The sounds of early evening permeated the savanna, the chirp of crickets mixing with the distant bellows of a lion and the cackles of a pack of hyenas. Though the sun was setting, the savanna of Zebrica still burned with enough heat to make an Equestrian collapse from shear exhaustion. But the heat did not bother those who had lived under the burning sun all their lives.
Shaman N'dutu paced a well traveled path through the tall grass, the slender blades brushing his striped coat. From his birth he had been versed to love the living world, to know the relationship between the burning sun, the brittle brown grass and the connection between all living things. But N'dutu felt nothing but contempt for his homeland. He, a shaman versed in the ways of his ancestors, a force to be reckoned with in the councils of his clan and tribe, made to serve a god that did not answer his prayers.
He was forced by his tribe to worship Yeye ya Kupigwa Wote, the great ancestor and mother to all zebra. N'dutu passed under the branches of the acacia tree, damning Yeye and his entire tribe for making him take the burden of responsibility and the title of scapegoat for anything bad that happened. The Matsunga zebra had once been a mighty tribe, one of the six tribes that could claim direct heritage to Talib. But Talib's bloodline had all died in the Matsunga tribe, and indeed all the other tribes save the Din'Jaro.
The Matsunga considered it a curse by Yeye that the honorable blood of Talib no longer flowed through their veins. The old shaman had prayed to Yeye and got lucky when things actually worked out in his favor. But after the old shaman was forced by the chief to take the Final Run, N'dutu took over as his spiritual successor and new shaman of the Matsunga. Things went from bad to worse for the Matsunga, once mighty warriors and herders, they were forced to take a farming lifestyle when the savanna could no longer feed their herds. And of course all hooves pointed to N'dutu when things went wrong.
Not enough rain to make the crops grow? N'dutu must not be praying hard enough! Your foal was born a colt instead of a filly as you wished? N'dutu must have done the ritual wrong! Gnolls broke down your fence and stole half your cattle?! N'dutu must not have laid the right warding symbols on the fence! An itch on your lower back!? N'dutu must be responsible!!
The shaman reared a hoof in anger and kicked a termite mound as he passed it, leaving cracks in the concrete-hard hill. Continuing his solitary walk along the trail, the shaman fumed at his horrible responsibility.
But the absolute worst part? Nopony looked upon N'dutu with anything but disgust. He constantly wore a long cloak with a deep hood, despite the extreme heat of Zebrica. He tried to hide his shame at his disfigurement, but he couldn't always hide. As a young colt he had been attacked by a lion, and being the ever spiteful creatures, the cat had gone straight for his face. The old shaman had been able to save his life, and considered it a blessing by Yeye that N'dutu had even survived at all. The old shaman had interpreted the lion's attack as some kind of test by Yeye for the young zebra, and his survival meant he was meant to serve Yeye as a shaman in his tribe.
In retrospect, that old zebra's brain had been scrambled a few too many times through various beatings, sun-strokes, wounds sustained in battle, and his secret love for a heavily narcotic drink fermented from grootslang milk. Stupid old foal.
N'dutu arrived at his destination, an outcropping of rock that sat on top of a hill overlooking the great expanse of the savanna. Facing the setting sun, the shaman reached down to a protected cache and pulled out a long pole of black ebony wood. Covered in runes and holy symbols, it served as his meditation stick. Planting the butt of the pole into the ground, the shaman very carefully placed himself on top, balancing himself in the extreme. Having delicately balanced himself, N'dutu relaxed as his back hooves daintily held on to the precariously balanced stick. Normal zebra shaman would have balanced on their heads, but N'dutu's disfigurement made it too painful.
Taking a deep breath, the shaman settled in for the traditional hour long session of meditation and prayer to Yeye. Funny, he hadn't actually prayed to Yeye in years, despite what he told his tribe. What was the point of praying to a god that didn't listen? Instead he used that time to vent his frustration and find some kind of calm. The only way he could ever get his tribe to respect him was to make them great again. And the only way to make them great again was to go to war with a more powerful tribe and win. But the problem with that, no zebra in the Matsunga had been to war in years! They had absolutely no reason to fight another tribe, and so they maintained treaties with all the surrounding tribes. The Matsunga had grown fat and complacent, their numbers thin and weak.
N'dutu quivered with rage for the extremely dishonorable and weak way of life the Matsunga had chosen. His anger shook the meditation pole so much that the shaman tumbled down from the top of it.
