Future plans

A mighty roar sounded as the first sunbeams lit the world in a warm red. It was loud and far to be heard, a sound of pure joy and freedom.

Grinning, Askari looked up the small hill, were Ushindi stood, took a deep breath and followed his example. Never before one of them had been allowed to raise his voice like that. Encouraged by the males the lionesses joined in.

Up on his hill Ushindi turned around to them. With the breeze blowing through his mane and the proud expression on his face he looked more like a king than his brother could ever hope to. "I always wanted to do that!" With a grin even wider than Askari's he jumped down to them.

"Yeah!", Chagina said and the other girls nodded. "And man, are you guys good! Compared with you Omoa sounds like someone stepped on a cub's tail!"

Laughing, the other lionesses agreed, while Ushindi acted to be embarrassed by the compliment.

"But jokes aside." As the others calmed down, Tekelea stepped forward and looked at the two lions. "What's our plan now?"

"Uhm…" Seeking his assistance Askari turned to Ushindi. If he was honest, he hadn't really thought about that until now.

"Well, first of all I think we should get us something to eat and some water. I saw some antelopes from up there, but…" He suggestively glanced at Tekelea.

"Urgh, don't say it." The lioness needed no further explanation to get what he wanted to say. "Prey like that is too gracile for you big brutes. Yeah, yeah… Come on girls, let's show our wannabe king how to hunt something smaller than a hippo without crushing it!" Giving them a cheeky smile, she set off with the other lionesses.

"That was a good question, you know?", Askari said as he and Ushindi walked up the hill to watch the hunt. "What is our plan?"

"The same we had all those years ago. To go wherever we want and to do whatever we want."

"And what is it you want to do?"

"I was about to ask you the same. But for myself, I simply want to wander around. To enjoy the bright sides of life, you know. Seeing other places, meeting other lions…" Ushindi grinned as Askari gave him a questioning look. "Ok, mostly lionesses", he confessed.

Laughing, the dark lion shook his head. "How comes I'm not surprised by that? By the way, you know that we travel with six girls who chose you over their home and families? I bet at least one of them would love to be more than just friends with you. Shauri for example."

"I already tried on Shauri a few months ago. She only likes me as a friend. And I wasn't talking about finding a girlfriend, if you know what I mean." Grinning even dirtier than before he winked at his friend. "At least not now. And you?"

Askari sat down on top of the hill and tried to find the lionesses on their hunt. "Well, if something turns up, I'd be the last to say no, but girls aren't my priority. I want to meet some rogues."

"Rogues?", Ushindi asked surprised. "What for?"

"To challenge them. I want to test my strength. Nothing against you of course, you're quite strong, but…"

"But you beat the shit out of me every time we practice", Ushindi finished his sentence. "I know that and I'm ok with it." He chuckled. "Even better. I like this plan. No competition between us. I get the girls and you the boys and… OUCH!"

"Watch your words!", Askari said after jokingly punching his friend's shoulder. "That was not what I meant."

"Sure, it wasn't…"

"Oh please." With a snort Askari turned away from him. Finally, he spotted the lionesses and pointed at them. "Now better be quiet or your painful cries will disturb our mighty huntresses."

Still with a stupid grin on his face, Ushindi lay down next to him. Together they watched three of the six lionesses sneaking up on four unsuspecting antelopes. Suddenly one of them, Askari thought it was Chagina, jumped up and started to run. The other two followed her as their prey fled for its life.

Suddenly, another lioness rose from the grass right in the way of one of the antelopes. Wasting no time, she pounced, crashed right into it and they both disappeared in the long grass. Contemporaneous, a second lioness appeared, who tried the same at another antelope, only that she missed her target. The antelope sidestepped and the huntress fell face first back into the sea of grass. It looked like her prey would escape but unfortunately for it, it took the wrong way and ran directly into the third concealed huntress waiting for an opportunity to strike. Wildly kicking, the antelope tried to shake off the lioness, who dug her claws into its body. A few steps further way, the lioness who had missed her chance was back up and rushed to aid her pridesister. Together they managed to bring their prey down. Then suddenly, it became silent.

The lions stood up and looked at each other. "Dinnertime?", Ushindi asked.

A roar sounded from one of the lionesses and Askari nodded. "Dinnertime!"

"Dinnertime!" Guma dropped the foreleg of the antelope, lay down and began eating. After they had seen him talking to the queen, none of the other males dared to challenge him for his reward and he couldn't even describe, how much he enjoyed the feeling. In no time Chege and Chadi had noticed the food's smell and ran up to him. Since he had convinced the lions to offer their prey to the queen, they had kept their distance and looked quite surprised about the outcome of his plan.

"Whoa! It actually worked?", Chege laughed and looked at the leg in disbelieve. "I thought the queen would only share with Masoka."

"Not today, my friend, not today", Guma triumphantly said and took a bite. "The two of them had quite an argument today and even worse, the hunting party last night was unsuccessful. It was my gift, that saved the day for her." Chewing he grinned at his companions. "Just say it, my plan worked perfectly!"

The two's jaws dropped. "You've planned that they wouldn't catch any food today and that Siyogwaya would be mad at Masoka?", Chadi asked with googly eyes. "How did you do that?"

"Idiot. That wasn't my work, but yes, it was part of the plan. I knew that Masoka is struggling to keep his positions as Siyo's favorite. There were enough hints. I just had to wait for an opportunity and that's the other part of the plan. Information." A shadow made him look up. "Speaking of which…" With a powerful bite he separated the lower half of the leg. "Hey, Fupa!" Up in the sky, the vulture stopped circling and looked down on him. "Want some?", the hyena asked, after he was sure the bird payed attention.

"Always!" Still in flight, Fupa grabbed the scraps and flew off. "Thanks buddy!"

"Hey!", Chege complained. "Why do you share with that bird? It was us who helped you!"

"Because that bird is the one who's giving me all that information I was talking about", Guma explained. "I've spent quite some time to get the majordomo on my side, but it pays off to be friends with the best-informed person of the kingdom." He took another bite. "But don't worry. You'll get your part of the share when I'm done eating. Maybe I'll even leave some of the meat for you. And if things turn out as good as it looks right now, you can even dare to get used to that."

"Haha!" Salvia began to run out of Chege's mouth as he and his brother watched Guma eating. Then, happily, they jumped at the bones and few scraps he left for them. In no time there was nothing left.

"That was good!", Chadi burped and tried to loosen a bone shard that was stuck between his teeth. "And you said we can get used to that?"

"I don't know how we're gonna do it, Guma, but I'm in!", his brother giggled. Then he cocked his head. "It is your plan to get more food, isn't it?"

Grinning, Guma turned into the direction of the great baobab and looked at the queen sitting in its shadow, discussing something with some other females. "Oh, I'm up for so much more than food…"