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.
Six
So in the end, I ended up with... well, with nothing to do, really.
Sal felt a bit conflicted as he woke up early, sometime in the afternoon. Part of him was kind of relieved everything had "worked out" in the end. Well, maybe "worked out" isn't the best way of framing it; two predators had ended up dead – Wahanga and Mgomo – and another two – Tibu, the cheetah formerly representing the hyenas, and one of his stooges – now stood to be banished in a couple of day's time, after some kind of a public trial that had yet to materialize.
Still, at least everything had worked out for Sal himself, kind off. He didn't have to go out investigating anything anymore, and his little one-night row with his partner Mary was well behind him too – she even allowed him into her den again... all in all, he still didn't relly get what that was all about... But still, all's well that ends well... right?
Not exactly. Being relieved of his investigative duties for the time being only meant a return to the daily drudgery for the hyena. Loitering, preforming menial assignments, doing some small-talk and socializing... Not really a terrible existence, mind you. But not quite as... well, quite as exciting as solving murder mysteries and descending into the grim underworld of the Clanlands, mixing with all kinds of ruthless lowlifes. All right, maybe that last one was taking it a bit too far. But still, it certainly beat being assigned to a digging team.
That's right, a digging team. Mary had finally gotten around to start work on a bunch of dens she had been ordered to commission ages ago, and had tasked Sal with turning out some competent diggers – some local warthogs, and meerkats, to be precise. For some reason or another, everyone seemed to have gotten the impression that Sal was the guy to talk to when it concerned finding some help outside of the clan, much to his own annoyance. That's what you get for being a nice guy to everyone.... And thus, he ended up having to go out looking for the resident warthogs, to get them to do some of the heavy digging for the new dens, and a meerkat tribe to do the finishing, engineering and general design.
Mind you, there wasn't anything particularly difficult about persuading mentioned animals – they had been doing similar assignments for a very long time now, digging a new den for the hyenas whenever and wherever needed. It was part of a kind of an agreement between the hyenas and those particular animal troupes – you dig us a den, and in turn we don't eat anyone belonging to your tribe – not often anyway. It was a pretty hard deal on the clan, but the dens they got in return were pretty nice – you know, solid, spacious, clean and ventilated; all thanks to the meerkats skilled design and the warthogs sturdy digging.
"So... I'm supposed to do what, exactly? Go out there, gather a crew, get back to the site – and you'll take it from there?"
"It's not all that difficult," Mary yawned, "Yeah, that's what I want you to do. So, you know, get out there and make it happen."
"Sure, why not – it's not like I have anything better to do..."
"And even if you had, you'd still go out there, if only because I told you so."
"Indeed," Sal smirked. He knew his place, and was pretty content about it, really. A lack of authority usually translates in an equal lack of responsibility, which wasn't all that bad come to think of it. It left room for error, which Sal had aplenty.
"Mom, can I come with dad?"
"Hmmm? What, dear?" Mary replied, addressing her son Micky. They had spent the last night together, all three of them: Mary, Sal and Micky, all sleeping together in Mary's den; one happy family. It was kind of a special moment for them; usually, Micky spent his time in the communal den, and both Sal and Mary were out leading their own lives largely beside each other, but not together. They seldom found the opportunity to get together like that. So even if their son's presence seriously detracted from the level of intimacy, Sal didn't mind one bit; being alone with Mary or being together all three of them were just as good, albeit on a different level.
A pity their older daughter Kim couldn't be there, though – like any would-be-adult her age, she spent most her time learning to hunt and scavenge along with other "sisters", and gradually trying to become a decent and upstanding member of the clan. But that's just the way life works; Sal would just have to focus some more of his attention on little Micky, while he still could.
"Sure, little man, no problem," Sal yawned as he got up, "You can come along if you want to – but why would you want to? I'm just going over to see some meerkats and warthogs, no big deal..."
