AN: Thanks for your visits. Yesterday I had the highest number of visitors ever. I really appreciate that :)

I've just heard: Some guy called Fred Zimmerman claims that he is going to generate books using computer program that he wrote. Forestalling the questions: This book was created by a real man, not by a computer. Really! XD

Here is a new chapter for you. It's about hyenas, their life and a bit about Hillary Yena's past. You may notice a character from the Lion King movie ;)

After reading, please write a short review... just a sentence or two ;)

Chapter 9 'The Elephant Graveyard'

'(…) When you've suffered enough
and your spirit is breaking
you're growing desperate from the fight
Remember you're loved
and you always will be
this melody will bring
you right back home'

'Messenger' Linkin Park.

The Elephant Graveyard – the Sacred Place for Hyenas from the entire world. It's because of the geysers, sulphur pits and small fissures with lava - the fire naturally symbolized The Divine Matriarch, who was the embodiment of the energy that moved the world.

The great priestess Sajjana and her two helpers carried some herbs and twigs, mostly an acacia, a rhododendron, a salvia and a sweet flag herb through the deserted gorge. Ashy, gray, arched walls looked ominously and grimly. One of the geysers burst out covering the ravine with a thick mist. The atmosphere was sublime as they moved to the place where a fire pit with the Sacred Flame was located. Sajjana could clearly feel the gentle, soothing presence of the Divine Matriarch. She loved that feeling as it gave her a great safety and peace. As they reached the place, they laid branches and kindling in a heap. One of helpers fired a long stick from the Sacred Flame and put it into the pile. It started burning, producing a large cloud of a white and black smoke. Sajjana prayed for a short time in silence and then looked into the smoke. She tried to notice some shapes in it, which will create the prophecy.

'An arrow with a cross – the trouble and chagrin. A deer horn – the instability of fortune or a tamed villainy. A white bull – the courage, a white half-moon – the glory and hope.' Sajjana sighed anxiously and addressed her helper. 'Deliver the prophecy to the Matriarch. We will face some serious trouble in next few weeks, but we should stay hopeful and face them bravely suppressing our bad side.'

'Well, My lady… Should you deliver such important news?' The helper answered hesitantly.

'No, there is nothing substantial. The troubles are our everyday. And the Divine Matriarch will look after us. I'll end the prayers and have a rest.' Sajjana answered appearing to be somehow exhausted. Even a white hibiscus flower behind her ear looked miserably.

'As you wish, my lady.'

Hillary came to The Elephant Graveyard. He took a small present for Sajjana - a bunch of Hibiscus flowers. Guards recognized him and let him pass to the Sacred Place. Normally only the pilgrims with some gifts for the goddess could pass, but it seemed that Sajjana had a word with the guards. He followed a narrow path to the caves which were the house of priests. Sajjana invited him a few times so he knew a way. He saw the highest priestess coming to her den. She also noticed him and greeted.

'I'm so happy that you came.' She said with a weak voice. 'Thanks for the flowers, but it's a pity that they stay fresh only for a very short time.' She threw away a blossom she had behind her ear and replaced it with a new one, chosen from the bouquet.

'Could you wait for a few minutes? I have to check how my wards are doing. They were with one of my helpers for almost all day and they probably drove her insane.' Sajjana laughed.

Her 'wards' were orphans and cubs abandoned by their parents. Without her help they would probably die. There were a lot of dangers for a lone kid in the savannah. Even in the clan the orphans were rather ignored. When you have little food, you won't give it to the strangers.

Hillary rested at the entrance, listening to Sajjana's pleasant, soothing voice. She was the most compassionate hyena Hillary had ever met. If he had met such person when he was a cub, his life would have been much easier. And his siblings might have stayed alive.

'Hi, dears. How are you?'

'Fine, Miss Saj.' the choral answer came.

'Were you the kind cubs today?'

'Of course yes, Miss Saj.'

