-last edited on Oct 19, 2022 18:36:09 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Oct 19, 2022 18:31:15 GMT
Chapter 8
"Leodus??" a baffled Logos shakily rose to his feet, his confusion turning to anger as the realization of what just happened settled in. "WHY?! She left my mother to perish--!" "Yes, but she's my mother, Logos," Leodus pleaded, the primal gleam now gone from his eyes. "Please, calm down. You can't just end Leia's life like that! Be reasonable; what she did may have seemed unfair, but like she said, you probably wouldn't be here today otherw--" "So, you side with HER, brother?!" Logos snarled, picking up his knife from the floor without taking his eyes off the other two leopards. "No one is 'siding' with anyone here," Leodus insisted, putting his hands up. "Please, Logos! Do you realize what you're doing?! Look at the bigger picture here! Let's be logical about this--" "Ah, so you are just like her," Logos whispered, then started chuckling. "Like mother, like son, eh?!" "It's not like that, Logos!" Leodus argued as Leia got to her feet next to him. "I feel the same confusion and frustration at all of this as you do, brother! I just recognize that the situation is complex. Very few conflicts, of any scale, that we learned about in the history books ever had an objectively 'right' or 'wrong' side. "Leia's inability to feel compassion, which she can't help, didn't stop her from saving your life! Why are you being so stubborn? Why have you become like this--?!" Leodus' words were interrupted as his half-brother's chuckling grew into hysterical laughter. "'Become like this'?!" Logos echoed between his laughs. "I've never changed, I'm the same as I've ALWAYS BEEN! I have ALWAYS understood feelings, COMPASSION, more than you two EVER DID! "No, wait... I see, it is YOU who has changed, Leodus! Yes, of course... you've fallen victim to Leia's influence, which means you are weaker than I... and as the Doctor herself said, the strong are meant to lead the weak! I will save you, Leodus, and make you see reason, as any good brother would--!" "You have it utterly backwards, Logos," Leia interrupted monotonously, "or should I say, Subject #001? For you are certainly undeserving of that name. Unlike Leodus, who has become mature enough to understand the bigger picture and its complexities, you think the world revolves around you; that what you personally see as 'evil' is objective and inarguable, as if it were proven science; that you get to execute or 'convince' anyone who disagrees with your stances. "This is exactly the idiotic and illogical mindset of so many kings that I wanted to prevent with the Ultimate Prince Project. Realizing now that royal manchildren like you are apparently an inevitable universal constant, even in these contained and humbling conditions, is as fascinating as it is frustrating." Logos glared at Leia. "It's no surprise that someone like you would perceive morality and a rightful sense of justice that way..." He pointed his knife at her as if it were a sword.
"Leia, you are a stain on this world," the white leopard snarled, "and one that I will wipe clean. The fact that I defeated you means that you, too, are weaker than I. Therefore, in accordance with the rules of nature, you should be accepting of my verdict for you; seeing as the strong are meant to lead the weak, like I said. Like you said." "Perhaps I shouldn't have used that figure of speech," Leia admitted, "since I clearly instilled a strict guideline on accident. Now you're a complete and total slave to a belief." "Figure of speech, guideline, rule, I don't care." Logos waved his free hand dismissively. "My justice is still objectively correct compared to your sociopath-ism. If acting in accordance with the rules of nature itself is being a 'slave to a belief' according to you, then that proves you have gone against nature, just as much as one disrupting the Elemental Balance, or stripping all the chi from Cavora. "You--and, now that I think about it, everyone involved in this project--should feel honored to meet your end at the hands of your rightful king...the one you'd made more powerful than yourselves with these experiments; ironic, yet very fitting." Leodus stepped in front of Leia, placing himself between his mother and half-brother. The Leopard Prince spread his arms out defensively as his golden eyes locked on Logos; his firm stance and kingly glare contrasting with his now meek voice. "Logos, I ask again...do you realize what you're doing, what you're saying? I--I can't let you do this--" Logos' mouth contorted into something between a grimace and a toothy grin as he interrupted the younger leopard. "So despite agreeing to my breakout plan, you've not ended up freeing yourself, Leodus. Leia has it backwards; you're the one who's become a slave. "It's truly sad to see you in such a pitiful state...brother, think upon the logic I've presented. I urge you, don't let this weakling who deceives and manipulates the strong tell you what to think any longer!" Leodus' jaw set, and a newfound sternness entered his voice. "Sad to see me in 'such a pitiful state'? That's my line, Logos. 'Logic'?? You're not the one being logical here, but the one who's been consumed by emotion and an obsession with what is 'good'. Logos' eyes narrowed, yet his grimace-grin remained. "You don't even realize you've been molded into a perfect pawn by Leia. I mean, what can I even say?" The white leopard shook his head, then suddenly dashed to his left (Leodus' right) to circle around toward Leia. Yet Leodus moved just as fast, blocking the way to Leia once again; and locking his now glowing red eyes with Logos' long enough to activate the paralysis. The elder prince became frozen mid-run, and the knife fell out of his limp hand. As Leodus kept his eyes locked on Logos, Leia moved again, quickly walking in front of Leodus and picking up the knife.
