The Pride 3/3

The next day came yet Wayna and Firehart had still not woken up; in fact, they had gotten worse. Both had developed a fever and neither of them was getting better. Noma was working around the clock, finding healing herbs as well as making sure the girls drank enough water. She wasn’t alone though. Malkoi stayed behind and helped Noma by putting salve on their wounds every hour.

It was tiring work but neither of them rested throughout the entire ordeal. Every day Sura and Ariabod would visit to see if Firehart had gotten better but every time they came they were met with worse news. Everyone in the pride was feeling a sense of vexation but none were more upset then Sura and Ariabod. They were so upset that the pair forgot to have their everyday argument.

With the recent attack, Sura raised the amount of patrol rounds within the pride. Kimya, Koho, and Pumzi took the day shift while Cloud, Sana, Kivuli, and Barafu took the night shift. Those who did not have the day shift were responsible for the hunt.

Now it was night time and Sana was patrolling with Cloud at the grassy plains section of the territory. Both were talking about the things that had transpired within the Valley.
“Malkoi should be with us on these damn patrols, Cloud,” Sana said as she paced back and forth meanwhile Cloud stared silently out over the land beyond the border, “You know maybe we should just...well…I don’t know what!”

“Sana just calm down,” Cloud said as he turned to her, “Noma needs help and Malkoi is the only one besides her who understands herbs. Goodness knows I wouldn’t want to chew those nasty green things into some nastier paste,” the little snow leopard stuck his tongue out in disgust but soon returned his stony gaze to the brown lioness, “So just cool it.”

“Whatever,” Sana huffed in dismissal, “Let’s just get this night over with.”

–----------------------------------

Noma had left the medicine cave to have a small break and to get a drink water. She left Malkoi behind with the girls; both had a deep fever and both were moaning and whimpering in pain. To help, Noma had put both girls next to each other for comfort. Firehart and Wayna unknowingly cuddled with one another; using one another for something soft to lay their heads on.

The tired Malkoi was laying quietly nearby the two of them when he heard one of them mumbling. He walked closer to inspect and noticed Wayna had shifted from her resting place by Firehart's side. “Will…I…I’m here for you….D….Don’t leave me….” Wayna mumbled feverishly as she looked up at Malkoi foggily, “I…here…In the…dark…Will…Please…”

“Will? Wayna, what are you talking about?” Malkoi asked Wayna as he nuzzled her worriedly but as she look up at Malkoi, he noticed that Wayna’s stare was glazed over by the fever.

“Hannibal…hurt us a lot. He put us here…yet somehow we still….love him….” Wayna stammered as she laid her head down and started crying. Malkoi tried licking her face to calm her down but he let her continue to talk. “We’re…in darkness….we only…have each…other…do not leave me….” With those final words Wayna fell back to sleep leaving behind a concerned Malkoi holding her tightly within his paws.

“Don’t...worry I’m here beside you in the darkness,” Malkoi spoke softly as he looks out of the cave.

At that moment Ariabod and Sura walked inside the cave; they chuckled when they saw Malkoi cuddling Wayna. “So how are they?” Sura asked as he trotted over to Firehart and laid his head on her rump making Ariabod fly to Firehart’s side in a fit of jealousy. “Anything new?”

Sura licked Firehart’s back as Malkoi sighed. “Well, there’s nothing new with Firehart…I mean she hasn’t said anything…” Malkoi said softly; this perked Sura and Ariabod’s interest. “Wayna on the other paw said something disturbing...I think she might have been hurt before.”

“What do you mean?” Sura cocked a suspicious brow, “What did she say?”

“Sura calm down! We all have something in our past that we’re not proud of,” said Ariabod as he put a paw on Firehart’s forehead, “Firehart’s fever is still high. At least she not getting hotter.”

“That’s just it, Ariabod. What if her past is a danger to us? Wayna might not be dangerous but her past could come back to kill us,” Sura said in a protective voice, pulling Firehart in a tighter, “So Malkoi, what did she say?”

Malkoi lowered his eyes to Wayna and nuzzled her one more time, “Fine…I’ll tell you.” Malkoi proceeded to tell them what happened and what Wayna had said. As they listened, the other boy’s expression grew worried and for a moment Sura felt sorry for little Wayna but he shook it off quickly.

