AN: I'm happy to see that you all visited my story. Your support means a lot for me. If I only want to ask for something, write more reviews. Why do you like my story (or why you don't?). Who is your favourite character, what do you think about the plot in the chapter. Remember that I will answer all the question. Kate, thanks for your review. Imani is a pretty likable character, I think, but she also has her business... Just watch the new chapters.

Today it's about hyenas, especially Hillary's problems. And some lions' fun too.

Chapter 24 'Hillary is toasted.'

I don't talk
Or open my mouth
Because I have already rued
My words addressed to you.

Stachura (polish poet) "Niemowa" in translation of lew_leon

Hillary had to wait. He was appointed with the Matriarch on the meeting, but she's late. She came after an hour.

'I'm sorry that you had to wait but some urgent matters of the pride had stopped me.' She explained condescendingly.

More and more courtesy. It was so irritating for the commander. Such a waste of time... But then Hillary started:

'I came here to receive my nomination for a minister of war.'

'So you're not humbly asking anymore, right?' the Matriarch answered calmly.

'After saving whole Mohatu's army I'm a hero among the hyenas and lions. I deserve it. I came for the thing that is rightfully mine.'

'No, Hilly, you won't get it.'

'In front of the entrance to your cave there are hyenas manifesting the support for me. Are you brave enough to face the anger of your own commoners?' Hillary asked, feeling rage growing in his heart.

'Obviously I'm not brave enough. I've spent all my ruling being absolutely terrified by few dumb minions.' The Matriarch scoffed 'I have other suggestion for you. I'll give you a title of The Pride Savior. It's created especially for you. You'll be a member of the Saint Council, like a minister. Your noble duties will be: patrolling the northern border with your battalion and protecting our hunting spots.'

'Do you consider me as an idiot? It's the hardest, most dangerous work, and you gave me nothing to do it properly! Obviously I turn down your offer!'

'Oh, Hilly. You're so predictable. That's why, while we're talking, my daughters gathered almost whole pride and announced that you accepted the title.'

'It's an absurd! I could easily disclose your lie!' Hillary resented matriarch's words.

'And turn down title which is your pith and marrow in front of your… followers? I'd love to see that.'

'You bloody bitch. Do you think you're smart?' Hillary whispered under breath. Then he added louder 'I'll accept your offer and fulfill the duties as well as possible.'

In that moment Sajjana, Hatyara and a young male entered to the matriarch's chamber.

'How it could happen that crowd knew about Hilly's acceptance before Hilly?' Hatyara mocked. 'People are so well-informed nowadays.'

'Oh, Hatyara, give Hilly a brake. It's not his fault that he lost this time.' Sajjana replied. Hillary noticed her sad look. It was obvious that they were opponents at that moment. It hurt him like hell. Why did he have hope?

'General, I'd love to introduce you N'yaya.' The matriarch said. The young male nodded stiffly. Hillary gazed at him coldly.

'He's my personal counselor and sthe pecial tasks' man.' The matriarch continued 'As you probably know, with my consent, the aristocrats launched a great anti-corruption program. N'yaya will check your battalion. Obviously, as a clan's hero, you don't have to be afraid of anything, right?'

'Abso-bloody-lutely.' Hillary agreed.

N'yaya and Hillary walked silently to the battalion camp. The commander gazed on the young counselor. He was thin and bony, but had a delicate, silk fur, something that can be accomplished only by eating small amounts of the best meat.

'I bet he's fussy like a pregnant princess.' Hillary thought.

'I'd love to invite you on a small feast. Not every day we have an honor to receive such a noble visitor. We'll get to know each other, eat something good…' The commander proposed.

'Well, I appreciate that, but…'

'It's not a problem for us, don't be so modest.' Hillary smiled. He decided to buy that "special counselor". Let's see how special he is! 'Do you like hunting?'

'Of course. Above all, I'm a hyena. But I'm afraid I'm terrible in it.' N'yaya blushed under his fur.

'Ah, that's nothing… The battalion has the best hunting lands in the Pridelands. We'll teach you a few nice tricks. You'll show off to your noble friends. They'll be absolutely stunned.' Hillary surrounded N'yaya with his paternal charm. 'I think that nothing fraternize the hyenas so much as a good hunting.'

'I think that I shouldn't fraternize with anyone. It could lose objectivism.' The counselor answered offishly.

'But of course. Ahh, I smell a nice herd of zebra. I love them. You probably like something lighter, like fish or heron.'

N'yaya nodded.

'As you're our noble guest, I could provide you such meat I always say "Good dinners soften the manners".' Hillary tipped a wink to him.

The counselor stopped.

