A/N: Booyeah, sweet mother of sons-of-biscuits! The weekly updates are back! :D
Enjoy!
A Kingdom Reborn: The Legend of Mohatu
Chapter 28: Bared Ambitions
The irritating sound of pawsteps gradually grew louder. To add to the chaos of dawn, several rattling and banging noises echoed through the pyramid's hall, clashing with Mohatu's slumber in a disastrous cacophony of infuriating annoyances. Amidst the thrashing sounds of morning horror, only one spoken word was audible.
"Mohatu!" a harsh voice called, echoing through the halls with a notably impatient taint. "Get up," the unfamiliar male lion continued, which eventually elicited a moan of response from the lion in question. "You're late, rookie!"
Mohatu's eyes folded open for a brief moment, while a mighty leonine yawn escaped his jaw, containing enough rumbling force to knock over a small shrub. Or so it seemed, at the very least.
But could it really have been morning already? Mohatu was left to ponder the question on his own, for he saw only the torchlight from within the pyramid's dens. There was no sign of a rising sun, and no way to tell what time of day it was. The pyramid acted as a shelter, thus blocking out any trace of time that normally would have been visible in the outside world.
In a slow, arduous, and exaggerated motion, Mohatu lifted his head up, although his eyes remained shut to a squint. Using every last drop of motivation that he could muster, Leo forced himself to awaken and absorb the image of his surroundings. It happened at a painfully sluggish rate, before the geometry of the room eventually came into view.
"Come on, bro," another leonine figure, with a voice reminiscent of Buraya's, finally added to the sudden silence. "It's time for..." the lion started to explain, but ended up shuddering at the thought, before he could finish.
"Guard duty," Buraya gulped, finishing where he had left off. "We gotta go, man! That dirt isn't going to watch itself!"
"Alright, alright," Mohatu conceded to the demand, while he struggled to rise himself up onto his paws. "I'm up," he lied, speaking long before he actually started to twitch a single limb.
After a few long seconds, the lion's eyes finally opened into their natural, semi-alert position, and Mohatu managed to find two male lions standing in the hall.
One was Buraya, but the other was almost entirely unfamiliar, only slightly recognizable by the tangled knots of his thick fur. The other lion was quite a bit larger than Buraya, and by no small margin. In addition, he appeared to be much more rugged and far older in age, and he stood with a noticeably tattered mane. Yet, he almost looked familiar, in an oddly peculiar way.
The other lion happened to be Knight Inari, no doubt about it. He had to have been the knight tasked with guarding the pyramids of Giza. Somehow or another, the description of the name just seemed to fit the image, in a way that Mohatu could only understand with his intuition alone.
That lion, who Mohatu presumed to be Inari, suddenly gestured toward the end of the hall. "Now get out there," he commanded. "No wasting time."
Mohatu sighed quietly, trying not to outwardly express his complete lack of interest, while he followed the two others out of the den. He could hardly bring himself to feign even a remote sliver of responsibility, in regard to the tedious task that had been laid out for him.
After all, Mohatu had little reason to sit for hours on end, watching over the horizon of Lea Halalela. Even aside from the appealing thought of returning to his deep slumber, what he needed to do was far more important than simply vegetating like a statue.
But, as usual, Mohatu's curiosity eventually overcame the better half of his mind. "So... I take it you're Knight Inari?" Mohatu asked the unfamiliar lion, before the group of three reached the end of the passage.
"Yeah, that's right, rookie," the large lion answered, distinctly conveying a strange lack of interest in his subordinate.
"Look," the knight continued suddenly, clearly showing his arrogance with his tone of voice. "I know what queen Minerva taught you at the academy, but you need to forget all that crap. From here on out, you do as I say. You answer to me, and only to me. Don't make me say it twice."
"Alright sir," Mohatu lied easily, almost exaggerating his formality in a near-sarcastic way. Fortunately, however, his tone of rebelliousness remained quite hidden beneath the patterns of his voice. "I understand, my liege."
"Good," Inari replied. "You'll find yourself dead if you listen to anyone else, out here."
"It's true," Buraya added in agreement, temporarily bringing a quick end to the conversation.
