Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Flower Romance ❯ Book 4: Calamitous ( Chapter 4 )

XxXxXxXxXx

Dark Flower Romance

By: Revamp

Book 4: Calamitous

XxXxXxXxXx

Zahra woke up as the sun rose. The rays cascaded into the once dark cave, illuminating everything within with pastille rays of yellow. She knew what day it was, and her eyes instantly were filled with anxiety. Stretching, she slowly walked to the opening to the cave, sitting down as she gazed at the sky in thought.

`I know that I didn't train nearly enough for this, and to be truthful, I worry about losing or getting hurt. I don't think that he would truly hurt me and I really don't know why I'm wanting to win this spar. From our talk, he doesn't seem so bad. I mean, he's cold and distant, but he has potential to be nice. I think he's just hurt by the humans. However, I miss my pride; Savresh, Sultana and Karobi…I wonder how they're doing…or if they miss me.' As her thoughts ended, she could hear Tajara stir awake with a grunt behind her.

She turned to him and bid him good morning.

Tajara stretched and walked over to the mouth of the cave. “So, are you ready?”

He was certainly as brash as ever.

Zahra blinked. “We aren't going to eat before we duel?” It was almost cruel to make someone starve in a fight. It hindered them from their top performance.

“You can hold it off all you want, but it's inevitable that you'll have to face me,” Tajara thought otherwise. It all seemed like a further distraction to put their fight on hiatus.

Zahra's visage hardened. “Do you think I'm afraid?”

Tajara cocked his head. “So, you're accepting of your fate?”

“I was thinking earlier, weighing the pros and cons. When I think about it, either way I don't truly lose. I was wondering how my pride was and if they missed me.” That last sentence was full of emotion and wonder. It was more emotion than Tajara liked or wanted to hear directed on such a pride of vile beasts.

“If they sacrificed you to me without asking your opinion or caring do you honestly think they're thinking about you like you are them?” It was ludicrous for Zahra to be wasting such feelings on inferior beasts. All she was to them was a sacrificial lamb used to quell his hatred for them, and it changed nothing. Zahra was just a naive cub.

Zahra frowned and looked a little peeved. “You always have something negative to say.”

“I have no intentions on defending them.” If she was looking for sympathy, she would get none of that.

“Why? Didn't Shefalika care for you as a cub?” He could at least give her some recognition. If any lion cared for Tajara, it was her.

“There are two sides to every story,” Tajara turned his head away with those words. He wanted nothing more of this conversation.

“What's that supposed to mean?” At the same time, he knew Zahra wasn't going to let him walk away without dogged questioning.

“Exactly what I said.”

Zahra's voice lowered. “You really hate them, don't you?”

“They deserved it after what they all did to me,” Tajara's voice lowered as well. This wasn't something that he wanted to talk about this early in the morning. He would rather duke it out in the field than have a talk about sensitive subjects.

The cinnamon-colored lioness remained confused on the issue. In the past, all the white lion did was dance around this subject. She was sick of the endless waltz between them. Zahra wanted answers. “I don't get it. I really don't understand what happened to make you this way. Was it the hunters? Did the loss of your eye cause you to hate them?”

Tajara looked over his shoulder at her with his one good eye. “You could say that they were a part of the reason I bear ill feelings towards the Asiatics of Gir Forest.”

Zahra walked up to him, getting in front of him as she stared the white beast down. “Something happened, didn't it?”

Tajara just made a `hmpf' noise and refused to speak.

It was beginning to really irritated Zahra. She was sick of his silent and strong act. “Why are you so hard to pry things out of? You're like a thorn lodged between my toes- hard to get out. You'd rather be a pain than come undone. You must have a lot of pride to just be so hard headed that you can't talk about the past.” Honestly, she was past the point of being patient with him anymore. If they were going to be together, then he needed to be honest with her just as she had been with him.

“If you stay here, then you will learn why I hold such contempt. If you do not, then leave and never look back at the white beast that was born in hell,” Tajara's words were serious to the point of amplifying the ice that surrounded his heart.

“That field that I was training in. Let's go, now.” When she won the fight, she was going to get the whole truth out of the white lion, no matter what. This would be the moment of truth, the moment that would change their relationship drastically.

“Heh,” Tajara closed his eyes with a smile. “Is that it, huh? You want to duel me now. Are you sure about that?”

“I'm not, but I feel now is as good of a time as any. I feel strong. Whether it's strong enough to beat you is another story,” Zahra just wanted to get it over with while she was feeling brave enough and strong enough to take the white lion on. She would figure out what to do after she was dealt the consequences of her actions.

