Tiana, princess of the gorilla clan sat by her sick father on the bed. The last battle with the panther hybrid had not gone well.
"Find a way to reach a compromise with this savage lord, Tiana. He is a reasonable beast. He only want part of the lands to settle, and he had already claimed his place of honor among the first tribes…. Ummn ....ummn…."
"Its okay, father. You will get better to deal with the man. You cant die…" She said with a a confidence she didn't feel in her heart.
"But I am dying Tiana, and you know it. I don't want you to have to face, the hybrid as an enemy. I did rather want you to make him an ally."
"Father, don't switching sides so quickly among the sly panther lords in itself, posses a greater threat?"
"Listen to a dying man, my dear. on the verge of death, I could see it more clearly now. this man respect us as equals, and wouldn't want to make slaves of our people, like the other panther lords intended," King of Kong replied gravely.
He coughed, and brought out a cloth of bloody mucus.
Tiana drew closer to her father with the excretion pot, supporting him to sit and spit into the pot. It was a gruesome affair, but the natural instinct of the nurse in her as a woman was all the strength she needed to attend to the old warrior by herself instead allowing servants to handled it with disgust.
"It has already started father. I've abducted his mate….?"
The king looked at his daughter in disbelief. "You have chosen your destiny then, and it will not be long before you join me in my grave. In this one act, you have brought the wrath of darkness upon Kong," the king said in a shriveling tone.
"I will bring him to his knees, you shall see father," Tiana interceded with something her father would have classified as arrogance if she was a man.
The king fears the ways of his daughter, but this was pure stupidity. Pride in a woman in affairs of state and governance comes with it a prejudice that could have been dealt without.
"There are things a man will never forgive, and certainly nothing no beast will; that's to threaten his weakness, and beasts found their strength in their mates. You have done a greavous thing tiana, and this man shall not rest till he has your womb bleeding in his hands…."
Tiana shivered as the cold whiff of air blew through her, making her feel naked before an alter, ready to be offered as a sacrifice to something alien to her.
Her liver titter and tingled. Her mouth turn bitter. The feeling was fleeting but so intense it turned her feet could as it reaches her toes.
"what a vile omen from your mouth, oh father. For in your words have you curse me to the servitude of this man, but I shall ruined him before he ever got to me," Tiana replied in a shaky voice.
But she knew a hidden pact was form, bonding her to this savage Alpha, for the emotions that carry those words across the ether shall tilt the Gaia for cultivation.
"He is coming tiana. It wouldn't be long," Kong said, remembering the horror of the beast in battle.
"And how will he know I have the woman? It will take him a while to find out, and by that time I shall be ready for him" Tiana replied.
"Beleive me my dear, if she is his mate, he had already picked the scent even as we speak," Kong said and coughed again.
Tiana didn't take her time to actually weigh this from all perspectives. She did want to do something drastic to give her people hope.
Her father was losing hold of his power among the people of Kong, and the rebel gorilla army are using that to stir unrest among the tribes.
Tiana let her mind lose, she has to think fast, for a possible exit.
The foul stench of blood in the room was becoming unbearable, as the wounded king on the bed had more blood oozing from his nose and ears.
With a heavy heart Tiana got to work, wiping away the blood with a wet white towel that has now turn brown.
*†*******†*******†*
Outside the humid tropical air hangs over the kingdom of Kong like a bad omen. If no one felt it, Tiana surely did. She felt it her marrow deadly and chilly despite the heat.
She walked around the kingdom enforcing and strengthening her security in all parameters, and reinforcing her Garrison at vulnerable points.
Tiana saw the general approaching her briskly.
"On my bloody oath.... my lady shouldn't be out here when the savage cast his vengeance this way," General Akilli crackled metallically, sound of his name sake.
Will she ever get used to the voice of this man? Tiana bemused, forcing a smile on here face.
" I want to be out here with my warriors general," Tiana Said.
"This is not a your fight anymore, you can only make it worse. Now I beseech my lady go back into the palace."
"I give the orders general, and you take them. even my father the king don't order me around general, and you definitely are not qualified to play that role, general".
Fuming, Akilli scoff with a glint of malice in his eyes, fore shadowed by mischief.
He chuckled unexpectedly, and his heavy talk bulk rambled with the little action, breaking the silence stretch of tension that was building up between them.
"Oh, it's worth the wait, princess. You are worth the wait, and I am a patient man. How is the old man holding up? heard the blood wouldn't stop choking him. Err, such a pity a great had to go this way...Err, where are my manners..."
"Shot up, and clear off my way, Akilli. You dare threatened me? if your daughter wasn't my friend, and your honorable motherly figure to me, I would've have you hanged for your treacherous verses. But for the sake of the hound owner, I shall spare the hound again this one time," Tiana Said with the authority of a crown princess.
"You are a fool, Tiana. Take a look around you. Do you think any of this warriors cares about your sweet royal ass? And after all that has happened in this past months, with the kingdom coming to it's knees, do you think they care any better? I am the last rattler you don't want to step on," Akilli hissed.
Like a rattler indeed, Tiana thought as she walk away from her wiry foe.
Knowing about him, his man-power, and the extend of his influence in the army, and the knowledge that he can actually bring his threats to fruition is not what worries Tiana.
The problem Akilli have with here is a personal one.