winning, a heavy paw slamming down on his throat and trying to snap through the skin and bone.
"I wasn't...aware...she...mattered," just as he was starting to see a whole new sky of stars, the pressure was gone.
"Oh, this other one is Diku? What an interesting development," the Alpha's innocent comment almost enraged Bukoba more. At least it wasn't directed just at him anymore.
"You knew too. Why wasn't I told?" Claws ripped into his shoulder, he felt like complaining, but wisely kept his mouth clamped shut.
"Please get off our spy."
"You rat."
Bukoba did get off him, but only so he could stalk over to the Alpha, looking desperately close to having a go at him as well. While coughing his lungs back into working order, he briefly fantasied about who would win if the two ever did, by some freak doomsday phenomenon, end up fighting. While nosily thrashing around for air, he missed the hushed words shooting between the two brothers.
"Alright, I guess we're going to do this," the Alpha rolled his shoulders, limbering up for what could well be the most carefully worded explanation of his career.
"Damn right you're going to, give me one good reason you pathetic inbred." His hot breath fluttered across the Alpha's face, racing due to all the trials of the night, and all the adrenaline they gave him.
"Now I know that's the anger talking, so I'm going to let that slide." His attempt at a cool attitude fizzed out as it hit a smoldering wall of burning anger. As much as he seemed collected on the outside, the Alpha knew that how this conversation went down could make or break the loyalty of his friend. He had been practicing and revising this speech since the day he found out Diku was in the pride. What he needed was to make sure it came out less as his own selfish want, and more like he was carrying in the only way he knew how. Plus there was a huge backlog of opinions he had on Diku which it would be nice to get off his chest.
"That lioness was nothing but grief for me. You would leave the brotherhood for days just to track her down and have a disgustingly awkward chat with her. You should have seen yourself when we were young, always rolling over for her." He shook his head in disbelief of his own memories. "What boggled my mind was that you killed a few guys for trying it on with her, but couldn't find the nerve to claim her for yourself. Pathetic. You were my greatest warrior until she went and ran away with your balls. We were facing tough times, I needed you back, the real you. So I got rid of her." Oh no, there's the reaction, quick, pacify, pacify! "Don't give me that look, I could have simply killed her. You know how I take care of problems, and she was becoming a very big problem." It took all of his Alpha prowess to get those two sentences out before being attacked, but he was feared for good reason, and that reason was becoming highly useful at the present moment. "Still I had respect for you, no matter how much it dwindled when you were acting all love-sick, so I honoured you that much by letting her live. She's far safer now then she ever was." It was a lot to dump on a lion who had been a grief stricken wreck for the past year. It was a lot to dump on anyone who believed their thousand year crush slash best friend to have died in a bush fire.
"Listen, I'm telling you the truth – the complete truth - because I've been thinking. Now hear me out on this, alright. If this plan goes through, which it has a very good chance to, then I will give her to you, and she will be yours to do as you wish. You can stroll along the river bank, give her flowers and work up the nerve to tell her how you feel under a setting sun. You can give her a den and protect her like you used to fantasies about. Sometimes it's a curse knowing you as well as I do. She'll be protected in the new order, she'll be safe."
A long moment of angry thoughts passed, his emotions racing clearly across his face as he debated between outrage at what his brother had done, and calm at the idea of having Diku, safe, with him, alive. She was back from the dead, and that was enough of a prize to comfort the beast. After all this time, she was alive, and now this was being piled on top of him. No more meeting in secret, no more hiding from her pride, no more weeks apart, no more worrying over her safety as the rebellions raged.
He could have easily killed her, but he didn't. He was promising protection for her, which wasn't an offer that got thrown around a lot. Just as it seemed a conclusion was drawing on the lion's face, Kuu groaned and muttered. He had to fight the urge to slash at the boy, not wanting his carefully crafted words to be uprooted by anything the idiot said. However, his restraint was rewarded.
"Ah. Guess this isn't a good time to tell you that she's had some cubs while here."
He smirked. This was the finishing blow. "And I'll even throw in that guy, once we learn who he is, and let you kill him however you want. Free of charge."
"Deal."