“So now you know what Wayna said. Look let’s not pressure her for answers…at least not like this.”

Sura took in a deep breath. “Fine…but still, once she wakes up and gets back on her paws, we’ll need to get an answer out of her,” Sura stated as he lay his head on Firehart’s back.

“I don’t like prying into other people’s past but…I agree,” Ariabod said softly as he nuzzled Firehart’s side, “But let’s just focus on staying alive, alright?”

–------------------------------

Back at the grassland border, in the dead of night, Cloud and Sana were still talking. They were talking about the meeting between them and the Mountain Pride.

“What are we going to do Cloud? I mean yes we’re a strong pride but to take on an entire army of narcissistic golden lions?” Sana growled as she stood up; digging her claws into the earth as she paced around, “My skills are great but not great enough to fight an entire army. We just simply don’t have enough lions for this!”

“I know that Sana!” Cloud snapped at her, “That’s why it’s crucial that we make peace but still show our strength. Now calm down! If the worse does happen, I’m sure the Mountain Pride will work with us in this case.”

“A show of strength? Oh, so that’s your game. Really! Is that it?” A deep, dark voice rang from the shadows, “To think my best lions were sent running away with their tails between their legs by such useless bag of bones.” Cloud and Sana could see that the voice belonged to an oversized deep golden male. A hoard of smaller golden males followed behind the deep golden male; the frantic pair guessed he must be the leader.

Another lion appeared from the shadows and stood to the right of the deep golden male. This short lion had no mane but from his muscular physique the pair could tell it was a male. This male had a grey coat with even darker grey stripes on him. This male caught Sana off guard; a look of shock and horror spread across her face. Sana began to shrink back onto her paws.

Seeing her fear Cloud stood in front of her with his claws unsheathed and fur standing on end.
On the left of the golden lead male, a white lion with a very neat dirty-blond mane appeared. His eyes were blood red with two age lines stroked beneath. His ominous gaze swung from side to side, completely ignoring the pair in front of him.

“Unfortunately I could not let such failures live in my kingdom or well...live at all so I just had to meet the pride who made me lose some of my best fighters.”

The maneless male on the right of the golden king said nothing; he just stared at Sana with soulless brown eyes. “Yes, very unfortunate. They even offer themselves to even be slave to save their own pathetic skins,” said the maneless male and then added snidely, “Goodness knows my girls wouldn’t be such cowards.”

The golden leader snarled at the maneless male but the smaller male stared back defiantly and unafraid into the golden male’s murderous expression. The golden leader let out a frustrated huff before returning his attention to the pair of misfits. “Now I want to speak to the leader of this pathetic land,” the deep golden lead male said as he walked over to Sana and Cloud; he walked as if he owned the place already.

The pale male on his left was just sniffing the air until he turned his head to the right with curiosity. He then gave an ever so slight grin; it was barely noticeable.
“Go on...roar for your leader,”

Sana was still in too much horror to roar so the job was left to Cloud. The small snow leopard looked up at the huge deep-golden leader and with a deep gulp he let out, “ROAR!” That roar was so loud and filled with fear and shock that everyone in the Misfit Pride heard it.

“Oh man...that’s Cloud.”

Sura growled as Ariabod looked back at him. Sura rose up and walked hastily to the cave entrance; Ariabod followed closely behind. “Look, we can’t leave the girls unguarded so Ariabod and I will go to the border. Malkoi, you stay here with Noma.” Before leaving, Sura paused and spoke in a soft but serious voice, “Guard Firehart with your life.”

With those words, the dark male ran off; leaving a jealous Ariabod behind. “Sigh. Stay low Malkoi,” Ariabod told his friend and after taking a moment to look at Firehart, “Look after her, okay? I’ll see you when it’s over.”

“Just be careful,” Malkoi said softly. He nuzzled Wayna softly and whispered, “Sun above, please...please, just let us live…”

With frantic speed, Ariabod and Sura made their way to the border. Meanwhile on the other side of the territory was Kivuli and Barafu patrolling the opposite border; as they heard the roar their fearful looks met each other.

“It’s finally happening.”