"Yeah, I know, but that's why I want to go," the hyena pup nodded enthusiastically, "All I get to see here are other hyenas. That's... boring, I want to go out and see... other... things... and stuff."
"Wow, hold your horses there. We're just going to see the warthogs and some meerkats, you do realize that, right? Don't expect any adventures..."
"Awww, come on Sal, let him be enthusiast," Mary snickered, "There's nothing wrong with our son becoming a young and adventurous go-getter, right?
"Yeah!" Micky agreed grinningly.
"Meh... When I was his age, all I ever wanted was to get happy, get fat and get l... – getting someone to spend my life with when I was older..."
"Well, by and large, you succeeded. But maybe your son wants a bit more out of life..."
"Would you, Micky? You know, get more out of life?" Sal asked, somehow what sarcastically.
"Yeah, sure – I guess..."
"Well then, perhaps you might; you never know what could happen, I guess," Sal shrugged, "So how 'bout we start by paying those warthogs a visit? We'll move on to the meerkats later. Or the other way around, make things a bit more exciting, you know?"
"So that's settled? We can count on you guys to do the engineering, and the design?"
"Yeah, sure, don't worry! We'll have it done in no time, you can count on us," the meerkat chief assured the hyenas, "Just gimme a minute to buzz up some fellas, alright?"
"Swell," Sal grunted, "And thanks, by the way."
"Hey, fugeddaboutit. As long as you're not eating us, we're more than happy to make you guys some new digs every now and then – hell, I'd have even thrown in some song and dance if you'd have asked me so... Should I?"
"What? No, just stick to helping build some new dens!"
"All right, it's cool – so no singing, I get that... Now, you wait here while I get the guys; you can take them to the site, and they'll know how to handle it from there – if they don't get eaten, that is..."
"Oh, come on, like that ever happened before..." the hyena mumbled.
As the meerkat chief slacked of, Sal turned his attention to his son: "Not quite as exciting as you imagined, huh?"
"Yes it is, kinda... I never knew there were this many meerkats before!" Oddly enough, Micky enthusiasm actually seemed to be genuine.
But then again, the pup had never seen a single meerkat before, so to suddenly find himself amid a sprawling, buzzing colony must have been pretty overwhelming. A testament to their incredible digging skills, the meerkat's colony was pretty vast, even to larger mammals like hyenas. Many visible hubs and nests, some several feet high, interconnected by an invisible yet enormous underground tunnel network, with what looked like an innumerable number of meerkats rushing from one den to the other in a seemingly random manner was sure to impress a young pup like Mikey, whose experiences did not reach beyond the communal den and his own family.
Moments later, the meerkat chief returned, accompanied by a group of what were supposed to be experienced diggers – Sal being pretty oblivious to the fine art of digging, he really couldn't tell whether that last part was true, nor did he actually care an awful lot.
"All right – so that's everyone?"
"Yep," the meerkat nodded, "Ready to go whenever you give the mark – mind you, they'll have to get back home before dark, they can always return the next day if need be."
"Better not screw around any longer then – let's get going. Micky, you coming?"
"Be right there, dad," the hyena pup replied, getting his head out of a tunnel that was in the process of being dug, much to the relief of the diggers who had been rather annoyed with the inquisitive brat.
Walking, the members of the unusual group kept their silence until they were well out of hearing distance from the meerkat colony – no real reason, actually; that's just how their little walk turned out, all silent. The first one to step up and break the silence, unsurprisingly, happened to be Sal.
"So... you liked that? You know, going around and meeting some other animals?" he asked his son, slacking next to him.
"Yeah, I guess. It was... different."
"Like not the same..."
"I know what "different" means, dad..."
"Yeah..."
"They looked a lot nicer than I thought they would," Micky suddenly admitted.
"Hey, you know, we're right here, kid!" the meerkat foreman suddenly shouted, taking offense at being spoken about in third person when, in fact, he actually was right there. The young hyena pup was quick to apologize, formally and humbly, just as he was taught.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to..."
