[EVENT] Coming Storms

[Mimsey]

Scheherazade's tongue lolled, her body wavering like a tightly coiled spring. Her strange eyes fell upon Roihu, her lip curling as she spoke. "You should speak with more respect," she warned. "Had I had my way so long ago, you might not exist."

Scheherazade seemed to find this rather funny. She snorted again, the rain clearly stinging her sides. "This whole pride maybe...destroyed with a snap of my jaws," she gleamed. "Long ago there was a young prince who made a fool of me. We shall see now, who is the fool. My job is already done."

But if her mad plans warranted further explanation, she wouldn't be giving them it. As soon as Nkera opened his mouth, her eyes flashed wildly. In an instant she tore out to him, moving quickly even on a broken leg. Her jaws snapped- but by then, the much larger lion had gotten the upper-hand and she was quickly overtaken.

After a quick struggle, there was silence.

At least, for a moment.

Staggering out of one of the alcoves, a very small and very ill hyena blearily observed the situation. From where she stood, it seemed that the entire group had been decimated. She slumped to the ground as though faint.

"...I told Sarakh not to trust her," she said weakly.

 

[Zosie]

Mwale'kono's eyes were narrowed, looking from the dark form of the cliff-scaling hyena, to the pink one who had just appeared before them.

He had attempted to climb the cliff with the others, but one thing that his leg could not withstand was a sharp incline. It seemed the muscles that were struggling to rebuild themselves could not agree with the angle, and he was in unbelievable pain. He was still struggling when another from the group managed to throw her off.

His amber eyes flared at the pink hyena for a moment. "Why did you, then?" He guessed maybe Scheherazade had some information, or a hold over some of the others. They did not seem as if they were all willing to take part in her plan, that was for sure.  

[Whimsical Blue]

Morag sighed as she shook her head, watching the crazed hyena finally meet her end. Vile beast... though it was hard, now, to truly believe that she deserved such a fate. Yes, the Firekin were violent creatures... but they did not make a habit of sowing death where they went. This situation bothered her on a deep level.

Turning away, she limped towards the hurt male, her voice low when she spoke to him.

"Where is the missing cub?" She asked, her red eyes intent in her scarred face. "We want our child back."  

[fuKurohane]

So Scheherazade was insane. She thought she could rule the Firekin herself, if not just the Firekin lands. But the prince... who was she talking about? Was there some branch of royalty doomed due to this manic hyena? But so far as he could tell... little more doom would be coming from her, as Nkera left her body limp, mangled, and quite dead. So he wasn't the only one with a short temper, acting rashly. This had been the lion he'd dueled into the pride. It was a standoff, for the most part, but the mountain lion was smart. And strong, clearly enough. He had torn her down from the cliff, and torn the life out of her shortly afterward.... though Roihu was somewhat disappointed that they couldn't get more answers out of her, he couldn't blame Nkera for acting so similarly to how he had only a few hours earlier - if it had even been that long.

Then a stink hit his nose, and as a ripple of paranoid flooded through him he cried out loudly, "Everyone, stay back! She has a sickness!" He could only assume that this was the hyena they had been stealing medical supplies for... many of which Roihu was now carrying. So perhaps his previous idea had been a little far-fetched. He could no longer tell if any of these hyenas were tied with the Nergui, though several of them from earlier spoke with thick foreign accents. That being said, he wanted to help her. He couldn't help being drawn to healing. But he did not yet know the nature of her sickness - if it was disease or merely a feverish infection from some wound. Though... hadn't the doctor been here? Had she already been trying to help? "I am a medic," he addressed her. "What is wrong?"  

[Andranis]

He watched the hyena die, then looked up at the sight of another. This one was pink, to the other's black and purple. At Roihu's words, he remained back, not wanting to risk catching whatever this thing had. Hopefully it was something both curable and unable to pass on to the lions. Still... He wouldn't take any chances. "Do you even know about the missing cub...?" This must be Nini, the ill friend. "We're looking for one, but we don't know where it went." He gave Nkera a slightly sour look. "That purple-marked lump over there died before we could find anything useful out, other than she apparently has some sort of blood vendeta against Roihu's family..."  

[Mogami]

While he didn’t show it, Nkera felt a knot of pure anxiousness in his chest. It was slowly untying itself, the uncomfortable feeling waning as no voices rose against his actions. His breathing was somewhat heavy but he was panting a little from the previous efforts to dislodge the hyena from her perch and the final scuffle that followed it so that might not seem the least bit unusual to anyone.

In his old pride, his actions were expected and easy to understand. With the lack of chastising words so far, he was starting to think that even though Scheherazade had been injured and much easier to contain, the desert-born lions didn’t really mind what he’d done. They didn’t need to know that he’d like to apply the same treatment to the remaining hyenas regardless of how cooperative they seemed.

He jumped back, looking startled as Roihu gave the group his warning, looking mildly puzzled as he showed concern for the pink hyena’s condition. Was he worried that she might have something contagious?  

[Mimsey]

She watched quietly as the others approached, but made no movement. Sarakh was dead, there was little much to keep going on for at this point. Nini was not the sort to have a grudge, but at that moment she wished she could will one upon Scheherazade's corpse. Her and those two savage foreign hyenas, that had started this entire mess.

"Desperation," she said quietly.

Ea moved between the other healer and the hyena, raising her paw. Over the course of this whole calamity, "I don't think it is contagious. But one can never be too careful," she said. Her eyes, although clearly still enraged, seemed much less frantic now that the mad hyena was down.

