Summer passed quietly and before anyone knew it, it was Fall
again. Around the middle of Fall came the time for both prides to return
home.
"Oh, but it's so nice and peaceful here," Hidaya commented to her mate. " Do we really have to leave so soon? Winter comes slowly, we can leave in a week or so. Please?"
Hodari smiled at her. "I suppose it couldn't hurt." He looked to Jamili. "Will we have the honor of your extended company?"
"Afraid not. We really should go, considering our den is much further away than yours. It takes quite some time to get there," he replied.
"Very well. I suppose we will see you next Spring then," the Moto King said.
The two lion clans bid their goodbyes and the Makaa pride set off in the direction of their home. Two days later, the group came across the giant mouth of the cave they called home. Kifani stared at the entrance blankly while the other lions and lionesses went inside.
"Oh, come now, Dear," Ahali said. "As soon as you know it, Winter will be over again, and you can go back to the Heart and play with your friends. I know it's lonely being the only cub in the pride, but you're going to just have to accept things the way they are. You always have to." She smiled at her daughter and followed the others inside.
Still, she just stared at it, refusing to move an inch. Something smelled wrong, though she wasn't quite sure what it was. She didn't care anymore about spending Winter alone, there was something desperately distraught. Something was here that she didn't recognize and apparently no one else had noticed. But how couldn't they? The stench was so obvious in the air.
All of a sudden a roar of pain came from the cave, breaking her out of her thoughts. It was her father, she was sure of it. Her mind told her to go inside, but her body would not move. More painful roars broke out and still she would not shift. As suddenly as the first noise had emerged it was all silenced by one loud BANG! For a moment there was nothing, and then came chaos. Lions and lionesses alike raced out of the mouth of the cave. Still she would not move. Behind them came the most ugly creatures she had ever seen. They were tall and lanky and stood on their hind legs. They had no fur except on their heads which exposed a sickeningly pinkish skin. In their arms they held bars of metal which the bangs came from and they were covered with blood: a mix of their own and her father's. Now, she ran.
She dodged in and out between lionesses and the hideous creatures. All around, her pride members were slowly being killed by the beasts. Luckily, she was small enough that they would not notice her, but others had no such privilege. When she was safely away from the scene, on a nearby hill, her feet stopped moving and her eyes set on the fight. It was no fight, she realized. It was a massacre. She desperately wanted to stop watching, but she could not force herself to look away. Minutes went by and she still watched the death of her loved ones until there was no more death to see...her entire pride had been killed...she alone had been spared. But what to do now?
When the murderers seemed to have gone, she slowly, and sadly made her way down to her old home. The sun was beginning to set and she found it difficult to see through the silent tears that ran down her face. She sought her mother out of the many dead all around her. She looked as though she had suffered a fairly painless death. That's good, she thought to herself, but for some reason, now she thought that this couldn't have happened. It was impossible. It must have been a dream. Either that or a cruel joke, that any minute now, they would all wake up and say "Fooled ya!" But she waited for a minute and nothing ever came.
Then her ears picked up a noise from inside the cave. The monsters hadn't gone after all. They were still here and she could hear them talking in their strange tongue. Almost too scared to move, she demanded her feet to run, but all she could get them to do was back away. The things emerged and she found herself face to face with them.
"Looks like we missed one," it said in it's terrible language. "You gather up the rest. I'll take care of this little one." The others responded and walked away.
Run! Kifani's mind yelled at her feet, and his time they responded. She ran as fast as she possibly could and the monster followed. She ignored it. The more attention she kept on her path, the better. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her right cheek as a small rock-like thing from the bang machine barely missed a shot at her head. Blood ran from the side of her face, making a red trail on the ground. After what seemed like hours, the creature gave up. She ran for a few more minutes to make sure it couldn't catch up before slowing to a stop.
Excruciatingly tired, she flopped onto the ground. She then remembered the terrible pain in the right side of her face and groaned with agony. Then her thoughts turned to what to do next. She obviously couldn't go back home.
"The Heart!" she thought out loud. "I can go to the Heart because the Moto Pride is still there! I have to go now before they leave. Otherwise..." She didn't even want to think about what would happen then. "Let's go!" she told her paws, but they didn't respond. She sighed and lay her head down. "I guess a little rest couldn't hurt," she said and fell fast asleep.
The next morning, Kifani awoke as the sun rose over the horizon. Still as tired and in pain as she was, she forced herself to begin her journey back to the heart. She figured it would take about two days. But she walked nonstop for two days, three days, four days and still, she came across no Heart.