"Hey, don't worry kid, it's alright. And there ain't no "sirs" around here – you just call me Ben..."
"Just "Ben"?"
"Yeah, just Ben – I like short names. If I ever get any kids, you can bet on it they'll have short names, like Max, or something. Easy to remember, and to shout," the meerkat grinned, "But what's up with that talk of us looking "nicer" than you thought?"
"I don't really know," the pup admitted, "It's just that every time my friends talk about other animals, they tell me how nasty, or stupid, or mean those other animals are. I guessed the same would be true for meerkats..."
Well, next time they say so, punch'em in the face, and give them my regards..."
"Yeah, that's great advice to be giving to someone under two years," Sal smirked, giving Ben a dirty look, "Son, if you catch your friends saying that, just tell them what I always tell everyone: jerks are everywhere, not least of all within your own clan. You're better of having a friendly leopard for a friend than an ass – … nasty hyena."
"I'll second that," Ben concurred, "Where did you pick up that pearl of wisdom anyway?"
"Like most of the stuff I know, I got it from my older brother, Louie. How did he say it again... oh yeah, I remember: "You have to keep your options open, 'cause if you stick to just hyenas, you're in for one helluva boring-ass life." Then he gave me one of those stupid grins he always makes... you know, the same kind I always do..."
Almost instantly, Micky produced just that kind of grin.
"You see? The kind of grin he's giving us right now. I guess it runs in the family..."
As both Micky and the meerkat snickered at Sal's remark, he himself couldn't produce the faintest smile, however. Much like he had done for the past few days, he again found himself brooding, this time over his brother.
What irony, Sal thought, that the hyena to have taught me tolerance turned out to have been a cheetah hating bigot – or at least, that's what Louie pretended to be last time we met... The world just seems to grow a bit more insane with each passing day... except for me – I think...
Once the group got back to the site where the new dens were supposed to be, work progresses fairly quickly – the meerkats surveyed the surroundings, proposed a better spot to dig the dens, got what they wanted, did some preliminary planning and research, had the warthogs dig some shallow holes, mostly so they'd remember where to continue work the following day. Before long, however, the sun started getting rather close to setting, so everyone wrapped it up and went back home. Sal, returning from dropping his son off at the communal den, rejoined his partner to survey the work done so far.
"Not bad, huh? I mean, for one evening's work," Sal yawned.
"Better than anything I could ever dig, I'll give them that..."
"Well, they might be better diggers, but you're still the cutest one around..."
"Oh yeah, go ahead, compare me to a warthog, real smooth," Mary frowned mischievously.
"What if I did? What are you going to do about it?"
"How 'bout I beat you 'till within an inch of your life, would that work out for you?" Mary was all too happy to go along with Sal's teasing, playfully pushing him to the ground, moving her face close to his, whispering: "Now what, tough guy? I'm on top – again..."
"Eh – am I interrupting something?" someone suddenly squeaked, above them, startling both hyenas, who promptly scurried away from each other.
"Aah! What the hell, who's there?"
"Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"Zuzu? Is that you?" Mary suddenly realized, looking up at the hornbill hovering above her, "Oh, whoops! That's right, you were coming over today – sorry, I guess I forgot..."
"Thanks a lot, Zuzu," Sal grumbled, understandably disappointed.
"Sorry, I didn't want to break you up – I mean, disturb you or anything," Zuzu clumsily apologized, "It was just that I was looking for you, Mary, and..."
"No, don't – I should have remembered you'd be over. My mistake. Sorry, Sal, I was supposed to fill Zuzu in on all the stuff that went down here recently – you know, all those animals getting murdered. Now was really the only opening we had in our schedules, us being the important girls that we are..."
"So I guess I'm supposed to bugger off again?"
"Pretty much," Mary admitted, "Ow, come on, don't make that long face – you know I'll make it up to you, so don't worry about it..."
