"Resting."

"Is he hurting?"

"Yes, the poor dear. As soon as Ahadi comes back, I'll send him for Makedde."

"I'll go, " Sarabi insisted. She did not word it as a question, and without waiting for a reply, she headed for the distant baobab tree.

Taka's fragile sleep was fraught with dreams. His legs jerked, and his mouth and ears twitched. "It's so dark in here, " he muttered. "Let me go. Let me go! " Akase didn't know whether or not to wake him. But the decision was soon made by another.

"Son, wake up! "

Taka rolled over and opened his eyes. He saw the large hazel eyes of his father looking down on him. He was dusty. A trace of blood was on his lips, and his nose had been scratched and was bleeding. Taka started.

Looking down beside him, he saw the white badger stained crimson with blood.

"He won't hurt you again."

"Dad, you're bleeding."

"Am I?" He half-smiled. "I think he got a little desperate when I found his secret exit. Is it my nose?"

"Yes." Tears began to roll down Taka's cheeks. "I love you."

"I love you too. You do believe me, don't you?"

Taka ran and buried himself in Ahadi's mane, kissing his wounded nose and nuzzling him. "Promise we'll always be friends. Promise?"

"Better yet, I'll swear it." He smiled broadly. "You feeling better, champ?"

"You bet! "

"Now do you want that story?"

"Sure! "

Just then, Yolanda walked up. She glanced at Taka's face, and before she could catch herself, said, "Oh my G.o.d! What happened to him??"

Taka quickly hid his face in horror.

SCENE: CORBAN!.

Avina was always a free-spirited lioness. She enjoyed hunting with her Pride sisters as much as any other lioness, but she also liked to try her skill at stalking prey alone like a leopard. She was uncommonly good at it, as good in single hunting as Uzuri was at leading a group hunt. So even though she married the King's brother and should be setting a good example for the others, she continued to make solitary forays into the savanna.

To keep from disrupting the night's hunt, she would stalk by day. Spoiling the evening stalk for the other lionesses would be unforgivable. But hunting by day only increased the challenge, and she relished each kill she could win for the Pride as she showed it off proudly. "I did it by myself, and in broad daylight, " she would boast. The others did not mind as much as might be expected. They enjoyed a good meal as much as she, and Avina always sang out cheerfully, "Dinnertime! " It was her open invitation to whomever wanted to dine on the results of her labors.

With Sarabi and Elanna in the care of their Aunt Akase, Avina went blythly into the tall gra.s.s, blending her golden body into the gilt colors of the savanna. Sarabi would be fine playing with Taka, and m.u.f.fy would content himself with a few words from Elanna. And few words there would be, for while many thought m.u.f.fy would end up marrying Elanna, there was no magic the way there was between Taka and Sarabi.

Avina ghosted through the fields on quiet paws, seeing all and being seen by none. Her pride in her own skills was evident, and well she had reason to be proud.

A herd of Hartbeests did not even hear her approach, though they were rather uneasy, stopping from time to time in order to listen. Hartbeests had a feeling about such things that makes them very hard to stalk.

Ears down, tail down, and legs moving in perfect oneness with the rhythm of the earth mother, Avina kept her eyes on the herd and gradually, methodically closed the gap, stopping from time to time as a head looks up from grazing to glance about.

Chuckling inside, Avina knew that she would have a sure kill. There was a buck on the outside of the herd that she had picked out. He was old, and chances are he would be slower than the rest. She kept on concentrating, contemplating, and closing the gap until a rush was forced upon her.

A Hartbeest looked up and saw her. Without waiting for a reaction, Avina sprang out of hiding, sprinting with all the speed Aiheu gave her toward the old buck.

Indeed, he was slower than the others. The herd opened like a large blossom, but she ignored everything but her target. It was a very private matter staged in the middle of a large herd. Her strength flowed, her courage rose, and the buck was coming closer, closer, ever closer.

The hartbeest changed direction, but so did she. Avina cornered tightly and cleanly, and even managed to gain a little on her target. "You are mine! "

With all her might, Avina sprang as she had sprung many times before. Up and forward she came, rising to loop her strong arm around his neck and pull him over.

