//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Zebra King // by Dragon Fruit //------------------------------// In a cave at the base of Usawa Mti, a grey parrot squawked in its cage. The sound of hooves echoed across the cave's walls, and the parrot began to shake. With a panicked squawk, the bird was grabbed. It was brought face to face with red eyed zebra. His skin was as black as moonless night, with stripes as white as the clouds. He grinned mockingly at the struggling bird, walking toward a cauldron filled with a boiling substance. "Life's not fair, is it?" He cooed to the terrified creature in his grip. "You see I -- well, I... shall never be King." He sighed woefully. The parrot struggled even harder. "And you... shall never see the light of another day." He chuckled as he lowered the bird into the boiling pot. "Adieu..." He quietly laughed. "What are you doing Giza?" The zebra flinched in surprise, releasing the bird. The parrot darted away. Giza sighed in annoyance, looking down at the disproving meerkat. "What do you want Kero?" " I'm here to announce that King Kifalme is on his way." Kero glared at the bored looking zebra. " So you'd better have a good excuse for missing the ceremony this morning." Completely ignoring the chattering rodent, Giza stared at the black dot that was his potion ingredient. "Oh now look, Kero; you've made me lose the my lunch." Kero gasped "Wha-wa;Your Majesty!" "Oh shut up you blithering muskrat. I was joking. The bird was merely potion ingredient." The meerkat was not reassured. "Well, you'll lose more than that when the King gets through with you. He's as mad as a rhino with hoof rot." The zebra faked a shudder, stalking towards the nervous rodent "Oooh... I quiver with FEAR." He towered over the now very concerned meerkat. "Now Giza, don't look at me that way... HELP!" Giza swiftly pounced, catching the terrified creature by his tail in his teeth. He made a movement as if to throw Kero in the boiling cauldron beside him when- "Giza! ..." His teeth still clamped down on Kero's tail, he replied, "Mm-hmm?" "Drop him." Hanging from Giza's mouth, Kero quickly and gratefully gushed,"Impeccable timing, your majesty." Giza rolled his eyes and dropped Kero on his head. Shaking his head, he took inventory of his tail. There was a sizeable teeth mark. "Eyyccch". Giza trotted up to his irritated older brother, sarcastically overjoyed. " Why! If it isn't my big brother descending from on high to mingle with the commoners." Kifalme didn't rise to the bait. "Uzuri and I didn't see you at the presentation of Ujasiri." Clutching his head in mock astonishment Giza gasped. "That was today? Oh, I feel simply awful." He turned and bucked the cavern wall. An antelope skull fell to the floor from the shelf above them. Kero jumped and hid behind Kifalme's leg. Picking up the skull, Giza admired it, adding in a bored voice, "...Must have slipped my mind." Kero peeked from behind his king's legs, irritation etched across his face and wagged a finger. "Yes, well, as slippery as your mind is, as the king's brother, you should have been first in line!" Giza stepped forward, Kero once again took cover behind Kifalme's foreleg. Giza bent down to his eye level. "Well, I was first in line," he calmly explained, and with an edge of irritation he added,"until the little hairball was born." Kifalme lowered his head, meeting his green eye to his brother's red. His voice was measured, but dangerous. "That 'hairball' is my son, and your future king." Giza stood, his face and mocking. "Ohh, I shall practice my curtsy." He dramatically bowed. As he passed his brother to exit the cave, Kifalme called out to him, his voice full of warning. "Don't turn your back on me, Giza." Giza looked back, his voice harsh and low, "Oh, no, Kifalme. Perhaps YOU shouldn't turn YOUR back on me." Kifalme leapt in front of his brother, his muzzle inches from Giza's. He bared his teeth, showing his anger for the first time. "Is that a challenge?" Giza's face was calm and patronizing. Backing away, he tutted at his older brother. "Temper, temper Kifalme. I wouldn't dream of challenging you." Kero scurried up beside the two, his paws on his hips, disappointment etched on his face. "Pity! Why not?" Giza looking down at Kero replied, "Well, as far as brains go, I got the family stripes. But, when it comes to brute strength," He pointedly looked at his disapproving older brother,staring to walk past, sounding morose, "...I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool." He stalked off without another word. Kifalme watched his younger brother's retreating figure with a sigh. Kero patted his foreleg consolingly."There's one in every family, sire," he thought for a moment "...Two in mine, actually." He clambered on Kifalme's back. "And they always manage to ruin special occasions." Kifalme shook his head dejectedly. "What am I going to do with him?" "I don't know your Majesty, I don't know." They looked back at the boiling pot, and the skull as white as its owner's stripes. __________________________________________________________________________________ "I don't understand why we had to come" "That's enough Moto." The red lion growled at his leader. "Heshima, we should not have to bow before a zebra. An infant no less!" Heshima's patience was wearing thin. "That infant, Moto is the Prince of the Herdfields, where we reside." "We should not be playing underlings to those equines! We eat them for Bast's sake!" "The zebras have not only numbers, the have magic, as well as the support from all the other tribes on the savannah. They understand stepping across the gorge is our hunting boundaries-" "Which was set by the zebras in the most desolate sections in the land!" "We have enough" "We barely have anything! If you had any pride as a leader of the Claw-" Moto wasn't able to finish. The huge golden lion roared, pinning the smaller under a titanic paw. "If you have any complaints Moto," he growled, "Feel free" he pressed his paw into Moto's throat. Moto clutched the paw cutting off his air. "No Heshima" he choked out. Immediately he was able to breathe once again. Watching his fellow tribescat hacking Heshima growled in satisfaction. "Good" Turning, to the rest of the onlooking tribe, he roared, "The zebras are not our enemies. However, we'd be fools to not to regard them with caution. They wield magic unique to their own kind, unseen anywhere else in the Herdfields. They nearly wiped out our clan in the past, and any attack on them, or any of the other tribes will only lead to a war we will not win. We shall stay within our territory. We will hunt in the hunting grounds. We must do this if we wish to survive." Heshima turned, facing the sun. "We are heading home" he said with finality as he and the tribe marched. Moto sulked at the back of the moving pride, grumbling. A beautiful leopard and black jaguar patiently waited for him. "You let your temper get the best of you once again" the leopard observed. "Shut up Aisu" he growled. "Your father doesn't trust you Moto," she growled irritated. "If you don't tread carefully, you'll lose your chance." "You think I don't know that?" he snapped, teeth bare. "But my father is a fool, and if I wait till I'm leader to act, we may all very well be doomed." "I couldn't agree more" The trio spun around, their hackles raised and their claws out. The first thing they saw were gleaming red eyes and white stripes glowing from the deep shadows of the gorge's canyon like walls. Giza emerged from the shadows, something large flung across his back. The cats could smell blood from him. The jaguar immediately blocked his friends protectively. "Oh calm down you overgrown throw rug, I come bearing a gift." He flung the burden on his back in front of the three predators. What they saw both enticed and repulsed them: It was the corpse of a zebra. Aisu glared at the bored looking Zebra. "Where did you get that?" "Does it matter?" Giza glanced at the cautious trio, the jaguar still baring his fangs. Giza gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine, let's just say one our visiting zebra tribes is missing a member shall we." Moto stepped forward. The jaguar tried pushing him back until he snapped, "Mavros get back." The jaguar reluctantly stepped back. Moto once again faced Giza, who was studying a hoof. "What do you want zebra?" "Oh, someone is cranky today. Lack of food maybe?" Giza pushed the carcass forward. "You didn't answer my question." The black zebra snorted. "Fine, if you must know, I've come to enlist your...help." Moto gave a dry laugh. "Me help a zebra? Haven't your kind done enough." "Then allow me to make amends" was the reply. Aisu swore she could see silver on this zebra's tongue. there was blood dying the white stripes on his back, and she could smell it on his hooves. However at the same time...even she couldn't help but listen. "Give me the aid I need, and I can give you what you need." Moto thought it over. Aisu hissed, "You can't be serious." Her words fell on deaf ears. "How can I trust you?" Giza flashed a smile that filled Moto with dread. He trotted over to the zebra carcass on the ground. Placing his hoof on his dead breatheran's chest, his eyes never leaving those of the red lion. Slowly he pressed down, each crack of bone echoing of the walls of the gorge. With a final crack and a wet squish, his hoof fell through the chest, blood splashing his chest and chin. The Claws eyes widened in horror, unable to look away. It seemed however, the worst was yet to come. Eyes still locked with theirs, Giza slowly lowered his muzzled in the mangled bones and remains. He pulled his head up and with a meaty snap, had the heart of the corpse in his jaws. His maw dripping red, and with a sadistic grin, he swallowed the heart whole, baring a red smiled at the disturbed Claws. He licked his lips. "How can you not?" "Moto, we need to get out of here. Now." Aisu almost begged. Predators eating a zebra was one thing. but this...this...this was cannibalism! She was afraid. Marvos was tense beside her. Moto unfortunately, had a sick smile creeping on his face. Approaching the blood stained zebra, he bared his own white fanged grin. "How can we help?"