Ayannah's Rescue.
600 Words
Leopard Mbutu out of instinct, gestured to his fellow warriors to halt and recede out of sight. The darkness had engulfed his entire line of sight so he could not make out a thing in the thick foliage around him.
Seeing this the leopard crouched and lifted his face to the sky. He felt the direction of the wind, turned and sniffed the air with his eyes closed. The hunter warrior caught the faint whiff at once, it lingered then disappeared. Again he caught it, stronger. Closer.
He quickly gestured to his fellow warriors as he unsheathed his sword. He motioned for them to let down the unconscious Ayannah beneath a nearby tree.
"That scent wasn't human, it felt predatory. " he whispered as he squinted hard around them, he suddenly felt apprehensive.
The two warriors stepped in front of Ayannah and unsheathed their swords just as their leader had done, not really sure of what was happening they just waited.
"What's out there?" Mbutu asked himself as he crouched backwards, closer to his unit for in unity there was always strength.
A soft rustling ahead of them startled them at once.
Silence.
Leopard Mbutu cursed vehemently for leaving his bow behind.
Soft rustling.
Closer.
Then the most unexpected thing happened, and it left the leopard warriors stunned to silence. Ahead from the thick dark foliage emerged one man, unarmed. He slowly came closer then stopped, his head down. Its like he didn't even bother to look at them.
"You have someone, a girl. She belongs to my village. " a hoarse but calm voice was heard.
The fierce leopards, who had seen the face of death so many times we're truly prepared for anything but this.
Mbutu was the first to recover and react, but the extremely puzzled looks did not leave his fellow warriors faces for a long time.
The short time that had passed in silence proved that the man was indeed alone.
"What sort of ambush is this"
the leopard Mbutu snickered deviously.
"Shoto, Kunza lets kill this mad man before he betrays our position! "
The two warriors quickly came to their wits and sprang forth, spreading left and right with Mbutu in the middle. They unleashed their attack with ferocious speed as they expected the man to retreat.
But he did not move, he only looked up. And they saw his eyes for the first time. Cold, yellow glowing eyes. Feline.
Suddenly in the thick thickets south of Mariani, a murderous beastly roar shook the air. The roar was so raw, so guttural it woke up every living thing for miles. It made the entire Mariani village stand still and tremble.
Then all was quiet.
Later on Ayannah started to feel her senses slowly return to her. She was floating. No, she felt the strong hands that held her tenderly rocking her back and forth as a doting mother would her child.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw a rough chin and beyond it the clear night sky. A few stars twinkled here and there. It looked peaceful.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Shush, don't talk Ayannah. You're safe, we're going home." a deep hoarse rumbling voice spoke.
Ayannah had never thought such a hoarse voice could be so soothing. For the first time in so long she felt that rare feeling of happiness.
She sighed and closed her eyes once more. It was effortless and she soon was in the land of dreams and she dreamt of the night sky above carrying her home, soothing her with its voice of thunder.
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- Writer