"Meh, I guess so. Better go get some sleep then, and leave you two to it..."
"Love you!" Mary shouted teasingly as Sal slacked off, provoking an annoyed grunt.
So now, Sal found himself with nothing else to do for the remainder of the evening. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing; just loitering can be fun enough in it's own right, once you get over the typical guilt you get from wasting time – although such tends to be minimal among Sal's kind. Still, after the pressure of having to solve a couple of murder-cases, just idling around felt a bit awkward. And it must've shown: Mary was quick to address him about it, the moment she showed up again, after an hour or two.
"Well you're looking awfully bored."
"Guess who's to blame for that..." Sal mumbled
"Hey, I already told you I'd make it up to you somehow..."
"But..."
"Huh?"
"Come on, don't tell me there's no "but", no assignment you would want me fulfill, or order I should follow..." the hyena sneered, more than a bit annoyed
"Well, now that you mention it... Come on, don't act like that," Mary urged, "It's not like you have anything better to do..."
"You're damn lucky I'm still ridiculously in love with you," Sal finally relented after a tense silence, "Alright, so what is it?"
"Well, I was hoping you'd walk Zuzu home – it's getting pretty dark already, and I'm sure she'll appreciate it..."
"Please, Mary, don't bother, I'm perfectly fine – I can fly, you know..." Zuzu, who had suddenly appeared, replied dismissively.
"No, really, I insist! If only because, on your way home, you could explain Sal all you know about the "Water Conflicts" - that is, if you would be so kind as to do so," Mary implored, casting a glaring eye at her partner. She wasn't about to let him forget the trouble his limited historical knowledge on the subject had gotten them into.
"Sure, no problem – I can do that," Zuzu agreed, "I'm pretty sure Ahadi won't miss me if I'm late; it's not like he listens to anyones advice anyway... certainly not this late... So is that okay with you, Sal, tagging along?"
"Of course it is; I'm telling him to go, so he does," Mary grinned.
"Yes ma'am..." Sal grunted with played obedience, slowly getting up again, "All right, miss Zuzu, let's get on with it – if I'm home late again, I might just end up sleeping outside tonight – again."
"All right, shoot, what's all that buzz I keep hearing about these "Water conflicts"?"
What do you want to know?" Zuzu replied, sitting comfortably on Sal's shoulder, "There's a lot to tell, you know, certainly with that mess you've been into the last couple of days..."
"Tell me about it," Sal snickered, "That's a mild way of putting it... But what do I need to know? Everything, I guess. From what I can tell, those "Water Conflicts" were already over and done with by the time I settled in my clan. So, you know, go ahead and give me the whole story..."
"The whole story? Sure... I'm just not sure where to begin..." Zuzu hesitated for a moment, "I guess it all started just about when the "Rogue Wars" were over. Come to think of it, that makes a lot of sense – most of the lands had been ravaged by marauding troupes of rogues, and order had pretty much broken down. Anyway, it was about that time we got hit by a bad drought. For the lions and hyenas, it didn't really matter that much, since they had both participated in the war, and their numbers had been seriously reduced; for them it didn't really matter there was a sudden drop in preys and water..."
"Sounds like tough times..."
"Quite. But as I said, lions nor hyenas noticed the drought; not enough animals left to notice, I guess. But the leopards and cheetahs had stayed mostly outside of the war. And I don't know if you know this, but they're in some quite tight competition – more so than cheetahs and lions anyway."
"I know, Tibu told me as much – before he went all psycho, that was..." Sal smirked.
"Oh, all right. Anyway, turned out there was only one watering hole left they could use – and it happed to be on a leopards turf. Guess what happened?"
"Each animals was served according to his need, and utopia ensued?" When he said that, it was the first time Sal actually heard Zuzu laughing out loud.
"Yeah, right. No, what happened was that the leopard wanted to share – but the other leopards got first served. That is, after both lion, hyena, elephant and most grazers had had their fill. The cheetahs were not amused, and thirsty ..."