"Where IS is?" she asked to no one in particular. "I'm sure it was around here somewhere."
"What are you looking for, hm?" came a cunning voice from behind a rock.
"The Heart!" she replied, ignoring her common sense.
"Oh, really? Well we're looking for something too," said another voice.
"Uh...what?" she asked.
Ten hyenas came out from behind the large rock. "Lunch," said the one who had spoken first.
"Hehe...oh," she said quietly, then broke into a run away from them. Pursuing hyenas would be a lot more difficult to outrun than the two footed monsters, but she was too tired to even put up a good fight when they caught up. In desperation, she let out the loudest roar she possibly could and moments after, fell unconscious.
"Come on, Mashihara!" Asikari taunted. "You can do better than that!" He pounced on her once again just to be pushed off once again.
"Kari, go away. Bother someone else," the teenage lioness said vaguely.
"There's no one else to bother," he said sadly and sat down next to her paw. His ears perked up as he heard a faint roar in the distance.
Mashihara looked up. "What was that?" she asked.
"Sounded like a hurt lion," Kari said, still listening intently. "Come on!" he said. "Let's go check it out!" And before she could object, he ran off in the direction of the sound.
"Kari, wait!" she cried, but he didn't hear her. "I swear, he's going to be the death of me," she said, following him.
Soon he came across a pack of hyenas hovering around something.
"Kari, you idiot! What do you think you're-" Mashihara began but he silenced her and smiled cunningly. "Oh, no. You're not thinking of-"
"Watch and learn. I wasn't trained as a Guardian to sit around and watch fellow creatures be hurt." He slowly prowled up to the pack of hyenas who's backs faced him and let out a mighty roar. They jumped and turned to face him. "Hello, Monkeys," he said calmly to them. "I'm here to put you out of your misery. Hope you don't mind." They growled at the cub and he pounced one of them.
"What am I doing?" Mashihara asked herself and went to help him. Eventually, the two were able to chase them away. While Asikari was glaring after them and smiling proudly, she inspected what they were looking at and found herself very surprised. "Um...Kari, I think you better get over here."
He turned around and trotted up to what she was looking at. "Kifani?!" he said, as shocked as she was.
"She's lucky. Only a few scratches, besides that gash on her cheek. Still, we better get her back to the Heart quickly." She lifted the cub onto her back and they set off back to the rest of the Pride.
"Oh, but it's so nice and peaceful here," Hidaya commented to her mate. " Do we really have to leave so soon? Winter comes slowly, we can leave in a week or so. Please?"
Hodari smiled at her. "I suppose it couldn't hurt." He looked to Jamili. "Will we have the honor of your extended company?"
"Afraid not. We really should go, considering our den is much further away than yours. It takes quite some time to get there," he replied.
"Very well. I suppose we will see you next Spring then," the Moto King said.
The two lion clans bid their goodbyes and the Makaa pride set off in the direction of their home. Two days later, the group came across the giant mouth of the cave they called home. Kifani stared at the entrance blankly while the other lions and lionesses went inside.
"Oh, come now, Dear," Ahali said. "As soon as you know it, Winter will be over again, and you can go back to the Heart and play with your friends. I know it's lonely being the only cub in the pride, but you're going to just have to accept things the way they are. You always have to." She smiled at her daughter and followed the others inside.
Still, she just stared at it, refusing to move an inch. Something smelled wrong, though she wasn't quite sure what it was. She didn't care anymore about spending Winter alone, there was something desperately distraught. Something was here that she didn't recognize and apparently no one else had noticed. But how couldn't they? The stench was so obvious in the air.
All of a sudden a roar of pain came from the cave, breaking her out of her thoughts. It was her father, she was sure of it. Her mind told her to go inside, but her body would not move. More painful roars broke out and still she would not shift. As suddenly as the first noise had emerged it was all silenced by one loud BANG! For a moment there was nothing, and then came chaos. Lions and lionesses alike raced out of the mouth of the cave. Still she would not move. Behind them came the most ugly creatures she had ever seen. They were tall and lanky and stood on their hind legs. They had no fur except on their heads which exposed a sickeningly pinkish skin. In their arms they held bars of metal which the bangs came from and they were covered with blood: a mix of their own and her father's. Now, she ran.
She dodged in and out between lionesses and the hideous creatures. All around, her pride members were slowly being killed by the beasts. Luckily, she was small enough that they would not notice her, but others had no such privilege. When she was safely away from the scene, on a nearby hill, her feet stopped moving and her eyes set on the fight. It was no fight, she realized. It was a massacre. She desperately wanted to stop watching, but she could not force herself to look away. Minutes went by and she still watched the death of her loved ones until there was no more death to see...her entire pride had been killed...she alone had been spared. But what to do now?
