Lion- Short Story

Prologue

I am a Lion, a ferocious Lion
I hunt all things; nothing hunts me.

I am a big Lion, a great Lion.
Weak Lions run from me; strong Lions run to me.

I am a handsome Lion, an Alpha Lion.
Lionesses flock around me, begging for my attention.

Everything fears me; I fear nothing.

Chapter 1

“Ooooh! Look look! It’s Alpha!”

“It’s the great Alpha!”

“Alpha! I admire you!”

  I smiled smugly as praises bombarded me while I walked amongst the pack. I was not hard to miss, being the only white lion within at least 10 000 kilometres-boundary. I was the rare gem in the most of common folk, these orange lions.

  “I wish to see your leader!” I demanded to the pack I was currently in. While most Lions travel in groups, I preferred the Tiger’s solitary ways. After all, it’s not fair to other packs if I bounded myself to a single pack.  Wherever I go, animals bow to me. In fact, a few alpha Lions have offered their positions to me. That’s where my name came from, I suppose. Most Lions don’t have names – we recognized one another through our scents.

  “Alpha! Welcome to my pack! Ready to settle, I hope?” the pack’s leader said as he approached me. I breathed in deeply. Yes, I recognize this scent. We were born of the same mother.

  “Brother! Glad to see you. No, just stopping by, I’m afraid,” I said. I was genuinely glad to see him again, after 8 long years.

  “In that case, let me show you around. The ladies obviously like your presence,” he laughed. I laughed along. “Hungry? Antelope herd a few miles away, newborn babes this season.”

  My stomach growled at the thought, even though I had just eaten yesterday. “Mmhh, ungulates. My favourite kind.”

  “Mine too,” he chuckled, “and all other carnivores’. Come, this way. I haven’t eaten yet either.”

  I took off after him. We laughed and played around while we ran, reliving our time as cubs. I could imagine how we looked like to other animals out there: two well-built, healthy male lions running so fast that orange and white blended to become one colour. A threat to the hunted, a majestic sight to the hunters.

  I relished the feel of the African wind in my face, whipping my mane. I opened my senses to explore the land. Hmm, the smell of sparse vegetation, of earth and mud. The sound of water rippling, and a scent, a delicious, mouth-watering scent.

  I slowed to a stop behind some tall grass and barely noticed Brother doing the same. I let my innate hunting instincts take over me. My train of thoughts stopped, as I focused only on achieving my prey. I scanned the herd that was 3 miles away from my hiding spot, searching for my target. Newborn babes taste great, all tender meat and raw muscles, but they were hardly enough to fill my stomach. My predator mind silently watched their behaviours and calculated the weakest one. My blue eyes locked on to a doe. She moved on shaky legs, either injured or just given birth. I turned to signal my Brother, and the twinkling of his single blue eye acknowledged my gesture. As if by an unspoken signal, both of us burst out of the grass together, so very well in coordination. I went for my prey; he went for his. We do not utter a single sound; we do not intervene with each other’s kill.

  I leapt up a feet away from the doe, roaring with superiority as I landed on her and sunk my sharp teeth into her neck while my unsheathed claws trapped her. I clamped my teeth around her throat, willing her to stop struggling. One second, two seconds, three seconds... I counted. Her movements weakened and slowed, each of her struggles less forceful than the previous. Four seconds... She seemed to stop thrashing around, becoming docile. Five seconds... I felt her heartbeat slow. Soon, my predator mind told me, soon. Six seconds... Thump, thump... thump... thum... thu... th... t... She stopped breathing altogether. Eight seconds, I thought, a smart doe. Normal prey would have thrashed around, opening the wound. Normal prey died within five seconds. I opened my mouth and the limp body fell with a ‘thump’ onto the sandy land. Then I faced the wind, letting it blow my mane back. I hated messiness when eating, especially since red was very obvious on white. I rounded the carcass to stand facing the breeze, and finally bent down to enjoy my well-earned meal.

  After finishing, I looked up to see Brother savouring a calf’s remnants. Hmm, I thought, guess he was lying when he said he hadn’t eaten. I licked myself clean as I waited for him to finish his desert.

  “You are such a clean freak,” he commented. I looked up from my grooming to growl at him.