As soon as the trio exited the pyramid, Knight Inari ceased leading the group. Instead of continuing to walk off into the sandy void, he turned around, and allowed his brownish-gold figure to glisten in the early sunrise. Brilliant rays of yellow, orange, and red illuminated his leonine stance, thus casting a deep shadow across his two adjacent subordinates, Buraya and Mohatu.
After several seconds had passed, nearly a dozen other lions gathered and joined the group—presumably, they were Inari's other pawns. Most were unfamiliar to Mohatu, but he did manage to find Zuria amongst them all. Some were males, some were females, but they were mostly all of a relatively young age, with few being any older than Mohatu himself. More than likely, they were all students of the academy at Giza.
The queen, however, was nowhere to be seen. No matter how Mohatu looked at it, that was unquestionably good news.
The cluster of lions eventually gathered and formed into a mob shape, all watching their commander closely. Clouds of dust were swept up in the wind, but such natural distractions did not seem to affect the conditioned pride.
"Today, we're going to try something different," Knight Inari stated almost immediately, after noting that every lion in his pride was within earshot. "Minerva still believes Mari is here, but I have something else in mind."
Mohatu smiled deviously. "Hmm... this could be interesting," he whispered to Buraya, while they both hid in the shadow of their peers. "I wonder what this guy thinks he's going to do."
In truth, Mohatu found it rather amusing how every lion seemed to think themselves superior to those around them. More than likely, that was the legacy he had left behind. Regardless, he now knew it was a rather absurd gesture, especially after watching it from his perspective.
"You, you, and you..." the knight pointed to a few lions, while he kept his other paw firm on the ground. "You're coming with me. The rest of you will go to your assigned positions until afternoon. Follow the same trails as yesterday."
A steady roar of background chatter began to erupt among Inari's many subordinates, while they broke off into their own smaller groups. Every lion seemed to split up and form into their assigned positions, leaving only a few wannabe warriors behind with the knight.
Rather conveniently, the few included Buraya, Mohatu, and Zuria.
"Damn!" Buraya interjected, while the other lions began to scatter around him. "I really don't want to do this again..."
Almost immediately, Mohatu kicked his new lion friend with his paw. "Shh! Not yet! I still need to know what he wants me to do..."
Fortunately for Mohatu, he did not have to wait very long to find out.
"One more thing," Inari interjected. "Zuria, I have a special task for you."
Alright, so maybe that wasn't entirely true just yet. Mohatu still had to wait a bit longer, before he had his own orders. And so he stood waiting with catlike patience, watching Zuria all the while.
Consequently, Zuria gulped. She knew what it was about, and she wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest. With great hesitation, the tawny lioness approached the knight in charge, eyes closed with sorrow, with her tail barely hovering above the ground.
"What do you ask of me?" Zuria inquired, nearly trembling while she approached.
"If you cannot hold your own against Mohatu, then you do not deserve to be here," Inari stated. "You think Mari or any of the assassins are going to show you mercy if you run into them?" he asked rhetorically. "Hah! You gotta be prepared to hold your own in a fight!"
The knight licked his whiskers for a moment, while a growl rumbled from the pit of his stomach. "But," he added, "I'm willing to give you a second chance. I want you to bring me three wildebeest by sunset."
Zuria's jaw flipped open. "But... but... but..." she stuttered. "That's impossible!"
"Then maybe you're just not cut out for this," the knight retorted. "Whether you live or die here is your choice. I'm giving you that choice. Now go on!"
Listening in on the conversation, Mohatu kept his ears raised for a few seconds. Eventually, however, he decided to make his move. He stepped forward, keeping his posture firm and serious. An idea churned in his mind; he knew how to make the situation right.
With one authoritative request, Mohatu made himself known. "Let me join her hunting party," he stated blatantly.
Almost immediately, a condescending laugh began to escape Inari's tongue. "Hah! You're joking, rookie..."
Within only a few seconds, the knight's chuckle eventually formed into a smile of twisted satisfaction. "But I like your ambition," he added. "Brash and bold—those are very nice qualities to find in a young warrior... as long as you can back them up. What do you think, rookie? You think you can do better than her?"
