Ribbontail: Enter Emalia
Chapter 37: Enter the Tintonian Lion

Author's Note: Please read my artist's comments before continuing. :3
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The book that Ribbontail had received from Kerberos had proven itself to be quite a conundrum. Within its dusty bindings it held many beautiful pictures: illustrations, diagrams, and scenes of the ancient gods and mythical figures all. Yet the scripts that went along with the images confused Ribbontail and her friends. It was a primeval dialect of sorts, far too different from English for any of them to read. And, every time they opened its pages and gazed down at the pictures, Ribbontail yearned to take in whatever information was written for them.

But they could not. None of them knew the ancient tongue. This was an honest pity to them all, as the book had just now become a source of curiosity and discussion.

Ribbontail, O’liday, and PuppetRibbontail had been traveling all day through the savannah plans of Western Sandstone desert. All day O’liday had been talking on and on about the pictures within Kerberos’ book, and he sat on Ribbontail’s back with the book spread open over her shoulders. He flipped through the pages as they traveled on.

“Well hey, look at this one!” he meowed enthusiastically. Finally, after almost a whole day of ramblings, disinterest, and criticism, O’liday showed some interest in something.

Ribbontail did not stop walking; instead she merely craned her head back to glance at him. PuppetRibbontail’s head turned in curiosity as well. “What is it?” she asked.

“Some kinda map...” O’liday ran a paw under his hat to scratch his head. Then he craned himself over on Ribbontail’s neck and held the little book up to her face. The wolf flinched, blinked, then stared at the book held to her nose.

It was indeed a map of sorts, old and yellowed like the rest of the book. Ribbontail recognized it immediately as one of Emalia- having seen the world from space- and nodded blankly. “Yes O’liday, it’s a map. What’s so special about it?”

“It’s got all these pictures on it, dude,” he laughed, though not at all jokingly, “They look like symbol thingies, and some of ‘em look like the gods. See there’s Ai that pig one, and Riddle the wolf. I don’t know the others...  But look, one’s not far from where we are.”

Stopping for a moment, Ribbontail squinted at the page before her. He was correct. The old map had lines and arrows printed on it, as well as a plethora of stylized ancient drawings scattered seemingly at random. They were of the gods, and she recognized them each by heart. Most of them she recognized; some she could not remember, and others she didn’t recognize at all.

After a brief pause Ribbontail continued on. “Interesting,” she mused, “I wonder what it says, or and it’s about.”

“Dunno, but it’s pretty neat! I-” But the feliulf stopped then, as suddenly a bird swooped down from a tree and blazed by right in front of them. It alighted in a nearby tree to stare down at the dumbfounded travelers.

Ribbontail blinked, almost stumbling as she turned and shot a glare up at the feathered dive-bomber. “That was strange. Birds are so odd...”

“Seriously...” O’liday scratched his head, setting the book upon Ribbontail’s shoulders and looking back down at it. “But anyways, really confounding. I dunno what’s up with it. Something or somebody special, or an ancient civilization? Huh... I’ve always liked these things... OH! Maybe it’s a TREASURE map. Sweeeet.”

“If only we could read the language, huh?” Ribbontail added for the sake of keeping conversation alive. PuppetRibbontail nodded as well, giving them both a look of agreement. “Maybe we could then read the rest of the-”

And again, as quickly as it had interrupted them a second ago, a little bird swooped down from the side, cutting them off before perching amidst the foliage of a nearby tree.

“Whoa! Geez, what’s up with these birds?” Ribbontail huffed.

Up in a tree perched the invasive bird. Ribbontail squinted up at it, noting the pretty green markings accenting its grayish-brown feathers. It cocked its tiny head down at them and they cocked their heads back. Common behavior around here, Ribbontail assumed.

The bird preened a wing casually. Then unexpectedly it spoke, a thick accent intoning upon its words. “I say. What you got there? Special map you can’t read, hah?”

“Another speaking animal?” thought Ribbontail as she turned to check her friends’ expressions. They were just as surprised as she was. But after a brief pause she turned her head back up to the bird in the tree. “Who are YOU?” she demanded.

“Caw! My name not matter now, I just bird. Who you?”

It was O’liday who replied, as casually and uninterested as he could be. “Just some travelers, dude.”

“Aah, ah! Good good. But I hear you got special map, hah. Treasure map you no can read maybe?”

Ribbontail blinked. “Yes, but it’s nothing really. My friend here just has an overactive imagination.”

