XX
Izegbe
"I don't know what you want or what you're planning, but I'm not going along with it. You're wasting your time!" snarled Meersha as Ahadgna walked over, Yawnda trailing behind. "If you don't let me go I'll-" she started to threaten, but the white lioness cut her off.
"Or you'll what?" Ahadgna challenged. "Fight? Look around you - there's thirty well raised, well experienced lionesses against one adolescent - you." and that's when she give a wicked smile. "Or were you planning on getting your friends here? I'd like to know how...and besides, even if they came, you know what we'd do to them."
"What'd they do to you?" Meersha whispered coldly, staring into Ahadgna's piercing eyes as she took a step forward so that they were face to face.
"I told you...They stumbled upon our lands, and acted as if they were cubs so that they could get to us. They took our cubs' meat. They took our cub. They had manes." she exclaimed, seeming to grow angry now.
"So?" growled Meersha, somewhat surprised.
All the lionesses were watching now. It was the whole Broken-Claw pride, that was obviously much bigger than when Gatu and Banjija had visited them several full moons before. Now that the female cubs were older, they looked almost adult, though they were still younger than Meersha herself. They were also taught and raised to fight, which beat the odds - if possible - even more. The question was, where were the male cubs?
"You know very well yourself about how males are." Ahadgna lowly growled.
"What do you mean?" and Meersha slightly tilted her head.
"You know what I mean. Every lioness here does...except the ones we raised ourselves...Males. Lions. They take over your pride and family and either kill you or kill your cubs. All of them are." At her words, Meersha would've broken down, if she had not already built up her strength, spirit and courage, living out in the world and learning to survive without a pride or the rest of the family. She had grown strong. Very strong. But the sharp lion went on with, "All except..."
Ahadgna smiled again, and Meersha was so stunned at the expression that she took a step back.
"Come. Follow me. It's time to meet the only true males in this world."
She turned, and Meersha quickly followed. Behind her, the rest of the pride padded after them.
"What makes them true?" Meersha managed to question as the continued to walk in the moonlight.
The savannah was greatly lit by that moon and its stars that so littered the dark, vast sky above. Crisp was the atmosphere, as the wind strongly pushed each blade to lightly slant to the north. Crickets chirped, filling the night with their gentle songs.
"Because they were raised by us." stated Ahadgna, not looking back at the adolescent female. "We taught them the right ways of life. They know better than to take over any pride..."
Soon, they stopped, right near three unusual stones that rose up at least five feet into the air, where the moon seemed to stay right behind them. The circular rocks were long and vertical, much like solid cylinders.
"There," whispered Ahadgna as she slowly sat down, cold eyes staring at the rocks.
Meersha sat behind her, as did the rest of the pride.
"What are you talking about?" she began. "There's no-"
Just then, three lions leapt out from nowhere, causing Meersha to jump in surprise. She watched as one jumped up on a rock, then pounced to the other, and after that to the last one. The other two followed, and soon, each lion was sitting upon one of the rocks. They seemed to glisten in the moonlight - at least their eyes, which seemed sharp and were all the same color: blue. Ahadgna turned to Meersha with a grin.
"Blue. The color of the true lion." she exclaimed, before standing up. "Half-cub, I would like to introduce to you, the true lions! The Drie-Leeu!...Our sons!"
Suddenly Meersha couldn't take it anymore and leapt up, snarling, "Look! I don't care who they are! Or who you are! I want out of here!"
Ahadgna shook her head and said, "I am sorry, half-cub, but this cannot be done."
"My name is Meersha."
"We will deal with your name later..."
"What do you want me for?!" she cried.
Besides the crickets and the lonely breeze, everyone was quiet as they watched, listened and waited.
Ahadgna replied, "You have the scent of those murderous males over you. You seem to know them..." She waited for Meersha to say something, but she continued the silence as she glared. "We must help you. Whether you liked them or not, you are going to be taught the way we taught our cubs, who are now as old as you. You will refer to them," she nodded to the other lionesses, "as sisters. I will be called Mother. And the Drie-Leeu are your brothers...for now."
