Chapter Twenty Four : 

The Lion /

I woke up to a horribly bright sunlight; when I opened my eyes the rays almost blinded me. The feeling of heat was overwhelming, even the breeze was hot. I felt so tired as I sat up, squinting in the daylight. Dolion lay with its back toward me; covering me with its white feathered wings as I had slept. We were in a valley with scattered cactuses and a few mesquite trees. We were under the biggest tree, but even in the shade there was no escape from the temperature. A small, almost dry stream flowed a few feet away from where I sat. 

"Dolion?" I asked. It turned over to face me, unbothered by the blinding light in the sky. "How close are we to the kingdom?" It thought for a second. "There's five days of walking ahead of us," It explained. "You still wanna do this?" 

"Yeah," I said. "Because if there's anyone good left in that kingdom, they need help. I can't leave them there with Agni." I ran my hands through my hair, which was tangled from the persistent breeze... And, longer than I remembered. When everything had first changed in the human world, my hair was a little past my shoulders. Now it was to my waist. Long, tangled pale hair. I wished I'd have brought a rubber band for it. 

As I viewed the surrounding area, a large rock caught my eye... Because there was someone or something sitting on it. I couldn't see clearly due to the sunshine, but whatever it was, it was big. I hoped it wasn't a threat. I acquired Dolion's attention, and it got up to see what was sitting atop the rock. 

It was gone for awhile, and I started to worry, until I saw its tall figure walking back. "What took you so long?" I fretted. But when I looked up, a lion towered over me. My breath caught in the back of my throat; fear had seized me. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from this beast. It opened its mouth and I closed my eyes, bracing myself for what was to come. 

It yawned loudly. "Hey, kid." Came a male's deep, gruff voice. "Got any whiskey?" I opened my eyes to stare at the lion. He no longer looked terrifying - he actually kind of reminded me of those alcoholics on western shows. Dolion stood beside him, a disapproving expression on its face. It glared at the lion. "What?" Was the lion's response. "Do you know how long I've been out here? Sobriety ain't doin' me any good." 

"Well, how long have you been out here?" I questioned. "long 'nuff. Maybe a couple weeks... We don't do 'time' here." He drawled. 

"Did you live in the kingdom before Agni took over?" I asked.

"Before? Darlin', I live there now." He shook his dark blonde mane, streaked with grey. 

"Why are you out here then?" I was confused. 

"I left the kingdom prob'ly a few weeks ago, an' while I was out here I got lost. It's awful out here, full of estúpido, peligroso -" He mumbled some more words in Spanish. "That coyote, Asani... I'ma kill that piece of -" 

I thought about what he was saying. "You know the coyote?" 

"'Course I know him. We used to be friends. Then he took to, I don't know, eating other animals. An' I don't associate with psychos like that." 

"Well... He won't be doing that anymore, we-" 

"Nah, he won't be. I had enough of his feasting massacres and so I took 'im out. It's been awhile ago." 

I had to think again. If he had killed Asani, then that wasn't the coyote that Dolion killed. There was no point in me trying to figure out what coyote we had encountered. I still felt like I should ask more about the matter, though. "Did he have family - you know, more coyotes?" 

"Pfft - more coyotes. He was the last of his species here. They're all gone ; Agni destroyed the lot of 'em cause that's all they do - eat, eat, eat. Devouring other creatures. Hell, we'd all be extinct if it weren't for her." 

"But we saw another coyote - and we saw it just yesterday." 

A worried and confused expression clouded his face. He twitched his whiskers. "That doesn't make any sense..." 

"We have directions to the kingdom. We'll take you there, so you can get back home. And then we'll figure out what's going on - we have to speak to Agni." 

His face returned to a nonchalant expression. "Let's go."