"So they decided it was time for a few territorial adjustments?"
"There, you're getting the hang of it! You should know that cheetahs tend to live in small families, while leopards live almost entirely solitary. That gives cheetahs and edge when it comes to ganging up on others – it didn't take them long to form "self defense troupes". And next thing you know, the leopards got kicked from the waterhole..."
"Didn't the lions do anything to stop it? Or my clan?" Sal wondered.
"Not really – they had just endured the bloodiest conflict in our known history, remember? So they could care less, at that time. But that wouldn't last. 'Cause it didn't take the leopards long to get back at the cheetahs. They lacked numbers, and sociability, but compensated with stealth and skill; a leopard assassin killed the cheetah ringleader's partner and son in their sleep."
"That's..." Sal froze up for a moment, "But that's just... how could they..."
"Sal, dear, you have to keep in mind, killing had become a way of life. You couldn't go five minutes without tripping over the bones of some lion or hyena killed in the war. It was a different generation – no-one is alive to have actually lived through it now; luckily... Anyway, what happened was that both victims were dragged up a tree near the watering hole, as some kind of warning..."
"Sounds eerily familiar..." Sal suddenly realized the implications of the first murder he'd come across a couple of days ago – a dead cheetah up a tree. If that wasn't sending a message, what was? He cursed himself for his historical ignorance at the time – Agathe had been right, the second murder could have been avoided...
"So what happened next?"
"What could have happened? Violence begets violence. The cheetahs got together a death-squad, and things got further out of hand..."
"And how did it end?"
"Well... To quote my father – a smarter majordomo than I ever will be – "Bad things happen when good animals let them – but don't let that that put you down; it means all of us good souls have the opportunity to stop it." That's exactly what happened..."
"Heavy stuff, from more epic times..." Sal nodded after a short silence.
"But no less true for it – and I wouldn't be to sure about the past being any more epic than the future; you never know what lies beyond the horizon 'till you get there, for better or worse. But on to the end of the "Water Conflicts". After a number of casualties – probably way too many, but I digress – the most unlikely source intervened; the Shaman. Rafiki's (now deceased) predecessor learned of the atrocities taking place, and discerned they were damaging to the Circle, not to mention that they were inherently despicable. However, himself being a leopard, he needed someone neutral and powerful to intervene on his behalf. So he got together the Big Guys; Mohatu, Arista, and the then still young and inexperienced Agathe, your own matriarch. No one knows what the Shaman said that day, but whatever it was, it worked."
"So we intervened?"
"Oh yeah. And not just a little bit. First thing they did was round up all the ringleaders, and decided what to do with them. Agathe earned her reputation there; it was her idea to have them all killed, against Mohatu's wishes, by throwing them off Priderock..."
"Wait, what?" Sal exclaimed in shock.
"What, didn't you know? Why do you think Priderock is a symbol of power? Because a lot of animals died there; it's had a history as a place of execution for long before the kings settled there – but shh! We're trying to reverse that..."
"Phew... That's some heavy stuff, Zuzu... I knew Agathe was a tough lady, but..." The hyena cast a look at Priderock in the distance, starting to disappear in the darkness. Sure enough, the sight of it sent a shiver down his spine. "And that was the end of the water conflicts?"
"Not quite. Next thing that happened was making sure that all cheetah and leopard territories were separated – to make sure no-one was stuck in what would in effect be hostile territory. This took some persuading, sometimes violently. And then, the waterhole was made a non-territory, belonging to cheetah nor leopard. That worked out, and once the drought was over, things returned to normal. And as the "Water Conflict" faded out of memory, and the old generations passed away, they started mingling again... But it seems some vendettas haven't been put to rest quite yet..."
"Let's hope it doesn't have to come to something like the "Water conflict" ever again..." Sal mumbled, still impressed by what he'd heard.
"I guess that'll be up to us, won't it?"