Preface
Taking some private and public comments and suggestions into consideration, I will include a brief and non-exhaustive character list in this chapter. I try to make it free of spoilers, so some characters might not be in this list. Should I have actually done this in the first chapter? Absolutely. Did I? No. So that's why I'm posting it here, and now. I hope it proves useful!
Hyenas
Sal: Mary's partner. Father of Kim and Micky. Brother of Louie.
Tries to crack the murder-case because it makes him feel less insignificant.
Mary: Sal's partner. Mother of Kim and Micky. Younger sister of Agathe and older sister of Malaika. Second in line for Matriarch of the clan.
Since she serves as the clan's second in command, she ends up doing or delegating most of the hard work.
Kimbiza (Kim): Sal and Mary's older daughter.
Micky: Sal and Mary's younger son.
Louie: Sal's brother.
Likes long walks.
Agathe: Mother of Chenga. Older sister of both Mary and Malaika. Matriarch of the clan living in the Clanlands (which are presently part of the Pridelands).
What's there to say, she's the Matriarch! You just shut-up and listen to what she tells you.
Chenga: Agathe's daughter. First in line for matriarch (although barely of hunting-age yet).
Makamu (Maka): Malaika's partner. Usually subordinate to Sal.
Dislikes work.
Malaika: Makamu's partner. Younger sister of both Mary and Agathe.
Cheetahs
Tibu: Represents hyena authority among his own kind.
Considered awkward and timid.
Shahidi: She lives next door to the dead guy.
Dead Guy: A cheetah with a broken neck Sal found dangling up a tree.
Leopards
Mgomo: He lives next door to the dead guy. Aki's brother.
Aki: Mgomo's hot-headed brother.
Others
Rafiki: Baboon. Shaman for the nearby prides and clans.
Zuzu: Hornbill. Specialises in law and protocol among the Pride and Clan-lands, along with Mary – they often work in tandem.
Two
Dinner is a not a good time to talk about anything, really. Least of all important, or sensitive topics. Or banal topics. Or funny topics. All right, come to think of it, dinner is not a time to talk at all, since it grossly detracts from time spent eating, and time spent brooding over various issues preceding the dinner in question. Sal, however, couldn't quite find fitting words to express that opinion to his darling Mary, so he went for the next-best impression.
"Can't we just like... not do this?"
With a single evil-eye, Mary rebutted all reservations, suggestions or thoughts her partner might have had. They had talked about this before: Sal was coming with her, he was going to be on his best behavior and only speak when spoken to. And was going to be cheery company all day long... or at least until he was again removed from those elite members of his clan he was about to join in hunting. It should probably be mentioned that those elites also happened to be in-laws, sort of. That's what happens when your partner is the second in line for matriarch.
Mind you, if it had been a regular day, he wouldn't have particularly minded spending the evening with Mary's sisters. After all, if Mary's youngest sister was going to be there, so would her partner, Makamu. Maybe not the best of company, but he did make for an excellent social buffer.
But then again, this was no ordinary day: it had been just yesterday that Sal had stumbled upon the first murder in the Clan-and Pridelands for as long as anyone could remember. And now, he had to brief his matriarch on the matter – and he had to do it in an informal setting. Which, among hyenas, meant over the bloody carcass of a gutted grazer, still warm and slack after being taken down in a thrilling hunt. There was definitely some irony in discussing a murder case over the body of a freshly slain beast...
"Awww come on, dad, don't be a lazy bum. Some hunting will do you good; you can use the exercise. All that lying around you do all day is making you fat..."
Oh yeah, Sal's daughter was joining the hunt too. Her first. "Joining" the hunt was maybe not the best word; she was just going to watch, for educational purposes mostly; she wasn't all that old yet. Anyway, she was going to be present, to Sal chagrin. Not that they didn't like each other; they were still father and daughter after all. But it was just that both Sal, and his daughter too, were painfully aware of the fact that he was, for all intents and purposes, subordinate to his own daughter. Which created ample awkward moments.
"Kim, could you please not do that?" Sal urged to his daughter, Kimbiza, who only reacted with a mischievous grin. It was a trait she had inherited from her father's side, obviously. Sal now turned his plea to Mary.
"Darling, our daughter's making fun of me. Shouldn't you say something?" One of the many downsides of being a male hyena is having no nominal authority whatsoever among your own kind – even when addressing minors.