As she subsequently bore the knife forward toward Logos, Leodus saw this out of the corner of his eye. "Leia, no!" He turned to his mother, breaking his hold on Logos, and tackled her just before the knife could connect with its target; the weapon clattered to the floor yet again. "He is threatening to massacre our tribe's leaders!" Leia sputtered as she and Leodus tumbled into a heap, "There's nothing here we can use to restrain him, and both our 'gazes' only last for so long! The threat must be neutralized!" Cold, humorless laughter erupted, and Leodus turned as he stood. "And now she shows her true colors once more." Logos affirmed between his laughs, as he picked up both the knife and an orb of chi from the bag he'd taken out of the kitchen. After plugging the chi, he talked to Leodus without looking at him. "I see now that you'll keep stopping me from executing Leia, so for your sake, I'll reluctantly refrain from doing so, at least for now." As Leodus got to his feet and tried to tackle Logos as well, the elder brother turned to him long enough to blast him back onto Leia with a savage chi-powered roar. Logos, grinning wildly, then took another chi orb out of the bag, seemed to consider something for a moment, and promptly swallowed the orb. A second chi aura briefly erupted out of him, as Logos roared once again. "Th-that's possible--?!" Leodus stammered, but his words were drowned out by his half-brother's primal roar, which didn't stop this time. "Yes," Leia shouted over the noise, "but a being of the standard body type isn't supposed to use multiple chi orbs at a time! Blast it! This, combined with his already unstable mental state, and the powers from the experiments--!" The white leopard's head presently snapped in an unnatural-sounding way to face the other two leopards, and Leodus saw that Logos' eyes were now completely consumed by an opaque blue glow, his pupils nowhere to be seen. Logos' entire body shook, including his jaws, as his teeth rapidly clattered like a wood-cutting machine. And as the extremely bright light from the blue eyes washed over Leodus' line of sight, he realized that he couldn't move any part of his body, excepting (barely) his mouth. Leia's frustrated, gurgling snarl behind Leodus' right ear told him that she was having the same experience. His body twitching, Logos' head snapped toward the spot in the room where Leodus had dropped his knife. While Leia and Leodus went crashing back down to the floor as a result of the paralysis breaking off, the white (though now he was practically blue) leopard lunged for the knife, scooping it up with his free hand. With that, even as Leodus stumbled to his feet, the feral beast that was his brother charged out of the room, effortlessly blasting the door to his freedom from its hinges. "N-no!" Leodus heard Leia stammer behind him, as the dual-wielding Logos charged up the stairs, holding the knives out on either side of him.
