Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Flower Romance ❯ Book 3: Retaliation ( Chapter 3 )

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Dark Flower Romance

Book 3: Retaliation

By: Melissa Norvell/Revamp

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Zahra slept on the opposite side of the den, stretched out on her side. The lioness slumbered gently, without interruption as the sun rose over the horizon, bathing everything in a bright orange glow. The light pierced through the hole in the cave, coating it with a urethral glow. She rolled over and slowly awoke to see the bones of Tajara's kill littering the floor in haphazard fashion. Zahra stumbled when she stood up, kicking a rib bone with such force that it skidded across the ground and smacked Tajara in the face. He merely grumbled in irritation and moved his paw over his face, flicking his ears. She giggled at his reaction and quietly made her way out of the cave.

The sunlight felt good on her fur, and she closed her eyes, taking a whiff of the fresh air. `This isn't going to be fun. I have all day to `train' but how do you train against someone like him? He's three times my size. I obviously can't bring down someone who took on three lions at once, can bring down a sambar alone and has no doubt been through a lot himself. It's like trying to take on a gladiator. Overpowering him isn't an option.' She strategized to herself as she strolled through the fields of flowers that were near the cave. The dew from the night stuck to her fur, coating her legs in water. The Bat Lilies waved around to a rhythm unheard by her ears. A smile tugged at her muzzle. “Oh, how pretty. The Cat's Whiskers are in bloom. This is the second day. They'll probably be gone by tomorrow,” she sighed dejectedly. “Such a sad thing that such beautiful flowers don't last long. Come to think of it, I vaguely remember something.”

It was night and the stars hung in the sky like haphazardly placed diamonds. The Bat Lilies were in bloom and Zahra was a young cub, romping around in them. She pounced and batted at the beautiful flowers with childish mischief. A single flower hung down, its weight being far too much for the stalk it bloomed from. The cub batted at it playfully, rolling onto her back, she grabbed it with her two front paws and rolled over, giggling joyously to herself.

Her moment of frivolity was interrupted by a looming shadow. However, she didn't truly take notice until something warm splattered on her cheek.

“Huh?” Zahra paused, releasing the flower. The bloom bobbed around in silence.

`It looks like another lion.' She gazed at the shadow with doe eyes. Wiping her face with her paw, she glanced at it and noticed that what had fallen on her face was blood. Zahra gasped to herself.

The large, white lion heard her but he could not see her out of the right side of his face, which was matted with blood. “I must be hearing things,” he muttered to himself. Surely no one else would be here, and if they were it was an unnerving thought.

Rolling over, Zahra stood and slowly advanced towards the other lion. She took careful footsteps and made sure not to step on anything that would draw any attention to herself. Her blue eyes were wide with curiosity. Besides the members of her pride, she had not seen any foreign lions, much less any white ones. `That's the biggest lion I've ever seen. He looks hurt, not just a small wound. He's hurt really bad. I wonder if I should say anything. If I do, he might kill me. I actually wonder why he couldn't see me. Maybe he's blind, or maybe his eyes are injured. Okay Zahra, stop being so nervous and get out there.' With a sudden burst of bravery and a determined look on her face, the small lioness walked in front of the injured lion, which was lying on his stomach in a patch of tall bat lilies. “Um...Hello?” She asked smally, in a non-threatening tone.

“Who's there?” The lion roared with enough ferocity to make her think twice about greeting him. He violently turned his head, as if to look around with paranoia through the droves of flowers.

“Down here, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm way too small for that,” she assured, trying to calm him down.

He turned his head, looking at her with his one good eye. “Why are you here? You're just a cub.”

“My mother went hunting with my grandmother, so I came here to play,” Zahra knew if her mother found out that she would be in deep water, but she didn't think this stranger would tattle on her.

“Do you always come here?” He asked, settling down and talking to her in a more casual voice. Zahra was not a threat to him. The cub walked in closer and she did, her ears picked up the slight gurgle of his breathing. He took deep, erratic breaths. Suddenly, he snarled at her and she jumped away. Zahra felt as if her heart was going to pop out of her chest.

