Chapter 6- A Grave Accident
"So what do you want to do?"
"I dunno, what do you want to do?"
"I asked you first!" Tasa shot back, glaring at Kryptek.
"Hey, I'm perfectly happy just lying here doing nothing!" The red-orange cub retorted, stretched out on his back in the grass. He craned his neck backward and looked at Tasa with a jaded expression, black mane brushing the dusty earth. "If you're so bored go find something to do!"
"Maybe I will then," the golden lion grumbled back, getting to his feet. "No wonder no one ever wants to play with you Kryptek, you're boring." With that the Tasa stomped off, his small mane quivering with the concussion of each step on the packed ground. The young lion hadn't taken too many steps though before he sighed and looked back over his shoulder. "I should apologize," he said to no one in particular. "Stupid heat's making me cranky," Tasa muttered, just as the noise of laughter drew his attention. Curious the lion padded around a strand of trees and was almost run over by a cream colored cub.
"Watch out Tasa!" Kala yelped, just dodging his front paws. "Nuka's going to tag you!" she giggled as she darted away. Caught off guard the half grown merely watched her run by, but as Nuka appeared in hot pursuit his brain clicked back into gear.
"Hey, hey, wait just a minute! Are you guys out here alone?" Tasa exclaimed, catching Nuka with one paw and restraining him as he tried to race by. He looked down at the scrawny cub, waiting for an answer. When Nuka nodded reluctantly the older lion gave a mental groan, "Kala come back here."
"No way, he'll tag me!" the girl countered, peering cautiously from behind a boulder.
"We're in a time out," Tasa told her with a noisy exhale, "Where's your brother?"
"Somewhere around here…" the cub answered, shrugging as she walked out of her hiding place
"Kiveh come out please," Tasa sighed in a tired voice. Meekly the gold cub appeared from behind a thick clump of grass, mouth open in an apologetic grin. "You three know you're not supposed to be out here alone," Tasa scolded as they lined up before him. Nuka looked down at his paws, and Kiveh pretended to have an itch as soon as Tasa looked sternly at him.
"We just wanted to play!" Kala answered, face set in a stubborn pout. "And we're not that far away!"
"That's not the point!" Tasa spoke loudly, staring back at her. "With all the trouble from the drought a lot of the animals aren't thinking straight, you guys could easily get hurt out here."
"Sorry, we didn't mean to cause trouble," Nuka spoke sincerely, blinking up apologetically at the older cub.
"Come on, let's get you three back quick" Tasa said in a more gentle tone, grinning mischievously down at the youngsters. Kiveh looked up at him, eyes crinkled in confusion by the expression. Tasa winked at him, "If we get back quick enough your moms don't have to know!" The twins and Nuka smiled broadly up at him and the small group turned to leave. Kala bounced ahead, still full of energy, and when Tasa assured Nuka and Kiveh that he wasn't really mad at them all three cubs raced in happy circles around the half grown as they headed towards Pride rock.
"Hey watch it!" a female voice boomed out, followed by Nuka apologizing profusely.
"I'm sorry! I didn't see him!"
"Nuka?" Tasa called anxiously, running forward a few steps to a break in the long grass where the cubs had disappeared a moment ago. As he broke free the young lion saw Nuka standing apologetically by a female water buffalo as she anxiously licked her baby. "What happened?"
"I accidentally jumped on him, I didn't mean to!" Nuka sputtered obviously shocked.
"Everything's fine. He's not hurt, just a little surprised," the mother began to explain, her face calm now that she knew her baby was uninjured.
"No! Everything is not all right!" A deep voice bellowed out and Tasa flinched involuntarily. Kiveh and Kala suddenly appeared, scrambling to the safety of his front paws and peering out as an immense male buffalo stomped over. Tasa gulped but squared his shoulders to address the beast.
"I'm sorry, but it sounds like it was just an acci…" he began but was quickly cut off by the angry animal.
"Stupid lions, you think you can just interfere in everyone's' lives! Well leave my family alone!" The bull snorted angrily, pawing at the earth with a sharp hoof.
"It was an accident!" Tasa retorted, angry at being cut off. Immediately he regretted his sharp reply as the large animal sent snot flying with a furious snort and shook his head so hard that his horns sliced noisily through the air.
"There you go again! Trying to order the rest of us around!" He bellowed, now stabbing at the ground with both hooves and rearing a bit. "Get away from my family!"
"Run! Go home!" Tasa hissed quietly to the cubs, who scuttled away, paws flying in every direction. Then the young lion turned to face the angry buffalo again, "Please calm down, we're leaving now."
"Not fast enough!" The angry male bellowed again and charged.
"Yeow!" Tasa yelped, spinning and racing away with the beast pounding at his heals. Feverishly the half grown lion raced as fast as possible, legs stretched so far out that his belly skimmed mere inches from the ground. "Help!" He shouted, wondering desperately if anyone was near enough to hear him. Behind him the water buffalo snorted, and Tasa risked a glance over his shoulder and saw an angry red glint in the approaching eyes. Terrified he put on another burst of speed, dodging boulders and trees from instinct alone he was flying to fast. A bright blur of color flew by on the edge of his vision and suddenly there was a great crash and bellow of distress.
"Don't just stand there! Move!" Kryptek hollered from his perch on the animals' side. Apparently his friend had heard Tasas' cry for help and caught the angry male off guard and knocked him over with a desperate lunge.
"Stupid felines!" the water buffalo screamed in fury, jerking his neck to jab at Kryptek with his horns.
