Chronicles of the Pride Lands cotpl-1

by John H. Burkitt

  "Treason or not, it's the truth." She trudged away slowly, her tail dragging dejectedly in the dust as she headed off to rouse the other lionesses; it was time to hunt.

  Uzuri sighed as she stared after her. The trouble was that Isha was right. Taka's refusal to allow the lions to leave Pride Rock and seek out more fruitful hunting grounds was going to be the death of them. Already some of them were beginning to show signs of emaciation, their ribs standing out clearly against their pelts, once sleek and shiny but now dull and drab from the lack of nutrition. Shaking her head despairingly, she rose and crossed over to where the others now stood assembled.

  Sarafina rose to greet her. "Uzuri, " she whispered urgently. "I've got to talk to you."

  "Of course." She looked at her curiously. "What is it, Fini?"

  "We can't go on like this much longer. Why are we getting ready to hunt?"

  "You want to eat, don't you?"

  Sarafina snorted. "Of course, but I don't want to die for my supper. All we found on our patrol this morning was a small herd of elephants. You more than anyone should know how hard it is to cut a calf out of the herd and put it down."

  "We don't have to worry about that, " Uzuri said firmly. "To hunt elephants is corban, by my own decree."

  Sarafina looked at her for a long moment. "Then what are we left with? Picking off the rare straggler who happens to come wandering through? We can't depend on that."

  Uzuri sighed deeply. "I know, " she said tiredly. The lack of food was beginning to take its toll on her; her energy waned more and more each day. "So what do YOU suggest?"

  "Ajenti! " Sarafina called. "Come here a moment. Tell Uzuri what you told me last night."

  Ajenti grinned. "I had the most wonderful idea while we were out scouting a few days ago." She broke off, coughing raggedly.

  "By the way, I don't want you coming with us tonight, " Uzuri said worriedly. "You sound terrible."

  "I do? Great! " Ajenti snickered at the look on Uzuri's face. "You see, I've been faking that cough for the past couple of days."

  "Why?"

  "I'm going to play sick and stay here while you go hunting. I plan to sneak out a couple of hours after high moon."

  "Just where do you think you can go?" Uzuri asked. "There's nothing to eat for miles around."

  "I'm not going for food, I'm going for help. I'm going to try to get past those idiot hyenas and see Rafiki." Her face sobered. "Maybe he can ask the gods to help us; Taka certainly isn't going to."

  Uzuri sucked in a sharp breath at the audacity of this. "Do you know what will happen to you if you get caught? What about the guards? How are you planning to get past them?"

  Ajenti said, "Maybe if I’m sick enough, I can get an appointment to see Rafiki. I’m one of the better hunters if I say so myself, and Taka would do well not to lose me."

  Taka's sharp voice cut through the air. "If you're quite done chatting, ladies, it's well past sundown. You're late for the hunt."

  Uzuri raised her voice. "Yes, Sire." Lowering it to a hoarse whisper, she looked at Ajenti. "Stay here, for now. Pretend you're sick, like you've been doing, but don't leave tonight. We'll discuss this when we get back."

  Ajenti bowed her head. "Yes, ma'am."

  Uzuri and Sarafina joined the other lionesses who milled about restlessly, anxious to begin the hunt. After checking that everyone was present, she led the group in to Taka's cave. The King lay in the threshold, grooming himself silently as they approached. Clearing her throat, she said, "Milord, we ask for your blessing."

  Taka looked up and nodded. "Aiheu provides. Thanks be to Aiheu."

  "Aiheu provides, " she responded. She turned to leave, but stopped. "Taka, why do we continue this farce? There is no food to be found! I implore you, let us leave here and find better hunting grounds."

  He looked up sharply. "No! We will remain here. This drought will not last much longer. The seer has foretold it."

  "If we don't leave soon, the jackals will glut themselves on lion meat! " Uzuri humbled herself before him. "Taka, please reconsider. Do you think your father would have taken the word of a seer over the cries of his people?"

  "I said we stay! " he snarled. "You overstep your authority, hunt mistress. I will NOT be compared with my father, Lord rest his soul. Now be off before the prey escapes."

  "Yes, Sire, " she said through gritted teeth. She turned and led the group away.

