The Ghost from the Desert

(Set March 31st. Open to all but particularly dogs and higher ups)

The darkness masked her approach.

After weeks of skirting around the borders, dodging the patrolling hyenas and watching everything with keen eyes; Ze'eva made her first true steps into the Outlands. She had been cautious before throwing her lot in with this army, life had taught her to look before she leapt. But today would be the day...or night or whatever time it truly was in the obscuring darkness. Now was her time to step from the shadows and make herself known.

She dragged with her a freshly butchered zebra foal, its throat torn out by her fangs. She hoped this offering would be an acceptable one because she knew her presence couldn't have gone completely unnoticed by all. This would be her appeasement, proof of good intentions to smooth things over.

Besides, she didn't want the hyenas to be set on her. She couldn't outrun an entire pack of them.

Finally, when the termite mounds loomed large, she dropped her prize and took a few steps back. Lifting her head she breathed deep before letting out one bone-chilling howl into the darkness.

"AWOOOOOOOOOO!"

This was it. No turning back.

 A pair of amber eyes snapped open through the darkness as the howl pierced it. A low growl emanated from the darkness as the eyes frowned and dirty white teeth flashed open in a wicked grin. The monster crocodile pushed himself up from the pool of dry mud he had been wallowing in, and crawled forwards towards the dog in the darkness.

 Makuu stopped a few meters from her where she was visible, and his snout raised and lowered as he looked her over. "You gonna eat that?" he rumbled, nodding at the zebra foal. "Cause if you were, it probably wasn't smart to go howlin' about it like that. Food is pretty scarce here, and those cats and dogs go mad for whatever piece of it they can find."

 He paused, and then lowered his head. Claws clicking against the dirt, he strode closer to her. "You must be new here, is that right?" he asked with a mixture of mocking and interest. Then his head lunged down and grasped the zebra foal around the middle, and his scores of deadly teeth began to dig in to the poor foal. So what if it was meant as an offering to someone of a higher status? Makuu was pretty well respected as it was, and if Scar wasn't fast, then he could be last.

Ze'eva stood protectively over her kill. Her howl had been to alert the residents of the Outlands but this was not what the she-wolf was hoping for. The crocodile was clearly a greedy creature but if she had anything to say about it then it wouldn't be getting a piece of her kill that she had worked for. However, the crocodile lunged anyway, snapping it's jaws around the middle of the dead foal and dragging it away.

She was quick to react, giving a low growl, Ze'eva sprung after the crocodile before it could make off with too much of the meat. A crocodile could be a dangerous foe but Ze'eva had gone toe-to-toe with more ferocious foes than the reptile and she had to fight them once or twice for a scrap of food in the desert. She was not going to have her plan ruined by a greedy so-and-so. The wolf was quick to smack the crocodile's nose and head repeatedly in hopes of getting it to release its grasp, snapping her jaws and barring her fangs. 

"That is not for you." she snarled, placing a protective paw on top of the foal's flank "That is for the ruler of this place and no one else. An offering to prove my loyalty and skill. Perhaps they may share with you if they see fit but until then I wouldn't test it if I were you."  

It was it's move now. It could either back off or Ze'eva would have to use more drastic means to defend her kill.

The crocodile gave a strangled roar mingled with a hiss as he was attacked on the nose. He recoiled sharply with a growl and then frowned at the wolf through bared teeth. "Don't pick fights you can't win girl." he hissed, but made no move.

Then Ze'eva placed her paw on the zebra foal and claimed it was for the leader of the Outlands, and Makuu leered, which turned into a full on wicked cackle. "HAH! You're giving that sorry thing? To King Scar? There's barely enough meat on that to feed you! If anything, he'll take it as an insult, and set his Queen or his rabid hyenas on you. The only way you can 'prove yourself' around these parts is by showing you can handle yourself in a fight!"

 "Look, if you want to see King Scar and Queen Zira, I can take you too 'im, but ditch the zebra. If you walk through those mounds with that in your moth, you will be attacked, even if it is just a scrap. You don't wanna get caught with that, trust me." he leered. She practically already had been. "Give it here," he smiled with hooded eyes, "and I'll let you have the head."

"You underestimate me." Ze'eva growled in response.

She was not stupid nor was she easily daunted by a challenge. After all, in the harsh lands she had lived in, it didn't pay to be foolish or unwilling to risk in the hopes for a reward. Besides, how long could this crocodile really hold out for? She knew their kind. They were good for a brief flash but couldn't sustain their attacks long when not in the water. She would have the upper hand if she could only grab the zebra and make a quick escape from the troublesome crocodile.

"If it is such a meager portion then why would so many fight for it? I have watched this place. Any offering would likely be accepted seeing how poorly you all manage when feeding yourselves." she stated. Her weeks of scouting the Outlands had not been for nothing. She knew how desperate the situation was here and the lands surrounding were not too much better off. Better a small meal than none at all. 

