It had occurred to Umkhombo on multiple occasions that his life had led him to strange places, but he could say with certainty that this was by far the strangest: fighting in a pit under the critical eye of a bright blue leotah and her little...gang, which included two unreasonably large lionesses - one of whom was also blue - against a lion who had once been his mortal enemy. To stand over the pinned male and not kill him ran maddeningly counter to any and all instinct, but he was getting better at not actually eviscerating him. He doubted that he would ever be able to trust him, would ever call him 'brother' despite the fact that they had now found themselves not only in the same pride, but running in the same warparty within that pride, but they could at least co-exist. Most of the time. Ahlaq was missing an ear from their first encounter, which gave Umkhombo quiet, smug satisfaction every time he looked at the other male.
He'd given Umkhombo a few scars, too, when Khombo had run into Holcan and her warparty purely by chance after failing to overthrow Bangizwe. Tearing into Ahlaq had been cathartic, to say the least, and had impressed Holcan, which was how he had ended up in the Impibutho, of all places...following the savage blue leotah who had kicked his a** the one and only time they'd fought. Yeah, his life was officially strange.
As if on cue, Holcan barked at him from the sidelines, "Oi, let 'im up! He's ugly enough with one ear, let 'im keep the other one for now." The scarred hybrid chuckled, tail lashing in delight. "Anybody else? I think King's done for the day, but looks like the newbie wants more."
"Ugh, hell no," the mohawked blue lioness to her left declined, groaning. "He hits like a ********' rhino, my ribs still hurt from yesterday."
"That's a first, Bruiser doesn't wanna fight!" Holcan laughed and shoved at her, deliberately hitting her bruised ribs, then paused and looked at her with a slight tilt of her head. "Hah! That's a good one, actually. Maybe we'll call you Rhino, eh?"
To her right, the red lioness sighed. "Must we all have nicknames?"
"Yes, Red, you must," the champion insisted. "So, how about it? Anybody else wanna have a go at Rhino?"
No new challenger from the warparty deigned to speak up, though a male of variegated colors made his way down the steps to the Pit, inquiring with the Champion as to where he had come from. He carried himself with undeniable authority and confidence, the easy charisma of a practiced leader. He was clearly important, and so he had Umkhombo's quiet attention.
"I do need to keep some of the good ones for myself, Boss," Holcan answered with a grin, not coming to attention upon his arrival but rather rolling onto her back and stretching long limbs into the air, claws flexing. Though she was loyal to Bronach and had nothing but respect for him, she was a total stranger to formality. She was all easy, non-threatened confidence, but comfortable enough with the lion to expose her underbelly. Bruiser, meanwhile, grunted acknowledgement, while Red was the only one to stand up straight and dip her head. "He was just out skulkin' around a rogue, didn't think he was all that interestin' 'til King tried to kill 'im. Didn't go so well for King."
The leotah chuckled, while the paler of the two males in the pit glowered up from where he had slunk away once released by his opponent, still obviously fuming.
"My name's Umkhombo," the lion in question added, shaking himself off and standing tall while he got a look at the lion who'd joined them. So this was the Warlord, hm? It had been a long time since he'd ranked beneath another male, and he found he didn't like the feeling. Fortunately, it wasn't one he had to bear for long, not this time - after more words with the bright blue hybrid and another look at him, the male moved on.
The leotah returned to an upright position and turned back to what portion of her party was present and waved a paw at them, officially dismissing the group for the afternoon. "Right, my pretties, it's lookin' like we're done here for the day, since Rhino's done beat enough-a you up. So go do whatever the hell it is you lot do when you're not doin' s**t with me."
They all responded with variations of "Yes, Boss!" - some more colorful than others - and trickled off to do, well, whatever it was they were going to do. The red one, Rusalka, padded off with Holcan, while 'Bruiser' - Jen'shan - and Ahlaq each when their own ways, leaving Umkhombo to do the same. Because just what he needed was more time to himself to think, more time to wonder how the Ithambo'hlabathi were faring. Had the drought he'd gotten a glimpse of let up at all? Had the Qyrhyeshti managed to settle in, or were they causing a stir? Most important of all, how was his daughter? If anything were ever to happen to her...
He hadn't been raised to have an attachment to his offspring - hell, he hadn't been raised to raise offspring, as many of the females in his homeland would object to a male intruding on what they generally considered to be their business - but he hadn't been raised to be the type to fall in love and take a mate, either. Nothing in his life had ever, ever gone according to plan, and he was sure that his mother was profoundly disappointed in him by now. Ukuthula had brought him up with the very specific intention that he one day return to the Bonelands and become Umholi like his father and grandfathers before him, but he'd been...delayed when his adolescent wanderings left him half-dead in the desert to be found by the Qyrhyeshti, and he'd have happily stayed there until the end of his days if things had turned out differently.
But they hadn't, and now fate had dropped him into the Impibutho. Unlikely as it was, this too was somewhere he could have belonged and been content, but he had made a promise, and when the time was right, he would keep it.
((Backlog/salvaging a dead RP.))
