New faces
„So, ladies uhm… this wasn't exactly the best start, but well, I'm Fasiki. Usually it's not that easy to take me down, you know? You just caught me by surprise. By the way, your names…?"
Shindana's growl cut him off before he could finish the question. Glancing at the perfectly sharp teeth she presented to him he gulped, suddenly reminded of how those had felt, digging into the fur on his throat. Quickly he excused himself and sped up a little to try his luck on the green-eyed lion.
"Lovely girls." He tried a friendly grin. "And you were? You definitely have to show me some of your moves!"
"Askari", said the other without looking at him. "And you'll get to see some of them soon enough, that's for sure."
"Was… that an offer, or a threat?", Fasiki asked, unsure what to make of this response.
The dark furred lion shrugged. "Up to you and your friends."
Ahead of the two males, another two lions were talking.
"Pretty impressive how your buddy dealt with Singa back there. The last lion who tried that is probably still recovering."
"And the last lion who dared to attack us is still dead", Ushindi replied. He had asked Moto to accompany him on the head of their trail to talk with him. He wanted to learn more about this young rogue and to show him at the same time, who he as dealing with. "I guess you where honest when you said you didn't know about us. Otherwise it would have been really stupid of you to underestimate us."
"Yeah. Won't happen again."
Raising an eyebrow, Ushindi looked at him.
"Because we're on the same side now, of course!", Moto quickly added. "So… you said you actually killed someone?"
"Some of the hyenas who savaged our friend Ruya. I'm not entirely sure how many of them though."
Other than Ushindi had expected, Moto seemed not very impressed. "Do hyenas count, or is that more like, you know… with prey?"
"Huh…" Caught a little off guard with that question, Ushindi gazed over the savannah that lay in front of them. Actually, he hadn't really thought about that so far. He tried to recall the fight, how it had felt to kill and quickly came to the conclusion, that he couldn't. Heck, he wasn't even sure which of the hyenas had died. Some of them had fallen under his claws and jaws, but it had never been about the act of killing in itself. He had done what had to be done to get Ruya out of there. What he knew, was that he felt no remorse about it, that was for sure. But in the end, who was he to answer that question? It hadn't been him who killed Jino and that other unlucky guy. "I guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow and ask Askari about it."
"Tomorrow?"
Ushindi nodded. "We didn't pick you up for nothing, remember? The hyenas have started this and we're not going to wait for them to end it. We're taking the lead from now on."
"Wherehaveyoubeen?"
Using all his willpower, Guma managed to fight the urge to back away from his mate.
Siyo's eyes displayed both rage and a hint of fear he had never seen before, as she growled at him through clenched teeth. "Oh, ancestors, how can a stupid cub cause so much more pain than a fight for life and death?"
"Because it's not far from being the same." Another hyena entered the matriarch's cave beneath the baobab, pushing Guma aside. "Damn it, girl, why on earth did you call for him when it started and not for me?"
It took a moment until he recognized the other female. She was one of Siyo's halve sisters, a little older, yet not as powerful and fierce a fighter. Still she was one of those females whose presence could make the clan's males both quiver and drool at the same time. Despite his position in the clan, Guma had never been in much contact with her, but he remembered that her name was Jaha.
"Cause all of this is his bloody fault and I want him to suffer with me!"
Giggling, Jaha moved closer. "Ha, I hear you, sis! Wanted to kill my mate too when I got my first cub. But don't fool yourself, hon. You both knew what you were in for."
"So, you came to mock me or what?", Siyo hissed at her sister.
"Would never dare to, my queen", Jaha teased, but her face was proof of her caring intents. "Just here to aid my little sister in her time of need."
Panting, Siyo stopped growling to take some deep breaths.
"Don't get me wrong, you're gonna do all the heavy lifting. Most I can do is moral support and maybe lend a paw here or there."
"And how is that going to help?"
"Well", Jaha said, a mischievous grin on her lips. "You wanted him to suffer too, right?"
Before Guma could react, she snapped at him. Yelping, he stumbled over his own paws and fell, noticing only then that she had barely touched him. Startled, he looked at the two females and immediately forgot about his shock. He was sure that for a moment the pain, anger and fear in Siyo's eyes had been replaced with amusement. There had even been a weak snicker.
"See?" Jaha leaned down and gently nudged her sister's head with her snout. "That helped, didn't it?"
"Guess so." Siyo's expression softened a little at her sister's touch. "Thanks for being here, Jaha."
In silence, Guma watched the females, knowing very well that he was in for one hell of a night. But little did he care. If it meant a moment of relief for Siyo, he would endure everything Jaha had to offer.
Exhausted was no word to describe how Guma felt, as the first light of the next day appeared on the horizon. Watching his mate suffer from her labor was hard enough, but the two females had done their best to ensure he would end up as worn out as Siyo was. All night he had been yelled and growled at, been chased out of the den and called back in only moments later. His fur was a mess from all the times Jaha had tackled him down or snapped at him. One time he had done the mistake to get too close to his mate and nearly lost a limb. Yet still, there had been not a single complain from him. He had little to no experience with situations like this and as a male he couldn't truly imagine how Siyo felt, but even he could tell that neither was this an easy birth nor was his own suffering even close to what she went through. The worried expression on Jaha's face left no doubts that her initial words had been more than true. This was a fight for life and death and even worse, there was nothing he could actually do to help his mate.
Worrying over all this, he sat in front of the den's entrance and watched the dark horizon slowly turning red. In no time the sun would rise over the hills and flood the den with its warm beams. Maybe that would bring Siyo the relief she longed for… He clung to that hope, trying to fight down the feeling that something was wrong. Was it only him, or was he waiting way longer than the last times to be called back in? And when had it turned this quiet?
As finally, a voice called out for him from inside the cave, he could instantly tell, that something had changed. This was no angry yelling, no command or a threat, but sounded closer to a sob.
He entered the cave, afraid of what he might find inside.
"Hey…" Siyo's voice was hoarse from all the yelling and growling.
When he met her tear-stained eyes his heart missed a beat and then… a weak smile appeared on her lips.
"Come meet your cubs… daddy."
His eyes widened as he noticed two black furballs laying in her embrace, curled up against her chest. "D…" His voice failed him as he tried to say the word.
"Daddy." A tear ran down her already wet cheek. "You're a daddy, Guma."
It felt like a dream when he walked towards them, crouched down and moved even closer until his head was right over Siyo's front paws. Unable to speak, he admired the two tiny creatures.
Carefully, his mate leaned forward and hesitantly started to nuzzle him. "I'm sorry, so sorry, my love", she whispered into his ear. "I didn't mean to be such a cruel hag. I was just…"
He could feel her relief as he didn't back away from her and returned the gesture. "It's ok. Don't worry about it." Moving even closer, he placed his forelegs around hers, hugging her and the cubs. Forehead on forehead they lay there looking down on their little ones. "What are their names?"
Tickled by the first sunbeam that entered the cave, one of the cubs opened its mouth and sneezed.
"Nuru. That one is Nuru", Siyo said, smiling down on her babies. "And her brother is Katili… little troublemaker."
"Nuru and Katili", Guma repeated, already falling in love with the sound of the names.
For a moment that seemed to last forever they remained in this position, sharing the bliss they felt, until something outside the den disturbed their peace. An unexpected, threatening sound that despite coming from far away pierced their marrow and bone. A lion's roar.
AN: Finally, the first chapter 2020! Hope you like the baby-yeenas. And no prizes for guessing who ruined the moment...