"I'm not joking," Mohatu began his proposal. "Buraya and I will go with Zuria. Collectively, we will bring back ten wildebeest, and it will happen before midday."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Buraya and Zuria blurted out in unison. "We can't-"
Mohatu only winked, silencing them both with his mysterious ambition. "Don't worry about it," he whispered. "We can do this... easily," he lied convincingly.
Meanwhile, the knight's eyes shot open to twice their normal size. His breathing slowed, and his jaw fell downward for a second, as well. "Ten wildebeest?" Inari questioned, clearly not even believing Mohatu's request, due to the ludicrously ridiculous absurdity in and of itself. "You must be stupid... or crazy."
"No sir," Mohatu insisted, trying to convince himself he could do it, too. "Just give the three of us the morning off, and we can feed this entire pride."
The lion in charge kept his thoughts to himself for a few moments, before speaking out loud. "Alright," Inari nodded, at last. "I'll take it. But I want the carcasses by noon. If you don't deliver, your tail is mine!"
"You won't be disappointed," Leo replied. Turning around, he winked over at his two new hunting partners, Buraya and Zuria, while he proceeded to walk away.
After a few minutes, the other lions had scattered completely, including the knight himself. The three in the hunting party were the only ones left standing outside the pyramid, and they had just been given permission to roam free.
Needless to say, it was precisely the way Mohatu wanted it. "Come on, guys. I'll tell you how we're going to do this," he stated calmly.
"I'm not doing anything!" Buraya retorted. "Hunting is for females!"
"Then go back to guard duty," Mohatu retorted at once, wasting no more time in dealing with Buraya's stubbornness. "But if you want something to eat today, I suggest you follow me," he added, with a deep but passive sense of persuasion in his tone. "You like to eat... right?"
Before Buraya could even reply, the lioness in the group decided to share her thoughts, as well. "I can't wait to see this crazy plan of yours," Zuria rolled her eyes. "You're such an idiot, Mohatu..."
Mohatu ceased his walking almost immediately, not long after he had begun. "Guys... calm down," he sighed. "I know a lioness who can help us. If we all work together, we should be able to do it."
"There's no way we'll be able to kill ten wildebeest!" Zuria exclaimed. "Congrats, Retard-ohatu," she added, with what was quite possibly the most bitter tone of sarcasm known to lionkind. "You've just crushed all our chances of ever becoming knights."
"I'm not doing this..." Buraya retorted, throwing his chest in the air, in an effort to keep his appearance as macho as possible. "Zuria, go do your job and make me a wildebeest sandwich. I'm going to do some more exploring in the great pyramid with Mohatu, and enjoy my morning off."
Zuria scowled, grinding her teeth upon hearing the other lion's comment. "Don't you just leave me like this! You're a piece of-"
"Zuria!" Mohatu nearly yelled. "That's enough."
"And just who do you think you are!" Zuria interjected, almost throwing a complete fit at Mohatu, as well. By the way her face started to shrivel up, it was obvious that her blood began to boil with anger, underneath. "You can't tell us how to-"
"Zuria!" Mohatu continued to hold his own condescending scowl. "I'm doing this because I'm trying to make up for what I did yesterday. Just give me a chance... I'll show you what we can do."
"This is all your fault!" Zuria retorted. "You're not just going to start telling us what to do, because of what happened yesterday! I'm not listening to you!"
Finally, Mohatu gave up on arguing with the lioness. With one last sigh, he turned his focus back to Buraya, who seemed to be a little bit less of a pain to deal with. He wasn't much less of a pain—only a little—but that sliver of a difference was all that mattered. "Let's go take a look at the pyramid," Mohatu suggested quietly, effectively leaving Zuria out of the group.
"Wait..." Zuria suddenly flattened her ears, at Mohatu's change in attitude. "Alright, Mohatu," the tawny lioness replied, caving in to lion's plan, after all. "I'll let you try this."
Mohatu smiled, while a brief but blissful sense of accomplishment flowed to his head. "Good! Wait here, I'm going to go get my slave to help us hunt."
Buraya kicked his paw through the dirt, unintentionally expressing his sudden discontent with a single jolt. "But... I thought we were going to explore the pyramid!" he whined.
Mohatu raised his eyebrows. "I'm sure my slave would love to explore the pyramid, too," he stated jokingly. "Hah, she loves ancient tombs!"
