Cast
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. Specializes in law and protocol among the Pride and Clan-lands, along with Mary – they often work in tandem.
Five
One day can make a world of difference, almost literally. One day you wake up in some comfy, happy place while the world smiling at you as you venture forward into the brilliant sunlight. Then suddenly, the next day, you find yourself being violently dragged from you cold, lonely den, way too early in the morning.
"Wo – wa... what's happening here?"
"Yo Sal, wake up! We need you outside, quick!"
"What the hell are you doing in my den? Why now? What time is it anyway?" Sal mumbled disoriented. Talk about a lousy way to start to a lousy day. Then again, he should have seen the bad-luck coming yesterday already: Mary barring him from her den the night before was a clear enough omen, and the first thing which Sal remembered as he woke up; not really a happy thought to start your day on.
Sal laboriously dragged himself from his den, incessantly yawning. First thing he bumped into was a grinning Makamu.
"What are you so happy about, jerk? You enjoy wrecking my sleep like that?"
"Hehe, no, don't worry, I don't enjoy that... It's just, you know... I heard Mary kicked you out. Trouble in paradise?"
"Weren't you supposed to be sick?" Sal grumbled, trying his best to ignore what Makamu said, "What did you wake me up for anyway, if not for your own amusement?"
"Hey, you tell me: there's this cheetah asking for you. Seemed really freaked out, I didn't understand a word of what she said..."
"A cheetah asking for me?" Sal yawned, "Huh... she didn't happen to give you her name, did she?"
"I dunno, something with an "s". She-Diddy or something..."
"Shahidi?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"And she's upset?" Still not quite awake yet, it took Sal a while to connect the dots. As such, he only started panicking himself after an unusually long wait: "Oh crap! That's right, Shahidi! Don't tell me something happened to her?"
"I don't think..."
"Enough! Sal shouted, now entirely lucid again, "Stop wasting my time and take me to her!"
"But you asked if..."
"I said enough. Now get moving!"
After a hurried jog, the two hyenas reached the central nesting grounds, where they found Shahidi sitting amidst a group of curious bystanders, Mary among them.
"There you are!" Mary smiled when she noticed her partner, "Did you sleep well, dear?"
"No. You kicked me out, remember?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry... but that's what you get for waking me up like that. Now, onto serious matters – this cheetah here was clamoring to see you. You mind explaining..."
"Sal, is that you?" Shahidi yelped when she noticed the hyena.
"I'm here," Sal nodded, "Are you all right? What happened; what are you doing here? Did Mgomo..."
"No, don't worry, I'm fine – bu you have to come quick, something happened to Mgomo!"
"Wait – what?" Mary interrupted, "I don't quite follow – who's this Mgomo-guy?"
"He's the leopard I suspected of killing Wahanga, the dead cheetah, earlier," Sal quickly explained before turning back to Shahidi, "Now, calm down, tell us what happened to Mgomo."
"I'm not entirely sure. I was sleeping, when loud screams suddenly woke me up – that must've been around sunrise. So I immediately got up to check what was happening, and sprinted over to Mgomo's land – that's where the noise came from. When I got there, I think I saw a fight or something..."
"A fight?" Sal reacted flabbergasted, "You mean Mgomo was attacking someone?"
"No, I think it was Mgomo who was being attacked – I think I saw two, maybe three cheetah's chasing him – last thing I saw was them pulling him back out of a tree he tried climbing in. That's when I got scared and ran here..."
"I heard enough," Mary suddenly interrupted, "We have to get over there, quickly! Cheetah, you lead the way – and the rest of you, follow me, too."
Without much further ado, Mary, Sal, Makamu and a couple of hyenas that had just been hanging around but were obliged to obey Mary's order followed Shahidi, who quickly made her way back to Mgomo's realm. Along the way, Sal tried conveying the little he knew to Mary.
"Sal, what the hell is happening? What on earth did you do yesterday? Why is your main suspect being attacked by cheetahs?"
"I don't know!" Sal huffed in all honesty, "Honestly, I don't have a clue! I just interrogated the guy a bit yesterday, 's all. I wouldn't know where those cheetahs came from all of a sudden..."
Then, Sal suddenly remembered Tibu.
"Crap! Tibu!"
"Who? You mean our cheetah delegate?"