"No, I think she's right – you're becoming a bit chubby... Old, grumpy and chubby..."
"The whole point of my life is to grow old, grumpy and chubby, so don't you try and take that away from me," Sal jokingly grumbled, prompting Mary to nuzzle him teasingly, chuckling because of Sal's remark.
"Gross! Why don't you two get a den?"
"All right Kim, that's enough," Mary hushed her daughter, after which she again turned her attention to her partner, "And Sal, why 're you being such a pain in the ass about this? All I want you to do is to come on a simple hunt with me. Is that too much to ask?"
"But it just keeps on coming, all these damn obligations... First, I get to pluck a dead cheetah out of a tree. Next, I spend the entire day scouring the lands for every cheetah imaginable, looking the dead guy's name. I can tell you: spending an entire day looking for cheetahs among other cheetahs ain't fun, those guys are so lame!"
"Now don't you go hating on the cheetahs..."
"But they're all just a boring bunch of benevolent do-gooders! I didn't get even one offensive joke out of 'em, not one! And if that wasn't lousy enough, I ended the day bumping into Ahadi. King Ahadi, bloody hell!"
"And you tried insulting him on various occasions to boot..." Mary calmly interjected, reminding Sal of his behavior last evening, when he'd been visiting Rafiki, coincidentally meeting Ahadi there.
"Whatever," Sal shrugged, "Point is, yesterday sucked. And I hardly got any sleep. I mean, was a bit of alone time before you dragged me out into a hunt too much to ask?"
"In one word: yes, yes it was," Mary grumbled, now again slightly annoyed, "Why? Because I say so. It's about high time you started respecting my authority unquestioningly some more."
"All right mom, stick it to him!" Kimbiza snickered.
"I think I'm just going to shut up now..." Sal mumbled. It would prove to be one of his wisest decisions of the evening.
While the sun continued it slow descent on the horizon, covering the lands in an unabashedly pleasant orange glow, the trio of hyenas continued towards the agreed meeting-point. Looking at the mesmerizing surroundings, Sal couldn't help but find them a rather inappropriate setting for a hunt, since hunts usually involve gratuitous amounts of blood and gore. One could argue that the scarlet touch of fresh blood actually blended in nicely with the orange-radiating surroundings, sure. But that is from a purely visual point of view. For what concerns atmosphere, however, a hunt was surely out of place. With an amused smirk, Sal realized he must have been about the only animal in all of the Clanlands taking visual compatibility into account before a hunt.
"Mary! Sal! Over here!" a cry suddenly resonated from a nearby patch of brush. The group was fast to recognize Mary's youngest sister Malaika sitting nearby, along with her current partner Makamu.
"There you guys are! Everyone here already?"
"No, we're still waiting for Agathe and Chenga to get here," Makamu yawned as he approached the arriving party, "But we're ready to go ahead with the hunt the moment they get here. We already spotted some nice targets nearby..."
"There's a big heard of zebra just across that hill there," Mary's sister nodded, "Chances are there are a couple of weak animals among them; we'll just have to single them out. And then..."
"Great, so I won't be doing too much running I reckon?" Sal mentioned hopefully.
"You got to be kidding me. There's only six of us going to hunt, and it's Chenga's first-time," Malaika quickly crushed Sal's hopes, "And that's ignoring Agathe's age. No Sal, we're all going to have to hunt twice as hard if we're going to catch anything today."
"Huzzah..."
"That sounds like Sal sighing disappointedly," a worn voice suddenly croaked in the background, "Never heard that before. Shocking, really"
The hyenas quickly turned around to face their matriarch once they realized who's voice it actually was. They saw Agathe sitting nearby, her daughter Chenga grinning assertively at her side.
"Madam!" everyone bowed their heads down momentarily.
"Don't grovel. Who do I look like, Ahadi? You know I hate groveling..."
"Sorry, sis," Mary smiled as she got back up, "So, you ready?"
"Ready as ever. I'm not that old, you know," Agathe shot a dirty look at Malaika.
"Chenga!"
"Hey, Kim! I didn't know you'd be here! That's so much fun! You came to join the hunt too?" Chenga yelped when she noticed Kimbiza. Although apart by about a year, the cousins usually got along excellent and had become so close friends over time that they were often hard to separate.
