Like lightning the two youths raced downriver, towards the source of the cry. Ni glanced to his left at Nyonda, who was surprisingly keeping up with the older lion seemingly effortlessly. Ni was impressed by the cub's speed. They might need that.
The shouting was getting steadily louder. They could now distinctly make out Malka's high voice, crying for help. They sped up anxiously. Soon they were about to crest a small hill.
Ni, being taller, saw that the opposite side of the hill was dangerously steep before Nyonda did. He skidded to a stop and stepped on Nyonda's tail to keep the cub from flying over the edge. The two lions surveyed the situation before them at the foot of the hill, eyes wide. This was bad.
"Zi-" Nyonda started to shout, but Ni pulled the younger male to him and clamped his mouth shut.
"Shush!" he hissed. "Have you got a death wish?" He turned away from Nyonda thoughtfully, then looked back at him. "I think I've got an idea."
A few minutes earlier...
"You gotta be kidding me," said Malka, staring at Zira. "You make star patterns too?"
"Of course I make star patterns," Zira replied with a smile. They were walking slowly along the riverbank. It was very peaceful, and she rather liked the experience of making small talk with somebody younger than her. "I think it's really fun to look at the night sky and imagine what could be there. Don't you think so?"
"It is fun," Malka muttered. "I just didn't know people besides me liked it. When I can't get to sleep at night I stay up and look at the stars. It feels good."
They slid carefully down a steep slope and continued walking. "Alone? You poor thing. It's so much more fun when you can bounce ideas off of someone else."
"Really?" The younger cub looked up at Zira. "Well, I guess Ni could do it with me, but he's so boring sometimes…"
"Shh." Zira suddenly thrust a paw in front of Malka to stop him walking. He looked up at the older girl questioningly. She stood tall but tense, eyes narrowed in concentration. Her ears were pricked and her nostrils were flared slightly. What was she doing? Malka was too scared by her sudden change in mood to ask her what was going on. He looked around him nervously, sinking into a fearful half-crouch. That was when he saw and heard a patch of tall grass rustle.
In a flash Zira whipped around, landing on all fours in front of Malka, sheltering him from whatever was lurking there in the grass. "Who are you and what do you want?" she blurted, trying to hide the fear in her voice.
"Well, lookee here," a rough voice said. "Lil' brave ones. Fellas, come look at this!"
A strange creature rose from the grass in front of them and began to walk casually towards the two lion cubs. It was black and spotted with patches of gold. It wasn't all that big, but it looked huge to Malka. He shrank down in fear behind Zira.
Suddenly he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He whipped around. There was another one! And another! And there, and there! There had to be at least a dozen of the scary animals surrounding them.
"Ziraaa…" he whined, pressing against her leg urgently.
One of the creatures was speaking. "Blimey," it muttered. "Pups! We never get close to the pups when they're alone like this."
"A treat, ain't it," said the first one. He looked Zira in the eyes and sighed. "You lions. Always getting the best of the meat…"
"What are you doing here?" Zira asked him, sounding braver than she felt.
The wild dog grinned, showing rows of sharp teeth. "Oh, just slinkin' around. Hoping something edible'd magically appear, maybe. But we've never gotten this close to unsupervised lion pups. No, this is quite a treat for us."
"Dibs on the haunches!" one of the other dogs chirruped from behind Malka. His eyes widened in panic. Suddenly realizing what the pack intended, he sat up and began to wail with all his might.
"Heeeeeelp! Somebody! Someone help us!"
The dogs acted as if they hadn't heard, and Zira did nothing to try to calm Malka down. She was focused on the pack leader.
"Sweet revenge," the dog was muttering, half to himself. "Best served cold, they say, but I daresay warm flesh tastes all the better…"
"You wouldn't dare," came a hissing, venomous voice from between Zira's lips. Her fur bristled along her back and she dug at the ground with her claws. Her lips were pulled back their farthest, exposing her pointy white teeth. "Come no closer, if you value your life."
"What kind of flaky idiot are you to think you can beat us? You're so outnumbered, you couldn't get two feet before one of us would slice your head off."
"You underestimate me," Zira growled. "I may be young, but I'm made of 100 percent pure lion muscle, and lion muscle doesn't know age."
"Yeah!" came a sudden jeering voice from far off to Zira's left. "Lions pwn your doggy tushies!"
Every single pack member looked towards the sound. Zira jerked her head up too. She knew that voice, even if it was uncharacteristically high…
"Who said that?" the pack leader snarled.
The voice didn't heed the question. "Sunsets are red, noontimes are blue, rocks don't have brains, and neither do you!" it sang.
"It's another pup!" shouted one of the dogs, rising on its hind legs to see farther through the grass. "There he is, hiding behind that rock!"
"Get him!" the leader barked fiercely before turning to the two dogs on his immediate left. "You two stay here and guard the others," he told them quietly, and a second later he bounded away. The rest of the pack bolted after their leader towards the source of the mysterious voice.
"We'll teach him to insult us like that!" one of the dogs growled as it disappeared into the grass. In a few seconds Zira and Malka stood alone, except for the two wild dogs that circled them menacingly.
"That little friend of yours is sure in for it," one of them grumbled, addressing Zira. "Kitisho doesn't take kindly to people making fun of him."
Zira said nothing. Malka had finally stopped screeching. For a minute or two the two dogs circled the two lion cubs. Ni and Nyonda were far behind them, so she wasn't expecting help. She'd been a fool to wander off like this. Malka was in danger, all because of her negligence.
The dog who hadn't spoken suddenly sat down and slouched over. "Man, why did we have to be the ones to stay here all bored-like? I wanna chase something so bad."
Malka heard a branch snap behind him. He flinched, but when he saw Ni several feet away he suddenly smiled hugely. Ni was holding a paw to his mouth, as if saying "Quiet." Malka nodded and nudged Zira, pointing to Ni as she turned around. Zira held back a sigh of relief.
"Oh, quit your whining, Sheba. When the others get back, we'll get first pick of the meat."
Sheba suddenly sat up. "Hey, what if we just killed them now? Do we really need the others to help us? They're only a couple of pups."
"Idiot! And face Kitisho's wrath? You know how he gets when he's deprived the privilege of making a kill…Ow!"
The two dogs fell forward and hit the ground with a thump. Ni had hit them squarely in the back, pinning them to the ground with his paws. He leaned his head forward between theirs.
"Make no sound," he whispered in their ears, extending his claws to tickle their necks. "You are in lion territory. We don't want to see your kind on our land anymore. Never come back to our side of the river, if you know what's good for you. Now go."
He let the dogs out from under him. Without a word they stood up and dashed away, splashing unceremoniously through the river and soon vanishing into the distance.
"Thanks, Ni!" Malka piped up. "I knew you'd come!"
"I guess that's two I owe you," Zira chuckled. "Look at me. I just cannot stop getting in trouble, now can I?"
"When I see my kind in trouble, I step in. And since you two are important to me, there's no need to repay me at all." He winked.
Suddenly Zira remembered what had distracted the rest of the pack. She remembered how well she knew the voice that had created the needed diversion. She looked Ni straight in the eyes.
"Ni," she asked sternly, "where's Nyonda?"
