Scar of the Outlands Ch. 3

Scar of the Outlands: Ch. 3
Chapter 3: Bondage

Janja, what else is there to say about him? I respect his will and enthusiasm, but let's be honest here, he's a bumbling idiot. He isn't a good clan leader, he doesn't know how to make a good plan to save his life, and he is mean to everyone that he knows. Janja hasn't got anything going for him, and I'm still amazed at how he's survived this long.

After he came along, his goons started to cut us off from the rest of the Outlands, trying to force us to submit to his clan. Eventually, it got to the point where they were taking everything, living space, food, water, and what does my mother do to stop those thieving goons? Try and talk it out peacefully. Asha didn't quite know what to do from what I could guess, and we were cut off from getting help. Some of us did try and fight them off, but they're like cockroaches, they always come back.

My mother had come out with an idea, she called it "The Outlands Reformal" Project. At the time Jasiri had just become clan leader, and the both of them had come up with this idea as Jasiri's first act as clan leader. The basics was that they were gonna try and make the Outlands a better place to live. Treat others with respect and kindness, and hopefully Janja and the others would back down and join. That didn't happen though.

Speaking of my parents, they had never let up with my restrictions though, if anything it got worse. I wasn't allowed to go too far away from the clan without supervision now. It did always give me someone to talk to when I wanted to talk to someone, however it didn't leave much room for privacy when I tried to stray too far. I found myself retreating back to my den more and more to think to myself about things, and to collect my thoughts, and to just have some alone time.

My mother became too wrapped up in the new project idea she had come up with, and my father was so ecstatic about the whole thing that he wanted to jump in and help, still not leaving room for me, and not even my sister. Eventually a hyena named Mshale had been put in charge of making sure I never wondered off while my mother was busy. He was new to our clan, him and a small group of male hyenas had recently joined. Mshale was a real fun guy to talk too actually, he was well rounded and could talk about almost anything. Mshale isn't that bad looking either, and he gets along with practically anyone. Being friends with him had advantages as well, he wasn't very strict at all.

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Every night when I went to sleep, I would still have dreams of the same presence, hidden in the darkness. No matter how far I went to look for it, I would never find it, but it was there.

The next few weeks was filled to the brim with arguing and bickering with Janja's clan. He just wouldn't go away, he knew he was making everyone angry and he loved it. Most hyenas always have a sibling, because most hyenas give birth to two cubs. Even Janja has a sibling, and I met him one time too. He got abandoned at a young age by Janja apparently, that only reminded me of what I did to my sister...

No

I'm not like Janja, he's dirty and ugly, I on the other paw have gotten better.

Anyways, my mother's plan certainly wasn't working. Janja never responded to kindness or respect, but took those as attempts to boost his own ego. ''"Yeah you better treat me with respect, I'm the boss up in this joint!" ''he would always say. I'll kill his snarky butt. It made me unbelievably angry how simple it would be for us to just scare him away, our clan outnumbered his ten to one. Oh but no, "We can't stoop to their level, then we'll be just as bad as them"

No you won't, you won't be as bad as them because they deserve it. Janja deserves to have his hopes scared out of him. I spent a lot of time thinking to my self and talking with Mshale about how I would solve the situation.

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A couple days had passed, and the situation with Janja's clan had gotten worse.

They were fighting the Lion Guard at the moment, and loosing, which was putting Janja himself in a bad mood. There for he was letting out his anger on my clan. Jasiri's clan wasn't helping either. Jasiri herself had begun to give up on her original goal and started to become rivals to Janja, so that would make for even more conflict.

Asha would try her best to reason with him, but everything she did would end in faliure. I observed Janja whenever I could, still baffled me. He was worse than my mother at making disicions, and that was hard to do.

As our clan plunged into a worse state and had tougher time finding food, I made use of the situation though. It started with me slipping it in to random conversations, that Asha didn't know what she was doing. Eventually though, I managed to get some hyenas interested in what I had to say about the matter. To get back at my mother, I spoke out against her, saying that if I was in charge, I would run Janja out of town! And it all worked, I gained some what of a following.

It all happened so fast. I actually had people listening to me for once, and I wasn't going to let it slip away.