“I guess we should head over there,” Barafu said hesitantly as he walked in the direction of the roar; he then began to mutter in an annoyed tone, “And to think I just did my mane. Good grief! I’m good to be up all night trying to get things back to the way the way it used to be but...BLOOD’S SO HARD TO GET OUT OF ONES COAT!!!”

The black leopard rolled his eyes at the young male’s fickle complaint.

“Ugh, I just hope it won’t be a hard fight!” Barafu then noticed that Kivuli wasn’t following him, “Aren’t you coming Kivuli? That roar seemed pretty serious.”

“Yes, it was,” answered Kivuli in a serious tone, “That why I’m staying put.”

“What do you mean? I mean, I like to keep my mane stain-free but our friends are in danger,” Barafu said with a cocked brow.

“Have you been keeping your heads in the clouds, boy?!” Kivuli scolded him as he looked over the border, “Think about it; we are on the verge of war! If we abandon our post then we leave this side of the valley wide open. Yes, our land is hidden but we can’t assume that the enemy doesn’t know how to get in. What better way for the enemy to invade from this side then for us to run to our friend’s aid?”

“Then what should we do!?” Barafu cried with a whiny, upset tone, “Are we to leave them there because we are too fearful that someone will take us from behind? They need our help!”

“They just might yet you forget! We are not alone in this pride. We have Kimya, Koho and Pumzi also Cloud and Sana will be there. We need to have faith in them,” Kivuli said with forced strength but after a moment the panther added shakily, “You don’t think I worry? Of course, I worry. It’s just…we can’t make decisions based on how we feel.”

Barafu walked over and nuzzled the old panther. “Fine, we will stay put,” he said softly and with a sigh added, “We will try to wait it out but still...if it gets too much we must help.”

“Agreed,” Kivuli said softly, “Let’s just pray it does not come to that.”

Sura and Ariabod had finally made it to the border and were met with a grim sight. Their two pride mates were surrounded by golden lions and, one big dark grey lion was sitting beside a fear struck Sana. Sura seethed as he watched this maneless male run his paw up and down Sana’s back; the striped lioness was to paralysed with fear to object.

“Damn it! We’re out numbered! We’re going to need help!” Sura said with a snarl and then the large grey male charged in with his claws and fangs unsheathed. “Ariabod call for help!”

“On it! ROAR!” Ariabod bellowed out the call and then quickly rushed down behind Sura, “So what’s the plan?”

“Burst through the guard, save Sana and Cloud, and then do what’s necessary to survive,” Sura ordered fiercely. The grey giant leapt over the circle of golden male’s and landed with his front paws over the fear-struck Sana; forcing the maneless male backwards and away from her. Ariabod followed suit and landed by Sura’s right side while Cloud took a stand by Sura’s left.

The little snow leopard added, “Also kick ass and take names.”

“Akrak….” Sana whispered shakily before diving deeper beneath Sura’s protection.

“I’m fearful that you cannot do that for you see you are greatly out numbered and cannot take us all down,” the big golden male boomed with a deep voice, “Now and from this moment on, these lands belongs to the Golden Pride and namely to me, King Marigold!”

“No way in hell, Marigold! Now how in hell, do you and your scum keep finding our land?” Ariabod demanded as he tried to keep his eyes on everyone.

“Our land is hidden,” Sura added, “there’s only one way in!”

“It was hidden. It was very hard to find this land, very hard indeed! That was until we got someone to help us out. Bring out our guest,” King Marigold ordered with a sneer. His pride brothers parted; letting a lion and a lioness through. The male was gold and scrawny with a massive scar covering his right cheek leaving it fur-less. The female was light brown with bright green eyes; the right side of her face seemed like it was shrinking within itself.
King Marigold remarked snidely, “I think you know them.”

“Mwindaji!” Sura’s eyes narrowed to a sliver as he roared at him, “How?! How could you betray us like this?!”

“Who are they?” Ariabod whispered to Cloud but the snow leopard also seemed to be consumed with rage by the sight of the two strangers.

“Betray you!? You betrayed us!” Mwindaji yelled in Sura’s face, “You banished one of your own kind just because I wanted to kill some stupid prey!”

“You tried to send an entire herd of buffalo over a cliff!” Sura yelled back at the scrawny male, “We had to banish you to stop the herd from leaving!”