"Come on!" Leia urged Leodus, stumbling toward the staircase. Leodus blinked as his mother began climbing the stairs. After so many years keeping him here, she was telling him to follow her out. Leia stopped on a stair and called back to him. "What, do you want to stay down there?" Leodus answered by walking (too exhausted to run) up the stairs behind Leia. He saw a rectangle of light at the top of the long staircase; the opening through which Logos smashed another door down. Leodus saw what remained of that door, splintered and strewn about, when he made it to the top of the stairs. He also saw leopards strewn about through the narrow hallway, looking to have suffered grievous injuries. "Logos did this?" Leodus asked blankly. Leia didn't pay the question much heed, instead continuously hissing out words Leodus didn't know. He assumed they were swears and curses. He quickly followed her through the hall, which he noticed looked about the same as the hall he'd known for his entire life; except instead of being lit by torches, there was a strange sort of light coming out of seemingly nowhere. It looked very different from chi-light as well. Is this... sunlight? Leodus thought, recalling the form of light he'd read about in books, but had never seen himself until now. The large, illustrious-looking double-doors at the end of the hall were splintered and thrown off their hinges, much like the ones Logos had smashed at the bottom and top of the stairway. Leodus' eyes went from the doorway to the interior of the room, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Logos stood at the far end of the room, before a massive window that was almost an entire wall's length and width. "Logos!" Leodus shouted whilst he and Leia both quickened their pace again. The snarling creature turned back toward them for merely a second, his eyes glowing blue and his pupils invisible. As he saw the two leopards approaching, however, Logos turned and jumped without hesitation, smashing through the window. The exhausted Leia and Leodus went as fast as they could to the window, and looked out into the space below. Leodus was overwhelmed for a moment by the sights and sounds; more leopards than he'd ever seen in one place were crowding around, between golden buildings large and small. They screamed and leapt aside as Logos, despite being injured by the broken glass now scattered across the ground (but having survived the fall thanks to the chi powering him, Leodus surmised) ran straight ahead through the crowd. Some leopards armed with weapons approached, but were immediately knocked aside by the white leopard. Leodus lost sight of his half-brother as Logos ran into the sea of buildings. "Well this is just fantastic..." Leia groaned beside him, and Leodus turned, noticing that she was now looking through the room they stood in. It was then that Leodus' mind, previously fixated on Logos, finally registered the contents of the room.
More leopards were strewn about the floor of the room, felled in the same manner as those in the hall. Two of them wore extremely detailed and colorful clothes that set them apart from the rest; and it was these two who now 'carried' the knives Logos had held, though not with their hands. Leia immediately moved toward the two strangely-dressed leopards, but a coughing voice from across the room spoke to her. "It's...too late...Leia..." stuttered a leopard in a plain brown cloak, sitting up against the wall to the left of the door (at Leodus and Leia's right, from where they stood) and clutching his abdomen. "Their Majesties...are...gone." Leia turned and walked toward the cloaked leopard, kneeling before him. "Hmm, you seem to be in critical condition as well." she observed monotonously. The cloaked leopard chuckled for a moment before coughing again. "Of course that's the first thing you'd say...upon seeing me in this state...Leia." His gaze shifted to Leodus, and they locked eyes for a moment. "So...this is...the other one. If only I could've...Well, I suppose it's too late for me to do anything now...As much as I don't want to, I can really only have you take my place, Leia...the LI is in your hands...and our tribe is in...his." The cloaked leopard looked at Leodus one more time, before his head drooped and he stopped moving. Suddenly, another voice rang out just as Leia was standing up. "Leodus...!" Leodus turned to see the male leopard in the overcomplicated clothing looking at him with half-closed eyes. Leodus stepped over to him and kneeled, since he'd noticed Leia doing the same with the other leopard. The old leopard, laying on his stomach, reached out his left hand and shakily touched it against Leodus' cheek. "My...son", he murmured, "I did watch you two grow up...but only...while you were asleep. I--I've made a terrible mistake...one that I've been punished for accordingly, it seems...Leodus...I'm sor--" The old leopard's face and hand fell then, hitting the floor. Leodus looked up to see Leia looming above him. "Um, h-how..." Leodus started, looking at the fallen leopard and then back at Leia, "...How should I...react to this?" Leia blinked, but before she could respond, a large group of leopards flooded into the room. "What happened here?!" Demanded the one leading the charge as he saw the scene before him. "Great Cavora..." Leia walked over to the leopard as the others surrounded Leodus and began assaulting him with questions about whether he was alright, unscathed, unhurt. He attempted to answer their questions and listen in on Leia's conversation simultaneously, but of the latter he only heard the last snippet. "...and assign more...empathetic caretakers to him. Clearly I wasn't fit for educating him in that regard..."
