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 Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:33 pm
Things couldn't have gone more wrong than they did that day.
The cub sitters had decided a field trip was in order. Meaning, Hasana, Lakisa, among others were gone with the herd of youth around the pride. Waseme had sent out all of the ambassadors the day before, all of which had yet to return. Many of the hunters had left to do what they were suppose to: hunt.
They never worried for an attack, because who could push through somewhere as large as the Nchi to reach them?
Answer: Rain. One enemy that plagued their history, yet somehow remained out of sight, and thus out of mind.
Amira had stayed behind, assigned to the task of keeping Ure company, given they still weren't sure what to do on the matter. Hasana wasn't thrilled with leaving, but her granddaughter assured her everything would be fine. What could go wrong?
Never ask that question.
Talis had slipped away from the group, as she always did, and gone to hide away somewhere quiet. This minor annoyance became a life-or-death struggle when you factored in her hiding place of choice had been the island off the shore.
The rains had swept through without prior warning, and the little thing had been so frightened by the lightning and thunder she'd huddled further into the den and refused to come out. As the waters rose and began to seperate the small plot of land from the rest of the pride, Rosko (being one of the only members both aware of the problem and close enough to do anything about it), took it upon himself to dash valiantly out to her rescue. Kind of.
To make matters worse, Talis being a seer like he was voided any predictions he'd have had otherwise. They could be hit with a wave large enough to drown them any second for all he knew.
Amira's abilities still worked just fine, and had she not had a vision of the trouble she'd have never heard the cries for help over the pouring rain that struck the shivering, trapped duo mercilessly. She hadn't really wanted to, but she had no choice than to badger Ure to come with her. She did promise she'd watch her.
So now, they were standing at the shore getting rained on, watching two of their pride and family members face potential death.
Talk about bad days.
They had no idea Bandele was elsewhere, not having a much better time.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:58 pm
Ure had seen rain like this once. Once.
She remembered how the sands were twisted and swirled and it became a River of Death. That was her name for it, because nothing in the world could stand in its path without being swept away, sent in thousands of circles, and eventually drowned.
One of the rogue slaves had been caught in it once - he was foolish and didn't know the sands. Ure couldn't recall that they'd found his body. They probably hadn't, and no one bothered to look besides. What was one slave amongst many?
Of course, far after that, it had transformed. It was a lot like Uzulu's mood. It became River of Life.
Right now, however, it was looking rather deadly.
And what did Ure do when things got deadly, tough, irresponsibly stupid to get involved with? She got involved. It was a slaves duty to keep her master's safe, and the leopon was as close to a Firekin color as she'd seen yet.
"Hold my tail," she instructed Amira as though it were normal and then she proceeded to wade into the water. Being a slave and having to hunt for two when you were only one lion made you fairly fit. Not fit enough to drag and save two lions at once, but fit enough.
There was a rock out a little ways. One that was making the current worse, but a place she could latch onto. And, from there, she was quite sure that she could make it to the other two. Which would mean three stranded lions. Unless the current wasn't yet deadly enough that she and that male could carry the young lioness with them. Was he strong enough, and better yet, how much would the current rip them if they tried?
Ure took another step forwards.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:02 pm
"Just hold on!" Amira knew her words were of little comfort, but for now, there was nothing else she could think to do. Rosko was handling the situation with a steady paw far as she could tell. It was Talis she worried for. The little princess was cowered beneath her almost-savior, shaking for reasons other than the cold.
Those words of assurance were followed by ones of disbelief. "Are you insane?! Don't--Ure!" Before she could do anything to stop it, Ure had abandoned their dry--er, dryer at least--place on the land. Amira grabbed her tail more out of instinct than instruction, wanting so badly to call at her to come back. If she did, she'd let go, and who knew how strong the current was even in the shallow waters.
"It's alright," Rosko whispered to the one huddled under him. Ure caught his attention, and like Amira, he could hardly believe it either. Just like the women in this family. Sigh.
"Don't come out here! You'll drown!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:14 pm
With the rain the way it was? They would be the ones drowning. The current would get nothing but worse in Ure's opinion. And the land here was solid to an extent. It wouldn't choke her away like the sand would.
