Game of Spies (Private Balanced Breakfast, Leorgathar, Lyon)

[abalancedbreakfast]

The harsh and rugged savannahs of the Mwamba pride were, no doubt, in a bit of a leadership crisis. 4 years of famine and a near continuous drought had taken its toll on the land, no doubt, and it could be seen even to the untrained eye. This level of catastrophe had, undoubtedly, called for some rather harsh and draconian rule in the past years. Dhalimu, the king of the pride, seemed to know exactly what to do, how to ration supplies, and most importantly, how to convince the other two male lions of his pride that they couldn't kill him. Now, this had certainly worked well as a misery party, when times were desperate enough to allow for such harsh rules and rationing. In fact, in those days, the lionesses revered him as a legend, nay, a god. However, there was one problem that Dhalimu had never accounted for, and that was that the drought would eventually end. For when the river started flowing again, the lionesses began to question his harsh rule, and his guardians, whom had longed for a rule of their own, now had a case for which to plead. The totalitarian authority of Dhalimu was no longer needed, and that needed to change.

To solidify his deal, Dhalimu managed a pact with the prey animals whom lived upstream. If they had constructed a dam for him which limited the flow of the river in secret, he would be able to keep his iron fist over his kingdom, and the prey animals could simply send some of their sick and old to be hunted every so often to keep up the illusion, thus limiting their losses. And with that, his reign over the Mwamba pride, in his mind, was sealed. There was one small detail which Dhalimu hadn't accounted for, however. And at the moment, it, or rather, he, was lurking right within the Mwamba borders, simply looking for one of the two male lions which Dhalimu had appointed as guard.

This threat, this one rogue factor who was able to and was intending to topple this fragile regime was a lion known only as Marat. And Marat had been stalking in the lands for a week now, studying the patrol routes of the guard lions, and occasionally leaving hints of a trespasser to see their reaction, exposing their one flaw. The guards tried to solve issues at the lowest possible level, never calling in King Dhalimu when they saw hints of an intrusion. Marat was going to use this. But not to kill, maim, or even harm any of the two guards. No, in fact, for what Marat was doing, he was going to need to make sure that the two guards were his friends.

And so, on this night, Marat waited in the small cavern in a rock for one of the guards to pass by on a regular patrol route, ready to strike not with claws, but with charm. Unluckily for him, however, he was not the only foreigner with interests in the lands of the Mwamba pride...

[Leorgathar]

Zainab stalked the male guard patrolling the Mwamba pride’s border from the high grass, waiting for the right moment to show herself and catch his attention. This lion’s fate had been decided.

A week ago, a hornbill brought a secret message to Zainab from an anonymous lioness in the Mwamba pride, requesting her help in overthrowing the king, Dhalimu, due to his questionable ruling and the sickening conditions he kept the pride in. This particular lioness suspected what others seemed to deny, that the king was behind these overlong droughts to keep the pride under his dictatorship. If none of the other two males or the lionesses would take action, a professional had to infiltrate their territory and do the job for them, undetected. And who better than Zainab, the Persian lioness, to trick king Dhalimu into telling her his secrets with her seducing spell, and ending his miserable pathetic life once and for all. No one would suspect from a poor young lost and delicate lioness, after all.

The hornbill’s message also mentioned the two lions in the king’s guard. If Zainab wanted to reach the king, she would first have to take down at least one of them, the other one would hopefully step in and become the new king. Zainab didn’t like the idea of leaving even a single male dominating the pride, but the terms in the message were to leave one particular male alive, the one this anonymous lioness was in love with.
The patrolling guard she was stalking matched the description of the other lion, the one she was free to eliminate, and now the time had come to act. It only took a graceful walk and a sexy stare to have him under her control. The Persian lioness approached him with no signs of fear or threat, and the lion froze with his jaw open.

“Oh my… what is such a handsome king doing alone in the outskirts of his kingdom?” Zainab asked in a flirting tone.
“I… I’m not a king,” the lion replied. Feeling strangely nervous.
“Oh really? That’s such a pity… I think a lion well built like you should be at the top of the pride.”
The lion blushed a little, but then shook it off. “I’m sorry… do I know you?”
“No, I’m just a lonely prideless lioness looking for some... company.” Zainab walked in circles around the guard, caressing his body with her tail. “A strong lion to take me and make me his.”
“I… I’m sorry,” the lion gulped. “But I’m afraid our pride is going through a very harsh drought, we cannot afford to let a single foreigner join us and be an extra mouth to feed… let alone having new cubs.”
“Oh no, I don’t look to join your pride, I can take care of myself. As for cubs… well, you’re in luck… I’m infertile,” the lioness said the last sentence with her stare piercing directly into the guard’s eyes.
“But… the king…”
“Shhhh…” Zainab licked his muzzle and whispered in his ear. “No one needs to find out.”
The lion paralyzed for a few minutes, then he smirked and finally gave in to her charms. “Alright… I know the perfect place… follow me…” he said trying his best to hide his excitement.

As the lion began to walk, Zainab saw her opportunity. The guard was completely exposed for an unsuspecting attack from her. The lioness rolled her eyes. Males are so stupid… he didn’t even ask my name, she thought.

A growl began forming in Zainab's throat. the lioness crouched and prepared to pounce on her prey.

[abalancedbreakfast]

As Marat watched from the small crevice he was hiding in, he couldn't hear what this mystery lioness was saying, what she intended, or even what her plan was (but from context clues, he could piece the last two together). All he knew was that she was messing up his plan by killing a potential future king. The thing she didn't realize was that one little bird told Marat that this very lion was fed up with the King's harsh rule, but simply didn't have the political leverage to do anything about it. Marat intended on giving him that leverage, but that couldn't happen if this little succubus decided to give him the business end of her claws. He had to think of something, and fast.

"Why, howdy there!" he said, sprinting out of his hiding spot, trying to play the role of an innocent simpleton. The guard got into a defensive position, realizing that now there was a male, a huge threat, in his borders. "Oh, sorry there, Mister guard-man! I certainly do not mean to pose a threat! I was actually, looking for you! See, there's this thing upstream that you might want to take a look at. Oh, and who's this here purty lady?" Marat strutted over to the flustered lioness standing in bewilderment of this complete simpleton ruining her plan. "Aren't you just a beauty?" He said, pulling her into a hug. "Now you listen here" He whispered into her ear, dropping the simpleton act as he did it. "I don't know what you're planning on, but I need this guy alive, so you'd better seduce somebody else!"

Pulling out of the hug, he turned back to the guard, and resumed the simpleton act. "So, Mister guard-man, you wanna give 'er a look?"

[Leorgathar]

Her teeth bared… her claws unsheathed… her amber eyes glowing no more in infatuation, but in fierceness. The unsuspecting male was a much easier target than any other prey animal.

"Why, howdy there!" called an enthusiastic voice from behind her, startling the lioness to quickly change back her attack pose into a more relaxed one before the guardian turned around.

What the…? No! Another one!? Zainab thought as she turned to see the strange young lion that had just intruded in her act.

"Oh, sorry there, Mister guard-man! I certainly do not mean to pose a threat! I was actually, looking for you! See, there's this thing upstream that you might want to take a look at. Oh, and who's this here purty lady? Aren't you just a beauty?"

Zainab lifted an eyebrow with a confused look, burning with anger on the inside. Who was this idiot lion, and what was he trying to do? Whoever he was, he didn’t give her time to ask anything because he strutted towards her and… hugged her. Zainab was a very good actress, but even then a small, almost soundless growl escaped from the corner of her mouth.

"Now you listen here. I don't know what you're planning on, but I need this guy alive, so you'd better seduce somebody else!"

Ah great! She frowned her eyes in an annoyed look. Now she understood what was happening. Another pretender… just what I needed.

"So, Mister guard-man, you wanna give 'er a look?"

The guard looked as confused about this newcomer as Zainab was. But he cleared his throat to speak firmly.
“Listen, young foreigner, you cannot just approach a king’s guard and expect him to answer to a request like that, especially one coming from an outsider like…”

The guard’s statement was interrupted by Zainab’s tongue licking his cheek, then her muzzle nuzzling under his chin to close his hanging open mouth.
“You should go take a look upstream, my dear. I’ll deal with him,” the lioness said in a very soft voice. “But don’t take too long… I will be waiting,” she added in a whisper to his ear.

The guard growled contently. “Fine… I’ll be on my way. I’ll try to make it quick.” He said with excitement and turned to trot towards the river, but he suddenly stopped and looked back at the lioness.

“Hey umm… sorry, I don’t think I caught your… I mean… your…”

“It’s Noor, call me Noor,” Zainab lied with a fake name, dedicating him a sensual look.

“Alright… Noor…” The lion smirked at her before resuming his race to the river. Zainab she sighed and rolled her eyes as soon as he took off, then he turned back at the strange foreigner. Fierceness burning again in her eyes.

“That was my kill, and you took it from me… that will cost you,” she said baring her teeth and adopting a menacing stance. “Alright! I dropped my act, now you drop yours! You obviously know what’s going on in this pride. Who are you? Who’s your employer? State your mission.”