  “Just kidding, just kidding!” he hurriedly replied. Then he strolled beside me and lay on the ground as well. I let the silence build, a comfortable, companionable silence. There we lay, two great lions, heading the wind as we watched the sun slowly set, bathing us in its warm orange glow. Slowly the orange glow turned red, and the colour darkened until it disappeared beneath the horizon. Soon stars started to appear along with the moon. I looked up at the sky.

  “Look, the Big Dipper,” I breathed. Brother moved his heavy head and looked up too. “Yeah, you’re right. And there’s the North Star as well.”

  I saw his one blue eye reflecting the shining of the stars, and knew that my own eyes would shine twice as much. I closed them and relished the moment.

  “So, this is goodbye?” Brother’s voice cut into my moment of peace. Shaking my head, I slowly opened my eyes again to glance at him.

  “No, I’m staying for the night. I’ll leave at the first light of dawn.”

  He grinned, flashing his dangerous sharp teeth. Immediately I took note of the challenge in that grin. We raced back to the pack, following the scent we had left behind earlier.

  “Ha! I win!” I announced as we returned, laughing. I had beaten him by a full second, and for that I was proud. As cubs, he always won me by barely a second. Always. It was those three-quarters of a second that had me frustrated for years. I hated feeling like a loser. I was born to win. I was destined to be a winner.

  “You–you grow up really fast, d-don’t you?” Brother panted beside me, mirroring my thoughts. I merely smiled and threw a “goodnight” behind me as I sought for a place to call the night. I settled for the second grassiest spot inside Brother’s cave –the grassiest being a privilege only the leader of the group could enjoy. I could feel the lionesses’ gazes bear into my back. Sorry, ladies, I thought as I cosy myself to the cool ground. I closed my eyes and soon sleep drift to me. I won Brother, were my last thoughts before succumbing to a dream-filled slumber.

Chapter 2

 I am running. No, I am moving too fast to be running. I am escaping.

  I can smell them, smell their sour odour in the still air. I ignored the prick I felt in my left hind paw, ignored the snaps of twigs on the ground that I barely touched. I do not have to turn to know how close they are; I can smell their acid breaths.

  Suddenly I hear the snapping of a rope somewhere beside me. I see a shadow growing bigger, surrounding me. No! I thought, I am trapped.

  “Good morning, Alpha. Any dreams last night?” Brother’s voice caught me unprepared as I was grooming myself. I bristled.

  “Ooo, so there were dreams, weren’t there? You know, I’ve heard that some powerful lions can predict their future, from their dreams. I dreamt that I’ll meet a white lion just last week, and here you are!” Brother smiled smugly. I hid the rolling of my eyes by brushing my face. There was no way I would tell this liar my shameful dream. He’ll laugh his head off. Hmm, I thought, not a bad idea actually.

  “Yes, yes, o mighty *ahem* Brother. I’m taking my leave now, goodbye,” I said, even though dawn has not yet touched the land.

  “I know, I know. Wait for a minute ok? I came to warn you about the tribes in these areas. They have some very good hunters. Stay away from the tribes. You might not make it back.” He said gravely. Ok, I thought, now I’m insulted. What does he mean by ‘might not make it back’? I am the best there is, of course I’ll be fine!

  But instead I held my tongue and, very, very politely, thanked him for his hospitality and bade him farewell.

  I took off into the horizon, running towards the rising sun. I could feel Brother’s gaze burn through my back, as if trying to convey a message. Or a warning. I shook off the idea and increased my speed. East, I thought, East.

Chapter 3

  I am hungry! Feed me! My grumbling stomach demanded, not for the first time. Everything is so dry here, so lifeless. Since leaving Brother’s territory, I have yet to come across another water source. No water source, no food. I scanned the area, but all I could see were skinny little reptiles that could hardly pass as food. Even the disturbing birds circling the sky had more sustenance than them.

   This was only my second day of travel, but yet I was already sweltering under the heat of the afternoon sun. I had travelled even further distances before, but I was never this tired. Of course, I had never gone without sleep nor food and water for such a long time before. I was afraid -no, I detested- those weakly dreams. Onwards, I thought, dragging my dehydrated body towards the shadiest spot in my span of vision: a skinny tree whose shadow hardly covered even half of my body. What choice do I have? I settled myself there, trying to squeeze inside the pathetic shade. A small breeze picked up, relieving my discomfort. Sleep, the wind soothed, sleep. My body obeyed, and soon so did my stubborn brain.

