XVII
An Old Face
Moons - full moons - past quickly. The teen lions continued to thrive and grow. Meersha suddenly seemed to gain weight, as did the other two. Before, they were all skinny. In fact, nothing more than skin and bone and fur. But now, they had fat and muscle. Banjija and Gatu had well built bodies, while Meersha was now the normal size of a lioness.
She was laying down one moon, licking her paw. Just about an hour ago, the small group had caught a zebra, and were now full. Before long, Meersha looked up to the great moon, her tail swishing around in the swaying blades of the night breeze. Her eyes soon traveled to the stars, and she yawned.
Down the small rise of land she was on, a few yards away, Gatu and Banjija were ending a playful wrestling game. Laughing loudly, the two young lions trotted over to Meersha.
"Nice work, Gatu!" laughed Banjija as he batted a giant paw at him. "But you're gonna need more practice if-"
"If what?" snarled Gatu, still laughing, though as he lowered himself to the ground. Then he pounced Banjija and stayed atop his side. "If I wanna keep you like this?"
Banjija immediately kicked the other lion off and they sat down by Meersha, with a few pants.
"Woo, Meersha! Ya should've seen it," Banjija exclaimed, catching his breath. "It was almost non-stop!"
"That sounds wrong," giggled his sister.
Banjija made a face and replied, "Not like that!"
And Gatu laughed as he cried, "Sick!"
"Hey, d' ya guys really think we're like a pride now?" Gatu then commented, standing up. His mane fell slightly. Now the part that was like a Mohawk once, had many strands coming down to the joints connecting his legs to his body.
Banjija shook his head with a grin. "No! Prides need a leader, and the leaders make cubs with the lionesses. Now 'cause Meersha's my sis, I can't be the leader. And you obviously can't be the leader," he joked.
"Take that back!" Gatu said with a grin. "You're just asking for another fight!"
"C'mon, ya guys," groaned Meersha as she rolled over on her side. "Please. Let's just go t' sleep."
The lions chuckled and Banjija nodded as he laid down saying, "She's right. We don't wanna tire ourselves out before another hunt."
"What'd ya mean? You do practically nothing in the hunt," laughed Gatu.
"Ohreally?"
"Enough." demanded Meersha.
"Fine. But Gatu, we're settlin' this in the morning."
"I'm lookin' forward t' it," Gatu snickered.
"There's enough meat left on that zebra if you're still hungry in the morning. Remember? We only hunt when we need to." Meersha warned as she closed her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," muttered her brother as he laid his head down on his front paws.
Soon, the three were asleep.
Meersha awoke. She looked around, before getting up and swallowing. Her throat was dry.
"Crap," the teen lioness uttered.
She stalked over behind the tree, and continued to walk down a little trail in the savannah where the grass had been flattened. Just a few yards away, she stopped at the edge of a pond, and dipped her head to lick the at the surface. After her thirst was satisfied, she straightened up with another yawn. But, abruptly she gasped, looking down again to see that the water was churning.
"No." she mumbled.
Meersha took a step back, but her eyes were latched to the changing surface. Before long, the reflection of the moon and the stars in the night sky, had changed to a picture of a new landscape. No. She had seen it before. It was not new. The misty savannah was in the water now and, after just one moment, another thing came. A creature. A black one. Its eyes, crimson blood as it began to stalk around. Meersha squinted, trying to make out what it was. But it was still too dark. It walked on four legs, though. Yet it still seemed different as it moved. After a year of studying other predators - and she could tell this was a predator - watching how they moved and reacted, she could not tell what this was. It seemed something from out of the world she knew. With each careful step it took, the body seemed to move, like a slithering snake...but with legs.
Like before, when the creature saw her, it glared, and moved closer. The fur on the back of her neck began to bristle as she suddenly showed exposed her teeth in challenge at the water. With that, the creature hissed and before she knew what had happened, there was a loud splash, and her back met the ground as she stared up at the angry face of an unknown enemy. The eyes narrowed on her, the ears black folded back to camouflage with the rest its pitch head and body. She could feel the tips of its claws slowly beginning to dig into her flesh. Its breath felt warm as it came out on her skin, making the rest of her fur prickle as the stench of a rotting body came with it. And, before Meersha could even struggle, the claw suddenly dug into her flesh and she cried out in agony. The cry out be heard from miles away in the open savannah.
