Ekaitz stopped when they reached the cave. The surface was so close. Light tinkled in through the vines hiding the entrance. He found a spot and sat down and looked at his uncle. This was something he had been waiting for most of his life. His father would be so upset if he found out that he had heard the story, but Ekaitz didn't mind too much. If this was the only way he could understand his father, then so be it. He looked at his uncle, ready to hear the story.
Hasi could feel himself hesitate. Ekaitz needed to hear the truth, all of it. Hasi would not leave out any details in hopes of sparing the young leopard some pain. He would even include the parts that made him look bad, and there was a lot of that.
“The best place to start is to tell you about our name. Torm. It is Bukaera's and my family name. It means storm. Members were given clan names. It was always from the mother's name. He would pass it on to their off spring once they reached adolescence. It was a tradition in the clans since the pride was created.” He explained. “Those who were captured from the rogue lands were given a clan name. You treated your fellow clan members with respect. They were your family.”
But other clans. “The pride was ruled by lions, lions who loved war and death. They would pit two clan's against each other and see them fight to the death. The clan members were the slaves of the pride, doing what the lions wanted when they wanted it. If someone refused they pitted the offender against another clan, always resulting in death. Our family is from a long line of these slaves. We were one of the oldest clan's in the pride.”
The truth was out now. Ekaitz knew that Bukaera had once been a slave to lions.
The news was different then what he expected. His father had once been a slave. It was an odd thought, thinking of his father obeying someone he hated. It made sense why he disliked lions though. “How could you live your life as a slave? I mean, obviously something happened that changed it, but if your family was there a long time, wouldn't that mean your clan never tried to escape?”
He wondered how long his father had been a slave. There was more to the story and he would have to be quite to hear the rest. But now he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the rest. The beginning was something unimaginable. Ekaitz imagined it was only going to get worse from there. “How did you escape?” That's what he really wanted to know, more then anything else.
“I'll get there in a moment Ekaitz.” Hasi said seriously. He would love to skip the pain they went through to get their freedom, but to understand Buka they had to talk about him at his worst. “The lions would make sure you suffered if you tried to escape. They out numbered us for the most part, and kept us strong enough to fight and serve, but weak enough for them to be able to kill us if they needed it.”
“Even when we were little we were taught to serve. At adolescence the lions would pair a male and female together, trying to play matchmaker. If the male didn't woe the female, he was punished. Your father was good at this. He could flirt with any female and she would usually fall for him. There were only a few times when it didn't work. And when it didn't work, he would be a bit more aggressive toward them. It was never his fault they didn't like him. It was their fault.” He explained. “The lions also paired him with some of the smaller males, thinking it would be interesting to see if he could make other males fall for him.”
Hasi let out a sigh. “He at first tried to use his gentleman like attitude with them, but it never worked. Instead He became more aggressive a bit forceful at times, though he would never do anything against their will. Even Buka at his angriest has some control. If they rejected him though he would go violent on them, something the lions enjoyed watching.” He was speaking completely one sided. Hasi had done things he wasn't proud of, but he decided to focus on Buka for now. There was as much blood on his paws as there was on Buka's.
Ekaitz tried to imagine his father being aggressive toward another. It was hard to imagine. There were times when Bukaera would flirt with other leopards in the pride. Sometimes Ekaitz would watch in amusement. There were even sometimes he tried to flirt with other leopards. His father made it look like a game, and Ekaitz had been eager to show his father that he could be just like him.
However now the thought of flirting made him sick. He didn't understand love very much, but for some reason the lions were amused by forcing two felines to be in love. Right now if he was in the pride, he would be stuck in the situation. His only choice was to flirt with a female and get her to like him or get punished. Then he realized something. “Did he have any cubs in the pride? If he was flirting with so many females, did he get any pregnant?” He could have a sibling out there, outside his litter. And they could still be stuck in the pride.
“What did the lions get out of match making?” It completely confused Ekaitz.
Hasi looked down. “Yes, I am sure you have half-siblings in the pride. Both Bukaera and I have had cubs in the pride. We never met them though. We were always paired with females from other clans. As far as I know, they are still there. Bukaera and I were the only two that has ever managed to get out.” He said. The second question was a bit harder to explain. “They would pair us to have us produce offspring. They picked the strongest of the males, and the most docile females, in hopes of creating an obedient warrior.” The thought sickened his stomach. His relatives were still there and he was here, safe and free.