But she missed. "d.a.m.n! "

A strong hoof slammed her cheek. In an instant, her great strength left her. Tumbling out of control, she rolled to a stop. There, stunned and breathless, she writhed in agony, clutching at her face, and letting quickly go when it burned like fire. She tried to cry out, but her jaw hung open crookedly and all that came out was a dull, wordless shriek. Anger and disappointment quickly gave way to terror at her predicament. She desperately needed a friend. Someone, anyone. There was no one. As she lay on the ground, she wondered if she might die there alone.

"No, " she insisted, summoning all her strength to pull her wounded body from the bonds of gravity and stand once more.

When she could struggle to her feet, she felt something drip from her chin. Blood and saliva were dripping profusely from her battered face, out of the corner of her mouth. She started to panic.

Gasping, she fought to think clearly through the muddled haze. "I have to get to Makedde, " she thought. Unsure where she was, she lost valuable time trying to focus on the distant horizon and find the baobab tree. "Aiheu abamamia"Lord, give me strength."

She began her long march in the hot sun. Her useless jaw seared her with each step, and she fought to keep her eyes focused.

She tried once to feel with a paw to see what had happened. The tip of a shattered jaw had stuck through the skin. It was like a sharp dagger, covered with her lifeblood. "Oh G.o.ds, " she thought. "My face! My face--is gone! It's gone! " She wondered what she looked like, and what she would do if the pain did not lessen.

What would Shaka think when he saw her? He would still love her, for he was a good and gentle lion, but her beauty was gone forever. And most likely she would never hunt again. What a foolish waste! What a stupid thing to do! And that is if she even lived to see him again. All of her cleverness, all of her boasting and bragging was now a reproach to her. "What a fool I was! " she thought. "What an idiot among fools! " Now she would be a charity case, an example that parents would hold up to their daughters when they acted recklessly.

She staggered forward, trying to hold her head up. It was not easy. Her neck was strained, her panting dried out her throat, and her eye was running on the side where she had been kicked. "Keep going, girl, " she thought. "I can't stop. I have to find Rafiki. Please, G.o.ds, let him be home! "

The sun tormented her. Flies were gathering in hosts to plague her, and she could not raise her paw to swat at them. In fact, she could barely raise her paw to step forward.

Her eyes began to go out of focus, and she could not compensate. The world was growing darker, and the image of distant trees began to sway and shimmer. "No, I can't die! I have two children! I have to get home! I have to get home! "

Blood had covered her chest, running down her legs. The smell of it entered the side of her nose she could still breathe through. Surely it had travelled other places by now.

There were footsteps in the gra.s.s around her.

"Who is there?" The words came out almost unrecognizable as speech so she painfully and slowly uttered. "Who...is...there??"

"Just us."

It was a hyena voice. "Help me. I'm the wife of the Prince Consort." The words burned like fire. "If you...get me to Rafiki...my husband will...reward you. Imagine...all you can eat! "

"That's what I'm imagining right now."

"No! Don't do this! In the name of G.o.d! "

"Nothing personal, dearie, " the voice said. As if at a signal, a hunting party came out of the gra.s.s and attacked her.

SCENE: BORDER PATROL.

It was Shaka's turn to do border patrol, a job he didn't like thought he didn't really hate it either. It did take away time he could be spending with his family. He would have been playing with Sarabi and Elanna, but instead he was defending the Pride Lands against enemies that rarely ever show up.

He amused himself by remembering the long pa.s.sages of the Leonid Saga he had memorized as a youth from his father. Shaka was good at reciting verse, and he was a living encyclopedia of lore and ceremonial prose. He sang to himself Sarabi's favorite song.

"Moko Greatmane was a great cat,

And a great big cat was he,

He climbed up over the mountain pa.s.s

to see what he could see,

As the cat climbed up, all the rain climbed down

and the wind was blowing fast...."