Leo then tried to force a smile, before clearing his throat and continuing where he had left off. "So, we'll do that, and then we'll help Zuria, and we'll all have enough to eat for lunch. Sound good?"
The other two lions scowled, but agreed to Mohatu's terms, anyway. "Fine," they responded in unison, much to their own discontentment.
"I knew I could count on you guys," Mohatu replied, trying to hold some degree of optimism. "Now don't kill each other. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Quickly, Mohatu trotted all the way back to the familiar location of the sinkhole, where he expected to find Mari. Not to his surprise, he spotted the vibrant lioness laying out on a stone, deep in the center of the cave's wide entrance. He found her in what just happened to be the first, and fortunately, the only place he looked.
Mohatu leaped down into the depression before waking the lioness, landing quietly beside her with all four of his paws simultaneously. He bent his knees like springs, which helped to absorb the shock. Although Mari felt the impact through the ground itself, the event did not seem to wake her.
Shortly after his gentle landing, Mohatu skipped over and rubbed his muzzle across the back of Mari's head. Up until that point, she had been sleeping through the morning, safe from view in the hidden shadows of the sinkhole. The soft movement of Mohatu's whiskers sent a tingle down the lioness's spine, eventually causing her to jitter into a state of higher alertness.
"Wake up," Mohatu beamed with delight, upon seeing Mari's eyes open slowly.
"Ugh," the lioness groaned, while she tilted her head upward. "Good... morning?" she greeted the lion, with a questionable statement. Obviously, she had picked up on the fact that there had been a bit of a change in plans.
"Wait... what's going on?" Mari asked, seeming much more well-rested than Mohatu had been, only minutes before. "What are you doing here this early?"
Mohatu's warm smile suddenly faded away. "Look, I... ugh..." he struggled to find his words.
How was he supposed to explain it? Mari had specifically told him not to do anything to attract attention, and that was precisely what he did. Mohatu had every intention of attracting attention to himself by helping Zuria—that was part of his plan.
But would Mari approve of it? Mohatu almost winced, although he tried not to hesitate too much at the mere thought. She seemed to be willing to work with his plans, but his worries still conquered the best of him.
Stretching out her paws, Mari began to tilt her head aside, removing her cheek from the surface of the ground. Her fur had not yet been exposed to the sun, but she still glimmered with curiosity in her eyes like the beautiful lioness she was. "What did you do this time? Hmm?" she smirked, trying to hide her internal fears of any real danger. "Is this..."
"I need your help," Mohatu replied at once. "I don't mean to put you on the spot like this, but..." Mohatu paused, to scratch the back of his head with his paw. "I've... ugh... volunteered to feed the pride."
Mari's head fell back down to the stone floor of the cave's entrance. "And... let me guess. You expect me to hunt for you... to feed an entire army?" Mari inquired lethargically.
"Two other lions will be with us," Mohatu explained. "I think we should be able to pull it off," he added, although his voice wasn't entirely as confident as he wanted it to be.
"Great," the lioness exclaimed, with a surprising indifference to the idea.
Mari erected her weight back onto her paws, slowly bringing herself to prepare for the task. "You know, I haven't hunted with a pride in ages... and when I did, it was only with our family. I'm probably not going to be able to help as much as you think."
"Besides," Mari added, struggling not to break into a sleepy yawn. "I haven't really felt like hunting again... not after what happened yesterday. I feel like I might be getting sick... or something. It's just..."
Mohatu looked down at his paws for a second, before leaning closer to the lioness beside him. "I was watching you yesterday," he replied warmly, and stepped closer to the lioness in a very predictable way.
As soon as his muzzle was beside her head, he began to exhale a purr while he licked her under her ear. "I know you'll do fine. You're so much more capable than you think you are—you don't give yourself enough credit, sometimes. Even though it didn't work, yesterday, your plan of attack was... brilliant. You're a natural huntress."
Although Leo's actions were nothing less than totally predictable to Mari, it still helped her to overcome her own anxiety. The lion's powerfully enchanting voice always had a way to calm her nerves. This was no exception.
Of course, it also helped that in the center of her heart, she knew he was right, anyway.