  I am running. No, I am moving too fast to be running. I am escaping.

  I can smell them, smell their sour odour in the still air. I ignored the prick I felt in my left hind paw, ignored the snaps of twigs on the ground that I barely touched. I do not have to turn to know how close they are; I can smell their acid breaths.

  Suddenly I hear the snapping of a rope somewhere beside me. I see a shadow growing bigger, surrounding me. No! I thought, I am trapped.

  I woke up sweating and panting, unable to catch my breath. Stars were the only witnesses to my vulnerability. Luckily, Brother was not here to see this. I will not allow anyone to see my weakness. Slowly I got up, craving water to clear my over-heated head. Instead, I settled for leaning my head against the puny tree, absorbing the cool night air. Sleep eluded me, and it was only when dawn came that I finally caught it.

Chapter 4

  I am weary and I am tired. I am a mess. My untamed mane is sticking to my fur very uncomfortably, for I had not had the energy to groom myself for the past few days of hard travel. I have yet to see a change in this vast and lifeless terrain. I have yet to see a water source. I know my body well, I know that if I do not find water soon, I will collapse and I will not get up.

  However, hope is not lost; I have smelled smoke. I caught the scent yesterday morning, and have been following it ever since. The smoke signified that there was a tribe. A tribe meant that there was water nearby. Following the smoke was my best bet for survival.

  I cursed my weak body. This body, this once strong body, could have reached the tribe within a day’s travel in the past. Now, weaken and dehydrated, I have yet to even catch sight of the promised tribe even after travelling for two days. What a blow on my pride. Lions, especially white lions, value their pride above everything else. It’s in our blood.

  I sighed, unable to do anything to improve the situation. Much to my distraught, I continued moving at a snail’s pace.

  That night, like previous nights, I didn’t dare sleep. Instead, I napped so lightly that I would jolt awake at the slightest sounds of wings flapping above my head. If I slept, that horrible, daunting dream would come back to haunt me. Horrible, because I hated it and it disturbed my sleep. Daunting, because an Alpha Lion like myself should not be chased as prey, especially not by feeble humans. They were pathetic excuses for hunters –they had no fangs, no claws, no tail, no nothing except skin and bones. They relied on dogs and sticks and stones to hunt for them.

  Hunters are at the top of the food chain; hunters are elite. These beings were a disgrace to hunters.

  I bared my fangs and growled in frustration. Then, I shook my head. Stealing from these beings would be easy, I thought smugly. Now, if only I can find their tribe.

  And after one more day of travel, I finally did.

Chapter 5

  I crouched stealthily, hiding in a patch of long grass, never taking my eyes off the tribe a hundred meters before me. I watched as the humans moved about here and there, doing useless things like washing skins then hanging them on horizontal sticks. Most of them had long hair. I scoffed at their idiocy. Didn’t they know that long hair would obstruct their movements? I saw their young ones running around freely, not having a single care in the world. I was horrified. Is this how they taught their young ones? Not disciplining them properly? No wonder they grew up to be such sorry excuses for hunters.

  I was waiting for the night to fall. At such a weak state, I knew that even I would not escape if I were to attack them in broad daylight. Lucky for me, I had found their water source deserted a while back. Now, I am no longer in danger of dying from thirst, but am in dire need of sustentation.

  So I waited, and waited, and waited, and…

  “Awoooo!”

What what what??? I jolted awake at the owl’s hoot.

  Oh d*mn I fell asleep. I can’t believe that I fell asleep while stalking! What astounded me even further was that the humans did not capture me. Me, a white lion, hiding in green grass in broad daylight. My significant colour must have been like neon under the strong light of day. Wow, they must be retarded or something.

  It must be quite late into the night already, for the owls are up and I sense no activity from the village, even with my night vision. So I took my time stretching, then yawning, then grooming myself before swaggering into the village.

  I had spotted a few heads of cow earlier, and decided that they would make a nice meal. I decided against attacking any of the humans, for they simply had too little flesh on them –it would be a waste of energy, and I really needed to conserve mine.

  So I quietly headed over to the grassy area where I had seen the cows grazing. I found that they were kept in weird structures made of trees. I had no idea why the humans would even bother building these flimsy things. The cows could obviously escape as and when they liked.

