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The wanderer, part 1
The wanderer, part 2

Next:

Hide and seek (part 1)

The Wanderer(part 3)

It was the fresh air of the night, hunger and familiar whoops that woke him up and now the golden lion was trailing off to find the hyenas. In the dark, the peaceful and almost silent nature would soon become a choir of insects, howls and distant calls of animals he didn’t knew about yet. All the newcomer knew was that he would have to learn fast. Yet his habits and beliefs made him very confused about how to act with the very new animals he’d see. Some he recognized from legends and stories like rhino and hippos were huge, easily intimidating yet visibly blinded at night. Others were familiar to him, known as wise by his peoples and loved. The best example was the elephant; an animal he couldn’t help but admire and wonder if they once traveled from his homeland to this heaven. However right now, his minds were set on hyenas. In his lands, the hyena clans would consist of very few individuals, if not just a couple, and his pride had a good relationship with them. The small animals would be guides to food in the harshest drought and the lions would act as a barrier to any foes the hyenas would have to fight off or lose their prey to almost all year round.

He then saw the hyenas ten yards away from him in a clearing surrounded by thorn bushes and quickly decided to remain at a safe distance. They were nothing like the small cute striped timid creatures he was accustomed to. Almost twice their size, those hyenas weren’t longhaired or pale but short-haired, dark brown, spotted, stern eyes and their tails were confidently raised like flags as they swarmed around what looked like the few remains of a fresh kill. The frenzy was violent, infernal noise of shriek and laughing had left the newcomer bewildered for a moment. In minutes only few bones would be left.

This was not the right place to be, the golden lion was outnumbered by far and the sight was unappealing for him. He walked away from the commotion, but not without being seen by the creatures that cautiously started to follow him. Whilst the lion was used a friendly relationship with hyenas, the said creatures were used to live in a constant war against lions. The previous lion that ruled over the land was almost entirely living on their kills when his lionesses didn't feed him and this new sight both created an innocent curious fascination as well as a passionate bloodlust. They had dreamt of the day the lionesses would lay defenseless and vultures being their reliable messengers they knew what happened to their foe. If they could just mob this new lion away from their lands, then a fast cleansing of its lionesses could be possible.

This, the golden lion didn’t know and headed away where he could find a proper meal or hunt something that would be... familiar enough for him to feel safe about attacking. The night would provide him with the best cover and there, in the woods, it wasn’t very long for him to finally spot sleeping gazelles. There was one who particularly caught his attention. Laying down with a clearly broken leg, it would desperately try to hide for the night. The poor thing was so nervous that it’s head would snap up at every bird chirp, every distant noise and everything but what was lurking dangerously close.

The kill was nothing to brag about; as fast and easy as a predator catching something unable to run and too weak to defend itself anymore. However, the desert lion still savored his first meal in his new lands with pure delight, yet still tried to eat fast because he’d have a lot of things to do in the following days. Before him, his eyes finally caught view of his “friends.” The clan was there, so still and distant that it took him quite a while to discern the number of his curious circle of little spying eyes. They were about twenty, watching him emotionless, as he would peek back at them, his incisors still slowly slicing pieces of meats from the bones he’d swallow.

What did they want from him? Maybe he was awfully impolite moments ago while spying at them without stepping closer or revealing himself to the clan? Maybe, without knowing it, he had summoned them? That was improbable but whatever it was, their silent presence and cold glare was uncomfortable, almost intimidating if he knew more about them and wasn’t such a naïve feline.

Their choirs of woops started all over again. He perfectly knew that call: the striped hyenas used it for rallying the family, or used to welcome or call their ally, his mother often included in it. The lion frowned, deciding to break the commotion at once, yet didn’t wanted to threatens or scare them, for their first encounter would seal their relationship.
“I’m right here you know!” he exclaimed over their calls, then in a much more polite and conforming tone. “What do you want from me?”