"Yeah, him! I met with him yesterday, but in the middle of our conversation he suddenly got all pissed off..."
"Why, what did you do?"
"Nothing! He just went berserk after I told him I was the only one currently looking into the murder..."
Keeping a steady pace, the group reached their destination fairly quickly, although they didn't notice anything unusual at first. There were no screams, no sounds of a struggle. For all they knew, the fight was long over.
"So what do we do now?"
"Split up and search. When you find something, or when you need help, just shout out, and we'll meet up. Everyone got that?"
The members of the search-party gave a quick nod, then set out to look for Mgomo – or rather, for any leopard or cheetah they might come across. After a while, one of the random hyenas that had been forced to come along on the trip suddenly shouted out.
"Hey, you guys! I think I smell something!"
As instructed, everyone got together again to investigate the new lead. Before long, they stumbled upon signs of a struggle, in the form of mangled vegetation, and trees with scratch-marks after a leopard had apparently unsuccessfully tried to climb them.
"I smell blood this way..."
Blots of blood started appearing in the grass as the group progressed, eventually turning into a veritable trail of bloodstains.
"Well this doesn't look good," Makamu mumbled, stating the obvious. And eventually, almost inevitably, the trail led them straight to Mgomo, whom they lying found curled up on the ground in a puddle of what appeared to be his own blood.
"Oh boy... Is he..."
Sal poked the body with his paw a couple of times, but there was no reaction whatsoever, nor was there any sign of a breathing motion.
"Yeah, I think he's pretty dead all right..."
"Man, you can't be serious..." Sal sighed, "Another one? Great, just what I needed – the only suspect I have is now pushing daisies. This is messed-up..."
"Well moping about it isn't going to make this go away," Mary rebutted dismissively, "Shahidi here said she came for us the moment she witnessed the fight. And I'm guessing the leopard hasn't been dead that long yet. So, if we're lucky, then maybe, just maybe, whoever did this is still around, or at least not too far away. Say, Shahidi, did any of the attackers see you as you ran off?"
"No, I don't think so..."
"Great; that means they don't know we're on to them yet. Everyone; let's split up, and start looking. We'll all pick different directions, and we'll meet up here as soon as someone alerts the others. If we don't find anything by noon, we report back here. You got that?"
"Shouldn't we move in teams or something?" Sal yawned, "Not that I'm scared or anything, but just in case..."
"All right, you team up with Shahidi, if that'll make you feel any safer," Mary grinned with some sense of sarcasm, "Now get going, lest whoever did this gets away."
The group dispersed, and the search began, with only Makamu staying behind to watch over Mgomo's corpse. Once they were out of the other's hearing-distance, Shahidi suddenly addressed Sal.
"That big hyena, what's-her-name..."
"Mary?"
"Yeah, her. So, are you two... ?"
"We have two pups together, yeah," Sal grumbled, finding that particular topic rather awkward, given the current situation.
"Oh, all right... It's just that she seems a bit... you know..."
"It's just one of those days, 's all," Sal shrugged, not entirely sure whether he was being realistic or just in denial, "She just needs some space every now and then..."
"Ah, I see. Well, if you say so..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing..." Shahidi chuckled, much to Sal chagrin, who retaliated by refusing to talk to the cheetah for the remainder of the search. After a while, the duo suddenly stumbled upon a small, secluded body of water. Various trees and brush surrounding the watering hole obscured it from sight for anyone that wasn't knee-deep in the water. Shahidi suddenly gestured Sal to halt, and keep completely still. The bewildered hyena was just about to ask what the hell she was thinking, when he too noticed a figure skulking around at the other end of the pool.
"Is that...?" the hyena whispered.
"I don't know – I say we sneak up on him. You go right, I'll go left."
"No, wait, I want to go left."
"What for? What does that matter anyway? You go right!"
"No, you go right!"
"Whatever, just go already."
As it was said, so it was done, and both predators started circling the pool. Keeping the target in view all the way round, Sal was quick to notice it was a cheetah they were stalking, and a rather familiar cheetah at it. If it hadn't been for the blood all over his face and paws, Sal would have immediately recognized him as the esteemed representative Tibu. When both him and Shahidi were in position, Sal decided to step forward and let their presence be known.
"Tibu? Is that you?"