“Don't come near me,” the white one warned in a vicious, feral tone.

Zahra stood back a few feet. “I can't help you if you don't let me get close.”

“You're making it worse.”

“You're being stubborn,” Zahra argued with a peeved expression.

“You're being a bigger pain than the one in my eye,” the male lion growled.

“How rude!”

The lion put his head down on top of one of his paws, which was outstretched in front of him.

Zahra frowned. It was enough that he was hurt, but he had also just been rude to her. She felt like leaving, but in the back of her mind, she knew it wasn't an option. “You never even told me your name.”

“I don't have one.”

This again?

“That's silly, everyone has a name.”

“If I wanted to tell you, I would,” he was so rude.

The cub sighed. “You should at least wash the blood off. The predators can smell you and they will come after you.” Everyone knew that. It was one of the laws of the wild. Even if this guy was a rude jerk, she didn't want hyenas or something worse coming after him like a festering corpse.

“I don't go down that easily,” his wounds were proof of that.

“The flowers are pretty tonight,” Zahra noted, trying to change the subject so her male companion didn't focus so much on his pain. All she heard was a low rumble from him. Turning her head towards the wounded big cat, she smiled. “Don't you think so?”

“I came here because I like them,” he finally spoke in a more subdued tone. She thanks the gods above that he wasn't being defensive anymore.

“What kind of flowers are they? Do you know?”

“They are Bat Lilies, but humans call them Cat's Whiskers,” he informed the small cub.

Her face instantly lit up. “Oh! I get it! They do look like cat's whiskers!”

The white one went silent, merely observing the flowers. The pain in his head was immense and he could feel his heart beating in his ears. He didn't count on a little companion being here who wanted to chat and be loud. The lion came for peace and quiet. Never in all of his life would he expect to have some little cub around was making small talk with him.

Zahra lay down as the white lion glanced to her, asking her who her parents were. The silence unnerved him, so maybe small talking with the cub wasn't so bad.

“My mother's name is Sultana-“She was cut off.

“Sultana, Shefalika's daughter?”

Zahra smiled. “Yes! How did you know?” Surely he had some connection to her pride. This was great news! That meant that they would meet again sometime and maybe even become friends.

He merely turned away at her question and gave a low-toned response. “My mother is Shefalika.”

“That means that your father is Bhim.”

“Not exactly.”

Zahra blinked. “What do you mean? Bhim's pride is Shefalika and Hafiza.”

“It's not really your business.”

`That's right; he was raised by my grandmother. That makes him as old as my parents.' Her thoughts assaulted her like a battering ram as she pulled out of her vivid flashback. Zahra frowned, noting that even though that was their first meeting, it was also a point that was stricken against her. “Oh, that makes it twice as hard to fight him.” She plopped down dejectedly in the middle of a field of tall grass, watching as birds flew overhead from the top of a nearby tree. A few moments later, the lioness sat up as the sounds of squawks filled her senses.

Glancing over to a nearby tree, a group of birds stared at her with scrutinizing eyes. At least, in her mind they were looking down upon her from their perches. Her eyes narrowed. “What are you looking at? Dumb birds.” The lioness growled with a look of scorn on her face. She prowled over to the tree, giving it a swift kick with her back feet. The blow was so hard that it knocked a few pieces of fruit from above; one of them struck her on the head. “Ow!” She exclaimed as the pain registered in her head. Rubbing the afflicted area, she thought to herself. `I don't even know how I'm supposed to take down someone like him. I've never even seen him fight. He's probably powerful and maybe slow?'

