Shambe padded past den after den staring at his paws, a slack jawed expression on his face. It hadn't just happened, last night hadn't happened. Everything was fine, he was still the same vibrant cheetah he'd always been. That's what he was after all, a cheetah. And cheetahs associated with cheetahs not. Leopardess. His mind had been cloudy, his judgment momentarily flawed, that was all. There was no consequence surely for such a small lapse of judgment. Then why did he feel so unclean? His mouth was dry and he was angry, and everything was the fault of each other. Somehow he'd made his life even worse, he seemed to be getting good at that.
Stepping through the grasses gently, Nimhglas chose his way carefully so as to match the rhythm of his surroundings, his ears wide and soaking in the faintest noises around him. He basked pleasantly in the vibrations of the world, but made sure to be as quiet as possible so as to not interrupt them. Life thrived around him, and he was the content passive observer. If some hunting presented itself he might take the opportunity, but otherwise he was settling himself in for a peaceful day's scenery watching.
A scent on the breeze caught his attention. Great cat, a male from the smell of it. Nimhglas was ambivalent about the cats, other than avoiding the lions when they were in a hostile mood. He didn't think this one was a lion, it smelled different. Curious, he paced forward to investigate.
He caught the scent long before he spotted the creature but instantly he knew. Vile. It smelled faintly of old carrion, they always did. It was quieter than most but that wasn't too surprising, it wasn't unlike them to sneak up on an unsuspecting cat. Of all the creatures he had encountered they were intelligent but for the most part, useless. And this one was especially useless to him, he wanted to be alone. Surely it would be smart enough to understand that. "Don't," he called loudly, "Sneak up on me, it's not polite."
Pausing as he was spoken to, Nimhglas eyed the great cat passively, examining its brilliantly patterned fur. He wasn't familiar with this particular species, but it certainly wasn't a juvenile lion. Much slimmer and more graceful, with lean lines that he found himself admiring, though he couldn't help but notice that it wasn't happy to see him. Best to be friendly, then. "Not polite was not meant, apologies," he said as greeting, and bobbed his head. "Well met, Not a Lion, what is the golden pattern with spots? This one is Nimhglas, which is from green waters. Its feet follow this way gently, and mean no breaking of territory."
Odd. That was really all he could think of when the other spoke and frankly he didn't like it. He'd had more than enough confusion for the span of the next few years. "Cheetah," he said, his voice betraying his irritation, "You're not breaking territory, just my patience." Normally he was a bit more personable, even to a hyena, but this one had met him at a particularly sour time. The fact that it didn't even seem to recognize him suggested to him that perhaps this particular one, Nimhglas as it had said, was not up to the usual standard of intelligence.
Licking the inside of his teeth thoughtfully, Nimhglas sized up this strange cat. A very hostile one, practically every line in its stretched body spoke of annoyance. "Patience is carefully spent. So, it is cheetah which is like a lion taken and pulled, with its legs drawn out like a giraffe?" He grinned at his attempt at a joke, trying to lighten the mood. "The hyena knew previously not of such things. But of the leopard, which is similar, this one has seen. Somewhat larger, I think. Does the cheetah know the leopard?"
Something about the creature's hostility didn't sit right with him, and itched at his skin. He usually was happy to befriend all creatures, even the crocodiles that might snap at his legs. But he found himself wary against this new male.
At the mention of leopards every muscle in Shambe pulled taut and froze. His eyes blazed as he tried to avoid looking at the hyena, feeling a building bile in his throat. Had it gotten inside his head so easily? Perhaps it was smarter than he was giving it credit for. "I am nothing," he said, emphatic on each syllable, "Like a leopard. And I'm sure not friendly with any." His stomach felt cold, as if he'd swallowed too much water from a rushing river all at once. He didn't like where this conversation had turned. He didn't like where it had begun in fact. Something inside him told him to run but it was quashed by his pride.
That certainly hadn't gotten the reaction Nimhglas had expected. Suddenly the cat was a live wire. The hyena was having difficulty reading the creature, it didn't behave how he expected. Not territorial anger, but something else. His curiosity was driving him on into the conversation, though. He'd never met one before, and he wanted to get a good feel for it, to know how cheetahs behaved. Like they just had their tail stepped on, it seemed so far. "What is the brightly spotted friendly with, if not leopard?" He stepped sideways, kicking his heels up playfully but keeping the cheetah in his vision. "Does it befriend the hyenas? They make good company, this one finds, but it is partial, perhaps."
"Cheetahs," he spat, stepping slightly away, "Just cheetahs. I don't find anything else very pleasant." And why should he when they always fell for his cons so easily. Though he'd never given any a chance before. He'd given her a chance. He felt sick again. Did this hyena always talk and talk? "So I stick to my own kind whenever I can." Any time I don't is an accident. Just an accident. "Why do you care so much?" He felt himself getting angry, what right had this creature to upset him like it had, he had nearly begun to push it out of his head until it came along.
The current of adrenaline running through the air was infectious, and despite himself Nimhglas was getting drawn into it. The more angry the cheetah got, the more eager he got to push, to see how far it went. He wasn't sure why. There must be some imbalance in the harmonies of nature. Perhaps the cheetah was the source of it.
That was it, that was what was bothering him. The cheetah reminded him of the other night walker, the one who had caused so much pain. It was too soon after his last duel with his rival, he was still on edge, and this cheetah wasn't helping things. He really should go, leave the cat alone to its frustrations. And yet, there was the curiosity again. "And yet it doesn't stick, it speaks to the hyena of green water. Why would one not befriend where friends are? If hyena is friend, is it so different from cheetah? The two, cat and not cat, yet the same. We are brothers, sharp hunter. Why deny?"
