Red Horizon

Red Horizon is a fanfiction short story by Songfire.
* * *
The rainy season sky was a deep blue, with a few weak, wispy clouds scudded across its wide expanse. In the dark of the night, the jagged western cliffs were smoky black. At their base, in a den dug into the hard, dusty earth, two aardwolves were huddled, one male, one female. In the curve of the female’s belly were four tiny cubs, their coats of fur made sleek and glossy by the gentle rasping of their mother’s tongue.
“Four,” the male muttered fervently. “Four cubs. Isn’t that wonderful, Faraji? I’d always been visualizing two, perhaps three. Four certainly is something.”
“Yes, yes, it is,” panted Faraji. Her vibrant green eyes were half-closed. “They all look good and healthy, so I think it’ll be fine for me to get some rest now, Tendaji.”
“All in good time,” he assured her. She flashed him an irritated look, uncharacteristically temperamental after the long night’s ordeal. He smiled. “You know what they need.”
“Oh. Of course. Names.” Faraji glanced down at the eagerly suckling cubs- one the same pale frosty tan color as herself, another with his creamy brown coat, the others somewhere in between. All had their eyes open, and to Tendaji’s surprise, they were all different colors- red, yellow, blue, green. “I suppose those can't wait.”
“Do you have any ideas?” he inquired.
“Not quite. I prefer seeing them before naming them,” she replied. “I’ll bet you have a few suggestions.”
She knew him well. “Yes, I do. I was thinking of names to tie in with what we are.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Names that have to do with the earth, the ground, the dirt- our protection, our home,” he explained. 
“I see.” Faraji gazed down at the cubs with adoring eyes. “Well, since this little one looks like you,” she pondered, indicating the small brown cub- a male, the last to be born. “why don’t you name him?”
“I’d be delighted.” Looking down at the scrap of fur that was his son, he selected his favorite of the predetermined names. “Ardhi,” he announced.
“Ardhi he is,” decided Faraji. “That’s perfect.”
It was only natural that he returned the courtesy she’d extended to him. “You should name the oldest- the female who looks like you.” 
“Chinja,” Faraji told him almost instantly.
“That was quick. But why such a violent name?” he asked.
“Because she’s biting and clawing like a mad hyena,” his mate explained with a grimace. He studied his daughter more closely and noticed that her tiny white teeth were indeed flashing frequently and quickly.
“The other two?” Faraji pressed. “I’m sorry, but I do need rest.”
“Very well, how about Dongo for the male and Chafu for the female?” he suggested.
She simply nodded in reply. With a final lick to each cub and a brief nuzzling of his cheek, Faraji’s head dropped to her paws and she slipped immediately into peaceful slumber.
* * *
“Hush now, all of you. The sun is rising and it’s high time you got some rest!”
Chinja was the last of the group to go in and lie in the curve of their mother’s tail. She thought the sunrise was beautiful. The sky was bright red, the color of freshly spilled blood- the color of her eyes. The analogy was regrettably morbid, but Chinja found it suiting.
“Get comfortable, now,” their mother, Faraji, continued. “You’re to be up late today. You’re getting older, and it’s time you learned the basics to surviving on your own.”
“On our own, already?” asked Chinja’s brother Ardhi, blinking his wide green eyes. Chafu, Chinja’s sister, cocked her square head, while Dongo, her second brother, continued gnawing his black-striped leg to rid himself of an itch, unperturbed by Faraji’s words.
“Yes, little ones. It’s the aardwolf way. Sooner or later, come rainy season, I’ll be expecting another litter of cubs, and by then, I’ll need you to have found your own place in the Drylands.”
Chinja flattened her ears. She could interpret the unsaid meaning of her mother’s words. “You’re going to replace us, Mama?” she asked quietly.
Instantly, Dongo, Ardhi, and Chafu’s heads swivelled towards her. They hadn’t thought of that, Chinja realized. Shock flitted across Faraji’s round face. 
“How could you think that, Chinja? Of course not. It just that it makes no sense for you to be sitting around with me and your father caring for you when you grow to be big aardwolves. And once you leave, we won’t have much to do- unless we have another litter to tend to. Does that make sense?”
“Certainly,” Chinja replied levelly, snuggling deeper into her mother’s silvery tan fur, the same color as her own coat. Inside, she wasn’t as sure as she felt. Would Faraji and Tendaji- their father- forget about them once they had their “another litter”?