"I will say once more and not again, cold blood," she growled, using the insult she'd heard levelled at the reptiles before "give me that foal or you'll get more of the same and my teeth as well."

"Because the King gets all the best cuts, and only the best will do for the King. The rest of us have to fight tooth and claw for any scrap we can get." he hissed, narrowing his eyes, levelling up his odds should it come to a fight. A wolf was far leaner, and lighter than he, and if it was a full-on fight then Makuu would most certainly win. But she was most likely to snatch the foal and run around him at a speed he could not follow at. Then Scar and his higher generals would see his mistake in letting her get away and most likely punish him for it. Not worth it.

 He leered and narrowed his eyes at her further taunts, and then yanked his massive club-like head upwards. The body of the zebra foal was dumped at Ze'eva's paws, but the right hind leg was still clenched between Makuu's grinning teeth. "That's your compromise." he told her, then threw back his head, tossed the leg in the air and caught it with a 'SNAP'. He chugged the appendage down his long sinuous throat and finished with a satisfied 'Ahh'. "You learn to make them out here."

"Look, if you want to get to Scar, then I'll take you to him now, or his Queen Zira. But don't say I didn't warn ya if you get pounced upon by some giant leopard or other while you have that in your moth." he scoffed, and turned to slink away, hoping she would follow.

If anything, he hoped the foal did make it Scar, he wanted to see what is reaction to such a meagre offering would be. He had spared the wolf a fight, but only because he wanted to see what the other ruthless denizens of the Outlands would do to her.

The crocodile spoke as if she was ignorant but Ze'eva supposed her presence had gone more unnoticed than she had believed. She knew very little of Scar beyond what she had seen of him (which was little as he seemed to confine himself to the den) but the crocodile's words didn't surprise her. Of course he would only have the finest and most choice parts, he seemed the type to her. Lions, from what she had seen, were nothing if not wholly convinced of their own superiority over all other species. It was definitely no surprise that those considered lesser than the cats would receive merely scraps and leftovers instead of proper meals.

"I'm more than prepared to defend myself." Ze'eva sniffed, taking what remained of her kill and dragging it far out of the crocodile's reach. She was not going to let it take any more than he already had and she was quickly tiring of him. Better he show her the way to the true recipients of her offering than stay around and chomp down on more.

"Take me to King Scar then, if you believe I can't handle myself." 

Gripping her foal securely by its remaining hind leg, Ze'eva eyed the crocodile waiting for it to do whatever it thought was suitable. She did hope that perhaps King Scar or Queen Zira would be more receptive of her than the reptile was especially when she came bearing a gift. She hoped, at least.

"Yoooohoooooo! Makuuuuuuuu!"

A chubby dark crocodile slid her body up across the desert sand. He's lost her again! How could that have happened? He’d sent her slaughtering fish and she’d watched him walk away in the dust. But now he was there! She grinned wildly, thick tail batting back and forth in a dog-like wag. She batted her eyes at him and snuggled up next to the croc next to her. “The fish I caught you’s by the river! I figured we could have a nice meal…” Her head whipped to the side, eyes narrowed.

“Who’s she?” Not that she thought this hairy beast was competition. “Is she trying to take food from you!? Nobody takes food from Makuu! Nobody!” Her teeth bared as she stared towards the wolf.

“Who’re you…coyote?” She’d never seen a wolf before but coyotes ran through the Central American desert like big fuzzy rats. They also tasted pretty good…

The appearance of another reptile from seemingly nowhere put Ze'eva on edge. She stood protectively over her kill, her hackles raised and barring her fangs in case another attempt was made to steal her foal. Two crocodiles were too much of a match for her, she could only deal with one and only the second if she had a true pack behind her...but she was alone. She couldn't fight so she would have to stall until she could find her way to the rulers of the Outlands.

"I'm Ze'eva for that's what I am: a she-wolf." she replied to the second crocodile which had appeared, he chose to let the insult of being refered to as a coyote slide "And it was not his food to take. It was not for him as I said, it is for King Scar and Queen Zira."

She assumed the female was the male's mate and the sight of her affection towards him made her heart ache. She longed for her own lost mate, somewhere out there if he was even still living. She turned her head away towards the termite mounds. This would be her life now. There was no use in dwelling on the past and lost loves, Ze'eva would have to move forwards.

"You keep tellin' yerself that then." he leered back at the canine. Even Makuu had had no idea what he was getting himself into when he first crossed the river to the Outlands. Though he could bully and intimidate most of the army into submission; killer lions, giant bears, huge elephants, and dinosaurs, took the cake.

 "All-right," he said, more evenly. There was nothing more to be gained by throwing insults around. Hey, maybe once they'd walked enough, he could whip around and snatch the foal from her mouth. He was the master of stealth after-all.

 Makuu began crawling towards the shadowy figures of the termite mounds in the distance, with the stranger wolf in his tow. "He lives in the highest one of those, but I'll take you to the Queen instead. She's the one to get stuff done around here." He was about to go on about the lions in charge, when he heard her;

 "Yoooohoooooo! Makuuuuuuuu!"