[abalancedbreakfast]

Marat had anger in his eyes. This lioness thought she knew everything about liberating prides, didn't she? She was just about to cause a panic and kill off a potential rebel all because she didn't know how to properly start an uprising. Amateurs like her absolutely disgusted him.

"My mission? My mission is to liberate this pride from Dhalimu. The correct way. You know, the way that doesn't cause mass panic and leave a power vaccum for any random male to fill. "

Marat stepped closer to this lioness. "You just came rushing in here trying to use assassination to solve all of your problems. Well, let me tell you what I've been doing. For the past two weeks, I have stalked this pride tirelessly and diligently, learning their culture, their weak points, who was loyal to the king and who wasn't. And if you had done the same, you would have found out that the young male you were about to ice was actually getting really fed up with Dhalimu."

Marat stepped even closer to her. "As for who employs us..." the lion said before whistling and pointing to his shoulder, prompting a drongo to swoop down and land on his shoulder.

"Whatcha got, cap?" The bird said, clearly annoyed by this lioness as well.

"Tell this nice young serial murderer who employs us, Talisman."

"Absolutely nobody, that's who. We've been doing this freedom fighting thing for quite a while on our own. Four prides successfully liberated. Still very well run to this day. It's kinda how we make a living, sweetheart." The drongo replied in a very condescending tone.

"Now" Marat said. "I already saw what your real methods are, so if you try to get to friendly with me, I'll know what's up. Seeing things that way you got a couple of options. One, you go on doing what you were doing, kill off the males because of some kind of grudge you hold, and leave an unprotected and scared pride in your wake that's just bound to be swallowed up by the first rouge male that swoops in here."

The Lion stepped around the female, circling her as he talked. "Two, you can leave me here to do it all for you, having blown my cover entirely and making this whole thing ten times harder... or, three, you work with me, learn the right way to do it, and maybe I put a couple tools in your toolkit that aren't killing off lions you don't like."

Marat finally stepped back. "Talisman, give me some overwatch. I'm going to follow that guard and tell him what's been going on here after he sees Dhalimu's dam. That way he doesn't just see a random clog in the river." Marat turned away from Zainab, and started walking to follow the guard. As he walked away, he said to the female, "So, your choice. Keep degrading yourself by using your body as a treat to get closer to your targets, or go to the more professional stage, and get so good at this that you won't need to be there when the assassinations go down."

Marat turned and walked away as the bird flew off his shoulder, back into overwatch mode.

[Leorgathar]

Zainab stood quiet as the strange lion stepped past away from her. This lion turned out not to be the same kind of spy or another assassin as she thought he was, but a liberator with a will to make justice by manipulating masses. Not a fool as her first impression was of him, but certainly a very dangerous enemy to have. But the way he patronized her on her own methods for justice, and the “right” way to do it… she would have nothing of it.
With a furious snarl, the lioness leapt in front of him, blocking his way menacingly.

“So you think what I do is degrading!?” she spat. “You think I go around choosing random male lions to murder while I lay with them? I’ll tell you what’s degrading. What do you think that male will do once he becomes the king you want him so much to be? He will kill the cubs first, and then do all what he pleases with females who did not ask for it to father his own.”

The lioness broke her stare to look in the rising sun’s direction, and proceeded to speak more calmly.
“You yourself witnessed the way he fell for my act, how easily deceived he was, desiring to have me, a lioness he only just met. Contrary to what rumors say, my art is not a magic spell to make lions want me and my body… it just reveals who they really are. And who pays the price for such greed? The lionesses they take? Or perhaps the cubs that aren’t theirs? …even the unborn ones?”
Zainab turned slightly to her side, revealing the scar over her belly.

“This is also the way Dhalimu ascended to the throne many years ago, and he will pay for the harm he has done in this pride. If it were for me, I would place a female in the throne and teach them to fight off any rogue male that tries to steal what is rightfully theirs.”

“But… that is not what they want,” Zainab looked again into the lions’ eyes. “You are mistaken, ‘liberator’. My employer is a female of this pride who spoke on behalf of the lionesses. She specifically requested me to let the other male guard live, and I shall respect their will, for this male is father of her cubs, and they want him in the throne instead. Not this other idiot who wants to have his way with a total stranger lioness.”

Zainab stepped aside and signaled the lion in the direction of the river.
“If you want to save that poor sod’s life, I won’t stop you. You better distract him with something important so he forgets my invitation, because if he comes looking for me… I can’t guarantee his safety. I will go have a look at other guard’s whereabouts, so if you still want to work with me, that’s where you’ll find me.”

She turned to walk away, but suddenly she stopped and looked back at the lion. “Oh, and tell that drongo friend of yours… if he calls me ‘sweetheart’ again, I’ll have him for dinner tonight.” The lioness resumed her walk, looking ahead with determination.

[abalancedbreakfast]

Marat froze. Had she accused him of killing cubs? She had just accused him of being a cub killer. That was not going to fly with him.

“You… accuse me of killing cubs? Let me ask you something, did my father kill me?”

He waited at her silence, before raising his voice. “Did my father kill me?! No. He liberated my mother’s pride while she was still pregnant. He let me live and raised me as his own son, despite the fact that I was the son of a neurotic, despotic monster. So who are you to go ahead and accuse me of judging by blood? Who the hell are you to judge me a cub killer?!... I understand a male made you infertile, I noticed that little detail the moment I saw you. But for you to accuse me of being like one of those monsters, it cuts really deep.” A look of pain, just a quick one, something of a repression, crossed his face a moment, before he moved on.

He got right up in her face at that moment. “I do not kill cubs. It hurts me like hell to even kill the kings if they sired any cubs. I screen every heir I put in place very carefully. We do regular check ins afterwards. And if any of those kings do so much as touch a hair on those cubs, I kill them myself. Personally. And because I screen every heir incredibly carefully, I can tell you how wrong you are. The guard you were about to ice may have been fed up with Dhalimu, ma’am, but that other guard is practically stuck to his backside! I’d be willing to say Dhalimu loves him more than his own daughter.”

Marat finally started to run away from Zainab. “But no. You go and kill that guard. Because you just take the word of any lioness you get orders from without checking things yourself. Now, I’ll be showing that guard what Dhalimu has really done to this pride. Secretly organizing a drought to keep his iron fist. Oh, and while you’re at it, if you’d done some more checking, you’d’ve figured out that Dhalimu is incredibly faithful to his wife, so good luck getting close to him!”

The brown lion finally disappeared into the treeline, muttering very, very inappropriate obscenities, before poking his head out again. “And if you do kill Jalil, I’ll have Talisman call you nothing but ‘Sweetheart’ if I ever cross paths with you again!”

[Leorgathar]

“Huh! Seems that I hit a nerve there. Weak.” Zainab snorted as she saw the strange lion disappear into the trees. She turned around and began trotting towards the other side of the pride’s territory. “But joke’s on him, I never accused him of being a cub killer, he’s the one who misheard and thought I was talking about him, a lion I just met today,” Zainab rolled her eyes. “And he thinks I’m judging him? Pah! Come on, he talks as if he knew me when he definitely doesn’t, as if the reason I operate this way was because I hate all males equally when I only kill those who deserve it. He’s the one misjudging me. Thinking he knows everything, how pathetic.”

After she had traversed more through the land, she stopped and caught the scent of another male lion… definitely the other guard, she thought. She hurried to move downwind and hide in the high grass. This wasn’t yet the time to show her face around since Jalil was still alive, and any cover story that she could make up would be useless if Jalil doesn’t keep his mouth shut. Zainab snorted upon thinking of that.
Soon, a very handsome male lion walked by, accompanied by a lioness who seemed very affectionate towards him.

“Grrr… it’s taking so long… are you sure it’s today?” The lion addressed the female.

“Of course, my dear…” the lioness replied. “It’s just a matter of time before we hear of Jalil’s tragic death, then Dhalimu will follow, and no soul will refuse to see you ascend to the throne.”

Zainab perked her ears and fixed her eyes on the lioness. She immediately figured out she was the anonymous lioness that contracted her, but… why did she tell the guard male of her plot? That was not part of the deal she had made with Zainab, no one was supposed to know but her alone.

The lioness buried her head in the lion’s mane under his chin. “They are all desperate for a new ruler, and with no one to challenge you, they’ll have no choice but to accept you as such. Today is the day Dhalimu’s reign finally ends and we take over this land. So be patient, my love. Patience brings many rewards. We don’t even need to get our paws dirty, it’ll all be taken care of for us.”
Zainab let out a soft, inaudible growl.

“Is she as good as they say?” the lion asked with a serious expression.

“You would have a death wish if you wanted to find out for yourself. I’ve heard many things about the gift she possesses. Very few have seen it in action, for barely anyone has ever survived her. Once she has trapped you in her eyes, you’re already lost… or so they say. So yes… she’s very, very good.” The lioness purred. “But don’t worry, Nero, I’ll keep an eye on you so you don’t fall into her spell. Besides…” The lioness suddenly unsheathed a claw and pinched the lion under his chin, looking at him directly into his eyes with a fiery stare. “You can be damn sure I’m better than her”.
Zainab rolled her eyes. Amateur, she thought.