'Hillary Yena, are you trying to bribe me?' he asked furiously. Hillary looked at him.

'No?' it sounded like a question. Too bad.

'You're trying to bribe me, a descendant of the 40 generations of aristocrats? The son of the prince Maharashta?' N'yaya continued.

Maharashta had a son? With whom? Hillary sighed when his memory recalled a story. Once a female arrived to the clan with her son. She claimed that Maharashta slept with her when he was on mission in foreign lands. The prince denied but generously took care of the female and her son. Is N'yaya that son? Does he really think that he's Maharashta cub? Does he want to make his career telling everyone about that?

'Obviously not, you misunderstood me. I tried to be nice. Let's pretend this talk didn't exist.'

'Oh no, it existed. We know that you're overhunting and giving food to hyenas that don't deserve it to bond them with you. But now it will end.'

Hillary understood. It'll be either his end or the end of counselor N'yaya…

The next days were peaceful and pleasant. The lionesses from Makali's team returned to regular hunts after a few days of rest. Nzuri didn't join them because of her wound, but she always came later and chatted with them.

Every day was almost the same. At the sunrise they came from a hunt, they ate their prey and left the rest for king. Then they've spent almost all the time napping and talking, sometimes with a short hunt at the afternoon, when the heat was smaller.

When they came back from the hunt they had to carefully clean their fur from any insects that they could attach during the way through high grasses. Some places as a nape and back were hard to examine, so members of the team willingly helped each other.

Few days before Kribi made Uru a joke. She helped the princess with grooming and then…

'Oh, dear, your back… you are balding!' She yelled.

'Where?' Uru asked, frozen with horror. She turned back to see what is going on and did a full circle before she heard Kribi's laughter.

'It isn't funny! Once I had a terrible skin disease and I looked like a rat!' Uru growled, amusing her friend even more. But now the revenge time came…

'Oh, Kribi, I'll help you with grooming.' She said plainly.

'Heheh, I'm not that stupid. Try something better, kitty.' Kribi jested.

'I could help you.' Nzuri offered. While she groomed Kribi, she put on her an enormous beetle that Uru found day before. It came out even better then the two lionesses could think, as the beetle harmlessly bit Kribi, making her jump up and run around the Agave Hill, screaming.

When she calmed herself, she admitted that it was a good antic, although for a week she had a small paranoia and groomed on her own.

The night fell slowly. The lionesses finished a tasty gazelle they managed to catch during the afternoon hunt. It meant that they wouldn't have to go on the night hunt.

'I love the night so much…' Nzuri said, staring at the last rays of descending sun. 'The day is so irritatingly loud, bright and colorful. Everything is jumping, moving, attacking you with thousands of stimulus. The night is different – the colours are muffled, it's colder, calmer, you feel internally peaceful, you can focus on your thoughts or on the target.'

'Oh, come on.' Mpira responded. 'How could you hate colours? Look at the birds – how beautiful they are, like little flying gems. They are like pictures brought from the imagination! It's so wonderful.'

'Different lions have the different imagination. Mine is calm and full of a pleasant darkness.' Nzuri smiled.

'You're so depressive. Talking with you make me depressed too.' Mpira said. Nzuri shrugged.

'Think about those all beautiful scents. During the day you can't smell them well. The tamarisks start emitting its stunning fragrant… Just like now.' Nzuri closed her eyes and sniffed with a gentle expression.

'Ah, you could talk like that for the whole night.' Uru interfered. 'I'm leaving you now; I'll come back at the sunrise.'

'Where are you going?' Mpira asked.

'I have found a nice rogue.' Uru answered plainly.

'Oh, so it's the end of your celibate? It wasn't too long.' Nzuri remarked ironically. 'We wanted to match you with Ahadi, just for fun, but you're faster than us.'

'Ahadi? We might have matched on our own.'

'When?'

'He came to me after the battle to comfort me… And he comforted me.' Uru admitted.

Makali felt as if her heart stopped. But Ahadi was with her then, he asked her to be his girlfriend, she almost consented… Almost…

'Great! You should be together.' Nzuri smiled cheerfully. 'You make a good pair.'

'I wanted you to be with handsome bard Bure, but you've ignored my needs.' Mpira said with some regret.

'I want you to be with that rogue! The rogues are badass!' Kribi yelled. 'Talking about him, does he have a handsome friend?'

'Maybe, I don't know. What about you, Makali? Who do you want as my boyfriend?' Uru scoffed.

'I want you to be happy.' Makali said softly. She tried to sound normally, and nobody noticed that her voice was breaking. She looked at her paws, examining her claws.