"Nah, I'm not really hunting. My mom said I should just come along and watch you on your first hunt. Your first hunt! That's so exciting! I'm so happy for you."
"Yeah, me too! I've seen mom do it like a gazillion times already,but I can't believe I'm actually going to hunt for real this time..."
"Hey, don't worry, we practiced more than enough, didn't we? You just make sure you're careful..." Agathe reminded her daughter.
"And the same goes for you, Kim! Stay safe, we just brought you here so you could watch. Don't do anything stupid; those zebra's can be dangerous when they..."
"Ugh, we know!" the two girls sighed in unison.
"You do? Well, all right then, I guess there's no reason not to get this party on the road," Agathe suggested, assuming her role as leader of the hunt, "You guys seem to have been waiting here a while so... what are we looking at here?"
After a short short discussion, the party settled on their hunting schedule, after which they started advancing towards the zebra heard nearby. Mary took some time out to go over the basics of their plan with her daughter.
"So we'll go over it one more time: you're just running along, but you're not hunting, all right? Just follow Chenga; she'll be chasing the flank of the herd, that should be safe enough. If anything happens, you just hightail out of there; get away from those zebra's as quickly as possible..."
"Jeez, mom, I got it, I'm not a baby..."
"All right, just making sure, dear. Now off you go... stay safe!"
"I will. And good luck!"
Kimbiza trotted of to join Chenga. She went over the plan again, in silence. It sounded easy enough: they were just going to chase the zebra around ad bit at first, to probe for any weak animals. Then, they'd single out one of those weak links, separate it from the herd (arguably the hardest part of the task) then and try to wear the victim down. All Chenga, and Kimbiza with her, would have to do was cover the herd's flank as they chased it, to try and steer them a bit. All the actual bite and shoving would be covered by the more experienced females, who would try to separate any victim from the herd. After that, they'd all get together again to finish the prey. Again, sounded easy enough.
As instructed, Kim followed her cousin silently. Suddenly, a distinctive, loud bark echoed across the plains: the zebra had spotted them. Almost immediately, Agathe let loud a loud whoop in reaction, signaling the beginning of the chase. The sound of that rallying cry almost sent a shiver down Kim's spine, and her heart-rate accelerated almost instantly when she started running. So that's what they meant with "the thrill of the hunt".
Kim was pleasantly surprised to find herself being able to keep up with her cousin pretty nicely: the unexpectedly fast tempo proved not to be a problem at all. One thing she found a hindrance, though, was the terrain. She had always imagined a hunt taking place on some kind of solid, flat plain covered in even, short grass. Reality proved a bit more of a challenge: she found herself hopping over a sheer endless number of rocks, low shrubs and grassy knolls. Much to her dismay, she even lost a fragment of her famed manes as it was ripped off when she passed through a thorny bush – even though she didn't actually realize that until after the hunt was over. All that running gave her almost no time to actually take a look at the zebra sprinting by next to and in front of her.
The chase continued on for quite a while, which wasn't of particular concern; hyenas can manage a long chase if need be, better than their feline competitors anyway. Not quite up to the level of wild-dogs, though, but pretty close. Kim, who was in excellent shape for a minor, actually considered it a plus: it gave her more time to observe the zebra they were chasing. She couldn't help but be mesmerized by the mass of zebra stampeding onward right next to her: the awesome thundering of countless hooves, all those smoothly curved bodies attuned into a perfect gallop, the magnificent contrast between those muscly built figures and their sleek elegance on the run...
She almost felt sorry for having to eat one of them! Almost.
Then, another hyena whoop suddenly cut through the air. The sisters had found their prey, and were closing in fast. But while Kim was still preoccupied with the signal of her kin, a file of zebra suddenly broke from the herd without warning, and before she even realized what was going on, Kim saw four zebra heading straight at her. Caught by surprise and unable to quickly reverse her forward momentum, Kim ended up sliding to a halt, but unable to start running away in time. For a moment there, fear gripped her heart as the specter of death reared its head. Then, just before the zebra were about to run all over her, Kim suddenly felt a heavy weight on her back, pressing her to the ground just before the zebra rushed over. Scared to bits, she closed her eyes and didn't dare open them even after the zebra were gone again.
"Hey, you all right?"
"Wo... Wa?" Kim stared up into Chenga's lively eyes, now seemingly with energy because of the hunt.
