A month or so idled slowly by, revealing a more intricate web of plot than any movie could hold: I hadn't known before that young male lions routinely showed up, either seeking shelter with the pride, or challenging Simba for the right to lead that same pride. Huh- who knew?
Malia continued to be, well, a total bi-erm, witch, but despite her, Hodari and I started…something. It wasn't dating, it was more intense. I had felt "love" toward a few guys in high school, but that was infatuation, when I refused to see all of their faults. This was love. I knew he could be immature, crude, and cranky sometimes. He knew that I had an extremely short temper, and could go off on long-winded rants about how people- even lions- could be total idiots. I'm gonna be blunt here- yes, we've slept together. No, it's none of your business! (All the rumors are true, by the way)
Anyway, after this lovely little summary, let me reflect on the day, about a month after joining the pride, that trouble began to brew.
The African sun just began to paint the savannah with a vibrant variety of bold reds and oranges as I stepped out of the den, welcoming the cerulean sky with a roll of my shoulders. Making contented little noises as the sun warmed my fur, I quickly got a drink, and came back just in time for a hunt.
"Uma, Teso!" I called to the two lionesses as they padded off, "Mind if I join?"
"Not at all," Uma smiled.
Teso, who had warmed up to me after a few weeks, guffawed, "Only if you don't trip again!"
"That wasn't tripping!" I argued, tasting the air at the same time, in search of prey, "That was a complicated tactical offensive plan that happened to not work out!"
As they nodded condescendingly, I tried to suppress laughter. It halted in my throat as I smelled something mouthwatering- gazelle. Yum! Gazelle are kind of the equivalent to burgers- not exactly high class, but pretty darn delicious either way.
"Gazelle at 12'o'clock," I hissed to the others as we all automatically dropped to our hunting crouches. Stalking forward, I barely saw Uma go to the left as Teso circled around to the right of the large herd.
When I was right on the edge of the group, I burst out of hiding, silently latching onto a huge, but injured, gazelle. It would feed the entire pride! Uma and Teso, determined not to be wasteful, saw where I was and zeroed in on helping me. Uma, who was larger, and more muscled than me, took over as I slipped from his back to needle his sides along with Teso.
After Uma bit through his spinal cord with powerful incisors, it was simple to knock him down. He was dead within minutes. The Circle of life could use some ketchup, but all in all, it tasted pretty good.
Walking back, I listened to the other's chatter, as I was the one designated to carry the kill, so my mouth was full of gazelle fur.
Suddenly, a pair of claws dug into my back, right below my shoulder muscles. Holy crap! Oww! Dropping the kill, I rolled over instinctually, trying to flatten the attacker. Another lion- male, all black, had knocked Uma's head against a rock, and was now battling with Teso, who was pretty vicious for such a petite lioness. Note: never get on her bad side.
Letting out a loud roar in an attempt to A) partially distract one of them, and/or B) Draw help from Pride Rock, which was only about 500 yards away- those lazy lionesses better not be sleeping.
Option A failed, but the male lion attacking me let out a louder roar. God, I loved fighting semi-stupid people. He just basically secured help for us with his roar- Simba would know that that roar belonged to no one that he knew. Teso caught what I was trying to do- make as much noise as possible- and tried to help.
"Damn!" the lion that was attacking me cursed as he saw Simba, Nala, and who looked like Malia racing towards us at top speed. Luckily, this back-up did what my roar hadn't- he loosened his muscles for a second.
Whipping around, he detached from my back- he also had totally black fur. This also ripped chunks of my fur out- that was gonna sting badly.
"C'mon!" he yelled to the other, and they ran, their tails flying out behind them.
"Are you all right?" Nala panted, checking us over quickly.
"Uma is worst, with a possible concussion, then Teso, that brute may have ripped some ligaments and tendons, and then me- only claws and a few bites." I reported, a little dizzy from blood loss.
"Alright," Simba ordered, "Malia, take them back to Pride Rock, Nala, come with me to make sure they go away. I'll address the pride when I return."
While they nodded decisively, Malia hoisted Uma onto her back- Uma was a lot bigger. Helping her by taking half of her weight, I saw her look surprisedly at me through the corners of her eyes. I motioned at Teso with my head to grab the gazelle, as we started to walk.
I stared blankly ahead as Pride Rock bobbed slowly closer. Other times, Malia and I may have bickered, but right now, there were more important things to worry about- things like how many outsiders were there? Why were they attacking us? And who were they? Those little things to worry about like survival, that's all.