"Look out!" Tasa hollered to his friend. But he could only watch, horrified, as one of the desperate jabs connected on the face of the other lion. Kryptek roared in pain and anger, losing his grip and sliding to earth. Without thinking Tasa dashed forward, swiping a paw full of dirt into the eyes of their adversary. The fallen buffalo bellowed once more, but the lion ignored him, grabbing Kryptek by the scruff and dragging him away.
"I can't see, I can't see!" His friend cried, and Tasa felt sick as he caught sight of the mess of blood and dirt on his face.
"I'll guide you, but we have to get out of here now!" he spoke quickly, pushing Kryptek forward with his shoulder and guiding him at the same time. The two youngsters stumbled away fairly rapidly, but as soon as they could no longer hear the angry buffalo Kryptek sank to the ground, whimpering in pain.
"You've gotta get up," Tasa said anxiously, trying to nudge the other lion to his feet. "We need to get further away." Though his friend was shaking and whimpering he got Kryptek to his feet, and with the other cub leaning heavily on him as they began the trek back to Pride Rock.
"Tasa! Tasa where are you?"
"Mom!" he cried out, tears brimming into his eyes with joy at her voice.
"Oh Tasa, you're ok!" Sarabi choked out, gasping as she spotted Krypteks' bleeding face. "Oh no!" The former queen rushed the last steps toward them, immediately beginning to sooth the young lion with comforting words as she inspected his wound.
"Sarabi did you find them?" Sarafinas' head appeared from behind a boulder, and she let out an audible gasp when Kryptek turned his face toward her. "Oh, poor thing!" She too rushed forward eyes open wide with anxiety. "Are you ok Tasa?" The gold cub nodded in response, still supporting Kryptek with his shoulder.
"How did you know we were out here?" he asked, still panting from the chase.
"Those cubs of mine made it home in about ten seconds they were so scared." Sarafina explained, letting out a sigh and closing her eyes in a silent prayer.
"Let's go home and get this cleaned out," Sarabi said, moving to support Kryptek on the other side while Sarafina took Tasas' place and they padded slowly homeward.
Several hours later Kryptek lay just within the cave, sleeping thanks to some herbs from Rafiki. His mother was pressed close against her son, eyes fixed on him with an intensity that made Tasa scared to look at her. His own mother was sitting calmly beside him, cleaning a bit of dirt from one haunch. Tiredly the half grown let his own head rest on the cool stone, catching sight of Kiveh and Kala sleeping in Sarafinas' front paws through half lidded eyes.
When they had returned the three little cubs had been so terrified that Sarafina hadn't had the heart to scold them for causing the trouble in the first place. Sarabi and Krypteks' mother had cleaned off his wound while Jarelle had run to fetch Rafiki. Zira had swooped in at some point, roughly picking up Nuka and saying she didn't want him playing with any cubs that would put him in such danger. Tasa cracked open an eye as he heard paw steps outside.
"What's going on?" Scar asked loudly, green eyes darting around the cave as he spotted Kryptek and padded over to him. The king gasped loudly as the young lion shifted from the loud noise and knocked off the poultice Rafiki had put on his eye. Tasa looked away. Even after Rafiki had finished Kryptek had still ended up with a messy gash above one eye, and it made the prince queasy to see all the blood.
"What happened?!" Scar half roared, half growled, and Tasa was struck by the simultaneous anger and terror in his voice. "Who was with him?" the king asked, turning to face the pride.
"I was," Tasa answered wearily, pushing himself into a sitting position. "The little cubs made a water buffalo angry and it chased us."
"A water buffalo!" Scar hissed in surprise, but Tasa was too tired to wonder why that fact was so significant. Instead he merely nodded a confirmation and continued speaking,
"Kryptek knocked it over with a leap, but the thing gouged him with its horn. It was all an accident." Wearily the half grown lion looked up at the king, but Scar didn't seem to see him.
"A water buffalo…he got a scar," the king muttered, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Suddenly though he jerked his head up and looked at Tasa, "You were there?"
"Yes…" Tasa replied, hadn't he already said that? But then Scar was lost in his own mind again, staring at the injured Kryptek and muttering to himself.
"Tasa, come outside," his mother whispered urgently in his ear. Groaning slightly from the pain in his stiffened muscles the gold lion followed her. "You need to go and stay with Siika for a little bit, get away from here," Sarabi spoke as soon as they were outside.
"Huh?" he asked, utterly confused. "Why?" Sarabi didn't answer and the desperate look in her eyes sent a shiver down the youngsters' spine. "Mom…" Tasa questioned nervously, "What's wrong mom, why do I have to leave?"
"Please Tasa, just do as I say. I'll come get you when it's safe." The lioness met his gaze, pleading silently with her son to listen.
"Ok mom, I'll go," the young lion relented, turning tiredly toward the ramp.
"I'm sorry sweetie, I know you're exhausted," Sarabi nuzzled him tenderly. "I'll explain later, I promise." Tasa nodded, and slowly padded down the path. At the bottom he looked over his shoulder, his mother had already disappeared back inside. Wearily the cub began pushing through the long grass toward the Elephant graveyard as night fell on the land.
A/N- I felt so bad about the long update that I did another chapter immediately, you can thank me later ;) Anyways, a little explanation about this chapter. I'm drawing from the story A Tale of Two Brothers, to back up why Scar reacts like he does. If anyone doesn't know the story feel free to pm me and I'll either explain it or find a link for you to read the story. That's it, thanks for reading and please Review!