Dark Madness. 5

After the battle of Zamani, the Lycaon's gathered and tended to the wounded then sent out word to the other Canins of Aspana. Runners went out to the Fenec and the Bat eared foxes. To the Simian wolves in the south and the Jackals of the savanna. The word was passed from north to south and east to west. Aggar and Deja marched with recruits from many different species, Canin, Elephant, Rhinon and the striped Zebren Centaurs. All to join with members of the Tigaren and Panthern warriors. Chimp hunters fought Gorillas soliders that sided with Mulu and his Hyenans and Jackals, while Humans did their best to stay clear of all the battles.
In Paroko and Gararo, two cities on the eastern shore of Aspana, Mulu and his warriors charge in raiding and pillaging. Armed with torches they set the two cities on fire. The amphibian brown Seal people barely had any warning to make it out of their homes and into the ocean. Many were caught in the cities and either taken captive or burned as they tried to escape. Some were used to search undersea caves and grotto's while others were put to death to feed Mulu's hungry army.
Mulu had heard of the uprising of the Lycaon's and other Canin's against him and he was determined to quash the rebellion before it became a danger to his plans. He sent out three sets of orders. The first was to double the efforts to find the Star. Search every cave, village and temple on the Pantheran  savanna and in the rain forest of Tigaress and all the outer regions. With the power of the Star in his hand's, he knew nothing could stop him from ruling Aspana. The second was to find Msia Zuma. Mulu was sure he knew the location of the Star. He might even be heading for it to use it's power to stop him. The third order was to find Sakura Duma and to bring him in chains to Mancoro where he would face Mulu's wrath.
With his orders issued and and his minions out searching and raiding, Mulu thought he should matters into his own hands. His dog lackeys were faithful to him but they weren't really very smart.
One of them might get lucky and find what he was looking for but there was a good chance that Msia or Sakura might find it first. A little magical help might just be the edge he needed to find it. Since Msia was his best bet to finding the Star, maybe his best chance was to find someone better suited to find Msia and follow him. Sooner or later, either he will find the Star, or the Star will find him.
With a quick spell, Mulu transported himself from the burning city of Garoro back to his big house in Mancoro. He walked from his audience room out through the village to the pit where they had been keeping Msia. In order to find the location of the missing king, he needed something personal of his. From the rim of the pit, Mulu looked down and scanned the empty prison. There were bones Msia had gnawed and scrapes of cloth from his old ragged clothing. The Mulu spotted something over just sticking out of a thin layer if straw Msia used as his bed. With a wave of his hand, Mulu lifted the shining trinket from out of the straw and pulled it into his hands. He smiled when he saw what he was holding. Many years ago when Msia had been captured, he had been dressed in the regal garb of the king of Panthera. A brown leather kilt and harness with a gold hooded cloak with a golden lion emblem clasp at his neck. Over the years the kilt had been worn down to nothing and his cloak had been ripped into strips to make his loincloth. Msia had held onto the golden clasp as long as he could but he must have forgotten it in his escape. This clasp would work well in finding the old Lion king.
Now all he needed was someone to do his stalking for him and Mulu knew just who to call.
As the full moon glowed high in the sky over Mancoro, Mulu made his way to a small hut he kept in a secluded corner of Mancoro. As he entered he snapped his fingers and four torches set on the north, east, south and west walls burst into life lighting the entire hut. The hut was filled with all of the mystical instruments and ingredients Mulu might need to cast all the spells and incantations in his private dark book of magic. Along the east wall there was a work bench with a mortar and pestle for grinding and mixing ingredients of potions. There was also a small cauldron with a larger one on a pyre over in the corner. In the center of the room there was a pentagram drawn on the floor with a black candle set at each of the five points of the star. This is where he did all his summonings.
As Mulu entered the hut, he went to the north wall and took a small bag off of one of the shelves. He took the bag to the pentagram and lit the five candles and sat himself down in the center of the star. As he closed his eyes he opened the bag and poured its contents in a bowl in front of him and whispered his spell over it. Gray smoke billowed from the bowl as Mulu's voice became louder and louder. Slowly the smoke boiled and turned in the air with sparks flying and small flashes of lightning throbbing all through the cloud. Then Mulu called out a ancient name that hadn't been spoken in centuries.