"Meersha!" Gatu gasped as he looked around and jumped up, seeing that she was gone.
"What the hell...?" asked Banjija.
They looked up at the sound of another cry.
"C'mon!" Gatu snarled, and they both ran into the trail, following Meersha's scent.
The second scream had come from the sight of sparkling fangs that suddenly came from behind curled lips. As it arched its neck, Meersha tried to back away, but the claws had her trapped.
Then, before she looked up again, the creature was off of her. A splash sounded and she gasped, gathering her wits to see it fall back in. But she wasn't alone. Quivering, Meersha slowly got up.
"Meersha!" Gatu cried.
"Get away from her!" snarled Banjija.
The two ran over and leapt in front of her, roaring out at the stranger. Meersha blinked. This stranger...he, or she, or whoever had jumped the creature! Had saved her! For the third time she was saved from that horrible nightmare that came from the water.
"No!" Meersha cried, jumping up and between the males. "He - or she, saved me!" she exclaimed.
"Huh?" they both asked.
Now the six eyes were on Meersha's savior once more. It was a lioness. And a young one at that. In fact, she seemed as old as Meersha, Banjija and Gatu themselves. There was silence as they studied her, eyes crawling about her dark body and face. Who was she? Something stirred in Meersha's mind, for this lioness seemed familiar.
Finally, a quiet, nervous voice came from the stranger. "...Meersha?" she asked.
Meersha blinked, and took a step forward, nose twitching and ears perked. She then gasped, having put it into place. "Lusala!" she cried. She jumped forward and nuzzled the frightened lioness, not that she wasn't shaken up herself at that incident that just occurred. "What happened? Why are you here?" she asked, taking a step back to examine her long-lost friend again. But Lusala seemed like nothing but skin and bone. She was smaller than Meersha, and much skinnier. Even skinnier than Meersha herself had been before they had their first hunt. They could see her ribcage, in the dark!
Lusala gave a shaky sigh and slowly sat down, for it seemed as if she would collapse if she stay standing. Her ears were tattered and ripped, and there were a few balding parts in her coat where chunks of fur had been lost. She was blanketed with several scratches, scars and even a few bruises.
"What happened to you, Lusala?" asked Meersha, now more gently.
"Sheesh," exclaimed Banjija, circling the lioness with curiosity. "Run into a rhino or something?"
"I...I didn't even know you all were alive!" she cried out suddenly. "Meersha! And Banjija!" Then she looked to Gatu with her brown eyes. "K-Kasha? Is that you? You've changed..."
Meersha shook her head gravely. "Kasha...died."
Lusala gasped.
"Don't seem so surprised," exclaimed Banjija, sitting down. "That's Gatu."
"Gatu?"
Gatu nodded. "Yeah..." he said, somewhat hurt that he could not be recognized.
"We didn't even know you were alive." stated Banjija then.
"Mother said all the other cubs became stars," Meersha replied, almost sadly, but there was a tone of relief in her voice.
"Yes...I thought they had, too...My sister did..."
Meersha gasped. "Pashi? Oh, I'm so sorry,"
Lusala nodded, looking at the ground as she replied, "I'm sorry about Kasha..."
There was an awkward silence, before Gatu said, "C'mon now. Let's get back."
"Back?"
"We have a tree," explained Banjija, nodding his head to where the tree sat on the rise of the land. "Just over there. And there's fresh zebra meat, too, if you're interested."
Lusala got up, licking her lips. "Meat?"
"Yeah. And ya don't have t' act like a cub t' get some!" laughed Banjija.
"What?"
"Uh, nothing." he said at his sister's cold gaze.
Minutes later, they were back at their grove. Banjija and Gatu laid by the trunk of it, while Meersha kept Lusala company, a few yards away by the carcass. She ate hungrily, ripping at the meat. Meersha had tried a couple times to ask her questions about her life, but Lusala was too busy, chomping and ripping at the bloody guts. So she waited patiently. When Lusala finished, she looked at her friend questioningly.