“Alright, alright… I’ll wait,” the lion said in a tone between annoyed and nervous, pulling the female’s claw away with his paw. “Then we should head back. We must be in the presence of other lionesses when it happens so we don’t raise suspicion. Let’s go.”

Zainab remained hidden until she was sure they were far enough. But she clawed at the earth furiously. How could she have been so stupid? Trusting the word of a lioness she thought was helpless, only to be deceived by her to do her dirty work. She probably had lied to her about Jalil being a threat to the cubs. How did she know her only weakness? Her own concern for younglings used against her. Blinded by a false sense of justice coming from a good liar. Zainab’s eyes lit with a deep, passionate anger she hadn’t felt ever since the day a male destroyed her ability to have cubs… but this time her anger was aimed towards a female.

When there was finally no sign of the couple, the lioness got up and began retracing her steps back to where she had met Jalil, maybe if the guard returned to meet with her she could get more information out of him. But there was another thought stinging on her mind. That other lion she met, the liberator, had been right all along. She hated the thought of meeting with him and admitting her mistake in trusting that lioness, especially after the condescending way he spoke to her. She still hated that lion for misjudging her so easily, but she knew she needed an ally in the wake of the new circumstances. Maybe she could make a deal with him that would benefit both, assuming he’s still smart enough to do it, and that that drongo friend of his will cooperate.

She decided then to go look for them instead of Jalil, and soon she spotted both lion and bird in the distance as she traversed through the trees. Using the chance, she hid behind a tree close enough to listen to their conversation without being seen. No way would she blindly trust this lion before spying on him first.

[abalancedbreakfast]

Marat walked on down the dried up riverbed, walking between and into puddles of dirty water to mask his scent, the drongo landing on his shoulder after deciding the area was safe.

“Talisman, why aren't you on overwatch? We need to keep an eye out for that assassin.”

“That's actually what I came here to talk about, cap. What's our new strategy with this assassin coming in?” he said, completely unaware of said assassin watching them from a distance.

“Well, the first step is to speak a little softer, flyboy. She could be downwind of us at this moment. Secondly, since our original plan was to have him ferry out lionesses to see the dam for themselves, we're going to have to rethink our strategy.”

“How so?”

“Well…” he said before sighing. “I got no clue. Somebody wants Jalil dead, so if they don't get that, suspicion is going to be raised.”

“Are you saying we let him get killed?”

“No, I'm saying we fake his death and have him lay low for a while."

“And if he doesn't want to help us?”

Marat froze for a moment, considering the possibility. “No. He'll help us. Seeing the Dam will convince him. As for Dhalimu… I was planning on having the lionesses stage a coup, but perhaps we can let this assassin kill him for us. Make whoever wants him deal feel like he has the upper paw, making him let his guard down. Only issue that leaves is Nero… That damn lion is going to defend Dhalimu to the death.”

“And we still need to find out who wants Jalil dead. As well as figure out how to show the lionesses how Dhalimu has been systematically starving them.”

“We'll plan for that when we get back to the hideout tonight. For now, let's pick up the pace to get to Jalil before he becomes a mangled corpse.”

“You plan on giving him the test?”

“Yeah.”

The two walked on in silence for a few minutes, getting close to the scent of Jalil before the bird piped up.

“Hey Marat?”

“Yeah, Talisman?”

The bird paused for a moment. “What do you think of that assassin?”

“Well… I don't know. I think it's a damn shame what happened to her. No lioness should have to go through that kind of pain, and I'm incredibly sorry for her. But I think she's thrown caution to the wind. As much as I feel bad for her, we can't have another desert incident.”

“Thought you didn't like talking about that. Or talking about her.”

The Lion froze his steps for a moment. “I don't. But we can't forget that. Let's focus up now.”

“Look, I get that you loved-”

“Focus. Up.” he said with fire in his voice.

“Yes, sir.”

After three more minutes hustling up, the pair had finally caught up to Jalil, who was looking over a cliff. Staring directly at the dam which was starving his pride. Marat decided to speak up, walking carefully over to the young adult.

“So. What do you think?” he said, making the guard jump out of his hide.

“Y- you! What are you-”

“Look, Jalil, I'mma drop the simpleton act for the sake of brevity here. You see that dam?”

Jalil, who was visibly shaking, claws unsheathed, responded. “Yes! And I need to go tell Dhalimu about it right now so he can fi-”

“Don't bother.” Marat said. “He'll kill you if you do. You want to know why?”

“W- why?”

“Because he orchestrated the whole thing. When this pride went into a drought four years ago, he got to use an iron fist on the pride to keep everyone alive. But the moment that drought ended, you think he would have gotten away with pulling the same kind of draconian stuff? No. So what did he do, lying tyrant that he was? He made a deal with the herds, that if they built a dam to create a fake drought, they would only have to send in two of their sick and old to be hunted a week. Let me ask you something, how much does your hunting party tend to take in?”

The late adolescent lion froze. “... about two kills a week…”

“Mhm. His greatest mistake is too much order. Now, what did you think of Dhalimu before finding all this information out?”

Jalil relaxed, knowing that he had an ally. “I thought he was a harsh, uncaring king, but that his laws made sense given the drought.”

“And now what do you think of him?”

The younger lion tensed up his muscles, unsheathed his claws. “I… I want to get him, I want payback, I want retribution for the past four years! This is absolutely… it’s despicable!”

“And would you be willing to take his place as king?” Marat suggested, with a certain charm in his voice.

But Jalil froze at the suggestion. “M- me? King? No, no, I’m not sure… Would I be a good leader? Can I lead a coup?”

“Jalil, I make a living out of liberating prides. That’s why I’m here. Because you are being unfairly treated, and I have faith in you. I see good in you. But I do need to check you for something. Would you be willing to be the next king?”

Jalil drew in a deep breath. “Yes. Yes I would.”

Marat and Talisman shot a glance and a grin at each other before turning back to Jalil. Marat started talking. “Okay. Let me run some medical tests to make sure you’re physically fit to rule. Okay?” He asked, his voice going more smooth and legato, his tone turning into something that made even the pessimist and the self loather believe in himself.

“Yeah, that’s fine” The young adolescent said, puffing out his chest in a bit of pride.

The liberator unsheathed a single claw and started waving it in a circle in front of Jalil’s face. “Focus on that. Just need to check your eyesight here.” Jalil complied. As he kept moving the claw, he got close to Jalil, side to side, before talking calmly into his ear. “I’m just going to give you some instructions, and I would like you to just follow along so I can check your hearing. Is that okay?” Jalil, getting comfortable, complied. That’s when Marat leaned in close to his ear, and started whispering in a rythmic, smooth tone. “Slip, slip, slowly into the slumbering, sedated suspirations of sensational, soothing…” Suddenly, the lion put a paw on Jalil’s shoulder, pushing him forward off of his balance before violently rocking him back, while the word “Sleep!” rolled off his tongue.

And Jalil complied, falling onto Marat’s shoulder, fast asleep.

“Good job”, Talisman piped up. “You didn’t make a fool out of yourself this time."

“Hey, not everyone is susceptible to hypnosis, flyboy. It’s a game of chance. This one happened to pay off.”

“Okay. Just don’t like making people think that their liberator is a jackass, that’s all. You know, like you did with Khali, and Jo'siah, and-”

“Just shut your beak, Garuda.”

“Okay.”

Marat leaned into Jalil, stroking his mane like a cub, making him comfortable, and easily compliant to his suggestions. “When I clap my paws together, you shall awaken, with a newfound honesty in your heart. All my questions shall be answered by you, with nothing but truth slipping your tongue.”

Marat clapped his two front paws together, and Jalil gave into the suggestion. His eyes snapping open, but fixated on nothing.

“You find yourself standing in front of a helpless and exposed Dhalimu. What do you do?”

Jalil still gave his thousand yard stare as he answered. “I tear his throat out.”

A slight smile crossed Talisman and Marat’s faces. “We can work with this” it seemed to say.

Marat continued his line of questioning. “You find yourself in control of the Mwamba pride. What do you do?"

“Tear down the dam, bring the herds back, restore the land to its former glory.”

“Do you rule with benevolence or with an iron fist?”

“Benevolence”

Talisman looked at Marat suspiciously. “He’s telling the truth” Marat said before unsheathing his claws and putting them to Jalil’s throat. “Now for the most important question. What do you do with the cubs?”

Jalil froze up. But he spoke soon enough. “I let them live in my pride. Teach them the error of their father’s ways. Let them leave when they reach maturity, as is tradition.”

Marat removed the claws from Jalil’s throat. “Okay. He passes.”

“Wait” Talisman said. “Let me ask him something to make sure he’s telling the truth. Do you currently have, or have you ever had, a girlfriend, Jalil?”

“No” Jalil answered robotically.

“Yeah, this guy’s definitely telling the truth; let’s let him out of his trance, Marat.”

Marat rolled his eyes at Talisman’s inquiry, but moved to Jalil’s shoulder, knocking him off balance and whispering at him to sleep again, sedating him once more.

“When I clap my paws, you will arise, arise out of your slumber with no memory of our questions. You will just be finishing up your health test like normal.”