The clan all at once silenced, the few whispers that remained were puzzled and approached slowly and carefully, circling him half with their number. The matriarchs would meet quickly, whispering and then coming to let the wisest talk. No need to be hasty in their decisions or actions. After all, if they chased him so soon, then the land could welcome lions who could be thousand worse than what was now, or he. Bold, she stepped closer, yet still out of reach if the lion decided to charge. She lowered her head, her tail in mock misery.
“O, my good lion...” she took another step. “We came to see you in peace and beg you for your mercy.” The matriarch stopped, raising her ears as to see his reaction, but he wouldn’t budge nor speak. She continued. “You see, the lion living here was very cruel to us: constantly he’d follow our clan and steal our game from us.” Another pause. “We’d have to hunt, again and again, separating to escape from his attention. Yet all we’d manage to eat would still be bones and so few meat even vultures would overlook. My family is huge... so would you... maybe, be so kind to leave us... just a bite or two?”

The lion furrowed a brow. “I saw you eat, moments ago.” He promptly said.

    -       A lucky first catch we could finally savor in days! Yet not all my clan could eat even if we shared and I didn’t even mention the waiting cubs.” She lowered her head even lower to the ground.

The lion glared at them, unsure what to believe. It sure was exaggerated and he didn’t wanted to be taken for a fool, but he would think about previous thoughts. After all, if it was to get a better start and after all, there was something the hyena said who made him too happy to refuse: “I understand.” He rose to a stand, peered around to see if one of them dared get close as to attack him. Seeing they didn’t budged, he continued.
“I’ll leave you more than “a bite or two,” let’s say... as a token friendship.”

The hyena wouldn’t answer right away, bewildered, she had to shake her head and control her nervous laugh then had to control the clan’s excitation clamors over her finding and what a finding: a lion that would willingly step off from a meal to willingly give it to them was more crazy than their craziest dreams.
“Yes? Yes! Pardon me my surprise! O! You are too good! We can’t thank you enough! This meal will be taken directly to the dens.” she slowly walked closer escorted by her clan, but they stopped as the lion spoke again.

    -       I’m not done.

    -       Oh... she hesitated. Is there anything you need?

    -       Where can I find this lion?

The hyenas exchanged a look for just a second then the insufferable noise was back again. The matriarch giggled loudly as she paced right and left around him. The hyenas would answer him in a laughed of laugh and cackles. “DEAD! He’s dead! The mongrel is gone! The lion is dead! He went to die outside his home! The fool is gone, the fool is GONE!”

The lion frowned, heisting between a smile and sneering at their joy. Of course, it would make everything easier for him, yet even if the previous lion seemed harsh, such joy over a fellow lion’s death from them was a strange feeling in his chest. He turned around, deciding to leave the hyenas to their meal especially now that they were so noisy and quite disturbing to look at. He could make few feet away from them, that he was called. “Gentle lion, wait! What we say is the truth and the lion’s body can still be found at the desert borders...

    -       No need to tell me, matriarch, I know, for I saw it myself. He turned to resume his walk.

    -       Well... wait again! Please! You’re a new sight for us all... do you have a name?” The matriarch rose a paw to quickly hit a male who was trying to steal the lion’s gift already.

The desert lion glanced back, then smirked at the hyenas’ antics who reminded him a little of noisy monkeys. “Don’t you lose my gift so soon!” he said, then turned. “I do have a name, matriarch. I’m called Ihsan, from the desert.”

The hyena saluted him in respect before quickly grabbing the gazelle and disappearing in the hyenas’ mass.

The lion walked away towards the borders once more, this time to mark them. If the hyena told the truth, what he didn’t doubt, then he’d claim the lands. If what the matriarch told him wasn’t the whole truth, however, Ihsan didn’t minded at all to insult and provoke any improbable lion remaining to defend the lands.
“These lands shall be mine,” h e spoke to himself, then contemplated the sky, slowly turning purple, as the sun slowly would start rising. His luck simply didn’t seemed to fade and it was as if he’d be walking in a dream.

Special thank to who helped me correct and edit a bit.
Side note: that one part to me is always feeling like it has been rushed, yet it was quite hard for me to pinpoint the problem.
I may rewrite that one, edit it a bit, but the essential is there.

