Preface
The story that follows has its roots in another story of mine, namely "The Corrupter"; it's kind of a spin-off. However, I've written it so that you don't have to read before mentioned story to understand this one, given some background I will provide below.
The curious thing is, however, that you do kind of have to read this story to understand "The Corrupter" (or at least one very small part of it).
The story takes place in the Pridelands at the beginning of Ahadi's reign (and the early days of Rafiki's shaman-career), when there was still a clan of hyenas living in what would later become part of the Pridelands. We follow one of that clan's members as he tries to keep the peace around his lands. Have fun reading!
One
"Hello?"
"Anyone here? Rafiki?"
"Come down, monkey, we've got you a banana!"Makamu yelped jokingly. Obviously, Sal didn't approve of his brother-in-law's shenanigans; only he himself was allowed to approach the shaman that cordial.
"Shut your piehole. If you got problems, go home and badmouth your momma, but here, you show some respect for the Shaman."
"Jeez, sorry..."
"Who dares disturb my slumber?" A voice suddenly mumbled above the hyenas. Shortly thereafter, Rafiki himself unexpectedly swung down from one of the tree's branches, ending up facing his guests whilst he hung upside down.
"You know what, that actually sounded pretty cool, you should do that more often! A bit pompous, though..."
Rafiki cringed upon observing the hyena's crooked smile, not so much because he disliked him, but mostly because of the rather unpleasant odour emitting from the predator's mouth.
"Good afternoon, Sal..."
"You mean good morning, noon hasn't passed yet..."
"I know. That's cause you woke me up..."
"I did? Oh..." Sal grinned, striking a careful balance between sincerity and sounding like a jerk, "Sorry about that, I guess. Ifiggured you'd be up already, with you not being nocturnal and all..."
"I ain't. I just like sleeping out..."
"Well, regardless, you're awake now, so you could just as well help me out..."
"Wow, wait, wait..." Realizing he probably wouldn't get a chance to go back to bed, Rafiki let go of his tree and landed on the ground, landing behind the visitor. In stead of getting back to him, the Shaman took the time to stretch, trying to get most of the sleep out of his bones. "You come here, wake me up with all your noise, don't tell me what you came here for in the first place – and now you expect me to help you with... what exactly?"
"I didn't mention it yet?"
"Nope."
"You know what, it's a short walk from here, why don't I tell you on the way?"
"So you suspect there's been some violence, huh?"
Sal snickered when he saw the look on Rafiki's face.
"Well, you know, I could have told you all about it, but that would have ruined the surprise!"
Quite honestly, Rafiki had indeed suspected there was going be more to this trip than Sal had let slip at first. Quite typical of him to have pulled this joke, really. Just to make sure he had seen it right, Rafiki looked up again, at the nearly leafless tree's upper branches. His mind hadn't fooled him: up in the tree was indeed a cheetah. And that was pretty peculiar because...
"Cheetah's don't climb trees..."
"And they don't have wings either, so go figure... And he isn't really moving, breathing or talking, so I'm guessing he's dead, and dead cheetah's don't go anywhere, up trees least of all," Sal noted sec, "I think someone put him up there, for some reason. But we won't know for sure until we get him down..."
"But since hyenas don't climb trees either, you want me to do that, I get it..." Rafiki sighed.
"Please, my esteemed Shaman, you really shouldn't feel obliged..."
Whilst Rafiki and Sal had been talking, a small crown had gathered under the tree, all animals curious to see what all the ruckus was about. Their stares, along with the fact Sal had already awoken him just for this, made it clear Rafiki did have to feel obliged.
"Yeah right... Wait here..."
The shaman took a quick look around, and was happy to see that there were, for the time being, no other cheetah's around; that would probably make Rafiki's task easier: no screams of indignation should he accidentally drop the corpse.
Upon arriving up in the tree, he was pleased to find that the cheetah hadn't stiffened entirely, although he was starting to get a bit rigid by now. He figured it'd be better to hurry up. The fact the body was remarkably light facilitated that, and in a matter of minutes Rafiki was back on the ground. He put the cheetah down carefully.