Marat clapped his paws again, and this time, Jalil shot up. “Oh, sorry, sorry there, I didn’t mean to fall asleep… it’s just, you know, it’s been a long night patrol, and-”

“Hey, I get it Jalil. Don’t worry, we got you covered. Anyway, you seem like you are physically fit to make a king.”

Jalil sighed in relief. “Well… I guess that changes everything. C- can I go back to that lioness now, please? She seemed really nice, and… I just want to help her out.”

Marat and Talisman got back into serious mode. “Jalil… that lioness was an assassin, sent here by somebody in the pride to kill you. We don’t know who, but you can thank us for you being still alive here. However, somebody still wants you dead. And what would do us real good, is if you let that someone… believe that the job was carried out.”

“What do you mean?”

Marat got serious for a moment, pausing to consider the weight of his suggestion. “I’m saying we should fake your death."

Suddenly, the winds changed, and Talisman caught a scent: the scent of the assassin. He immediately flung up from Marat’s shoulder.

“Marat, Assassin!”

Marat sprang in front of Jalil, and bared his teeth and claws. “Listen up there, assassin. Now, we know your ploy. There’s two of us and one of you. Your killing skills may be good, real good in fact; but I’ve been doing this for quite a while. So, how about you step out of your hiding spot for me, tell nobody about this conversation, and who knows… maybe we can work together to free the unfortunate lionesses and cubs of this pride instead of squabbling over whether or not you get to keep this poor adolescent's awkward and short mane as a kill trophy.”

Jalil, while appreciative of the protection, didn't exactly feel too good about the comment on his mane.

[Leorgathar]

Zainab followed the green-eyed lion and his drongo partner with quiet pawsteps, listening to their conversation, from which she could catch a mention of both of their names, Marat the lion and Talisman the Drongo. She became interested about these two friends and wondered what their past must have been like. She was especially intrigued with the “desert incident” Marat mentioned, wondering what it was and how that situation was comparable to hers.
She kept on following the pair until they reached the cliff where Jalil was looking over. The lioness dared to take a look down as well and was awestruck by the sight of the dam, a very impressive piece of work that must have taken the prey animals so much effort to complete in so little time. Dhalimu must have really made them an offer they couldn’t refuse, she thought.

Her attention turned towards the two lions’ conversation about the dam and Dhalimu’s plot to starve his own pride, and when Jalil seemed to be convinced about it, she watched as Marat ran his “medical tests” on him. The skill with which he put Jalil in a trance and made him tell them the truth to determine his potential as king amazed Zainab. Hypnosis! She thought. It looks very similar to the way I do my art of seduction, but also different. While my art makes males tell the truth with actions, this ability of his makes them tell the truth with words… just who is this lion, Marat?

“Now for the most important question.” Zainab heard Marat asking, her heart skipping a beat as she heard it. “What do you do with the cubs?”
“I let them live in my pride. Teach them the error of their father’s ways. Let them leave when they reach maturity, as is tradition.” Jalil answered, still hypnotized.

Zainab emitted a soft growl and shut her eyes tight, clenching her teeth. Just as she suspected, that lioness, Nero’s mate… she had lied to her, making her almost kill an innocent. Even if that lion fell so easily for her act, he still didn’t deserve to die, and with the knowledge she had on the subject of hypnosis, she knew he was speaking truthfully. There was certainly shame in the lioness’ heart, but her anger towards that other female outgrew it by so far. She put those thoughts aside and kept on listening to the talk.

“Jalil…” said Marat. “That lioness was an assassin, sent here by somebody in the pride to kill you.” Aaand there goes my cover, thank you very much, Marat, Zainab sighed. But she also agreed with him that now that Jalil had to be kept alive, the best course of action was to protect him by faking his death.

“Marat, Assassin!” The drongo warned.
Marat took on a defensive position and addressed the now uncovered lioness. “Listen up there, assassin. Now, we know your ploy. There’s two of us and one of you. Your killing skills may be good, real good in fact; but I’ve been doing this for quite a while. So, how about you step out of your hiding spot for me, tell nobody about this conversation, and who knows… maybe we can work together to free the unfortunate lionesses and cubs of this pride instead of squabbling over whether or not you get to keep this poor adolescent's awkward and short mane as a kill trophy.”

Zainab sighed, Oh well, I suppose it was just a matter of time. She got out of her hiding spot and walked with all calmness towards the two lions, as if they weren’t posing any threat to her. She might as well be passing by to wish a good morning to two strangers. She simply sat down on her haunches a few meters away from Marat and spoke softly.

“It’s Nero and his mate… they’re the ones who want you dead,” She said addressing to Jalil. “I just overheard them talking, they wanted me to both you and the king so Nero could have the throne for himself. Turns out he isn’t as loyal to Dhalimu as we thought.”

Both males stood still in menacing stances, prepared for anything.
“Oh come on, don’t give me those looks, I’m not here to kill anyone,” Zainab said narrowing her eyes and without losing the soothing tone in her voice. Then she lay down on her belly and crossed her front paws in very delicate moves. “You said it yourself, green-eyes, I’m outnumbered. So here I am, at your mercy and ready for a nice conversation.”

Jalil took a step forward and gave Zainab a grim look. “You… tricked me?”

Zainab adopted a serious expression as she looked into Jalil’s eyes. “Yes, you were part of my mission, and I tried to kill you.”

“But… why, Noor? I thought we…”

“The name’s Zainab,” she interrupted. “’Noor’ is just my favorite pseudonym. And I… I was given false information about you when Nero’s mate contracted me to do her dirty work. I was told that you posed a threat to cubs in this pride, like many other males do when they get to the throne to keep their bloodline clean. And I… I fell for that story, and for that I apologize.”

Jalil looked away from her and snorted, he was obviously hurt. But Zainab just looked at Marat with a smirk, guessing that her confession must have pleased him. “Happy?”

[abalancedbreakfast]

“Happy?” Zainab said, as if expecting positive a response.

Marat simply smiled, knowing he would disappoint her. “Nope. I didn’t get enough of a ‘begging for mercy’ vibe from it. There was just no emotion in it. But we can fix that later. First…”

Marat plucked Talisman off his shoulder with one paw and turned away from Zainab and Jalil, whispering to the bird “Why didn’t you tell me that Nero had a secret agenda to kill the king?”

“I didn’t hear it!”

“Because you were messing around with females again, weren’t you?”

“Maybe” The Drongo answered in a very ‘matter of fact’ tone.

Marat shot the Drongo a very, very angry look, earning a retort from the bird.

“Come on, you know you’re just jealous of my lady skills”

“Not jealous of that, just disappointed in you. You’re doing watch for the entire night, no sleep.”

“Still worth it.”

“Two nights.”

Marat turned back to face Zainab. “If Nero was the one behind Jalil’s assassination attempt, we have some serious replanning to do. When does Nero expect Jalil to be dead by?”

[Leorgathar]

“Nope. I didn’t get enough of a ‘begging for mercy’ vibe from it. There was just no emotion in it. But we can fix that later. First…” Marat said. Zainab simply narrowed her eyes and dedicated him a sarcastic smile. Begging for mercy? I’ll make you beg for mercy myself one day, she thought while licking her upper lip.

When Marat and Talisman had finished their chit chat, the lion addressed Zainab once again.

“If Nero was the one behind Jalil’s assassination attempt, we have some serious replanning to do. When does Nero expect Jalil to be dead by?”

“He should be a lifeless carcass by now. You stopped me, remember?” Upon hearing this, Jalil looked at her and growled. The lioness ignored him.

“Jalil’s body was supposed to be found casually by any of the lionesses in the pride. But, since that’s never going to happen, we’ll have to fake it, like I heard you suggesting. We can either stage his death with an audience of one or two witnesses, or start a rumor about it.” The lioness stood up and began walking side to side while thinking.

“Neither Nero nor his mate have ever seen me, they know about me, but they don’t know how I look like, and I intend to keep it that way. So I can’t go and tell them myself that Jalil is dead. Besides, even if someone else went to give them the news, they still would want some kind of proof. If not his body, then something just as convincing…”

Zainab glanced at the trio and looked at Talisman with curiosity.
“You’re a drongo, right?” she asked him. “How good are you at imitating voices?”

[abalancedbreakfast]

The Drongo tilted his head a little bit, smiled just a tad, and responded back to Zainab in her own voice, perfectly matched. "I'd say it's a natural born talent of mine."

Then, forgetting to switch back to his own voice, like an idiot, he continued. "But I'm not sure how that would exactly be convincing. They are going to want something as definitive proof."

Marat pitched in. "He does have a point, for once. We need to set up a believable crime scene."

The lion looked around for a brief moment before remembering something. He was on the edge of a cliff. A cliff in an area that Dhalimu didn't want anyone to see.

"Zainab..." he began to ask. "Have you ever thrown anybody off a cliff?"

[Leorgathar]

Zainab smiled with a relaxed expression, pleased to hear her own sexy voice coming from the drongo’s beak, feeling a high degree of pride in herself.

"Zainab... Have you ever thrown anybody off a cliff?"

“No… but I’ve always wanted to,” she replied licking her lip. The lioness approached the cliff’s edge and looked down, calculating how much would it take to throw the weight of a male lion down there.