Feeling the building frustration and futility of the situation, she burst out. “Oh, I don't know! Maybe I'll get stronger or something…But, what can I do?” Glancing around, she noticed a fallen log a few feet away. Her face lit up. “I know! I'll move huge trees. That should make me stronger,” she steadied herself, couching down and wiggling her butt in the air, the lioness charged at the log, going as fast as she could. She made contact with it, easily moving it out of the way with a single push. Completing the act filled her with a sense of pride. “That was easy…but it was dead and light. I need something heavier.” She looked around once again and spied another fallen log. She pushed it out of the way effectively. Zahra soon scoured the area, finding various branches, logs and even large rocks to push out of the way. `I've got to keep going. If I don't, Tajara will beat me. I have to be strong.' Her thoughts kept pushing her, cheering her on as she struggled to move a heavy rock. `Strong like Tajara…' The lioness continued to push against the unmoving stone. She was tired and her joints pained her, but she wouldn't give up. She pushed and pushed until her body gave out. Sliding down the stone wall, she laid on the ground, panting and exhausted. `I can't lose to him. If I do, then I'll stay here forever. Then again…how do I know that he'll keep his promise? What if I beat him and he still keeps me here?' The cinnamon lioness shook her head violently, trying to rid all thoughts from it. `I can't let him.' She pulled herself slowly from the ground. `I refuse to stay with a heartless lion like him.' Her vision turned hazy. `I just can't bring myself to…' Her thoughts trailed off as the world around her turned black and she sunk into an endless abyss.

When she opened her eyes, a blurry, white form loomed above her. Blinking, her vision cleared up to find that it was Tajara, staring down at her with his cold, ice-blue eye. He lay beside of her, closer than he had been in the past. “You're an idiot. I didn't say try until you passed out and rearrange the field while you were at it.” His response was sarcastic and contradicted his body posture.

She frowned, glaring up at him from her position. “I really hate you sometimes.”

“I'm giving you a chance to become free,” she shouldn't hate him for that. He could have opted to keep her there.

“You're doing it to tease me,” she glared, lifting her head.

“You'd think that.”

“No, you are. Don't try to tell me you're nice. That just makes you a liar on top of being a killer,” she shot angrily. Zahra was truly tired of playing these mind games with him.

“You understand nothing,” Tajara's voice was firm and unyielding.

“For the last time, you won't let me try,” the lioness could feel irritation rising through her body, bearing her teeth, a low rumble escaped her esophagus. The white one was really trailing her patience and it was wearing thin. Somehow, he always seemed to find the one nerve that was slowly decaying and prey upon it like a virus.

“You should thank me for bringing you back here,” Tajara noted that he had carried her into the cave all the way from her alleged training site. Not once did she even think to do the polite thing and dignify him with proper words of gratitude.

“Excuse me for passing out,” Zahra shot with a glare. It was his fault that she wore herself down to nothing to begin with.

“Feh,” the white lion closed his eyes and turned away prowling to the other side of the cave, as if to put distance between them.

“I didn't want to be your bride anyway,” the insults kept coming.

“Be lucky I didn't kill you.” It was an option; after all she was from that pride.

Was that a threat? She couldn't believe him! “I'm tired of your crap. I will defeat you tomorrow.”

Tajara cracked a smile before bursting out into a fit of deep laughter.

This only enraged Zahra all the more. What a jerk! “What is so funny?”

“You look so angry.” The fact that he could possibly get this much of a rise from her only made the situation all the more hilarious.

“Forget you,” Zahra rolled over, fuming to herself as her tail twitched in vexation. She didn't feel like being sociable anymore. It only made her frustration grow, and she was already tired from her grueling training session earlier that day. Her muscles and mind needed the rest.

“You should get a mind of your own,” Tajara suggested with a small smirk, “I like you better that way.”

Perking her ears at the comment, she rolled back over. “What?” Blinking she tried to register those thoughts in her mind. What did he mean by `like her better'? Did that mean he was attracted to her bitter remarks and sarcasm?

Puffing out his chest, his blue eye closed and he stated his next lines with pride. “You should be strong. You were babied too much by your superiors. You still act like a cub.” An independent, strong lioness was what he desired in a mate.

“I'll show you how much of a cub I am tomorrow.” It sounded more intimidating than she actually meant it as.

“We'll see,” he was doubtful one day would yield any improvement, but the thought was entertaining.

“By the way, I was thinking about something a while back, before I started training,” she figured that she might as well bring up that piece of a flashback that had penetrated her cognitive process. It was something that had tied them together like a red string of fate. She wondered if he remembered it at all.