Suddenly a lioness jumped from the pride and pleaded, "Mother, you can't!"
Ahadgna seemed to ignore her. "For when the time comes," she went on. "We will bring you back here: to the Rock Claws. That is when you see them like this again, and you will pick one, to not be your brother, but to be your mate, so that you can continue the Broken-Claw pride. You will have cubs of your own, while adopting others who have been chased off by non-true male lions. But, that won't be till you're old enough. For now, they are your brothers..." and that's when she turned to the lioness who had pleaded. "Yawnda, I will appoint you to show your new sister around when the sun rises."
Yawnda nodded and bowed, despite the protest she had just blurted out a few moments ago.
"The rest of you," Ahadgna said, turning to the pride, who scattered off in their own directions. "My sons...off with you. Don't bother your new sister until she's been showed the lands tomorrow."
Just then, the males leapt from their posts and wandered off into the night.
"Half-cub, you will learn to obey me. Remember, I am your mother after all-"
"I told you what my name is!" Meersha yelled. "And I'm not a part of your pride! Mine is...the Tree pride." she quickly lied, thinking up a name to suit her and her brothers and half-sister for their studdies in other hunters.
"Well if you are a part of a pride, why were you gone?" challenged her "Mother."
"I...I...I don't know...I was being stupid I guess..." Meersha sighed, now feeling the dawn of regret lapping over her. Why had she left? To find something? A journey? How stupid she felt now, for she had everything she ever needed back with Banjija, Gatu and Lusala. Now she was far off, by herself, captured, and none of them knew nor would guess that she was or where she was.
Yawnda raised her brow, seeming to study Meersha now.
"Half-cub...do you like when lions take over prides and kill or chase away the young, while doing the same to the rightful leader?" Ahadgna suddenly challenged.
Meersha blinked in surprise. "I - well...no...but-"
"This is what the Broken-Claw is against. We take cubs that have been chased or were lucky enough to escape. We adopt them. Raise them. We teach them the ways a true lion should follow, just as the true lioness herself has. One who does nothing about an attacking rogue is not a true lioness."
"But when the older leader is too old..."
"It doesn't matter," Ahadgna said. "The rogues are still murderers. The only lions we trust now are our sons and your brothers - the Drie-Leeu."
"But-"
"If you ever had a mate, wouldn't you want the mate to stay with you? Not be a murderer? And not to be murdered?"
"...No..."
"If you stay with us and let us teach you our ways, you can have a mate like that...The ones we raised...the true lions..." Ahadgna bribed.
It's not that Ahadgna or the Broken-Claw were giving Meersha a choice - they'd make her stay with them anyway and force teach her - but this way seemed much easier.
Meersha blinked, and suddenly all the rage blocked her mind from anything but the pictures of her father and brother being murdered. This had been the anger that had built up in her over the many full moons since the incident.
"I...You're right..." she suddenly said, not believing her own words. Ahadgna grinned wickedly as Meesha said, "I'll stay."
"Wake up," spat Yawnda.
"Huh?" Meersha moaned as she opened her eyes slowly.
She had slept in a near cave the whole night with Yawnda guarding the enterence. Now the sun lightered parts of the den floor. Meersha was led outside into the hot savannah. There were pawprints and scents all over from the Broken-Claw, but Meersha could see no lioness, except one who quickly disappeared over a rise in the land.
"This wasn't the place my brothers came to when they were younger," Meersha exclaimed, looking around as she scented the air, her nose and whiskers twitching.
"Yeah," Yawnda replied, not looking back. "After that little...incident with your 'brothers', Mother decided to move the pride far to the east, which we did. When someone smelt the unworthy males - your brothers - we became on full alert. In fact, we thought you were one of them from a distance, then one of our sisters exclaimed how you were a female who she saw in the company of the males, a while back. So we gave you some sleeping herbs and took you back here, in our new territory...Actually it's not so new. We've been here for a few full moons now."
"You drugged me?!" cried Meersha.