“We need a believable scene alright, but we can’t have a body. Unless…” the lioness said, looking back at Talisman, then addressing the group. “We can build a dummy, a fake lion looking like Jalil, and throw it of this cliff… yeah I know how it sounds, but think about it. The drongo could hide in the dummy as he imitates Jalil’s voice, and when I throw him off the cliff along with it, assuming he can do a believable scream, he could then simply fly off to safety.”

Zainab began walking back and forth thinking. “As for the dummy… I’m sure we can make one from bark and mud, and some twigs for the mane, but it must be seen from a long enough distance for it to work, or else it’ll be too obvious. It’s the drongo’s voice that should make most of the illusion, and it must be me who throws him. After all, my performance can make even the stiffest lion look alive, am I right, deary?” she said the last part looking at Jalil with a mischievous smile. Jalil wrinkled his nose and showed his teeth.

[abalancedbreakfast]

Marat was liking the plan for the most part. Once Zainab finished, he chimed in.

"Well, seeing as we're running out of moonlight to actually do this, building a dummy seems to be a bit much. But... Here, I got an idea."

The lion pushed Jalil into the dirt just on the edge of the cliff, much to his surprise.

"Hey! What are you- Get off of me, please, stop rubbing my face in the dirt!"

"Come on, Jalil, get your scent all over this dirt here" he said, absolutely caking the poor adolescent in dirt. "That's it. Talisman!"

"Yeah?"

"Go see how deep the water is off this cliff."

Quickly, the bird dove down over the cliff, and reappeared in ten seconds. "Deep enough."

"Perfect. Zainab, seeing as we can't have your cover blown, don't roll around in the dirt. Dhalimu absolutely can't have your scent."

After he felt satisfied enough, Marat let the young male loose. "Talisman, you got Jalil's voice yet?"

Perfectly imitating the guard's voice, he practiced "Weak, submissive tones with a high falsetto and the hints of a voice crack-" he said, actually managing to imitate the voice crack, "-when getting past the lower tones."

"My voice doesn't crack!" He said, cracking his voice as he tried to make a lower, more masculine sound.

"No time for that now. Talisman, grab onto my mane, scream like hell when we go down, and fly off before we hit the water. You two, find a way across this river. I'll see you on the other side, downstream."

With that, Marat flung himself over the side of the cliff, grabbed onto the ledge with unsheathed claws, scratched a couple grooves into the cliffside for believability, and sprung off the cliff into the water below as the drongo gave the most blood curdling scream he could.

[Leorgathar]

Zainab watched perplexed as Marat carried on with his version of the plan and sprung off the cliff with Talisman grabbing on his mane and emitting the most convincing lion scream of horror.

“…or yeah, that works too,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “Males… and there I was, hoping I would get to throw him off myself. Maybe next time… from a cliff with no river,” she added sarcastically.

The lioness turned around to face Jalil. “We should get going, no one has to see you wandering around… alive.” She paused to check on his reaction. The male lion wrinkled his nose, but didn’t say anything. “Do you know somewhere where you can hide while this is over?”

Jalil turned his head and pointed behind him. “There’s a cave to the northwest, no one in the pride knows of its existence but me.”

“Alright, big guy… lead the way.”

“NO!” Jalil snarled. Zainab froze, but mentally she prepared for anything. Jalil slowed his breath and tried to calm down. “No… you walk in front of me, where I can keep an eye on you.”

Zainab sighed softly, then she walked past Jalil, stroking his shoulder gently with her tail. “As you wish, Your Majesty,” she said in her seductive voice and kept on padding towards the cave’s direction. Jalil followed.

The journey to the cave went on quietly, with no words shared between the lions. Occasionally Zainab would look back to catch Jalil staring at her beautiful body in awe, but whenever she did Jalil immediately turned his sight away from her, snorting. Zainab would smile at him before turning back ahead.
Soon they finally spotted the cave, and stopped as they arrived at the entrance.

“Nice secret place you have,” the lioness broke the silence, taking a look inside the cave. “Are you sure no one will find you here?”

“Yes… this is the place where I was going to take you before you… well… you know.” Jalil said from behind with a serious tone. Zainab didn’t answer, she wasn’t prepared for this. “No one in the pride could have heard us from here,” the lion added.

Zainab kept looking into the cave adopting an inexpressive look, but in her mind she became more wary of her surroundings, secretly unsheathing her claws and preparing for anything. She could feel Jalil’s furious stare watching her body from behind, with a new understanding that she might have cornered herself into a trap. She lowered her stare to the ground and spoke calmly, appearing submissive. “I’m not going to kill you, Jalil… things have changed, so you’re not my mission anymore… but if you still want to take me…”

Jallil interrupted her with a loud roar that echoed into the cave. A chill ran down Zainab’s spine, but she didn’t move.

“You tried to KILL ME!” Jalil shouted in anger. “How can I ever want you!?”

“Then whatever you must do, do it now!” Zainab replied firmly, ready for an attack.

“No… I’m not a murderer like you.”

Zainab relaxed her muscles sighing, and turned around to face Jalil.

“Fine… I made a mistake, and I’m sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“But how could you play me like that and then betray me? What gives you the right to…”

The lion was interrupted by Zainab advancing fearlessly towards him, looking into his eyes with amber glowing furiously like fire. Then she spoke.

“You can question my methods all you want, even insult me, I’m used to it… but don’t play betrayed with me. Tell me, for how long have you known me? Do you know where I come from? Did you even ask my name before taking me for granted?... You know nothing about me and yet it didn’t take much convincing to claim me as yours.”

“But you said…” Jalil tried to speak, but Zainab interrupted again.

“You may have a righteous heart, future King, but you’re stupid and your mind is feeble, so here’s a word of advice: Usually when something is too good to be true, it’s because it isn’t. If you want a lioness for yourself, you don’t take what’s easily handed to you out of nowhere like an antelope’s carcass you didn’t hunt. You find a lioness you can get to know and respect, while you also become the lion her respect is worth. And believe me, you lost my respect the moment you decided I was already yours. But you’re most certainly not the first… I have yet to find a male lion who refuses my invitation to his own doom.”
Jalil opened his muzzle to say something, but nothing came out. Instead he snorted and faced away.

“Hopefully you won’t see me again after this. I hope you enjoy your new reign, Your Majesty.” Zainab walked past him and padded towards the cave’s entrance.

“You won’t find peace, if you keep on with killing lions.” Jalil spoke from behind, making her stop momentarily. Zainab hesitated to answer.

“I know that.”

The lioness disappeared into the trees and rushed back to the river, surrounding the cliff and eventually finding a ravine narrow enough to cross it. Once on the other side, she climbed down to the bottom and waded through the river shallows in search of Marat’s whereabouts, hoping he would spot her first instead of her spotting his dead body.

[abalancedbreakfast]

Marat trudged on down the riverbed. He walked through the small puddles of mud to disguise his scent. Clever trick he’d learned from escaped lion cubs who stole bits of other’s kills to live. But, the source of the knowledge was never important. Just the application.

He looked up to try and spot Talisman. Still no sign of him. Must still be out trying to see if his little stunt had taken effect. If it hadn’t, at least the absence of Jalil would do the trick. Either way, it was getting into the operational phase of this overthrowing.

A scent. Then a quick turn of the head, and Zainab was there. Marat started padding up to her, not making any loud verbal signals to catch her attention. Now wasn’t the time to be found out.

But as he started walking over to her, an odd thought crossed his mind. Something about her is alluring. Reminded him of a time when he had someone.

He froze for a second. A quick tensing of the paws, and the thought was out of his head. No. She was much sweeter than Zainab.

He resumed his walk, pushing the thought into the back of his mind as he drew nearer to her.

“So, how was the walk with Mr. Awkward teen over there? I take it that it must have been absolutely lovely.”

Just then, a bird swooped in and landed on Zainab’s shoulder.

“Talisman, why are you covered in blood?”

The bird was, in fact, covered in blood. “Hey, she was a real freak, don’t judge me.”

“Don’t be a jackass, what happened.”

Talisman froze for a moment. “Well… here’s what happened. There was this hornbill, and I flew her by, not thinking anything of it.”

“It was a her? So you either killed it or tried to flirt with it.”

“Let me finish! First off, yes, I did kill her. And tried to flirt with her while doing it”

“God, you really do have no self control.”

“Oh, because you’re just a real saint, aren't ya? Anyway she flew behind me and grappled onto me with her talons. A bit of a fall ensued, I pinned her to the ground, she choked out something about some lioness’s plan. My guess, Nero’s mate.”

“So she’s dead out in the open now?”

“No, she’s dead in a ditch.”

“A covered ditch?”

“What do you think I am? Stupid?”

“That’s precisely what I think you are, but that’s beside the point. Will the carcass be spotted?”

“No. and the stunt worked. The lionesses were scrambling, and Dhalimu stopped them, saying that it was probably too late. Dhalimu covered his tail, Nero is placated, and the lionesses are mourning.”

“You did something right today, congratulations. Anyway, now that we know anyone who saw us is dead, I think it’s high time we get some sleep. Zainab, how’d everything go on your end?”