'You may be with Elimu. He's such a sweetie.' Maridadi added.

'My brother is a bit… too delicate… Uru's permissive attitude may hurt him…' Nzuri disagreed.

'Oh, stop talking about me, okay?' Uru growled.

'Okay, okay, we all just want your happiness.' Nzuri responded.

'Really? So listen to me. I choose my boyfriends on my own. I don't want to be matched with anybody.'

'Ah, you spoil all the fun. I love messing others' lives so much.' Nzuri said ironically.

'I have another game. Let's invent the names for Uru's cubs.' Mpira said.

'Hush, idiot. It's a secret!' Nzuri hissed. But it was too late.

'You make up names for my cubs?! Okay, now I'm angry!' Uru growled.

'For males: Mufasa, Que pasa, Taka and Maka.' Mpira whispered.

'I'm not going to have any children. You just sit on your asses. You know nothing about love and sexuality.' Uru said coldly.

'Calm down, dear. Neither Nzuri nor Mpira didn't want to offend you.' Makali said.

'I know. But get to know that the stork will bring me a cub only, I repeat, only if I ask him for.' Uru said proudly. Obviously, we can discuss if she had something to be proud of, but it's not the point. 'I carefully check if I'm not in season. The most beautiful thing is that a male can be satisfied only in one way, but a female can be satisfied in numerous ways… You would be shocked what a male can do just with a gently licking.' Uru grinned, a bit dreamy.

'Okay, we understand.' Nzuri said. In the same moment Mpira whispered to her ear:

'For girls: Shani, Vitani, Kula and Fula.'

'It's a way how we could control males. They controlled us with abuse and their strength for too long.' Uru announced.

'Do you want a matriarchate?' Nzuri asked.

'Why not? Look at our small pride at the Agave Hill. Do we lack something? Can't we rule for our own, without the insolent males?' Uru gazed through their faces, noticing rather the bewilderment than happiness. 'You'll soon understand that.'

The princess was about to leave the place, but Kribi appeared on her way.

'So what, Kitty, will you take me to that handsome friend of your boyfriend?' She purred excitedly.

'I said that I don't know if he has any friends.' Uru looked at Kribi's descending smile. 'Okay, come with me.'

'Oh god, I love you so much!' Kribi jumped at the princess.

'You're like an old marriage.' Makali sighted.

'Can you imagine a whole pride of little Urus and Kribis… Damn, my brain exploded!' Mpira exclaimed.

'Mine too.' Nzuri added.

'Hello, Sir Hillary' N'yaya said with a sweet voice. The hyena looked at him coldly. 'Oh, I know well how much I annoy you. But don't be so anxious, I'll leave you soon.' The counselor smiled.

'You misinterpret my behavior. I'm always here to help you.' Hillary said.

'Never mind. You have to know that I have been collecting materials to accuse you for a few weeks, even before we've met. I have the evidence that you were overhunting, I have the testimonies of your poor friends who you fed. They betrayed you for a few scraps of meet, isn't it funny? Not as funny as your battalion members that tried to help you by admitting that you did wrong, but only to help others! Or telling me how you supported a sweet, permissive priestess Alighana. Did she "reward" your "sacrifice" for her in any way?' N'yaya started laughing. 'I have witnesses of those testimonies, so I can use them even if your friends will try to change them.'

He looked at Hillary's face, at muscles of his jaws, tense from clenching his teeth.

'Don't be afraid, Sir Hillary. The matriarch is austere, but just. She will convict you for a few months of exile. You might spend this time on the court of your little pussy cat Mohatu!'

Hillary closed his eyes. He felt so tired. He tried to do his best, trained the battalion, tried to help the weaker, and almost lost the love of his own son because he spent all his time trying to do something good. And the only response of the others was hatred and scorn. He was fed up with that. It was so destroying, so humiliating, so exhausting. He asked Mohatu for a help, but the king trivialized the problem, saying: 'Oh, Hilly, the torturers of my brother couldn't destroy you and now you're afraid of a stupid bureaucrat?'

He ended up being chased by his enemies… they wanted to capture him again…

'No! Never!' Hillary yelled with madness in his amber eyes. It was only a split of second…

'Sir, we have to go.' Alighana said after some time. For the commander it seemed like eternity. Hillary looked at her, surprised. How did she get there? Suravira came to Hillary, enfolding him with his paw.

'You did a good thing - it was a bastard. We will deal with it. Go and get some sleep' he said softly.

AN: How did you like that chapter? Who is your favourite hyena? Who is the least likable one? Why? Write! All your reviews make me a better writer for you. :D

The next update at Friday. I'm flooded with work :-/