“I'm not holding back,” Tajara warned, but it had no effect on his potential mate.

“Fine,” Zahra told him.

xXxXxXxXx

The two lions exited the cave and walked out into the grass. They quickly made their way to their battle ground, the same place where Zahra had trained hard the day before. She couldn't tell if it was adrenaline from the running or from the anticipation of the fight, but Zahra could feel it coursing through her body.

As soon as they made it to the field, they circled each other, prowling with each step as brown their eyes burned into each other's. Zahra was crouched down with her ears flat against her skull and teeth bore at the beast before her. Tajara prowled around her in slow circled as he kept watch on her with his one eye.

“I'm ready to take you down,” Zahra's voice rumbled with a growl.

“We'll see if you can accomplish that feat,” Tajara's voice was emotionless, so much so that the lioness felt the freeze of its tone.

“I think you're underestimating me a little.” She had to keep her eyes on the fight, on her enemy. Zahra wasn't going to let the white lion call her bluff.

“Am I or are you overconfident? Who's to say?”

He was obviously playing mind games with her.

“I'll show you that I'm not a prize to be won!”

With that, Tajara charged at the lioness, running full speed at her. Zahra kicked up rocks at him, but he plowed straight through them and pounced, extending his long, curved claws and bringing his front feet above his head.

“There are reasons I escaped those hunters,” he tackled her to the ground. The lioness lay on her back and swatted at him violently, but his swatted her offending paws out of the way. The two continued to claw at each other, both blocking each other's blows before Zahra scratched him on the side of the face, her claws dug into his pale skin and drew blood.

Tajara stumbled back and roared in pain as the Asiatic rolled back onto her feet and darted away, putting distance between them. The white lion was hot on her tail, but she managed to scramble away from him.

`I can't let him catch me. If he does then I lose this battle. I didn't think I was going to get away from him before. My rock idea didn't slow him down at all. Then again, if he could take knives and a spear to the eye then rocks shouldn't hurt him.' Zahra jumped over a fallen log, and then kicked it backwards with both hind feet. The log rolled towards the white lion, gaining speed on the downhill slope. Tajara jumped over the log and continued to run at her, gaining speed.

Zahra looked behind her, and the white lion was suddenly gone. She slowed her pace down to a trot as she kept a watchful eye out for her offender. Making sure that he was nowhere in sight, the lioness exhaled and relieved some of the mounting tension. `He's gone. I think I finally lost him. It will take him a while to catch up. Finally, I can catch my breath.'

In that instant, Tajara leapt out of a bush and tackled her. The younger lion's form was blindsided and she fell immediately on her side. The force of the blow beat the air out of her as felt the rough dirt and rocks sink into her ribs. The two rolled around, tussling about on the ground. Tajara's claws dug across her chest, laying her open. Zahra winced in pain from the dirt and air piercing her open wound as she continued to struggle.

`He's too strong. If I don't watch my moves, he'll rip me in half.' The lioness had always heard the rumors of the great white lion's strength, but she never knew exactly what that strength consisted of until they began their duel.

She kicked the beast above her, and in retaliation, he bit down on her leg. Zahra roared and kept batting him in the face, trying to get him to let go as she felt his teeth grinding down, cutting into her flesh. Zahra felt around in the dirt beside of her, trying desperately to find something, anything that would help her get the edge.

She found a rock and closed her claws around it. With all of the force she could muster Zahra slammed the rock into the side of his face where his eye had been missing. The rock collided with the lion's cheek, causing him to roar out in pain. He released the lioness and slashed her on the side with a powerful swipe.

Pain resonated through her body as Zahra rolled across the ground and hit the trunk of a large tree. She lay there, trying to catch her breath as Tajara thrashed around in pain.

“Ugh…that hurt…” She groaned as a shadow befell her. “Huh?” Zahra looked up to see Tajara's form in mid-air, descending down on her. She scrambled away as he crashed into the ground, stirring up dust in his wake. Zahra had barely escaped her attacker as he dug his claws into the ground.

Pausing, she watched the dirt settle that Tajara kicked up. When it cleared, she noticed nothing was there. He had disappeared again. `Where did he go?' She wondered, and soon found out as she was tackled from behind.

Her body hit the ground as she landed on her back. Zahra rolled over and put all four feet up, knocking Tajara off balance as he fell onto his side. Tajara landed in the dirt as Zahra got to her feet.

