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 Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:10 am
"Don't go to far, now! Stay where I can hear you call. If you see a rogue, run as fast as you can and tell your mother or me. And please, Eeva, please stay out of trouble!"
With her father's words echoing in her mind, Eeva trotted merrily across the lands, swinging her head from side to side. She still regarded the world with this innocent awe. As if every day she woke born again. The clouds. The sun. The ever-changing colours of the sky. In a way, it was like waking up to a whole new world. Nothing was the same as the day before.
Today the air was heavy and humid and when she breathed the smell of moisture hung like lead in her lungs. She paid it no heed, however, a spot of rain would not be enough to stop her from adventuring.
She paused and glanced back in the direction of the den, sighing wistfully. When would her father see she was not a helpless little cub anymore? She was growing - every day it seemed - and yet he worried desperately. She didn't like to worry him, but his concern was suffocating and for once, she just wanted to be off on her own. No parents or siblings tagging on behind her and especially not Kohana's persistent nagging.
So, with a new-found bounce in her step, Eeva Subiani crashed through the undergrowth and out onto the outskirts of the meadow.
The meadow was beautiful.
It's expanse stretched until it touched the rocky outcrops on the other-side, so far away to her tiny paws. The grass was weaved with flowers, so delicate and yet so beautiful. The meadow usually attracted hundreds of insects - especially butterflies - but today there seemed to be few. Perhaps the threat of rain had kept them away.
In the centre of the meadow a herd grazed, shining backs glowing like honey beneath the sun. Their heads were down and set deeply into them were large, liquid eyes that Eeva would have found beautiful if she had not known that these creatures were also known as lunch.
"One day." She whispered to herself. "Ill be hunting with mother and they'll be running across the land to escape me."
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:19 am
Chepi, well she was Chepi. The happiest care free cub there was. She would attack any frogs or well anything that she could. She did it because it was fun but most of all she loved to bring it home and show it to Nita who normally ended up crying to their father. The wimp.
Today though she wasn't in the mood to go hunting for things, today she was going to rid herself of that stupid bird. Their parents always seemed to send Nili or Doea to go and check on the cubs and today Doea was flying above her.
Chepi had tried a lot of things, hiding in the grass, under trees, up trees but still she wouldn't go. She was sulking at the moment and she was still sulking when she spotted another lioness. She was larger then Chepi but not that large. Looking up at the sky the black cub decided that Doea may leave her alone if she was talking to someone else and so she happily pranced over to the other cub, no fear in her what so ever.
"Hello!" She chirped with a smile on her maw. She glanced up at the sky again and then sighed, the bird was still there. Ugh!
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:25 am
Eeva was watching the herd shifting to find fresh grass when someone entered the fray and caught her attention. By the sound of the voice it was going to be someone more interesting than a bunch of prey-beasts anyway. She turned her head and glanced over a shoulder as another cub came trundling towards her.
She hadn't met this one before, then again, that wasn't a surprise. The only girl she had met was Terema and she hadn't seen her in a while. A shame really, she was rather fun and loved butterflies as much as she did. However, Eeva wasn't dissapointed. Being surrounded by boys almost all the time meant that the rare occasion when she met a female was a joyous one.
She stood and turned to face the other, her eyes bright, not noticing the bird above. "Hello! You come to see the herds too?" She waved a paw in their general direction. "They're not doing much today. Guess they're relaxing cos none of us are hungry." She giggled.
"I'm Eeva Subiani. Shadow Clan. Daughter of Ona'raha and Rehema." She bobbed her head politely. It seemed, as mischievous as she was, she was starting to learn proper manners. It probably wouldn't last for long, however...
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:34 am
Chepi smiled as the other female started talking. Brilliant maybe the stupid bird would leave her alone now.
"I am Chepi Kidudushi, daughter of Tailsin'Kivuli Kidudushi and Adi'sa Kamwana of the Earth clan." She spoke her parents name with pride. Her father was a Nvawti which didn't make much sense to Chepi but she realised it must be important and so was proud of her father. She very much loved her parents.
"I didn't really come to see the herds to be honest. They bore me. I mean they just stand there eating grass and whats interesting about that?" Chepi wasn't one for keeping her opinions to herself.
"If you run at them, now thats interesting." She nodded at herself mostly after she finished talking. She was more then happy to chase the herds even if she couldn't catch them yet. They still ran and that was fun!
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:42 am
Eeva smiled but wriggled as Chepi spoke. Clearly she was desperate to get polite greetings out of the way and get down to some serious adventuring or playing - or something along those lines. This girl seemed to be the type who didn't like standing around doing nothing.
