Lindani was temporarily parting ways with Damu. That's what she told him. "Temporarily." Whenever they "temporarily" left one another it usually meant a string of long nights, wherein Damu had left to find a new adventure calling and good ol' Lin wasn't able to keep up. He half believe it was because she felt sorry for him, but Damu did not seem the kind to feel sorry for even herself.
Footprints in the snow, Lin moved at a speed one might call "cautious" if they were being kind. He was being careful, and being slow. The wind was not nipping, not biting, it was gnawing against his thin coat and flesh.
The queen or whoever ruled these lands had sent out a request of some sort that Lindani had been too deaf to hear fully. Pelts, pelts for the members who froze to their deaths. That was all he had gotten from the message. However if it was pelts they wanted it was pelts they would get. It would be important, crucial really to mention that Lindani was unskilled of a hunter. The three tattered skins he wore across his back were not of his own kills but gifts from the very leopardess who had abandon him earlier.
Damu looked out for him, and he could do little much then serve as a watch dog for her. A watch dog because he had no bite left in him, only bark...
Clawing his way up the mountain was proving much more painful then it had been when he had first conceived the idea of this quest. “Yes” the cheetah whose own coat was dark and thin from fire ravaging it. “I can do this without problem!” Thought he, whose nose was filled with the forever scent of smoke. Whose eyes watered at the mentioned of youths or cubs having known he had lost his very own. “The cold shall not bother me” he had told himself foolishly while gazing up at the mountain range from the plains where he had stood.
Oh how he wished he stood there now… The cold was still sending shivers up his spine when Lindani happened upon an overpass of rock, a shelter from the breeze and the wind that was determined to break his spirit and soul. Along with of course whatever dignity and warmth in his body he still retained.
To his… alarm, he found that once he entered the safe haven from the snow the ground was dirt, frozen solid and cool to touch, but dirt never the less. His claws sunk into it as if to help balance himself up and the cheetah stood in place silently for a moment attempting to catch his breath. Funny how that expression worked really.
“Excuse me!” He heard a voice and the instinct of horror was pleasured along Lin’s face. It curved down his body and reached his feet in time for the stranger to see his face, a fear that cause the cheetah to turn quickly.
That alone was the biggest of his mistakes. He had thought that climbing up here was a good plan but an even better idea? Let a whole pride full of strangers, people who judged without knowing they were see him and all his ugly beauty. With a flash he turned away, although had his body still facing whoever was there awaiting for Lindani to respond.
“Are you giving us those pelts mister?” The person who had gazed upon his scarred face and seen the tip of his tail, or rather the lack of such said. Perhaps they were blind, having a blind merchant was most certain a good tactic in Lindani’s book.
“Er… Yes!” He spoke more harshly than he was used to. The wind caused him to go deaf once again and sounds were few of which he heard properly. Was there more than one person here? Oh, wasn’t that just a treat. Not one individual saw him but two. The look of sarcasm spread like wild fire to accompany the eye roll Lindani gave himself internally.
“I have come to… Give you these pelts! They will suffice to aid your cause yes?” He didn’t know why he was so nervous. Damu had assured him that all the nerves were his own fault, that no one was judging him that she pelt no pity.
That being said Damu Chui had a habit of leaving him to fend for himself days at a time. Damu Chui had a nasty temper when it came to teasing alligators. Damu Chui had introduced herself as an explorer and wanted him to be a good luck charm that would undoubtedly bring her fortune. Why did he trust the leopardess again?!
“Sir these pelts are ruined.” The merchant told him plainly. “Look at them, see for yourself these have holes and … is that blood?”
Now he was just irritated. “These pelts took me all day to catch! You should be thankful such a gentleman as myself is bothering to catch you any pelts at all! Why the nerve…”
He then faced the stranger, who looked more apologetic then he had ever seen in his life. In the end Lindani was the one who apologized. “Forgive me. The cold, it is bothersome to myself as well.”
“That’s quite alright.” The merchant informed him, and Lindani turned to go when another stranger called out “Wait!”
Oh good heavens what now to add to his humiliation?
“What would like mister, in return for these?”
“What?” Lindani asked, did he just hear that right? They wanted to give him something in return?
“Protection perhaps? As a pride we can promise you will be safe here.”
“Huh.” Lindani stopped to think. He hadn’t heard that he was receiving a reward.
“Sir, we ask that you please think of something that we the-“
“Food.”
“P-pardon?”
“Food.” Lindani said again plainly, “I’m starving serve me a dinner of some kind before I leave this place.” He then added, “Please.”
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5: Small, torn and barely useable. Worth 1 point.
1: Small, torn and barely useable. Worth 1 point
1: Small, torn and barely useable. Worth 1 point
((1000 words))