"h.e.l.lo there! " shouted Zazu. "Sorry to interrupt Your Highness, but there are hyenas on the eastern meadow! They've killed something."

"Thanks, " Shaka said. "I'll get on it."

He was looking for a little excitement anyhow. Chuckling to himself about the impression he'd make on the hyenas, he loped across the savanna and plunged through the reeds. "Let them hunt on the Pride Lands, eh? Not as long as I'm on the job." His easy but ma.s.sive lope made up the distance rather quickly.

At last he spotted them, eating quickly as if they knew it was a matter of urgency.

He roared at the hyenas. They growled, but withdrew from the carca.s.s and stood back a few yards.

"My G.o.ds, it's a lioness! " He didn't recognize her until he got close enough to turn what remained of the face with his paw. The final look of horror still hung on her shattered face.

"Avina, " he whispered quietly. Her torn body lay open under the barren sky, and flies buzzed around. "Avina! " Shaka looked up to the sky, drew in a deep breath and shrieked, "Avina!!! Oh G.o.d, Noooooo!!! "

His grief and rage were competing like two rabbits trying to enter the same hole at the same time. For the vital moment, rage won out. His eyes red with hate fixed on his target. "Dirty stinking murderers!!! I'll kill you!!! "

He took out after the hyenas at full tilt. For a lion, his onslaught was something terrible to behold. But he was built for power, not for speed, and was unable to catch up with the lighter-built hyenas the way a lioness might have. Instead, he kept up with them.

The scavengers flew across the savanna swiftly as evening swallows. They put on one final spurt and with great relief crossed the border into the elephant graveyard where their grounds began.

They stopped for a moment to look backa"a foolish mistake. Shaka kept coming. He ran over the invisible line that delineated his authority. He half-ran, half-stumbled down the slope and into the dusty realm of the dead. Finally, one of the hyenas stumbled over a pile of bones and headed to a terrifying stop.

Shaka was on top of him very quickly, bearing the hyena's small body down with crushing weight. "You killed my wife! You ripped out my heart, and I will rip out yours! I give you a moment to pray to your G.o.d."

Before he knew what was happening, Shaka was surrounded by hyenas on all sides. They seemed to materialize from the dust and emerge from the skulls and caves.

"Let him go! " said Amarakh, the ruling Roh'mach. "You are trespa.s.sing on our lands. You are holding one of my people."

"He's a murderer! " Shaka narrowed his eyes at her. "He killed my wife in cold blood, and he was on my land! She had two cubs, Amarakh. Two cubs that won't have a mother coming home tonight! She was alive when they ripped her! Alive! "

"I will investigate it. I know him. He's a trouble maker anyhow, and you can be sure I will punish him if he's guilty."

"IF??" Shaka looked down at the trapped hyena. "I saw him over her body. Zazu saw the kill. You tell her. TELL HER, VERMIN! "

The trapped hyena squeeled in fear. "Somebody help me! "

"You can't extract a confession to a murder by death threats." Amarakh glared back. "This is my land, and I give you my word we will investigate within the customs of our law. But you must let him go. Leavea"now! "

"I do not believe you."

"You are not in a position to negotiate, " Amarakh said. "Leave at once. I will see your brother the King tonight. We will talk."

"You are right, " he said. "You are absolutely right. I am NOT in a position to negotiate." Shaka looked up at the sky. "Aiheu abamami! " he cried in his deep grief. Then he quickly dropped his head and bit with tremendous force, snapping the hyena's neck and almost severing his head. The body twitched spasmotically before collapsing with eyes staring sightlessly into s.p.a.ce. A deep gasp whispered through the a.s.sembled throng. Then with bitter rage, the crowd closed in on Shaka.

SCENE: GATHERING EVIDENCE.

Sarabi and Elanna were playing with Mufasa and Taka. But eventually they began to wonder when their mom and dad were coming back. Ahadi began to wonder too, for it was getting late in the day. "Did they dump the kids on us and take a vacation?" Akase was only joking, but she was genuinely worried.

Zazu came in for his report. "Sire, Khemoki of the Zebra'ha is certain that...."