"I know..." the lioness blanched with modest and humble embarrassment, twiddling her paw on the rocky floor of the cave entrance. Although she didn't really want to admit it, there was a very large degree of truth to what Leo had said.
"But..." she added quickly, leaning away to find space to breathe. "It's not that. It's just... I don't know. I kinda have a funny feeling about this, that's all..."
"Well, Buraya is also going to show us inside the big pyramid, first," Mohatu explained. "Come on... it's better than sitting around here, all day. If anything goes wrong, I'll be watching your back."
"That's good to know," Mari replied softly. She paused for a moment, before leaning back toward Mohatu, inch by inch.
Suddenly, Mari lifted her paw up off the ground, and then placed it around Mohatu's spine. The movement caught the male lion by surprise, but he reacted with only a slight twitch of his tail. Although silence persisted in the air, it was yet another sentimental moment for both felines.
"I've got your back too," Mari whispered. Smiling, she brought her nose up to the lion's ear, while she embraced the warmth of his fur. "And... ugh... thanks," she continued quietly. "I needed that."
Yet again, it was another heartwarming moment for Mohatu.
Mohatu placed his paw over Mari's, as well, beginning to maintain a purr once again. "No problem," he smirked playfully. "That's what slaves are for," he added, trying to keep a straight face for a brief moment, while the joke slipped off his tongue.
Immediately, Mari tried to wiggle herself free. Her eyes and ears dropped with a sudden, obvious distaste at the thought, while she backed away with a grimace across her muzzle. "You didn't..."
"They don't have to know about this," replied Mohatu, before he cleared his throat. "They can't know about this," he immediately corrected himself.
"I..." Mari interrupted with flattened ears, but she eventually lost her words.
"Mari," Mohatu began, no longer hesitating to express himself, this time. After all he had been through with the lioness, it only felt natural to share his true feelings, at this point.
The lion closed his eyes for a second, blocking the external world from view so that he could gather his thoughts. Moments later, he inhaled heavily before speaking.
Although he held a smile, Mohatu found it difficult to focus on Mari's stern gaze, considering what he was about to say. "You're more important to me than any other lioness could ever be," he began. "I don't care if you feel the same way about me or not... it doesn't even matter. I'm not going to treat you as a slave. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you... not ever. I care about you too much to let that happen."
In consequence, Mari blushed slightly. She knew it, but the thought still made her somewhat uncomfortable, for reasons she could not quite explain.
"But they can't know that," Mohatu continued, blinking his eyes back into focus. "Queen Minerva and Knight Inari are looking for us. Even Buraya suspected I was a spy. They're watching me... they know I'm up to something. I need them to think you're my slave so they won't be after you, too."
"Yeah..." Mari sighed. "I know."
"Whatever happens out there..." Mohatu continued slowly, "I just want you to know that it's just a facade. From now on, I'm going to pretend that you're my slave... but I just need you to play along with it, like I've been doing with Minerva. I don't actually think you're my slave, and I won't ever do anything to hurt you. It's just to fool them into thinking you're unimportant, so you'll be ignored."
"I know all this, but I still don't like where this is going..." Mari tried to explain herself.
"Neither do I," Mohatu agreed, persisting with the idea while simultaneously conveying a sad hint of reluctance. "But it's the only way, for now. When the time comes... then I'll tell them the truth."
Mari closed her eyes for a brief moment. "It's just that... I don't think it's a good idea. But, I suppose I don't have much of a choice... do I?"
Considering the circumstances, Mari had every reason to be worried. She didn't want to think about all that could happen, and she could sense the truth in Mohatu's words. But, despite this, something simply felt wrong. Disaster was lingering in the air, and Mari could not shake the feeling that it would strike like a snake—unseen, and deadly.
Mohatu clearly had some plan of his own. So did Minerva, Rex, Knight Inari, and the ancient kings. All Mari could do was remember what Rafiki had told her and hope for the best. Something was bound to happen, and with the chill of death so saturated in the air, some lion was inevitably going to die soon.
Mari had been thinking it for a while, but the thought was only becoming increasingly apparent as time passed, even more so now than ever.
