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 Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:13 pm
Uzulu stood, glaring down at Upendo'Mpaji (or rather up), and the yellow lion could tell it wouldn't end well. In all his years, he'd never made a mistake, a flinch, even a tiny display of emotion that would cost him.
Until now.
He'd made one tiny comment. One little mark, and it had been devestating. He'd been talking to himself, getting water for Kaanga - for it was something he did. That's when it had happened. Words just popped into his head.
"Would you like to repeat that slave?" he'd hissed, a deep gutteral growl echoing deep from the master's throat. Mpaji cringed as low as he could, but said nothing. With a snarl, Uzulu lashed out and Mpaji stumbled backwards.
Slash, lunge, but the yellow lion seemed just fast enough.
That's when Mpaji reached the edge of the world, or so it seemed. His back foot slipped off, and he fell onto his limbs, just in time to see Uzulu go sailing right over him, catch the edge, wack his jaw, and go tumbling over. He couldn't believe his eyes, he was screwed. Completely. Kaanga wouldn't kill him, but the other Firekin would.
"FATHER!" Ure's scream came a second to late, as she rushed to the scene, worry crossing her lines for once. He wanted to scowl at her, she had no father, but instead he turned his attention around.
Uzulu wasn't dead, not yet, anyway. He clung onto the ledge, nearly pulling himself up, but Mpaji was quicker. Whether or not the red lion would have fallen is hard to say, but Mpaji was there, grabbing the scruff of his neck, with the intention to haul him up.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:30 pm
She'd finished her chores early and, with nothing else assigned to her, and wandered off in search of one of the masters. She'd learned early on that disappearing was frowned upon.
Now she wished she HAD just stayed in their small den.
"Ure, no!" Addae cried... or at least, that's what she MEANT to cry. What came out was nothing more than a strangled cough. Her wide brown eyes were fixed in terror on Uzulu as he hung precariously on the edge of the cliff. Save the master - it was conditioned. She wanted to hide, to stay crouched behind the rocks and blend into the sand like her fa-- like 'Paji. Her fear of Uzulu - and her obedience - was unconditional. Seeing him this close, anger nearly palatable...
But her sister was there, alone!
"Ure!"
The sound was lost in the scrabbling of claws on rock. Louder.
"URE!"
With a screech the cub jerked into a shambling run and slid to a stop at her sister's side. Her body shook and sweat darkened her pale coat until dust coated it like a second skin. Eyes focused resolutely on the ground, she leaned in close to her sister.
"Get away. We have. To. Get. Away." She panted, nearly desperate with fear.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:41 pm
Tanana had been doing something for Kienge. It may have been some meaningless task, or had actual meaning to it. She was too young and too small to do much that could even be called meaningful, such as hunt, like Ohahira did. That's what most thought.
What Tanana actually did, only she, Kienge and whoever Kienge would tell himself really knew. Obviously, the... 'work' wasn't something she was fond of, but she never complained about it. And you didn't just 'talk' about that kind of thing, so if you weren't wailing about how awful it was, those around you simply stayed in the dark.
Whatever it was she'd been doing, she'd veered from after hearing Addae. The smallest of them had hurried over and processed the situation with impressive speed.
It was a matter of seconds before she'd rounded her sisters and was forcing them back. Or at least trying to ."Go back! Go back!" Hoping they'd do as she told, she hurried to the edge and stared over.
Her eyes narrowed sharply on Mpaji.
Please fall, she begged silently. There had been no bitter feelings toward her father, but if him falling meant Uzulu falling, she was willing to hope for it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:50 pm
Ure looked heated. Why should Tanana be the one to peer and pester, when the rest of them had to flee like common cowards. Granted, that's what she wanted to do, and she desperately wanted Uzulu dead. Never the less, curiousity ate at her like some sort of plague.
Gasping it down, she turned and went to find somewhere to go, anywhere. She couldn't save Tanana, it was certain the cub would get another lashing, for some reason or another, and she didn't want to be the one to take it.
A few grunts later, Mpaji had dragged a fiercely agitated Uzulu up the rocks, and onto his feet. The fates were not with Tanana today.