'Don't lie! Oh, my majesty, they were terrible! Banzai and Accha disappeared somewhere and others don't want to tell me where they went.' An irritated voice of a young female could be heard.

'Why did you make Miss Bijju upset?' Sajjana asked, worried.

'Bijju is hysterical. They left for a few minutes.' A childish voice answered.

'Majesty, they are missing for almost an hour. The Sajjana's helper squealed.

'Bijju was yelling at me!'

The Sajjana's helper snorted with irritation.

'That's okay, Bijju, I'll deal with that. Thanks for help, have a rest now.'

'I… I need it.' The helper answered with weak voice. She probably left to one of the other chambers.

'So where are they? You can tell me. I want be angry on you or Banzai and Accha.' Sajjana said soothingly.

'I don't want to lie, but I can't. It's a secret. I promised.' the desperate answer came.

'All right. But could you ask them to come here?'

'Okay'. Cub run out of the cave. Hillary watched as it climbed up the hill and disappeared between the rocks.

'Hillary, would you like to come here? It'll take more time than I thought.' Sajjana asked.

The commander stepped into the cave only to bump into a stream of excited cubs. He stopped, barely managing to stand when a few of them jumped into his arms.

'Dears, try not to trample our poor General.' Sajjana grinned.

There were twelve cubs under the priestess care, including those three absent. The girls and boys surrounded the commander.

'Will you tell us a new tale?' they insisted happily.

Sajjana smiled. Hillary came there a few times, and every meeting was a great experience for the cubs.

Once he suggested that he could answer some questions.

'How did you become a commander?'

'Well, I was a member of a battalion from a very early childhood, if I could say so. I was an orphan, just like you.'

'Really?'

'Yes, my mother died when I was one and half and my older sisters left me. So I was hanging around the Pridelands, trying to hunt some mice, or steal some food.'

'The stealing is bad, children.' Sajjana interfered.

'Of course. Unless you're going to die from the hunger. But nothing like that will threaten you here. So I was wandering and some soldiers from the battalion noticed me. Many cubs watched their trainings, but only I stayed near them also by the night. I thought it might be safer than staying in the open with that all the leopards and others...

The soldiers took care of me and gave me some food. I was very thin but I regained strength very fast. The soldiers liked me, so I became their mascot. I trained with them, delivered messages, scouted.

After a few years I was officially knighted. Our battalion commander did that. He's very proud of me. He said I was the first hyena with an experience in the battalion almost as long as its life. And I was the happiest young hyena in the world. After a ceremony there was a great party. Then I got drunk for the first time. '

Sajjana coughed with the disapproval.

'You mean that liquid from the rotten acacia fruits that the berserkers drink to go berserk? So you fought as one of them? Cool!' Banzai exclaimed. He's a hyper, plump, young male hyena that wanted to became a soldier in the future.

Sajjana cocked her eyebrow as if she's asking 'And how are you going to deal with that?'

'Well, some hyenas are drinking it to feel braver before a fight, but it's really disgusting in the taste. And is bad to your head and liver. Believe me. After some time I became a commander of four hyenas. Then I encountered the greatest challenge. The Mohatu's evil elder brother ascended on the throne. He was the cruel, terrifying, enormous lion, almost as black as night, with fangs sharp as..'

'He's really terrifying, that's enough for us.' Sajjana interfered again, trying to save Miss Bijju from soothing some cubs having constant nightmares.

'He didn't respect any animals. But Mohatu rose against his ferocity and started the home war. I decided to support Mohatu, against a will of many hyenas who thought that we should ally with the ruler.

'But why did they want to ally? Mohatu's bro was evil!' Banzai yelled.

'Sometimes we don't want to see evil if we're afraid of it.' Sajjana said with a serious voice. It was quite brave of her. One of those 'many hyenas' was her mother, the current matriarch.