"Mwana wa bita!" he swore in anger as he dusted himself off. Jamming the butt of the meditation stick back into the dirt, N'dutu climbed back on top of it to finish his meditations. Unbeknownst to him, a pair of yellow eyes watched from the bush. The owner of the pair of slitted yellow eyes had been following him for some time, several months in fact. All without the zebra's knowledge. N'dutu may have looked like a tasty morsel to the predator, but the cat had been given strict orders to follow him and not kill him.
N'dutu finished his meditation, the sun falling below the horizon and splashing the clouds in infinite shades of orange. Climbing down from his meditation pole with a bit grace this time, he cached it behind a large rock. As he shifted the rock back into place, his equine ear picked up the sound of a twig breaking in the brush behind him. Turning around, he beheld the strangest cat he had ever seen in his life. Completely jet black, with eyes like golden orbs that shined in the twilight, staring at the shaman as it sat calmly on its haunches.
N'dutu slowly reached for the bush knife strapped to his back, bringing out the blade with a rasp of metal on leather. The cat did not move, blinking those golden orbs at the zebra. N'dutu's eyes were drawn to the cat's mouth, in it was grasped a strange blue gem on a string. The panther set down the gem and backed away into the bush, his eyes never leaving the zebra.
The shaman was no judge of gems, but this particular piece would probably sell very well to some Equestrian merchant or be enough to trade for a small herd of cattle to one of the richer tribes. N'dutu slowly approached the laid out gemstone, bush knife drawn and ready to fight if this was some trick by a demon. Picking up the stone, he stared into a large facet. To his surprise, the stone flickered with light, and a face appeared in the facet.
A blue face, with massive teeth, cat's ears and a monkey's features. "I have been watching you, N'dutu of the Matsunga."
"Wewe ni nani? Ni jinsi gani unaweza kuongea nami?" the shaman said to the stone.
"Come now, we both know you speak many tongues, among them Equestrian."
N'dutu shook his head, searching for the proper words in Equestrian, "Who are you?" he managed to force out in his baritone voice.
"My name is of no importance, little shaman. But I come to aid you in your goal."
"How can a monster like you aid the Matsunga?"
The blue figure inside the gemstone chuckled, "Precisely the way you think. I will make you great warriors again, but that is not all. I can give you the power to rule over all Zebrica if you so desire."
Now he had the shaman's undivided attention, "How?"
The creature licked his teeth, "There is amongst your tribes a legend, a legend of an artifact that can destroy armies and level mountains. You simply need to find it, and the power of a god is within your hooves!"
"Macho ya pepo! The Eyes of the Demon! You know how to find Talib's lost tomb?"
"I do not, but there are those amongst your tribes that do know."
N'dutu considered it for a second, the Eyes were reputed to have the kind of power he desired to earn the respect of his tribesmen and bring the Matsunga back to power. But only one clan knew where to find the tomb of Talib, the most powerful tribe in all of Zebrica, the Din'Jaro. And they were sworn by the blood of Talib to never reveal the secrets and the location of the Eyes. But to fight the Din'Jaro he would need an army!
"It is impossible! No tribe alone can fight the Din'Jaro! They are of Talib's bloodline, and are fierce warriors."
The blue creature smiled, "How you fight them is up to you, my pets will provide you with the needed muscle to begin conquering your neighbors and building your army." The black cat returned, this time escorted by a tiger and a cheetah.
N'dutu gazed at the cats from the depths of his hood, "And why would you aid me? What is your price?"
The creature in the gemstone held up two monkey paws, "I ask no price to see such a true warrior get back what is rightfully his. All I ask is that after you conquer all of Zebrica, you let me keep the Eyes of the Demon safe for you. After all, you won't be needing them with such an army at your beck and call."
N'dutu grinned, "You...are ugly. So ugly, that Yeye herself cringed when she learned that she had birthed such an ugly creature into this world." The monkey-dog creature scowled within the depths of the gemstone, but N'dutu reached up with a hoof and pulled back his hood. "But, it is something we have in common." N'dutu's face was a patchwork of scars and pits, so many that his face looked like it had been peeled off and replaced with a monster's visage.
Ahuizotl grinned and began to laugh, a low chuckle becoming a mirthless cackle. "Good, you see eye to eye with me, N'dutu. My pets have informed me of a tribe of gnolls that lives nearby, they have taken the liberty of observing their ways, and they tell me that anything can challenge for leadership of the pack, even you. Kill their leader, and you have the first step in forming your army."
The three cats bowed their heads to the zebra, standing up the trio of big cats began to stalk to the bush. N'dutu grinned and followed.