174 BR... Leodus held a neutral facial expression as he strode down the street, the sounds of crowds cheering on either side of him almost deafening. He wore the gaudy and colorful capes that his caretakers had insisted he don for the coronation, covering almost his entire body from the neck down, but he planned on removing them immediately after. Beneath that excess ceremonial clothing, he wore a now "complete" version of the Phoenix armor and robes that'd materialized on him when he first plugged fire chi as a child; though that, too, felt rather stiff, the combined pants and shoes of the armor tight on his lower body and feet. Luckily, he'd heard that he could later customize the armor's appearance to his liking, after the initial materialization through plugging fire chi at the Age of Becoming. Up ahead, he saw his caretakers, one male, one female, waiting for him on the podium. Leia wasn't present, which was understandable, as to the general public she was neither his biological mother nor the leopard who raised him. After the disaster three years prior, Leia had given Leodus over to more "empathetic" caretakers, a couple who filled the parental roles Leia could not. Over the past few years, these two "parents" had educated Leodus on ethics and morality, things that Leia hadn't been able to teach him and Logos due to her inherent lack of understanding of those concepts. Needless to say, the public was never told that the "snow leopard" who'd assassinated the King and Queen had in fact been the child of the former, but there was no getting around the fact that he'd been experimented on and driven insane, causing a public outcry for a time that prompted Leia to step down as the Leopard Head Scientist. She did, however, take charge of the Leopard Intelligence division (which Leodus later learned had been previously led by the cloaked leopard from that day). As such, Leia was likely watching Leodus' coronation, but from within the shadows of a building. Leodus wondered which window she was looking through. As Leodus stepped up onto the podium, his caretakers smiled proudly. To any observer, it would certainly appear as if these two had raised him from the start, rather than merely from the ages of fifteen to eighteen. Indeed, the explanation given to the public was that the Leopard King and Queen had made the hard decision to give their only son to foster parents after his birth, as a new initiative to keep the Prince safe from assassination; an apparent prediction that'd come true three years ago when the monarchs were slain. Thus, in the eyes of the Leopard Tribe, their previous monarchs were true heroes who'd saved their son's life and secured the future of the tribe, through a hard decision. To the Leopards aside from Leia, Leodus, and the Ruling Council, the Prince Project (at least in the form of Leodus being raised in a lab and experimented on) didn't exist, never did exist, and never would exist.
It struck Leodus as ironic that honesty was one of the virtues his caretakers had taught him, despite these complete lies that had been told to the masses. Meanwhile, Leia's warning all those years ago about the "truth" being altered and manipulated had been quite accurate. To the Leopard Tribe, Logos, or "Subject #001" was a pitiful yet monstrous creature of unknown origin who'd been raised alone, rather than Leodus' elder brother. The Ruling Council had been formed from the leaders of the Leopard Tribe's various divisions, having acted as regents for the past few years until Leodus reached the kingship age of eighteen. They'd been the ones to craft the false narrative and feed it to the public. Leodus' caretakers were both members of the council. Today was the day Leodus would become their superior. The Leopard Prince knelt on one knee as the Elder stepped before him, carrying a crown just as overly complex and flashy as the capes he'd been forced to wear. The sunlight reflected off the golden and jeweled helm so brightly that it was nearly blinding. While Leodus stared at the floor of the podium, the old leopard held the crown above his head, and the massive crowd went mostly silent. "As King of the Leopards," the Elder began, "do you swear to uphold the virtues that have been passed down by your ancestors for centuries: honesty--" Ironic, Leodus thought. "--courage, dignity, strength, and compassion?" the hypocrite continued. "...I do." Leodus answered after a pause. "Do you swear to put your people first, and to always put the best interests of the Leopard Tribe over your own interests, however damaging that may be to your own reputation and legacy?" How very ironic. "I do." Leodus answered, with no pause this time. "Then," replied the Elder, lowering the crown onto Leodus' head, "I proclaim you: Leopard King Leodus, second of his name, from now until the end of his days." The crowd erupted into cheers as King Leodus stood. He made a motion with his hand to tell the Elder and his caretakers to step back, off the podium even. They bowed deeply and did as told without question. Leodus turned toward the crowd, raising his hands and quieting them. "Please, my people," he spoke loudly over the cheering, "I have something to say to you, if you'll permit me." The crowd gradually silenced. "My first order as Leopard King," he began, "is to make wearing these garments optional." He threw off the thick cape and took the crown from his head, gently setting it on the floor of the podium. The crowd erupted into a mix of shocked gasps, laughter and applause. He heard the first of those responses from the Elder and his "parents" behind him. Leodus quieted the crown again. "My second order as Leopard King," he went on, "is to inform you of the identity of the assassin who took my parents' lives...since, after all, I just swore to be honest to my people."
