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 Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:48 pm
The slightly adrenaline crazed lion growled as the lioness spoke at him. At him, not to him, because no one who was honestly engaging him in conversation would speak such nonsense and waste his time like this. He didn't buy her words for a moment, his beliefs too deeply ingrained in his blood, in his soul and spirit, to take the words of a traitor very seriously. Truth was not applicable. Lies were meaningless. Everything was just words.
It was time for action. That was what war was. Words had already proven to not be enough.
When were they ever?
Raruo killed innocents? The pride did? No. Sacrifices were honor bound, the strength of their spirit guiding them to their destiny, and those that killed them were simply guiding them to that plane. It was not for a Veteran to make such a Sacrifice, but what rules applied to a Sacrifice that had betrayed her home? To take her life would be to restore some measure of order. She would fulfill the destiny she had fled to escape, and her punishment would be rejection in the spirit realm. Her brother's misery in life without her would bear the strongest message to the Dhati. If he chose to suffer, to live in her memory and honor, he would become a slave for the Mizimu'tungika.
But really, Raruo didn't care what the other lion chose to do.
Now he was focused on the lioness.
"You are no more a precious Sacrifice as he is a warrior in the name of our pride. SO forgive me if I don't find your threat very... well. Threatening." Sometimes he wished he as just a little more well spoken, but he had to make due at this point. Being poetic was lost on him, anyway.
In a fluid movement he charged from Mwako, digging his claws into the others neck, the thicker part around the side, and shoulder as he used him as a counter balance for his attack. He latched on to Shwari's throat in a flash, teeth sinking deep as he wrenched his head from one side to the other, repositioning his body so he could drag her to the ground and pin her there, in case his teeth had not found the vital veins in her neck.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:17 pm
Our pride. Our pride. That was something that the Veteran had very wrong. The Mizimu'Tungika was not his pride, nor was it his sisters. They were no longer bound by the Mizimu'Tungika's laws, nor were they bound to the false spirits. They were Dhati. They were so much more than any of this. They were...
Falling apart. Everything he'd known, everything he'd come to know, it was all spiraling downward into a pit of despair and desperation. The movements of the other male seemed to be so slow before his eyes, so precise that time itself seemed to freeze on the very moment when Raruo's claws sank into his beloved sister's neck.
"NO!" He roared as time slammed back into him, dragging him into the present as he rolled to his feet, ignoring the strain on his damaged shoulder as he charged at the elder lion, fangs bared and claws ready to sink into whatever flesh they could find themselves lodged in. He would not let it end like this. Not Shwari. He couldn't loose her. Not like this..
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:33 pm
"We are not of your pride. We no longer belong to you!" She snarled before the Veteran hit her. She knew that with all her heart. She was not one of -them-. She was not a faithless mongrel who would kill because they were told to. She was not someone who would kill for false spirits. She was not one who would die for false pretenses.
She was Dhati and she would die a Dhati.
She felt fangs sink into her neck and tried to growl back. Her own claws raked at whatever flesh she could reach with the last of her strength. She knew her brother would watch what she had followed him not to see herself but she knew that he would join her. Mwako wouldn't leave her alone.
Her claws pushed at the Veterans chest as she heard her brother call out. "It's alright Mwako ... i love you." Her voice was quiet, almost cut off by the fangs of the other male, but he would hear her. He had to. She could pass on knowing that the last thing she said to him was special.
There was no rage anymore, no anger. The Mizimu would fall for their fallacy. The true spirits would exact vengeance upon the pride. They would suffer just as the Dhati had suffered. She could feel everything slipping away as her paws ceased to have the energy to push at the Veteran.
Everything would be alright in the end ...
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:45 pm
Raruo held on to the lioness as she struggled against him, not letting her claws or efforts to push at him loosen the vice like grip of his jaws on her neck. He was growling all the while, shaking his head once or twice to make sure the life inside the once clean, light pelted female was gone.
He released her neck when he could no longer feel the pulse of her heart as it beat blood through her veins and into his mouth. He dropped her to the earth taking a step back. It wasn't a sight he was proud of, particularly, but the message was there. The purpose was there.
"Your duty," he said to the fallen female, his voice low and sober, lacking the anger and ferocity of his previous speeches, "is fulfilled, one way or another. A Sacrifice, for a different purpose. But your destiny remained the same. I will honor your death, for what you were supposed to be, and not what you became. And you will honor your brother, as he lives in your memory. The spirits will guide you from here."
He wasn't much for ceremony, not sure if what he was saying mattered to anyone, save himself. He turned his bloody head to the remaining lion, foolishly almost forgetting he was there.
