W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

And, as the sky overhead turned dark, and the shadowscrept in around us, our once-King began to speak.Adjua railed against the Simba and vowed to leadus against them. Together, he promised, we would drivethe lions from the plains and stop the slaughter of ourpeople. His words were food for our hunger, water forour souls. In his voice, we could hear the song of ourfreedom, and an end to our troubles.Our replies thundered in the darkness — howlingvoices, stamping feet, pounding shields, snapping jaws— all eager, all ready. It was a night of spirit-raising,war-planning, and truth-telling. It was to be thenight when the choosers of the slain took back themidnight land.It was a trap instead.I remember bristling fur and wide eyesas the first of the lion’s roars shook thenight. Winds cracked the hills and torrentswashed away the campfires as the EndlessStorm swept over the crater’s edge. Inthe lightning-flare I saw a wall of lions,leopards, and men around us. There wassurprise, but no fear from our people— not then. We were the choosersof the slain. We were the cullers ofthe herd. We lived to take life — itwas our sacred duty, and we wereready to fulfill it upon those whowould do us harm.How littledid we know.They fellupon us, andour worldcame apart.We fought hard,and we accounted for our lives in blood.But Black Tooth knew our Yava, andhis warriors struck exactly where theycould do the most harm.Our people fell like raindrops tothe thirsty land.Some, seeing the battle turn,escaped into the darkness. They ranacross the grasslands and summonedup spells to hide themselves. Whenthey reached the cities, they scatteredand hoped for the best.The ones who stayed were butchered.Each man and woman. Ajaba and hyena. Kitsand Kinfolk, warriors and children alike. They slewus all, destroyed the court. To mock us, they decoratedthe site with skulls. And with foul magics, they cursedthe lands we once protected, barring us from them for ahundred-hundred years.So many lives, so many futures, so many tales foreverlost. But we are far from dead.They may have run us into the darkness, butthe darkness has ever been our ally. Theymay have thinned our number,thinking to weaken us,but we are thecullers of43