*********************************************************
The alpha of the Blackclaw gnolls was a huge brute, a massive beast of his species that bore the scars of dozens of challenges for his title of alpha. Gnolls are similar in structure and appearance to Equestrian Diamond Dogs, except that the cousins of gnolls happened to be hyenas instead of dogs or wolves. Blackclaw himself rested under the shade of his favorite acacia tree, ignoring the loud and obnoxious cackling as two of his betas fought over an elephant bone.
Gnolls are capable of eating regular food like meats and occasionally grains and fruits when the need is dire enough, and can digest metals and minerals like their Diamond Dog relatives, but above all they crave bones. Any boneyard or dying ground in Zebrica is sure to have its own pack of gnolls attached to it, viciously defending it from any intruders.
Blackclaw slapped a paw to his ear, desperately trying to drown out the rough-housing betas. More of his pack was now cackling and whooping for the fighting pair. Growling at their interruption of his nap, Blackclaw jumped up to land on both of his stumpy back legs. Walking over to the pair of circling gnolls, he grasped them both by the scruffs and cracked their heads together. Slumping over, Blackclaw tossed the combatants aside, grabbing the elephant rib for himself. "Mine!" he yelled in the rough gnoll language. Slapping a heavily muscled forearm against the reddish-brown fur on his chest, the alpha retired to the shade of the acacia to gnaw on the bone in the cooling light of dusk.
Blackclaw had barely begun to gnaw on his prize when his pack began to whoop and shriek, causing a ruckus that could only mean an intruder had wandered in. Dropping the bone, Blackclaw sought out the source of the commotion, he joined his pack as they circled a lone zebra, hooded and cloaked despite the heat. The lesser gnolls nipped at the zebra, who stayed unflinching despite the circle of predatory monsters around him.
Blackclaw barked and raised a paw, silencing his pack and making them take a step back. The muscular gnoll took a few steps closer to the zebra intruder. "What you want?" he growled in his guttural tongue.
The zebra responded in a rough version of the gnoll language. "I am N'dutu, I come to challenge."
Blackclaw sharply exhaled, then began to cackle, soon his entire picked up and chortled like hyenas. "You trespass in my territory, and dare challenge ME?" Blackclaw laughed some more, the rest of his pack clutching their stomachs or rolling on the ground. If there was one thing gnolls enjoyed, it was a good laugh. "It unfair! You make me laugh too much to fight!" Blackclaw brayed at the zebra some more with his high pitched laugh.
The zebra pawed at the ground, "You accept my challenge?"
Blackclaw stopped his chortling to spread his arms wide and extend his claws. "I'll eat your bones, zebra!"
N'dutu dropped his hood, exposing his hideously scarred face to the gnoll. Blackclaw tensed himself to pounce the zebra and end this quickly so he could get back to that elephant bone. N'dutu puckered his lips and whistled.
A large orange blur bowled over the gnoll, tearing into him with claws and teeth. The tiger was much larger than Blackclaw, and ripped out his throat before the gnoll could even think about fighting back. Around the other gnolls, the panther and the cheetah nipped at their flanks and roared.
Blackclaw still flailed weakly, N'dutu pulled out his bush knife and calmly walked over. With a deft movement he planted the blade in Blackclaw's heart, delivering the killing blow. Ripping out the knife, he licked the blood from the blade, completing the ritual of succession.
"Does anyone challenge my right to lead the pack?" Most of the gnolls shook their heads and began to grovel before this zebra who commanded the most ferocious beasts of the wild. One stood defiantly, taking a few steps closer to N'dutu with a scowl on his face.
"You fight unfair! Make orange lion do your work! You not alpha of Blackclaw, zebra!" N'dutu glanced at the panther and cheetah, nodding in the defiant one's direction. Both cats roared as they leapt to disembowel the defiant gnoll.
The cats finished their work, padding over to sit at N'dutu's side, blood dripping from their maws as they looked hungrily at the pack of gnolls. "Who leads Blackclaw?"
"N'dutu!" cried the gnolls.
The disfigured zebra grinned, "Good. Rise my subjects, I promise you plunder, I promise you power, and all the bones you could sink your teeth into! All you must do is fight by my side. Come, we have nations to conquer!" The gnolls stood and whooped for their new alpha, scrambling back to their dens to grab spears and shields for the upcoming bloodbaths.
With the foundations of an army at his heels, N'dutu turned back and headed in the direction of his village.
