Golden Plains: Layisha *finished, but I'll be adding the chapters a couple at a time* Chapter 28 & Epilogue added!

Umm... with her being accepted into the pride.

Nice new chapters! They weren't that depressing, but still depressing enough.

Thanks. Book two might not be so depressing, but just wait till book three...

I already did.

Yup. I was originally planning to end it there. I wrote an epilogue and everything. I still have it saved on my computer. I'll post it once I've posted everything else.

x3 That was beautiful. You have to post the rest soon!

Aw, thanks, Shadz. If I have time before synagogue (XP) I'll post more when I'm done checking new posts but if I don't I'll post them later.

Book 3
Five moons later

Chapter 23
I crouched in the tall grass, keeping my tail low. Beside me I could see Ariyeh doing the same.
“I’ll go scare it towards you,” I whispered. “Its hooves should make enough noise that you’ll be able to hear it coming and pounce on it in time.”
She nodded silently, her sightless eyes flicking around nervously, and I crept around the edge of the wildebeest herd, keeping my eyes fixed on a young male who’d wandered away from his mother. Once I was in a good position, I leapt out at the calf, making enough noise to spook it towards Ariyeh but not enough to cause the rest of the herd to stampede. The wildebeest ran instinctively away from me and straight towards Ariyeh. I saw her leap, managing to sink her claws into its back and bringing it to the ground. By the time I’d gotten back over there she’d finished it off and was standing by it, looking proud.
“Great job!” I said, grinning.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“Let’s take it back to camp,” I suggested, glancing at the sky. It was that awkward time in between the dry season and the rainy season where the clouds can’t make up their minds between coming and going. Right now they were staying, making the day gloomy.
She nodded, her tail flicking out behind her, and though she couldn’t see the overcast skies I could tell she shared my unease. It was best to be on higher ground when the rain came.
I sunk my teeth into the wildebeest’s neck and half-lifted it off the ground. Ariyeh did the same at the other end and together we carried the prey back to camp.
We set it down in the center of camp, ready to eat.
Pegg and Lin bounded up with Autumn padding behind them. They each tore off a portion and moved away to let everyone else have some.
As the last morsels were being swallowed, Chifu vaulted onto the Roarstone and summoned the pride.
“Proud lions and lionesses of the Makuu, and spirits of the Nyota!” he called. “Today, two of our cubs are old enough to begin learning the ways of our pride. Pegg, Lin, come here.” The two young lions bounded forward excitedly, their eyes shining.
“Until you pass your tests, you will be learners. You will listen to your teachers and learn everything they have to teach you. Qan!” Qan, the lion who’d made the sarcastic remark to Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter on the day of their tests, padded forward.
“Your last learner did not live to pass his test.” I noticed Ruka’s eyes filling with sadness at Chifu’s mention of Morl. “This time may you have better luck with Pegg.”
Qan dipped his head in agreement and Pegg pawed the ground three times in the traditional gesture of respect from learner to teacher.
Chifu swept his gaze over the rest of the pride, finally looking back to Lin, who was flicking her tail impatiently at the foot of the Roarstone.
“Layisha!”
My eyes widened as I made my way to the front where Lin was standing.
“You are young, but you have proved your courage and determination many times over and I’m sure you have much to teach Lin.”
Lin pawed the ground and Chifu leaped down from the Roarstone, dispersing the meeting.
“What are we going to do first?” Lin asked eagerly, gazing up at me.
“I’ll show you the boundaries with the other prides first,” I decided. “You won’t be patrolling them but you don’t want to accidentally cross them while you’re hunting.”
“Will we be going with Pegg and Qan?” she demanded. I glanced at Qan.
“It’s best if we split up,” he said. “After all, they’ll be learning about separate things.”
I nodded in agreement and Qan led his learner out of camp.
“You ready?” I asked Lin.
“You bet!”
“Mind if I come?” Ariyeh asked, padding up.
“Sure,” I agreed readily. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 24
It was mostly night by the time I’d finished showing Lin around the territory and the clouds hid the moon and stars so that by the time we got back to camp I knew it would be pitch dark.
We’d just reached the point where we’d turned to walk along the border rather than towards it, and our scent trail from earlier in the day was obvious, when a loud shot rang out. All three of us jumped.
“What was that?” Lin asked, glancing around nervously.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, scouring the landscape with my gaze.
Ariyeh’s nostril’s flared. “I smell smooth-pelts!”
I hissed. “Which way?”
She flicked her tail over the Fahari border. “That way.”
Suddenly the wind changed and I froze. “They’re that way too.”
Lin’s fur was fluffed out. “What are we going to do?”
Another shot drowned out Ariyeh’s reply, just as the sun lowered completely and we were plunged into darkness.
Lightning flashed in the distance and thunder rumbled a few seconds later. The rain hadn’t started yet, but a storm was definitely on its way.
“Lin, follow the scent trail back to camp,” I ordered. “Get help. We’re by the Fahari dunes.”
“But-”
“Now!”
She ran off, her fumbling pawsteps seemingly loud in the darkness.
“They’re all around us,” Ariyeh guessed, her tail flicking nervously. “They-”
“There!” I interrupted as a flash of lightning lit up the sky, giving me a brief glimpse of a light-skinned smooth-pelt standing a ways away, pointing a shiny silver stick at us.
The thunder that boomed a few seconds later wasn’t enough to cover a third shot that I now knew came from the smooth-pelt’s stick. I also heard a muffled thump from beside me. The sound of something hitting the ground.
“Ariyeh?” I asked nervously. No answer. “Ariyeh!”
Silence.
The next flash of lightning showed me her body crumpled on the ground beside me, blood oozing from a small, neat hole in her chest, her eyes glazed. No longer in blindness, but in death.
The round of thunder drowned out my shriek.