“Hey! My imagination’s not being ‘overactive’ dude!” O’liday yowled, almost grabbing Ribbontail’s ears and tugging them.

The bird up in the tree just laughed. “Haaa! Haaha, I bet you would like to read map, ah? Lissen, my name Mtume. I know good linguist, he speak juss about every language. You want see him, huh, maybe he can read map for you?”

A second time Ribbontail’s eyes went to her friends. PuppetRibbontail had those hollow, black eyes fixed cautiously yet calmly on the bird, while O’liday clutched the book to his belly. “We really should go our own way,” Ribbontail said.

All hopes of bringing this up were crushed when she heard O’liday’s childish please. “Oh please please please can we go, man?” he mewled, “I wanna read this map real bad!”

Ribbontail was skeptical. She had had no interaction with the far-and-few savanna animals and did not know how they thought, and her time spent on Emalia had taught her not to trust others so quickly. A glance and a quick conference with PuppetRibbontail would settle her mind.

“Do you think it’s safe?”

A nod, as confident as PuppetRibbontail could ever be. What harm could a little bird do to them anyway? It wasn’t a hulking, brutish Eclipsian or a trickster like Infineon had been.

“Oh... okay...” Ribbontail said hesitantly, looking back up at the bird Mtume. “But what do you want from us? I can’t help but feel that you’re going to want something in return.”

“No, no,” said the bird with a wave of a wing, “no trap, just me being myself. I help others, ah? Good mantra.”

Ribbontail turned her unbelieving eyes to O’liday. He just bounced up and down in his seat, holding the book. Evidently he truly wanted the map to be translated. With a sigh Ribbontail shrugged her shoulders. “Fine. I guess we’ll come with you.”

“Aaaw! Good then, good good yes very good. Come, I show you way!”

And with that Mtume lifted himself gracefully into the air and whisked off into the sky. Exchanging one last look to confirm their choice, the three friends bolted on after him.

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Late morning shadows lifted from the savanna grasses as Ribbontail and her two friends followed Mtume. Somewhat exhausted and tired of following the airborne guide, Ribbontail sighed; she lifted her head and stared up at the bird silhouetted against the noon sun. High up above them he flapped lazily. He had been guiding them for almost an hour now, with not a single word of conversation spoken.

When she was sure that Mtume was not listening, Ribbontail craned her head back. "O'liday, if this guy has something else planned for us, you owe me big time," she whispered, "that map probably isn't even significant."

"Weeelll I wouldn't say that, dude." O'liday scratched an itch behind one of his ears. "Maps always mean something, 'least that's what my dad used to say. I guess ancient maps aren't that special where you come from, huh?"

Ribbontail shrugged. Next to her, though, PuppetRibbontail tipped her head to the side, as though confirming O'liday's statement.

There was a short, raspy caw from above and all heads turned up. “Right cat is, old maps always special,” Mtume honked, laughing as he paused for a moment to stare ahead, “Lissen, I got go now. I come back with friends. You wait here, got it?”

“What, where are you going? What friends?” called Ribbontail.

She received no answer, much to her disgust, as the brown bird had already vanished. When the sounds of his wingbeats faded into nothingness, the three friends stood there tense and silent, and undoubtedly nervous. Only the sounds of a distant herd of water buffalo could be heard.

“Well...” O’liday said after a long while, sliding off Ribbontail’s back. “What luck, he just leaves us here. He’s better come back dude, or I’ll be super pissed!”

Ribbontail and PuppetRibbontail- in quaint unison- sat down amidst the thick grass. Taking a deep breath of the warm, crisp air, Ribbontail felt as though she couldn’t have agreed more. The young wolf paused to stretch her limbs. She sighed, “But at least we can rest here for a bit. If he doesn’t come back we should just go on our own, and forget you ever saw that map.”

“Shoot man.” O’liday grumbled as he stuffed the old storybook back into Ribbontail’s halter. He then plopped down in the grass by his two friends, crossed his arms, and pouted. In the shade of a tall tree the three friends sat, each of them partly wanting to get up and leave. Yet they stayed there and relaxed, as shade was often sparse in the grasslands.

A fly antagonized O’liday. He swatted at it before snorting, “I was totally hoping that I could get that map translated. It’d be rad if it was treasure or something.”

“It’s okay,” Ribbontail replied with a small smile, “I’m sure it was nothing.”

“No way! That map totally means something, I know it.”