[Leorgathar]

“So, how was the walk with Mr. Awkward teen over there? I take it that it must have been absolutely lovely.”

Zainab was glad to see Marat was alive and well, but she gave him a flaring look upon hearing the question.

“Grrr, don’t remind me of it, he still resented me for almost making him a vulture’s meal, but we set a few things clear and now I bet he misses me already.”

Right then, a bird landed on Zainab’s shoulder, and before she turned to see him, she immediately guessed it was Talisman. She allowed the drongo to rest over her. As she heard the conversation, she kept rolling her eyes and thinking of the kind of weird friendship him and Marat had, but still, she was glad to hear that their plan had worked effectively. She couldn’t wait to see the result of this ruse the next day, but she thought Marat was right in that they needed to sleep and regain energy for whatever challenges followed.

“Zainab, how’d everything go on your end?” Marat asked.

“Well, Jalil is hiding now where no one can find him, and I covered most of his tracks on my way back here, so despite a lot of whining from his part, I think we’re good. I agree that we should rest somewhere for now. If you know a place where others won’t look, lead the way and I’ll follow”

The two lions walked silently in the mud, masking both their scents and sharing very little words, until Talisman broke the silence from over Zainab’s back, addressing her.

"Would you mind if I spend the night with you?" The drongo asked. "You'd make a very comfortable... Sleeping partner"

The lioness found the drongo’s request strange, but amusing nonetheless.
"I know many lions who could agree with you on that," she answered "Well... knew"

"Mm, dead I presume?"

"Dead and loving it"

"You know, I, too, am a killer of the opposite sex. So many impressionable young ladies, taken tragically by broken hearts! I really am a fiend!"

"Well, I'm not very impressionable, but that job you did with that hornbill, capturing her, getting information and killing her... Not bad, heartbreaker."

"I know a Sharp lioness such as yourself would not be so easily swayed. Word of your conquest has graced my ears quite frequently in the assassin community. And though my main work is freedom fighting, it does still involve dealing for the death-Gods. I'm not asking for a one night stand. Just for a little companionship for the night."

"Really!? Really?" Marat suddenly said.

"Don't ruin the romance for us, Marat," Talisman replied, making the lioness laugh.

"We have similar tastes, drongo. I almost wish you were a lion, but then I'd have to kill you. At least with you being a bird you have a chance to come out alive... if I don't get hungry first, that is. Birds taste really well, and I’ve heard drongos are an especially rare delicacy."

Zainab looked back at Talisman with a sexy stare and licked her upper lip slowly. Talisman took Zainab’s words in stride, and with his own sexy look, he stared right at her and said:
"Many other women have said the same thing about my taste."

The lioness smiled at him and purred.

[abalancedbreakfast]

“Okay, I think that’s enough interspecies flirting for one night. Besides, we’re at the safeden.”

Marat turned to Zainab and introduced her to the place. “There’s two overhangs, one on each side of this boulder, that work well to shelter from rain. I know how to light a fire if we ever need warmth, but I try not to do that when we can’t be spotted. Dhalimu sleeps about four miles south of here, and the pride boundary is half a mile south. Try to keep hushed up around here, nothing above normal conversational volume. You’ll be sleeping on the east side of the rock, I’ll take the west. We wake up half an hour after dawn, and then we’ll talk strategy for the day. Any questions?”

The bird piped up. “Do I sleep with Zainab?”

“No”

“Yes” Zainab piped up, licking her lips just to infuriate Marat a bit more. “I’d say he’s earned a night with me.”

Marat, rolling his eyes and groaning a bit, decided he wasn’t going to win this one. “Fine. But please, I swear to god, if I find you two… fraternizing, god I can’t even… anyway, keep it civil.”

“Oh, please, Marat, he’s a bird, I don’t think he was being serious.”

Marat raised one eyebrow and glared at her. “You don’t know that damn bird.”

“Don’t hate the player, Marat.”

“You’re far from a player, Talisman”

“Many a female drongo would disagree with you. But I digress. I’m going to do one more flyover to make sure we’re all clear. See you in a second.”

With that, the bird took off and started his circle. Zainab turned away, but Marat quickly ran in front of her.

“What is it?” she said, a bit annoyed that her rest was being delayed.

“Look, I ain’t scolding you. I just wanted to say something.” He sighed and sat down, his tone getting more serious. “I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot today. You seem very talented, and I do want to work with you to finish this mission off. But I do have to ask one question of you before I can work with you. Any fool can kill for something, that much is clear.” He looked her dead in the eyes with all the quiet intensity he could muster, and peered almost directly into her soul. “Zainab, are you willing to die for something? Anything?"

Zainab paused, looking for her answer for a moment. "I'm not a merciless killer, you know. Whenever I kill, I do it for a cause I believe in. I risk my life everytime I need to defend it. Of course I would die for it."

“Then I don’t care what that cause is. I can work with you.” He turned away from her, headed to his side of the rock. “Good night, Zainab. And please, try not to spoil the bird too much. You’d just be enabling him.”

“Enabling him? Oh please, if any of that happened, it’d be on my terms.”

“I don’t even want to think of the mechanics of that.”

“Then don’t. Just cover your ears.”

“Oh my god, please just shut up and get to sleep.”

Zainab laughed her way to her side of the cave before settling down under her overhang and curling up, closing her eyes.

That’s when a bird landed on her head, causing her to open her eyes. “So, I guess you have another victory, flyboy.”

“You know I do, Zainab”

“Well, come on” she said, patting the fur on top of her head. “Claim your prize.”

Talisman went stiff, and fell into the fur of the lioness face down, wrapping his wings as far around her head as he could, rubbing his cheek into her fur. “Sooooo soft….”

“Mhm, tuck in. With my track record, it may be the last sleep you ever have.”

“I’m okay with that. Things don’t get softer than this.”

“SHUT UP” Marat said from the other side of the rock, causing the other two to laugh.

“Good night, Talisman.”

“Sleep tight, kitty.” he said, laying down on her fur.

Three hours into the sleep, Marat stirred in his sleep. It started with some shuffling, a low growl, and clawing at the dirt. But the moment he heard shuffling, Talisman shot up from Zainab’s head, flying off and trying not to disturb her. He landed on the overhang above Marat, looking down on him.
“Oh, bud… Really pains me to see you torn up over this… I just… I wish you’d let go of this….” he said, a look of genuine concern crossing his face as he landed next to the lion’s ear before listening for Marat’s sleep talking.

A tear streamed down Marat’s sleeping face as he muttered. “Ujana….”

Talisman held back a tear, leaning into the lion’s ear and whispering to him in the beautiful, pitch perfect voice of a lioness. “Shh, shhh…. Honey…. It’s not your fault… Don’t be sad…. Shhh…. I still love you” he whispered, nuzzling his tiny head into the lion’s voluptuous mane, making any attempt to comfort him in his sleep.

But when he looked up, Zainab was around the rock, looking at the two with puzzled eyes. Talisman put a wing over his beak, telling her to keep quiet before going back to soothing his friend, calming him down until the only thing he was doing was streaming tears out of his eyes. Talisman learned that that was as good as it got for Marat most nights. Once the clawing at the dirt stopped, he couldn’t soothe him much farther.

“What’s going on?” Zainab asked with a concerned look. “What happened to him to mess him up that bad?”

Talisman flew over in front of her, landing at her feet. “I… can’t say. I know exactly what it is, and let me just say, it was very brutal. But I promised him I’d never share that story with anyone. Just know... he used to be like me. But he’s hardened up for a reason.”

He flew up to Zainab’s shoulder. “Just, try not to mention romance around him too much. That… gets him in a bad mood. Alright? I’m asking you as a friend not to push it. I can’t stand seeing him so broken like this.”

[Leorgathar]

The night went on thankfully peaceful after Marat’s strange and stirred dream episode, but Zainab had a hard time trying to go back to sleep before she accepted that she couldn’t. She decided to respect Talisman’s plea and not push him any further with questions about Marat’s past. All she could do was quietly wonder what traumatic event had happened for him to have such a drastic change in his character, as the drongo had hinted to her. But whatever it was, she could certainly sympathize more with him now, as far as past traumatic events go. She knew how even a mention of it could have an effect in someone’s attitude, even as irrational as it may be. She knew because it had happened to herself many times before, and not one of those instances went well, even though with time she became better at controlling herself.

The lioness glanced back at the scar she had on the edge of her belly, cursing it like every time she did, but also promising to herself that she wouldn’t let the grudge it interfere with their mission. And she had the bird’s trust that she wouldn’t bring the topic of Marat’s past to him.
Talisman was snuggled up between her paws, sleeping heavenly on the softness of her fur and covered by the lioness’ neck. Zainab was grateful for the drongo’s company, as it managed to sooth her very well in the darkness.
As sunshine began to show at the cave’s entrance, she stood up carefully as not to wake up Talisman, then she bent down and kissed the bird on his small cheek with the tip of her tongue, smiling.