Chapter 25
“Layisha!” I heard someone call in the distance. I didn’t think I could muster up enough sound to answer loud enough for whoever it was to hear me. “Ariyeh!” The voice was closer now.
“Over here!” I called weakly.
“Layisha?” Alir’s voice was right beside me now, though I couldn’t see him through the darkness. I could hear the pawsteps of one other lion as well. “Where’s Ariyeh?”
I couldn’t answer, just waited for the next flash of lightning.
“No...” he whispered, staring at where her body had been swallowed by darkness in shock.
“What is it?” the other lion asked. I recognized Ruka’s voice.
“She’s dead,” he explained shortly. I felt his gaze turn to me. “How did it happen?”
“Smooth-pelts,” I whispered, pressing myself close to his side for comfort. “Where’s everyone else? I sent Lin back for help...” My voice trailed off.
“She met us on the way back to camp,” Ruka said slowly. “She said there was trouble by the Fahari dunes. That’s all she managed to get out on the way by.”
I could hear the smooth-pelts now, their hind paws scraping lightly on the sand as they crept closer.
Another shot rang out and Alir’s warmth vanished from my side with another muffled thump.
NO! I screamed silently. The clouds parted suddenly and a sliver of moonlight shone down, illuminating the smooth-pelts with their sticks aimed at us, Ruka’s fur fluffed out in terror, and Alir crumpled on the ground beside me, a bloody hole in his stomach and only the faint rise and fall of his flank telling me that he was still alive.
My vision turned red and hazy as I glared at the smooth-pelt in front of me.
“Keep him alive,” I ordered Ruka, my voice rasping.
“Layisha, don’t-” Her voice sounded horrified but I didn’t stick around to hear the rest. I bounded for the nearest smooth-pelt, my claws unsheathed and my teeth bared. I was on him before he knew what hit him, tearing and ripping and doing whatever I could to make him suffer.
The other smooth-pelts began shouting unintelligibly as I ran for the next one and another shot rang out. I expected to feel searing pain, but instead I felt only a light sting in my shoulder.
I stumbled as my paws grew heavy as lead and my vision blurred, even more than it already had. I bowled over the next smooth-pelt but was too weak to inflict any damage as everything went black.

