Nila stopped in front of the small opening in the ground. Alright, it wasn’t necessarily small, large enough for two lions to slip into shoulder to shoulder, but it wasn’t like some of the huge cavern openings she had seen way up in the mountains. It was a rather unimpressive cave mouth in a rather unimpressive area. Which of course meant that the treasure inside would be magnificent.
The grasslands had given way to slowly sloping hills with bald rocky faces jutting out angrily from in-between the grasses. The hills were starting to get quite tall, and off in the distance a mountain range stretched across most of the horizon. It was neither savanna nor mountains, neither dry nor humid, neither wasteland nor bountiful. It was just…meh, as Nila would have described it.
“So what, we wander around this hole in the ground and hope we don’t get lost?” Lume asked beside her, looking at the cave mouth with a wary expression. He was nervous. He’d never been underground before, and the idea made his skin crawl a little bit. Not that he’d tell Nila.
The cheetah rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Sure. If you wanna be stuck down there forever. No, we mark our way through the cave using our claws. That way we can find our way out again. Duh.” Lume stuck his tongue out at her. “So, whenever you’re ready, Cassanova.” Nila plunged down into the hole, Lume hot on her heels, determined to not be left behind.
“How are we supposed to see? There’s no light underground.” Lume asked as darkness began to close around them.
“Caves in areas like these usually have openings at the top that provides enough light like the stars do at night. For pitch black caves up in the mountains I get a troupe of baboons to wrangle up some fireflies for me.” Nila answered, scratching an arrow onto the cave wall as she turned down a tunnel.
The air grew colder as they descended farther into the cave. Lume shivered a little. “Well, this is…riveting. How long does this usually take?”
Nila clucked her tongue. Dead end. They’d need to try the other tunnel. “Depends on how big the cave system is. This one doesn’t seem too large. Once I was stuck in a cave for two days. That was awful.”
Lume opened his mouth to make a comment about how this particular trip was awful, but was cut off as the sound of a defeaning roar echoed throughout the cave. Nila and Lume froze, staring at each other in wide-eyed shocked.
The cheetah was the first to open her mouth. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! The monster is real! How cool is that!” She bounced up and down on her paws excitedly.
The male laughed a little. “Well, looks like I’ll get to have my fun after all.” He and Nila made their way back to the first fork in the cave, trotting down the branch they’d skipped the first time. Lume glanced behind them every so often, making sure they weren’t being followed. Every so often another roar would sound throughout the cave, but with the echo it was impossible to tell which direction it was coming from.
“Hey! Check it out! Bones.” Nila stooped down to sniff at the ribs lying on the rocky ground. A little ways away, part of a skull and a leg bone sat in the middle of the path. Further down there were more specks of white, more bones laying askew. “I bet if we follow these, it’ll lead right to the monster! And the gems.”
Lume padded over to the skull, flipping it over with his paw. Wild dog or hyena, most likely. Whatever ‘monster’ lived here certainly wasn’t weak. “What makes you think the monster will be with the gems?”
The cheetah rolled her eyes. “Please. The gems are always where it’s most dangerous.” She brushed past Lume, quickening her pace. “Plus there’s a small vein of sapphires I’ve been following that goes in the same direction.”
Lume cocked his head in confusion, quickly squinting at the walls up close. Sure enough, there was a tiny sliver of blue tinted sparkle running along the wall. “Huh.” He was impressed. Nila knew what she was doing.
The two followed the bones for a little while longer, ignoring side tunnels in favour of their trail. After what seemed like an hour, the cave ceiling grew taller and taller, and soon they were standing in a large cavern, glittering sapphires adorning the walls. Several tunnels led off deeper into the system, blue jewels running along with them. A small shaft of light cut through to light the cave room, catching on the jewels and making them sparkle. Lume let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. It was beautiful. Minus, of course, all the bones scattered about the floor. “This is definitely where our monster lives. But it looks like he’s a no show.”
Nila grabbed a rock in her mouth and threw it against a chuck of gemstones sticking out from the wall, grinning as the gems shattered and fell to the floor. She ran to pick them up. “Fine by me.” Nila repeated the process on another chunk, aiming to fill her bags up completely full.
Lume ignored Nila and scented the air. It definitely smelled like another feline, but thanks to the dank cave air, Lume couldn’t tell how long it had been since it had been here. A paw print in the dust caught his attention. It was big. Very big. Definitely from a large male lion. “Either way, best be out of here before…”
“Those are mine!” A lion came bursting out of one of the side tunnels, knocking Nila over. The cheetah screamed in surprise, tumbling to the floor. Lume sprang into action, bolting across the cave floor and jumping atop the lion’s back. His skin was covered in burns, half his mane missing and some of his cheek had holed in it, exposing the teeth that were currently trying to grab onto Nila’s throat. Lume could certainly understand why he was rumored to be a monster. The leotah latched onto the lion’s neck, claws digging in to hold on.
The lion roared in pain, rearing up to try and shake Lume off. Nila took the opportunity to scramble to her paws and out of the way. Lume held on as long as he could while the lion underneath him bucked and thrashed. The leotah went flying, spinning in midair to land on his paws. The lion came charging at him, and Lume spun out of the way easily, gashing through the bite mark he’d already made. But the lion was quicker than Lume expected, and the leotah found himself grabbed by the leg and being thrown into a wall. The leotah groaned at the sudden pain in his head. He’d be feeling that tomorrow. Why was he always getting hit in the head?
Nila gasped, running to Lume’s aid. She swiped at the lion’s tail. “Hey! Ugly! Over here!” The lion whipped around, slashing at the cheetah. Lume got to his paws and jumped on the lion’s back again, grabbing at the lion’s neck. But his head was foggy and everything seemed to be spinning, and Lume wasn’t able to hold on for very long. He landed next to Nila, snarling.
“Got a plan?”
“Yep! Run!” Nila kicked some of the dirt on the ground into the lion’s face and turned tail, Lume following suit. They ran at breakneck speeds as only those with cheetah blood could, slowing down only for Nila to check her marks on the walls. They could hear the angry roars of the lion from behind, pursuing them. But he would never be able to outrun a cheetah and a leotah, and once the two made back onto open ground, they were gone, a black and purple blur dashing through the evening light.
The continued their retreat for as long as possible, until they both collapsed in exhaustion from their prolonged sprint. After a moment of silence, they began to laugh, bellies aching and out of breath.
“Whew! Now that was an adventure, huh?” Nila giggled.
Lume nodded, stretching out on the grass. “Oh yeah. You bet.” Oh man, when his sister heard about this...sister? Wait, did he have a sister? He...he couldn't remember. Maybe...no, he must have imagined. Lume couldn't remember having any family.
“I’ll give you some of the gems after I’ve had a bit of a nap. I am beat!”
The leotah smiled, though it had a bitter undertone. “Naw, that’s alright. It was fun. That’s all I wanted.”
Nila lifted her head and raised an eyebrow at him. “You sure?”
Lume rolled over onto his back. “Yeah, I’m sure. They’re all yours.”
“If you say so, partner.”
Lume, eyes closed, smiled, and drifted off to sleep.
When he awoke at dawn, pale morning light painting the sky with pale yellows and blues, Nila was gone. Lying next to him in the grass was a small pile of sapphires, glittering in the first rays of sunlight.
WC: 1529