would you be willing to help us? Putting it simply, we need you to go back and talk to your rogue associates, and see if they will assist us in a war against Obbler.'

Mahiri cackled louder than before. His eyes glimmered and he flexed his claws in apparent delight. ' Oh-ho, yes indeed, sire. I will certainly will! And I'll fight alongside you myself!'   Jot suddenly returned from his investigation. 'He really did dig himself out!' He stared at his parents, and upon seeing their faces, his own expression became quizzical. 'Did I hear somebody mention a fight?'

'Yes, Jot. War,' said Jafiya.

'War!'

'Yes, that's right. Now, go hunt something down for Mahiri, son. I'll explain everything to you and your sisters later, back at the camp.'

'So when are we going to war, my love?' asked Jet as she and Jafiya headed for the very centre of the oasis where their family camp lay. Her question seemed humorously casual, but her face could not have been more serious.
 

'When all is ready. When we have strong allies.' Jafiya licked Jet's muzzle. 'And when the cubs are trained, don't fear. But the time is just around the corner. Jet, are you with me?'

He knew he didn't need to ask that, and Jet even told him so, along with with a headbutt to his shoulder - and laughing for the first time in a while. 'I'll be with you to the end, Jaf, we'll all be with you . . . If it's war, then war it shall be.''
 

 

 

CHAPTER III

'Now Meno . . . ' Comoros whispered, before leaping. It was an uncheckable, blind leap in the pitch blackness that cold night, and for a moment Comoros wondered which direction he was going - across the abyss, or down into it.   Suddenly he hit a wall of hard earth, painfully crushing his face into it. His body jarred all the way through before slumping like a doll to the ground, which he knew to be a narrow path. It hurt like mad. But he'd taken the risk and made the jump. That was worth anything.

Thump. 

'Meno?' Comoros breathed, squinting in the dark.

'Yes,' came a whispered reply. 'Let's get out of here.'
  Immediately they were slinking along a path steeply sloping upwards, pressing close to the earth cliff to their left, knowing there was a terrible drop on their off-side. In the night, in which nothing could be seen, they were nothingness - not even shadows - simply one with the dark.

'It would have been handy to have a moon to see by,' thought Comoros, creeping along in the lead, as his paw nearly slipped into the great gorge. 'But then, this wouldn't have worked on a moonlit night . . . ' He glanced up at the cliff tops, where he knew there were guards - guards who would not dare think their captives would jump from a precarious rock pillar prison, across an abyss fathoms deep and onto a narrow pathway, all in the smothering raven gloom of midnight. Yet, the captives had.
  'We're nearly there, I think,' hissed Meno. 'Watch out - fireflies.'
  Comoros nodded, ducking - as low as he could - the warm glow of tiny flying insects that he'd unsuspectingly approached, that floated above the path and that might easily help guards pick him out. These insects were the only lightsource in the night - more little groups of them lay ahead at intervals wherever patches of fly traps grew, the scent of the carnivorous plants attracting all manner of bug life.
Comoros and Meno Mosso could feel the night breeze blowing into their faces as the path led them closer and closer to the clifftops. They were coming out of the shelter of the great towering sandy walls which lined the abyss. The path was becoming less sheer. Suddenly, it wound around a corner, to the left. They were out of the gorge.
'Whoa,' snapped Comoros, stopping at the corner and speedily reversing, pushing Meno back. 'Guards.'

They retraced their steps a feet feet, due to a large swarm of bright fireflies that was dwindling at the corner, around which they listened. They could hear cracked voices; there were three old lions, a pair of males and a female. The lioness appeared to be greatly annoyed after having presenting the two lions with a meal.

'Look, I got the lizard for you, you eat it,' she was whingeing. 'We can't be picky in times like this. And I came all the way here to this horrible abyss to give it to you and Mulu, Don!'

'Yeah, ''times like this'',' scoffed one of the males, Don, who was chief of the guards. 'Like now that Ochoyo is king! If we had problems back when King Bornach was alive, well, we've got 'em worse these days. Does his current Highness really think we're all fit enough to fight Obbler's lot? Pfeh, the lizard looks poisonous. Let Mulu eat 'ave it all, if he wants it.'