"So what's happened?" she asked.
Lusala sighed and said, "Please, tell me what you've been up to lately." She began to lick her paws. "Thank you for the meat...if I could just rest."
Meersha nodded with a smile. "Of course..."
So she told what had happened to her, her brother and Gatu, ever since Kinara had helped them escape, all the way to this night.
"A creature? In the water?" Lusala asked.
Meersha nodded. "Yeah...but let's not talk about this right now." For now, she planned to push everything of that creature out of her mind. Maybe then she would never have to fear water... "So, what's happened to you?"
"Well, after my sister was killed, I fled southwest with Naynana. We were lucky enough to escape..." and that's when she gasped. "Meersha!"
"Naynana survived? What about the other-"
"Meersha! Your shoulder blades!" cried Lusala.
Meersha blinked and turned her head sideways to see and feel warm, crimson liquid oozing from the base joints of her legs and her body, near her shoulders. She got up and instinctively began licking the wounds.
"You're bleeding!"
"It must've come from that...thing." exclaimed the yellow-gold lioness as she continued to clean the blood off.
"Does it hurt?" asked Lusala before she got up and started licking her other shoulder blade.
Meersha flinched at Lusala's rough tongue but shook her head. "No. It's fine." Then she sighed. "It's great t' have another lioness around here. Being around only males...uck."
They both giggled like cubs as Banjija and Gatu came over.
"What's so funny?" asked Banjija with a frown.
But Gatu gasped. "Meersha!" he instantly said and quickly stepped over to help them lick the blood off.
Meersha groaned in pain, and laid down. Her brother soon joined, and she was surrounded by her friends and brother.
"Meersha, seriously. What was that thing?" questioned Gatu.
"I...don't know..."
Banjija rolled his eyes. "Oh. Now you're believing it, too, eh?"
"No, Banjija. There really was something. I saw it." exclaimed Lusala, which made Meersha grin and finally having someone on her side. "It was big and black, and it looked like it was going to attack her, so I jumped at it."
"But you were so weak," Gatu replied. "Why would you do that?"
"It didn't matter if I died. I had no friends or family left...not until I found you. Besides, I saw a lioness who needed help..."
Meersha's grin grew into a broad smile, but it didn't last long. She whimpered once, laying her head down on her paws, her eyelids becoming heavy as she sighed. Blackness began to fill her vision as she heard the distant voices of the lions who were just right by her, still licking. Her head began to spin and it felt as if a great force was coercing her to the ground. Before the lioness could do anything, everything went black.
"Meersha?" a worried voice said. "Meersha? Are you OK?"
"Huh?" uttered the lioness.
She opened her eyes to see Lusala's face just a few inches from hers. Meersha weakly sat up and turned her head to look at her wounds, which were now giant scabs.
"What happened? she asked.
"It's OK. You lost too much blood I think. But we helped clean you up. You're not bleeding anymore." the other lioness answered.
Meersha nodded, and looked around. It was morning and they were near the tree, but there was Banjija, nor Gatu.
"Where are the boys?" she questioned.
Lusala said, "I think they said something about a competition in hunting."
Meersha rolled her eyes and growled, "I told them we had enough zebra meat...Besides, I never knew males would be so interested in hunting."
"So, Meersh. What was that thing?"
"I don't know," Meersha replied. "But whatever it was, I never wanna see it again."
Lusala nodded and they both stood, beginning to walk to the northeast.
"It's great to finally have fresh meat, fresh water, a place to stay and sleep peacefully. And most of all to be around family again." commented Lusala in relief.
"Well, like I said, it's great t' have another lioness around here," remarked Meersha with a chuckle.
Then Lusala asked hopefully, with a tone of embarrassment in her voice, "Would you mind...teaching me to hunt?"
Meersha blinked, then laughed, "Of course! I'll tell ya all I know." There was a sign of relief in Lusala's sigh, but Meersha went on. "But first...I told ya what happened t' us. Now, what about you? And where's Naynana?"
She sighed and looked at the ground, then looked back up at Meersha. "OK. Like I said," she explained as they walked into the savannah. "Naynana and I had managed to escape to the southwest. There was an old lioness named...uh...actually I'm sad to say I have forgotten. But it was so long ago it seemed...after all of this..."