The crowd became completely silent, while the council members standing behind the podium stuttered, almost attempting to stop their King, but knowing they couldn't. "His name is Logos, not 'Subject #001'" Leodus began, "and he is my half-brother." He gave the gathered leopards, those before and behind him, time to gasp, scream, roar, yell, and make any other instinctive sounds in response, before continuing. "Unlike myself, he was not born to the Leopard Queen," --well, some lies I'll have to keep intact, no way around that-- "but rather, a leopard who'd volunteered to act as a secret surrogate mother, at a time when it was believed that the Queen was unable to bear cubs. This was later discovered to not be the case when the King and Queen had me. "The mother of Logos had gone rogue for unknown reasons, and she ran north into the Arctic long before giving birth to him, which is why his fur turned white. Dr. Leia had been able to recover the cub, but not his mother, and his complete lack of a physical resemblance to the King or Queen as a result of this prompted my parents to not go through with the idea; instead entrusting Logos to Dr. Leia for research, and keeping his relation to my father secret." Leodus gave the tribe more time to process this information through their various shocked reactions, then resumed. "'Twas a complex matter, and dealing with complex matters such as these is one of my duties to you all, as your King. I'm not excusing Logos' crimes by any means, nor insinuating that he is the rightful Leopard King, but I am issuing an official order to search for the white leopard, and to capture him alive. Thank you for understanding." Leodus bowed his head, then walked briskly down the steps, off of the podium and back onto the gated-off street he'd walked down. On either side of him, the crowd was a mix of various reactions, understandably. Regardless, as those of the Ruling Council stood baffled and dumbstruck, practically frozen in place behind the podium, their new King didn't look back. And for the first time in almost three years, Leodus smiled.
"Eloquently done, Your Majesty", Leia said as she walked beside Leodus through an empty hall of the Golden Castle. "Though you did have to maintain some of the lies, you immediately showed yourself to be an honest leader, and put the Ruling Council in their place, in one fell swoop." Not Leia, nor anyone else had instructed Leodus to say what he'd said after his coronation, and he could tell she was impressed despite her usual monotonous tone. "I simply did what'd just been asked of me as the Leopard King," Leodus replied, "displaying honesty to the people, as promised. I wish that I could've told the fulltruth, but ah well..." "Now, speaking of your order to find and capture Logos," Leia began, and Leodus halted, "don't get too excited, as this is just a theory, but I believe Logos may have joined up with a certain colony in the Arctic."
