The one Pride Leader called Jenkins looked at the golden disc that lay before her forlornly. Her Pride Leader had just disappeared through it, followed by her pride sister, two pride brothers, and two of the odd new creatures who had come to join them. The golden surface had consumed them as if it had been a waterhole with toothy beasts lying below the surface.
Only, waterholes did not tend to be upright. It somehow seemed against natural laws that something upright should be able to absorb a creature so easily. Jenkins only wished that her Pride Leader had taken her with him. But she had volunteered to remain out here.
Jenkins looked around her at the expectant creatures surrounding her. They did not look like lions – their bodies were too slim; their muzzles too long. And they had wings. Though Pride Leader also had wings now, she mused to herself. Then she looked over her shoulder at her own back thoughtfully. Maybe I can get wings?
‘What we do?’ a light growl appeared in her head in the odd way that others’ voices did now. She vaguely remembered that this had not been the case a while ago, but paid it no heed – she didn’t tend to ask why things were the way they were.
The question made her remember that she was now the Pride Matriarch – for this group, at least. She’d won it in a fun fight, and that meant she could now choose what they did. It was odd, though pleasant, for her to have won authority in such a way – she didn’t think it would work if she challenged her old and grizzled Pride Matriarch back in the forest for her position, though. Everyone listened to her because of her age and experience – Jenkins didn’t have that.
And she wouldn’t dare challenge her elder pride sister, the one who accompanied Pride Leader through the golden disc. Though they were not dissimilar in age – Jenkins remembered her as an older cub when Jenkins had joined the pride with her mother and siblings for the first time – the distance between them only seemed to have widened since Pride Leader arrived and showed them a new way of living.
But then Jenkins looked around at her little pride. The pride which she was leading. Perhaps this was a way of narrowing the gap.
‘We go hunt, of course!’ she chirped happily. The not-lions around her shifted in a way that seemed approving of her choice.
‘Hungry,’ indicated another of the not-lions with her body. Others showed agreement in the movement of their heads. Their wings twitched too; Jenkins watched them in envy. How to get wings?
Pride Leader got them after a fight with the leader of the not-lions, but she’d fought with the not-lions too and hadn’t got any….
‘Let’s go,’ she chirped, jumping to her feet and bouncing slightly in place. She had lots of energy running through her – it would be good to use it. She hoped she wouldn’t have to wait for her prey. She hated it when she had to stay still for too long.
The rest of the not-lions all stood up too and looked at her, some expectant, some uncertain.
For a moment, Jenkins wasn’t exactly sure what to do. She’d only led one hunt before and then there had been an established hunting routine to try to find prey.
That was it! Find prey. That’s what they should do first.
‘Let’s find some prey,’ she chirped. Then hesitated again. ‘Know where prey is here?’ This wasn’t her area, after all.
The not-lions shifted slightly. Some lifted their noses and sniffed at the air. Others cocked their heads. Three of them made low, hollow-sounding noises. In response, others started raising their noses into the air, turning their heads in the same direction as those three. They too started making the same noises.
Jenkins curiously copied them, wrinkling her nose and lifting her lips away from her teeth to draw the air through her mouth. There was…something there, she’d admit it. Though what, she didn’t know.
‘Prey?’ she asked.
‘Prey,’ one of the not-lions confirmed.
‘Come on, then!’ she exclaimed, running in the direction the not-lions were looking. The not-lions let out a number of sharp, excited noises, and then followed her.
While some started on foot, others spread their wings and soared into the air immediately. It wasn’t long before the ones who were running beside Jenkins did the same, leaving her the only one stuck on the ground.
Worse, they were faster in the air than she was on the ground unless she used the special thing inside her to go faster. But that was only temporary, and made her feel very tired far too quickly. She couldn’t stop to have a nap while they were on the hunt, so she just tried to force herself to go faster.
She still wasn’t fast enough. She fell further and further behind the group.
‘Wait for me!’ she told them, growling with annoyance.
Up ahead, the group paused, starting to circle in the air. A moment later, she heard a sharp sound emerging from one of them and they started flying towards her.
