Little Lion Rescue

by Rachel Delahaye

  Her throat was still dry but the honey had given her energy. There would be no more sleeping now. Not until Tanzy was safely home. Fliss felt determined. Now there was nothing but a stretch of grassland between them and the pride. She and Tanzy set off once again, this time with a skip and a made-up song.

  Full of love and honey inside, we’ll keep going until we find Tanzy’s pride!

  In Fliss’s rush of happiness, she forgot about the dangers around them. Then a sudden screech stopped her in her tracks. A chill went down her spine. She didn’t know what it was but it could only be an animal of some sort and there was nowhere to hide. She tucked Tanzy under her arm and crouched in the long grasses. She gathered her Serengeti wits and listened closely.

  There it was again… The horrible noise was made up of ten, maybe twenty different voices. Peeking over the grass, she saw group of fluffy, spotted animals running at full speed. Hyenas! Everyone knew about hyenas. They were pack hunters and they were known to attack humans.

  The hyenas were running as fast as their legs could carry them but Fliss couldn’t see what they were chasing. There was nothing in front of them.

  Eventually they slowed and stopped. Some sat on the ground exhausted and others paced around them. Their screeches turned to laughter. The cackling sound made Fliss want to giggle. But they weren’t laughing – they were bickering among themselves. Fliss turned away. She didn’t want to see any more fights and besides, she was busy trying to work something out.

  If those hyenas hadn’t been chasing something, then maybe they were running from something … and there was only one beast that scared hyenas that much.

  Lions!

  Scanning the land, Fliss couldn’t see any but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Her heart began to pound – she was excited for Tanzy but also frightened. In her short experience in the Serengeti, she knew animals could appear out of nowhere – running across the plains, hunting or being hunted… She suddenly felt very exposed. Standing in the middle of the plains with no speed in her legs and a small cub to care for meant she was as vulnerable as a gazelle and not even half as fast. Fliss thought of all the animals she’d seen that day. If you’re not tough like a wildebeest, if you can’t run fast like a deer, if you can’t attack like a cheetah … what do you do? Then Fliss remembered the zebras. Camouflage!

  She grabbed handfuls of the golden grasses and stuffed them into her clothing and hair. She now looked like a scarecrow and she itched like crazy all over, but if she stayed low she’d be well hidden.

  There was an outcrop in the distance close to the fighting spot. She could rest and think about her next move there. If she hadn’t had all that honey she would never have made it and Fliss thanked Tanzy once more with a good scratch behind the ears. Then they were on their way, running low and fast through the grasses towards the outcrop.

  At the base of it, they sat down in the shade of a tree and caught their breath. Grasshoppers popped out of the grasses all around them but Tanzy didn’t seem interested. She looked at Fliss and let out a squeaky roar.

  “Are you trying to tell me something?” Fliss said, reaching for her. But Tanzy backed away and roared again. Fliss jumped to her feet. “What is it, Tanzy?”

  Then she heard it for herself. A low, grumble that echoed against the giant stones. Tanzy went perfectly still. Fliss gasped.

  “It’s your pride. They’re calling for you.”

  Fliss bubbled with excitement. This was what they’d been waiting for. She wanted to gather Tanzy in her arms and deliver her to the lioness and say “I looked after her for you”, but she knew that wouldn’t be possible.

  “Your mother desperately wants to see you, Tanzy,” she said, crouching down to look into the cub’s eyes. “But I don’t think she’ll want to see me. She might think I took you away from her.”

  Tanzy snapped at a passing fly, revealing her tiny razor-sharp teeth.

  “Or she might be hungry,” Fliss added with a gulp.

  The lioness’s call came again. Tanzy walked a few paces ahead before turning back to look at Fliss.

  “Yes, Tanzy, it’s time to go,” Fliss said, putting on a brave smile. Tanzy stared at her and didn’t move. “Come on, then, I’ll walk some of the way with you.”

