CHAPTER 7 – The Bargain
Two male lions were lying on the scorched ground, lazily chewing at the bones of an antelope, which they've craftily 'obtained' from a careless pack of hyenas not more than an hour ago. Their names were Tsavo and Giza, and they have been rogues from the time they were both old enough to hunt. They did not possess the law of inheritance in their former pride, so they had to leave in order for the alpha male to take reign. Their task was to find a new pride for themselves, although until now they've been doing just fine together alone. The omnipresent drought made them move further near places where there was still water and food, and chance wanted it to be the border territories between the Outlands- a bare desert area, and the Pridelands- a place inhabited by a strong group of lions, once plentiful and fertile. But Tsavo and Giza to their opinion did not have anything to look for in the Pridelands, as the pride there was nowadays having a lot of trouble with feeding themselves. Their game had moved close to the borders, and the males decided, that when the herds eventually move on, they are going to follow them. For now they had enough, either taking their food away from the local hyenas, or feeding on them. As the sun blazed and the meat was running short, they both laid beside one another, deciding to take a small, few hour nap. They were already almost asleep when one of them heard some rustle in a nearby shrub.
-What's that? – asked Tsavo, lifting his head.
-Shut up – Giza swiftly rebuked him. They both stood up, nervously gazing at the bushes. They were convinced to be alone here, as the hyenas ran away in terror at the first sight of them. But the brothers saw that there were no hyenas indeed, as from beyond the tall grass came two adult lionesses, slowly walking towards them without any fear. One of them was older, but the second one… Yes, the second one was something, all right.
-Well would you look at that… - said Tsavo with a smile.
-I wonder which one of us has such an attractive effect on all these females – Giza grinned back at him, receiving a playful tap of his brother's tail. They both made a few steps forward, halting right in front of their two guests.
-Brother, correct me if I am wrong – the younger male said with irony – but aren't these Pridelanders a little far away from their home?
Giza just purred joyfully, observing the exteriorly calm and confident expressions of the lionesses' faces with his one green eye.
-You aren't hunting, are you? No, there's only two of you. So what is your business here?
-Heh, straight to the point, I like that – said the older lioness. She seemed pretty confident by charcter. – As a matter of fact, we do have business concerning you and your companion. My name is Sarafina, and this is my daughter, Nala.
-Hello there… Nala – said Giza in his silent, deep tone, making the young female nervous with the way he looked at her.
-We're here to find out what are your plans with the Pridelands – Sarafina continued. Tsavo snorted and confronted her, smiling mischievously.
-Well, didn't our little friend Zira tell you already? We plan to stay here peacefully, not bothering you Pridelanders at all, and when the right time comes, we'll just be on our way.
-Oh, is that so? – Sarafina gave him a similar, mysterious smile. – Wouldn't that be a shame that you will leave without even meeting the rest of the girls. I'm sure they'd like you.
-Yes? Well, I'm sure we'd like them too, judging from the ones we already know – Giza said calmly, still not taking his eye off Nala – but I'm sure you wouldn't like to have newcomers in your pride, since you barely manage to cope with the drought. I'm sure I wouldn't like that, if I were your king.
Sarafina gave away a long snicker hearing these words. She went pass Tsavo and halted in front of his older brother.
-And who might you be, mister silent lion?
He purred delicately.
-I am Giza. The tan guy over there is my younger brother. His name's Tsavo. Forgive us for not introducing ourselves…
Both the lionesses gave a bow of their heads, smiling.
-Pleased to meet you – Nala said a little nervously. The sound of her voice attracted Tsavo's attention this time.
-So, Giza, funny thing for you to speak of our king – Sarafina continued. - You see, we think that this might be what you two can help us with. Because my pride's harsh situation is not quite because of the drought. It's because of the fact that the king is actually… good for nothing.
The brothers now became curious, looking at the lionesses with interest for a few moments. Then Tsavo laughed once again.
-Oh Sarafina, I hope you are not the jealous queen of the Pridelands, seeking revenge for your broken heart!
The lioness snorted.
-No, I am not Scar's mate. He doesn't even have a mate. He is such a pathetic ruler, that all of the lionesses are disgusted by his very presence.
These words made the brothers gave each other a communicative look.
-And I suppose you want us to help you out of this situation? – Tsavo confronted her.
-Precisely – Sarafina replied with a grin. Her answer made him and Giza burst out laughing.
-Hahaha! Oh, what do you think, brother? Have you ever wanted to be king of the Pridelands? – the older rogue was rolling on the ground with amusement.
-Aw hell no!
Nala looked at her mother, who seemed to be saying "we've got them now" with the expression of her face. Then Sarafina addressed the males again.
-Yes, if you help us overthrow king Scar, the throne will be yours. And, of course, the females will be for ever grateful. But there is still one condition that we have.
The brothers ceased their laughter, stood up on their paws and calmed down, seeing how the lionesses gazed at them seriously.
-Uh, yeah, of course. What do you want us to do, ladies? – asked Tsavo.
-Besides disposing of Scar, you'll still have to take care of his stinking minions. You do know that he uses a whole hoard of hyenas as his personal guardians, don't you?
The young male frowned with distaste.
-Er, yeah, we know that.
-So you see, you will also need to help us scare the king's army away after he's gone. This way they won't steal most of our food as they do now, and the kingdom will be as happy and prosperous as it once was. You both seem to be strong and take care of yourselves well, so are you up for it?
Tsavo looked her in the eyes, then at Nala, then at his brother. He snorted with astonishment.
-Giza, do you believe these cheeky females? Plotting to use us to overthrow their king and take on a hoard of hyenas?
The older lion was more calm than his brother. He eyed the two Pridelanders closely, and then turned towards Tsavo.
-Tell me, how many hyenas have we killed during our life in the wild? – he said calmly.
-Uhh… a whole bunch of them, I guess.
-So that means that we can still take on a whole bunch more, can't we? – Giza confronted his brother, making him feel a little embarrassed for his hesitation.
-Sure we can! I mean, we both are young and strong and all…
The older lion turned with a grin and approached Sarafina.
-So, do we have an agreement?
-We sure do – said the lioness with a smile, tying her tail with Giza's. Tsavo repeated the same gesture with Nala, even if she still did look at him with restrain.
-So who's the dead guy? – asked the younger brother.
-His name is Scar. Skinny, brown fur, black mane. Easy to remember. Oh, and he has a scar on his left eye…
-Let me guess, this is why they call him Scar?
-Indeed – Sarafina rolled her eyes. - We'll be waiting for your success impatiently. There's two of you, and you're both much younger than him, so I guess we won't have to wait for long.
-Not at all – the brothers gave them a content look.
-Well, in that case, I think we can leave you now… - Sarafina halted, as Nala came to her and whispered something in her ear. – Oh, I almost forgot. Would you be so kind as to not tell Zira about our conversation today? I suppose she's… a little to delicate to understand such things.
Both of the brothers snorted.
-Pah! Delicate… - laughed Tsavo.
-You have our word – Giza answered, nodding. Then they both watched as the two lionesses gave them their final look of good bye. A very promising one for the future, they were sure.
AN: The plot is revealed. Sarafina and Nala intend to secretly use the rogues to assassinate Scar and banish the hyenas in order to end the time of crisis in the Pridelands. Now that's a pair of angry cats! And the males seem to like their idea, just as they like the lionesses, so… Scar- beware!
About the names of the males- Giza means 'darkness' in kiswahili, while Tsavo is the name of a region in Kenya, which the infamous man-eating maneless lions come from.