Almost. Save for the fact that he was attacking.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 7:59 pm
His claws fell short of their mark, the light of his soul's fire dimming in his eyes as he watched his other half struggle before ceasing to exist. Her last words were not lost to him even then, lingering in his ears before finding their way into his heart, lighting his flames again. This wasn't over. Not yet; not as long as he still lived.
"You son of a b***h." He snarled, claws extending as he lunged at the other male, aiming a large paw at the side of the elder male's face. The agony of his loss raged through him as he attacked for Shwari and for all of the others who had given their lives to become Sacrifices for a different cause; a cause they'd all believed so strongly in. "Damn you. Why? Why her?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 8:10 pm
Raruo growled viciously as the other lion lunged at him, bearing his teeth in defense as his fur bristled with the thrill of a fight once more. The pause that had come after the death of the lioness hadn't kept Mwako still for long, and now Raruo had to face a grief fueled lion.
"My mother was a saint!" he retorted, roaring and pulling back sharply when he felt claws raking his face. He ducked down and then lunged, claws forward, tackling the other lion low and digging his claws into his shoulders in an effort to take him to the ground and maybe get him pinned. If he didn't do something to stop his wild attacks, the Veteran might end up with two dead bodies on his paws.
Something he was hoping to avoid. He would do it, if he had to, but he had made a decision and now Mwako had to serve his part, as his sister had. Or her death would be as meaningless to Raruo as it was to Mwako himself.
Raruo would not let that happen.
"It was her duty," he said, in the middle of his attack, "you don't believe in our ways, our spirits, but our beliefs are not why the spirits exist all around us. We are because of them, and we are a part of them. She died for you, you idiot. Don't throw your life away now and make her sacrifice completely pointless. I know you don't understand, so I'll make it simple," it was amazing how much he could say, all the while trying to get the other lion to submit to him through fighting, "she died for you, and you have to live for her. Her spirit was tied to yours, and will linger here for you: if you fail to honor her, you will be responsible for her ultimate death."
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 8:26 pm
He rolled with the elder male's attack, taking the full force of it so that he could drag the other lion with him through the dirt. His claws sought out anything they could sink into, a hiss just barely keeping him from biting at Raruo as his already wounded shoulder hit the ground. He was in no mood for a lecture from a murderer.
He took another swipe at the elder male as he sprang back, eyes focused on the Veteran as they circled together. Raruo's words floated in the air, not reaching his ears as he crouched, letting long claws dig into the dirt, grasping for a decent hold before launching him across the gap between them... And then the last of them sank in, hitting harder than any words ever could have.
... you... responsible for her ultimate death...
Grief took him with those words, the well of sheer misery dragging him down until he was nearly drowning in clouded vision and agonizing regret. His eyes closed as he took another swing, aiming blindly in hopes that his clumsiness would bring about his demise. To hell with the spirits... He couldn't bare to live without the other half of his soul; the light to the darkness of his own spirit.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 8:44 pm
Raruo saw a flash of a moment. Something he had said cause Mwako to pause, to flinch. Ignoring the flash of pain and suffering on the other lion's face, knowing full well that the other was bound to be miserable since Raruo had just killed his sister in front of him, the Veteran turned off his ability to feel sympathy and focused on what needed to be done.
He charged, keeping low as he focused on his goal. Sliding, he used his big body to throw Mwako off balance as he tackled past his opponent's half raised paw, sinking his fangs into the others' back leg, and jerked his head back, ripping at the vital flesh and severing the muscle there. While he had some momentum, spitting blood and fur as he went, he hefted his body around and smashed his big, hard head into Mwako's jaw, near where he had smacked him before.
From there Raruo just used his hefty paws to render the other lion unconscious, getting a bit caught up in it all and probably hitting him a few more times than he really needed to.
Panting, taking a step back, he looked down at the other lion, thinking he should say something profound over this fallen form, too. He remembered, though, that he now had to cart the useless thing through the lands and take him as a slave in the name of the pride, which was a lot of work for a lion coming down of a high from fighting, sporting wounds and running low on energy.
So he decided against any further profound insights or attempts at imparting his own ideals on the traitor. Instead he grabbed the lion by the back of his neck, mostly scruff and mane, and started the arduous task of dragging him away from the bloody battlefield, leaving the dead body behind them.
"Goddamn dumbass... pain in the butt..." he said, mouth full of fur. He grumbled all the way, to himself and to the unconscious lion, most of it muffled and all of it bitter, superfluous and out of relief that he had, at least for now, successfully kept his family safe.
At least someone was walking out of this without losing something they cared about. He might have felt bad about it, if this wasn't war, and he hadn't warned them. But since it was and he had he just performed his duty.
And that was that.
END
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