  Together they walked around the base of the outcrop. The lions must have sensed Tanzy was near because their roars weren’t low and long and sad – they burst high and loud and full of hope. Fliss was frightened now. This wasn’t Pride of Place. There was no fence between her and Africa’s most famous killer cats. It would be silly to go any further.

  She crouched down, took Tanzy’s face in her hands and looked into those sweet brown eyes for the final time.

  “You’ll have to do the last bit on your own.”

  Tanzy leaped into her arms.

  “Oh! I am going to miss you too,” Fliss sniffed. “But this is how it has to be. This is your world, not mine.”

  Tanzy pressed her soft triangle nose against Fliss’s cheek. Then Fliss let go and gave her a nudge.

  “Go,” she whispered. “I promised to look after you and I did. Now I promise never to forget you and I won’t. I could never forget you, Tanzy.”

  Fliss began to climb the rocks as fast as she could. She didn’t stop until she reached the top, where she found a scrubby bush to hide behind. She looked down at the grassland below where Tanzy was moving unsteadily towards the sound of her mother’s voice. Fliss ran to the other side of the outcrop’s large, flat top to look down. She gasped. The whole pride was there – two lions, five lionesses and seven little cubs. They were sitting in the shade. All but one.

  The lioness had started running. Even from way up in the air, Fliss could tell by the bounce in her legs it was a very happy mother. She stopped and roared again – a deep, thick reverberating sound. Very soon she would be reunited with her cub.

  Fliss wanted to cheer, whoop and clap, but she had to be silent. She was in the presence of powerful animals. She clamped her hand over her mouth to stop her excited squeals from escaping.

  Then there was a roar like she’d never heard before. It was roar of triumph and an announcement – the cub has returned!

  All the lions got to their feet as the lost lion came into view. Then – the joy! Tanzy’s mother circled her, sniffing and nuzzling. They rubbed cheeks. They roared in short, happy bursts. The other lionesses began running, too, their long tails dancing behind them. Soon Tanzy was engulfed in the love and relief of her mother and aunts, and her brothers and sisters were now springing towards the huddle as fast as their little legs could carry them.

  When Tanzy emerged from between the legs of the adult lions, the cubs rolled together on the ground in one big, fluffy bundle. The largest male lion roared. Then they got up and shook the Serengeti dust from their coats. It was time to move on. The two males led the way and the females ushered the naughty cubs, making sure every member of the pride was there.

  Fliss felt her heart thump as the pride started to move away from their resting place, padding deeper into the colour-changing scenery of the Serengeti. The yellow sun had melted into a soft orange and hung low in the sky, turning the grasses a rosy gold. The acacia and baobab trees turned to dark silhouettes with long shadows.

  Fliss watched as the lions’ shadows followed in a row behind them. The smallest one at the back belonged to Tanzy, who now looked tiny in the distance.

  “Bye bye, Tanzy,” Fliss whispered, her eyes welling with tears. The cub suddenly stopped and looked back up at her. Fliss waved and laughed.

  But the lioness wasn’t going to lose her cub again – she gave her a hefty bat in the right direction with her paw and Tanzy skidded ahead.

  Fliss stayed on the rock a while longer, enjoying the cooling breeze and watching the sun go down. It oozed like lava and sizzled on the horizon, and the first star of the night sat high in the peach-and-purple sky like a diamond. With Tanzy safe, Fliss had time to appreciate the magic and beauty of the Serengeti. It
was wide and wild. It was totally wonderful.

  But it wasn’t home.

  She pulled out her postcard. The light was fading but the pictures were still clear. The image of the pride had changed. It wasn’t lying down but walking, a group of lions, big and small, all facing the same direction. Fliss held her breath and crossed her fingers. It was time to check up on her little lost cub. Was her job done? Could she go home? She tilted the card.

  A lion cub stood on its own, its pride in the distance. Its head was cocked to one side and its eyes danced with curiosity. It looked strong and full of health.