She took another step forwards.
Some debri whipped by and caught on her leg for a moment before dislodging. She could feel the sting, and decided the current had gotten to a point where it would almost surely kill her if she lost her footing.
A few more steps, and she was about as far as she could get from Amira's tail without having her in the water, too. "Let go now," she said.
From there, she went back on her haunches and sprung. She asked Finar-si to land her safely before the jutting rock. From there, she wasn't sure what she was going to do.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:26 pm
Amira didn't say anything because she couldn't. She silently refused to let her go and held on tight until Ure jumped. When that happened, it slipped out of her jaws and nearly sent her tumbling into the water too. She clung to the shore and hoisted herself out. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. It felt like even less. "URE!"
"Women in this family!" Rosko complained again, out loud the second time around. Life had always been calm for him. This was making up for it and then some.
Thumpthumpthumpthump.
His heart about exploded when Ure launched for the rock, and when she managed to grab the thing it did nothing to settle his breath. What was wrong with these Firekin lions?!
What was wrong with him?
"Stay here, Talis. Don't go anywhere. It'll be okay."
When Rosko looked up he found Amira gone as well. Frantically he looked around for his cousin or second cousin or whatever she was and found nothing. Desperate, he looked back to Ure.
"What are you doing?!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:35 pm
The wind completely left her system. In a moment of panic, her eyes went white and she sucked in a greedy breath. The rock, however, was tight under her paws. In fact, her body was rather wrapped around the whole thing.
As slowly and carefully as she could, Ure maneuvered up onto the rock. It was slippery and now and then the water would spray up around her. Ure considered it a warning.
"I'm not sure, yet!" she called back to Rosko. It was certainly the most heartening sentence of the day. Not.
How far could she leap from here? Would it do her any good? No. Not really.
"Do you think you can make it back over to this rock by yourself?" she asked. Yet again, her voice was as calm as could be. Only the slight shake in her legs told that her body was having different ideas than her relaxed state of mind.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:44 pm
One of calm mind himself, Rosko was soothed by the relaxed voice speaking to him. It took a lot to rattle him, if only because he usually knew what was coming. When you got so used to being one way it was hard to shake yourself out of it. Seeing someone throw themselves to their own death? Yeah. That would do it.
Again he looked at Talis, and again offered her words of assurance everything would be okay. Tayhira was only one example to lead him through life. She might not care or like who was in charge, but Rosko respected Waseme and considered her daughter important by default. No matter who she was, this was only a child.
"I need you to save the princess first!"
How to go about that?
It was then Rosko realized in a terrible realization the water was rising around them. This island was going under just like in the story he'd been told by his grandmother. It was now or never.
He snatched Talis and dove into the water. The princess screeched and squealed all the way to the rock. Once there, she was more pushed at Ure than handed off to her.
The current showed it was not one to be played and just as the added weight left him Rosko was swept away and vanished in the water.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:55 pm
In that moment, for the first time in her life, Ure decided that a lion - or leopon - was rather foolish.
She had opened her mouth to tell him to stop for a moment. It was all she needed, but he was as brash as she was and leapt into the situation. It was similar to what she would have had him do, but not quite conducted how she had hoped.
But she'd been wanting something along those lines, so she was quick to grab the scruff of that neck before the water could push the lioness cub in a direction that would be fatal.
With slipping feet, she leapt from the rock and half-flung the cub with her. But she was only using the momentum to keep from having both of them be dragged down into the current along with the other. She couldn't help him yet; doing so would mean death.
Breathing through her nose, and getting quite a bit of water in the process, she made a half-drowned scramble back to shore and dragged the juvenile back with her. It was a miracle that the leopon had made it as far as he could.
"Are you okay? You must stay here, or stay close beside me. We have to follow the water down in case he gets stuck. We can save him, then, but if we don't hurry, he might be stuck and drown."
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:10 pm
Whatever Talis said, it was something along the lines of 'I'm okay'. The words were silenced over the howling winds and manipulated by her own quivering body. She shrank back in sheer horror at the situation before them, feeling as helpless as Amira had.
