The Tale of Animalia (Part 2)

Here is part 2, bit longer than the other one, this is now looking like a four parter!

Until one day, Filo snuck down to the river to get a drink; as the youngest, he was the most vulnerable. But what he noticed at the river was not a predator but an oddity. Initially, he thought it was a beaver, and was worried he’d get discovered by a predator. ‘Hello! Excuse me sir, but I’d recommend you don’t come out here, you may be killed!’. It came closer to the shore; Filo couldn’t believe what he saw. It had the build, fur and tail of a beaver, but had the bill and webbed feet of a duck, he had never seen anything like it in his whole life. The thing spoke: ‘I may be killed, you say, young rabbit? I have not been involved in this land for many months, we platypuses tired of the endless selfish quarrels that bestowed this power corrupted land. We have since been exploring and found an island of our own, here we live in spacious harmony so we can raise our eggs in peace.

‘We have always kept out of the way of this land, and so I doubt your followers would’ve seen us before. I must dash, for I daren’t stay too long here.’

Filo was lost for words as the thing swam away, there were so many other questions he wanted to ask this strange beast. He dashed back to his friends and spread the word, at first, no one believed it, they laughed at his youthfulness and despite his protestations, they soon scolded him to stop telling lies and focus on surviving. What he had heard had given him brief hope, he went down to the river every night unbeknownst to his clan and looked for the creature, but it never showed up and the war continued with no sign of stopping.

‘Keep trying, young rabbit, your day will come’. Filo overheard one night, it was Orleé, the great owl who was widely respected throughout the kingdom and one of the few birds of prey who was friendly with other species, he watched over Filo and his family daily, though times were tough,  Filo still trusted Orleé’s words.

The war went on brutally and the clan struggled to survive, Jiltan & Heath had fallen ill and one of the ducks had already passed away. All species were starting to fall into critical condition and high death rates, with no sign of any clear winner. Although it was tough, The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to just abandon his family and friends and go and live with the platypuses, they seemed to know how to live, unlike his current kingdom.

One morning, Leonardes went down to the river to nurse his wounds and something caught his eye. At first, he thought it was a beaver. He could not afford to lose any more mammals, especially when Eglé was on the prowl, he roared, an ear piercing sound that no mammal can ever question. But it didn’t respond, Leonardes wasn’t used to this, he roared again, louder, but still the creature moved slowly, no urge at all. Leonardes shouted at the top of his voice, ‘YOU! CREATURE! COME TO THE SHORE THIS INSTANT OR YOU WILL BE KILLED ON THE SPOT!’ That seemed to do the trick, the creature came on shore, what he saw was an oddity - It looked like a beaver, but had webbed feet and beak of that of a duck. In all his years, the king had never seen anything like this, he demanded to know what it was and why he had never seen them before. The creature remained calm: ‘your majesty, it is a pleasure to finally meet you after all these years, I am Palu and I am a platypus, We live across from this land it is big enough to accommodate us, we are forced down here sometimes though to look for water insects’

‘You haven’t seen us before as we try to avoid coming up here all we can; we do not consider ourselves a member of your kingdom. It is no wonder there is such a brutal war here when you can’t all realise you are all related in the same way. I have fur just like a mammal and swim just like a beaver, yet I also have a beak and webbed feet so my eating habits are like that of a bird, I also lay eggs just like a reptile or amphibian and insects are my food source. May I ask where I would fit in within your kingdom?’

‘It’s not possible that you can be like this, it’s just not. You look more like a mammal to me so you should be on outside, if you can fight, you and your whole species should report to Kyers Rock now’ Leonardes demanded.

‘And that is your great flaw, you are consumed by power, you still see yourself as more dominant than them, all animals should be equal.’

‘Some animals are more equal than others’ Leonardes made clear; it had always been the motto amongst them.

‘But your great pride has blinded you to seeing that they need different ways to survive, it is no surprise that the birds and reptiles have developed such a grudge, they have become selfish and power hungry due to your influence, your delusion that you are better than them has separated them from you, you have become oblivious to your kingdom’s survival, and as a result, a protest was always coming.’

Leonardes couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he bellowed: ‘Do you know who you are speaking at, pathetic creature, I AM THE KING! I always look out for the safety of my kingdom; so long as they respect us, Egleé & Alguerve have always been out to get me and this is just them trying to dethrone them, We will win this war and prove who is still dominant’

‘I have no doubt that these are rather hateful creatures that are out to get you but with all due respect sire, you have brought it on yourself. You are a failure’

And with that, Leonardes aggressively swiped Palu, the blow hit him straight across the face and knocked him out. Leonardes jumped on him, growling manically and gave a bite across Palu’s belly.

‘Don’t say you didn’t earn it’ Leonardes said, savagely. Palu was clearly dying but he remained calm: ‘and in your anger, you have just killed a defenceless member of your own kind – for I am a mammal sire.’

Leonardes stopped in his tracks, he had never before killed a defenceless mammal, although he had to feed, he had only stuck to the agreed sacrifices of the gazelle and antelopes, it was his oath though to never kill a smaller mammal as he was against it. Until now.

‘And you have endangered yourself as well, for I am also venomous, of course, I would never have attempted to give it you, but you have just given yourself it as you couldn’t control your anger’

Leonardes couldn’t speak.

‘In your last moments, I would recommend searching out a young rabbit who feels like he does not belong here, I saw him the last time I came here, go and listen to him and his demands, I feel he could bring peace to the land, he could convince you further to do the right thing in your final moments, I hope I have at least started in mine. Good bye your majesty.’ Palu’s face paled and the life drained out of him peacefully.

Leonardes was still motionless, he had been gone a while, his pride would be wondering where he was, but he couldn't cry or get angry at this point, he couldn't do anything but sit in shock. And then the pain started to kick in, hard, Leonardes groaned and stumbled away from the pond.