She shook these thoughts away and inhaled deeply, filling her nose with Faraji’s warm scent. What happened would happen, and no matter what did, she would always have affection for her siblings and her parents. Even once she was on her own, she might chance visiting them enough for them to remember her. Perhaps, over time, her tenacious love for them would dissipate.
“Keep talking,” Dongo ordered Faraji, his words interrupting Chinja’s thoughts. “Tell us more about what’s gonna happen when we’re older.”
“Well, you’ll go off on your own. Establish a territory, find a mate. You’ll begin a family of your own,” Faraji explained gently. 
“I want a family,” Ardhi declared. “I want to have a big family. With lots of cubs!”
Chinja wasn’t sure. She supposed she liked cubs, but then, the only ones she had met were her brothers and sister. Chafu, however, nodded in agreement, smiling contentedly.
“And you can have one someday.” Faraji drew them even closer to her. Chinja glanced outside. The sun was climbing higher- it was almost fully above the horizon! The red was beginning to fade. She wished it would stay. She found her eyes roaming about the spacious underground den. 
“Mama, how are we to get ourselves homes like this one?” she asked. Faraji parted her jaws to answer, then paused. 
“Tendaji? Is that you?” she called.
“It is indeed,” a voice answered. Their father Tendaji slipped easily into the den, a lean brown shape with glaucous eyes. “Sorry I’m late, Faraji. I spotted a jackal at the border of the territory and had to circle around.”
“A jackal!” exclaimed Chafu. “You should’ve torn its head off!” Amused by her sister’s eagerness for violence, Chinja gave her a playful shove, to which Chafu gave a raspy attempt at a snarl in reply. 
"That would be rather unnecessary, don't you agree?" he chuckled. 
"No!" Chafu yipped in response. Ardhi looked at her somewhat reproachfully.
Faraji tilted her head slightly towards the den exit, her eyes widening with puzzlement and nascent apprehension. Chinja watched her mother and felt a prickle of unease run through her. She strained her ears and nose, but could neither hear nor scent anything. But Tendaji's muzzle was suddenly tilted upwards. Her father leaped nimbly to the entrance, his fur glowing gold in the sunrise light, his silhouette outlined in crimson. Faraji smoothly rose to her paws and sidled up beside him. Ardhi yelped in protest, but was ignored.
"What is it?" Chinja asked, skittering forward. Tendaji's ears flattened, but he didn't reply.
"I'm sure of it," Faraji murmured to Tendaji. 
"Sure of what?" pressed Chinja. She was ignored again. Ardhi whimpered, and Chafu gave another raspy growl. Dongo's hackles and mane were up, but he was, as usual, silent.
"Take them away," Faraji instructed.
* * *
Tendaji shot his mate an agonized glance but did not waste another second. The musky scent of jackal that the wind had swept to him felt like it was burning his nose. He lunged towards his cubs and scooped up Ardhi, the slowest, and began nosing the the others forward. "Out of the den, as fast as possible. Now." 
"What's happening?" Chinja demanded while the others simply stared, startled and slightly afraid.
"Jackals," he answered tersely as he dragged his cubs out of the den.
Where to put them . . . of course! There's a crevice somewhere along the Cliffs that they can get into, but the jackals can't. He broke into a run, pushing his cubs ahead of him, glancing back once to see Faraji standing in front of the den, backing away slowly, reading to fight. Her expression was calm and composed.
Ordinarily, they would simply leave the den and flee to another, doubling back on their tracks to properly confuse their hunters. They were faster than the jackals, able to outrun them. But the cubs weren't, and they couldn't just up and leave them. If they hid them then ran, the jackals might sniff them out and get to them eventually. There was no way Tendaji would ever risk letting this happen. Their only chance was to hide the cubs, then take on the predators. Their odds were slim, but Tendaji knew that if the jackals devoured himself and Faraji, they would leave it at that, and wouldn't go hunting down the cubs.
He could live with that- in a figurative sense, of course.
"Faster," he urged his cubs, giving Chafu a nudge, Ardhi still swinging from his jaws. Finally, he caught sight of his target. Breathing a sigh of relief, he bundled Ardhi into the crevice as gently as possible, then motioned the rest of the cubs in.