************************************************
Zebras of all ages sat around a hearth in front of a mud hut, eating a simple dinner of cooked grains and bread from a communal bowl. Life was good for the Matsunga, they had allied with all the surrounding tribes and settled down to village life. A much more preferred life than the old ways of the spear and the blade, wandering the savanna to protect herds of goats and cattle. Rumor passed among the assembled zebra that N'dutu hadn't yet come back from his meditations out on the savanna. Normally he would make the trip like clockwork, but now the sun had fallen and many wondered if N'dutu had fallen prey to some of Zebrica's many predators.
Though many considered N'dutu to be a miscreant and an all around failure of a shaman, they were still concerned for him. As if they truly needed him. The problem with N'dutu was that he could not take criticism for the life of him; the old shaman, may he rest in peace, had taken everything in stride and used it to improve himself on a daily basis. They didn't care that N'dutu bore the many scars of a lion's malice, it was the fact that he was a bitter, spiteful, unpleasant, bull-headed, all around jerk of a sentient being. A complete and polar opposite of the expected attitude of a shaman of Yeye.
A zebra colt finished swallowing his share of the communal bread, his ears perked at some sound in the distance. "Mama, nasikia kitu." He stood and stared out beyond the firelight's flickering illumination.
His mother stroked his rigid mane, careful not to displace the ostrich feathers weaved in there, "Ni kitu mtoto, msiwe na wasiwasi."
An elder zebra leaned over and gently tousled his grandson's mane. "Inaweza kuwa ni pepo ya kula wewe wote! Rawr!" he chuckled as the foal squealed at the thought. The foal's family grinned and continued to dine on the fruits of their labors.
The crackle of the fire masked the approach of the predators in the bush, only the crack of a stick perked the ears of the entire family. Staring out in the dark, the stallion of the family pulled his spear closer. After a few minutes of waiting and watching, the family warily returned to their evening chatter.
Bunching up his muscles, the gnoll sprang from the darkness, slamming a club-like arm against the most immediate threat, the stallion with the spear. More gnolls sprang from the darkness, disabling the zebras and spreading out to the other huts in the village. Several gnolls whooped at the night, throwing torches into huts and plundering whatever they wanted. The screams of mare and stallion alike sounded in the night as the gnolls dragged everypony to the center of the village, binding their hooves behind their backs. The entire village had been forced to assemble, the mares and foals trembling at the brutish gnolls that held them at spearpoint.
A hooded and cloaked figure walked leisurely out of the dark, stopping in front of the prisoners. Throwing his hood back, the zebra took a good look at the traitor N'dutu, wearing a strange gem around his neck.
One warrior lurched forward, desperately trying to get at N'dutu. A pair of gnolls grabbed him by his legs and threw a punch in his stomach. The warrior gasped for breath, looking up to his former compatriot with begging eyes, "N'dutu, why do you betray?! These beasts will make us their prey!"
The shaman lashed out with a hoof and caught the bound warrior on the cheek. "Speak not to me in such pitiful rhymes. Listen to me everypony, I have watched this tribe fall from the grasps of Yeye's grace to this wretched dishonor! The Matsunga were warriors, the guardians of Talib's legacy! What are we now? Farmers! Scratching a desperate existence from this barren earth!" N'dutu kicked a puff of dust into the air. "Yeye has forsaken us, and I have come with these gnolls and a new ally to bring the Matsunga to greatness once again! I will raise an army and fight our oldest enemies, the Din'Jaro! They greedily keep Grinwa's Promise from the rest of us, hoarding away such power for themselves! Follow me, and you shall bask in the power of the Eyes of the Demon as we place all Zebrica under our hooves."
The elder zebra from before struggled to remove the gnoll paw from around his muzzle, "Do the ancient legends fall on deaf ears? The Eyes are something everypony should fear! We cannot control their power, the Din'Jaro are right to keep the secret within their bower!"
N'dutu glowed with rage, looking to two of his gnolls he nodded. The hyena creatures panted with excitement as they dragged the elder zebra to the front of the herd, throwing him on the ground. Whooping and cackling they began to tear into his flesh with their bare claws, ripping him to bloody shreds in front of his family. Many younger foals cried at the horrible act, and several mares tried to shield their young one's eyes.
"All who stand between me and the Eyes will meet the same fate. Join me, or feed my soldiers. The choice is yours."
Many zebra prostrated themselves before their new warlord, swearing allegiance as the shed tears for the horrors they would commit to protect their families.
***************************************************
There we have it, finished the last two chapters of my last story and uploaded another in one day. If you wish to know what N'dutu is saying in Zebrican, I will tell you. It's not really anything much, he is just speaking Swahili with a few invented words to cover for gaps in that language.
Oh, and happy birthday to Sibsy, known to bronydom for her OC Wild Fire.