Hey you guys! Time for another update! After this chapter, you'll really be hanging, so I'll try to update again on Tuesday. Thanks, new and old reviewers, for reading along. I hope the rest of this tale lives up to your expectations!
Onwards!
"Whoa, I never thought there were so many of them!" Asuma breathed in awe as he looked over the plains from a rock with Tanga and Natin. Hundreds of black-and-white beasts grazed peacefully below them.
"Glad you came now?" Natin remarked. "I nearly brought one down this morning. They're fast suckers."
"I bet I could catch one," Tanga said.
Natin sniffed. "Yeah, right. They're faster and much smarter than they look."
"They're smarter than you, Natin? I never would have guessed!"
"No, that's not-"
Tanga smiled. "I'm kidding… but I would like to catch one. Wouldn't our parents be proud?"
"And possibly angry, too," put in Asuma.
"Stick in the mud," Tanga piped.
"Stop calling me that! I'm just saying we should be careful. They'll be fast, desperate, and let's face it, they are much bigger than us," Asuma said rationally.
"But if we were to work together like Mother and the others do…"
"I think that we've made a mistake."
"We're not going home, Asuma."
"Fine, then I am. This has been a bad idea from the start. I don't know how I even let you trick me into this."
"Bawk bawk baaaaawk!" the young lion heard Natin call behind him as he jumped down from the rock and started home. He cringed.
"I'm not scared, okay! Just, please, knock it off!" he shouted back.
"Fine, then you can watch us as we hunt," Tanga decided. She leaped from the rock, towards the herd. Natin, laughing, followed.
"Hey, hey!" Asuma clambered back onto the now empty rock. He stood there with the fur along his spine standing on end. "No, come back! What if one of us gets hurt?"
"We won't!"
Asuma sat down and growled in frustration. He knew he should be running back home for help, but he also didn't want them to get hurt and be alone. The fact that he too would be in trouble for hunting alone without an older lion kept him rooted to the rock. He sighed. Maybe he was being a stick in the mud.
Maybe he'd just watch
In the distance, Natin coached Tanga for a moment or two before they melded in with the grass. Asuma couldn't find a trace of them, not even of Natin who, next to Kovu, had the darkest fur in the pride. Asuma felt a little proud for his sister's ability to naturally become a huntress, but he also found it frightening. He couldn't see them after all.
The zebra then yelped and stampeded. Asuma stood up, and was relieved to see Tanga and Natin as they erupted from the bush. They chased the zebras as fast as they could.
"Go Tanga, go Natin!" he cheered them on even though he knew they couldn't hear him. They had singled out a young zebra that kicked and called out for the help that wouldn't come. His cousin ran at the front of the young creature, trying to keep it from running back into the herd that rumbled past them. Meanwhile, Tanga held back while she searched for the opportunity to leap upon its back. Asuma couldn't hear him, but he thought Natin shouted to Tanga, "Now!"
Asuma's jaw dropped. "Noooo!" As she leaped into the air, the zebra had kicked out perfectly, hitting her in the face with its hind leg. She went down hard. Natin allowed the zebra to escape so he could help her. Asuma leaped from the rock and raced down the hill, his eyes locked on Tanga until the zebra herd engulfed the hapless pair. Helplessly, he stood at the edge of the stampede while he scanned for them. When he couldn't find them, he pushed forward with a leap, but was immediately overwhelmed. He couldn't find them, and was moved along by the panicked flow of the herd. Unless he wanted to be trampled, he had no choice but to run with them, hot and scared bodies leaping every which way. He gasped, terrified as one soared over top of him as if he were any other obstacle. Smart, Natin had said, ha! These beasts were struck stupid with fright.
The herd finally out ran an exhausted Asuma, who was left alone to watch them continue on, taking their cloud of dust with them. He coughed and looked around when it had nearly cleared up and realized just how far he had traveled. There was no trace of Tanga, Natin, or anything that struck him as familiar at all. He had been out in the Pride Lands with his mother, father, Simba, or Nala accompanying him, but they had never gone far from Pride Rock. What more, he wondered if his escalating fear blinded him to familiarity.
"Hey, is anyone there?" He called out several more times, but there came no answer. He started to panic, his chest heaving with the beginning of a panicked sob. He knew he should have gone back home! Now he was lost and in big trouble. But he knew enough to realize he would have to follow the musky, trampled trail of the zebra herd back the way he had come.
He sat down heavily for a moment. "This is a fine one, Asuma…" he muttered.
"Mother and Father are sure to be furious. Hmmm… great…"