"You were right, he's dead."
"I figured so," Sal nodded as he crouched down near the carcass, now taking a more serious tone; a dead body up a tree is a novelty, but on the ground it becomes a tragedy.
"There are certainly more pleasant ways of starting your day."
"You said it. Poor sod..." The hyena nudged the cheetah's head sidewards, as to get a better look at his face, "This guy's still quite young... that's a shame..."
Rafiki thought his friend kept sitting next to the stiff a surprisingly long time.
"You all right, buddy?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm okay..."
"You're not turning soft, are you?" Rafiki taunted.
"Nope. Old, maybe. Soft, never."
"Old? You're not even my age yet!"
"Hush, you shouldn't joke around, someone died here."
"Whatever, Softy. Need some help from here on?"
"No, I think I'm good now, at least for what the dead guy is concerned... Or wait, one more thing." The hyena suddenly seemed to have remembered something, "Do you have any idea when he died?"
"Well, since a cheetah up a tree is guaranteed to catch the eye, I'd say last night; you'd have noticed earlier otherwise. And he hasn't stiffened out yet, so that too points to last night..."
"All right, that's all I needed to know. I'll handle it from here."
"Man, you're pretty calm about this... I mean... we did just get a dead cheetah out of a tree... Shouldn't you – and me – be a bit more worried about that?"
"Naaa... Too early for that... I'll try freaking out once I've got my lunch. Besides, nothing ever happens around here. Not to say I'm excited, but... you know..." Sal shrugged, "Well, anyway, thanks for the help."
"No problem, glad to be of service. I guess you'll spend the rest of the day figuring out what happened here?" Rafiki yawned involuntarily.
"Pretty much. It ain't easy, but it's doing the good work..."
"So, what killed him?"
"Eh..."
"We should have asked the baboon, he knows a lot more about this then you do..."
"Shut up, I know what I'm doing, all right?"
"Sure, whatever..."
"Look! See this? Broken neck, and teethmarks around his neck. I'm pretty sure that's what killed him. I can't see anything else that could have."
"What about those cuts all over his body?"
"No, I don't think those are lethal. I mean, I don't see any blood, slashed arteries or any of that stuff..."
"Where do you think he got those?"
"What, the cuts? I have no idea. Maybe someone scratched him..."
"I bet it were lions..."
"Yeah, save for the fact that lions don't climb trees. Or they don't climb quite as high. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a lion..."
"So who was it then?"
"I dunno. A leopard? They got pretty nasty claws. And they climb trees... Yeah, let's go with leopard..."
"All right, so you know how he died. And that it was a leopard, probably. So... What do we do now?"
"I don't know, this is as new to me as it is to you. And stop asking those annoying questions. Now, give me a minute, all right?" Sal sat down with a muted groan, still staring at the cheetah-carcass. So he had gotten Rafiki to get the body out of the tree. Great. Too bad he hadn't thought any further than that. Makamu, Sal's brother in law and usually his right-paw-man, wasn't too much help either, just sitting around, getting on Sal's nerves.
"Come on man, hurry it up. You know I don't usually do the day-shift... I wanna go get some sleep."
"Like hell you are," Sal grumbled, "You're staying right here 'till I figure out what we're going to do now..."
"But it's the middle of the day! And this sun is killing me..."
"Well then I guess you'll be dying in the sun, sad day for you. See if I care," Growled Sal, trying to shut his companion up, "Besides, this is serious; someone was probably murdered here, you can afford to lose a little sleep over that..."
"Whatever," Makamu shrugged, "You just shout whenever you figured out what to do... I'll just be lying down, over there..."
"Great, I got to find the culprit to first murder in years, and the only one I've got to help me is my lousy, no good brother-in-law..."
"Hey, I heard that!"
