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Madi ao
Leka sebete chia ho oele sebatha
Mo leka qeme o tsaba hoa
Lebo haleng ha o bue ka le ha
Lebo haleng ha o bue ka le ha
"Come on, we'll rest soon, Ilom." Kabira said gently to the young cub that lagged behind the two adolescents.
It was a strange sight, a young female and young male walking through a sparsely vegetated land with a cub following them. There could be a few reasons for this interesting situation, many of them were quite bad or simply unheard of, but the truth was it was mostly an accident. Somewhat anyway…….
(flash back begins)
"Kabira, Kabira." Whispered a voice in the young dark brown lioness's ear. Slowly she opened her blue eyes and looked up to see Tiombe, another adolescent standing above her.
"Tiombe?" Kabira whispered to the nervous looking young female. She slowly got up, careful not to disturb any of the cubs that had fallen asleep after her story. She nodded to Tiombe and led her away from the Pride before turning and facing her. "What?"
"I know were your going." She blurted out, unable to stop herself. The pale tan lioness suddenly looked down, ears back. "I know what Asabi told you. But I swear it was an accident!"
"Shush, Tiombe." Kabira growled softly, but gently. Tiombe had always been a nervous lioness, ever sine they first found her, half dead at the border of their pride. With her she had a small lion cub, barely two days old. "I know you wouldn't do it on purpose; now what's wrong?"
Tiombe sighed, shuffling her paws nervously. She raised her brown eyes to meet Kabira's blue ones and said. "Go North, follow the rising sun and the North Star at night, you'll find a pride there, the Pridelands Pride."
"Shouldn't you tell, Nyekia or Asabi?" Kabira demanded. "Surely safety would be guaranteed for the whole pride if we all went."
"No, no, no." Tiombe shook her head with each word. Her claws scratched nervously at the dry ground, and her ears flicked back at every sound. She was growing even more nervous by the second. "They won't listen to me, you know that. That's why you need to go, go and find the Pridelands, then come back. They'll believe you if they know you've been there."
"How do you know?" Kabira asked, only to see Tiombe turn her face away.
"I just do." Tiombe said firmly, surprising Kabira at her serious tone. She wasn't answering another question. "But do one thing for me, take Ilom."
"What?"
"Ilom, if you leave, he'll be the first one they throw out." Tiombe said fiercely, though sadness also lined her voice. "Ever since he was brought here, they think he's strange, just like they think I'm strange."
"No one thinks—." Kabira was cut off by Tiombe.
"Don't deny it. They keep me here because they need as many fighters as possible." Tiombe sighed dejectedly. "But he's just a cub, if they decide he's slowing them down, or taking things from their own cubs, they'll kick him out and leave him to die."
Kabira said nothing, but she knew the truth, Tiombe was right. Outisders were never realy treated with suspicion at the Kikumbuko pride, but their strange appearance had always made the pride's members wary of them, forever making the adolescent female and young cub outsiders. Even the cubs stayed away from Ilom, after hearing their mother's whispering in the dark about him. It was no secret that Bakita and a few others would be glad to leave Tiombe and Ilom for dead.
"His enemies are many." Tiombe said. "His burden and his birthright."
(end flash back)
Tiombe's words still haunted and puzzled her. The lionesses always commented on how little they knew of the adolescent female and the male cub. Were the spies? Perhaps there was a reason they'd been driven from their last pride? Bakita had gone so far as to suggest that they were bad omens, and had brought the terrible battle upon them and their mere presence had helped their pride be taken over. The lionesses were desperate, and willing to believe any kind of excuse they could take. Kabira wondered if Tiombe was alright.
"Kabira!"
The dark brown lioness looked up, slightly startled as her brother faced her. He was grinning a little, and Kabira wondered why. Her ears perked up, perhaps he'd found something at last. She'd taken Tiombe's advice and followed the rising sun in the morning and following the North Star at night. Dry and cracked land was all that welcomed her, and though Kimoni often told her that they should try another way. Kabira stubbornly refused, wanting to trust Tiombe and prove everyone else wrong.
"I think you were right!" He sounded excited, yet tired at the same time. "I saw grass, and…and trees, it was amazing!"
Kabira stared at him; the young adolescent male who was usually so calm and serious was like a cub again. But Kabira could feel relief washing over her, thank you Tiombe. She turned around to find Ilom and tell him the good news. But she saw that he was staring if a different direction.
"Ilom, come on, we've found food and water." She said gently to the cub, thinking that he was missing Tiombe and wanted to go back. "We'll go back aft---."
Her ears picked the sound of something strangely familiar, like cackling, loud and wild laughter that getting closer by the minute. She felt Ilom back into her, wanting to hide. He was shaking, and she could see why. In the distance a small pack of at least ten hyenas charged toward them.
"Run!" Kimoni snapped out of her daze. Kimoni grabbed Ilom by the scruff of the neck and took off, Kabira following right behind him. But the laughter was getting closer, and closer, they weren't going to make it.
"Kimoni, get Ilom out of here!" That was when she turned; ready to face the danger that was coming straight for her.
Kaveri tackled the first Hyena off the adolescent lioness who was struggling to break free of a group of Hyenas. Fear was evident in her eyes, as she was only one lioness. It might be too late to save the other. Then she heard roar and watched as Khairi roared again, making the Hyenas scatter. He was still young, but his roar was still frightening. Kaveri leaped in front of the wounded lioness and followed Khairi's example, roaring and showing off her fangs, trying to dissuade the Hyenas from attacking.
The lone female leader growled but yipped and led her Hyena clan away. Kaveri had some wounds, but they weren't too bad. Her first priority was the fallen female. She walked over to the dark brown female, to see that she was also an adolescent. Upon closer inspection she could see that she was also highly malnourished, and Kaveri wondered if she was still alive.
"Ilom? Kimoni?" She growled, opening her eyes slightly. Kabira gritted her teeth as she struggled to lift her head, before closing her eyes. She felt woozy and her body was battered. She was shaky, but she tried to calm herself down, as the two other adolescents watched in amazement as she rose to a sitting position.
"Are you okay?" Khairi said coming closer. "You might want to lie back down."
"No." She said, before taking in a gasping air of breath. "Find Kimoni and Ilom, find the Pridelands. Have to tell…Tiombe….was right."
Kaveri gasped as the female fell to the ground, breathing heavily, her eyes closed and her muzzle twisted into a grimace. "Come on." Kaveri nodded to Khairi. "You carry her, we'll go back to priderock."
They slowly started to get the lioness onto Khairi's back, when a growl stopped them. They looked up to see a tan colored adolescent lion glaring at them. Cowering behind him was a small cub, watching them with wide fearful eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"Madi ao"
Now try and tell me where these lyrics are from :) R/r thanks!
Extra; character names;
Asabi (one of select birth)
Nyeki (second wife)
Bakita (anteater)
Kabira (powerful)
Kimoni (great man)
Kiara (small,dark (celtic/gaelic))
Dalji (walk gracefully)
Zama (try)
Khairi (kingly)
Kaveri (river (sanskrit))
Tiombe (shy)
Ilom (my enemies are many)
Yes, it is a lot. But I just though you'd like to see some of the names. I try to match the lions personalities and names. Most are pretty good and if you can find out why Kaveri's name is in Sanskrit I'll create a character for you to go in the story :)
