CHAPTER 4 - Relocation
When I next woke up, I was caged and the African landscape was rushing by me. The rest of my family were in separate cages next to me, heavy eyed, but otherwise unharmed. I stood shakily on my feet and shook my head to clear it. Then I started to examine my confines. The thick metal bars of the cages were strong and the door held tight when I pushed against it.
I growled in irritation. But neither Taka nor my father were making any better progress.
For a few hours, we watched the land speed by us. Day turned into night. At last, we stopped and the humans began to unload the truck that we were on. I could see them opening up larger cages and putting the other animals in them. Giraffes, zebras, rhinos, I watched them all get paraded by my small cage.
Finally the men turned to us. I could see a new man with them, the boss by the way the others treated him with respect. He had a walking stick with him, a short black stick with a golden lion head on the top. His hat was tall and flat on the top and the tails of his jacket hung to his knees. Gold sparkles decorated the outfit. I could see that he was of middle age, tall and thin, with dark brown eyes and neatly trimmed black hair. Perfect white teeth showed when he spoke.
"Tomorrow I will begin training with them. My lions are growing old, and can't be my center ring stars any longer. But first, before you show them to their new home, come, let me take a look at them. I want to ensure top quality for my act before I pay you."
Narma, the leader of the campsite humans, gave a few orders to the other man, and soon we all found harsh steel rings about our necks. The men each held a length of chain, and we were dragged out of our cages.
"Mr. Klins, may I present to you, your new stars," Narma said.
Klins turned to us to give us a look over. "Very nice," he said, looking at my father and my mother. "This red furred lioness will be a highlight! But these two," he gestured at Narma and me, "no manes! Unless of course you call that mohawk on that one a mane!" He pointed accusingly at me. "Well, I'm sure it will grow. They still must be trained. Put them inside with the other lioness that came in this afternoon."
"Yes Mr. Klins."
With that, the humans pulled us roughly into the largest tent I have ever seen. In the cage before me, I could see a young lioness, her back towards me. The humans pushed us into the cage, and the lioness quickly turned to look at us.
"Sarabi?" I asked. My betrothed was here. The humans had captured her too.
"Mufasa," she purred as she rubbed her head under my chin. I rested my head lightly on top of hers. We stayed like that for a moment before pulling apart.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I was on my first unassisted hunt when this group of humans surrounded me. I fought, but something stung me and when I woke up, I was in a cage."
"The same thing happened to us when we went to see what the humans were up to," my father said.
Taka said nothing, he only whipped his tail furiously.
Tears streamed down my love's eyes. "Oh Mufasa. All I needed was that first unaided kill and then you and I could have been married. And now, who knows what's going to happen to us." She avoided my gaze, her eyes cast down to the ground.
"Don't worry Sarabi, I'll protect you," I said, hoping that I sounded more confident that I felt. Truth be told, I had a sense that things were not going to go well.