One observing the above conversation might get the wrongful impression that Sal and Makamu didn't exactly get along. Although there's a grain of truth in that statement, their antagonism shouldn't be overestimated. They actually got along fine. It was just that Makamu was a bit grumpy, probably because he wasn't used to being awake during midday. And Sal was most likely being a bit more bossy than usual too, mostly because of the stress generated by the dead cheetah. Not that he didn't boss around Makamu otherwise, mind you: his rank in the clan was right above that one of his brother in law, corresponding to the rank of Mary relative to her younger sister, Makamu's partner.
"All right, you can stop complaining now, I figured out what we have to do," Sal suddenly blurted after a short silence.
"And that is...?"
"Well, I reckon that the first thing we'll have to do is get the word out there has been a murder, 'cause that's what it is, probably. We have to let Mary know, for starters. She'll relay the news to the matriarch, Agathe. From there on, I'm hoping they know the proper procedures that come with this kind of thing..."
"Sounds easy enough," Makamu yawned, "So that's all there is to it?"
"Well, no, we also have to..."
"Hey! Dudes!"
The two hyenas suddenly heard a screech coming from the sky, prompting them to look up. They quickly noticed two huge silhouettes above them, gently sliding their way to a nearby tree. It didn't take Sal and Makamu long to realize the vultures had arrived.
"Hi Sal, Maka!" one of the vultures yelled as he landed. Sal recognized him almost instantly; fellow scavengers get to know each other fairly quickly, for better or worse.
"Gin, Rummy..." the hyenas mumbled back, not all that enthusiast about the vultures' arrival; they'd probably make Sal and Makamu's work a lot harder for it.
"Say, Sal, that cheetah over there... He doesn't happen to be dead, does he?"
"Well, actually, yes..."
"Ha! See, I told you so! I'm never wrong. At least not at these kind of things," the vulture called Rummy grinned at his companion, "Now... I call dibs on the eyes!"
Suddenly, and much to Sal's dismay, the vulture shot forward towards the cheetah-carcass, followed closely by the other one.
"Yo, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Sal growled, as he too bolted forward, successfully chasing off the vultures only moments before they started picking at the body.
"Hey! What gives?" Rummy shouted in indignation as he flew up again.
"Yeah Sal, don't be such a scrooge! Stop hogging the cheetah for yourself!"
"Guys, I'm not planning on eating this cheetah..." Sal sighed.
"Then why chase us away? You might not want it, but we do!"
"Look, this bloke is not for eating, all right? It's evidence..."
"Evidence?"
"Yes evidence. He was murdered, for heavens sake!" the hyena growled.
"So?" the vultures blurted in unison.
"So? What part of "he was murdered" didn't you understand?"
"So he was murdered, whoopty-doo," Gin crowed, "Like that hasn't happened before. You guys kill like a hundred grazers every week, and you don't go around not-eating those, do you?"
"This was a predator killed by another predator, that's different..." Sal sighed. Were they about to make him explain the entire circle of life to them? 'Cause that'd be a huge waste of time, much like the entire conversation up to now.
"Whatever, man," Rummy shrugged, "But I'm still hungry!"
"Well then I guess you'll just have to be hungry for a little longer, bro! Damn it, as if I didn't have enough trouble on my hands already... Maka, get over here!"
"Yeah, what?"
"Eh... Okay, look, we'll do it like this: we already know what killed the cheetah – that'd be a broken neck; we already know when – last night. And from the looks of those cuts he has all over, I think I know who did him in – a leopard. Now we only have to find out who the dead guy is, and we won't need the body any longer, I think..." Sal explained, "So I'll go try and find someone to help us identify the dude. Some big-shot cheetah, preferably. Meanwhile, you keep the vultures at bay, all right?"
"Aw man... Come on Sal, we're hungry now!" the vultures complained, "How about we just leave you the head or something? Can't you identify him like that?"
"For the last time: no! You're not eating him! Just wait 'till I find out who he is, all right? Then he's all yours to gobble up as you please..."
"Dude, hurry it up, all that talk about eating is starting to make me hungry too..." Makamu grumbled.