“Oh?” Tajara turned to her in interest.

“I met you before when I was young,” her words were somehow nostalgic.

His ears pricked upon gathering that sentence. “What?”

“You were bleeding in the field of Bat Lilies. You are the one who told me what the flowers were. I remember that about you. I tried to help you and you kept telling me to go away.” Whether it was because he was hurt or because he thought she was not old enough to understand and would draw predators to the both of him was still a matter of question but she didn't pay it much mind, even now.

Come to think of it, he remembered that little cub. Smiling slightly, the fond memories of that moment filled him with a sense of warmth. “You're still just as stubborn,” his voice was subdued and even endearing when he spoke of it.

“Maybe so, but I faced you. I was really scared deep down. You were like a giant to me,” Zahra got up and walked over to Tajara, standing in front of him with a smile on his muzzle. “I find bravery in that. I dealt with you then and I can do it now.” The lioness felt a sense of pride pointing that minor fact out about herself. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to face off against the mighty white lion. Maybe, just maybe she had a chance of beating him.

“By the way, thank you.”

That was unexpected.

He actually looked sincere.

She blinked.

“What?”

“You must not remember but you did help me,” Tajara noted.

“Oh yeah. I pulled those chains off of your back leg. It looks like you still use that leg so it wasn't as mangled as it looked. You were a pretty grim sight back then. You scared me.” Any cub would have been intimidated by a bloody, massive lion with disfigurements from wounds that large. If she wasn't so curious back then, she would have turned tail and ran when she saw him emerging from the Bat Lilies.

“Tell me, Zahra, what do you think of the humans?” It didn't sound relevant, but it was.

“The humans?” She questioned. “I've never seen humans, aside from the hunters. When I have it was briefly. I never stuck around. Who in their right mind would?” All of her life, she was taught to fear those with guns. She had only known them as enemies of the beasts.

“Humans hunt us for sport. It's a game for them. When humans hunt animals their young end up orphaned, maimed, and vulnerable to predators. I am the only Barbary Lion in the wild. Do you know why?” Setting his sights on his future bride, as if to ask her personally about the issue.

“No,” she shook her head. Zahra knew that the answer was obvious, but she didn't want to stick her foot in her mouth, so she chose not to answer it at all for fear of looking stupid.

An ice blue eye narrowed. “The humans hunted us into extinction.”

“How do you know that?”

“I heard them talk about it when they were hunting me. That's what you are when you're hunted, you're a prize to be won, or someone's lion-skin rug where humans walk on you for the rest of your life. If hunters don't kill you, then you suffer the pain. To live through a hunt is bone-chilling. Killing anything for self-gratification is like the human form of serial killing. It's about power and control. It's a gruesome addiction. Humans even capture our deaths on film. It makes them feel important.”

Zahra had never heard such talk before, and hearing it now, knowing these things made her fur stand on end. Her heart raced in her chest, and a toxic mixture of disgust and anger welled in her stomach, churning sickly. “How cowardly and disgusting. We are alive just as they are.”

It wasn't right. It just wasn't right to hunt something that had no intentions of hunting them. She could have understood it if the animal were attacking them and the humans were trying to defend themselves, but this was no such thing. Tajara's information was just shocking and cruel, a real sense of nightmare fuel.

“We're only put on this planet to be abused by them. That is the mechanics of the human mind. It's a sick enterprise in their world.” As sad of a tale as it is, Tajara believed this to be true in the eyes of a hunter. While his words were arguable, he didn't think Zahra knew enough to defend them. By this point, they were not creatures worthy of that type of treatment.

“Aren't humans supposed to be a more advanced race than us animals?” Zahra questioned. After all, they were capable of doing truly amazing things, like building those mechanized rolling machines that they rode in, and constructing elaborate homes and weapons. Surely they could do something with that sense of powerful technology to work alongside of the animals they so mercilessly slain.

“They have the mental capacity to do amazing things, but are far too arrogant to use it constructively,” Tajara replied.

“Did this change the way that you felt towards the Asiatic Lions?” Zahra wondered out loud.

