literature

Knowledge is Power, So Why So Powerless?

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            “Morning, Mama!”

            Arcadia’s head poked out of her den, a bundle of tree branches tied together with a strand of twine in her mouth. Hinode was bounding towards her in his customary bouncy gait. The lion cub still had his fluffy cub fur, but now he was starting to become leggy and gangly, just like his older brother.

            “Good morning, Dey,” Arcadia greeted her son, setting down the makeshift broom and bending down to touch noses with him. “Just sweeping out the den. What’s that you got there?”

            “Ah, this?” Hinode looked down at the small pouch strapped to his side. “Auntie Flora told me to give this to you. What’s it for?”

            The lioness hesitated. She didn't want to tell her children, but the blow that cave lion dealt her that day she first encountered the Olum did a little more damage than a simple bruise; ever since then the area near her left eye ached something terrible. Flora was the only one who knew of this—the cheetah was kind enough to supply her with medicine to ease the pains.

            Arcadia’s mouth opened to give an excuse when Hinode suddenly asked another question. Thank the gods for his short attention span.

            “Where’s Yoshi and Kiki?”

            “Yoshiki wanted to find inspiration for some new armor designs, so he went to the forest for a walk, and Poki’s going with him.” Arcadia looked at her den in satisfaction. “Hm, I think I’ll indulge in a stroll myself. Want to come with, son?”

            “Absolutely!”

            “Somehow I knew you’d say that.”

***

    “You know, Mama,” Hinode said as crossed over the dunes that were near an old abandoned rowboat—one of the landmarks within the territory, “I was just thinking—”

    “Thinking?” Arcadia said, looking down and grinning cheekily at her son. “Reeeally?”

    Hinode shoved his mother, although the shove felt more like a tap. “Don’t tease me!” he meowed laughingly in complaint. “I’ve was thinking that I’m gonna be the best Gatherer in all of Ferox.”

    “Gatherer?”

    “Yeah!” Hinode’s forest-green eyes were alight with glee. “They’re awesome!” He raised his head high and pointed his chin up. “They help the Falcons collect supplies for the Hollow, and they know all sorts of things! Best of all, they help out other cats! I wanna help out other cats, just like my big brother!”

    Arcadia nodded along with Hinode’s words, smiling gently. Of course. Everything all comes back to the older brother he never even met. Sometimes she wondered if Hinode forgot that Seidon is just an ordinary feline—well, as ordinary as wunderkinds like him could come—and not a god. Well, at least listening to stories about Seidon does Dey so good.

    Suddenly the cub lowered himself in an attacker’s crouch, his face scrunched up in a cubbish snarl. “Trespasser!” he spat. “You don’t belong here!”

    Thinking that her son was initiating a game, Arcadia puffed out her chest and replied playfully, “You talk as if you actually own this territory. Not for long, Ferox fool!” She turned around, opening her mouth to order her “patrol” to attack.

    And that was when she saw the Hunters.

    Not a lone Hunter. A whole patrol of them, standing on the promontory Arcadia often stargazed from. There, a brownish tiger was lecturing his apprentice—this one also a tiger, though with snow leopard spots—while the others impatiently looked on; that was the only reason why mother and son weren’t spotted. Both lions had stowed themselves under the rowboat by the time the patrol began making the precarious climb down to the beach.

    “Who do they think they are, tromping around like they own the place?” Hinode said with an agitated lash of his stubby tail.

    Arcadia stationed herself near a hole in the bow from which she could keep an eye on the patrol. “I don’t know why they’re here either.” But she did know who the patrol leader with the perpetual scowl was. It was Solon; Elite Hunter of Rome, former coliseum fighter of Massilia, and brother to Seidon’s mentor.

    “Spread out,” he commanded curtly, “They could be hiding out in one of these caves. Do not go off on your own; that means you, Cassia.”

    Intriguing as it was to see a familiar face (even one that wasn’t always pleasant), a trespasser was a trespasser. More importantly, a threat was a threat, especially if said threat is bound to walk into your den with a complete disregard for common courtesy.

    “Just lay low until they leave.”

    “But Mama, they don’t belong here.”

    “I know, Dey, but we don’t even know why they’re here in the first place. These cats aren’t passing through on a mere whim.” She saw the look of wariness on their faces…it was as if they were looking for some nameless demon.

    “I guess not. What happens when they leave?”

    “I will go find Yoshiki and Poki; it’s unsafe for both of them to be out here with Hunters on the prowl. I want you to go back to the Hollow and inform the Heads about what has happened here.

    “Fine, as long as Frosty doesn’t have a crow about this.”

    “‘Have a cow,’ dear.”

    “…Whatever.”

    ***

    But Arcadia barely made it past the first five or so trees in Defection Wood before she spotted another patrol of Hunters scouring the border between Ferox and Solus territory. This one was headed by a jaguaress who bore enough of an uncanny resemblance to Caelina to make her head spin.

    Arcadia promptly hid herself in a hollow log as the jaguaress walked past with a greyish-brown snow leopard and a black tiger yearling.

    “It’s strange how the boundaries haven’t changed much,” the Huntress was commenting to her companions, “You would think that Ferox lost territory to the attacks the Defector loners have been launching.

    Had it not been for the musky, overpowering aromas of loam and rotting wood threatening to choke her, Arcadia would’ve gasped at the highly flawed observation.

    They actually thought the Solus were banding together to fight Ferox? The large, omnipresent patrols of cautious Hunters…was it all because of that faulty notion?”

    “Not only faulty,” the dark lioness said to herself, emerging from her hiding place now that the patrol had gone, “but entirely devoid of sense as well. Us wilders have coexisted since the very beginning; why feud now?” She leaned against the mossy log, gazing somberly at the mountains. “Especially now that the Olum have established an age of—wait a moment…good Sator!”

    Now she understood. Now she knew what was going on here: the Hunters didn't know about the Olum. They must’ve been attributing the attacks on Ferox and the man-eating incidents (although everyone in the Republic knew how taboo that was) to the loners, and used the so-called circumstances as an opportunity to invade Solus territory.

    But why? Why didn’t they know? They of all cats within Rome should know about the northerners. After all, the Olum’s ultimate goal was to conquer not only the forests surrounding the city, but the city itself. At least all the wilders were armed with enough knowledge to combat the Olum, but the city was more vulnerable than a mortal being standing on a crumbling cliff above a chasm leading to the underworld.

    “We all have to be careful,” Arcadia said at last, walking deeper into the forest to resume her search for Yoshiki and Poki, “We all have to be very careful.”

It wouldn't do for even Hunters to be unaware of the new threat, right?

So what does Arcadia do when she senses the Hunter patrol's presence in her territory? She waits for them to leave, then goes out to search for her adopted cubs, only to run into another patrol. At that moment, she realizes how much peril the city is in.


WC: 1246

Niall lunilai
Solon © phrixas
Avalon © DappledSun
Jax © Asante-Sana
Demetrius © Lilium-Iris
Ferrum © Scorpio1995
Hinode, Arcadia and story © me
© 2015 - 2024 Tenebra-Fengari
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Lilium-Iris's avatar
Hang in there Arcadia! 

Thank you for including my apprentice~!