"Again, sir, I'm sorry I had to break up your hunt like that..."
"No, it's all right; this is a serious matter... I even wish you'd gotten me sooner, actually..."
Sal found Tibu to be very cooperative. Even after the hyena had interrupted him while hunting, the cheetah had still been more than willing to stop and listen to what Sal had to say, and had immediately volunteered to come along and identify the murder-victim Sal told him about. For the better: Sal had spent so much time searching for the cheetah, it was starting to get dangerously close to nightfall. He and his partner Mary still had to go visit Rafiki, so the shaman could get a look at their youngest son, who had contracted some sort of sleeping disorder. But that wouldn't be a problem now, since Tibu wasted no time on petty indignation.
But come to think of it, that was Tibu's one great quality, his knack for being calm, humble and easy-going under all circumstances. His slow, soft-spoken manner only served to accentuate that. He wasn't exactly the guy you'd expect to be the most important cheetah in the entire territory of Sal's clan, let alone a leader (if only a small-time one). Come to think of it, that's probably why the hyenas had picked him to be their delegate among the cheetahs; he was someone you could go and sit down with to have a grown up conversation, without having to beware of his greed or ego. Plus, you could count on Tibu to never rock the boat; if there was anything he hated, it was the disturbance of peace and quiet. That was probably why he was so eager to assist in solving the mystery behind the murder at hand.
"So is there anything special you'd have me do?"
"No, not really. I was just hoping you could tell me who the dead dude – I mean, the deceased, is. And tell me whatever it is you know about him; you know, whether he had a beef with someone..."
"About what?" Tibu seemed rather unaccustomed to the idea of anyone getting into any trouble whatsoever, for whatever reason. He just couldn't imagine animals behaving erratic or vindictive.
"I dunno... What do animals bitch about nowadays? Maybe someone stole his lunch. Or he nicked someone's dinner..."
"Why would they do that? Can't they hunt their own food?"
"They sure can, sir," Sal grimaced, giving up on trying to educate Tibu's on the concept of reality, "Now if you would follow me, please?"
They arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. Makamu, his sleep notwithstanding, seemed to have done a decent job at keeping the vultures at bay: they'd only taken four or five pecks at the carcass, probably in the short time-frame wherein Makamu failed at his attempts to stay awake.
"Hello, ladies, nice to see you again!"
"Sal, you're so funny, I think I just broke my jaw in laughter..."
"Okay, Maka, you're being a Negative Nancy, and we don't need no Negative Nancies on this team, all right?"
"Sure, whatever, gaywad..."
"... and who just earned himself the award for least adult member of the team... oh my gosh, I can't believe it... it's Makamu! Now, enough with your unproductive loitering. I'd like you to meet Tibu. You might recognize him as our appointed delegate among the cheetahs."
"Good day to you, sir."
"Howdy," Makamu grumbled, "Eh, sir, with all due respect, but could you maybe... you know, hurry up? No offense, but eh, I really need to be getting so sleep."
"Now now, good sir, be patient. These is serious affair, after all! Someone died, I reckon losing some sleep is but a small sacrifice on your part..."
"Yeah, I tried telling him myself," Sal commented, "But, you know, I guess Maka just isn't a real team player. I really shouldn't be treating him as cordial, seeing as he still is my subordinate and all..."
"And you never do stop reminding me, do you... sir..." Makamu grumbled back.
Trying his best do ignore the bickering hyenas, Tibu walked over to the carcass, which was starting to become rather bloated by now, after being out in the sun all day. That would no doubt make identification a whole lot harder, not in the least because the early stages of decomposing threatened to mask the dead cheetah's characteristic scent, an important way for the animals of identifying each other. But Tibu gave it a shot either way, trying to behave as respectful as possible in the given circumstances. After a long, solemn silence, he looked back up. Sal shot him an eager look.
"Well, I must say... This is a terrible, terrible shame. A dark day for cheetahs all over the Clanlands."