That's why she'd done her best to track done someone, anyone who could help. Not many lions had lingered behind. This was the first time since taking the throne the queen had left.
She did manage to locate someone, and Bandele wasn't too bad a find for times like these.
"What's going on?!" he called over the roaring thunder.
Amira was almost afraid to ask, "Where's Rosko?!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:13 pm
Ure didn't bother to tell them to watch the juvenile they'd dragged from the island. They would figure this one out on their own.
She glanced in Bandele's direction and answered with a calm, even tone even as she started to trot down the rising water-flood. "In the water. Hurry, hurry. I'm worried he'll drown."
Perhaps 'worried' wasn't the appropriate term, but she was making an effort at trying to locate him before it happened. "He's been down for too long," she added. "I hope he comes back up."
Since she was starting to feel the chill in her muscles, and Rosko was a larger animal that the lion cub, Ure thought that Bandele would be a huge help. A full-grown male lion had plenty of strength to give.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:21 pm
Rosko acted out of many things. Panic, fear (more for Talis than himself at the time), maybe a pinch of thoughtlessness. Bandele wasn't like that. When he rushed past Ure and did a dive straight for the water, his head was on his shoulders and he knew exactly what he was doing. Then again, he acted out of heroism, so maybe they weren't so different.
The raging waters had not been calmed, still agitated by the storm that showed no leniency and continued brewing around them. As he hit the cool surface he wondered what was wrong with that girl.
Soon after, he remembered who her mother was and it all made sense.
The hulk of a male surfaced a much too long moment later, coughing and spurting best he could with the fur from the scruff of Rosko's neck in his mouth. These cursed hybrids and their awkward shape and size. How had he gotten so much bigger than his mother already?
Amira had followed them along the shore with Ure, ready to grab her tail and pull her back should she try anything stupid again. Everyone here was so insane sometimes! "Hurry, Bandele!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:28 pm
Ure was quite content to wait on the shore. She followed Bandele down, wondering how he'd known where Rosko was with such ease.
It was a talent she would have liked to have had.
Oblivious to Amira's worry, she stayed poised on the edge of the rushing waterbed. When Bandele was in reach, she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and helped him to pull himself and the leopon onto shore.
They were both very wet, and with luck, they were both very alive.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:44 pm
As thanks, Bandele nodded to Ure. It wasn't much, but compared to what Amira got, it was something. "At least someone remembered their training." With a scowl he looked the now unconscious leopon over. From the time they could walk he had always tried to school the cubs in safety precautions and what to do when bad things happened.
If nothing else, Rosko had listened, trying his hardest to cling to the rocks along the shore, under or above whatever. It was for likely that reason alone Bandele had managed to find him. Moral of the story: Pay attention in class.
"Looks like his back leg is broken," he noted gravely.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:49 pm
Ure looked at the wet and unconscious animal and decided that she would like to be somewhere warm.
What did one do about a broken leg? It was not something they'd covered in the Firekin. Uzulu was very careful his slaves were abused, but still capable of functioning. A lion with a broken leg in the desert could often mean a dead lion. It certainly meant a worthless slave.
"He can stay with Amira and I until he dries and wakes," she suggested. She did not bother to ask Amira for her approval. Slaves very rarely had any rights, and her mind was still lingering in that world. Amira would accept company or accept a punishment and then accept said company anyway.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:57 pm
"Uh, sure." Approval was, coincidentally, not hard to find in Amira's words. She happily went along with anything on good days, and quietly followed suit on the bad.
The hefty lion shook his head in a general motion of frustration, not because he didn't agree. Careful so as not to make matters worse--but probably not as careful as he could have been--Bandele shifted the hybrid onto his back. "Amira, get the princess and meet us back at grandmother's den. And be careful about it."
It wasn't a long walk on sunny days. On rainy ones? That was another story with a storm of this volume. More than once they had to stop and plant themselves more firmly on the ground the winds were so vicious. They made it, slowly but surely, and so did the female pair that showed ten or so minutes later.
Being as intelligent as he was, it was only expected Rosko's waking words would be something inspiring.
"Ow!"
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