‘What problem?’ asked the speaking one of the not-lions when he arrived.
‘I slower than you,’ she growled at him. ‘I’m on ground, not in air.’
‘Then come in air,’ he told her, like it was obvious. ‘Slow on ground.’
‘I no have wings!’ she exclaimed. The not-lions circled her, their posture thoughtful.
‘True,’ admitted the not-lion she was speaking with. It was the same one she had fought for authority over this pride. He closed his wings, swooping down to land lightly on the ground next to her. The rest of them followed his lead, soon surrounding Jenkins. ‘We run on ground?’ he offered. She hesitated, the thought in her mind that if she could fly, she’d never want to touch the ground unless she had to. ‘Get tired quickly in air, anyway,’ he added. Well now, that was a different question then.
‘Run on ground,’ she agrees. ‘When close to prey, you fly, I attack from ground. Good ambush,’ she said feeling satisfied. It was a strategy she’d used many times with her pride sisters, though without the wings, of course.
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The question about where and how to get her own wings continued going around in her mind even as they ran towards where the not-lions had detected the prey. It was a good strategy to attack from two places, she knew that, but she wished that it wasn’t because she didn’t have wings that they had to do it that way.
The question stayed unanswered even once they had found their prey – some sort of odd six-legged beast – though she forced it out of her mind during the actual attack. Their hunt went well – Jenkins caught one of the strange beasts while it was watching the not-lions circling overhead. In the panic her attack provoked, the not-lions were able to take down three more of the strange beasts, so they were able to have a good meal.
The question returned once her belly was full and she had shown them how to eat the golden dust. They groomed each other and then lay together as a pride, heads on wings, wings on bodies, bodies on legs, legs on heads. Any discomfort between her and the not-lions was gone. They were now simply pride-mates.
Yet Jenkins couldn’t forget that she was stuck on the earth while her pride-mates had the freedom of the skies. And even beyond wanting to be like her pride-mates….she wanted to fly.
Closing her eyes, she realised that she had the same feeling inside her of an overflowing waterhole, a dry river which yearned to be filled with the flood of the rains. It was time to increase in strength again.
The feeling prompted her to choose something to strengthen. She considered her teeth – sharper teeth were always good. Or perhaps her claws. Or maybe she should give herself some stripes like one of her pride-mates in the forest had done – the stripes did look striking and helped her pride-mate hide. But then, she didn’t really like hiding.
What she really wanted was wings.
And that made her think. Could this strengthening….give her wings?
The sense inside was of kinship. Kinship with the spotted not-lions who pulled their kills into trees. Kinship with striped not-lions who stalked their prey in the jungle. Kinship with the other spotted not-lions who lived in forests and had jaws that could crush anyone’s skull.
But that kinship extended further. Maybe one of those kin could give her wings?
Gripped by hope, Jenkins dug further into this thought of kinship. She felt a connection to the small not-lions who hunted small prey, the bottoms of their paws black. But they did not have wings either. She found a connection to the bigger not-lions who ran very fast. But they also did not have wings.
She pushed it further even as the bright sun moved further in the sky and her pride-mates woke.
Each time she felt the kinship, she discarded it as soon as she realised that it did not have wings.
Kin that had a single hard toe on each foot but could run very fast. Kin that had multiple stomachs. Kin that ate plants instead of meat. Kin that had teeth which continued to grow throughout their lives. Kin whose young lived in a pouch on their parent’s body.
The sun continued on its journey and around her, Jenkins’ pride-mates stretched and became restless. But she was busy searching.
Kin who had scales instead of fur. Kin who lived in the water some of the time. Kin who had feathers instead of scales or fur.
Aha! She had found them. Kin who had wings!
Exhilarated by her discovery, she chose that kin and the wings from it to pull on for her strengthening.
The strengthening was reluctant, something she’d never felt from it before. Every previous time that she could remember, it had filled her body with pleasant feelings and applied the strengthening she wanted it to with no problems. But here, it felt like she was trying to pull prey out of mud.
