Chapter 4: Ashes to Ashes
"Jaha!"
Ahadi stormed into the cave, eyes burning with fury. Pamoja
whined
and scurried away from her mother. Obioma followed slightly
behind the Lion
King. Jaha narrowed her eyes at the old hyena, and
winced slightly as she
stood up to face Ahadi.
"Yes My Liege?"
Ahadi's
eyes burned with fury. "A hyena and a lion both said you killed
one
of my lionesses! Is that true?"
Jaha turned to her pups. "Please go outside. The king and I have to talk."
The
trio scurried out, Pamoja casting a fearful glance over her shoulder
at
her mother before disappearing into the murky sunlight.
The
pups wandered through the dusty bones of the Elephant's
Graveyard.
Rukiya pushed a bone out of her way with her paw. "It's
not fair!" she
muttered. "He didn't even let us say
goodbye!"
"Yeah," Shomari agreed. "Stupid lion!"
Pamoja
looked at her siblings incredulously. "We'll see her when we
get
back." She offered.
Her
elder sister gave her a hard look. "Are you really that thick?"
she
asked her.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you know the penalty for killing a Pride Lion?"
"No."
Rukiya lowered her voice. "Mom's not coming back. Ever."
Pamoja
pulled back, startled. "But, he can't do that! We have nowhere to
go
now!"
"Obioma
will take care of us." Shomari mumbled as he put a paw around
his
baby sister's shoulders. Pamoja drew back.
"But she was the one who exposed Mama!"
"Life
works that way," Rukiya told her sternly. "We just have to
accept
that."
"No!"
Panicked, Pamoja ran full-fledged across the barren field of
bones,
disappearing beyond a slope.
Rukiya
started after her, but Shomari growled deep in his throat. "Let
her
go...little wimp." He turned away, Rukiya glancing over her
shoulder again
before following her older brother.
& & &
Wow.
Short chapter, I know, even thought I promised. But I'm really
lazy
right now. Oh wait, I'm lazy all the time. PD day,
whoo-hoo! Anyways, thank
you all for reviewing! I'll have a
longer chapter next time, I promise.
This time I'm serious.
Really.