“There is someone I have been avoiding talking about. Our father, your grandfather. Ibai-Sanguine. He was part of the river clan. We knew he was our father the moment we saw him fight. He defeated a member of our clan. We were able to meet him once, just for a moment. It is rare for slaves to meet their fathers. He told us that he was planning an escape and asked us to help. We agreed.” Hasi looked down. He could feel his heart beating. This was the part he didn't want to talk about. He could spend all day saying what Bukaera did wrong, but he didn't want to share his own sins. It felt like there was something caught in his throat. He took a deep breath in.
How could anyone live like that? Ekaitz was thankful that Hasi was getting to the escape. He didn't want to think too much about his half-siblings. Eventually he wanted to go find them. He knew it would be dangerous, but he thought that maybe someway they could get them. Not that they would know they were half-siblings. They wouldn't even know Bukaera. There was something Hasierara was hesitating to talk about. Even Ekaitz realized that.
“What happened with the escape?” The way Hasi was acting, Ekaitz wondered if he even wanted to know. It was important he was sure, but at the same time he was certain that he could think of a happier ending to the escape.
The moment of truth. “Life as a slave wasn't easy, but you probably could guess that. Everyday you go and fight, wondering if you were going to come back to your clan. It was worse watching your only brother fight as well. They made him fight more then me, as he was stronger. A lot of times they had Bukaera fight others to punish them. When fighting Bukaera never showed mercy. But I guess that runs in the family. We both were a bit cold hearted.” The memories were painful to talk about, but at least now he wasn't burdened with being one of the only ones to hold them. Now he was giving part of the burden to his only family besides Buka that he knew about.
“I never trusted anyone in the pride besides Bukaera. Not even my own clan members. It was a land where you could only trust yourself. And I am ashamed to say it, but I didn't trust my own father. To me he was just another member of a different clan. Someone I couldn't trust. I thought he wanted to use Bukaera and I. Bukaera was excited to have a father. I could see it in his eyes that he would do what ever Sanguine asked him to do.” He shook his head. “I thought I knew better. I thought that I was the wise older brother. I decided before Sanguine could betray us, I would betray him.”
He shuffled his paws. At the time he had thought what he did was heroic, that he would finally save himself and his brother. He wished he could take it back and fix everything. But the past was behind him now. “I spoke with the lions who ruled the pride and told him about Sanguine's plans. In exchange I gained Bukaera's and my freedom. It seemed like a fair price to me.”
Ekaitz stared at his uncle. He betrayed his own family. Bukaera had done horrible things, but that was under orders. Ekaitz couldn't even start to understand Hasi's reasoning. “He was your father. Of course he wouldn't betray you.” Ekatiz muttered. “You could have escaped and been a family. Instead you save only yourself and my father?”
It wasn't the choice he would make. However he saw the sadness in Hasierara's eyes and knew that maybe at the time Hasi thought he had no other choice. Ekaitz would never betray his father like that though.
“There hasn't been a day that has gone by that I haven't felt guilty about what I've done. Truth be told, I think part of me has been avoiding your father, because he was once the only one that knew of my sins.” He said. “Before we were set free, we were ordered to do two more task. They took me to the fighting arena where Sanguine and Bukaera were fighting to the death. They were both being sure not to harm each other too much. They made a show, knowing that if they refused to fight they would both be killed. However eventually Sanguine stopped fighting and started to insult Bukaera. That's when the lions announced what had happened. They told them that I had told them of Sanguine's plans. That if Bukaera killed Sanguine, he would be a free leopard like me.”
Bukaera had gotten so much better after he met his father. He was always so aggressive, so mean spirited. But once he met Sanguine and had a hope of being a family, Bukaera started being gentle and kind. When Hasierara saw him in the arena, it was the moment he realized that that Bukaera would never return to that gentle side. Part of him still felt responsible for how Bukaera turned out. He knew if things had gone a different way, Bukaera wouldn't be the way he was.
“Buka ended up killing Sanguine, though only because he started insulting Buka. Once he was down. The river clan was ordered to chase us out of the pride. Buka and I got separated and we've been trying to find each other since. And that is what are lives were like.”
Ekaitz had nothing to say. He had to think about what his uncle had said. Slowly he got up. “I will talk to you again later. I need to think about some things.” He had so many questions, but he decided to wait for a couple days to ask him. The story had taken a lot out of Hasi. That and it wasn't something you just were told and could go on living your life. He knew something had happen to make his father keep the past hidden, but he had no idea it was this bad.
When his father did come home, Ekaitz would be sure to talk to him about it.
FIN
WC: 2,136