"Huh? Who – Sal?" As could be expected, Tibu was taken aback completely. For the better: that was the entire point of sneaking up on him; might even keep him from running.
"Well would you look at that, it is you, Tibu! How about that? You're the last animal I thought I'd find here. I didn't know you live around here..."
"Eh..."
"Oh my, what's with all the blood? I do hope that's not yours... is it?"
"Eh... no, sir," Tibu replied hesitantly, trying to get his usual pattern of speech back, "No, it eh... I caught this prey..."
"Oh really? Must've been a big prey... you know, with all that blood on your face..."
"Ha, a big prey... heh... I don't know about that," Tibu stuttered, "But it did bleed lot; you sure got that right..."
"If that don't make me a clairvoyant...," Sal smirked, "So... you mind telling me where that humongous prey of yours is, exactly? You know, I don't want to impose myself or anything, but you do owe me after that dick-move you pulled on me yesterday; running away like that. So, what about it? You gonna show me to your brunch or what?"
"Ah, sir, yes... about that..." before the cheetah could finish his bumbling sentence, however, he was again interrupted by his hyena acquaintance.
"On second thought... no...you know what? I don't need you to show me to your prey. I'll just keep a look-out for vultures circling around..."
"Sure ain't a lot of vultures around here," Shahidi suddenly interjected grinningly.
"Now that you mention it..." Sal replied, faking surprise at this apt remark, "Say Tibu, what's up with all those vultures – you know, the ones that ain't here? Shouldn't they be digging in your kill right now?"
"Eh..."
"Huh, who could have ever seen that coming" the hyena suddenly growled, "Tibu catches this grand prey, and all of a sudden no vultures around to show me to it... talking about bad timing on the vultures part; I got the munchies just now... Tibu, be a dear and show me to your kill, will you..."
A short silence ensued.
"What's the matter, forgot where you put it?" Shahidi smiled.
"Either that or, more likely, there's no prey around at all," Sal yawned, abandoning the fake smile he kept up 'till now, "All right Tibu, lets cut the crap here: we know you ain't caught no prey. That blood you got all over your mouth is Mgomo's."
"Who?" Tibu replied unrealistically sheepishly, "I have no idea..."
"Just cut it out, Tibu!" the hyena suddenly yelled uncharacteristically loud, almost angry, "Just cut it out, all right? Stop lying to me..."
That sudden outburst shocked both Shahidi and Tibu, who both stared silently as Sal sighed profoundly.
"How long have we known each other, Tibu? I can't remember, that's how long. I've known you for years, and I've considered you a friend of the family all that time... but then, from one moment to the next, I suddenly find you here, covered in the blood of a leopard neither of us have ever heard of – until yesterday..."
Tibu's gaze hardened as Sal spoke, the heartfelt speech seemingly having an adverse effect on the cheetah. Tibu now too stopped pretending, although he never really shook his typical subservient mannerisms.
"With all due respect, sir, there are things you simply can't understand..."
Then, without warning, the cheetah broke into a sudden sprint. Sal, lulled into an unjust sense of complacency by the unexpectedly long and civil conversation, lacked the necessary vigilance to predict the cheetah's move, let alone to try and stop him. Tibu managed to race right passed him before the hyena even realized what was going on. Shahidi, however – for whatever reason – appeared to be a lot less shortsighted, and was able to start her pursuit of the now fugitive Tibu the moment he tried to make a break for it.
The thing is, cheetahs are fast – and I do mean really, really fast. Fastest African predator by far, for one. Therefore, watching a cheetah chase down it's prey is really something extraordinary, even spectacular. But watching cheetahs chase each other... well, that really goes beyond spectacular; it's actually quite absurd, really. Comparable stamina, comparable speed – and they both tire after about two-hundred meters. That's the thing about cheetahs hunting; they're faster than their prey, but they have to catch it in the first few moments of the chase, otherwise the cheetah tires while the grazer escapes. But when two cheetahs chase each other, they both do an awesome sprint at first, and they both slow to a crawl after a few seconds – if this hadn't been been as serious a case as murder, Sal would have probably found the sight amusing. Now, however, he was forced to join in on the chase, with good prospects of catching Tibu: hyenas are not quite as fast as cheetahs, but their stamina is excellent – or at least, it is supposed to be; not so much for the lethargic Sal.