“They are the reason I have these scars. The reason I lost the sight in my right eye…no, I lost my right eye in general. It is gone, just like my heart.” They, combined with the humans caused him to grow distant. The lions he saw as a family, a pride dear to his heart has ripped it out and destroyed what was left of any semblance of kindness that he could have felt.

It was hard to trust with a heart so shattered. Broken things never reassembled in the proper way when attempted to be reconstructed.

Thinking for a moment, Zahra knew this was another situation where she had to choose her words wisely. “What if I said that one of the reasons I was sent here was because I tried to see things from your point of view?” It was true, and she could almost bet that it was Karobi who had taken her to the cave's entrance. She never liked her opinion on Tajara anyway.

“I'd think you were full of it.” There was no way that she would so easily convince him with her contrived lies.

Zahra walked up to the might lion, nuzzling the blinded side of his face affectionately. Tajara froze up for a moment at the touch, then relaxed a few moments later. Her muzzle made its way to his ear where it whispered softly. “Maybe, I think this is one of these times where I show you that part of your speech where mates are companions. I might not understand fully, but I know enough to understand that I think you could use a little companionship.” It was a kind gesture, despite the fact that they were going to be engaged in an all out brawl the next day, but oddly enough, Zahra could see beyond his cold façade. Things were more than obvious at this point. Combined with her memories of that day, she knew that the white lion was suffering and shutting the world away just signified how much pain he was in.

Smiling lightly, Tajara teased the younger lion. “Does that mean you're having second thoughts?” He knew that she wasn't, but somehow, a part of him wished she was.

Zahra smiled an actual friendly smile, “I'm still going to beat you.”

“We'll see.”

She pulled back from his face. “If I leave, I'll come back and visit you. We can look at the Bat Lilies together.” It would be just like old times, minus his shoddy state. It wasn't bad that she wanted that, was it? After all, she still wanted to understand him and felt too wrapped up in mystery to just leave him. No, that wasn't what he needed.

“What happened to that cruel and mean stuff?” He questioned. What was with the sudden change of attitude?

“You might think that your wounds are a disfiguring horror of the past, but I find them beautiful. It just means the hurt is over. That you've been through a lot and you're strong for coming out of it.” Her words were sweet but not in a faux way, in a genuine, complimentary way, filled with admiration for the pain he's been through. What that one eye must have seen, the terrifying situation it captured and the hurt it suffered through was enough to bog down her heart and make her think about the way she lived life, about the little things she complained about. Even about meeting him in general. At times like this, he wasn't truly so bad. A part of him seemed like a living organism, not a dead, permafrost covered wasteland.

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” A wasteland with a temperature comparable to Antarctica.

Her nose wrinkled. What the hell? She was giving him a compliment! “It's not flattery. I think you should learn that not all methods of kindness are meant to deceive you. I think there's more to you, and maybe a part of me wants to find out. You're like a complex puzzle, a real intriguing lion.” Forcing a smile on her face, her voice remained calm despite her urge to bark back. “I can't help but be interested in someone who likes Bat Lilies as much as I do.”

“You're not going to let me live that down, are you?”

“I still don't trust you, and I still think you're a jerk, but…I like you a little more than I did. What you did to my ancestors were wrong, and until you show me differently, I'll still resent you for it, but show me that there's more to it and I might end up thinking you're not so bad.” It was a fair enough proposition of sorts.

Tajara smiled slightly, “I might have to take you up on that offer. You probably still think I'm a cheapskate for pitting you against me in this fight.”

“You have potential. I'm not sure how I'll feel when this match is over, but maybe I won't think it's so bad if I lose honorably-“ She was cut off.

“I don't intend on letting you go. My opinion still stands. You. Are. Mine. I will fight for you, regardless because that is my duty as your mate but also…Maybe I want you on my side,” his gruff voice softened on the last part of that sentence. It was his way of saying he cared without actually uttering the phrase.

For the first time in her life, Zahra could feel her face heat up and she was sure her blush was noticeable through her fur.

…To Be Continued