"Well yes, I'd assume so, if he's still alive," Leodus resumed his walk. "Unless he's been surviving on his own for the past--" "Not just any colony," Leia clarified, "but one that seems to be detached from any of Chima's tribes, and run by a private army." "Hmm..." Leodus murmured as they entered the throne room. "A rogue, militaristic faction," Leia mused. "A good match for Logos in his current state, don't you think?" "You mean how he was the last time we saw him?" Leodus countered, remembering Logos disappearing between the Golden City's most distant buildings from the castle. He turned to the window, but this was a different room than the one the previous monarchs had been in when they met their end. "That was three years ago... Who knows what he's like now?" Leodus turned to the empty throne, and sat upon it. Luckily, it was more comfortable than he'd expected it to be. "Still though, how do you know about this colony?" "Twenty-one years ago," Leia explained, "the LI, under orders from His Majesty your father, monitored a peculiar young bear he'd become aware of. This bear, by the name of Barriss, seemed to be planning to create a colony for her tribe in the Arctic; the first in hundreds of years, at least to our knowledge. "This was reason enough for the Leopards to slip in and make sure she didn't disrupt the Elemental Balance by bringing fire chi into the Arctic; but by having one of our agents 'befriend' her, we learned that she wanted some sort of militaristic reform for the Bear Tribe, and, unsatisfied with their continued passive response, expressed her desire to create an independent army with her followers. "She stated that her faction would act as a mercenary group for hire by any tribe, that she and her husband had decided to go through with creating their Arctic colony, as a discreet base of operations for their private army...and that was that. Soon after her last conversation with our spy, Barriss and her followers completely disappeared without a trace, and we never saw or heard anything of them again. Those clever mercs had been much better at covering their tracks than they'd been letting on." "So this was before I was born, and yet you decided to never tell me about it until now?" Leodus asked. Leia raised an eyebrow over her monocle. "Was this information relevant to you at all before now? We haven't heard anything about Barriss' group since over two decades ago now, but I was still planning to tell you about this, like all things that may be of interest, after your coronation." "So, you just randomly correlated Logos to this faction?" "Not an entirely random correlation, no." Leia shook her head. "Recall the LI agent that I mentioned 'befriended' Barriss? She was Logos' mother." Leodus' eyes widened. "I see..." "After Barriss' disappearance, she shifted her focus to the Prince Project the following year," Leia crossed her arms, "and, well...the rest is history."
Leodus nodded. "Right, so you think Logos has that link to Barriss' group through his mother, and..." He trailed off, lost in thought for a moment. "...Wait, so does this mean you think his mother is alive as well, if she'd been rescued in time by Barriss' faction in the Arctic?" "It is...a possibility, yes." Leia answered. "Then...three years ago," he murmured, "why didn't you tell Logos--?!" Leia put her hands up. "First of all, I had never considered this until recently. Second of all, even if I had, something tells me a hunch that his mother may or may not have survived, thanks to a faction that may or may not be stationed in the Arctic, and may or may not even exist anymore...wouldn't have satisfied Logos any more than the answer I gave him." "Yes..." Leodus conceded. "Yes, you're right. Still though, about Barriss' faction...keep a lookout for them, if they do exist. If they're in the Arctic, they're obviously not using fire chi, because then we'd be feeling constant earthquakes under our feet, but carefully talking to them and learning their real intentions is something I'm interested in now." "Yes, Your Majesty," Leia agreed dutifully, bowing before striding out of the room. Giving his mother orders felt just as strange as Leodus had expected it would, but he'd simply have to get used to it.
***
A mere week had passed since the new Leopard King's coronation, before a delegation from another tribe arrived, requesting an audience with him. Leodus was told by the city guards that the group was from the Vulture Tribe, and headed by King Varn himself. In his mind, Leodus went over his knowledge of Varn and the Vultures' relationship with the Leopards, as he walked with his guards across the top of the Golden City's wall toward the landing pad. Thirty-one years ago now, Leodus thought, recalling the volume on modern history he'd just re-read a passage of in preparation for this meeting, during the second year of the Crocodile—Leopard War, then-Prince Varn met with my father the Leopard King, and was able to convince his own father to join the war effort, though to a lesser extent. This was in response to the Crocodiles' territorial expansions encroaching on the Vultures' territory in the Great Desert. During this time of fighting alongside the Vultures, one of them--what was his name...something von Donitz?--taught us naval combat and ship-building, which was how we got our fleet, and by extension, how we won the war by blockading the Crocodile Swamp. In spite of all this, we didn't officially ally with the Vultures during or after the war, and the most likely reason for that was my father's obsession with returning the Leopard Tribe to its state of 'absolute neutrality' in the public eye. No wonder King Varn has come here so soon after the coronation of a new Leopard King... Leodus put his thoughts aside as he halted a reasonable distance away from the landing pad, watching the helicopter's approach.