  The young of the elephants were the subject of repeated near-suicide attacks by lionesses because there was little else to eat. Finally over the loud protests of the other lionesses, Uzuri had forbidden attempts on them because it was a senseless risk. Once in a while, a great while, an animal would pass through the Pride Lands bound elsewhere and they would catch it. Even when they were lucky enough to bring down a large animal, it proved almost not worth the trouble because the hyenas would move in.

  Hyenas were not welcome on the hunt, for they were not as skilled as lions. They chatted too much-something Uzuri could not tolerate. Not that any of the hyenas did much hunting anyhow. One of the major topics of conversation as they gathered for the hunt used to be how to get rid of the hyenas. That was until they began to suspect spies from Shenzi were everywhere, and it was not a foolish suspicion. One of them, Skulk, was particularly quiet on his feet.

  Hours later, the moon's pale light painted a small group of elephants. Beesa's pulse raced as she saw a youngster that had strayed too far from the group. Gauging the distance, she decided that she might just be able to cut it off and out of the herd. She began to drool at the thought. Gods, all that meat...the pride might be able to get a halfway decent meal after all. She started to move in, but paused, uncertain, remembering Uzuri's warning. Then the sight of her daughter gnawing on the scrawny carcass of that hideous rat sprang unbidden into her mind. Beesa had been shocked as she realized she could easily count her daughter's ribs simply by looking at her side. That decided her.

  "Aiheu provides, " she whispered. Easing forward through the dying grass, she slowly began to stalk the young elephant.

  Uzuri had already sighted the elephants a few moments earlier. She began to softly call out orders, shifting the inverted V pattern of their normal sweep for prey to a left oblique, herself at the head with the others staggered out on the opposite side away from the elephants. She turned her head, intending to shift Beesa over into the trail spot, and stared at the empty grass where a lioness should have been. "Beesa?"

  Malaika gasped. "Oh gods, Uzuri, look! "

  Uzuri's head whipped around, looking over at the spot where Malaika was staring, open-mouthed. "What the...."

  There was an elephant cow coming up quietly behind Beesa. Uzuri shouted, "Beesa! Look out! "

  Beesa turned around too late, her eyes widening as she saw the elephant charge. She shrieked as the elephant tossed the lioness's four hundred pounds into the air like a rag doll, then brought down her front feet on her with a snapping sound.

  "Close ranks! " Uzuri shouted. The lionesses ran to Beesa and formed a circle around her, driving back the elephant. Trumpeting loudly, the cow gathered her calf to her side and joined the herd as it began to lumber away cautiously.

  "I'm stove through, " Beesa gasped. "Isha?"

  "Beesa?"

  "Isha! "

  "I'm here, honey! " Isha drew near to listen to her sister's faint words.

  "Take care of my Lisani. Promise me."

  "I will, honey." Tears flooded Isha's eyes. She nuzzled Beesa and kissed her. "I promise. I love you, Beesa. Pray for me.”

  “I will, sis.”

  “Oh Beesa, why did you do it?"

  "I promised." Her face contorted in pain. "You must bring Lisani something special. Tell her it's from me." She gasped. Blood began to drain from her mouth. "Isha?"

  "I'm still here."

  Slowly, painfully, Beesa raised her paw and caressed Isha’s cheek. "Save yourself." Her arm fell as her last breath went out in a long sigh.

  "Oh gods! " Isha looked
at the body with its horrible wounds. “My sister, ” she stammered. “She’s dead. What are we going to tell Lisani?” She glanced from face to face at each of the lionesses. “Why did that elephant have to kill her? Why? Why??”

  The lionesses stood silently for a moment, unwilling to take the next step which they knew was necessary. Finally, Uzuri stepped forward. She bent down and gently kissed Beesa's cheek. "Aiheu abamami." A tear rolled her face and splashed silently on Beesa's fur. “Pray for me, Beesa.”

  She retreated as Malaika stepped forward, followed by Sarabi. One by one, Beesa's hunt sisters came forward to bid her farewell. Finally, only Isha remained. The lioness stood immobile, looking down at her sister's body. She bent to kiss her cheek, but crumpled, sobbing, beside the still form. "Oh gods! " She tilted her head up and roared at the sky, giving vent to her grief as the other lionesses joined in, the eerie sound echoing back from the cliffs.