 Oh Fuck.

 "Come on! Keep up will you?" he snapped with sudden harshness at Ze'eva, and began an awkward crocodile gallop as fast he could go. But then he was nearly toppled to one side as the female pressed into him. He stopped with a frown, eye-brow twitching. Bianaca.

 When she had first came to the Outlands, Makuu had actually liked Bianca, to a certain degree. He always was an arrogant bastard and loved being flirted with and loved to flirt back. Turns out he had been sending the wrong messages to the wrong crocodile. From that moment on she practically had not left his side. She always chose to swim right behind or beside him in river-patrols, she always managed to be curled up beside him when the float slept, and when they were feeding on a big carcass, she always made sure her snout was just inches away from his. It was more than Makuu could take at this point.

 "Stand down, Bianca." he said after a while, fixing his gaze straight ahead and deliberately not looking at her. "She's a new recruit, come to enlist in the army. I'm taking her to Lady Zira. So if you don't mind..." he hissed pointedly, looking down his snout at her. If Makuu had known Ze'eva thought the two reptiles were mates, he might have eaten her there and then.

"Stand down, Bianca. She's a new recruit, come to enlist in the army. I'm taking her to Lady Zira. So if you don't mind..."

“Oh. Okie dokie.” She didn’t move, however, and snuggled closer, tongue poking out of her mouth in a doofy affectionate grin. She did lean off of him finally and turned her googly eyes towards the wolf again. She would listen to Makuu but she would NOT listen to this she-wolf.

“I don’t know what a wolf is,” she admitted, “You look like a coyote. So that’s what I’ll call you. A coyote.” She blinked towards the dust of the outlands. “Queen Zira’s going to give that gift to the cubs she has. Little bitty white things.”

She placed her claw on top of Makuu’s. “We shall take you there!” She said with a wide, crocodile grin.

Ze'eva tried not to let her annoyance show on her face "If that suits you." she managed calmly. A coyote? She was better than those opportunistic scavengers, at least she hunted for her meals most of the time instead of stealing the hard work of others. The thought of being constantly referred to as a coyote rankled her more than she would let on. She would not give the reptiles the pleasure of seeing her annoyance.

At this rate she would never get to actually meet with King Scar and Queen Zira with these two reptiles hanging around. She was tempted to just leave them and head for the tallest termite mound which the male crocodile had previously pointed out.

"You say the Queen has cubs?" she said, trying to direct their attention back to her original purpose "I suppose my offering will not go as unwanted as you first suggested. Can you please take me to her then?" The wolf knew that any decent meal would be warmly received by a mother with young. After all, hunting was hard with cubs underfoot and so the Queen would now rely on steady meals coming in from the other hunters to keep her supplies of milk up/

Makuu retained his stony frown as Bianca mushed his cheek up against his twitching eye. He began growling the moment Bianca left his side to talk to the wolf, and he started to walk immediately. The sooner he took Ze'eva to Scar, the sooner he could get the both of them off of his ridged back.

 Bianca tried to clasp claws with him, but without looking sideways, he niftily swept his foot out from under her and into the air flippantly that would probably trip her. He snarled with irritation as he attempted to put some distance between himself and the sow croc. He muttered sourly under his breath when the wolf spoke, imitating her immaturely for only himself to here. "_{Ooh I suppose my offering will not go as you first suggested."} Then he coughed and raised his voice, answering her first question. "Yes. Two boys." Then half-to-himself but still audible, he added, "Snot-nosed, bratty-little buggers that they are."

 They were entering the main area of the Outlander Camp now, and termite mounds were surrounded them on all sides. On these perched the rag-tag assortment of animals that made up the army; mostly hyenas and lions, with good scatterings of big cats, snakes and crocodiles, bears, vultures, and even some other wolves. Makuu paid them no attention except when snarling at the smaller ones to get out of the way. He did not stop even for the Guard Hyenas situated at either side of the entrance to the largest termite mound, merely snapping his jaws and watching as they stood to attention.

"Follow me." he drawled irritably to his followers.

Makuu moving his claw DID make the chubby female topple over. She landed on her side with a small thud. She blinked a few times before turning towards Makuu who was moving forwards to take the wolf away. There was no way that she was going to let him go alone! What if something happened? She scrambled to her feet and lumbered towards him, a grin on her face as she made it up towards him, tail whipping behind her as she passed the wolf.

"He's our float leader," she whispered to the other female, "Isn't he out of sight? He's the bessssst!" After saying those words to Ze'eva, Bianca worked her way next to Makuu. She mimicked him as he growled towards the pair of hyenas before turning to him with a grin, hoping to get a grin of approval.

"Are we gonna just leave her? Or stay? Maybe SCAR will give us a reward, huh, Makuu?" She batted her eyes flirtatiously at him again.