Leodus' cape--a plain, breathable maroon cloth that matched his Phoenix armor somewhat--billowed behind him in wake of the whirring helicopter blades, as the craft landed gracefully on the pad. The spin slowed until the blades stopped, and a silver side door slid opened, revealing three vultures. The one in the middle was most definitely King Varn, the bulky silver shoulder-pads of his chi harness setting him apart from the two vultures flanking him, who both wore the lighter harness variant. He also had a kingly air about him as Leodus would expect, despite his lack of a crown. His head was held high and in his silver eyes was an appropriate mix of strength and kindness. While King Varn's wings were the common gray of the vultures, the featherless skin of his head and limbs was white as snow; relatively uncommon compared to the vultures' usual purple or dark gray skin, but not unheard of. His leg wear was, surprisingly, padded dark green pants that fully covered his feet and were wrapped with a couple bandoliers, likely containing survival rations and spare parts for fixing weapons; his clothing all looked more like what a soldier would wear, Leodus realized. This made it immediately evident that Varn was a king who would be in the thick of battle himself; who would be the first to charge and the last to retreat, rather than relaxing on lavish furniture or hiding in a bunker as his people fought. Leodus greatly respected that. As the two kings and their respective guards met each other halfway and halted, they bowed almost simultaneously. "'Tis a pleasure and an honor to meet you, Leopard King Leodus," Varn said formally as he held out a hand. "Likewise, Vulture King Varn," Leodus echoed the sentiment as he shook other's hand with a firm grip. "I've had a perfect meeting room prepared; shall we go?" Valum nodded, the back corners of his long beak curling up into a smile. "Of course. Lead the way, King Leodus."
The meeting room was at the top of a high, thin tower overlooking the city. Eight completely open arches surrounded the round room and allowed for the cool outside breeze to pass through. Leodus knew that the Vultures appreciated this style of architecture. "I presume you're here to speak about an alliance?" Leodus asked as he and Varn sat down, their respective guards standing at their sides. "Getting right to the point, eh?" Varn chuckled. "A very admirable quality, in fact. Well, your presumption is correct, King Leodus. I'm sure you've read about the Vultures' and Leopards' somewhat recent history together; how I met with your late and great father to arrange for my tribe to join the Leopards' war effort against the Crocodiles?" Leodus nodded. He knew Varn was flattering him and his father; understandable, considering what the Vulture King wanted to gain here, but Leodus would need to test over the course of this conversation whether Varn was truly serious about an alliance and all that entailed.
"Indeed," Leodus answered. "It was thanks to the Vultures that we won the war." That wasn't flattery; the war may have come to a stalemate or a Crocodile victory if that peculiar vulture hadn't taught the Leopards how to build and operate battleships. "You are too kind," Varn replied, bowing his head; his long beak almost touched the table. "Though even with our side having emerged victorious, that war truly opened my eyes. The period of peace that my generation had been graced with came to an abrupt end with the then-new Crocodile King's expansions, encroaching on the Vultures' and Leopards' territories and forcing our hands. "I'm not saying that triggered a series of nonstop wars, because it obviously didn't but...well, Chima's atmosphere has certainly been changing ever since then." "True," Leodus pretended to agree. He elected not to say, 'I was raised in an enclosed space, so I can't have perceived any difference between tribal relations during that time.' Valum gazed out one of the archways. "I'm also not saying that we should distrust all of our fellow tribes, but some seem to have been emboldened by the Crocodile's actions. Have you heard about the Mammoth Tribe's abrupt revolution five years ago?" "I have," Leodus confirmed. His caretakers had brought him up to date on the Mammoths' revolution, which had occurred two years before the 'Logos incident'. A couple by the names of Melko and Maulryene had overthrown their tribe's original monarchy with shocking ease; it was rumored that Maulryene and some of her friends had used 'witchcraft' to achieve this. "Right, but have you heard that the Mammoths allied with the Sabertooth Tigers immediately afterward?" Valum asked. "The new Mammoth Queen Maulryene is apparently quite chummy with the current Sabertooth Queen, Sabradia. Some suspect that the latter aided the former in overthrowing the Mammoths' old guard, making the revolution even faster...but that's just conjecture. "Anyhow, the Mammoths and Phoenix have been at each other's throats for as long as I can remember because of something that happened in the past, and that's not even mentioning the historically messy relationship between the Sabertooths and Lions." "You think Maulryene and Sabradia are planning to go to war with the Lions and Phoenix?" Leodus asked. "I wouldn't go that far," Valum held up his hands, "but it's undeniable that tensions are even higher now, what with such a shockingly quick coup followed by the union of two tribes who allegedly despise two other tribes--the ones who distribute both types of chi, no less--and all in the wake of a war that involved information control and 'battles' fought with propaganda; a new kind of warfare." Leodus rubbed his chin in thought. The Crocodiles had indeed tried to flip the neutral tribes' perception of the war, making the Vultures and Leopards out to be 'ganging up against them' even though the Crocs had been the initial aggressors.