Suddenly, Mohatu interrupted the lioness's immediate thoughts. "There's no other option," Leo stated, while he looked away for a second. "If I had a choice, I wouldn't be Inari's pawn or Minerva's student, either. This is what we have to do, for now."
"I understand that," Mari nodded hesitantly. "But, I guess this whole ordeal is what I was feeling reluctant about."
After all, being called a slave, even only in an act of deception, wasn't Mari's most pleasant thought.
Mohatu shook his head. "Me too..." he added wistfully, before turning away and climbing back out of the sinkhole. His voice faded off into the wind, while the shadow of a cloud flew over the two ascending felines.
"You coming?" he asked from above.
"Yeah... let's get this over with," Mari answered.
Meanwhile, Buraya and Zuria stood apart, gazing into the eyes of the other with visible disdain. The sun climbed up into the sky to a noticeable degree, and the reddish and yellowish hue of the horizon shifted into a more neutral blue, while the wispy clouds above started to turn from pink to white.
The entire territory of Lea Halalela began to come alive for another day, but neither lion seemed to care at all. There was a much more important matter at the tip of their paws, they thought, and it had been disturbing them to a great extent.
"I could be sleeping right now," Buraya muttered, picking through the sand below his paws. "I can't believe Mohatu brought me into your mess..."
"Shut up, Buraya," Zuria retorted. From the look of it, she nearly wanted to tear the other lion's face to shreds. "This is all Mohatu's fault, not mine."
Buraya rolled his eyes. "That's garbage. Lionesses... always getting me involved in their problems."
Zuria's tail moved back and fourth across the sand, while she sat in what was almost a pouncing stance. She had little tolerance remaining, and it nearly seemed as if Buraya was trying to drain it all away. "Shut... the... hell... up!"
"I'm not listening to you; you're a stupid lioness," Buraya insisted, outright denying the lioness's wish for his own sadistic pleasure. "Maybe, if you did your job properly and actually caught a wildebeest once a week, we wouldn't have this problem."
Zuria's claws scratched through the sand, puncturing deep crevices into the ground while she stroked her paws around. "You know it's not that easy..."
"Blah, blah, blah, stupid lioness," Buraya retorted, agonizing the female even further. "Hey, how many lionesses does it take to kill a wildebeest, anyway?"
"Shut up!" Zuria growled a bit louder, this time.
"Forty-two," Buraya explained, grinning deviously. "Forty-one to try, and one to get a male to kill the prey for her."
Zuria arched her backside up, into a deadly pouncing position for sure. Her teeth clenched together, and a steady rumble of a roar sounded from her throat, which shook the ground with rough vibrations.
"Oh, I guess you don't get it, huh?" Buraya sighed. "That's usually the way it is. Lionesses don't typically understand jokes."
Zuria narrowed her eyes to a deep squint of hatred. "I'm going to give you a count to three, to eat your damn words..."
Consequently, Buraya leaned back, exposing a sarcastic grin. "You can count to three?" he asked. "Wow, that's impressive for a blonde. I didn't realize my sister was such a genius!"
"Three..." Zuria counted, lowering her head as much as she could.
"It's okay..." Buraya conceded. "You'll understand the joke someday. In fact, I usually have to tell my jokes three times to lionesses, before they ever understand."
"Two..."
"The first time, they pretend to laugh when I tell them the joke," Buraya teased. "The second time, they pretend to laugh when I explain the joke. The third time, they truly laugh, because that's when lionesses actually understand the joke. They're slow learners, haha."
Zuria's spine shifted from side to side, while her two hind legs prepared to uncoil on her brother. "One..."
"Very slow learners," Buraya added, shifting into his own fighting stance in the blink of an eye. The yellow lion lifted his forepaws off the ground, balancing his weight on his hindlegs. With only two paws secured into the sand, he appeared enormous, with his black mane towering over Zuria's relatively puny form.
Without even a shadow of doubt, he was ready to prove his superiority to his female sibling. But, with two returning felines, his luck immediately ran out.
"Buraya!" Mohatu suddenly growled, while he approached from several tail lengths away. "Stop!"
The standing lion jolted suddenly; it caused him to lose his balance and fall down into the sand. Conversely, the entire scene managed to elicit a smile of satisfaction from Zuria, while she watched her brother make a complete fool of himself.