“I’ll be right back, Flyboy,” she whispered, and then padded off outside, not before briefly glancing at Marat on the overhang at his side of the cave, still sleeping. Sunlight was already shining brightly on the rocks hit by it in the canyon, which made Zainab squint as she ventured outside. She looked around to make sure no one was nearby before bowing down and have a drink from the river. The water’s surface was calm enough thanks to Dhalimu’s dam, so she could see her reflection almost perfectly, but she noticed there was another pair of eyes watching besides hers. She quickly looked up towards the cliff above, and there she was, a startled lioness looking down back at her. The lioness stood frozen for no more than 5 seconds, but she quickly turned and ran away.
Zainab growled angrily, and returned to the cave with no hesitation. She nudged Talisman aggressively.

“Talisman! ...Talisman!! Wake up!” Once the bird opened his eyes, she spoke rapidly, watching her tone as not to wake up Marat. “I need your help, I’ve been spotted... A lioness above the cliff on the other side of the river, she spotted me and is on now her way to tell others. I need you to help me track her down from the sky, we need to stop her!”

Zainab sprinted again towards the cave’s entrance, stopping suddenly and looking back.
“Now, Talisman!”

[abalancedbreakfast]

The bird, while groggy for a moment, shot up in surprise. He instantly flung himself out of the cave to land on Zainab's shoulder. "You've been spotted? Why weren't you watching yourself?" He said, flying around her before deciding he didn't have the time for questions. "Okay, I'll go forward and slow her up. You catch up and say you're a traveler. Say you noticed something upstream, and that she should see it. We'll show her the dam, and get her on our side. I'll figure it all out when you get there!"

With that the bird pecked her cheek. "I felt that little peck on the cheek by the way, don't think I didn't notice that this morning" he said flirtatiously as he sped forward and up to catch up to the lioness.

He flew high, about 800 feet above the ground below. Flapping his wings ferociously, he frantically scanned the floor. Not to the east, he thought. And he saw no lioness to the west. There, to the south. Thankfully, she had quite a ways to go, she was only a half mile to Dhalimu's sleeping place. But she was hustling. And he had to do something.

He folded his wings into his body, causing him to fall down to the earth at rapid speed, down to the lioness who was jogging home below. 700 feet, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100... Just 50 feet above the ground, he flung his wings out again, pulling up just in the nick of time to avoid hitting the ground, but not to avoid ramming into the lioness's head from behind, causing him to fall to the ground, and her to turn around with a yelp of pain.

"Hey- ow! What the..." she said, turning around, before seeing the curious bird, writing on the ground in obvious theatrics. He had taken much harder falls before, and this was really nothing to him, but he needed to see if he could play the sympathy card with this lioness. She looked at him. "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

Bingo, Talisman thought. "Ohh... no... ach... I don't think so... my head is aching and I think my wing is hurt..." he said, flapping his right wing around in a spastic fashion.

"Oh, no, no, no..." the lioness said as she paced around the bird. "Listen, I'm so, soo sorry that I was in your way, but I have an important message to deliver to Dhalimu. There's an intruder in our borders, and I have to tell him fast."

Ah, damn. He thought to himself. His chance was slipping, and he had to think of something, anything, fast. "Actually, madame, that's what I was here to talk about. You see, the lioness you stumbled into this morning was... Oh, if I told you, you wouldn't believe it" he lamented, putting on a pair of sad eyes that could steal all the pity right out of an impressionable young female's heart.

"What? Tell me, the more I know about this intruder, the better!"

Talisman tucked his right wing into his body as an injured chick would, theatrically using his left wing to cover his face in dramatized shame. "She's... she's my... lover. My mate! The love of my life!" WHY? WHY DID I SAY THAT, he thought to himself. Well, too late. Now I have to stick with it.

The lioness was obviously confused, shooting him a look of disbelief. "Sorry... did you just say she was your... mate?"

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Talisman managed to keep his dramatic flair. "Yes... we are both travelling. We fell in love at our old lands, and when my family and her pride found us professing our forbidden love to each other, we were both cast away to drift from pride to pride, never finding a home." Doing his absolute best, he managed to actually shed a tear. "Oh, I love her so dearly. Please, just wait here for her so we can explain more. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her, or her losing me!"

That was when Zainab took one step into the open to reveal herself, giving a quick death glance to the bird before rushing up and nuzzling him with a cry of "Honey! Oh, honey, are you okay?" She pressed her head up against his to nuzzle him, giving him a quick whisper with a low growl. "You're gonna owe me for life."

"Bigtime, sweetheart" he whispered with a grin before pressing his head back into her's with his eyes closed. "Oh, sweetie, I think I've hurt my wing. And I have the most massive headache... I think I'll need to be carried away" he said with a hidden wink to Zainab. "I think I need some water too. Honey, we may have to go to that dam we saw upstream, to get a little drink. I'm absolutely parched."

With this, the guard lioness was greatly confused. "Dam... upstream? This river's been dry for four years..."

Talisman shot Zainab a look that said one thing. We've got her hooked. Now we take her to the dam and reveal ourselves.

[Leorgathar]

"Dam... upstream? This river's been dry for four years..."

Zainab knew it was her turn to improvise and make up a story on the go.
“Well, you saw me having a drink up North, right? We have been travelling a long way in search of a good water source since we became outcasts, but we haven’t had any luck until yesterday evening when my boyfriend here spotted the river from above.” she said while nuzzling Talisman, pretending to still be shaken after his fall. “We wouldn’t have made it here if it weren’t for him. Honey, you scared me, I told you many times you should be more careful with your landing,” she then licked his injured wing while hugging him in her paws. Zainab could sense the other lioness being weirded out by the scene, but she thought the mention of water in the river still must be itching on her mind.

“Uuh… yeah, I see…” said the lioness, cringing. “But like I said, there’s been no flowing water in the river for years, it was only until I saw you down at the bottom of that cliff that I saw any sign of water at all!”

“So you don’t know about the dam?” Zainab asked her, faking confusion. “But… we followed the river and saw it blocking the flow, it’s quite an impressive sight. Listen, I need to go back there and get some water for my sweet bird, we can show you where it is, if you tag along.”

The lioness hesitated, glancing at her back. “I should go tell the king about this… I may also tell him about you two, we don’t have many resources, but I can speak on your behalf to get you somewhere within our borders you can take refuge in.”

“Oh, we would be so grateful for your help, of course,” Zainab answered with a smile of relief. “But I think you should come with us to see the dam first…” she approached the lioness and spoke to her in a more quiet tone. “Isn’t it strange that something so big could go unnoticed by your king for many years? Please, I think you should take a look and judge yourself.”

The lioness looked suddenly afraid, glancing again in the direction of king Dhalimu’s den, but no longer wanting to go there. She looked again into Zainab’s concerned eyes. “Alright… show me.”

Zainab picked Talisman up gently and placed him on her back carefully as if trying not to hurt him. “Hold on tight, my love. Try not to fall down again,” she turned back and started trotting towards the dam’s location. “This way, follow me”.

[Lyonize]

You are forbidden from following the riverbed.

"Why?" She'd ask. But every answer just boiled down to "Because I said so."

Well they haven't bitten my paws off yet so I don't see what's stopping me. Alari thought to herself as she headed to the "forbidden river bed."

Finally, Alari reached the sandy line that slithered along. Time to find the head of the snake. For a moment, Alari wondered how long it would take to get to wherever she was headed. How far up the river would she have to walk to find whatever it was the guards were warning her about? "I guess it'll just be a surprise then." She thought as she began trotting along the sand.

Nearly half an hour had passed when she heard voices ahead. Her first thought was to creep up to the source of the voices and check it out, but then she though she should probably go around and avoid whoever it was.

Nah, I gotta see what this is.

She lowered herself and moved as quietly as she could. Finally she was close enough to make out a sentence.

“But I think you should come with us to see the dam first…”

The what?

“Isn’t it strange that something so big could go unnoticed by your king for many years? Please, I think you should take a look and judge yourself.”

Is that what's upstream?

“Alright… show me.”

Wait. I recognize that voice. Alari had only been visiting the pride for a week so she couldn't quite place the voice but it was definitely a lioness from the pride.

“Hold on tight, my love. Try not to fall down again. This way, follow me”.

Great! I'll just follow them. They seem to be headed to the same place. Alari finally got to a spot where she could see the group. A lioness from the pride and another lioness... carrying a dead bird? That was weird. But she noticed something else that made her stomach sink for a moment. The group passed her hiding spot, headed in the direction she had come from. Once they had passed her, Alari hopped out behind them.

"I've been walking in the wrong direction this whole time?!" She shouted.

[Leorgathar]

"I've been walking in the wrong direction this whole time?!"

Zainab froze startled as she heard a new voice shouting from behind. What? Another lioness? She growled to the inside, quickly turning around to face the newcomer. A younger one it seemed, most likely a pride lioness too, but Zainab wouldn’t let her guard down, for all she knew she might have been following her for long enough to know more than she should.

“Wrong direction to where?” Zainab asked in a confused tone and without breaking character, she secretly unsheathed her claws, preparing for anything.

