Sydney watched as the sun fell, her green eyes kept looking around the vicinity anxiously hoping to see any sign of her new family but against her hope and prayers, Ash and the others didn't appear. Had they realised that she was missing?! They probably did! They must be worriedly searching for her!
She had to wait patiently! She brought her legs close to her chest and leaned her head ontop of her folded knees...but time went by and it was almost night. Her heart prickled bitterly. They had to be coming for her right?!
She kicked out the unpleasant memories of her life and braced her self to stand up. She had to man up and not wait to be saved, this was the main reason she had decided to become independent at the young age of fifteen.
At that time, a rival of her father's kidnapped both her and her little brother to get back at their father. They had been tormented for two weeks as they patiently waited for their father to save them. If she hadn't done something about it, she was sure they would have stayed in that hell hole for two more weeks! But that was in the past now and she held no bitter feelings about that incident.
First, she had to secure the cave entrance. She walked to the entrance one more time and looked around the area. Despite the healthy lash vegetation, the old branches couldn't stand a chance against the young and vibrant trees and luckily there was no one who cleaned this place which made the whole place full of fallen tree branches. With an idea in mind, she went and begun dragging them over. It took her a while and she was covered in sweat! Coupled up with the mid she had sneered herself with, she felt extremely uncomfortable and longed for a shower!
A hundred metres away from her, two white fur frames were hidden behind dense shrubs watching the whole thing. Their emythst eyes were watching in both confusion and interest.
What was the female doing?!
The Beast City.
"Caden, you haven't recovered, why don't you stay behind and wait for the others to look for Sydney." Aisha held onto Caden's arm to prevent him from leaving. He couldn't fly yet and if he stubbornly insisted, it could further injure his wings!
"Aisha, I'm leaving!" Caden plucked his hand from her hand annoyed. What did she know?! How was he going to sit here and wait when Sydney was probably out there alone and hungry, even scared! "Sydney is my female and it's my responsibility to find her!" Caden said resolutely. It had been hours since they begun looking for Sydney but she wasn't in the beast city. A search party had been sent to search among the stray beast colony's but there was completely no news of a new female coming in.
This only meant she could be anywhere in the beast Continent but where to be exact?!
-------------------
After Sydney secured the cave's entrance by blocking it with dry tree branches. With these, if one dared to want to enter the cave, the branches would snap and alert her. She walked into the inner part of the cave with a little sense of security and sat on the stone bed, wrapped the skin blanket around herself and kept awake. She didn't even have the desire to eat!
The night came in silently and the active wild animals begun their routines. Growls, howls, cows of owls and all the night beasts were up and active while Sydney fought the sleep that begun to sneak up on her. She kept dozing off but would awaken the very next second and look towards the entrance with her half sleep eyes but slowly the darkness swallowed her and she finally gave into nature's call.
Outside the cave, two white male balls of fur snuck up closer to the entrance and strained their necks to look inside their occupied home. This was their home but the female had taken over it! What to do now?!
"We should go inside!" one of the males suggested with a soft pur.
"Mm, this is our home. We should go inside." the other agreed.
The two juveniles with similar emythst eyes begun to pull the tree branches from the cave's entrance very carefully! They wanted to ask this female the reason for taking their home from them! This matter needed to be discussed with immediate effect!
Luckily, they managed to clear the cave entrance without waking Sydney up.
The next morning.
With a yawn, Sydney stretched from the oddly sweet sleep. She sat up with delight that she was able to sleep without being interrupted by any wild animals! This cave was very secure!
When her sight cleared from the blurriness of sleep, she was shocked out of her wits to see two adult lions seated on all fours in the same cave as her. She screamed and jumped into a defensive stand with a huge log in hand as she trembled.
The two juveniles were also scared onto their feet by her scream and involuntarily let out two harsh growls towards her. Sleep was sweetest in the morning and they had to be woken up so harshly!?
"Out! Get out!!" Sydney screamed as she swung the log at the lions frantically attempting to scare them away. Her breathing was uneven as her heart almost fell out of her chest! But to her dismay, the lions didn't seem the least scared of her futile attempts, they instead looked at her with confusion written all over their faces.
Sydney who had been in a state of fear also calmed down seeing the lion's behaviour. Were they beastmen?!
You!" she tried her luck and the two lions who were initially looking at eachother turned to her. They were beastmen! She sighed and slumped onto the stone bed. The log fell from her trembling cold hands and she covered her face as she took deep breathes to calm down.
"Why didn't you say anything?!" she yelled at the two lions as tears fell from her eyes. "I thought you were going to eat me!" she sobbed with relief washing over her.
The two lions looked at her with stunned expressions. Why would they eat a female when the forest was full of nututrious food?
Seeing their expressions, Sydney suddenly laughed. "You two look silly! I'm Sydney, what are your names?!" she asked.
They looked at eachother. They had no names! But the female before them had a very sweet voice!
"You guys can't shift?!" she asked seeing them not say a word. They nodded. They weren't yet at the age of shifting, they still had three years to get there!
Sydney was slightly disappointed but she smiled. "It's alright, we can still talk. You can nod or shake your head right?!" she asked and they nodded.
Practically, all beastmen understood the other common language aside from their specific clans language once they were five years. These two lions were no different. They just had little knowledge in communication since it had been just the two of them growing up but would understand the basics.
"You might be wondering how I ended up here....I also don't know and I'm lost. But I have to go back to my family. They live in the city of beasts..do you know where that is?!" she asked.
City of beasts? That was a new terminology for them but when she said beasts, it meant a place where many beasts were gathered right?
Like a herd!
They nodded enthusiastically!
Sydney was delighted! "Really! Can you take me there?! I do not mind if it's far! I can walk!" she said forgetting all her inhibitions. She got off the bed and walked towards the two lions who were equally excited having been influenced by the female's delighted voice and happy expression.
By nature, they couldn't deny her and immediately begun hopping in place happily as they urged her to follow them. Sydney was so delighted that she could go home soon and she ran ignoring the small pebbles that pierced her small feet!