Chapter 9

Nyimba felt a nudge in her side and a growl in her ear, "Wake up or you'll miss the first day of being a Southlander. Even princesses have to do work!"

She opened her eyes and Jamali was standing over her with claws extended. "I'm up. You can leave me alone now," Nyimba half-growled, half-yawned. She stood up and walked out of the den to join the other lionesses. A skinny black Southland lioness walked over to the Northlanders, followed by the rest of the Southland lionesses.

"Greetings Northlanders," the black female said loudly. "I'm Sauda, Queen of the Southlands. Today, my lionesses and I are going to teach your how to hunt in our lands. Where is your queen?"

Nyimba's mother caught her daughter's eye and signaled that they move forward. Asumini limped forward with her head held high, still full of dignity although the fire weakened her. Nyimba followed close behind her, still wary of the Southlanders' watchful eyes.

"I am Queen Asumini, and this is my daughter, Nyimba," Asumini told the black queen.

"Follow me please. My lionesses will mix with yours and help guide them to the place we will go to today," Sauda explained. Then, she jumped down the rocks, one at a time, to the ground below. The others followed her path. Nyimba walked beside her mother until they broke into a sprint. The Southlanders were much faster than the Northlanders, and they could run for longer periods of time. Luckily, they reached the destination before the Northlanders ran out of energy.

It was a long, stretched out grassland with tall grass. In certain spots the ground was sticky, and others it was wet and muddy. A large herd of black and white striped hoofed animals that were bigger then deer grazed far ahead of them.

Sauda gave no instructions, but stalked forward silently. Two more Southland lionesses followed her. They crept through the tall grass silently until they were close enough to the herd to pounce, but they didn't; they waited patiently. The herd continued to graze while they waited, until Sauda finally leaped into the air and pounced on a smaller, weaker animal. It died instantly. The herd stampeded away, but the Southland lionesses' speed was equal, and the two that had followed Sauda chased after them. They each took down an animal and dragged them to the one Sauda had killed.

"These are zebras. They rarely come into our territory, but they are easy to hunt. Our hunting parties are split into groups of three with one leader. Lionesses hunt for the pride, but lions hunt for themselves. We work together to take down bigger animals, but zebras and antelope are easily taken down separately," Sauda explained.

"I'm going to split you up into groups of three. Two of my lionesses in each group will teach one of yours how to hunt, seeing as we have larger numbers."

Sauda split the lionesses up. Nyimba's teachers were Zahur, a pretty light red lioness, and Almasi, a beautiful golden lioness with stunning blue eyes.

"So, Nyimba, show us what you can do," Almasi asked kindly. "Please use your prior knowledge and what you saw the Queen do to pounce on me. Claws held back, please!" She purred the last instructions.

Nyimba didn't say a word as she ran a few feet away from the lionesses. She crouched on the ground, just as the Queen did, and waited. Every part of her body froze as she waited; she even controlled her breath to slow. Then, she bunched her muscles and ran. She pounced on Almasi, barreling her to the ground.

"That was good!" Zahur praised. Nyimba got off of Almasi.

"You Northlanders are a bit strong, unfortunately," Almasi said through gritted teeth as she limped slightly.

"Did I hurt you? Oh, I'm so sorry!" Nyimba sputtered. She felt weak at the knees at the thought of hurting one of these nice lionesses that were only helping her.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing," Almasi reassured her as she licked her arm.

Zahur walked over to Nyimba and batted her head playfully. Then, she sprinted away laughing, "I bet we're still faster!"
Almasi giggled, "If you don't catch her, she will never let this go."

Nyimba took off in a sprint after Zahur. Unfortunately, the red lioness was faster and had a head start. Also, she knew the terrain better. Zahur managed to jump across a small gorge, but Nyimba fell in. The water at the bottom of the gorge was shallow, so she managed to get out of it quickly, but getting up the sheer cliff was another problem.

She sat in the mud and growled silently at herself for falling; she had sprained her paw in the accident. "Help!" she called loudly, but no lion or lioness heard her. Another creature did, though. It swam toward her silently, intent on the kill.

Nyimba felt the eerie feeling of something watching her, but when she turned around, she saw nothing. She called for help again, but this time as a reply, she heard a strange hissing noise. She stood up and turned around to see a big green reptile with large, sharp teeth swimming in the water toward her. Nyimba screamed louder and louder, but nobody came as the animal drew in closer.

I'll have to fight it, she thought, except my paw is useless! The animal got on the land and walked toward her. Nyimba saw that it moved slower on land, so she used this disadvantage to run away. Her paw burned, but she kept running. Eventually, she ran out of breath and her eyes blackened out. She fell onto her side panting heavily.

"No!" she screamed. She attempted to rise to her paws, but it was no use. The animal was getting closer and hissing very angrily. When it reached her, it grabbed her leg in its mouth. Nyimba roared in pain when the knife-like teeth sunk into her skin, drawing blood. It dragged her into the water, which suffocated her.

This is it, she thought as she became light-headed. She didn't even fight back; she knew it was over. The last thing she remembered was a shadow over her, and the cry of the green creature.

"Nyimba…" a faint voice called.

"She's lost too much blood, Alba!" someone cried.

"No, this has happened many times. I know what to do," a foreign voice said before putting her paws on Nyimba's chest. She coughed up a mixture of blood and water, but remained unconscious.

"Next, I will give her something that will let her sleep until she wants to wake up."

"When will that be?" someone questioned in a worried tone.

"Whenever the time is right," the foreign voice growled impatiently.

"Please, let that be soon," one voice whispered. Another lion licked her injured leg.