"Well, Chepi Kidudushi of the Earth Clan, instead of standing around here staring at the boring old herd, why don't we liven things up a little bit?" Her eyes sparked at the other girl's idea and suddenly the thrill of the hunt swept through her.
Imagine! Running at the herd, listening to their panicked cries, watching the whites in their eyes as they bucked and fled in terror. Fled from two brave huntresses of the Ela'wadiyi! The very thought of it had her fur standing on end and she couldn't help but agree whole-heartedly, bobbing her head frantically.
"My mother said I'm too small to tackle a hunt, but it's not hunting if we're just chasing, is it? I mean we wouldn't kill one or anything..." Not that they were strong enough to pull one down, even if they wanted to. She didn't even consider the fact that she was far too small and insignificant in the eyes of the antelope to even warrant running from. In either case, Eeva was up for giving it a go.
"What do you think then? Shall we make the day more interesting for them?" She beamed. "And us!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:50 am
Chepi was glad that the idea got into the other ones head. She got fed up of getting told off for things all the time, so at least this time it wasn't her who actually initiated what they did, just popped it up gently in conversation.
"Sounds good to me!"
She looked at the herd and then up at the sky. Had she gone? She couldn't see Doea anywhere. Had the bird finally gone? She could hope!
"Lets go!" She wasn't going to hang about, she felt a good chase within her and so she turned and started to run straight towards the hunt. As Eeva had said, they weren't hunting and so Chepi gave all that stalking stuff a miss. Running straight at them, watching for the first one to bolt and run.
"Wooooo!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:58 am
The sound of Chepi calling for them to go put an incredible life into Eeva's limbs. She felt, suddenly, as if she could run and chase and laugh forever. The excitement and the adrenaline of this new game was too much to bear. It was clear, that she was her mother's daughter. Her mother was a great huntress and Eeva yearned to be the same.
The love of the chase and the hunt was in her blood.
With laughter pealing from her throat, she turned and persued her newfound friend and together they bounded out into the meadow. Life filled her lungs, hot air that only seemed to fuel her legs. She felt as if she had never run so fast in her entire life, as if suddeny she'd realised the extent of her speed.
And then they were close to the herd and Eeva lifted her eyes to see what they would do. Those closest to them lifted their heads - startled for a moment - but, after a moment they simply snorted, stamped their hooves to rid themselves of this new irritance, and returned to their grazing.
With a whoop, Eeva darted into the forest of antelope legs, weaving in and out in an attempt to get them into motion. "Run, run, fast as you can, beasties!" She called, trying to sound ferocious but failing terribly.
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:04 am
Chepi watched Eeva as she ran between the legs. She didn't really want to get into the mass of legs, what if one fell on top of her? Instead she saw a baby and went after it. They might not be hunting but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to try her absolute hardest to try and get one.
The baby she went after wasn't all that much bigger then Chepi, it was tiny, maybe newly born. The mother didn't want to leave its baby so Chepi snapped her teeth, which made it worse.
"EEVA!!!" She shouted, trying to avoid the mothers attacks. She wasn't in a lot of trouble but she was sure that if one of them distracted the mother they could actually take the baby down, it was so small after all, easy pickings.
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:10 am
She was running and shouting at the top of her lungs, bouncing this way and that to dodge hooves aimed her way. "Silly beasties can't catch meee~!" She sang. Her erratic path had circled her back the way she had come and, without knowing it, was heading back to where Chepi had found the youngster.
At her friend's call, Eeva skidded to a halt, rearing up onto her hind legs to try and find her dark-pelted friend. As she did so one of the adult antelope saw her and with an annoyed snort thrashed his head towards her. With a squeal, Eeva tried to back away, but her movements weren't fast enough.
The antelope's broad nose scooped up underneath her belly and with exceptional strength, bowled the cub clean off the ground. Eeva, dazed and confused, landed in the dust a metre away, shaking stars from her eyes as she tried to find her feet.
By now the herd had caught on to what the cubs were up to and were shifting angrily. Somewhere close to the juvenile an antelope let out an angry bellow and around her the forest of legs began to move.
"Where are you, Chepi!!" Eeva cried at the top of her lungs, suddenly afraid of being trampled on. "These beasties don't play nice!!" She gathered her paws beneath her and stood, feeling the bruise on her side throb. Ouchies...
"Chepi!?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:15 am
Chepi also saw what was going on. The herd was now playing chase with the cubs and it wasn't going too well.
