Lo and behold. After a whole year absent I have finally updated this story. I really wish I had done it before, all year long I intended to write, but so much happened to me last year that updating my stories became the least of my worries. Unfortunately, things have not changed. It will probably take me a long time to update again.

I apologize to all for this, but I can't help it. I have too many things going on at this time, and my inspirational muse just doesn't come to visit me as often as I wish it would. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and sorry for the delay.

"I don't want to get up," murmured Sinta as he shuffled comfortably in the warm bed of leaves. Judging by the raucous noise that came from outside the cave, Kenna and Jenna were already awake and playing, and the young cub knew that any moment now his mother would come and make him get up and wash himself. Sinta, never one to miss playing with his friends, was usually up and about early like them, but not today. He felt so weary, as if he had walked for miles and miles without stopping, across wide plains of hot, dry land that burned his paws and stung his eyes. His muscles ached, and so did his head. He wanted only to sleep, and sleep hard.

But the noise outside continued and the young prince could not ignore it for long. With great effort he stood up, stretched himself to rub off the sleep and pain from his body, and finally opened his eyes.

He was not in his cave in Pride Rock.

Suddenly, the memories of yesterday's events rushed over Sinta like a huge wave and engulfed him. He remembered being with Genka at the tree where the baby birds were nestled. He recalled climbing the older lion's back in an attempt to reach a high limb, then suddenly fall as a huge creature attacked Genka and threw him to the ground. Winded up by the fall, and blinded by the midday sun, Sinta had only managed to see the silhouette of a huge lion, a lion that looked so very familiar, reaching out and grabbing him with his huge maw, before he passed out.

Sinta had woken up to find himself lying near a river. To his surprise, the creature that stood beside him, watching him, was not a lion but a jackal —a huge jackal, even for its own species. The creature, seeing the young prince awake, had lost no time in forcing him to follow it, threatening the cub with its razor-sharp teeth in case he planned to escape. Sinta was strong, and his own teeth and claws were as sharp as the jackal's, but he was still a cub, inexperienced in the art of fighting, of using his natural weapons against another. The little lion knew he was no match for the enormous jackal, whose body was covered in scars, souvenirs, no doubt, from numerous battles. The prince had had no choice but to obey and follow the creature along the shallow river, walking endlessly, tirelessly, until, at some point, the jackal changed direction, roughly heaved Sinta with his mouth, and jumped over some rocks, in an attempt to leave as few prints as possible.

The last memories came to Sinta in a blurry tangle. He recalled being thrown to the ground by the jackal and forced to walk again. The river was nowhere in sight, as well as any sign of vegetation, only hard, dry land as far as the eye could see. They walked —by the great kings, he had walked through hot land— until the sun was low in the horizon and the chill breeze of night made Sinta shudder. Tired and hungry, stumbling over his own feet, the cub barely registered that they had at last arrived to a massive rock formation very similar to Pride Rock, where another creature, a huge, dark-furred creature, patiently waited. As the jackal left to find refuge in a small cave nearby, the other creature picked up the almost fainting Sinta, carried him inside another cave, and gently dropped him on a bed of leaves previously prepared.

The creature! The memory of the enormous animal that had attacked Genka, the dark beast that had brought him to this cave, cleared Sinta's mind as if someone had thrown him into cold water. He had been cubnapped! Despite the ache in his muscles, Sinta jumped, waves of panic almost overwhelming him. He desperately looked around him, almost expecting to find some opening, a crack in the wall other than the main entrance of the cave, through which he could escape. Of course, there was none.

Sinta tried to calm himself down, reminding himself what his father had once told him: a cool mind works best. He sat and tried to order his thoughts, to think of a plan of escape. It would be easier to think without so much noise, Sinta mused. If only the twins could stop laughing for an instant…

The twins!

Another splash of cold water. Kenna and Jenna were here! They had been brought too! With hardly a second thought, Sinta burst through the cave entrance, expecting to find the dark monster harming the little cubs, that despicable creature torturing his friends.

What the prince found was Kenna and Jenna happily playing with a dark-furred, strong-muscled male lion, a lion that he knew…

"Dad?"

The adult lion turned around and his expression brightened when he saw that Sinta had finally woken up. Leaving the girls to continue their romping, he approached the young prince with a light step, his eyes twinkling with the sunlight.