"Come on, let's go! This ain't over yet!" Chenga dashed off again, as if nothing had happened. After a short moment of utter shock, Kim got up again and followed suit, all the while pondering the question: did my cousin just save my life?
No, she hadn't... No zebra hit us, so I don't think it really mattered... Then again, she did shield me with her own body. If I had been hit, she'd have taken the blow for me... Wow... Heavy...
By the time all that had seeped through, Kim had already reached the rest of the hunting party, who had by now surrounded a fairly large, obviously male zebra. Strange choice for a prey, she thought, until she noticed the open fracture that split apart one of the animal's forelegs. Ouch. He must've slipped up during the chase, turning into easy prey. And the zebra knew it; both his eyes and body-language radiated despair at the hopeless situation he was in. Seven predators and one broken paw – there'd be no getting out of this one. Even so, the grazer seemed unwilling to accept the inevitable; he tried to break through the cordon the hyenas set up around him multiple times, to no avail. It was just a matter of time now: cautious yet relentless, the predators started taking turns in gnawing at the animal's legs each time he had his back turned at them.
That stand-off between the zebra and his hunters was a perfect illustration of how watching hyenas tackle a big game nothing like a lion hunting. Once you get past the ambush, a lion hunting is all about force. It's almost like a duel; the lion pride faces off their strength to that of the quarry in a pure contest of might. In the end, the one most powerful in both will and body prevails in this lethal competition. Got a noble ring to it, right?
Not so for hyenas. The name of their game is attrition, and patience. There is never a true face-off , only a continuous barrage relentless hit-and-run attacks. A true fight never takes place. There is no climax; the hyenas just eat away at their preys stamina, until it eventually collapses under it's own weight and wounds. No duel, no contest. There's only one side to this one: in the end, determined hyenas always win. It's not that much fun to watch, and probably lacks the charm of a lion hunting. But it gets the job done, with minimal risk and arguably less effort. It does give 'em bad pr, though.
Anyway, that was the situation the hyenas were in now. Just quietly nibbling away at their prey, until eventually, the three paws it had left started shaking and... the zebra bowed the knee. It couldn't manage standing upright anymore. That's when the hyenas rushed in, and finished the job. Ripped the zebra's throat, broke his neck, and just like that, a stand-off that had seemed to last hours was over. The predators briefly took a step back to survey the result of the hunt.
"Phew... Easy pie... Good job, everyone!" Agathe sighed in relief, "Here's to three sisters that still know how to hunt, and hunt good!"
"... three sisters and some others too," Makamu grumbled, obviously feeling rather under-appreciated. Malaika responded by walking over to him smilingly and giving him a little peck on the nose.
After seeing that, Mary took a look back at Sal, lying in the grass nearby.
"So... you need a little kiss too, or are you all right as is?"
"W... Wa.... ? Uh... C-Can't breathe... Too much running..." Sal wheezed, "T-Told you I... phew..."
"I guess old still beats plain fat," Agathe sneered, before she started tearing into the zebra. All the other hyenas took a step back as she did; the matriarch always eats first. Mary used that short moment to strut over to her daughter, who was sitting near Chenga.
"Hey, there you are! So, how was the hunt?" Mary took a closer look at Kim, "Say, your fur's all messy. Did something happen?"
"No, mom, don't worry, I'm all right. I had Chenga to keep me safe..."
"She did, huh? What happened?"
Kim quickly explained the precarious situation she'd been in just now. Surprisingly, rather than giving Kim a repudiation for behaving irresponsible, Mary just shrugged it off.
"That's how hunts are – unpredictable. That's why you should always look for carrion first; it tastes worse, but it usually doesn't kill you. Now... I guess I'll have to thank Chenga for her little bout of heroism... By the way: you'd do good to follow her example; you should really look out for others the way Chenga did for you. Especially for your little brother..."
"Bah, why do I have to? My brother's so lame. And little..."
"Because he's your brother, that's why. That's what family does," Mary pointed out rather sternly, "Now... let's eat!"
While the rest of the girls got to eat their share of the zebra, Sal and Makamu still had to wait a little while longer. No problem, really; there was more than enough zebra for everyone, and then some.
"Hey, dude, you all right?"
"No..." Sal huffed, "Damn it! I hate running! I hate it so much... You know, it's not that I don't want to hunt with you guys – I just hate running..."