“What makes you think?”

“Call it a surfer’s hunch.”

Ribbontail’s ears flicked; she grinned, in a carefree manner unbefitting her personality. “’Surfer’s hunch’? Nice, we’ve never even seen you surf.”

Paws on his hips, O’liday stood up to face Ribbontail and puff out his chest. “I don’t have my surfboard! How do you think you can surf without one o’ those, dude?”

“Well, then we’re going to have to keep our eyes open for a-”

sssSSSHOOK!

A spear suddenly planted itself in the tree beside Ribbontail and O’liday, twanging and vibrating between the two squabbling friends. Like lightning the trio was up on their feet, tense and eyes wild as they glanced around. But before they could do anything further a pair of creatures broke from the cover of the tall savanna grasses.

It took Ribbontail a second to realize that they were monkeys- tall and black and standing upright like humans, dressed in nothing but elaborate loincloths and countless silvery-bronze bracelets. Both looked down upon the three friends, their white-maned faces alight with surprise and admiration.

“Kyeh! I told you I get friends, I do! They no like your fighting. Heehekeheke.” It was Mtume’s warbling voice. Then the little bird appeared shortly after, landing delicately upon the shoulders of one of the two monkeys. “Don’t worry, they friend. Good, nice, hunters yes, no hurt you.”

Ribbontail and her two companions stood there and watched, open-mouthed, as one of the two monkeys approached tentatively and yanked its spear from the tree. It saluted them with a furry hand then retreated back to its companion.

“You brought us... monkeys?!” O’liday puffed, “Dude I thought you said you were gonna bring us some kinda linguist.”

“Eehhh. No these not him, but they show you way now. They followers of him, see. Friends. They help protect us. This place no safe for animals like you and me,” then Mtume turned to the monkeys and mumbled, “Deso dhaomo di moshidhor.”

“Eyo,” the two monkeys grunted in unison. Then in a fashion far more courteous than Ribbontail had anticipated, the simians waved their tails and gestured for them to follow.”

Ribbontail leaned in on her two friends. “Sh...should we follow them? What do you guys think?”

Silently PuppetRibbontail nodded, answering her master with a comforting reassurance. O’liday was quick to agree; he nodded and whispered back: “Sure, I’ll go. These guys don’t seem so bad and I don’t see what can happen.”

Ribbontail laughed inside; plenty of things could happen. But if PuppetRibbontail- who had the best intuition of the three- was comfortable, then so was she. Ribbontail bit her lip and nodded to the two natives. “Okay, we’re coming.”

And again the three friends were led through the grasslands.
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Wherever they were going, it was quite a ways away. Ribbontail had at first imagined the trek to be a short one, but they traveled long through the day. Across rolling hills and dusty paths they trekked, until finally the late afternoon sun painted the sky a reddish-orange. It was wearying indeed.

The trio’s new guides seemed to be very learned yet strange creatures, and Ribbontail could not help but feel odd walking along beside them. They hopped and bobbed about in front of them, whooping in their own language and exchanging garbled chat with Mtume (who seemed very fluent in that language).

They were quaint; Ribbontail had never seen a monkey before, let alone walking and talking ones. But Ribbontail was content that they seemed relatively friendly. They could, after all, be vicious and uncanny wildmen. And if this WAS some trick after all, it couldn’t even be half as bad as an Eclipsian.

Ribbontail leaned in on her two friends. “So what do you guys think this ‘linguist’ guy is like, anyway? Do you think that he’s friendly?”

“Hehehe...” O’liday huffed as he padded along hurriedly, having to pace himself to keep up with his friends, “I dunno dude. But considering he’s got these two monkey followers, maybe he’s a king. Or a tribe leader or something, ya know? I’ve never been out in this part o’ the world, so I’m not sure.”

It was then that Mtume let out a shrill caw, but not before the two monkeys slowed to a stop. Wheeling backwards and circling over the heads of the three travelers, he cackled. “Hehee, he be good linguist, that all you need to know. He be answer to all your- ACK!”

Mtume was silenced as one of the two monkeys reached up and snatched him out of the air. Clutching the tiny brown bird to its chest, the tribesman placed a finger to its lips and shushed. “Ssssh. Ku’aeod, wo ura ha’oro,” he muttered to the bird. Then the monkey turned to the three friends and chirped, “Sho’imo’o.”

They stood dumbfounded.