  “Go, Tanzy!” Fliss laughed. “Hurry and don’t stop to play with any grasshoppers on the way!”

  She closed her eyes and kissed the picture of her rescued little lion as the cooling breeze brushed across her face.

  “Fliss! Come on!”

  What? Fliss’s eyes sprang open. She turned in circles. No dust, no heat, no sunset. She was back!

  “When did it g-g-get so cold?” she stammered, her teeth chattering as she joined Ella who was waiting further along the walkway.

  “It’s not cold. And what’s this?” Ella began to pick strands of grass from Fliss’s hair. “Are you turning into a farmer?”

  “I don’t know,” Fliss said. “I – what – what’s going on?”

  Ella shook her head. “Oh no!”

  Jonty appeared. “What the matter here?”

  “Fliss has been brainwashed. I think it’s those monkeys over there. They look mean.”

  Jonty laughed. “Enough monkey business – I promised I’d have you back in ten minutes.”

  Ella wagged her finger at the monkeys. “You leave my friend alone.”

  While Ella was telling off the monkeys, Fliss tried to pull herself together. She had walked for hours in the Serengeti but not a minute had passed back home. Even so, her skin had grown used to the African sun and she was now freezing. She rubbed her arms to get warm.

  “Cold?” Jonty asked. “Imagine how the lions feel – living here in a cold climate when they should be in the Serengeti.”

  “Hmmm,” Fliss said, nodding. Although she didn’t have to imagine.

  Back at the gift shop, Mrs Mullins, Mr Pincent and the assistant teachers had lined the school children up in a row, ready to board the coach.

  “There they are!” shouted a girl called Samira.

  “We thought you’d been eaten by a lion,” said Milos.

  Sarah shook her head. “I bet they didn’t see any lions at all.”

  Ella nudged Fliss and gave her a big wink. “We did, actually,” she said confidently. “We saw loads of lions. They were great, weren’t they, Fliss?”

  “Yep,” Fliss nodded.

  “Really?” Sarah’s jaw dropped open.

  “How many male lions were there again, Fliss?”

  “Two.”

  “That’s right. Two. And there were three lionesses.”

  “Five,” Fliss corrected.

  “Oh yeah, five. And loads of cubs.”

  “Eight in total,” Fliss said, and she couldn’t stop a wide smile spreading across her face.

  As they left the shop, she grabbed some of the free leaflets, including African Animals, which came with a map of the Serengeti on the back.

  When she was seated on the coach, she began to mark out where she had been on the page. She drew in umbrella trees and stampeding herds, zebra dazzles, attacking cheetahs and loping giraffes. Next she filled the blue band of the Mara River with hippo heads and penned a honey badger and some hyenas. Then she carefully sketched a pride of lions next to a stack of rocks. Looking down on them from the top, she drew herself.

  “What’s that – a monkey?”

  Ella had grown bored of playing plastic-spider pranks and Dan had pinched her cuddly snake.

  “No, that’s me.”

  “You? You wouldn’t survive a day in the Spaghetti.”

  “Do you mean Serengeti?” Fliss said.

  Ella started shrieking with laughter and Fliss laughed along with her. She was the funniest person in the world.

  “Shame you didn’t get a proper gift,” Ella said, pointing at Fliss’s postcard.

  Fliss smiled. But I did. I got to rescue a very special lion. Isn’t that right? she said to herself as she tilted the card.

  And Tanzy, head to one side, winked back.

  Copyright

  STRIPES PUBLISHING LIMITED

  An imprint of the Little Tiger Group

  1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,

  London SW6 6AW

  Text copyright © Rachel Delahaye, 2019

  Inside illustrations copyright © Artful Doodlers, 2019

  Cover illustration copyright © Suzie Mason, 2019

  First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing Limited in 2019

  eISBN: 978–1–78895–132–6

  The rights of Rachel Delahaye, and Suzie Mason and Artful Doodlers to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved.

  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  www.littletiger.co.uk