Across the way, Skall barely seemed to register Morag's presence. The strain between the beating and his treatment seemed to have crushed all the life out of him. But then, he seemed to get a bit of a second wind. Perhaps it was just coincidence, but almost as soon as he lifted his head the rain seemed to stop. He winced, smiling at no one. It seemed some favors paid for themselves in a thousand ways.

Drawn back to the lion in front of him, he wheezed out a shaky pant. "He's trapped," he said hoarsely. "Scheherazade knew she only really needed one hostage. Said firekin were soft on their cubs."

He coughed, his ears flattening. "Wasn't my idea. She took the cub, and put him down one of the ravines. Can't climb up..." his breath wavered. "Should be... a few minutes from here."  

[oo Ded]

The hyena was dead. Alya let out a breath that she felt she was holding for a long while, now. She didn't know how she was to feel about the death of the canine; the lioness didn't think of her people as being the sort to seek out death. They were, she hoped, above that. But still, she couldn't help but feel relief wash over her.

Her eyes darted quickly to the new form. How much of this canine thing could be handled in a single night was unknown, but she knew one thing for sure: she was sure getting tired of it. Alya's maw twitched to the side as she watched the interactions, listening closely. The weak voice of the wounded hyena drew her attention and she neared, standing at the medic's flank. "We should move, then," she murmured, low and focused. The lioness raised her head, her eyes moving over the forms around her. "Who knows how much the water may have risen at this point." The rain had lightened; that was good news, at least. But if the ravine had flooded higher than the cub could climb...

They had to hurry.  

[Excited Apathy]

Mkazo's eyes were hard as Scheherezade met her end. It was the very least that she'd deserved, for what she'd done. His only regret in her death was that it had been relatively quick. Information aside, she was one that could have used a slow and honorless end, left to the elements. He tensed momentarily as another hyena arrived, to relax when he saw her obvious illness. This must be the Nini the more cooperative ones had been trying to save, then.

He was quiet as he listened, until he heard Skall. "Then there's no time to waste," he said suddenly. "We need to find him."  

[wooga Paes]

No one needed worry about this lion approaching the "new" hyena. Yayuka was quite content sitting by the other near-death hyena. From his spot she couldn't hear that one speak so well, but it didn't seem like she said too much. It was Nini, he guessed.

Then, finally, the other hyena was paying up with some good information. Good only in the sense that it was what they needed to know now, not so much in the content of the message. Yayuka was glad he'd saved him!

But no time to sing the poor beast's praise now. Aside form the fact that he was still a filthy invader in their lands, there was a cub to rescue. Yayuka himself was a father — raising the two cubs rescued from the Nergui together with his mate — and was rather in a hurry to make sure the child was safe.

"Great, let's go." He wouldn't wait another minute.  

[Andranis]

The cub was down A ravine... But which one? "Hold on, there's more than one ravine - We can't just search them one at a time, and since THAT..." He looked at Scheheezade. "Is no longer an issue, nor are attacking hyenas in general... I think we can afford to split up this time, two or three to a ravine." He looked at Ea. "Which cub is it that's still missing so we know what color pelt and markings to look for?" Finar-si only knew how many variations of red Firekin came in, and some cubs were born black, white, or gray... The base pelt color would at least help them narrow things down, and markings narrowed things even more, since the Firekin weren't particularly crawling with a lot of twins.  

[Mogami]

Nkera waited until Skall was done speaking and then looked down at the hyena at his paws, his mouth opening in a silent snarl. He nodded at Kosuke before stepping back from the body of the black hyena and turning his head towards Skall again.

“Do you know where?” he paused and then looked at the pink hyena with the same question in his eyes. “He can be carried if necessary. If not, we should split.” If there was any hyena carrying required, he'd be the last to volunteer for the task though.  

[Mimsey]

Skall took another shuttering breath, his eyes rolling open once more. He still couldn't see correctly, but it was getting better. It was about all he could do just to keep seated. "To the north," he said. "The first one. You'll have to climb ...there's no way else down there..."

As to the other question, Ea could answer that. "A black one, one of Armada's boys." While Ea claimed no fondness for the foul tempered lioness, she certainly felt for any mother looking for her cub. Particularly after this storm. "You all go on ahead. Find the cub, and call the guard for real this time. I can handle these two."

By now, the rain had but ceased. With the sun starting to rise across the desert, the gathered firekin might find themselves witnessing a very rare sight. Light caught the pools of water dug across the terrain, making it seem like a thousand mirrors littered the desert. For at least the next few days, water concerns would seem like a forgotten memory.

But more importantly: when the group set out towards the northern revine, they'd begin to hear a small voice calling from the other side of the gap.

"Hey! Someone get me out of here!"

 

[wooga Paes]

Glad that they were finally moving again, Yayuka made sure to keep ahead. Even though he was beginning to find he hated climbing, and had inwardly been rather irritated they'd have to do that. Oh well! Without needing further instruction, he hurried on North, as Skall instructed.

He didn't recognize Armada's cubs at all, but the description of him being black certainly wouldn't be helpful at this time of night. It was definitely a good thing that, once they got closer to the northern ravine, the cub decided to chip in on his rescue.

"Keep making noise! We'll get to you soon!" He answered, trying to find the best route to wherever the voice was coming from, and catch sight of the cub in question.  

[Mogami]

Armada? That was one lioness that Nkera would rather not get on the bad side. He'd certainly not be the first in line to give her some bad news... like, your son was abducted by hyenas. That sort of thing.

Nkera hoped Skall wasn't lying to them. He turned to leave and walked in the direction they'd been told, looking for any signs of the missing (dark) cub in the darkness. At least the rain had stopped and they could finally hear each other perfectly without having to raise their voices.

"Oi, kid!" he shouted from time to time, following after Yayuka who seemed to have heard something.