Chapter 26
I woke on a rough wooden surface.
Alir.
He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t. I had to believe that or I’d... I’d die.
I was in a tiny space, barely large enough for me to stand. It was all wood, and dark except for a few tiny air holes in the side. I peeked out of one, not sure what I expected to find.
Several tethers lashed my prison to a platform. Attached to the platform, pulling it along a dirt path, was a rumbling... thing. It was brown and dusty, and looked unnatural somehow. It had a transparent material in the back and inside I could see five smooth-pelts. The same number of shiny sticks was lined up in the back and I shuddered at the sight.
I threw myself at the wall of my prison, hoping to either break it down or snap the tendrils so I could fall off of the platform and be left behind, but to no avail.
I battered at the heavy wood, ignoring the pain. I was determined to get out, no matter what it took.
Finally, with one last desperate effort, the wood splintered and broke under my weight, causing me to tumble out and onto the dirt path. I lay in the dust for a long time, catching my breath and checking myself for injuries.
It didn’t feel like anything was broken. My entire left side ached and there was a gash in my shoulder where a piece of wood had dug into my skin.
I heaved myself painfully to my paws, refusing to lie there any longer.
Alir was alive, and I would get back to him.
Following the tracks of the smooth-pelts’ rumbling brown thing back the way I hoped I’d come, I began loping towards my home, as fast as I could manage with my injured shoulder.
Alir.

Chapter 27
The days flew by like the savannah. I pushed myself to the very limits of my abilities, racing over the plains and hardly stopping to eat, drink, or sleep.
I was staggering from fatigue when I finally recognized something. It was the Fahari dunes, where the killing had taken place. There was still blood splattered on the grass.
The red haze washed over my vision again for a moment as I recalled the two bodies that had lain here not so long before. It passed quickly as the desire to be back with Alir overtook it, but it had given me new strength and I ran on.
The sun was setting behind the clouds as I finally limped into camp. Ruka was padding across the camp, her shoulders hunched. She looked up as I stumbled towards her, her eyes widening in surprise.
“Layisha?” she asked incredulously.
Ears pricked and eyes stared from around the camp as her brief question caught the pride’s interest.
Then suddenly I was surrounded by excited lions, all curious and eager to know what had happened. I ignored their questions, scanning them for the one who wasn’t there.
“Alir?” I asked Ruka, lifting my left forepaw up slightly. Now that I’d finally reached my destination my shoulder was really beginning to hurt. My constant running had cracked any scabs that had managed to form, so the fur there was matted and stained red.
Her eyes darkened as she turned, kinking her tail to gesture for me to follow her as she padded slowly away. I limped after her, oblivious to the rest of the pride, who hung back.
After a moment, I realized something. The place Ruka was leading me wasn’t a den or a nest.
It was a grave.

Chapter 28
“You put too much strain on the torn muscle,” Ponya said, examining my wound. “I’m afraid it might be permanently damaged.”
“I don’t care,” I said, still staring blankly at the mound of earth in front of me. My voice was raspy and flat.
“Eat.”
“I’m not hungry.” A lie, of course. I didn’t know when the last time I’d eaten was and my stomach felt totally hollowed out, but just the thought of food made me feel sick.
“Layisha, I said eat.” Her commanding voice was on now, and just to make her leave me alone I took a few reluctant bites of the piece of prey somebody had left in front of me. The food tasted like ashes in my mouth. No, a better anology - like blood.
She padded off and I heard her murmur something to someone as she went. A tail touched my flank and I turned to see Ruka sitting beside me, the grief in her eyes shadowing my own.
Suddenly I realized how similar we were.
She’d lost a mate and a brother.
I’d lost a mate and a sister.
I lay down beside the heap of dirt and sobbed, letting the tears out for the first time. As I did, the rain finally began, and I felt like the world was crying with me.

Epilogue
“Layisha...”
Ruka’s voice was quiet, tentative.
“What?” I snapped.
“Have you looked at yourself lately?”
“No.” I knew what I’d see if I did.
“Do it.”
“Why?”
“Just look.”
Reluctantly I looked down at myself. I was gaunt, nearly emaciated, but... but...
I stared blankly at my softly rounded belly.
Alir may have gone, but he’d left something behind.

Whoooo, that was my 500th post! Smooth-pelts are humans, BTW, if you haven't figured it out.

Oh, I didn't know that. I was confused, xD
I like the new chapters, but I hope he's okay!

OMG. Poor Ariyeh! That was good.

Thanks. I know, it's really sad. And it, um... might... possibly... get worse. XD

You'll see. There are tranquilizers, actually. But later. XD

I added more.

Yeah, I know. But Alir isn't dead!

Spoiler:

Too late. I already wrote it all. Sorry. *pats back*

Sorry. Depressing stories = dramatic scenes. Dramatic scenes = fun. XD

I suppose I'll post some more.