"I'm gonna get you Skadow!" The male hyena pup laughed out as he pounced at his sister.
"No if I get you first!" She grinned, shouting back and leaping forward too. The pups met with the thump of flesh on flesh, growling playfully as they wrestled. A small cloud of dust rose as they snapped at each other, ramming with their chests in an attempt to knock the opponent off their feet. The male reared up, throwing his front legs over his sisters shoulders and grabbing her ear in his teeth.
"Hey!" She yelped, craning her neck to try and free herself from his sharp teeth. "Leggo Spite!" the girl pup growled, heaving with her shoulders to throw her heavier brother off. Spites' hind paws slid out from under him and he lost his grip on her ear. Skadow slipped away, then turned to face him a safe distance away. Spite rolled to his feet, and the two siblings squared off again, panting slightly with excitement.
"Attack!" Roared a voice from overhead. The hyena pups flinched in shock as three lion cubs bounded over the dusty edges of the wallow, landing with grunts and puffs of dust. Coughing and sputtering Spite closed his eyes against the rising dust, struggling towards the edge where the air was clearer. Blindly the pup inched forward, jumping back in fright as his paws landed on something warm and wiggly….
"Snake!" He yelped, flying backwards through the air and crashing into another warm body. Whoever it was yelped in surprise, and the dust rose even thicker as numerous sets of paws scrabbled in fear to escape the steep sided wallow. Digging in hard with his front claws and pushing upward with strong hind legs Spite finally dragged himself above the dust and onto the savannah grass, coughing and bleary eyed. A lion cub suddenly appeared, his golden head appearing over the side just as he sneezed and slipped.
"Whoa!" Spite dashed and grabbed at the scruff of the cubs neck, pulling him upward until his paws found purchase on level earth.
"Thanks," the lion coughed, the red tuft on his head shaking with the violent motion. "I guess that didn't work as well as we planned," he looked up sheepishly at his savior.
"Spite, get us out of here!" Hearing his sisters angry voice the male hyena turned back to the edge, and saw another lion cub batting futilely at the grass, trying to haul herself out. He and the red-tufted cub easily pulled her up, off of Skadows shoulders. When the girl cub was off her back and safely over the edge Skadow took a few steps back and bounded halfway up the wall before she lost her momentum. Well practiced now, the male cub and hyena pup reached down and hauled her up the last steep part of the climb.
"Yuck!" Skadow spat in frustration when she got over the lip, "I'm never going to get all this dust out of my coat!"
"You've got that right," Cali replied, already trying to brush the dirt from her light colored coat.
"Guys what about me?!" wailed a pitiful voice from the depths of the dust.
"Kryptek!" Cali and Tasa chorused, peering over the edge once more. The dust was finally beginning to settle, and they could just make out Kryptek at the bottom of the hole. His normally bright orange-red coat was dull from the dust and he looked up unhappily at his companions.
"Get me out!" he pleaded.
"Serves you right!" Cali retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. "You're the one who thought up this dumb plan of jumping them in the first place!"
"Cali! That's not nice!" Tasa hissed, and added in an undertone, "It was your idea originally…"
"Don't worry, I"ll get him." Skadow jumped down again, instructing Kryptek to climb onto her shoulders so she could boost him out.
"What the heck were you guys thinking anyways?" Spite asked the two up above, slightly annoyed but also curious.
"We just wanted to startle you," Tasa replied sheepishly, watching Kryptek clamber clumsily onto the shoulders of the hyena pup. "We didn't think it would be so dusty!" he coughed again.
"Well I wasn't scared!" Spite retorted boastfully, reaching down and hauling Kryptek up by his scruff. Huffing and puffing the cub clambered over the edge and Spite released his grip. "At least until I stepped on the snake…"
"That was my tail," Cali spoke up, looking back at it and wincing.
"Sorry," Spite apologized as Skadow leaped up again.
"Hey! They should be the ones apologizing to us!" his sister barked out, looking angrily at the three cubs.
"We just wanted to have a little fun!" Kryptek replied, staring her down stubbornly.
"The hyenas are always trying to scare us, why can't we do the same?" Cali voiced. Skadow growled low in her throat and Tasa quickly stepped between his friends and the hyena pups.
"Stop it guys," he ordered, glaring at his friends. Turning to the dog like creatures he continued, "Maybe it wasn't the best thing to do, but we figured pups would be easier to scare than adults. Sorry it turned out so bad. We really just wanted to say hi…"
"No prob," Spite answered, grinning at the lion cub. "You saved Skadow here from being beaten by her brother again, she's just pretending to be mad."