"Draidor Moram, come and face me!"
Suddenly the gray cloud exploded. Mulu didn't flinch. He didn't move a muscle as something stepped down out of the cloud and into the hut to face Mulu. As thunder rumbled through the hut, a dark face with blazing yellow eyes bent down to look Mulu in his eyes.
"Why have you called me?" Smoke seeped from its mouth as it spoke. "What do you want from me?"
"There's someone I want you to find." Mulu said calmly. "He has something I want."
"Do you want him dead?" Draidor smiled at the idea of getting to kill again. I had been a long time since he held a life in his hands. He was anxious to dine on another soul.
"Not yet." Mulu said. "Find him and bring me. That's what I am looking for and I will feed you all the souls you can devour."
"I will hold you to that promise Shaiman." Draidor drifted up to the ceiling and laughed. "Who am I looking for?"
"King Msia Duma." Mulu held up the golden medallion. "You can find him with this."
"Your wish is my command, Master." Draidor grabbed the medallion then broke out in mad laughter and disappeared. Draidor's laughter echoed through Mulu's mind as he left the hut and headed back to his house and his next step in the domination of Aspana.

The world had gone crazy in Tinpa the capital city of Tigaress. All day Hyenans, Jackals and great Mastiffs had charged the walls and broken into the city. The Tigarens fought fiercely but there was something different about the dogs this time. It was like they didn't feel pain. No matter how hard or how badly the Tigarens cut into them, the dogs didn't fall. Neither claws, fangs or sword were doing much good against the these strange Canins. As a last resort, King Yonas had ordered every shaiman, mage, warlock and witch he could find in the city into battle. Their fire and energy spells had slowed down the Canins but it hadn't stopped them. Even covered in flames or blasted by lightning the dogs kept coming. Finally armed with weapons enchanted by Zakia Manzi, King Yonas and a troop of his palace guards took to the streets in battle to protect his citizen. It was touch and go for a while but after several hours of fighting they managed to beat the Dogs back out the city gates. But Tinpa was now surrounded by a much larger force. The only thing keeping them out was the city warlocks and witches placed around the city walls. But how much longer would they last? They had been fighting all day. Their strength was beginning to fade. They would need rest soon.
"I have cast every spell I could think of on the walls." Zakia said to King Yonas from the parapet as the watched the Canin army gathered outside the city gates. "I do not know how long the shields will last."
"I understand old friend." King Yonas said staring out at the enemy below. "I know you have done all you could. I thank you very much. I have sent out a call to G'ania Gazini for help. But he may be under attack just as we are. He will come when they can."
"I know of someone closer who can help." Zakia told the king. Yonas turned to look at him.
"Who?"
"The two out searching with Prince Sakura." Zakia said. "They are young but very powerful. They could help here, and so could Sakura. He is an exceptional warrior."
Yonas looked at Zakia with doubt. Could he trust the rebellious lion prince? Sometimes the cub was just so thoughtless and naive. Yonas wasn't sure he was up to such a task.
"Are you sure? Sakura can be pretty immature?"
"He's not the same cub that he was a before his father disappeared. He's grown into a very proud and capable warrior. I believe they could turn the tide your majesty." The old Pantheren said to his king. "We need help fast. We may not have time for Regent Gazini or any of our other allies to get here. Sakura could be our only hope."
"And what of his search for Astan?" King Yonas asked. "And yes, I know all about their secret. Do you really think he would abandon his search to help us? My son may need him desperately."
"I know Sakura and Astan." Zakia assured the king. "They are both very strong. Astan would want Sakura to help us here in our time of need."
King Yonas looked out at the Canin's below as they mulled about bashing at the walls trying to break their way through. Mulu had done something to these warriors. Some spell or magic was driving them to act so ruthlessly. From where he stood he could see mortally wounded warrior still on the feet fighting to get into Tinpa. He saw one warrior whose arm had been ripped off hopelessly trying to climb the walls and there were hundreds more with wounds just as bad still fighting.