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One night I got curious, how was my mother planning to handle the situation? Was this really her only plan, talk it out? I crawled out of my den and went to my parents den to eavesdrop on them.

I could hear Asha talking to my dad, Zane.

"It's just... getting more difficult. He's so obnoxious! Why does he feel the need to be like this?"

Zane tried to comfort her, "Some people are just unreasonable, it's a fact we're just gonna have to live with."

It didn't work though, "The clan is getting restless and... I don't want to do anything harsh because I'm afraid that I'll go back to my old ways and... I don't know what to do anymore"

How pathetic, she started to cry, I could hear her trembling voice after that.

"I'm worried about my daughters. Nabii is being difficult and Buibui isn't being social anymore..."

She really was lost.

I had a new dream that night when I went back to my den. It was filled with fighting, and I heard someone crying. Then I saw claw markings on a rock. At the end, that same familiar presence. This time however, I felt a bunch of... contorting.

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The next morning, I thought long and hard to myself. What was stopping me from just making Janja's clan back off? What was Asha gonna do to me anyways?

I had been brewing up some ideas, I was going to give Janja and example of what happens when you break the law.

I went to another hyena in the clan for help, his name is Mkuba. Strong fella, impressive size, and I'm pretty much convinced he's half hippo with his strength. He's also been neglected by his parents, so he does act a bit strange, but he's a pretty chill guy I guess. He's also like Mshale in a way that he can talk with anybody about anything.

That following night, we had went over into Janja's territory, a section that was separating us from the rest of the Outlands.

The two hyenas that had chased me as a cub were now some of Janja's goons, and they patrolled there during the night. There names were Jafari, the older one, and Giza, the younger one.

Mkuba and I had managed to position a boulder just above a small cave earlier that day. We had left and now come back so that way we wouldn't catch anyone's attention. The cave only had one entrance to it, so it would be a shame if... someone got trapped in there.

I quickly placed some bait in there, then went back into hiding. Sure enough, when they came around the corner, they couldn't keep their grubby little greedy paws off of it.

Jafari took the bait. He went inside the cave, but Giza stood outside, which was even better in my opinion!

I gave Mkuba the signal, and he pushed the boulder off the edge of the rock face and trapped Jafari inside the cave.

Once the two were seperated, I told Mkuba "Nice work, you can go home now."

"But what about?"

I interrupted him, "I'll deal with him, your services are no longer required, go home."

He turned around and ran off.

I quickly pounced on Giza, pinning him on the ground.

He yelled "Let me go! Let me go!" as he squirmed around, but my grip was to tight. Soon enough, he recognized me. "Hey, you're that one cub that we chased! Hey bro, it's the cub from years ago!"

"My name is Nabii"

He suddenly looked scared, "What do you want with us?" He said with his voice trembling.

I just took in the situation, I couldn't help but smile.

"Is this all there is? Is this really the guys the big bad Janja got to keep us at bay? How pathetic..."

Jafari yelled from behind the boulder "You don't call my little brother pathetic!"

"I'll get to you later, so right now you just sit idly by and listen to the little talk your brother and I am gonna have!"

"You leave my brother alone or so help me!" Jafari screamed.

I ignored him, Giza was scared by this point My grip never letting up on him, I said.

I took my paw, and buried deep into his right eye socket. He immediately began screaming as I tried to tear his eye out.

The crimson red began to flow.

Jafari yelled for me to stop, to spare his brother, but I couldn't, my heart was pounding, it was the first time I was actually murdering someone, not hunting for food. Actual, murder. It all felt so surreal, the thought that now, his life was in my paws, and it was slowly slipping away like sand that you're trying to hold. To be honest, it wasn't something I enjoyed, but it had to be done to prove a point to Janja's clan. Besides, I would grow to know this feeling again very soon.

I did stop for a moment, "Hear me Jafari, before you starve in there, there is one thing I want you to tell Janja"

And then I ripped in to the brother, tearing into him. Finally, after the jerking stopped, after the screaming had ended, I stood there, and said,

"Tell Janja... that in the end... he will always kneel"

Jafari was crying.

I left my markings and reclaimed the territory.