  Back at Pride Rock, the hyenas heard the cry. They came to Taka for an explanation, but he had none. “It doesn’t sound good, ” he said.

  Finally, the lionesses came trailing in slowly, eyes cast down and filled with tears. Taka looked from one to another uncertainly as they approached.

  "Uzuri? What's wrong? I heard a cry."

  Uzuri looked at him crossly. "Count us, Your Majesty. What do YOU think?" She shouldered past him roughly and sat down, her face quivering as she fought for control.

  Lisani came gamboling up to the hunting party. She butted up against Isha, purring happily as she greeted her aunt. "Isha, where's Mom? What did she get for me? A zebra?" Her face began to drop. “Another rat?” She saw Isha’s tears. “Nothing at all?”

  Isha's jaw trembled. "Lisani, Honey Tree, I want you to be a brave little girl. Very brave. Your mother....” She began to sob. “You’re going to stay with me now."

  Lisani stared as she took in the pained expression on her aunt's face. Looking around, she saw it mirrored on the others as they sat, staring at nothing.

  “Is she hurt?” She went to Uzuri. “Aunt Uzuri, what’s wrong??”

  “Oh my poor baby! ”

  Suddenly realizing that the worst had happened, she ran back to Isha and huddled against her warm body, bursting into tears. "I want my mommy! ” she shrieked. “Aunt Isha, I want my mommy! " Isha held her close with a paw. “We all want your mommy, but she’s gone.”

  Kh'tel, one of the hyenas asked, "Am I to take that poor Beesa is dead?"

  "You ARE to take it, " Uzuri said sternly.

  "Well then, the body is corban for a moon. That is the duration, isn't it?" With barely suppressed excitement, he said, "Pray tell, where is the body? We wouldn't want to trespass."

  Uzuri showed her fangs. "You sure wouldn't! ‘Cause if you touch her, you will be our next meal! "

  "Your Majesty, " Kh'tel protested. "I merely tried to follow leonine custom. I resent these vile accusations."

  "I'll show you vile accusations! " In a moment, Uzuri sprang on on the hyena, pinning him to the ground. Other hyenas moved closer, threatening, but she barked, "Come one step closer and I'll kill him! "

  "I forbid you to hurt him, " Taka shouted. "Let him go! "

  "Beesa is dead, and it's all his fault! Him and his kind! He doesn't touch her. Let the jackals have their fill, but I'll kill the first hyena that touches her! "

  "I know you're upset, " Taka said. "I'm sure you know you're overreacting here. We don't want a war, now, do we?"

  Hyenas glared at her. Lionesses glared at the hyenas. It was a tinderbox just waiting to burst into flame.

  "Let him go, " Taka said sternly. "I'd hate to have to MAKE you let him go."

  "You mean just you and I? One-on-one with no outside interference?" Uzuri had a fierce light in her eyes that froze Taka's blood. Clearly she could make good on her threat. "Are those your terms, Sire?"

  Taka was clearly at a disadvantage. He squirmed inside, trying to think of something, anything, he could say and not live to regret.

  Elanna said, "For the sake of the Gods, you two, concede the point. Let the hyena go, Uzuri. In return my husband will not punish you." She looked at Taka and half smiled. "Tell her you’ll let her go, dear. She’s reasonable."

  Taka nodded. "Yes, yes. Elanna speaks for me. We're all friends here. We just have our misunderstandings." He stared at Uzuri. "Don't we, my dear?"

  "Yes, Sire." She glared down at the still-trapped hyena and said, "We're all friends here." She kissed the hyena right on the end of the nose with a long, wet, drooling lick that made him gasp and sputter. "Mmmmm. Don't try to eat things that bite back, Hon. You might get invited to dinner."

  When Kh'tel was released, he ran in blind panic from the cave, wiping his nose in the grass and trembling.

  SCENE: MOST WONDERFUL OF CALAMITIES

  Taka’s espousal of Elanna had come when he was supposedly mourning his brother and Simba. But one day there came the most wonderful and yet frightening change in him. He came in to see Elanna as she lay in the cool of the cave. The blistering heat had soaked his golden body with sweat, and taken the fire from his eyes and the joy from his heart.

  That’s when a small miracle happened. “Husband, I know that there is not enough food to go around. But there is someone that wants to join the pride.