"W-what is this place?" Ardhi asked, his wide green eyes almost glowing in the darkness.
"It's safe," came Tendaji's laconic reply. "Now, listen to me. I want you to stay here and remain quiet until we come and get you, or until the next sunrise." He considered the possibility that they might be leading the jackals away for a few days, but dismissed it. If such a thing occurred, they would still manage to find their offspring. 
Four muzzles opened to protest, but Tendaji whirled around and began racing back, ready to fight at Faraji's side.
* * * 
As soon as her father was gone, Chinja slipped out of the crevice. Everything had occurred so fast, she hardly could comprehend what was going on. But she knew enough of it. They were supposed to remain here, hidden, while their parents risked their lives to defend them.
Right. As if she would allow that. She may not be strong enough to do much, but she could still be of use in a fight. She would show them.
She heard pawsteps and turned to see Chafu standing at her shoulder, clearly agitated. "If there's a fight goin' on, I ain't gonna miss it," she stated. "Right, Chinja? We're gonna help them, right?" Dongo clambered out of the crevice and peered expectantly at Chinja.
"Guys? What are you doing?" Ardhi queried nervously. "Daddy said to stay-"
"They're in danger," Dongo grunted.
"We're wasting time," Chinja snapped. They needed to get moving, now. She reached in the crevice and withdrew her youngest brother. He didn't protest. Despite his reluctance, none of them would ever want to be left behind.
Adrenaline jetting through her veins like fire, Chinja charged forward, her paws thrumming the earth as she retraced their steps. She heard soft pants and a rain of pawsteps pattering behind her. Once or twice she glanced back to check on her siblings- they always gazed back, their eyes reflecting the urgency she felt, patches of their pale fur lit crimson by the alpenglow. She would turn and keep going with renewed vigor. They had to be close now . . . they had already passed the den, where there was nothing but a series of prints in the earth . . .
A ripe scent suddenly flooded her nostrils, bringing her to a sudden halt. It was pungent and strong, a sickly miasma. She felt Dongo slam into her and the impact caused her to stagger slightly, but otherwise she ignored him. She recognized the scent vaguely. A memory flooded her mind- the first time Tendaji had taken them exploring in the Drylands . . . 
Something dripping onto her nose . . . viscous, even oleaginous, liquid . . . looking up and seeing glazed brown eyes staring back at her, wide with terror but conveying no fear in their dullness. A gazelle, mouth agape, legs twisted at strange angles. 
 'We'd better get out of here, you four,' Tendaji remarked, stepping to her side. 'That's a leopard's kill. Fresh, too- the blood has yet to congeal. Come, now. We must always respect others' property.' 
Blood- a large quantity of it. That was the source of the repugnant reek. A low, instinctive growl bubbled up from Chinja's chest, slid between her bared teeth. With a new tread- a gentle, wary step- she made her way forward. A rocky corner loomed in front of her. She rounded it, paying no heed to her instincts, every one of which was screaming at her to back away, to leave, to never find out what lay beyond the curve. 
The sight that greeted her was to remain burned into her mind forever. Tendaji was sprawled in front of her, his steely eyes glossy, lacking their former sparkle. He was badly scratched. His neck was bent at an odd angle. 
Chinja's eyes traveled further. Ahead of her father's body lay her mother. She resembled the bud of a flower as it began to bloom- breaking apart, the contents it held made visible for the first time. A pair of jackals crouched above her. They hadn't noticed Chinja. Not yet. The entire violent scene was illuminated by the fading vermilion sunrise.
Behind her, there was a high, keening wail, cut off abruptly by the sound of what Chinja knew was Ardhi emptying his stomach. The jackals' heads snapped up. Chinja ducked out of sight, back around the corner. Away from the terrible sight. Chafu was hushing Ardhi hollowly.
"What was that?" A nasal voice sounded from the other side of the rock- one of the jackals, a male. 
"Dunno," came the response, this one decidedly female. 
"Away," hissed Chinja. Her voice sounded like it was coming from someone else. "Away, now."
"Probably just a bird," the first jackal concluded as the quartet of cubs skittered back, stumbling over their own paws. They all looked as numb as she had originally felt. But for her, the numbness was melting away to be replaced by something stronger, something that masked her sorrow even more. Hatred.