"How else would we get you? Anyway, now we call these lands the Broken-Claw Empire. It's more than two hundred acres around...and don't think you can escape. We've trained our cubs to be guards so if you try to pass the borders...we'll know...and they'll attack."
"You trained them to do that?"
Yawnda shrugged. "Trained...raised...Half the time, half of the female cubs - now adolescents - are guards at the borders of the empire."
"Where's the other half?" Meersha questioned, right as they stopped near a large group of lionesses.
Two lionesses - bigger, older ones - were talking. They seemed to be teaching the younger lions.
"When the one half isn't guarding, they're being taught by the best fighters in our pride." Yawnda explained.
"For what?"
Yawnda grinned as she looked over her shoulder. "Can you guess?"
Meersha gasped. "What would you need them to fight for?"
Again, the yellow lioness shrugged as they continued on their way, walking through the grass.
"Mostly for untrue, unworthy males...See, we have a group go out once every full moon to find a male lion - adult, or with a mane - and kill it, even if he's a leader."
"What?! You can't do that!"
"We can and we do." growled Yawnda, annoyed. "And there's nothing you can do about it...Anyway, they're mostly getting ready for when the time comes."
"Time for what?"
"...When the trackers in our pride, find your brothers..."
Meersha suddenly leapt in front of Yawnda with a snarl. "You hate males, I know! I get it! But you can't go stalking, fighting and killing everyone you find!"
"Why not? Every adult lion we find has taken over a pride."
"Not my brothers! Besides, you're going against what you hate: murder. You hate them because they murder the cubs and the old leader, or chases them away!"
"Everyone we've met has either taken over a pride, or will take over a pride."
"They won't!" Meersha challenged...She recalled when she last saw Gatu, hearing and seeing his distress and rebellion...as for Banjija, Meersha was not sure what he was planning for the future...
"They tried to when they first got their manes," Yawnda stated.
"No they didn't!"
For one solid minute, Yawnda and Meersha glared. Each lioness held the gaze as their coats bristled, yet the two knew it was almost impossible to kill or try to kill the other, given the circumstances they were under. After all, there was a whole pride that could kill Meersha if they wanted to, and Yawnda was under Ahadgna's commands.
Finally, Yawnda smirked and said, "Look darlin', I don't make the rules." She walked in front of Meersha again. "So, let's forget about this."
"But this is why I'm here, right?" Meersha replied. "To you lead you to my brothers?"
"Mother seems to think so,"
"Ha! Well, shows ya how much you know. I would never do such a thing. I would never betray them."
"Hunny," Yawnda snickered. "By joining this pride, you already did."
But Meersha returned the _expression. I won't do such a thing. Under no influence, teaching, raising, bribing, threatening, or even torture would I do such a thing, the young lioness told herself.
"C'mon now, half-cub, we don't have much time," exclaimed Yawnda.
"My name is Meersha. Not half-cub, not princess, not darlin', got it?"
"OK, Meersha. But don't get used to it."
"Why not?"
"We're heading to Mother, who's just across the river, over the ravine in the north. She's there to give you your new name. Your Broken-Claw name."
Meersha snarled, "Meersha is my name! My own father gave it to me! Do you know how special that is?!"
The cackles of Yawnda filled the air before she said, "A name given by a male? Yeah, that's real special! Mother and sisters'll be thrilled t' hear that!"
"Why do you call Ahadgna Mother, and the others your sisters?"
"We are supposed to."
"Yeah but, wouldn't Ahadgna call you daughter then, instead of sister."
"No...We see it as we are under her, while she is equal to us."
"But that doesn't make sence!" Meersha blurted.
"You will learn, young one..."
"But I don't want to!" Yawnda raised a brow. "I mean," Meersha went on, desperately. "I agree with you and the Broken-Claw on some things, but not everything! Not murder! Not the thing that you use to gain power, which is the exact thing you're against! I don't believe in that! Or changing other's names! Or-"
"It doesn't matter what you believe in! You're here now, with us...You can do nothing now! Nothing."
