NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: The Invitation
Turning to see what the lionesses had been getting up to while they fought, he saw two battle lines clearly drawn in an increasingly tense situation. All the lionesses were facing each other, ears pinned back, lips drawn away from teeth. Rumbling snarls and growls filled the air, the sound of unhappy lions.
However, it hadn’t broken out into outright violence – yet. Dominic sensed that the situation was on the knife’s edge; it would only take one overeager youngster – probably Jenkins, knowing her – to set light to the keg of gunpowder before him. If that happened, he suspected that it would be difficult to separate them before deaths happened.
So, without waiting a second longer, Dominic plunged into the fray. Running forward, he leapt over his own lionesses and landed right in the middle. Standing tall, he roared in victory and warning at the lions ahead of him. While he was aware that his own teeth were less than impressive right now, he hoped that the sound of his roar and his size would be sufficient to cow the other lionesses. Not to mention the three corpses of their previous protectors.
Behind him, he sensed his own pride shifting from their crouched positions and standing taller, joining him in roars of victory. The sound of their cries created a cacophony which almost made the air shudder. An idea occurring to Dominic, he carefully put it to one side for later consideration: now was not the time.
The lions ahead of them flinched and crouched lower at the sound which struck them like a blow. Dominic saw a number of them glance to the side to see the carcasses of the three males lying on the red earth, staining it even more with their blood.
Abruptly, Dominic saw the grass start moving, rippling away from the action. Then the back row of lionesses started creeping away, at first slowly, then faster. The front lionesses stayed in place, their teeth still bared and snarls still rumbling in their throat, but less of an active threat and more defensively – Dominic had learned enough about lions to read that.
Then, with another flick of the front lioness’ tail, the front lions started backing away too. Dominic frowned mentally, going quiet. He didn’t want to actually scare the other pride off: numbers were good, and Leo in particular would be annoyed if he lost the opportunity to mate with more females.
Racking his brains, he tried to think of something he could do.
‘Any ideas?’ he asked his co-pilot. All he got back was a sense of uncertainty.
‘I knew how to take over a pride, but how to integrate two prides in one? I have no idea,’ the lion admitted shamelessly. Dominic huffed in annoyance. So much for Leo being helpful with leonine politics.
The other lionesses were still roaring, so Dominic suggested mentally that they stop – he suspected that it wouldn’t help matters. One by one, the lionesses ceased their call, then looked expectantly at Dominic.
Eyeing the still-retreating lionesses, visible only now by the ripple of grass, Dominic had an idea.
What did all lions want? Food! And what did he have in his storage space? A massive rhino carcass.
Yes, he’d intended on using it as a mass health potion, but as it had turned out, he hadn’t yet found an opportunity where he could benefit his pride more than his enemies, and he wasn’t keen on letting the rhino just rot in his storage until it was beyond anyone’s desire to consume.
While his own pride had eaten not that long ago, given that the other pride had been squaring up for a hunt, he suspected that they would be hungry. With the zebras having long disappeared, they would have to search for more prey. Sharing a meal had long been considered a way of building bonds in human society; why couldn’t it be the same in leonine?
‘Interesting idea,’ Leo commented. ‘It might even work.’
‘Thanks for the vote of success,’ replied Dominic, a little sarcastically. Well, there was no harm in trying it, right?
Trotting over to a clear space, he pulled the rhino carcass out of his storage space. It landed on the earth with an audible thump. Dominic eyed it – his memories didn’t do the thing justice: it was massive. Plenty of meat here for several prides of lions, let alone just two. If they could get through the skin, of course.
Doubt suddenly overcoming Dominic, he pushed it away with a shake of his mane. If they couldn’t get through the skin, he’d have to help them: a few enhanced powerful swipes should be enough to allow them access to the meat beneath. His own lionesses should have less trouble, especially those who had enhanced their teeth or claws. It was the lower-levelled lionesses who were more likely to be in difficulty.
But first, he needed to go and invite the other pride. And quickly, since they were probably moving away as quickly as they could right at that moment.
As his own lionesses started happily attacking the carcass, even if he suspected they weren’t that hungry, Dominic trotted after the other lions.
Following their trail was easy enough, and it wasn’t long before he caught sight of the trailing members – two mothers with small cubs along with a limping lioness. Ahead of them were other members of the pride, starting to become more and more strung out because of different movement speeds.
It took a few moments before the rearguard realised that he was there. When they did, they immediately drew their lips back from their teeth and started snarling at him. The mothers in particular took very aggressive postures, their cubs clustering around them with wide eyes.