She growled. No prey was going to escape her.
Setting her teeth into the concept of wings, she tugged it mercilessly into her body, despite it kicking and screaming in distress to the skies. If the strengthening was reluctant to give this to her, she would force it to do so.
Like prey stuck in mud, the resistance was great at first, but as soon as she got any traction, it began moving with greater and greater speed.
The usual pleasant feelings went through her body, but this time they were accompanied by an awful pain that seared her back. Nonetheless, she felt triumph – surely, it had worked?
As soon as the strengthening finished, she pushed herself to her feet and eagerly looked at her back. Immediately, disappointment replaced the triumph. There were no wings on her back.
She was sure that it had worked. Why hadn’t it?
Disconsolately, she started grooming the spot where she should have had wings. Her tongue ran over her fur and felt something. She paused. Then she licked the same spot. She felt it again.
Hope started kindling inside her again.
Twisting so she could reach the opposite side, she groomed another spot. She felt it again!
A hard bump, barely visible but detectable – in the place where she should have wings; where she would have wings!
Jumping to her feet, she started to bounce. Maybe she wouldn’t get wings straight away, but she was sure that it had started to work. She’d just have to keep doing the same thing every time the strengthening pressed on her. And thanks to Pride Leader, she knew just what to do to make the strengthening come quicker.
‘Want to hunt?’ she asked her pride-mates with excitement.
*****
Lionel watched as his brother irritated the female. She was a moment away from giving him a clawful to the face….and there it was.
He huffed in annoyance, pushing himself to his feet and stepping forwards to intervene. In the normal run of things, he wouldn’t stop his brother getting on a female’s bad side if that was what he was determined to do. Here, however, they were constantly at risk of being attacked by creatures around; it was hardly the time to alienate their pride sister.
The female didn’t seem interested in pressing her attack; when Lionel stepped between the two of them, she just huffed and turned away, starting to groom herself. His brother was another question.
Lionel growled as his brother attempted to circumvent him and stepped to once more be in the way. His brother snarled at him, but he snarled back, showing his teeth. The other lion eyed him, then decided that he was being serious. Huffing in annoyance, his brother turned to start grooming himself.
To show his approval for his brother’s choice, Lionel stepped forward and started to wash his brother’s face, licking at the small scratches where the female had swiped him. The female had pulled her attack – the cuts were barely bleeding. Lionel decided to heal them nonetheless.
Concentrating on that feeling of warmth inside him, he focussed his desire to see his brother’s wounds closed. The golden dust which always appeared in these moments caressed his brother’s face like his tongue had, but where these motes passed, the wounds vanished.
Looking over his brother, Lionel grunted in approval. They were all healed after the most recent fight, but there would be more to come, that he was sure about.
Starting to groom himself, Lionel appreciated the moment of calm. Their lives had been far busier since the other pride had appeared, but he couldn’t say he regretted it. They were much stronger too.
And Lionel was glad that he now had a way to keep his brother alive – between the four cubs in his litter, this one of his siblings had always been the most adventurous. Lionel was not keen on seeing him die as he had seen their sister and brother do. He just wished he’d been close enough to help his brother who had died, but by the time Lionel realised he was in trouble, his brother was already dead.
Perhaps he should blame the large male for the death, but what was the point in that?. Lionel gazed thoughtfully at his only surviving brother for a moment before continuing to groom himself. Hopefully his brother would realise the folly of taking on the large male at their current level of strength.
Lionel didn’t understand his brother’s attraction to the female. Her scent was interesting, yes, but not enough for Lionel. Any stirring was easily ignored considering the consequences of mating with her and the large male finding out. Perhaps his brother would give up his pursuit if the female continued to reject him.
Lionel twisted to lick at an itchy spot between his hind legs. He couldn’t really blame the female for wanting to mate with the stronger male – the large lion was definitely impressive. And, frankly, much more interesting to Lionel’s mind than any of the females as well as not off-limits.
Yet his brother seemed determined to go for what would cost him his life to take. There was no accounting for taste.