Less than a minute into the chase – which had already exhausted both the cheetahs considerably – Shahidi seemed about to apprehend Tibu: a well-aimed swoop at his back-paws made him stumble, and eventually fall down. Before he could be pinned down, however, Tibu had one last surprise up his sleeve: in what is best described as an totally bitch move, he flung a paw-full of dirt into Shahidi's eyes, causing her to stagger. Tibu used the respite that gave him to get back up, but before he could get going again, something heavy suddenly smashed into him. It seemed that, huffing and puffing all the way there, Sal had finally managed to catch up too.
Notwithstanding just being knocked to the ground by Sal, Tibu still wasn't about to give up, and tried his utmost best to get back on all fours. Since Sal had ended up very much on top of him, however, that necessarily involved clawing the hyena's face. Needles to say Sal didn't appreciate that, and as a way of giving utterance to that grievance, he could think of nothing better than clenching Tibu's neck tightly between his jaws. Of course Tibu resisted, but the more he fought back, the tighter Sal's grip seemed to become. Eventually, Sal found nothing better to do than smacking Tibu against the nearest tree head-first – twice. He then released the cheetah, leaving him lying on the ground very much alive, but wholly unconscious.
"Phew... That's what you get for making me run, jerk!"
"Well this is just fantastic..."
Agathe again started pacing up and down in front of the small group assembled before her. Along with her, there were Makamu, Sal, Mary and Shahidi, along with Tibu and another cheetah, both of them guarded by a couple of big hyenas. It didn't take a genius to see that Agathe – the old matriarch of the clan – was not happy to see any of them, far from it.
"So... what happened again, exactly?" she yawned, "Correct me if I'm wrong here: this cheetah – Wahanga – ends up dead, for some reason. We have our dear Sal here find out what happened, and he comes up with this other loser – this time a leopard named Mgomo. And for some reason, he then decides to leave that leopard alone until the next day, only to find the leopard murdered as well, by our esteemed cheetah representative Tibu no less!"
The matriarch slacked over to the captive cheetah sitting down next to Tibu.
"And what did this clown do again?"
"Eh, he's my neighbor, ma'am," Shahidi replied cautiously, "We think he assisted Tibu in... well..."
"... in icing Mgomo, right," Agathe interrupted, still pretty annoyed with the entire situation, "And you are...?"
"She's Shahidi, ma'am," Sal mumbled, "She helped me uncover... well, all kinds of stuff."
"Is that right? Well, nice to see you made e new friend, that's something at least," Agathe growled venomously, "Because you royally screwed up everything else, Sal! What on earth were you thinking? Don't you know the first thing about history? Or about Tibu over there? If you had, you'd know better than to mention that you suspected a leopard of being a cheetah-killer. Cheetahs and leopards just finished fighting a bloody war over control of watering-holes less than a generation ago! A war that cost Tibu most if not all of his family. And then you simply tell him that us hyenas could care less about the before mentioned murder? Real genius!"
"Wait, I never said that!" Sal replied defensively, "That's what Tibu made of it. And how was I supposed to know..."
"You ask someone, anyone! You could have asked Mary if there was anything special you should keep in mind around cheetahs," Agathe continued, taking a short breathing pause, after which she roiled on, "And if that wasn't bad enough, you then decided to just leave that Mgomo fellow hanging around his own place in stead of detaining him, even though he was clearly guilty and you knew the cheetahs were out crusading..."
"Yeah, but I figured that – taking our standard procedures into account – if he wasn't in his territory the next day, that'd be a confession of guilt, and..."
"And now he's dead, nice job!"
"Yeah,"Sal sighed, "I have to admit... I didn't really see that one coming..."
"No, you didn't obviously," Agathe replied,"I mean, you do have a brain, don't you? Use it; don't behave like a unimaginative lion-cretin, think outside the den for a change! For goodness sake, that whole "don't detain them, let them come to you on their own"-idea was invented back when the worst thing to happen around these parts was the occasional theft of a watermelon, or other assorted foods..."
The matriarch sighed once again, more theatrical than before.
"Then again, maybe I should have lent you some help – who knows, maybe if I had actually sent someone competent to help you, this wouldn't have happened..."
"So, where do we go now?" Mary interjected after a long, uncomfortable silence.