'I don't want it!' squawked Mulu's voice.

'Well, use it to feed the prisoners then!' cried the lioness, before her feet could be heard tramping off into the distance.

Comoros and Meno waited with bated breath as there was a long silence.
  Suddenly Don spoke out in a growl. 'Well, Mulu, go feed that thing to the prisoners!'
'But it's dark, Don! I might fall into the gorge!'
'Oh, there are the fireflies -'

'Not near the rock pillar!'

'- Besides, you forgot to feed the prisoners today. Ochoyo wouldn't be happy to find out they'd been neglected.'

'You just said that that the lizard's poisonous! The prisoners'll die or summit!'

'Don't backchat to me, lieutenant! Well . . .  we'll just tell his Highness we tried torture on the captives, to get them to join his side. He wants them as fighters, as you know, but they're so stubborn maybe poison's a good idea . . . Well, go on then!'

Comoros nodded at Meno, as Mulu made a loud fuss of picking up the lizard and began coming towards them, paws dragging and making whimpering noises. His whines turned into a muffled yell as he turned the corner into the abyss and was knocked out by a hefty blow from Comoros's paw.   'Mulu?' Don shouted, hearing Mulu's cry. 'Oh, he hasn't fallen in, has he?' he added, voice becoming a concerned grumble. The Chief Guard tramped after his soldier.

Meno Mosso lept out from around the path corner into the firefly light and rammed Don to the ground like a golden blur. He shoved the old guard close to the path edge and hissed. 'Make move or sound and I'll push you in!'

Don's mouth clamped shut.

Comoros materialized out of the gloom, dragging the half-stunned Lieutenant Mulu, who was dropped beside Don.
  Comoros and Meno stood over the guards.

To Don and Mulu, in the glimmering light the two escaped prisoners were a sight of power and strength; Meno Mosso, fur golden as the sun, with his brown mane patched with dark and light, bristling to seemingly twice its size, and his cold, emotionless red-on-gold eyes; and Comoros, full name Comoros Loyall Counterattack, with his blue eyes staring from under a solemn frown, and the muscles of his long face and jowls - rich chestnut daubed with white and deep brown markings - bunching as his lips curled in a growl, and his own huge, dark mane standing tall, more than compensating for his short but stocky build. 

These were the Fuuno, elite fighters of Emperor Obbler - and they been unjustly imprisoned.
  Don and Mulu awaited their fate.
  'Meno, keep watch while I deal with these two,' rumbled Comoros.   Meno swiftly disappeared into the darkness.   Comoros snapped his gaze upon the two cowering lions. They quailed visibly as he lifted his right paw . . . and offered it to them.

'I offer my paw,' murmured Comoros, as the guards looked in bewilderment at his claws, noticing there were only three digits where there should have been four. 'It is a proposal of alliance, of fellowship, of looking out for your fellow lion . . . I offer it to you. Will you help me overthrow Ochoyo and bring prosperity back to your pride?'

Don and Mulu looked at each other. It was a quick decision they made with that look. They knew where their loyalty lay - with their pride.

Don nodded at Comoros. 'We're with you, sir,' he whispered.

'Good,' said Comoros, allowing the pair to stand and leading them through the darkness to where Meno was keeping watch. 'But we'll need all the help we can get. Don, how many under your command would be willing to aid us?'   'All,' growled the chief of the guards. 'Ochoyo is a tyrant an' a weak ruler. He lets the wrong lions do the wrong jobs. There are many who wish him got rid of. But there are also many, many who support him -  mainly the bigwigs that get the perks. Thinking about them I - I don't think we'll be able do it, sir, though I'm willing to try.'

Comoros halted in his tracks and turned to Don, a small smile breaking his solomn face. 'You didn't think we'd escape the abyss prison either, though.'
 

Don gave him a crooked smile back. 'Well, no, sir, no I didn't.'

'We'll overcome Ochoyo and his lot. You'll see,' said Comoros, firmly. 'Let's gather your guards. We begin the overthrow tonight.'

 

 

BOOK 2: Visitors (Un)Welcome

 

 

CHAPTER IV

Somewhere in the land of the Tribe of Stones, that rock-riddled

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