Chapter 8
Nyimba's eyes fluttered open when her father roared loudly to wake up the pride. He usually only gave the alarm when there was danger, but today it signaled the pride to leave.
"Get up Nyimba, it's time to go," her mother nudged her side. Nyimba rose to her paws slowly, stretched, and stood by her mother as they prepared to leave.
"Nyimba?" she heard a foreign voice call. She turned around and saw Asani walking toward her with a small cub, Kefentse. "Can you watch Kefentse while I lead the pride? He is an orphan, so I adopted him for now," he explained.
"Sure, I'll watch over him," she replied and let the cub stand next to her. Asani made his way up to the front next to Antar.
"Northlanders, we are leaving!" Antar roared and took off in a fast walk closely behind Asani.
The landscape changed drastically once they left the mountains. The air was hot and dry, and the ground was covered with short, browning grass. The sun beat down on the lions, making them feel miserable, but they trudged on.
The grasslands switched to a wet, muddy ground as they went further. The landscape caused the Northlanders trouble, and Antar had to tell Asani to slow down so everyone could keep up.
"We're almost there," he reassured and slowed his pace to match the mountain-dwelling lions.
"This place is awful!" Nyimba heard Jamali whisper under her breath,
"Well, we have no where else to go, so be grateful!" Jamali's mother, Hasina, hissed.
"Lions and lionesses of the Northland pride, we have reached the Southland territory. The large den in the distance is where the king lives; I will go speak to him for a moment," Asani announced. "Please stay put; some of our lions and lionesses don't know why you're here."
He took f toward the huge set of rocks in front of them. A cave in the boulders was where the royal lions slept, and the caves and dens all around the rest of the territory were where the rest of the lions slept.
It seemed like hours before Asani returned. With him was a slightly larger version of Asani with graying fur, a tuft on his chin, and a long scar running down his right eye. Nyimba guessed that this was King Shani by the way he walked; he had a slight limp from age, but he held his head with dignity.
"Northlanders, welcome to my pride. My son, Asani, explained my offer to you, which is in effect as long as you're here," the king said loudly. Surprisingly, his voice didn't have the twang that Asani's did. His voice was more powerful and clear.
King Shani limped toward Antar. Nyimba noticed how small and thin the red king was compared to her father, but as long as they stayed in the Southlands, her father held less power.
"Greetings, King Antar. We have a den close to my family's where your pride may stay. Tomorrow, we will give assignments for your lionesses so they can get accustomed to the ways of my pride,' Shani informed her father.
The golden king replied curtly, "Thank you for your humbleness, King Shani. I promise that we will be the best guests you will ever have on your lands."
Shani nodded and added, "Our witch doctor would like to meet yours. She is in the willow den behind the great rocks. Feel free to get settled into your new den, Northlanders." He walked away in a slow gate. Surprisingly, Asani didn't follow. Instead, he walked over to Nyimba.
"Come on, I'll show you to where you'll be staying." Nyimba thought she heard a soft purr in his voice, but she ignored it and followed the red prince, the rest of the pride behind them. Antar took the lead on the other side of Asani. The only lioness who strayed away from the pride was Amani, the medicine lioness and spiritual leader, who was going to see the Southlander's "witch doctor".
Kefentse ran up next to Asani and talked to him for a bit. Nyimba didn't listen; she was too busy paying close attention to the lionesses that were watching her pride with curious eyes. They were skinny and had longer muzzles, like Asani and Shani. Nyimba suppressed a shudder when she saw their long claws stick out of their paws, even though they weren't unsheathing them. One curious cub stumbled over to Nyimba and sniffed her, but the mother ran over growling and swatted her child away. These lionesses aren't going to like us at all, Nyimba thought sadly.
They climbed up large rocks and finally made it to the den. The elders settled in a corner, and the lionesses settled into the usual groups. There was a flat boulder higher up where Antar and Asumini went to sleep so they could be above the pride, like at home.
Asani walked up to Antar and explained the issue of Kefentse. He gave the prince permission to adopt the cub. Asani left the den with Kefentse at his tail, causing Nyimba to assume that he was going to the royal's den to put the travel-weary cub to sleep.
Nyimba jumped onto the boulder and lay beside her mother. Soon enough, she fell asleep, although she was nervous for the next day.
"Chiku, we got some bad news for ya'!" a male hyena growled.
A cleaner hyena that was sprawled out on a rock gnawing on a bone looked down at the one who spoke to her. "Do tell; I just love bad news," she snarled sarcastically.
"There's some new lions comin' into Shani's lands. Big lions," another female hyena that accompanied the male said with a shudder.
The hyena laying on the rock, Chiku, sat up. "How many?" she asked.
"A whole pride," the male answered.
"Are you sure? A whole pride of new lions?" Chiku questioned. When the two other hyenas nodded, Chiku barked angrily and threw the bone she was gnawing on at the two hyenas. They yelped and jumped back, but the male picked up and began to gnaw on the bone. Chiku jumped off of the rock and paced back and forth, muttering curses. The female hyena stood next to Chiku and whispered into her ear, "Remember the weakness." Chiku stopped pacing immediately.
"Well, it seems that we will have to flip this disadvantage." Chiku grinned evilly. She leapt back on the rock and began laughing loudly with menace, "We'll make this new pride know that they aren't welcome here! We'll kill every lion, lioness, and cub if necessary! We will drive out every single one of those beasts until hyenas rule the lands!"
The other two hyenas laughed evilly, and hundreds of other began to join them.
Sorry for taking so long on the update (even though I only have 2 reviewers xD)! This is the end of Book de uno (Book I). I'm going to work on my Warriors fanfic for awhile next because I haven't wrote for it in awhile. Hopefully the suspense of this last chapter will get to everybody and make the wait worthwhile!
~Skyy