"How are they fighting like that?" Yonas asked. "Why don't they fall? That warrior has a spear sticking out of his chest but he will not go down. How is it possible?"
"Mulu's magic keeps them fighting." Zakia explained. "Dark magic, death magic."
"Can you counter it?" Yonas asked.
"I'm afraid not." Zakia shook his head. "For magic like that, one must sacrifice pieces of the soul. My soul is far to valuable to waste on dark magic. In the end, the price is just to high and one day you would have to pay. No one lives forever. Not even Mulu."
As Zakia and King Yonas watched, a group of Canin warriors piled themselves against the wall and Hyenan and Mastiff warriors started climbing over each other to get to the top of the wall. Yonas pulled his enchanted blade as the first warrior reached the top of the wall and struck him down. The warrior howled and fell down to crash into the muddy ground.
"If you know a way to get us some help." King Yonas said as he beat at the next two warriors. "You better call them. We may not be able to hold on to much longer!"
As the Canin warriors started over the wall, Zakia Manzi stepped  back and sent a probe streaking up and out into the Aspana sky to locate and call Sakura and his companions to come to Tinpa. Then he summoned his spirit staff and hurried to King Yonas to fight at his side.

After dropping Kantu off with the Safiri and his father, Sakura led them back to his cave to rest. He had been running all night carrying Kantu and Sky with Quynn and Dar'yl. The were tired and needed a rest. Quynn took Sky into the cave were they found someplace comfortable and fell right to sleep in each others arms. With Dar'yl on watch, Sakura laid down by the fire and was asleep in seconds. As Sakura lay there warm and comfortable, Matia the goddess of dreams drifted down for a visit. She stood over Sakura just about to send him dreams of peace to help settle his troubled mind when she saw Zakia's probe come flying over the mountains and down toward Sakura. She reached out and guided it down to her. With the probe floating in front of her, Matia tapped in to read it's message. It was a call for help and she knew just how it should be delivered. In a dream. Molding the probe into a dream, she passed it onto the sleeping prince.
"Sweet dreams young hero." She kissed his forehead then started on her way back to her realm of  dreamland. "May you find success in all you do."

The savanna was warm and the wind felt good as Sakura and Astan ran through the grass in play. Then laughed and chased each other nipping and rolling in the high grasses enjoying their time together. As the sun started its decline into the west, they stopped to lay and cool off at the riverside. Sakura shifted and went and gathered fruit for their dinner while Astan made them a comfortable place to sleep. When Sakura returned with his arms full, he found Astan had built a fire and he was sitting there with a jug of wine waiting for him.
"Sit down my love." He smiled patting a place beside him. "We have to talk."
Sakura put down his bounty and took Astan's hand as he guided him down next to him. He smiled at his handsome Tigaren mate. He prayed this would never end and they could stay like this forever.
"You know I love you Sakura." Astan said as he picked a violet flower, sniffed it then handed it to Sakura. "And I wish we could stay like this forever too, but we can't. Aspana needs us both to be strong. Both the Tigaren and the Patheren people need our help to stop Mulu from turning all of Aspana into his own kingdom. If that happens, there will be war raging from north to south and east to west. He will build ships and carry his tyranny and dark magic all over Keanna. It's up to us to stop him. You and me and all of our allies."
"I know." Sakura run his hand alone the side of Astan's handsome face. "I have friends here and we're going to come and find you. I need you at my side to do this. I have to know your safe."
"For now, I can take care of myself." Astan took his hand with the flower and kissed it. "But my father needs your help. Mulu's Canin are attacking Tinpa and they need help. When you wake up, take your friends and go help my father, then come find me before he can sell me to Mulu."
"He?" Sakura frowned. "Who do you mean? Who holds you hostage?"
"Beware my love." Astan said as the dream started to fade away. "Mulu has spies everywhere. Even amongst our friends. Now wake up!"
Sakura opened his eyes and grabbed his sword and jumped to his feet. As he looked around he saw Dar'yl standing across from him staring at him in shock holding his weapon.