  “Someone I know?”

  “No, not yet.”

  “We have so little as it is. Male or female?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You talked to them, and you don’t know? Was it a cub or something?”

  “Or something, ” she said. “I sensed the change in my body a few days ago, but today I’m sure. Taka, you are very clever, but you haven’t seen the light in my eyes?”

  “The light in your eyes?” The hair on his back stood up. “You mean I’m going to be a father?”

  “Please don’t be upset with me. We’ll have to stretch things a little, but we’ll make it somehow.”

  “Upset??” Tears came to his eyes and he nuzzled her, fondling her ears and cheek with his large paw and kissing her. “I love you, Lannie. My dear, precious girl. Upset?? I’m delighted! Oh gods, I’d almost forgotten there was beauty or laughter in the world. Lannie, I will give you sons and daughters. You will fill the world with beauty.”

  She kissed away his tears. “Go tell the world.”

  He came running out to the end of the promontory of Pride Rock and shouted, “Listen, all of you! Elanna is with child! ” He practically danced like a cub. “I’m going to be a father! ”

  Taka felt this small life would love him the way he loved Ahadi. The rest of the Pride Lands be cursed, this small treasure of his beloved would be his, fully his, and he would worship it. Be it male or female, it would be heaven and earth for him, even God. Surely there would be no unfairness in Taka’s heart. If he had twin sons, the kingdom would be divided upon his death. Never would he inflict on his own the pain and suffering he felt. And he decided something else as well, something dark and sinister. For the safety of his own, the day Elanna gave birth would be the day Rafiki died. He gave explicit instructions on this to his hyena guard. The curse would not live on in his children.

  There was no parade of lionesses coming to congratulate the happy pair. Only a few hyenas came by to fawn on him, seeking to ingratiate themselves. He despised this—it made the missing lionesses all the more obvious.

  Then came Fabana. She squirmed with delight. “I told you not to die, didn’t I? I told you that love would come, and it has.” She stood up on her hind legs and put her rough arms around Taka’s mane and kissed him. “I’m so happy! ”

  Taka purred deeply, kissed her with his large tongue and stroked her gently with his large paw. “I wondered when you’d come. You’re the first one I wanted to tell about little Fabana.”

  “Little Fabana! ” She kissed him again. “Aren’t you the big sweetie! Yes you are! ” He chuckled and rolled over like a big cub, batting at her lightly with his huge paw.

  The news struck a chord of dread in
some of the lionesses. Isha and Uzuri went to Kako and took her aside. There was one place near the cistern where a small damp cave blew cold air year round. A nice place to escape the heat of summer, it was the doorway to a strange underground realm that was corban to creatures of the sunlit world. Hyenas hated it because of the constant dampness, so there was not as much danger of being overheard.

  “That cub could be female, ” Isha said quietly. “Then again it could be male. If it was, I wouldn’t give half a bleached zebra skull for Baba’s life. Scar will either kill him or send him off. He’s afraid of a good challenge. Pfft, I almost wish I was a male—I’d show him a thing or two! ”

  “He’s only shown me kindness, ” Kako said.

  “True. When it suits him, he can be a cute little kitten. But this kitten has claws, hon.”

  Uzuri said, “Listen to her, Kako. I’ve grown to think of you as my little sister. I would bleed inside if your son died. Make no mistake, we want to protect you. Your son is in grave danger.”

  “I’ll keep watch, ” Kako said. “It’s the only thing I can do. I can’t go home. I really can’t do that.”

  “You are home, ” Isha said, nuzzling her. “We are your family now.”

  “I love you too, ” Kako said. “Don’t think I don’t. If you have a plan—any plan at all—you tell me. Even if it’s getting rid of—your problem.” She couldn’t bear to say “killing the King, ” but it was understood. “We will either live together or die separately.”

  “Then it is settled, ” Uzuri said. “We will all see what we can come up with. May Aiheu give us the light.”

  SCENE: SO LIKE HIS MOTHER

  Two and a half months after Elanna married Taka, she began having contractions.

  “Husband! ”

  Taka came running into the cave. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m in pain. Something is wrong! Terribly wrong! ”

  Just then he noticed the blood. He is in a panic. “You’re not due for two weeks! ” Looking about helplessly, he shouts, “Midwives! Come quick! ”