~Prologue~

Three figures trekked across the sparse land. Each had a camera in hand. The oldest, a man in his fourties, had taken his two young sons to Africa on a photo safari. The boys' mother had died earlier that year, so the man was raising his boys single-handedly.

"Wow! That g'raff was neat Dad!" Chirped little Ryo. He had just recently turned five. "What are we gonna phot'graph now?"

"Whichever animal we see next, Son."

"Can we wook for da wions, Daddy?"

"Lions don't live in this part of Africa, Eyn. They live where there are more rocks and trees."

Eyn pouted. "But I wanna see da wions!"

Ryo patted his brother's shoulder. "Don't worry, Eyn. We'll prob'ly see some by the end of the day. If not, prob'ly t'morrow."

"Ok. Tanks, Wyo."

They walked for about another hour and were about to stop for lunch, when, out of nowhere, four lionesses pounced them!

"AAAAAAAAAA! We're not food!" The man shouted. "Stay away from us!"

The lionesses, of course, would not leave and continued to growl and circle them.

Ryo clung to his father's pant leg, practically in tears. "I'm scared Daddy! Make them stop!"

"I'm trying, Ryo, I'm trying!" He scooped up a handful of sand and tossed it into the nearest lioness's face. That gave him a chance to back away slightly. However, the lionesses still came towards them. "Shoot!" He yelled. But then he got *another* idea. Without really thinking about it, he pried Eyn off his other leg and threw him into the middle of the lionesses.

While they were distracted, the man picked up Ryo and made a break for it, running back to their jeep.

"Daddy, what are you doing?!"

"Saving us, that's what!"

"But what about Eyn?" Ryo got no answer as he was taken farther and farther away from his brother and best friend. Tears started to stream down his face. "EYN!!!!"

"WYOOOOOOO!!" Eyn sat in the middle of the four lionesses, calling for his brother. When the other two were no longer in sight, the little three year old cried his eyes out.

Looking at each other, the lionesses mentally discussed what to do. Through telepathic debate, one of the lionesses slowly approached the boy. "-Shhh. Don't cry little one.-"

"Don' eat me, pwease."

"-We're not going to eat you.-" She sat on her haunches. "-We just want to help you.-"

Eyn sniffed and blinked away his tears. "Weawwy?"

She gave him a growling chuckle and licked his face. "-Really. Besides, we were only interested in eating the tallest one.-" She stood up, then crouched slightly. "-Now, get on my back and we'll take you home.-"

He eagerly climbed on her back. "You'w take me back to Wyo?"

"-No, little one. Back to where WE live.-"

"Oh." With that, she and the other three lionesses took off, running back toward the pride. During the ride, Eyn began thinking. _Why'd Daddy fwow me to da wions wike dat? Didn't he wike me?_ He frowned. _An' how come I can unnerstan' dem? Don' dey woar instead of tawk?_

Pretty soon, the five of them reached the outskirts of the pride's territory. Other lionesses, and a few cubs, looked up as the group ran by. When they reached their male's 'throne', the lioness let Eyn down and sat once he was off.

"What awe you waitin' fow?" He whispered, looking around curiosly.

"-The Alpha male. Our king.-" She whispered back.

"Am I in twouble?"

"-No, he just has to-" She was cut off as a ferocious roar sounded throughout the area.

Everyone present looked in the direction of the roar to see it followed by a rather large, fierce looking lion. Eyn gulped and started shaking. The lion slowly prowled up to him and sniffed his scent.

"-Why have you brought this human here?-" He growled. "-Is he to be my dinner?-" He gave a feline grin, then snapped his jaws right in Eyn's face. That little move earned him a whimper from the boy.

"-No My Lord. Your dinner threw him at us as a distraction for his getaway.-" Said the one whom he had ridden. "-The girls and I thought we could raise him as one of our own. But I wanted to get your permission first.-"

The lion looked back and forth between the four lionesses and the boy. Finally, he said "-Well, the human *is* quite young looking. How old is he anyway?-"

"I'm Fwee, Mistew Wion."

"-Ah. Well then...Hey, wait a second!-" He blinked. "-You can understand me?-" Eyn nodded. "-No human has ever understood our language. What's your name, Cub?-"

"Eyn Sanada, Siw."

"-You may stay with the pride, Eyn, but you will have to learn the ways of our species. Understand?-"

Eyn nodded. "I unnerstan'."

"-Good. Keylina, please take the boy to the Cub Cave.-"

"-As you wish, Oto.-" She turned to Eyn. "-Come little one. I'll show you where you can stay.-"

"Yes, Miss Kaywina." Eyn followed Keylina down a path towards a cave surrounded by ten to twenty lionesses. As soon as he entered the cave, he knew he'd never be the same again.