"Sinta! I'm so glad you are awake, I feared you would stay asleep for a week!"

"Dad¿what are you doing here? What are we doing here?"

"Never mind, I will explain later. Now, come and let me see you, my son."

See him? What did he mean? If Sinta had had a little more experience, he would have understood that the strange feeling in his gut meant that something was terribly wrong and that he shouldn't approach. But he was so happy at seeing his father, at feeling a measure of security in this otherwise confusing situation, that he smiled and ran to meet his father. He felt himself being engulfed by the lion's body, felt his warm belly on top of him, comforting him.

Yet, something was not right.

Sinta couldn't understand what was wrong, he just knew that something about his father was different. He wriggled free of the lion's body and looked at him straight into his eyes. And then he saw.

There was no scar.

As realization crept over him, Sinta shrank back from the adult lion, fear clearly etched in his eyes. The adult, seeing the cub's reaction, stood up and watched him, his smile replaced by a deep frown.

"What is the matter, my son?"

"You're not my father!" exclaimed the prince in almost an accusatory tone.

The lion looked perplexed for a moment, then smiled. "You're right," he admitted. "I am not your father. I should have guessed I wouldn't fool you so easily."

The adult took a step towards the scared cub, who instinctively scrambled back, trying to keep a safe distance from the stranger. The lion smirked at the sight.

"Scared, Sinta?"

Sinta stared at the lion for a moment. He suddenly realized how foolish he looked backing away from the enemy. He was a prince, after all, heir to a kingdom he would one day rule. He should not show fear. He would not show fear. He quickly struggled to his feet and faced the adult with all the courage he could muster.

"Who are you? Why have you brought us here?"

To Sinta's surprised, the lion laughed. "Good!" he exclaimed. "There's fighting spirit in you. I'm glad. I would have been terribly disappointed if anyone of my blood showed any sign of cowardice."

Now that took Sinta by surprise. ¿Of his blood? Taken aback, the cub could only stare at the strange lion, a lion so resembling his father. "Who are you?" he asked again, his voice less forceful and more concerned.

"Who am I indeed," answered the lion. "I am a shadow, an outcast, a creature that lives without really existing. But to you, I am something else. I am your father's brother."

Sinta wasn't as surprised as he supposed he should have been at that revelation. For one thing, he had already deduced that a lion looking so much like his father had to be some relative. But hearing the lion say it brought undeniable confirmation to the theory, and Sinta wasn't prepared to assimilate such. "Why have you brought us here?" he dared to ask once more, in an attempt to catch the adult lion in a lie. "If you are really my uncle, why didn't you present yourself in Pride Rock, instead of stealing my cousins and me?"

"Stealing is such a harsh word" replied the older lion. "I do not intend to keep you here by force, and as soon as I see fit the three of you will be returned to your parents. I just wanted to see you, know you, away from the prying eyes of the whole royal family. I would not have been well received at Pride Rock, I assure you."

"Why?" was the cub's reply. "What did you do?"

"Do?" exclaimed the lion, and for once his tone became more threatening. "I did nothing to them except being born different. I was banned, thrown away, turned into an outcast, even before I could walk. I was not even given a chance to prove myself worthy."

For a moment, the lion regarded Sinta with a cold and dangerous look, and Sinta, despite himself, felt a twinge of fear. But almost immediately the lion's visage softened, even turned into a somewhat sad smile.

"But that happened long ago," he said, "and is not important to you. Let not the troubles of others become your own. Now come, you must be hungry. I saved a piece of meat for you in one of the smaller caves. Your cousins have already eaten."

Sinta watched the retreating lion's form for a moment, unsure whether he should follow or not. Family or not, he didn't trust him —how cold had he looked at him just now!— but the memory of that sad smile replacing the lion's anger left the curious cub wondering what secret his supposed uncle was hiding.

Realizing that he had no other choice but to trust the lion —albeit cautiously— and knowing that, if he ever considered escaping, he would need to be in perfect condition, Sinta decided to follow the lion and have a good breakfast.

"By the way," the cub asked when he had caught up with the lion. "What is your name?"

The lion's face was bright indeed when he answered, feeling he had somehow earned his nephew's trust: "I am Shimael."