“Alari! You scared us, thank goodness it’s you.” The other lioness said, which made Zainab relax now that she confirmed the stranger was indeed a pride lioness. “You shouldn’t be here, you know this area is off limits and forbidden. Go back to the den and tell the others to gather and wait for me there, I have news to…”

“She should come too,” Zainab interrupted abrubptly. After a second of awkward silence, she continued. “I mean, it’s better if she sees it too. If the dam has been kept a secret from you for so long, I think you’ll need another witness to corroborate your story. I would help you with that but… I’m just a foreigner, and I don’t even know if I’m welcome in your pride or not, there’s no reason to believe me. So please… you have to come and see for yourselves. Come on, we should hurry.” Zainab resumed her path without giving them time to answer, signaling them to follow.

As soon as she got further enough for the pride lionesses not to hear, she whispered to Talisman.
“Ah, great! Now we’re bringing not one, but two new strangers to Marat… This is getting out of control. How did you not see that second lioness from above? Also… ‘My lover’, ‘my mate’, ‘the love of my life’? …Seriously?”

[abalancedbreakfast]

Talisman dropped the act for a second to address the accusations. "Okay, Zainab, I know this is ridiculous, but that was the first harebrained explanation that came out of my head, so we kinda have to stick with it now! Ain't no point changing stories. Now, we'll get to drop it once we reach the dam, so just keep pretending like you aren't an assassin for five more minutes, okay? Marat can handle two strangers. It's a matter of explaining to him that we kind of blew our cover that's going to anger him. He does NOT like when we go off plan."

The two slowed down a bit to allow the lionesses to catch up with them before opening his effusive bird beak to talk again. "So, how long has the river been dried up like this? All your lives?"

The first lioness the two had come across decided to explain her point of view. "The river's been dried up since I was an adolescent. There was half a year that the river flowed again... but once the dry season came along, that didn't last. This other one here-" she said, aggressively gesturing to Alari, "-hasn't been here very long. I'll let you explain this one."

[Lyonize]

“Wrong direction to where?”

"I meant to head UPstream." Alari said, exhasperated. "That's where you're going, right? I heard you talking about a dam or something."

“Alari! You scared us, thank goodness it’s you. You shouldn’t be here, you know this area is off limits and forbidden. Go back to the den and tell the others to gather and wait for me there, I have news to…”

“She should come too,”

"I mean, I was headed there anyway, sooo..."

“I mean, it’s better if she sees it too. If the dam has been kept a secret from you for so long, I think you’ll need another witness to corroborate your story. I would help you with that but… I’m just a foreigner, and I don’t even know if I’m welcome in your pride or not, there’s no reason to believe me. So please… you have to come and see for yourselves. Come on, we should hurry.”

"So, how long has the river been dried up like this? All your lives?"

Alari stopped in her tracks momentarily. She'd be lying if she said she didn't nearly jump out of her skin. Alright. The bird isn't dead. She thought, conciously trying to lower her heartrate as she continued following them. I have a lot more questions now.

"The river's been dried up since I was an adolescent. There was half a year that the river flowed again... but once the dry season came along, that didn't last. This other one here hasn't been here very long. I'll let you explain this one."

"Really? You haven't seen me helping around?" The lioness stared back, an eyebrow raised. "The hunt yesterday?" More silence. "I patrolled with Jalil..." The lioness turned away, her brow furrowed with an agitated expression. "For the love of- I moved a pile of rhino crap away from the pride because it made the den smell like sh-"

"Fine! So what are you doing here?" The lioness interrupted.

"Holy sheep, I said I'm trying to go upstream." Alari said for what she thought must be the 20th time.

"Why?!"

"Because everyone told me not to." She replied with a smile and a giggle as if it was the obvious answer. With a skip, Alari trotted up next to Zainab. "Hi! I'm Alari. Nice to meet you. Been setting up camp around here for about a week." She introduced herself quickly. "So! I've been hearing talk about a dam. Care to explain a bit? See, I've been trying to help this pride out with whatever I can until the drout ends or everybody... dies. -Anyway!" The other lioness jerked her head back, mouth agape and eyes narrowed in dumbfounded ire. "Dhalimu seems like a nice guy but he keeps telling me NOT to go up this way, even though a dam would explain the recent lack of water."

[Leorgathar]

"Hi! I'm Alari. Nice to meet you. Been setting up camp around here for about a week."

The younger lioness caught up with Zainab and paced along with her. Zainab smiled at her.

“Nice to meet you too, Alari, I’m Noor,” she replied, using her false name.

"So! I've been hearing talk about a dam. Care to explain a bit? See, I've been trying to help this pride out with whatever I can until the drout ends or everybody... dies. -Anyway!"

Zainab chuckled at Alari’s hint for the other lioness.

"Dhalimu seems like a nice guy but he keeps telling me NOT to go up this way, even though a dam would explain the recent lack of water."

“Well, maybe Dhalimu doesn’t want anyone in your pride to get too close to it, or maybe he doesn’t want you to see all those healthy animals maintaining it and keeping all that fresh water from flowing into your dry rivers. But I can assure you that there’s a huge dam settled up river. Me and my lovebird here stumbled across with it as we travelled south to your land, it is an amazing sight, you’ll see soon enough.”

Zainab glanced back to see the other lioness following them at a considerable distance in the corner of her eye, then she whispered to Alari.

“I don’t know this guy, Dhalimu, but if he’s keeping a highly vital secret like from his pride, I would be very careful with who I put my trust in if I were you. He might not be as nice as he seems, and he could have spies everywhere. But I hope that when you see the dam, you’ll be smart about which side you’re on. Besides…” Zainab gave her a mischievous smirk. “Males can’t tell us what to do and what not to do, right?”

[Lyonize]

“Well, maybe Dhalimu doesn’t want anyone in your pride to get too close to it, or maybe he doesn’t want you to see all those healthy animals maintaining it and keeping all that fresh water from flowing into your dry rivers."

"You know, that's what I was thinking." Alari added.

"But I can assure you that there’s a huge dam settled up river. Me and my lovebird here stumbled across with it as we traveled south to your land, it is an amazing sight, you’ll see soon enough.”

"Well, technically not 'my' land. Remember, I'm just visiting. I came from a different pride." She said, trying to make it clear that she isn't part of the pride.

“I don’t know this guy, Dhalimu, but if he’s keeping a highly vital secret like from his pride, I would be very careful with who I put my trust in if I were you. He might not be as nice as he seems, and he could have spies everywhere. But I hope that when you see the dam, you’ll be smart about which side you’re on. Besides… males can’t tell us what to do and what not to do, right?”

Alari smiled and raised an eyebrow, trying to dig into that last part to figure out what she meant. "Yeah! Nobody can tell us what to do. R-right?"

[abalancedbreakfast]

"Well, I know I can't tell my beauty here what to do" Talisman said, gesturing to Zainab.

As the group of four walked ever so closer to the dam, a figure silently stalked the group in the shadows. And he was nitpicking every single thing his two liberators were doing.

"Really, Talisman? That's the story you come up with?"

"I'm surprised Zainab even went with it. Doesn't help that the story is absolutely outlandish though."

"She's going too fast. She shouldn't even hint at Dhalimu playing a part in this until she gets to the dam. Gives more shock value."

And finally, the last thing this figure thought... "This is plan is going to kuzimu way too fast."

This figure, of course, was Marat. And he had managed to sense that Zainab and Talisman had done something stupid, and woke up to investigate, managing to follow the group of four in total silence ever since they set foot on the riverbed. And at this point, he was dangerously close to tearing his mane out in complete frustration for not knowing how he would handle this new set of variables. He had a very specific timeline to be followed, and Zainab had take it and thrown it over the cliff. He would have some very choice words for both, certainly.

And these newcomers... how could he possibly keep their mouths under wraps? The native one seemed skeptical. She might not take the truth well, choosing to flee to Dhalimu telling him of thought of rebellion, he thought. And the other one, "Alari" he remembered....

She seemed ditzy to him at best, and an utter disaster to their mission at worst. She was effusive, no doubt, and simply didn't have the foresight or self control to do the covert work he had planned. She, in his opinion, was either going to tell everyone about the dam and forget that Nero's mate is a factor, challenge Dhalimu to a fight directly and lose, somehow find out that Jalil is alive and leak THAT little tidbit to everyone, or- worst of all, in Marat's opinion- try to join the liberators, and ruin all the secrecy and forethought that made his plans come together.

In short, she was guaranteed to mess something up. And Marat needed to think of something fast.

"Maybe, I give her a position on the liberators... but have it be a worthless title, so she feels like she's contributing, but isn't anywhere near my plans."

But this would have to wait as the whole lot of them came up to the sheer cliff that the dam made up, where, out in broad morning light, a troupe of monkeys was hard at work plugging up leaks in the holes of the dam wall as a pair of zebras shouted orders at them.

It was perfection. "Talk about your incriminating evidence" Talisman whispered to Zainab.

[Lyonize]

Finally, the crew rounded a final bend before coming up to a quite impossible to miss wall of logs and mud. Everyone stood there for a moment in silence as Alari's mind raced, thinking of the implications of there being such an explanation for the lands lack of water and the obvious fact that Dhalimu definitely knew of its existence. There was really only one explanation for this and it put Dhalimu on the top of Alari's list of lions that needed to go away. All this and she could only think of one thing to say as she held the faintest of grins.

"Dam."