`Man, he's relentless and heavy. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm starting to wear down.' Zahra took long, slow pants and she felt her body become heavier. This was bad. Her reaction time had been slowed due to her worn state.

Tajara head butted her in the ribs, knocking her off of her feet and sending her rolling. The white lion jumped on her. His claws shot fourth from his large paws as the two started clawing each other again. Claws flew in numerous directions. The white lion reared back with his front claws extended. They were aimed at the lioness' face but she kicked him with her back legs and scrambled away from his grasp.

The two stood in their respective places. Zahra was panting heavily and Tajara only looked as if he'd gone for a run through the forest.

“Do you give up?” Tajara asked.

“Not on your life,” the lioness tried to look determined, despite being visually tired.

With that, Tajara charged at her and the two reared up on their back legs, locking arms as they stood their ground, staring each other down.

“I'll never fall to you,” Zahra panted.

“We'll see about that,” Tajara responded, as one of his rear legs landed in the lioness' gut. Zahra was propelled backwards as the white lion continued to assault her as he head butted her again, sending her body back into a tree and the white lion tried to scratch her again but she moved to the side. His claws dug into the tree trunk, scarring it with marks.

Zahra launched a big rock at him with both paws, but Tajara effortlessly dodged it as it slammed into the ground with a thud. She tried to kick another log at him, but he charged through it. The deteriorated wood splintered around him as he headed towards her.

The lioness jumped on his back and dug her claws into his skin, trying to hang on to him as he bucked around in an attempt to get her off. Finally, his powerful movements were too much for her and she became dislodged from him.

Zahra was panting heavily as she slowly pulled herself off of the ground. “I'm not giving up.” She said between pants.

“I haven't even begun to fight,” Tajara made her aware of the fact that he was barely worn down.

“You're tough,” she breathed.

“Heh, you're stubborn.”

“If I go down, I'm going down knowing that I did my best.” With the strength she had left, Zahra charged at her opponent, and he charged at her. They clashed and fell to the ground in a patch of dust and limbs that flew around haphazardly. She kicked him again and got him off of her.

Tajara got up and kicked her in the side with both of his back feet; Zahra was sent rolling down an incline into a shallow stream. The water felt cold around her as she was immersed in it for a few moments before surfacing and swimming to shore.

Laying there for a moment, Zahra tried to catch her breath, and then she slowly sat up and panted to herself. She didn't even have time to shake off the water as a white blur came barreling down the hill and pounced on her. Tajara's speed was abnormal as she felt the force of his weight when he pounced on her, holding her down.

The water rushed past her head as the two were frozen there in silence. She gazed deep into his lone, blue eye and all that could be heard was the dangerously close water and her own panting.

`I can't do it anymore. I'm tired and I'm weak. I know when to give up. I fought a good fight but I'm nothing like him.' If he truly wanted to, he could have drowned her easily and she wouldn't have the strength to stop him. “You've proven your point. You're far beyond my skill and know how. You win. I'll stay here and be your bride,” her voice was subdued as Tajara got off of her, allowing her to stand.

“You did well for a lion so young. I'm impressed,” Tajara allowed himself to smile a little. It turned out she wasn't quite as inexperienced as he previously thought.

Zahra could hardly believe her own ears. Did the white lion just compliment her?

“Huh? You're impressed with me?”

“Your drive and determination are endearing and fascinating traits. Did you go on many hunts?” He was curious as to where she got such fighting skills and durability.

“I did with Sultana and Karobi. They taught me a lot.” Memories rushed back to the lioness' mind of those moments. Sultana had helped her more than Karobi, but the two had been her hunting companions in her younger years, teaching her in the art of survival.

“Are you happy with this result?” Tajara knew that if she was trying to get away, then she might not have wanted this outcome.

“It's what I promised,” Zahra replied firmly as she walked away from the river. “I'm not going to complain or take it back. I said that I would stay and I'm not sad about it. I don't think it'll be so bad either way. I just had to weigh the pros and cons.”

That was a change from her first appearance in his cave. Maybe she was finally growing up…or recognizing her own futility. “Are you so sure that you're taking into account all of the pros and cons?”

“What do you mean?” Zahra asked.

“There are hidden things. There are factors that you don't know, which can alter your opinion even after you agree or think you've settled on something. It's the hidden factors that cripple even the strongest of minds.” That was something that Tajara knew all too well. If she continued to ignore such factors, then she would befall the same fate that he had years ago.

More than anything, he wanted to protect her from that.

…To Be Continued