"I told you two not to kill each other," Mohatu retorted, continuing where he had left off only moments before. "Is it really that difficult?"
"Apparently so, master," Mari added from behind her companion. Although her voice was intended to be only barely louder than a whisper into Mohatu's ear, the other two lions managed to hear her quite clearly.
"Hah..." Buraya chuckled, while he looked up from his crash into the ground. "We weren't going to fight... we were just..."
"Damn straight, we're going to fight," Zuria argued. "He's being a-"
"Zuria!" Mohatu commanded, interrupting the tawny lioness before she could find a word with sufficient vulgarity to use. "Stop this nonsense, or I'm not going to help you."
Zuria groaned. "Oh, that's right, your highness," she replied sarcastically. "I'm sorry; I forgot my manners. I didn't realize you were the new king of Giza..."
Mohatu merely shook his head at the thought. "You have no idea..."
Meanwhile, Buraya struggled to get back up onto all four of his paws with his dignity intact. However, looking around, he found Mari standing closely beside Mohatu. "Who's that?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.
"This is my slave," Mohatu explained. "Her name is Ma-"
Mari stepped on Mohatu's tail with her hindleg in the nick of time, digging her claws into his fur before he gave away too much information.
"Ah... ugh... I mean... Nala. Her name is Nala," Mohatu corrected himself, very clearly lying to the other two lions. Obviously, he couldn't tell them her true name—Mari was known throughout the kingdom as the most important lion to kill.
Buraya's appearance started to soften a bit. "Ooooh..." he mumbled to himself, suddenly becoming enthralled by Mari's elegant form. "Hello there, Nala," he greeted the lioness, trying to make his voice as smooth as he could while he flexed his muscles. "You look rather beautiful this morning..."
Both Mari and Mohatu shared a brief glance at one another for a moment, secretly communicating all their thoughts to each other in less than an instant. For Mohatu, it was all he could do to keep from laughing out loud.
"Hmm," the yellow lion continued with a smirk. "You're very pretty, but I want to see if your hunting skills are just as amazing as your looks, first." Buraya immediately took a step back. "What about this: why don't you go out and kill ten wildebeest for us, and then when you come back, you can make me a wildebeest sandwich. I like it with no liver, no intestines... just the lean muscle bits are fine... preferably fresh killed... and then-"
"Don't even think about it," Mohatu retorted. "She's my slave. Only I tell her what to do."
"The master is correct," Mari admitted, rolling her eyes at Buraya's pitiful attempt at seduction. It was a fruitless gesture in every possible sense, but Buraya had no idea.
"Oh, but..." Buraya stepped aside, trying to show off his mane as one final attempt to entice the lioness.
"You are Buraya, yes?" Mari asked immediately, only seeking to confirm what she had thought.
"Yeah... that's me," the lion answered.
"I know what you're thinking, and I'm not interested," Mari retorted firmly, almost scolding Buraya, in a rather surprising way. "I'm not that kind of slave... but more importantly, we have a job to do here. I suggest we hurry up and get started, before things go from bad to worse."
Mari then nodded slightly, conveying her impatient demand to move on in the most polite way possible.
Buraya's ears fell downward. "Oh... well..." he struggled to find his words. "You're just a slave. You're not supposed to be sassy like that," he reasoned. It wasn't much of a comeback, and every lion knew it. However, it managed to end the discussion for a few seconds.
At nearly the same time, Mohatu turned to face his companion. "Hah, I like that," he muttered a whisper to the orange lioness, grinning slightly. "I didn't know you had it in you."
"I learned a lot of things, growing up with you," Mari whispered back. "I'm not usually afraid to say what I need to... as I'm sure you've noticed," she added.
Mohatu smiled. "Good, good, good..." he thought aloud. "Buraya, why don't you take us to the great pyramid, now," he suggested. The lion began to show a bit of Mari's reflected impatience with his request, despite his seemingly positive attitude.
"Yeah, alright," Buraya's head dropped a bit. "It's just over here," he added, beginning to walk along a rarely-traveled path.
The three other lions followed behind closely, all waiting for the events of the day to unfold beneath their paws. Yet, little did they know that it was all about to happen much sooner than any of the four could have predicted.