'The Mohatu's army attacked directly on the Priderock to end the war in a one battle and avoid casualities. But ithe army was ambushed and had to withdraw. My squad shielded the fallback, many of my soldiers have died and I, severely wounded, was captured.

'And what happened?'

The king attacked and liberated me along with many other animals. He won the war and made me the commander of the representative battalion as a gratitude.'

'Could you add some bloody details, pleeease?' Banzai squealed. The other cubs supported him with loud yells.

Hillary looked at Sajjana. Her face was saying a strong 'NO'.

'Absolutely not today.' Hillary said. And murmured quietly: 'Maybe when Miss Sajjana will go for a walk.'

'HILLY!' Sajjana screamed.

'I was joking!'

'Well I could tell you about…' Hillary came to reality, trying to think up something decent.

In that moment the nervous cub came back with Banzai and Accha. Accha was a sweet, small girl.

'Hey, whassup? We went out for a few minutes. Accha needed help with going to the toilet. Whoa, Mister Hillary is here!' Banzai exclaimed.

'Hey I can deal with the toilet on my own!' Accha disagreed.

'It's useless. She knows.' The third cub said.

'You left for almost an hour.' Sajjana said anxiously.

'Do we have troubles?' Accha squealed. 'You promised that everything will be fine! I only wanted to see the bird's nest!' she yelled at Banzai and then started crying.

Sajjana sighed. Accha was a smart, nice, very kind hyena and normally stayed away from the troubles. But lately she started hanging out with older Banzai. He was a tough cookie, naughty, cheeky cub raised by cubs' gang. He was used to stealing food, even just for fun; he ran away; he did dangerous things to impress the others.

'I want to talk with you two in private. With you, Hillary. And others - don't even try to eavesdrop.

They came out of the cave.

'I'm not mad at you.' Sajjana said 'Banzai, I know that it was your idea to go to the nest. You wanted to take some eggs. Don't even try to lie. I hate this. I can see some yolk on your muzzle.'

Banzai licked himself nervously.

'Man, I'm sorry. The eggs are soooo tasty. And I wanted to show Accha how I can climb.'

'Are you in love with her?' Hillary asked innocently.

'NO!'

' Oh, I thought that it's a reason why you're trying to show off. Do you think that exposing yourself and your friend on danger is so manly and great? I don't think it is.' Hillary asked.

'It isn't, spensa.' Banzai murmured. Hillary seemed to be the only person that could influence him. That's one of reason why priestess invited the commander so often.

'And what about the eggs? If you have eaten them, no birds will hatch from them. We're carnivores, and sometimes we have to kill other animals to get food, but we should do it as rarely as possible. You're given your food so you weren't hungry, were you?' Sajjana asked.

'I wasn't.' Banzai lowered his head.

'You know that the Divine Matriarch wages war against the Dark Spirit and we have a free will. You can choose to do good things and help the Divine Matriarch in this war. Do you want to be her knight?'

'Of course!' Banzai exclaimed and Accha nodded surely.

'As a penalty you'll help me with picking the flowers for the offering.'

'Okay, Miss Saj.' Banzai sighed.

'And Accha will help us.'

'Great, I love collecting the flowers for our Goddess!' Accha smiled.

'It's not fair!' Banzai exclaimed. 'Her punishment is much better than mine!'

'You're great when Accha asked you what the ovulation is. I just dropped my jaw but you started a speech: "Stop laughing, boys and girls, and listen to me. THE OVULATION… every adult female is ovulating every two weeks. Your carers, priestesses, even miss Sajjana. So when you see that she weakens and has to lie down, don't yell 'Where is a damn dinner!', but give her a cold compress and get the dinner by yourself. Understood?" '. Sajjana quoted Hillary.

It was quite late in the night and they sat together at a stone ledge. There was a great view on the whole graveyard. The moon was shining brightly as it was a full. A pale, silver light illuminated the sharp, inhospitable rocks and gleamed weakly on the enormous elephants' bones.

'Accha's amazing me. She asks such strange questions.' Hillary sighted.

