Ever since her cubs had grown Kipenzi had prayed for release. She knew that the settled life wasn't one for her, and since it left her chaffed she moved on. Joy and tragedy; it went paw in paw for her. For every good thing came something equally as traumatic that made her question life itself.
In the moon light she moved around the plants and crags, picking her way noisily across roots. Not that she could hear herself. The noise it created was lost on her deaf ears, and ever so content was she on her own personal issues did she miss the cold eyes watching her from behind the vines.
Sandalphon had never tried to go to the surface. He had thought it to be for dreamers too ignorant to understand the majesty of the caves. The visions given to him...now that he was learning to better understand them he had begun to give into their demands. A few moons ago he saw a spotted lioness swollen with cubs standing in the moonlight of a land far from his own. He didn't know why he was seeing such a creature, for surely his disdain of females kept him from imagining them, let alone a pregnant one.
Still, he knew that he had to travel to the surface to see her. Others came that showed him the same lioness in their caves, her eyes bright in the firefly's glow. It did nothing to uplift his mood. He was sour as he made his way to the hidden entrance, and ever was he glad that the merciless sun was hidden. And that's when he saw her, stumbling around like a blind cub.
Instantly he snarled. There was nothing enchanting about her! All legs, too skinny to bear a proper litter and those god awful feathers she wore...how tactless. Moving from behind the vines he made himself visible from behind her and bellowed out, "TRESPASSER. Leave this place at once!"
Soft olive eyes kept a keen eye on her environment, though she didn't see the male behind her. Her search had thus far been fruitless and so with a huff Kipenzi adjusted the feather in her mane. Should she go ahead and find a place to rest for the night? It was already so late, but she really didn't feel tired.
Turning, grumbling a little to herself, she became still when she saw a rather handsome male mid-call. She had missed the first half and thus only saw flapping gums. "Excuse me, but what was that? I didn't catch it." There was no sarcasm in the way she raised her brows, simply taking him in. And there was a lot to take in. He was young, younger than her, and his large frame made for an impressive sight.
Sandalphon felt the muscles in his neck contract. He stalked closer to the female, and came up...rather short. In all honesty he hadn't expected her to be all tall as she was. As he came up the mound that separated them he found himself to be standing as her equal, or maybe just a hair shorter. It as unnerving, to say the truth. Her eyes sought his and held his gaze as if she weren't afraid of him at all.
"You are trespassing," He said at length. There was nothing, but unwarranted hate in his gaze. "Get away from here now, or be punished under our laws."
Kipenzi quirked her left ear back and gave him a twist of her eyebrows. They were perfectly arches, and now that they were no longer covered in swamp mud her coat seemed to shine in the moon light.
"I've seen no sign of lions in this area, so excuse me for seeing this as rogue lands." She swept her paw into the surrounding air, and rolled her eyes at his testosterone driven display. "Actually, I didn't even see you, so where in the hell did you crawl out from?"
"Listen here, you spotted waif, you've come to the edge of our territory so you'll do well to remember your place." Sandalphon snapped at her, relishing in the look of fear that shook her resolute stance. "Your neck is as thin as those sticks you call legs, so I would remember what kind of situation you are in, if I were you."
He moved to circle her, using his broader body as a flanking mechanism. " You will come with me, you were bear my spawn, and then you will leave. It's been seen so it will happen."
She sputtered as she staggered along. There was no where to turn except for this patch of vines in front of her that he kept leading her towards. Kipenzi nearly tumbled under the absurdity of his statements. Her paws gained footing, and slammed down like brakes in the dirt. "First you insult me, and then you expect me to bear your spawn?"
She was annoyed as all get out, but every time she looked at him she felt her spine crawl. There was a bearing about him that said he took no nonsense in his life, and that he liked females even less.
The final straw was when he rammed her into the vines and she shrieked, sure she was going to hit a wall. Instead she tumbled into a cave corridor that would have been completely dark were it not for the fireflies dotting the walls.
She could see the eyes of lions as they moved to investigate the sound, but she dared not back up for fear of moving towards him.
Sandalphon appeared behind her in the cave, thankful when the thick vines closed behind him, cutting off the rest of the outside world. He moved closer to the female, who lay prone and timid on the ground. She wouldn't move, which was good in some ways, but it mostly infuriated him to the point that he kicked her. "UP." When she didn't move he nodded his heads towards a few of the other males that came forward and drug her to her paws to face him.
"I am not going to force you to do this, but know this. You have only two choices ahead of you; the first being you stay in this pride, the Mazunguko, until you bear my spawn and then you may leave. The cubs will stay within these caves as one of us, but they will have no need for you."
At the look of opening defiance on her face he grinned. "Or the second option being I slaughter you where you stand. That is, after I've forced you to taste your own entrails. Which sounds better to you?"
Gods help me. Kipenzi felt tears welling up in her eyes and an undeniable shake in her body. There was no way she could hide her wincing as the males jostled her, laughing at her weakness. This winged male...he looked like he was a God in mortal form, but all she could see was a demon with blue eyes.
She didn't want to do it, but she had to go home. She hadn't been out for more than a few weeks at best, but if she had any hope of seeing her beloved family again she would have to listen to him. A gross sob came out as the broken lioness shouted out, "I'll do it!...Gods, I'll do it, just promise you'll let me go after." It disgusted her to her core. The thought of leaving her cubs for so long, and the thought of leaving the ones he hoped to create to stay with this...this beast. She would have to outsmart him somehow, she just had to...
Sandalphon moved closer to Kipenzi and smiled pleasantly. His breath near her ear caused her to shudder again, almost coiling into herself before he pulled her up again. "It won't be terrible, I promise you. You'll be fed well, and taken care of. If you do your job quickly you'll even be able to leave faster. Keep that in mind."
Pushing away from her he motioned to the surrounding males to take her to the corridor where the females were kept. He needed time to himself to think.
(WC:1267 )