"No way! They saved YOU from getting beaten by me!" Skadow retorted, but a playful grin was covering the anger on her face. Tasa laughed, surprised at how alike these two were to any lion cub siblings.
"Would you guys like to play with us? We were heading towards five stones to play hide and seek." The prince offered, looking hopefully at the youngsters.
"Sure!" Spite piped up immediately.
"But mom won't know where we went," Skadow broke in, looking worriedly around.
"She'll find us, five stones isn't too far away. Come on." Resolutely he began trotting away, Tasa quickly matching his stride to pace alongside.
"Ok, I'm coming," Skadow grumbled, jogging off after the lion cubs and her brother.
"Tasa! Cali! Where are you guys?"
"Oh no!" Cali groaned, dropping low to the ground in an attempt to hide. "Jarelle and Nala found us!" The cubs and hyena pups had been playing hide-and-seek for almost an hour among the rocks, and were just getting ready for the next round.
"Ahh, I don't want to go home!" Tasa whined, peeking cautiously over the top of a boulder.
"So don't," Skadow supplied, peering at the approaching lionesses with him. After several games she had forgiven the three cubs for frightening them, and both she and Spite had become fast friends with them. "Stay here and play with us!" Tasa was just about to answer when Nala spotted Kryptek as he tried to slink out of sight behind a boulder.
"There you guys are!" The teenaged lionesses bounded over, scolding looks on their faces. "Come out here, now!" Meekly the three cubs minced out from their hiding places afraid to meet their guardians eyes.
"Do you three know how worried we were?" Jarelle growled, looking fiercely at the youngsters.
"We just wanted to play," Tasa mumbled, rubbing a paw in the dirt.
"And we made some new friends," Cali said, looking over her shoulder to grin at Spite and Skadow.
"Hyenas!" Nala gasped, then she bared her teeth and stepped protectively over the cubs. "Stay away from them!" she growled at the spotted pups.
"Perhaps you are the one who should stay away from them," A cool voice drifted over the small crowd.
"Mom!" Spite yelped happily, bouncing over with Skadow to greet her. "Hello, little ones," she nuzzled them fondly, never taking her eyes off Nala. The young lionesses didn't say anything more, but stood her ground against the heavier built hyena.
"These are our new friends mom." Spite babbled happily, pointing to each cub in turn. "That's Kryptek and Cali, and that one's Tasa."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Siika," the mother hyena spoke again in her calm voice. Nala however still hadn't relaxed her stance, though she had covered her bared teeth.
"Time to go kids," the lionesses said firmly, nudging Cali in the direction of Pride Rock with her nose.
"But mom said we didn't need to be back until the sun touched the horizon!" argued the cub, resisting the push. Tasa nodded in agreement as Jarelle began to approach him to do the same.
"You've played enough today with those…hyenas," Nala spat the last word out and Siikas' eyes flickered angrily for a moment.
"Well if they can't play," the hyena spoke, keeping her voice calm. "How about a story?"
"I want to hear a story!" Cali answered happily, twisting herself away from Nala's nose to face Siika.
"I wanna hear one too!" Kryptek yelped, bounding over to stand by Spite, who was looking up eagerly at his mother.
"Well come then, I promise I will finish the tale so you can be home before your mothers begin to worry." Siika strode over to the rocks the cubs had been playing in and settled herself comfortably. Kryptek, Spite and Skadow all sat eagerly at her feet, and Cali bounded over to squeeze in next to the girl pup. Feverishly Tasa looked up at Nala, summoning all his courage.
"Please let us stay Nala. A story won't hurt anyone, and we won't tell our moms how you and Jarelle let us sneak off because you wanted to hunt." For a minute he thought she might just pick him up and carry him home, but finally the cream colored lioness sighed.
"Fine, one story." She said, looking distrustfully at Siika again.
"Yeah! Thank you!" Tasa exploded happily, jumping up to lick her thankfully on the cheek before racing over to sit next to Spite. I still don't understand why she doesn't like hyenas he thought as he plopped down next to his new friend. Ok they smell kind of funny but they're not so different from us…The prince let his thoughts trail off though as Siika began her story, he was so caught up in it that he didn't even see Nala and Jarelle slip in closer so they could hear too.
"Many years ago," Siika started, her voice building wondrous pictures in his head as she told the tale. "There was a lion prince named Ryza…."
A/N- Sorry if this is short, but the story is too long to fit in this chapter as well. Anyways, some notes on this chapter: I feel as though Tasa and the other cubs would not dislike Hyena's like Nala and the others because they have never known a world without them. So please R&R, the more reviews I get the quicker you will hear the tale of the lion prince Ryza.