  I crept closer and closer to the cows, not making a single sound. I was in hunting mode now. I cleared my mind, and let my instincts take over once again.

  I pounced on the fattest cow of the herd, crushing her windpipe even before she had woken up from her sleep. As quietly as possible, I tore down the flimsy wood, and dragged the carcass far away from the village where I could enjoy my meal in peace. I did not want to wake the herd and invite an unnecessary attack.

  This was definitely the easiest hunt I have ever been on. The humans had not the slightest inkling of my presence, and the cows had let their instincts grow lazy. Were they wild animals, they would have at least noticed me before I pounced.

  Oh well, I mused. All the better. A fight would have caused unnecessary injuries.

  I freshened up at the river, which was the human’s water source. Then, with a happy and contented stomach, I fell into a happy sleep. Happy, because for the first time in many, many days, it was dreamless.

Chapter 6

  I have been spending the past three days lounging in the tall grasses nearby the village, ‘free-loading’ off those stupid villagers. The first day, I killed 2 cows. The second day, as I was semi-full, I settled for only one cow. The third day, I took down 2 sheep. It was the morning of the fourth day, and I was settled in a spot close enough to watch the humans scurrying about to mend those pieces of wood that I broke. I noticed that they were more careful to use thicker and stronger wood this time.

 The retarded humans finally noticed that something was wrong, only after the third day. I mean, how slow can they be? I have already killed 4 cows and 2 sheep in total before their warning bells went off. I snorted.

  I watched as one human with short hair bumped into a cow. The cow gave a very annoyed ‘moo’ before shoving the human lightly to push him out of the way. The scrawny human fell onto another scrawny human, and that set off a domino effect. Was I not in danger of exposing myself, I would have laughed out loud.

  A rustle sounded from beside me, and suddenly a rabbit shot out, running for its life. Hahaha, I laughed, my muffled laughter must have disturbed poor mister rabbit there.

  I willed myself to calm down from the belly ache my laughing fit had caused. Aahh, what entertainment, I thought, perfect for this lazy afternoon.

 And since it was such a lazy afternoon, I decided that there was nothing better to do, than to have another nice nap.

  “Awooo!”

  Oh, not again, I cursed as I slowly sat up. My thoughts were still groggy. I can’t believe I slept till this late again!

  I slowly made my way towards the river. I thought the humans harmless, so I did not remember to put my guard up. Big mistake.

Chapter 7

  Rustle.

  My head snapped up in sudden awareness. My instincts told me I was being followed, and my instincts were never wrong. I pretended to look around, then bent my head back down to drink from the river. I was feigning ignorance, although I was nothing but that. My body was tense as I prepared for fight or flight.

  Rustle.

  They were getting closer, I could feel it.

  Rustle.

 Soon...

  Rustle.

  I pounced at the beings behind me. Not to my surprise, my attackers were humans. The humans staggered back with an alarmed look on their faces. They actually thought I was that stupid to have not noticed them?

  My hunter instincts told me that I could not fight all twenty humans, so I took the chance to flee. I ran as fast as I could, I ran and with a mighty leap, I pounced over the short distance of the river and into the miniature forest behind it. The humans recovered faster than I would’ve given them credit for, for I could hear them shouting commands at each other under the sound of the rushing river.

   I ran.

  I am running. No, I am moving too fast to be running. I am escaping.

  I can smell them, smell their sour odour in the still air. I ignored the prick I felt in my left hind paw, ignored the snaps of twigs on the ground that I barely touched. I do not have to turn to know how close they are; I can smell their acid breaths.

  Suddenly I hear the snapping of a rope somewhere beside me. I see a shadow growing bigger, surrounding me. No! I thought, I am trapped.

Epilogue

I am a Lion, a ferocious lion.
I hunt all things, nothing hunts me.

I am a big lion, a great Lion.
Weak Lions run from me; strong Lions run to me.

I am a handsome Lion, an Alpha Lion.
Lionesses flock around me, begging for my attention.

I am a Lion, a ferocious Lion.
A Lion that is at the top of any food chain.

But I am in a cage.

A/N: This was just something that I wrote for fun after 'O' Levels. I forgot about its existence till just now so I decided to post it again. I've realised how many human expressions I've actually used when writing in the place of a lion. Sorry about that.

        Hope you liked it. ^^