"What is it?" Dar'yl asked.
Sakura looking around at the barren plains in front of them ready to fight. There was no one there attacking. He relaxed. It must have only been a dream he thought. Then he lifted his left hand and realized he was holding a purple flower, just like the one Astan had given him.
"Wake Quynn and Sky." He said. "We have to go to Tinpa. I think Astan's father needs our help."

From the grasslands outside of Mancoro, Akani led Msia west into the rain forest and to Basolos, a village of Puma's where he was recognized and welcomed. They were given a hut to rest in and plenty of food to eat. While Msia slept, Akani stood guard at the huts door. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Puma's, but he knew there were still Hyenan and Jackal warriors out searching for Msia. After a few hours, Msia woke up refreshed and hungry. He shared a meal of rabbit and goat then insisted that Akani get some sleep before they moved on. While Akani slept, Msia went out to talk to the people of Basolos. At his hut door, a young Puma had been sent by the village chief to stand guard and protect there king. As Msia stepped out, he snapped to attention at his post. Msia was impressed. He was tall and a lite shade of brown furred with dark lining around his golden green eyes. He was heavily muscled for someone so young. Msia guessed his age to be no more than twenty, he would be consider an adult by his tribal standards. He was armed with a spear and dressed in a loin cloth and a necklace with the fangs of an enemies he had defeated in battle. He looked bright eyed and eager to prove himself. When he saw Msia come out of the hut, he smiled at his king. Msia was surprised. He didn't think any one so young would even really remembered him he had been gone so long.
"Tell my young warrior. What is your name?"
"My name is Una Metana." He bowed to Msia. "I am here to help protect your majesty."
"Thank you Una." Msia said. "But I'm not sure if that's really necessary. I don't think I will be here that long."
"If you wish I will keep watch from a distance." Una said. "But I know who you are and what you did for my people in the past. My father is chief and he told me the stories while I was young about your battles with the Zanbesi hunters. You saved him, my mother and many others from the slave ships. We owe the freedom of this village to you."
"That was a long time ago." Msia looked a bit embarrassed. "I'm surprised anyone remembers that."
"There are many villages around here that remember." Una said. "My father said one morning he woke up to a beautiful day. My mother fixed him breakfast and he was ready for the day. He gathered his things and left home to attend to the villages daily chores. Making sure the crops had been tended, checking of the village livestock and mediating any disputes among the Pumen people. He said he was right in the middle of settling an argument two brothers were having over a piece of land when a young boy came and told him about a large number of ships anchored down in the bay. Curious he had the boy take him to where he had seen the ships. He took him to the bluff that overlooked the bay and that was where he saw ten ships flying the black sails. When he saw the black sails, Father knew what they were. Slave traders were invading our lands. As he looked down he saw the boats being launched from the ships. Father knew even if he organized all the nearby villages, he wouldn't have enough warriors to battle the slaver, so he ordered a runner and sent a message to you at Shonalion for help. It took the runner one day to get to the palace and deliver his message. Father swears that you and your warriors were assembled and in Basolos in two days."
"He's right." Msia led the young Pumen over to the campfire where then sat down. "When I got your father's message I ordered my warriors to get ready and we were on the march in hours. I couldn't allow any of my people to be taken away by slave traders. Not even one. I knew I couldn't stop them from capturing the people, so I had to get there in time to stop the ships before they sailed. I sent a message by Dolphin to the Mer men of Marius to have the channel out of the bay blocked, but I knew that was all I could count on Porcus Marius, the king of the Mer to do unless his people were attacked. By night we slipped  into the forest to locate the slavers camps. There were three of them complete with racks and shackles for the people then had planned to catch and ship out. Two camps already had some of the villagers in chains. Your parents were among them and several other Pumens. The slave traders were Gorilla's from one of the north eastern lands. I later found out from a few of the captured slavers they were from a country called Puyol. Not someplace I ever want to visit, barbaric people."
As Msia told his story, other Pumen's gathered around to listen. Before he knew it, there was a pretty big crowd gathered around listening to his tale.