"b*****d slave," Uzulu hissed, plummetting into Mpaji's side, and sending him sprawling towards that same edge. Eyes furrowed as far as they could go, the adult male Firekin persisted to kick Mpaji until he was near the edge. "Go over there and hang," he spat, landing a wad on Mpaji's fur. "If you're still alive when I get back, I'll give someone else a beating instead." With the twitch of his tail, he marched of, swiping a paw at Tanana, if she still happened to be in his way.
"And if you're not, its one less mouth to feed."
Mpaji felt guilty, but he slid onto his stomach and attached to the ledge as told. He should have been beaten viciously, but Kaanga would not have been pleased. It was Uzulu's one weakness and god forbid that lioness should ever perish.
Ure peered from her hiding place next to Addae, craning her neck to see. She said nothing, only looking from her sister out to the scene, obviously yearning to be out there.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:11 pm
Addae was more than happy to give in to her sister's demands. Without a backwards glance she scrambled for cover, trusting Tanana to get Ure to safety. She refused to look out from behind their hiding spot, her eyes instead locked on Ure's black back. Even if she couldn't see the scene though, she could hear everything.
Uzulu's heavy paws fell close by in the sand. Addae cringed, certain that he'd see them and beat them for watching his fall. She held her breath and listened as his footsteps retreated into silence.
Finally, she opened her eyes and gasped. Away from Uzulu's paralyzing influence, it took no time for the cub to reach Mpaji's side.
Once she got there, however, she had no idea what she was planning to do. Certainly she had no overwhelming love for the sandy lion. But if his living could make life easier for her sisters and herself...
She blurted the first thing that came into her head.
"You can't hang there all day, you'll fall!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:53 pm
The paw collided with Tanana. The cub had no time to brace herself, let alone stop the shrill squeal that was awfully loud to be coming from such a small body. She literally flew through the air and harshly landed on the ground.
The marks that Uzulu's claws had made on her bled little and didn't look as though they'd scar as many had before. The damage was minimal and she regained her balance quickly.
Her attention was always at least half on her siblings should they be present as they were now, but that angry glare was not for them. She scurried to Addae and tried to push her back again. This time, away from Mpaji, not Uzulu.
"You SHOULD fall!" she spat angrily at her father, and there was a chance no one as young as her head ever spoke with such venom. "How dare you!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:50 pm
The sight of Tanana coming heatedly over to him caused him to wiggle and worm. He couldn't be sure if it was her overpowered sense, or the ground far, far below that made it so hard to stay on that ledge.
As much as he wanted the girl's affection, approval - he wanted it from all of them. It just wasn't his place to fall. Any lion who voluntarily fell with little to no gain was a fool indeed. One of them would get beaten, probably Tanana, for she somehow always managed to be the one there when Uzulu was angry. If they were lucky, none of them at all, but if he took the plunge, death met him. He had unfinished business to score, there was no way in hell he was going to release his hold from this rock.
He crinkled his nose as a wad hit his left eye, matching the one left by Uzulu on his fur. This was all very degrading.
"You hang on a ******** rock," he snapped back, shoving his right foot into the side, and shoving himself forwards so he could at least moderately prop. "And then come back and tell me to fall."
He doubted she could do it. Even she knew the loss to gain value. He had much more to gain by being there, on solid ground, working from the inside. Whatever he was doing.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:32 pm
Addae braced herself in the sand and resisted Tanana's efforts to move her. Her brown eyes were wide and focused sharply on her sister's dark back, and her mouth formed a soundless 'o' in surprise. What did her sister mean by THAT? 'Paji might not be the best father around (in fact, he wasn't really one at all...) but that didn't mean he should die!
"Tanana! That's not very nice!" She admonished, although she relented to her sister's efforts and took a few steps back. "He didn't do anything wrong!"
... which, Addae realized, was exactly the problem. If he'd slipped and taken Uzulu with him...
It wouldn't have changed anything. Of this, the cub was certain. They would still be slaves, and the only change would be the master's name. Couldn't Tanana see that? The only way they could ever be happy is if they stuck together! Slaves couldn't be against slaves - it would tear them all apart. She frowned for at her sister for a moment, then saw the blood on Tanana's face.
"You're hurt!" With a cry of concern the cub was at her sister's side, examining the shallow cuts. The bleeding had already stopped, but Addae wasn't satisfied. "You'll get sick, and then where will we be?"
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