"Man... you lazy..."
"Say Sal, could you please get over here?" Agathe suddenly called, in between working down bits of zebra, "I heard there's this thing we need to have a word about..."
"Yes ma'am, I'll be over right away," Sal complied numbly, adding under his breath: "If I can find a way to get up, that is – man, my legs hurt..."
"Sal, the other day, my sister informed me that someone had found this dead cheetah hanging around somewhere, and that it had, most likely, been murdered. Is that still the case?"
"Very much so... I'm pretty sure murder was the case."
"I see. Well that suck – I mean, that's quite an upset," Agathe nodded, revering to a pensive expression, "But other than that, nothing has happened, right? No upset relatives or anything?"
"Nope, not that I know of. And if anything happened, one of our clan-mates is sure to notice – there are a lot of us, after all..."
"A lot, but never quite enough," Agathe grumbled, "All right, I get the picture now. So... here's how I see it: this unfortunate incident doesn't have to be anything special. I mean, sure, a predator is dead, but it doesn't really affect our clan, or our lands in general. Not yet anyway. No need to get all up in arms over this; for what I'm concerned, this is just another breach of the law. A serious one, mind you, but not fundamentally different from, say, someone stealing your lunch. And that's how I want you to handle it: just like any other breach of the law."
"Ma'am?"
"Look, it's quite simple: I just want you to act as you always do... in fact, all of us should. So, unless
new circumstances arise, we just go at it as we always do: Sal, you find out what happened. Mary distills who broke which rules from your account, and I decide on the fate of any culprits you two might turn up..."
"Just like that?" Sal frowned, his skepticism showing, "No disrespect, of course... but this is kind of exceptional, isn't it? So shouldn't we... you know, go a bit out of our way to deal with it?"
"I sure hope not," Agathe responded dismissive, "Sal, these lands... they're at balance. The Circle of Life runs it's course uninhibited. And part of that is because of the way we do things. This... murder is a risk to the Circle, sure, but so is going out of our way to solve it. We should be careful not to do more harm than good, and causing as little upsets as possible is the best way to achieve that..."
Agathe was talking down to Sal. Talking down to him like a little pup. He hated that, hated it so much. Almost as much as he hated running. Fortunately for him, he was smart enough to keep quiet about it, and just pretend to agree with whatever his matriarch said. Smart enough not to tell her he thought her sudden adherence to the Circle had more to do with keeping her workload down than with actually tackling the issue.
By now, all the females had about finished their meals, which meant it was time for the males to dig in – to gobble down whatever was still left. Mostly bones and hide, actually, save for one hind-leg Mary had kept separate for Sal, who in turn felt obliged to share some of it with Makamu. Over the sound of bones being ground to splinters, Agathe seemed to want to carry on the conversation.
"By the way, Sal, did you find anything on the dead cheetah yet?"
"Huh?" Sal grunted, looking op from his meal momentarily.
"You have been trying to find out what happened to the dead cheetah all day yesterday, didn't you?"
"Oh, yeah, sure... urp ... sorry," the hyena burped, "Yeah, I was out all day long yesterday. Not that much to report, really. Not even a name; I was supposed to get that one later today, from Tibu..."
"Who? You mean our timid cheetah liaison? Makes sense. Nothing else?"
"Nothing solid, no. But I think it's safe to assume the murderer was a leopard..."
"Why?"
"We found the body up a tree, and since cheetah's sure as hell can't fly..." Sal shrugged, "Plus, he got cuts all over him, definitely feline..."
"Yeah, you know, all smooth and stuff. If the cuts had been made by a hyena, they'd have been like, ruffled..." Makamu added unannounced. It earned him an evil eye from Agathe, whose body language seemed to scream "Did I allow you to talk? And yes, that's a rhetorical question, schmuck!"
After a fleeting yet painfully uncomfortable moment of silence, Makamu mumbled: "I'll just be getting back to dinner now..."
"So anyway... that's all you got? No name for the victim, and possibly a leopard perpetrator?" Agathe wondered, "No matter; I'm sure you and Mary will be able to handle this. You just act like you always do, and this'll get resolved in no time. Don't worry; this is nothing special..."
"Well if you say so..." Sal grumbled. It didn't really sound like he meant that. And to be sure, he didn't.