"It's plently different," Shambe snapped, exasperated. There were so many running about preaching for equality and brotherhood, his mother would have been absolutely spitting. She wouldn't approve no she never had. And he had always been too afraid to question her. Her word was law, even after her death it remained. Blood shall not be mixed. Not mixed. Do not mix. "I deny because we are superior, we are fast and strong and clever," his voice had taken an automatic tone, as if it were a phrase he had parroted many times in his life. Deep down he wasn't sure he believed it anymore but it was one thing he had left to cling to, one thing always stable.
"Super-reeyor?" Nimhglas rumbled, eyes narrowing, and his feet fell into pacing a circle around the cheetah. Before a few months ago he'd never even heard the word before, and the concept of one creature being better than another was laughable. To think! True some were faster and some were clever, but how does one judge? "And being super-reeyor gives authority, yes?" he asked, and his voice dropped into a hiss. He'd heard this argument just before his pups had been threatened by his rival. His own anger was stoked now, and was running away with his senses. "Gives one right to act against others? Gives one pardon to cruelty? Does the brightly lit cheetah hunt the leopard then, or the hyena? Does it mock their efforts? What efforts do you have, not a leopard, that are so much better?"
He felt himself beginning to shake, though from anger or fear he could not determine. He didn't like being interrogated, it was predatory, it was his. This hyena was trying to make a fool of him, they all were. He felt himself beginning to drool and he couldn't think of why other than he desperately wanted to bite. To bite and to claw, that would prove who was superior. The lion. The lion had beaten him before, that was all that stopped him. But this wasn't a lion now was it. He didn't need to answer its incessant questions. "Will you shut up," he screeched, rushing foward with one long arm drawn back and claws barred. He brought it down in a fast arc, panting more from madness than effort.
There, there was the violence Nimhglas had seen under the surface! How could creatures carry such malice in them! To think of it being unleashed on the unsuspecting! It couldn't be allowed, he couldn't let it run unhindered. Fury welling up in him, Nimhglas jaw dropped loose, teeth bared. The attack was wild, and he dodged it, and snagged one of those long legs in his teeth as it rushed by his head. His anger almost made him bear down with his powerful jaws, but he hesitated briefly at the thought of crushing the thin bones. Too much, too much damage. He wasn't like his rival, to enjoy inflicting such carnage. Instead he threw his weight forward and slammed into the cat, using his heavier chest to try to knock it down. He snarled and frothed around the leg though, the threat of maiming heavy in his tone.
Shambe screeched, the anger in his mind washed out by a wave of panic. Hyenas had strong jaws, much stronger than anything else he had come across. In his rage he had somehow forgotten that. Now, with those jaws wrapped around his leg it was crystal clear. This creature could have snapped him at any moment but it hadn't. His breath sped up as he pawed at the ground with his front legs, trying desperately to wriggle his way away. How stupid had he been to expect a good outcome from this, only a naive idiot would bet on him. He hadn't even been able to take down an idiot lion. Idiot. The word resounded in his head. "I'm sorry," he gasped, digging his claws into the ground.
The apology only drove Nimhglas to a higher peak in his rage. Sorry? He was apologizing, just like that? Did he think that made it all better, just a few honeyed words to cover up the twisting thorns underneath? His jaws tightened slightly and squeezed into the softer underflesh of the arm, and he threw the weight of his neck around, dragging the arm back and forth with it like he might a leg of carrion to pull it off a carcass. But then he managed to still himself, and panted heaving breaths through his nose, staring wild eyed down at the cheetah for any signs of further aggression. No, he couldn't let him take it too far, he was being deceived by his own feelings. If the cheetah was truly backing down, he should let go.
He stared wild eyed as his leg was jerked around, feeling his shaking intensify at the sight of blood pouring out of a number of minor lacerations. Blood. Even before he had managed to escape most fights without this much blood. The sick feeling came back and he felt for a moment like he would faint. He tried to speak but all that came out was a garbled mess of syllables that sounded much like cubs spoke before they learned their words.
Trembling with tension, Nimhglas stayed still, concentrating on bringing his breathing back under his control. He heard the panic in the nonsense the cat was blathering, and recognized his mistake. Arrogant, aggressive, yes. But this was no merciless killer of pups who smiled through murder. He had misread the cheetah and fed in his own preconceptions, his own hurt still raw from before. He carefully loosened his jaws and let the leg slip free, and backed up out of range of the cheetah to watch it recover. "What is this super-reeyor that it claims, Not a Leopard? It is unseen." Then he shook himself, and the moment's rage was over. "Go now, and be no friend to the hyena elsewhere. This one will walk another path, and it hopes the two will not see each other's feet again."
Shambe didn't dare test his luck and scrambled up to his feet as fast as he could. He stumbled for a moment but fled as he found his footing. He was losing it. He was losing everything he'd known and the world was turning upside down. Every day not it seemed some other thing came to tip him aside, there couldn't be much else that could possibly happen. Life just wasn't that cruel. Perhaps it was, perhaps it was karma for all the things he had gotten away with before. But none of them had been that bad, perhaps all together. With one final glance over his shoulder he found himself regarding the hyena as some bizarre bringer of justice. All he knew was to get as far as he could. And somewhere in his mind, he had decided to find her.