"It's OK." reassured Meersha. "Go on."
Lusala smiled weakly and nodded. "So, she took care of us for a few suns. But, she said she had to find someone, so she hunted as much as she could, and left us with full moons' worth of meat! It would've been great if the next sun, after she left, hyenas hadn't gotten it all." Meersha gasped and Lusala shook her head. "Don't worry. Naynana and I both got away before anything happened t' us."
"Why was that lioness alone, anyway?" Meersha then questioned.
"I'm not really sure...she was old...senile?" the dark gold lioness suggested, and they both laughed. "But seriously, we were grateful for her...Things went downhill again, though...Naynana and I wandered where ever. We were cold at night, too hot in the day. We were always hungry, and most of the time thirsty. If we found a water hole, it was always filled with hippos or other animals around the edges like antelope or predators. We scavenged what we could, but mostly the vultures and hyenas got what was left from a kill by other hunters. Before long, we met up with Daba."
"Daba lived, too?" Meersha squealed in delight.
"Yeah...the thing is...well, I'll get to that part..."
Meersha's _expression quickly saddned.
"The three of us traveled for awhile, continuing to scavenge. The thing is, we had scrambled upon a nesting area for ostriches. We didn't know it until one of them started to chase us and...killed Daba." Meersha gasped, but before she could say anything, her friend went on. "So Naynana and I grew into adolescents, and that's when we found Toga."
"Toga!"
"Yes. He had grown much, too. There was another rough teen lion with him. His name was Kumba. Toga told us how they met out in the wild 'cause Kumba had also been chased away from his family by rogues when he was younger. Naynana and I didn't like it much, though, since Toga and Kumba kept talking about how they would take over a pride themselves. We kept saying how it was wrong, but they also said how it wasn't fair those rogues got to do it to them, so that means they get t' do it t' a pride."
Meersha rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Guys...they're always like that. I think Banjija's thinkin' the same thing sometimes."
"What about Gatu?"
She shrugged. "Gatu's...different. I don't know..."
"Well, anyway, we all got together as like a small 'pride' in a way. We traveled for a bit, and were about to try hunting, when we found the territory borders of another pride. Toga and Kumba saw this as their chance, and wanted to go in and take over, but Naynana and I had our doubts. We were arguing about it, when suddenly not one, not two, not even three, but four huge lions came charging at us!"
"Four?!"
"Yeah. They were the leaders of that pride, and still youthful and strong...They ended up hurting me and Kumba, but not half as bad as Naynana...they had gotten her leg."
"What?!" Meersha blurted out.
"...One pounced Nayana and they all began to bite her, rake her..." Lusala whispered, looking down and walking very slowly now.
Meerhsa could tell the memories were too hard and so she said, "You don't have to talk about it."
Lusala looked up and shook her head, her brown eyes now somewhat watery. "No. It's OK...Those...'leaders' got Naynana. They were about to kill her, and would've gotten away with more than her left foreleg, if Toga hadn't gotten in the way! Toga tried to fight them off and Kumba and I came back to help, too, but there were too much on him then! They killed him!"
"No!" cried Meersha.
"They did." uttered Lusala.
"What's goin' on here?" a muffled voice said.
It was Banjija. He held a hare in his mouth as he stood in front of them now, just as Gatu joined him, standing by the lion with some kind of rodent in his mouth.
"And with one eye," remarked Gatu proudly, with a full mouth.
Banjija rolled his eyes, but when Meersha looked at Lusala, Lusala nodded, and Meersha looked at her brother and half-brother.
"We have bad news." she stated. "Toga's dead."
There was silence, followed by Banjija spitting the hare out and replying, "We already knew that. I mean Mother said-"
"Mom was wrong," snapped Meersha, now sitting down.
Quickly, Lusala told them what she had told Meersha. There was another time for silent grieving, before Gatu then queried, after spitting out his own dead animal, "Where's Naynana and that Kumba guy?"