Meersha heaved a sigh. A sigh filled and littered, blanketed and layered with the most regret she had felt in her life. First, by leaving the only family she had left, and then by joining murderers - not only that, but murderers who wanted to kill her own brother and half-brother! And then she thought...maybe, by joining their enemies, she could keep the Broken-Claw from them. She could save them! Meersha didn't know how or when, but when the time did come...
For awhile, Yawnda and Meersha walked through the lands, Yawnda pointing out places and things, but only Meersha put them out of her mind as she reflected on her own decisions, sighing occasionally. Then they came to the vertical, huge rocks that the "true males" had been on last night.
"You will not come here at all. If you do, you will be punished. Understand?" Yawnda exclaimed.
"We were just here last night, though." pointed out Meersha.
"Yes, one of the only times you'll be here. See, you come here only twice. Once to be introduced to the only true males - which you have done - and the second time is when you come to pick which one is your mate."
Meersha liked the idea of at least having a mate who didn't plan on killing cubs and other males or chasing them away. She just hoped her heart would truly call out to one of them...
"When will that happen?" she then asked.
"Not till you're older." said Yawnda as she got up and stretched. "Now come along, half-cub. We don't have much time and Mother wanted us at her realm when the sun was high. Well it's high now and we're not there yet."
They began to walk further to the north again.
Meersha sighed. She figured if she wasn't going to be called by her name, she'd take Yawnda's advice and start getting used to it now.
Soon, they past the river and climbed over the ravine on a fallen log. When they came to the top of a hill, they spotted Ahadgna, grooming herself atop another hill that came up from the one they stood on. In the leader was on was a cave that had formed in it.
"Now you're here?" the white lioness growled, not looking up from the paw she was licking as she laid on her side.
"Yes well, this half-cub seems to be dragging her paws like a full cub," Yawnda replied.
"I was following you the whole time!" Meersha cried, defensively.
"Girls, my sisters...stop fighting. You're both acting like cubs. There was no excuse for your lateness. Now, if we can get on with the naming..."
Meersha was suddenly shoved forward by Yawnda, so that she stood right by the cave, and was looking up to the white lioness who was lying, not even a foot above her.
"When I give the name," Ahadgna said, now looking up at Yawnda. "You will immediately tell the rest of the pride, got it?"
Yawnda nodded solemnly.
"Right then," she said, looking down at Meersha with a smirk.
"If you don't mind...I'd like my old name." Meersha replied.
"Silence!" Ahadgna snarled abruptly. "You will be called sister, or you will be called your new name. But that's it! Understand?"
Meersha sat, and forced herself to nod, not looking at Ahadgna.
"Look at me." the leader growled, though.
The adolescent lifted her head to stare into the cold gaze of the lioness above her.
"Living here won't be hard if you follow our rules, which you will do. Understand?"
"Yes..."
"Yes...?"
Meersha heaved an inward sigh and added with a choke, "Mother..."
"That's right..." she whispered, now calm.
Meersha could feel Yawnda's eyes on her. She knew she was enjoying this very much so. In fact, Yawnda was styfling a giggle and hiding a grin. Annoyance and anger burnt into Meersha's skin, but she stayed still and listened.
"Hmm...what should your name be?" pondered Ahadgna carefully. After a few moments of careful thought she said, "Your name is...Izegbe. Yes, that is it! Because now that I think about it, you are the one we have been waiting for! You are the savior of the Broken-Claw! After all, you came to us with the scent of the ones we must kill. And you are the one to give birth with one of our males - true males. And to adopt others. You will be the one to bring on the Broken-Claw's message." and with that, Ahadgna smiled widely, which made Meersha shift uncomfortably.
Suddenly, her eyes darted behind Meersha, to Yawnda, who suddenly dipped her head in a small, quick bow and took off.
"Yes, my cub. Come here. I will lead you to your teachings...Your raising will begin soon..."
"I was already raised," growled Meersha lowly.
"You will be taught the right ways now." Ahadgna growled back. "Now come. Follow me. They're waiting."
"Who's waiting?"
"Your teachers."