"Eeva?" She heard her name being called and so ran away from the angry mother. She knew the mother wouldn't follow her as her youngster had tripped up.
Chepi ran between the legs, weaving in and out untill the chocolate coat of her new friend could be seen. They were cornering her. How mean was that! Chepi, being herself and rather stupid decided that they needed to leave her friend alone and so while moving started biting legs that she passed. She knew it was a stupid thing to do but she was small enough that the beasts seemed not to see her dodging their legs underneath them.
She managed to get free of the tangle of legs and frantically looked around for her friend.
"Eeva?" She called out again, the herd seemed to be getting angrier. They should probably leave.
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:22 am
Chepi's voice sounded and then nothing. In those few moments Eeva felt that she had been the silliest girl in all the lands. What would her father think? What would her mother think? All her brothers would be sad that their sister had done such a silly thing and laugh and tease her - if she got out in one piece, that was.
When Chepi called out again her voice was louder, so close in fact that Eeva was certain the girl was closeby. Gathering her courage Eeva coiled her legs beneath her and with a mighty thrust, leapt into the hullaballoo. All around her the antelope stamped and reared and tried desperately to protect their herd-companions. But Eeva was no longer interested in harrassing them. She just wanted to find her friend and escape unharmed.
And then, she appeared, leaping next to Chepi and pressing herself against her friend's side. "There you are!" She exlaimed. "Let's get out of here, Chepi, before they really get mad!" If...that was even possible.
"Let's go this way." She pointed in a direction that seemed less packed with scary hooves and horns and, with a deep breath, dashed in it's direction. The dust clogged her lungs and made it didficult to breath. Grass, tall and tangled, whipped her in the face and slowed her progress. But, she would not give up. She tore through the grass - head lowered - and powered away as fast as she could, not daring to look back in case they'd decided to follow her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:32 am
Chepi was glad when Eeva turned up by her side again. She had been so worried that she had got trampled. She nodded at her suggesstion and followed, not so quickly because as they were leaving she couldn't see there being much of a chance of them following.
"Eeva slow down!" She called after her before looking behind. They weren't following that was for sure. Annoyingly someone else was. Chepi had forgotten all abotu Doea but there she was in the sky above her. Please say she had gone to check on the others while the youngsters had got into a bit of trouble.
She stopped and looked up at the sky.
"Doea, go away!" She shouted up at the bird, a small cub snarl was evident as she shouted. Stupid stupid birds.
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:40 am
Eeva slowed.
Her legs hurt, her side ached and the panic was giving way to fatigue that left her feeling slightly wobbly on her paws. She slowed to a walk and then to a stop and turned to see Chepi following. Good, they were both safe and other than her bruise, were unhurt. No one need find out about this escapade of theirs!
She opened her mouth to say as much when Chepi suddenly shouted up at the sky. Eeva lifted her eyes to see the shape of a bird flying overhead. Why would she be shouting at a bird to do away? Did it peck her or something? Sidling up to her friend, Eeva's eyes were filled with curiosity. "What's wrong, Chepi? What did the bird do?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:46 am
Chepi ignored Eeva for a minute, her mind was on Doea. Her and Nili were pains in the backside, both of them.
"Doea, go away or next time I will eat you for supper!" She snarled again though it was far from scary, more laughable infact. It didn't stop her though. Chepi was staring at the bird for what seemed to be eternity. She then remembered Eeva's question.
"The bird? She belongs to mother." Chepi looked back up at the sky and then shook her head.
"I just hope she was checking on Chevayo or Nita when we were playing with the herd. Lets go over there, into those bushes, she won't be able to see us then." Chepi smiled before trotting over to the bushes and laying herself down as low as she could. Stupid parents sending birds to watch them!
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 5:50 am
Eeva stayed silent until they were trotting towards the bushes. Then, she glanced back to see if the bird was following and murmered.
"A lion can own a bird?" She sounded curious about this, as if she didn't think that such a thing was possible. "But why doesn't she just fly away? Does she like being ordered by lions? If I had wings I'd never want to be tied down. I'd fly all over the lands for all eternity." She nodded. "I hope she didn't see us, too. I don't want to get into trouble. My parents would kill me if they found out I'd been doing dangerous things again. My dad worries so much I think one day his mane is going to fall out." She giggled.
"Let's hope she gets bored, then." Eeva pushed her way into the bushes and laid down on her belly, glancing up at the tangle of branches and leaves above her head. "This'd make a pretty good hide out." She whispered.
"Let's just bide our time until...Doea goes away." She flicked her tail.
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