"Right, what do we do now... First off, we have to take a look at where we stand. And where we stand is at two murder cases," Agathe explained, now again pretty calm, "Now, the murder of Mgomo has been solved – these two bozos did it, obviously. But the dead cheetah is something else; our main suspect died... but I think we can all agree that he was in fact guilty, right?"
"Although hardly the proper procedure to find an animal guilty, I agree," Mary smirked.
"Right. So that leaves us with Tibu and his accomplice... I think it's time we set an example. We just can't have predators going around killing each other like that, so I'm going to condemn these two out in public, preferably with a big crowd watching..."
"Sounds good to me... But I'll need some time to set that up; can't gather a crowd on such a short notice," Mary nodded, "How about we do it tomorrow afternoon, or in two days time? Late enough for the leopards to join, but still during daytime, so the cheetahs can come and watch too."
"Great, so that's settled, we'll do it like Mary said," Agathe yawned, "And if gathering up all those animals proves to much of a hassle, just commission some vultures to do it for you... Well, that about wraps it up; you're all excused – except for you girls guarding the captives; I'm not about to engage in the same folly as Sal to just let them walk. You make sure they don't go anywhere, I'll make sure to send some extra help later on."
With those last words, everyone hastily made their way out of the den.
"You're awfully quiet all of a sudden..." Mary commented once they were outside, staring at a brooding Sal next to her, "What happened to you?"
"What happened to me? How about I got my face clawed by a cheetah, not to mention the way Agathe humiliated me just now..."
"Since when do you care about what Agathe thinks?"
"Good point," Sal conceded, "Since when did you start talking to me again anyway? What happened to the "Get out!" of last night?"
"I prefer if we didn't have that argument," Mary glared, reminding Sal of the invisible borders he wasn't supposed to cross, "Besides, you're not the only one Agathe got all angry at – she gave me a scolding just yesterday about those new dens I'm supposed to commission... probably part of the reason I had such a short temper... which reminds me, I should get to that den-digging right about now. So what are you doing today?"
"Well, seeing as how my assignment of finding the murderer seems to be over, I think I'll just go get some sleep – haven't had that in a while...
"Sounds like a plan – feel free to use my den if you want, by the way."
So that was it? Our little argument over, just like that?
"That's just bully..."
"What?"
"Nothing..."
Before turning in for the nigh – or day, or whatever time it happened to be – Sal made sure to pass by Shahidi, to get her take on the matter.
"Hey there... So I guess your investigation is over, huh?"
"Yeah, it would appear so, with all culprits and suspects either dead or detained..."
"So, you're going to leave it at that? Case closed?" Shahidi asked.
"Yep. Although there's still one thing I don't get though: how did Tibu find out Mgomo was a suspect?"
"Ah, I think that one's my fault," the cheetah conceded, "You remember Tibu's accomplice – you know, the other cheetah we caught? He's one of those neighbors I told you about. I kinda ran into him just before I went to get some sleep, after our confrontation with Mgomo. I'm afraid I told him one detail too many... He was probably in league with Tibu, so..."
"Yeah, that sounds probable..."
"That's not what worries me, though. I just don't get Mgomo... I mean, I get Tibu. I'm not originally from around here, so I don't have the kind of anger he has because of those "Water Conflicts" - but I can understand his reasoning; a blood-feud is a blood-feud after all. But Mgomo killing Wahanga when he could have just asked any hyena for help reclaiming his territory..."
"Makes you wonder whether there is maybe more to it..." Sal wondered out loud, "Doesn't matter now, though; we already have our story with a victim and a murderer. And our only lead – Mgomo – is dead, so case closed. That more than does it for me."
"I suppose you're right... Well, I guess I'll see you at the trial then?"
"Yep. Take care!"
Sal had a hard time getting to sleep that night; unlike Shahidi, he just couldn't wrap his mind around what Tibu had done.
You think you know someone... and then they just... Damn... Then again, how well did I know Tibu? I din't know about his family, or what he did before I got to this clan – who could have guessed he picked up an intense sense of hatred for leopards during the "Water Conflicts".?And how little did I know about that war... I guess that's what happens when you're not born and raised somewhere, but just barge in halfway through... Or maybe not... I wonder who or what else I don't actually know all that well...