When the murderers seemed to have gone, she slowly, and sadly made her way down to her old home. The sun was beginning to set and she found it difficult to see through the silent tears that ran down her face. She sought her mother out of the many dead all around her. She looked as though she had suffered a fairly painless death. That's good, she thought to herself, but for some reason, now she thought that this couldn't have happened. It was impossible. It must have been a dream. Either that or a cruel joke, that any minute now, they would all wake up and say "Fooled ya!" But she waited for a minute and nothing ever came.
Then her ears picked up a noise from inside the cave. The monsters hadn't gone after all. They were still here and she could hear them talking in their strange tongue. Almost too scared to move, she demanded her feet to run, but all she could get them to do was back away. The things emerged and she found herself face to face with them.
"Looks like we missed one," it said in it's terrible language. "You gather up the rest. I'll take care of this little one." The others responded and walked away.
Run! Kifani's mind yelled at her feet, and his time they responded. She ran as fast as she possibly could and the monster followed. She ignored it. The more attention she kept on her path, the better. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her right cheek as a small rock-like thing from the bang machine barely missed a shot at her head. Blood ran from the side of her face, making a red trail on the ground. After what seemed like hours, the creature gave up. She ran for a few more minutes to make sure it couldn't catch up before slowing to a stop.
Excruciatingly tired, she flopped onto the ground. She then remembered the terrible pain in the right side of her face and groaned with agony. Then her thoughts turned to what to do next. She obviously couldn't go back home.
"The Heart!" she thought out loud. "I can go to the Heart because the Moto Pride is still there! I have to go now before they leave. Otherwise..." She didn't even want to think about what would happen then. "Let's go!" she told her paws, but they didn't respond. She sighed and lay her head down. "I guess a little rest couldn't hurt," she said and fell fast asleep.
The next morning, Kifani awoke as the sun rose over the horizon. Still as tired and in pain as she was, she forced herself to begin her journey back to the heart. She figured it would take about two days. But she walked nonstop for two days, three days, four days and still, she came across no Heart.
"Where IS is?" she asked to no one in particular. "I'm sure it was around here somewhere."
"What are you looking for, hm?" came a cunning voice from behind a rock.
"The Heart!" she replied, ignoring her common sense.
"Oh, really? Well we're looking for something too," said another voice.
"Uh...what?" she asked.
Ten hyenas came out from behind the large rock. "Lunch," said the one who had spoken first.
"Hehe...oh," she said quietly, then broke into a run away from them. Pursuing hyenas would be a lot more difficult to outrun than the two footed monsters, but she was too tired to even put up a good fight when they caught up. In desperation, she let out the loudest roar she possibly could and moments after, fell unconscious.
"Come on, Mashihara!" Asikari taunted. "You can do better than that!" He pounced on her once again just to be pushed off once again.
"Kari, go away. Bother someone else," the teenage lioness said vaguely.
"There's no one else to bother," he said sadly and sat down next to her paw. His ears perked up as he heard a faint roar in the distance.
Mashihara looked up. "What was that?" she asked.
"Sounded like a hurt lion," Kari said, still listening intently. "Come on!" he said. "Let's go check it out!" And before she could object, he ran off in the direction of the sound.
"Kari, wait!" she cried, but he didn't hear her. "I swear, he's going to be the death of me," she said, following him.
Soon he came across a pack of hyenas hovering around something.
"Kari, you idiot! What do you think you're-" Mashihara began but he silenced her and smiled cunningly. "Oh, no. You're not thinking of-"
"Watch and learn. I wasn't trained as a Guardian to sit around and watch fellow creatures be hurt." He slowly prowled up to the pack of hyenas who's backs faced him and let out a mighty roar. They jumped and turned to face him. "Hello, Monkeys," he said calmly to them. "I'm here to put you out of your misery. Hope you don't mind." They growled at the cub and he pounced one of them.
"What am I doing?" Mashihara asked herself and went to help him. Eventually, the two were able to chase them away. While Asikari was glaring after them and smiling proudly, she inspected what they were looking at and found herself very surprised. "Um...Kari, I think you better get over here."
He turned around and trotted up to what she was looking at. "Kifani?!" he said, as shocked as she was.
"She's lucky. Only a few scratches, besides that gash on her cheek. Still, we better get her back to the Heart quickly." She lifted the cub onto her back and they set off back to the rest of the Pride.