Description
The wanderer, part 1
The wanderer, part 2

Next:

Hide and seek (part 1)

The Wanderer(part 3)

It was the fresh air of the night, hunger and familiar whoops that woke him up and now the golden lion was trailing off to find the hyenas. In the dark, the peaceful and almost silent nature would soon become a choir of insects, howls and distant calls of animals he didn’t knew about yet. All the newcomer knew was that he would have to learn fast. Yet his habits and beliefs made him very confused about how to act with the very new animals he’d see. Some he recognized from legends and stories like rhino and hippos were huge, easily intimidating yet visibly blinded at night. Others were familiar to him, known as wise by his peoples and loved. The best example was the elephant; an animal he couldn’t help but admire and wonder if they once traveled from his homeland to this heaven. However right now, his minds were set on hyenas. In his lands, the hyena clans would consist of very few individuals, if not just a couple, and his pride had a good relationship with them. The small animals would be guides to food in the harshest drought and the lions would act as a barrier to any foes the hyenas would have to fight off or lose their prey to almost all year round.

He then saw the hyenas ten yards away from him in a clearing surrounded by thorn bushes and quickly decided to remain at a safe distance. They were nothing like the small cute striped timid creatures he was accustomed to. Almost twice their size, those hyenas weren’t longhaired or pale but short-haired, dark brown, spotted, stern eyes and their tails were confidently raised like flags as they swarmed around what looked like the few remains of a fresh kill. The frenzy was violent, infernal noise of shriek and laughing had left the newcomer bewildered for a moment. In minutes only few bones would be left.

This was not the right place to be, the golden lion was outnumbered by far and the sight was unappealing for him. He walked away from the commotion, but not without being seen by the creatures that cautiously started to follow him. Whilst the lion was used a friendly relationship with hyenas, the said creatures were used to live in a constant war against lions. The previous lion that ruled over the land was almost entirely living on their kills when his lionesses didn't feed him and this new sight both created an innocent curious fascination as well as a passionate bloodlust. They had dreamt of the day the lionesses would lay defenseless and vultures being their reliable messengers they knew what happened to their foe. If they could just mob this new lion away from their lands, then a fast cleansing of its lionesses could be possible.

This, the golden lion didn’t know and headed away where he could find a proper meal or hunt something that would be... familiar enough for him to feel safe about attacking. The night would provide him with the best cover and there, in the woods, it wasn’t very long for him to finally spot sleeping gazelles. There was one who particularly caught his attention. Laying down with a clearly broken leg, it would desperately try to hide for the night. The poor thing was so nervous that it’s head would snap up at every bird chirp, every distant noise and everything but what was lurking dangerously close.

The kill was nothing to brag about; as fast and easy as a predator catching something unable to run and too weak to defend itself anymore. However, the desert lion still savored his first meal in his new lands with pure delight, yet still tried to eat fast because he’d have a lot of things to do in the following days. Before him, his eyes finally caught view of his “friends.” The clan was there, so still and distant that it took him quite a while to discern the number of his curious circle of little spying eyes. They were about twenty, watching him emotionless, as he would peek back at them, his incisors still slowly slicing pieces of meats from the bones he’d swallow.

What did they want from him? Maybe he was awfully impolite moments ago while spying at them without stepping closer or revealing himself to the clan? Maybe, without knowing it, he had summoned them? That was improbable but whatever it was, their silent presence and cold glare was uncomfortable, almost intimidating if he knew more about them and wasn’t such a naïve feline.

Their choirs of woops started all over again. He perfectly knew that call: the striped hyenas used it for rallying the family, or used to welcome or call their ally, his mother often included in it. The lion frowned, deciding to break the commotion at once, yet didn’t wanted to threatens or scare them, for their first encounter would seal their relationship.
“I’m right here you know!” he exclaimed over their calls, then in a much more polite and conforming tone. “What do you want from me?”