The Lion Tribe had ended up responding by founding the Chima Public Newspaper, a proudly unbiased news source, after the war. It was through that source that the account of the war was put together in the history book Logos and Leodus had read, at Leia's behest. Leodus hadn't realized it when he was a child, but the Crocodile–Leopard War was likely the reason Leia had become so wary of the 'manipulation of the truth' (though Leia herself would've been only eleven years old at the end of the war). "Now, our tribes, on the other hand..." Varn put his elbows on the table, enclosing one c-shaped hand around another. "Were we to ally, it wouldn't give the other tribes any reason to be afraid. An official alliance between the Vultures and Leopards is what has been expected ever since the war, after all. "It wouldn't even break the Leopards' 'neutral until attacked' doctrine, as the Vultures have the same stance. Think of it like a faction having its north-stationed branch, the Leopards, and its south-stationed branch, the Vultures; with one only marching to war when the other has been attacked." "The Leopards are stationed here in the northwest of Chima," Leodus mused, "and the Vultures, to the southeast; the Great Desert, correct?" "Exactly!" Varn smiled. "It's as if our HQs were built to be in perfect synergy with one another! Benefits of an alliance include either of our tribes being able to call upon the other's army if we're invaded, easily catching the enemy in a pincer attack; mapping a path through the Iron Mountains for you to come to us on foot quicker, both for reinforcements and trading, which would benefit the other tribes as well; and sharing technology and knowledge. "How does a Leopard Air Force sound? I think it has a nice ring to it!" Leodus smiled. Varn was understandably unaware of the air force the Leopards had in the very distant past, which had been used in the decisive last battle of the Avian Triumvirate—Mammalian Confederation War, well over six hundred years prior. The air force had been completely decommissioned after the war as part of the tribe's heavy demilitarization at the time, scrapped for spare parts and sold to the Ravens. The Leopard Air Force had become an obscure element of the war in the minds of those whose tribes hadn't been involved, with some accounts even mistakenly stating that the Leopards had hired Ravens to bomb the Purple City with their own jets. While the Leopards' disarming was seen as something extremely necessary to repair their reputation in the eyes of the other tribes at the time, centuries had passed since then... "That does sound appealing," Leodus answered, "and while on the subject of sharing tech, I'm guessing you've heard of the 'mechs' we Leopards have been developing over the last decade?" Varn chuckled. "Guilty as charged. Ultimately though, aside from all these benefits...it's better to have allies these days than to not."
-last edited on Jan 22, 2023 21:58:28 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Jan 22, 2023 21:56:15 GMT
"Wouldn't you agree?" "...I do agree," Leodus answered after a brief pause. "I hereby ally my tribe with the Vultures." Both kings smiled, stood, and firmly shook hands.
After Varn and his guards flew out of the tower's arches and back to their helicopter, Leodus returned to his throne room, where Leia awaited him. The Leopard King motioned for his guards to leave the room, and they dutifully did so, taking their positions outside the door. Leodus turned to the window and watched the helicopter lift off. "King Varn is forty-nine years old now," Leia spoke from off to the side, after the guards had closed the door behind them. "I'm sure you've realized that he's wanting to use this alliance to control you, the much younger and less experienced king, whose coronation was a mere week ago." "Oh, I'm well aware," Leodus assured her, "but Varn is honorable, and has good intentions. He only wants to control me and be the dominant member of the partnership, because he thinks he has to. It would've been obvious to you if you'd attended the meeting. "As of now, he probably still expects me to be somewhat immature, vain, and brash in my inexperience. I would've assumed the same, had our roles been reversed. Soon, though, he'll realize that trying to control me isn't necessary, and will see me as an equal. Because, after all..." Leodus turned to his mother. "I'm quite different from the average young king, yes?" Leia nodded. "Indeed."