“I don’t care! You are lions! I respect the circle of life but those murderous creatures deserve nothing but a quick death!” Mwindaji snarled at him, “How could you choose those creatures over your own kind. You made your choice and now you’re going to die!”

“Why you-“Ariabod growled but was quickly cut off by Sura.

“Forget it Ariabod! He won’t be reasoned with,” said Sura as he turned his gaze to the silent lioness beside Mwindaji.

Meanwhile the dirty blond male standing beside of King Marigold was still sniffing the air. After catching a scent, the blonde male walked off into the land. Ariabod was about to flip his shit but a slap from Sura’s tail warned him not to move.

“Annakiya,” Sura called softly to the light-brown lioness, “We banished Mwindaji...not you. Why? Why did you help him do this?!”

“Where are you going?!” Ariabod roared after the blonde male. Ariabod was frantic as he realised that the odd male was walking in direction of the Medicine Cave. He would’ve stopped the intruding male but he couldn’t get past the King's guards. He roared at the Golden Pride’s leader, “Where is he going?!”

“Hannibal is off to do his own thing. It seems you freaks have something that belongs to him,” King Marigold answered uncaring tone, “If I were you, I’d focus on the here and now.”

Ariabod was about to lunge at the King but was stopped by Sura as he ordered,“Ariabod, let it go! We can’t stop him.” Sura then turned his attention back to Annakiya, “Annakiya. Even though you were never banished from our pride, you could have always come back. Firehart searched for you for weeks, you know. She would’ve taken you back in a heartbeat. Yet now…”

“You betray us for this jerk,” Cloud snapped at her in disappointment! “You’ve made your choice.”

Annakiya looked up at them with her face full of shame but then quickly looked away again. “I love Mwindaji! I would do anything for him. It’s nothing personal,” Annakiya said softly, “My and Mwindaji’s love is all that matters.”

Sura sighed in defeat but Cloud, with his fur all puffed up in rage, lashed out, “You call this love? Mwindaji never loved you and if he didn’t love you then; nothing you do will make him love you now!”

“Listen I hate to interrupt this reunion. All I care about is that my commands are followed,” King Marigold told them sternly, “I want you all too clear off this land by sundown. If not my army will slaughter you all.”

“We will never leave King Marigold! This is our land, not yours!” Sura roar out defiantly, “We will fight you!”

“And die,” Akrak responded in a cold voice and with a lick of his lips added, “Honestly I’d prefer it that way.” This whole time maneless male’s soulless eyes never left the terrified Sana.

The golden King threw his face into Sura’s and bellowed, “Listen! The only thing stopping me from attacking and killing your putrid kind right away, is the advise from my second and third command. Akrak and Hannibal seem to think that this land holds some sort of secret.” King Marigold turned to Akrak and ordered, “Bring back my lions when you’re done here. I’ll be back at camp.”

“Yes, sir,” Akrak said derisively as the King walked off. Once out of sight Akrak walked over slowly to Sana and spoke with a toothy grin, “Now that the king is gone, we will be able to speak freely, my dear daughter. We can discuss you treasonous desertion, for example.”

Sana was trembling all over as she looked up at her Father. “W-will you burn this pride too,” Sana asked her father with shaky breath?

Akrak stared at her for a moment, considering her. He then looked up at the two males for the first time; truth be told he never mentally acknowledged their being there until now. “No. I won’t,” Akrak answered as walked over Sana and past the other three.

“Watch them!” Akrak ordered the golden guards, “I will be back shortly.”

Sana let out a sigh of relief. Yes, her evil, murderous Father was walking around her home but him being gone for now allowed her to relax but still not by much. What could he want in the Valley? What could be here for him?

–-----------------------

At the Medicine Cave, Hannibal was being nice and friendly to Malkoi. “I see that Wayna has made new friends. I’m grateful that you’ve helped her. She was never good on her own,” Hannibal chatted as Malkoi held her. Malkoi did not show it but he was very wary of this strange lion.

“Noma, you must tell me about your herbs. I, myself, have a mushroom recipe that can help with pain.”

“Oh, ok.” Noma looked the other way as she asked, “So is the Golden Pride here to take the land?”

“No…far from it,” Hannibal said with his blood red eyes gleaming through the dark, “I assure you, this land will remain untouched.”