"Oh yeah, no doubt about that. Very tragic. My sympathy goes out to your entire people, Tibu, for having to suffer through this terrible injustice..." Sal mumbled overly polite and blatantly hastily, expecting further explanation from Tibu. When the cheetah, however, failed to respond as Sal had expected him to, an awkward silence set in.
"Eh... Ahem..." the hyena grumbled after a while.
"Yes?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything, it's just that... eh... yeah... so, who is the eh, victim? It's just that I got you all the way over here so you could tell me..."
"Oh, right, I'm sorry sir, where are my manners. Yes... Right..."
The cheetah paused again.
"Actually, I'm afraid I don't really know him..."
"It took you all this time just to tell me that?" Sal growled, in a not-so-rare bout of indiscretion, "So what, I dragged you all over here for nothing? You don't know him? I mean, you're our delegate, for crying out loud; how can you not know that guy? So what, he's like a foreigner or something?"
"Sir, please, calm down," Tibu immediately interjected, in his typical soothing manner, "Pardon me for saying so, sir, but I think you misunderstood me there. I meant I didn't know the fellow by name or acquaintance, but that's not to say I never saw him before!"
"So... that means he's from around these parts?"
"Quite so, although I'm fairly sure he's only recently settled in our lands. Most likely, he presented himself to me once after he acquired a plot of territory, which is why I faintly remember him – but it seems like fate caught up with him before I could get to know him better..."
"Hey, wait a minute, you're saying this guy settled in our lands without you even knowing his name?" Sal wondered out loud.
"Why... yes.. But I mean..."
"Wow, hold it there. Look, I'm sorry for being a pain here – you know I'm not all that rules-obsessed either – but I don't think that's part of the deal here, Tibu. I mean, you're not the hyena-delegate just for kicks; I was really counting on you to at least know the stiff's name. For someone who's supposed to act as our eyes, ears and face among the cheetahs, I don't really think that's asking too much, or is it? I mean, where am I supposed to find out that guys name if not through you?"
"I'm terribly sorry sir, I..." Tibu seemed oddly distressed; he wasn't used to this much upsetting in the span of one afternoon, and obviously wanted none of it.
"Hey, be sorry all you want, but I still don't know who your dead kinsman is..."
"All right sir, I admit, mistakes were made. And since it's got you into this problem, I fully understand if you were to voice your complains to you matriarch..."
"What, tell Agathe? Are you kidding?" Sal snorted, oblivious to the panicky cheetah's groveling, "With that mood of her she's been having of late, she'd probably replace you as our delegate altogether! You're a good guy, and I like you, so I wouldn't want to see that happen anytime soon..."
"All right, all right, I have an idea. I can get you a name by tomorrow, all right? I'll make some inquiries, and I'll have the name of the deceased by tomorrow... But you have to keep your end of the bargain, all right?"
My end of the bargain? Sal wondered silently, What's gotten into him?
"Oh? Okay, great! So you'll get me a name by tomorrow?"
"Will do, sir! See you tomorrow!"
Within moments, Tibu dashed off, away from Sal and Makamu, and the vultures still present on the scene.
"Wow, Sal, impressive," Makamu commended his brother-in-law.
"Huh? I don't get it, what do you mean?"
"You know, the way you pressured that cheetah into tiring himself out in finding that name for us, by threatening to turn Agathe against him...."
"I did?" Sal frowned, not seeming to realize Tibu had interpreted Sal's dig at Agathe as an actual threat.
"Yeah man, real slick. You saved us a lot of work just now! Anyway, now that we know everything we wanted to know , I guess it's time I went to get some sleep... I'll probably see you next time we go hunting... Later!"
"All right, later..."
"Say, Sal, you about done?"
"Huh? Oh, it's you guys again," the hyena sighed, remembering the vultures were still around, "Sure, I'm done here. Knock yourself out."
"You sure you don't want a piece?" Rummy squeaked as he soared down towards the carcass again.
"I'm not hungry. See you..."
The vultures, beaks now full of cheetah, didn't even bother to reply.