"By night we took the first camp by surprise. My warriors caught most of them in their sleep so the fight was quick and quiet. By morning we were ready for the second and third camp. This time they were prepared and the battle was fierce but we prevailed and freed everyone in the camps. That left the ships. When I freed your father, he told me that a large group of Pumen's had been taken back to the ships."
"How did you get them free." A young Pumen boy asked from the front row. As they waited for an answer, one of the village girls brought out a bucket of something to drink and handed Msia a dipper full. He took a drink then continued  his story.
"After we captured the camps." He said. "We stripped the slaver of their clothing and changed into them then boarded their boats and rowed out to the ships. I made sure all my warriors kept their heads down so if anybody was watching from the ships, they wouldn't see the feline feature's of our faces. We had to plan our attack very carefully. Each boat had to reach the ship they were attacking at the same time or all surprise would be lost. As we pulled the boats up next to the ship, a look out called down to us."
"Ahoy!" He shouted. "What brings you back to the ship so early? You're not due for four more hours."
"We found something the Captain should see." Msia held up a diamond the size of his fist, "We found a cave full of them."
"Bring it aboard. The Captain will want to see that."
As the look out stepped away, he tossed a rope ladder over the side of the ship. That's when I ordered my warriors to throw their hooks and to start climbing aboard the ships. The attack was on. We quickly climbed the side of the ships and attacked. The battle rage all day and we lost many warriors but we finally won the day."
A cheer went up through the crowd around Msia. The Pumen children jumped up from their seats excited by the story. Msia smiled happy to have entertained the villagers young and old, but the story wasn't over.
"Now we have a new threat to our lands." He said as everybody quieted down and took their seats. "As you know I have been missing from Panthera for many years. I was kidnapped by a threat even worst then slavers. The Hyenans and their leader Mulu Amin are trying to overthrow all the kings and rulers of Aspana conquer all our homes. It's time for the warriors of Panthera to stand and fight for our freedom again and I will need your help to win. Will you support Panthera in our fight for freedom?
"YES!!!" The crowd yelled as they all stood up to cheer. Una's father Unal came out of the back of the crowd and bowed to Msia.
"My warriors will be there when you call for us." He said. "This I swear."
"Asante rafiki yangu." Msia reached out and shook his hand. They walked off away friend the gathering to talk. "We will have to be very careful. Do you know who Mulu Amin is?"
"Yes your majesty." Unal nodded. "We have had our dealings with the Hyenan's. We know who they are and how dangerous they are. So far I have been able to keep them away from here with my warriors, but with your escape, I think that will change."
"Then I have put you and your people in danger just by coming here."
"No," Unal smiled. "We we're already in danger. All of Aspana is in danger as long as Mulu seeks power. You may be our only hope to stop him. Well, you and Sakura."
"Sakura?" Msia stopped surprised when he heard his son's name. "What does my son have to do with this?"
"You don't know about Sakura and Astan Kinya?"
Msia knew who Yonas Kinya was, but he had never heard of Astan. He had missed a lot in the years he spent in Mulu's pit.
"Mulu is searching for the two princes of Tigaress and Panthera." Unal explained. "If he can get them in his hands, he thinks he will have power over both kingdoms.
"He's right." Msia said. "If Mulu gets Sakura under his control. G'ania Gazini will do anything he has to, to get him back. So will Yonas."
"I agree." Unal nodded his head. "But Sakura is not just some young pampered prince. He has become a very strong warrior while you were away. Don't count him or Astan Kinya out. They could be very powerful together."
"Then I guess my plans have changed." They started heading back to the gathering and the hut where Akani slept. "I should find my son and this Astan."
"I think." Unal smiled. "If you find Astan, you'll find Sakura. From what I hear, they are very close."
"How would you suggest I find him?"
"Astan is very adapt at magic." Unal suggested. "We both know that any magic user can be traced if you know how to do it. If your scan is powerful enough, you can find him. We will protect the hut while you work your scan. Find Astan, he may be the key to end this or at least to find Sakura."