“Aag!” coughed Mtume as he clambered free of the primate’s paws, “He says we’re there, and that they want you to follow quietly.”

Ribbontail inhaled and exchanged looks with her friends. Then she muttered, “Well good. Let’s see this guy and get out of here. I’m starting to feel kind of nervous about all this...”

“Sho’imo’o, Sho’imo’o,” the monkeys both whooped quietly, as they parted a thick curtain of grasses before them.

A sudden burst of noise and light flashed against Ribbontail and her friends as they were shoved through the grasses, right out into the open. The three all almost fell back at what they saw. It was wide, circular clearing, crammed to its fullest with lean-to shacks, tents, and crackling roasting fires. And monkeys. There were lots and lots of monkeys, a massive wall of black that obstructed their vision- monkeys cooking and dancing and yowling as they wrestled and played.

“Wow I guess it’s not just two monkeys, huh?” O’liday meowed quietly as he clambered up onto Ribbontail’s shoulders. “Maaaaybe this was a mistake after all.”

As soon as the feliulf said that all activity halted, as though time had frozen the monkeys in place, and all attention turned to the trio. It was odd having them all staring, eyes big and filled with awe.

“Yeah,” Ribbontail echoed, “I knew this was a bad idea...”

Ribbontail flicked her tails and instinctively began backing away from the awestruck tribe, but was stopped short when her rump collided with the guides standing behind them. She jumped when a big black hand descended and patted her head. Silence descended upon the encampment, Ribbontail sitting there frozen with her two friends at her side- and dozens upon dozens of eyes fixed upon them.

Then one of the two monkey guides behind them flicked Ribbontail’s tails with its spear, calling to the surrounding tribesmen, “Sh’iis! Reza’isha dueshya!”

Like a sudden wave of thunder, the camp was flooded with cheers, whoops and yelps. Monkeys danced about, slapping each other and prancing in circles and hooting like wild animals. “Reza’isha dueshya!” they all seemed to be chanting, again and again as though the words were of great significance.

Yet it was then that a sound greater than anything blared above it all, rumbling the very earth at their feet. It was like a sonic boom, an explosion- a massive jet airplane rumbling down from the heavens. As it faded and the world around them fell still once more, Ribbontail and her friends realized just what it was.

It was a lion’s roar.

And when the suddenly-silent crowd of monkeys shifted and moved aside before them, it was evidently from a lion unlike anything they had ever seen. This was a lion cloaked in darkness and infused with power, prowling towards them with a sense of pride and dignity. It was pure white with a shadowy black mane. Firelight glinted off its black claws and its powerful, rippling muscles, and as the lips peeled back Ribbontail and her friends were greeted with a set of shining silvery teeth.

The beast stopped a few paces from them, the evening wind whistling through its fur. Four slitted pink eyes gazed down upon them.

Nothing was said for the longest while until finally Mtume hopped over to the lion and gave it a quick bow. “Sh’irja, E za’riash’ha’d dha’omo jashi’d sh’es’o yua ushi’s’oja!”

Regarding Mtume with a low rumble, the lion nodded. “You did well. I ask you to speak English; I do not believe these visitors speak our language.” Then those pink eyes turned back to Ribbontail. “Welcome. You, the wolf with the tails... your name is Ribbontail, is it not?”

Ribbontail blinked and pitched her head to one side. “Y...yes, I’m Ribbontail. How do you know my name?”

The lordly beast purred, a low rumble filled not with hostility but amusement. “These are things I hear on the wind. I thank the gods that you have arrived so hastily, as we have been waiting for you...”

Ribbontail and her friends tensed then, not too sure of what to expect. Around them the crowd of monkeys was growing edgy as well, shifting and muttering under their breaths.

“I am the Tintonian Lion the great forest spirit- walker of shadows and speaker of winds. This is my tribe, the Inkkuku. Ribbontail, daughter of Riddle the Cunning, we are in dire need of your help.”

“My help?” Ribbontail thought as her ears folded back. They slowly fought their way back up. This big, ghostly lion was in need of her help? How did he even know who she was? All she could do was give her friends a nervous glance.

Then the camp fell silent once more, the surrounding monkeys shuffling their paws and muttering to one another. Ribbontail and her friends were frozen to the spot with confusion, and the proud Tintonian Lion stood there like a living statue, big and proud and mysterious- waiting for Ribbontail’s reply.

The deafening silence was broken when finally O’liday mumbled,  “Well I guess this means we can forget about the whole map deal, huh?”