Slowly, in utter silence, they made their way back to their den. They didn't go inside. Chinja could vaguely scent her mother and father from the outside, she didn't want to enter it, where their warm aromas would certainly be even stronger.
"What are we gonna do?" Dongo rumbled softly after a few beats of quiet.
Chafu's brow furrowed in thought. Ardhi looked like he was struggling not to cry.
"Do?" Chinja repeated. "We're gonna survive is what we're gonna do. You heard . . . her. We're getting older. Old enough to survive."
"To learn to survive," Ardhi corrected shakily.
"It's the same thing, isn't it?" she snapped back. She felt a prickle of guilt and suppressed it. She had to be firm or they'd never get anywhere. 
"Can't stay here, not this territory. Too many jackals. But no dens anywhere else," Dongo pointed out. 
"Only two jackals. We can fight them. We can kill them. There're four of us and two of them," Chafu suggested.
"Not smart," Chinja told her. She wasn't sure of much, but she knew they'd get slaughtered if they tried to take on their parents' killers, however bad she wanted to do so . . . to rip them apart limb from limb . . . 
Shaking these thoughts away, she focused on what to do next. "We'll need to get out of here. Get our own den." 
"But Mama never got to tell us how to get one!" Ardhi choked out. 
Chinja pawed at the dust, thinking. "We'll just . . . find one. If there's no one there, great. If there is, we get rid of them."
"Thought you said it'd be stupid to fight jackals," Chafu muttered, but judging by her expression, she wasn't at all against Chinja's suggestion. 
"Well, if we smell jackal, we find another den, okay?" Chinja's ears pressed against her skull. She needed to do something, to stop sitting around and chattering.
"But . . . but, Chinja . . . wouldn't driving them out of their own homes be sort of. . . unfair?" Ardhi inquired softly. 
"Guess what, Ardhi? In case you haven't realized, life's not fair," she spat at him, causing him to flinch. Immediately she regretted her words, and this time she didn't push her guilt away. "Look, cub, we're gonna do what we have to to live. Now let's get moving."
* * *
"Think the burrow's big enough?" Chafu asked. 
"It'll do," Chinja responded simply. "But it's not empty."
"Doesn't smell like jackal," pointed out Dongo.
"Right. So in we go," Chinja decided, slipping into the burrow. Two startled, beady black eyes blinked at her for a heartbeat, then came an aggressive growling. "What're you doing? Scram! Or I'll hurt you! This is my-"
Chinja lunged at the shape, glimpsed a flicker of creamy white stripes and heard the sound of sharp teeth clipping together, just missing her neck. The creatures pale-and-dark striped body whipped around, writhing with a fury. She saw Chafu's teeth flash, heard Dongo's claws scrabbling against the earth. Lunging forward, she caught the weasel's belly in her teeth and began to tear away, but fiery pain suddenly pierced her shoulder as her adversary's teeth sank into it, with a squall of pain she leaped back. The creature's long body was now thrashing in a crazed frenzy, fangs snapping, claws lashing. Chinja pounced again, this time managing to rip a long gash into its flank. 
Chinja felt a patter of warm droplets make contact with her face and melt into her fur. There was a thick, muffled gurgling sound, then the weasel went limp. But she wasn't the one who had killed it. Peering over the carcass, she felt her eyes widen with surprise. Ardhi was crouched beside the weasel, his muzzle dripping blood. The creature's throat was savaged. Her younger brother was stiff with shock.
Unexpectedly, she felt herself smiling with triumph. "We did well. You especially Ardhi. Good job." The little aardwolf trembled, and she nudged once him reassuringly before taking a moment to gaze fervently at their defeated enemy, then to look around the burrow- their new home.
"That was fun," panted Chafu. Dongo nodded.
"Yes. It was." Chinja considered for a moment, then turned to face her siblings. "Who's ever heard of an aardwolf have just one den, anyway? We can do this again when we want to."
"Now?" Chafu suggested eagerly. 
"Nah, we have to sleep." Chinja gripped the weasel's remains and flung them away before curling onto the burrow's soft earth. "What's the rush?" she asked quietly, locking eyes with each of her siblings separately- blue, yellow, green. "This is our life now."
==Characters==
In order of mention:
*Tendaji
*Faraji
*Chinja
*Ardhi
*Dongo
*Chafu
Category:Fanfiction
Category:Songfire's Content