Dominic ignored them. From what he’d learned from Leo and from his own pride, there should be one female who was the ‘leader’. And that one would probably be at the front.
Trotting forwards, he didn’t get too close to the lionesses: he didn’t want to provoke one to attack out of fear of his own aggression.
By this point, the whole pride had stopped and was bunching up again together, recognising instinctively that facing a threat with numbers was far better than facing it alone. Hopefully he’d be able to convince them that he wasn’t a threat soon, though.
Eyes flicking over the group of lions, Dominic searched for the lead lioness.
‘That one,’ Leo said abruptly, nudging Dominic’s attention to focus on a single lioness. Dominic was uncertain but thought that that was the same one who had been at the front of the confrontation, and who had signalled the retreat. Unfortunately, one lioness still looked very like another to his eyes. Fortunately, he had Leo to whom the differences were far starker.
‘You’re sure?’ Dominic still checked.
‘I’m sure,’ Leo confirmed with no doubt in his mental voice.
‘Alright then,’ Dominic agreed, eyeing the lioness. Lying down, he tried to make himself less of a threat. At this distance, he should still be able to react in time if they decided to attack him, but he didn’t want them so on their guard that they wouldn’t listen to a word he said. Well, what he communicated, anyway.
Going off instinct a little – he wasn’t sure if it was his own or Leo’s – Dominic waited patiently for a little time. He suspected that the lionesses needed to relax a little around him before the lead matriarch would even be willing to pay attention to anything he sent her.
As the minutes went by, Dominic started to see signs of the lionesses dropping some of their guard. Ears relaxed a little, snarls decreasing in volume, lips lowering bit by bit.
The former human found it easier to be patient than he thought it might be: he must have been drawing on reserves of patience that Leo had or something. Waiting this long for anything had used to make him fidgety and irritable. But now? He found it almost calming. A nice little break in his new life which seemed filled with plans and fights and uncertainty.
Eventually, though he didn’t know how much time had actually passed, the lionesses were looking warily at him, but not actually presenting any signs of aggression. Except the mothers – it was expected for them to be far more wary in the presence of a strange male lion than the other females.
Seeing indications that the lionesses might start walking on again, Dominic decided that this would be a good moment to send a mental message to the lead lioness.
‘Help me out here with phrasing this, would you?’ he asked Leo. The lion in his head yawned and gave an irritated impression of having been pulled out of a nice nap. Which, honestly, he’d probably been doing in their mental space. ‘Do you want more lionesses in the pride or not?’ Dominic asked pointedly.
‘Fine,’ the lion grumped, but Dominic could tell it was a pretense – he sensed the excitement in his companion at the thought of having more mating partners.
Together, they formed a scent, sound, sight impression of himself and sent it to the lioness they reckoned was the matriarch of the pride.
Once more, Dominic felt the itch of a connection forming between the two of them, and he saw the lioness startle as he delivered the ‘package’. Unlike how Sekhmet had reacted the first time he’d communicated with her, the lead lioness here pinned her ears back and bared her teeth again. The other lionesses around her reacted to the increase in hostilities by doing the same, though they seemed a little confused as to why he’d suddenly become a threat once more.
Over the connection, Dominic tried to send an impression of peace, of not wanting to harm others in the pride, of wanting to offer his protection. He was trying to draw from what he’d learned from Leo and the pride about what a male protector of a pride normally offered.
‘You should add in the impression of strong and healthy cubs too,’ Leo chimed in helpfully. About to reject the suggestion out of hand, Dominic stopped himself. While he suspected that the lion had made the suggestion at least in part to tease him, it was probably at least half in seriousness too.
Though the former-human might not like it, the fact was that both lion and lioness approached mating with the same idea of having the strongest and healthiest cubs possible. Well, the females did – Leo seemed more concerned about spreading his genes as widely as possible. Health and strength came secondary to quantity.
‘You send that message, then,’ Dominic sighed. A sense of surprise came from Leo, as if he hadn’t been expecting Dominic to agree. He didn’t say anything, though, just sending off a new ‘package’ of communication to the lead female which Dominic tried to not pay too much attention to. He didn’t want to know if Leo had slipped something else in there to do with the actual mating process.
The lioness didn’t seem convinced, but she had at least stopped growling at them.
In the end, Dominic sent her a picture of the rhino attached to a feeling of invitation. Then he stood up, ignoring how all the lionesses stiffened again. Shaking out his mane, he turned and trotted back to the rhino carcass and his pride. He did keep his ears turned so that he could hear if any lion decided to take advantage of his turned back to attack, but otherwise focussed his attention forwards.
He’d sent the invitation – time to see if they would take him up on it.