'Yeah, she's very curious. She heard that somewhere, probably from Banzai.'

Hillary nodded. He really liked Accha. When he ended the story about his childhood, she came to him and with a nervous voice she whispered: 'I'm sorry that you lost your family. But Miss Saj will take care of you. And we can be your new family'. She hugged Hillary and ran away. Such a sweet child…

'We're both great during a talk with Banzai. We could be great parents together'. Hillary joked.

'Agreed' Sajjana answered.

'Poor children, really. You did so much for them.' Hillary said. Sajjana looked at him.

'I thought that as I was given a power by the Divine Matriarch, I should use it to do something good. You're also helping others. I know that your battalion gives some meat to the lowest-ranked hyenas. 'It's very noble of you.'

'Thanks.'

'But are you sure that telling those hyenas to fight with the aristocrats and the matriarchate is a good idea?'

'I just told them to fight for the justice. You know that the nobles are taking too much food.'

'I know, but as you embittered the low-ranked against the aristocrats, the clashes with the guards started. Some hyenas got hurt.'

'You're talking like Hatyara. Don't change anything; the peace is the most important thing. But I don't like this peace!' Hillary said loudly.

'I understand you.' Sajjana answered. 'Talking about family - how is Akela?'

'Fine, really.'

'She… she has a new lover, right?'

'Yeah, he's an ambassador of the Sianti Clan. He's so irritating. He even brought me a small present from his country, a gemstone. I wanted to push it into his throat.'

'I'm so sorry because of my sister. She… she very early realized that she could use her power to manipulate others, especially the males. She thought that she has no chances of becoming a matriarch as she's the youngest. So she just plays with the whole world. I feel pity for her. In the depths of her soul she's very unhappy. You should support her.'

'Really? It's not fair! She has a brood of lovers to support her. And who will help me? I'm very lonely.' Hillary jested, but as he looked into Sajjana's eyes, she noticed that he's surprisingly serious.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, Sajjana, we're good friends, right?'

'I'm happy to hear that.' priestess smiled.

'Maybe we should become something more than just friends.' Hillary continued with a pinch of lust in his voice. Sajjana's gray, silk fur was glistering opaquely, and her eyes shone in the darkness, reflecting the moonlight. She looked so pretty…

'Hilly, I can't. I'm the priestess, I'm in the celibate.' Sajjana was stunned.

'But it's stupid. I love you. What is bad in the love?' The commander asked angrily.

'Nothing Hilly, but I promised the Divine Matriarch. I can't disappoint her.'

'She'll forgive you.' Hillary smiled and moved up a bit to her.

'But I won't forgive myself. You have a wife, my sister, and I'm devoted to the Divine Matriarch. That's why I can help all the community. Because I don't have to worry about my own family. Please, I don't want to hurt you, but don't ask for the impossible.'

'I see… I should go now, right?' Hillary asked sadly.

'No, Hilly. I don't want to bid farewell with you like that. Could we stay friends?' She said with sorrow.

'Yes' He answered and hugged her tightly. He heard a muffled laughter.

'Oh, Your belly is so soft. And you have fluffy longer hair on your chest. It's tickling me!'

Hillary really wanted to hear a better, more manly compliment that a 'soft belly' (Oh yeah, he neglected himself so much!) so he grabbed Sajjana and lifted her so that she could look into his eyes.

'You're so light.' He laughed.

'I'd love to be, but it's rather your strength. You're showing off like Banzai.'

He kissed her lips.

'Oh' she uttered, looking quite surprised but not scandalized at all. He lowered her to the ground.

'It was a very friendly kiss. Even some guys in my battalion are kissing each other like that.'

'That's okay, you don't have to explain yourself if your intentions had been pure.' Sajjana said indulgently.

'They weren't. I'd better go now' Hillary answered innocently.

Sajjana waved to him.

AN: I hope that you liked it. Please, review. :)