"Kumba helped take Naynana away from the lions who had started to feast on Toga's body," Lusala weakly exclaimed. "I - almost in shock - had tried to get those lions away from him. Even though he was dead, I still felt as if I had to save him...I ended up being chased by the leaders, far to the east. For suns I wandered alone, and though I was already a bag of bones, I still grew worse. One night, I had thought I smelt some familiar scents lingering in the air, and so I followed it. I didn't know if my nose was playing tricks on me.
"Many times my nose, ears and eyes had done that to me; when I thought I had seen my mother, my sister, or anyone else in the family. Those tricks grew worse when I was seperated from Naynana and Kumba, though that was my fault. A few times I thought I had even seen them. But every time I thought someone was near, it ended up being a rock, a tree, a hill, a small water hole, or even just nothing.
"I was so desperate. That night I was taking the chance for another broken heart. When I followed the trail, I saw a lioness being attacked by something big and dark. I was weak, and thought, if I could save her myself, I would, because I knew I was going to die anyway. That's when I jumped it. Except, instead of it turning to attack me, it fell into the water, and just...disappeared...
"Then I found out, it was Meersha. And that you two were alive...and that it wasn't a trick!"
Lusala stood up and smiled, which shocked everyone. She turned to Meersha and asked, "So, the sun is new. Ya gonna teach me how t' hunt or what?"
Meersha couldn't help a smile break into her _expression as she stood and nodded. Suddenly the mood seemed much brighter as Banjija strutted over to Lusala.
"Hey, Lusala," he said. "My sister's great at hunting, we all know that. But if ya wanna learn from the master." Banjija was now smirking and placing a paw on his chest.
Everyone laughed and Meersha replied, "Females only! You two already caught your breakfast. Besides, I've been around guys too long."
With that, Meersha took off, and Lusala followed. It only took a few minutes for Lusala to quickly slow down, though.
"You all right?" asked Meersha, slowing down on purpose to trot by her friend.
Panting, she nodded. "Yeah...I'm fine I just..."
Lusala stopped as the tried to catch her breath. Meersha frowned.
"I forgot, you're weak." Meersha said.
"Huh?"
"I mean, look at ya. You're skin, bone and wounded! Listen, I'll hunt. Then we can eat and we'll end up sunbathing for the rest of the day. Once you get well, and fatter," Meersha then laughed. "once you're the normal size a lioness should be, then I'll teach ya t' hunt. For today, just watch."
With no objections, Meersha led the weaker lioness to a hill so that she could over see the grasslands. Luckily, Meersha quickly caught a wildebeest and Lusala joined her for the morning meal. After hunger was satisfied, the two went back to the tree and laid in the shade, ever so often moving upon a flat rock to bask. As this went on, the two drifting in and out of sleep, Meersha explained to Lusala about hunting. About every technique she learned and now knew, from every animal she ever studied. She answered Lusala's questions about how to do what and why and where. Lusala never got bored as she listened carefully. She had never hunted before, and was grateful for the couple of fresh meals she had recently had, that day and last night. So the yearning to learn on her own had caught up. After all, what if she was alone? What if something happened to make her be without friends or family again? She'd have to learn to take care of herself, and even just Meersha's words could mean the line between life and death.
Lusala began to admire Meersha and her knowledge, as well as her skills in the physical hunt itself. Not to mention tracking and stalking.
"Sometimes it'll take suns to find just a hint of scent," explained Meersha. "And even after that, the tracking could last suns more. And, if that's not enough, just keep in mind, you won't always get the meal, for a number of reasons. Sometimes you have to go back to scavenging."
"It's hard to imgaine you doing that, Meersh." replied Lusala, tail swishing around as she laid in the shade on her stomach.
Meersha chuckled, pleased as her own tail swept across the flat rock that she was basking on. "Thanks, I think."
"No, seriously. You're great at hunting! And to do it on your own? Or with just two lions? You're like a pride in one lioness!"
Meersha laughed again. But she couldn't get that thought out of her head. She was great at hunting after all, even if she didn't want to admit it. The boys themselves saw her better than them even!
"Don't worry, Lusala," she then said. "You've had a crappy life ever since we were driven from our family. But now we can live how we were supposed to: hunting and sunbathing and sleeping! Being nothing but happy, lazy lionesses!"
They both laughed.