Raised by Lions

Chapter 28: The Devil and the Dragon

It was well past 2am and Gosha found himself standing on the roof of abandoned apartment building in the Market, smoking a cigar under the moonlight. It was seldom that anyone would find him out this late at night, but he had a reason to be up tonight.

The unmistakable thudding of running shoes hitting the roof made his lips quirk in a small smile that disappeared soon after. He didn't turn, but he spoke evenly, "To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting the devil tonight?"

Steady footsteps walked up behind him and stopped to his left. He could see Yafya in his peripheral. The stallion was carefully eyeing his every move, though Gosha just kept on calmly smoking. He wasn't here for violence tonight.

"The Market is quiet and the Dragon is out of his den," Yafya answers calmly, eyeing Gosha from his peripheral.

It's been 10 years since they last spoke. They don't have much to say to each other when they're kingpins sitting on warring empires. A gut feeling alone had brought the two together again tonight. This hadn't been planned.

°°°

Gunshots fired in every direction. Gosha, barely 20 at this point, ducks into a nearby building for cover. It was barely standing but the outer walls should allow for some cover. If he can get to the roof he'd be in a better vantage point.

Turning a corner to look for stairs, he finds a black stallion pressed up against the wall, shoulder bleeding and clearly in pain.

They just stared at each other for a tense moment, gunfire still raining outside, before Gosha grabbed a random piece of cloth that was in the old building. He didn't see a herbivore then, he saw a wounded animal.

"That was ridiculous. You can't just interfere with turf wars!" Gosha said. The stallion had jumped in the middle of the turf war as a third party and tried to fight every carnivore in the vicinity. It was reckless at best and a deathwish at worst.

"I can, I did, I will and I'll do it again!" The stallion yelled. He looked young, younger than Gosha. Gosha managed to stop the flow of blood and tied the cloth securely.

"Let's get out of here," Gosha stated as another wave of bullets could be heard outside. "And go where?!" The stallion yelled. "To the roof and out of the line of fire," Was the simple answer he got from the komdod dragon.

The stallion, somewhat reluctantly, followed Gosha up to the top floor, out a back window and onto the roof. They could see the whole battle from up here, if not half the Market. It was somehow morbidly beautiful.

°°°

"The carnivores are becoming less meat drunk, any idea on why that is? The meat vendors haven't exactly become less," Yafya asked, sticking his hands in his jean pockets, his tanktop shifting in the evening wind. Gosha rolled his eyes. Always straight to business with this guy.

"There's a panda near the edge of the market who catches them and tries to rehabilitate them. Don't know how successful he is," Gosha calmly answered. Silence fell over them for a little while.

This guy was a variable outside the control of the Gumis, so Gosha didn't have a lot of information on him, for now. They could always change that.

°°°

They made it to the roof and Gosha pulled out another gun, holding it out to Yafya. "Can you shoot?" He asked. "Can I what?! You're crazy!"

Gosha stuffed the gun in his hand anyway, "Help me and I'll ensure you live." Yafya rolled his eyes but did as asked and started aiming at the cheetahs in the battle. He was a surprisingly good shot for someone who barely ever used a gun, maybe it was the police training helping him out.