Anansi woke that morning with a bright air about her. She felt truly happy and content with her life, and she just couldn't get over the feeling. Normally she was not one to be so emotional and sentimental, but all the suffering and good that seemed to have come out of her life was getting to her today. There were days when she missed her old home so terribly that it seemed to cause her physical pain. Then, there were days when she was so grateful and happy at how things turned out that the world seemed to shine around her.She still couldn't believe that all of the absolutely insane things that had transpired in her life had truly happened when she thought about it in retrospect. It all seemed so wild and and unreal. In her past, Anansi had always been content to live as a storyteller in her home pride and support whichever one of her sisters became Queen after their mother. She was always sad that she hadn't been able to seen one of her sisters assume the position and participate in the celebration that would surely follow. They were each intelligent and fair in their own ways, and any of them would have made a great leader. Her heart ached whenever she thought of her family. Even in her logical doubt, she still hoped to seen them again one day.
It had been so long at this point, since she'd seen anyone that she would associate with her past. She idly wondered what had happened to all the others that had been part of the pride. All those smiling familiar faces. All there one day and gone the next. It had been so surreal. Anansi vaguely remembered running in an unclear haze of fear and panic away from the only place that she'd ever called home. She could barely see past the tears that blurred her vision. All she knew was that her home was gone and that she was on her own. She now had to fend for herself, something that she'd never had to do before. There had always been others around to help her and take care of her.
The experience of being alone had been completely alien and entirely horrifying. As well as the experience of being a slave. Every sound around her sounded like voices and every flicker of light she saw seemed like eyes blinking at her through the dark. She had been totally trapped in her mind, having only her own thoughts to keep her company. Those and the voices and eyes that surrounded her. However, compared to what had occurred after that, she would learn to miss isolation and her imaginary voices and eyes.
On the night she had been captured, she'd been taken by surprise. They had snuck upon her while she was lost in a deep sleep born of her exhaustion. They struck her over the head, rendering her unconscious, and dragged her off to their secret lair. When she woke up, she was in a stone cave surrounded by other lionesses. They looked at her with fear, trepidation, and what looked like pity on their faces. Anansi tried to ask about where she was, but not one of them dared to answer her, or even look her in the eyes once she began to question them. Their behavior had been very strange to her. She had never known females that behaved the way that they were.
Eventually, the excitement that Anansi was causing caught the attention of a couple of guards that were in the vicinity. They quickly approached the den where the lionesses were and drug her out without saying anything to her. She was brought to an open space and surrounded by the most evil looking males that she'd ever come in contact with. They proceeded to explain to her that she was in their home as their slave and she would remain that way for the rest of her life and that she'd better get used to it if she wanted to live. They'd laughed when they saw the expression of horror overtake her face as she learned her fate. They also told her that no one had ever escaped from them and if she ever tried that she would pay for it in blood.
After her briefing into the gang's lifestyle, she was taken back to what she learned was called the holding den were females were kept, and she was assigned to an older lioness to basically train her to be a slave. The whole experience had been humiliating, degrading, and all around awful. Anansi had barely wanted for anything in her life up until the point of her fleeing from her crumbling home. Slavery had been like something out her very worst dreams. Instead of kind greetings, playfulness, and smiles, Anansi got blind obedience, hard labor, and beatings. After the first time she'd been injured, she knew that she had no choice but to find a way to get out of there, or she would undoubtedly die from the consequences of her continual insolence.
As much she would have loved not to be hurt, she had too much pride to simply bow down and submit to whatever life those males had in store for her. She'd been raised a princess and her upbringing held strong within her. It had been what had ultimately saved her and the other lionesses. Chuckling to herself, she couldn't believe that she'd been able to pull of the rebellion and the escape. Despite the loss of life, it had been a glorious day of reckoning for their captors. Needless to say, they hadn't been expecting it in the least.
Their arrogance kept them blind to the possibility of any kind of uprising amongst their captive population. Well, they were dead now and there was no way for them to hurt anyone ever again. Anansi smiled when she thought of the excitement that rang across that lionesses once they realized that they were truly free. Some of them had spent upwards of the majority of their lives enslaved, those were the ones that Anansi felt true sympathy for. They'd barely known what it was to live a free life. Anansi would never regret her decision to stay with these females and train them to fight and defend themselves.
As she looked around her new home and saw the smiling face that surrounded her, she knew that she'd made the right decision.