The clan all at once silenced, the few whispers that remained were puzzled and approached slowly and carefully, circling him half with their number. The matriarchs would meet quickly, whispering and then coming to let the wisest talk. No need to be hasty in their decisions or actions. After all, if they chased him so soon, then the land could welcome lions who could be thousand worse than what was now, or he. Bold, she stepped closer, yet still out of reach if the lion decided to charge. She lowered her head, her tail in mock misery.
“O, my good lion...” she took another step. “We came to see you in peace and beg you for your mercy.” The matriarch stopped, raising her ears as to see his reaction, but he wouldn’t budge nor speak. She continued. “You see, the lion living here was very cruel to us: constantly he’d follow our clan and steal our game from us.” Another pause. “We’d have to hunt, again and again, separating to escape from his attention. Yet all we’d manage to eat would still be bones and so few meat even vultures would overlook. My family is huge... so would you... maybe, be so kind to leave us... just a bite or two?”

The lion furrowed a brow. “I saw you eat, moments ago.” He promptly said.

    -       A lucky first catch we could finally savor in days! Yet not all my clan could eat even if we shared and I didn’t even mention the waiting cubs.” She lowered her head even lower to the ground.

The lion glared at them, unsure what to believe. It sure was exaggerated and he didn’t wanted to be taken for a fool, but he would think about previous thoughts. After all, if it was to get a better start and after all, there was something the hyena said who made him too happy to refuse: “I understand.” He rose to a stand, peered around to see if one of them dared get close as to attack him. Seeing they didn’t budged, he continued.
“I’ll leave you more than “a bite or two,” let’s say... as a token friendship.”

The hyena wouldn’t answer right away, bewildered, she had to shake her head and control her nervous laugh then had to control the clan’s excitation clamors over her finding and what a finding: a lion that would willingly step off from a meal to willingly give it to them was more crazy than their craziest dreams.
“Yes? Yes! Pardon me my surprise! O! You are too good! We can’t thank you enough! This meal will be taken directly to the dens.” she slowly walked closer escorted by her clan, but they stopped as the lion spoke again.

    -       I’m not done.

    -       Oh... she hesitated. Is there anything you need?

    -       Where can I find this lion?

The hyenas exchanged a look for just a second then the insufferable noise was back again. The matriarch giggled loudly as she paced right and left around him. The hyenas would answer him in a laughed of laugh and cackles. “DEAD! He’s dead! The mongrel is gone! The lion is dead! He went to die outside his home! The fool is gone, the fool is GONE!”

The lion frowned, heisting between a smile and sneering at their joy. Of course, it would make everything easier for him, yet even if the previous lion seemed harsh, such joy over a fellow lion’s death from them was a strange feeling in his chest. He turned around, deciding to leave the hyenas to their meal especially now that they were so noisy and quite disturbing to look at. He could make few feet away from them, that he was called. “Gentle lion, wait! What we say is the truth and the lion’s body can still be found at the desert borders...

    -       No need to tell me, matriarch, I know, for I saw it myself. He turned to resume his walk.

    -       Well... wait again! Please! You’re a new sight for us all... do you have a name?” The matriarch rose a paw to quickly hit a male who was trying to steal the lion’s gift already.

The desert lion glanced back, then smirked at the hyenas’ antics who reminded him a little of noisy monkeys. “Don’t you lose my gift so soon!” he said, then turned. “I do have a name, matriarch. I’m called Ihsan, from the desert.”

The hyena saluted him in respect before quickly grabbing the gazelle and disappearing in the hyenas’ mass.

The lion walked away towards the borders once more, this time to mark them. If the hyena told the truth, what he didn’t doubt, then he’d claim the lands. If what the matriarch told him wasn’t the whole truth, however, Ihsan didn’t minded at all to insult and provoke any improbable lion remaining to defend the lands.
“These lands shall be mine,” h e spoke to himself, then contemplated the sky, slowly turning purple, as the sun slowly would start rising. His luck simply didn’t seemed to fade and it was as if he’d be walking in a dream.

Special thank to who helped me correct and edit a bit.
Side note: that one part to me is always feeling like it has been rushed, yet it was quite hard for me to pinpoint the problem.
I may rewrite that one, edit it a bit, but the essential is there.