The Huntress at Sunset

6. Llasani

Nengwalamwe looked up as the momentary sounds of his brother's approach reached the soft fur-fringed tips of his ears. He didn't have to look; the sounds alone told him that the young lion was coming. He knew he would soon feel his brother's breath on his cheek and the rasp of his tongue through his fur. Nengwalamwe turned round to see his younger brother, Talashi, approaching slowly.

Talashi stopped by his brother's side and lowered his hindquarters, bending his knees as he gently slid his hind legs across the bare earth beneath him. When the warmed earth touched his belly he dropped his chest and forequarters, placing his head by Nengwalamwe's, his tongue stretched out between his black-edged lips. As Nengwalamwe had predicted, Talashi reached out and licked him from cheek to ear, tasting the salt mingled with the dust in the short fur. He left a damp swath of slicked back hair that showed to all that, as long as he presented no threat, he loved his brother. Nengwalamwe tried to appear indifferent to his younger brother's affection. He remained quite still for a few seconds then began to purr very gently just for his own satisfaction. He felt sure that Talashi could feel the vibrations through his flank. Talashi made as if to lick again. For a moment holding his head over his brother's, unsure if another lick would be welcome. His eyes brightened and he suddenly nipped Nengwalamwe's inviting ear.

"Hi, Nengwe!"

Nengwalamwe pushed himself up roughly, opening his jaws and rolling a gently voiced warning that carried far from the hollow. Talashi jumped up and bounced away, pushing up and to one side with both forepaws, carrying his head from any danger.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to hurt you." Talashi cowered at the sight of his brother's long flesh tearing teeth that shone yellow-brown in the harsh, piercing light of midmorning.

"Watch it, Talashi! Hey, what do you think you're doing bothering me anyway?"

Talashi ventured forward holding his head low, exposing his neck to his brother's teeth.

"I only came to ask you if you wanted to come out with me and the others."

"What? More cub games? Come on, I'm much too old for all that. Leave me alone, and quit biting me." He swayed uneasily from side to side, rocking on his fore legs, shifting his weight from one side to the other.

"Llasani is coming." Talashi spoke quietly; he wasn't sure how his brother might react to the promise of their lithe and sensual cousin. Nengwalamwe paused from his head waving and closed his mouth, his cheeks relaxing and his ears turning back a little.

"She is? Are you sure?" His eyes opened wider and he dropped his gaze to the ground for a moment. "Well, perhaps..." He stepped forwards and sat back, tucking his tail around his hind legs. "Perhaps, I'll..." He thought better than to show just how much he would have liked to come along. "Be along in..." Then he felt something else happening which told him that he had better not get up just yet. He was sure it would show his impressionable younger brother just how much he really liked his cousin Llasani. "Yes, well, I'll just be along in a moment. There, you - err, come on Tashi, help me out here! You 'run along' or whatever it is that you cubs do. I'll be along in a moment." He slumped down to the ground, somewhat embarrassed.

"Are you all right Nengwe? Are you coming or what?"

"Tashi, I'm, er… fine. I said I'll be along in a moment, you go on." Nengwalamwe shifted his weight uncomfortably, pulling a hind leg from under his stomach. "And Tashi?"

"Yeah, Nengwe?" said the adolescent as he turned to leave, quite unaware of his brother's awkwardness.

"Quit calling me Nengwe - I'm a lion now, so call me by my name: Nengwalamwe, son of Nengwala."

"OK, Nengwa… lamwe, see ya later!" Talashi turned to go then swung his head back, "Do ya think I'll get my mane soon too? I hate being a cub all the time."

"Tashi, there's more to being a lion than just having a mane." Nengwalamwe answered warmly, though he was now adult, he still felt a strong bond to his only brother.

"Yeah, I guess so, but it helps. Right?"

"Yes Tashi, it helps a lot. You'll get your mane soon, don't worry."

"Yeah? I hope so. Then we can go away together like we said."

"Sure Tashi, just like we always said."

Talashi smiled and bounced off: all gangly legs and flailing tail. Nengwalamwe couldn't help noticing just how lanky, ungraceful, weak and common his brother looked, though he was gaining weight. Nengwalamwe by contrast was now practically at full adult weight, though it had not entirely settled into the right places. He had filled out greatly in the previous few months. His mane was a deep, rich earthy brown laced with filaments of gold and black and now fully covered his neck. He knew Llasani and a few of the other lionesses too were attracted to him, just as they should. What was it his father told him? ""Did she like it? LIKE IT? She should have cried all the way back to her mother." He often dreamt of what he would do to her if they were ever alone for a time together. He also knew that that's all it could ever be - just dreams - while he lived in his father's pride.

The pride took its name from the seasonal stream, the Kolata, which flowed in the weeks after the rains. It ran from the foothills of the mountains and on out to the south of the pride's lands. His father, Nengwala, was a powerful pride leader and well known for protecting his lionesses, the young barely turned adult Llasani included, against the unwanted attentions of all other males. He called his brand of protection 'vigorous persuasion', which seemed to amount to taking a bite out of any lion that even sniffed the air coming from the pride. He had recently 'vigorously persuaded' an adolescent, barely older than Nengwalamwe, to leave the Upper Kolata. He had died soon after on the fringes of the Kolata's lands. "Weakness comes from caring" has father told Nengwalamwe when he asked what had happened.

Nengwala regarded the pride lionesses as his personal possessions. Even his younger brother, Llasani's father, had to ask permission, very tactfully, to pass anymore than the time of day with any of the pride. It was perhaps astonishing that he had mated with Llasani's mother at all; there was much whispered talk of a long-standing unpaid debt that he had called in from Nengwala. The whispers said that it must have been a very great debt indeed, for Nengwala paid dearly with his own pride.

The pride territory was open to the savannah on three sides and took a lot of protecting. At night the roars of the neighbouring pride males, whom Nengwala always called 'The Enemy', could clearly be heard uncomfortably close on the warm and full night air.

The rains were close, Nengwalamwe could almost smell the clouds gathering, folding and rolling over the mountain peaks that dominated the Kolata hills. Confused thoughts jumbled and jostled in his young lion's mind. He had recently had his first encounter with a lioness, the type of meeting he dare not discuss with his parents. She had been from the Lower Kolata pride, which, thanks mainly to Nengwala, had only one adult male lion to look after eight lionesses. He tried valiantly to keep them happy and with cub but it seemed he spent more of his time asleep recovering from his activities than he did doing them. Not surprisingly, sometimes one or other of his lionesses had strayed far afield in search of male company. One such had encountered Nengwalamwe out alone in the tall grasses by the dry Kolata streambed and had introduced him to the pleasures of adulthood. She had shown great patience at his first awkward, sweaty and for both rather unfulfilling efforts. Though he tried desperately hard he was unable to complete until the third day. Then the power of his ardour finally overwhelmed his youthful frustration; his pent-up desire for lionesses suddenly took physical form and flowed uncontrollably out of him into her. He felt that he was now a real lion. Throughout what remained of the day he took every opportunity to prove it, even when his once willing tutor began to protest at his continued advances. Later that night, Nengwalamwe fell asleep after thirty-four hours continuously awake; when he woke with the dawn he found he was alone. He never saw the lioness again.

From then on he looked upon all lionesses with fresh eyes that looked more at their hindquarters than their faces. His mother caught the way he looked at Llasani and cuffed him across the muzzle for it. She told him that if she ever caught him drooling at his cousin again she would cuff him again, with her claws out. He had then become very careful to lust only when he was sure there was no one around to see. He imagined all sorts of situations where he might happen to be in the right position to take Llasani by surprise. Though he had always taken great care over grooming he made extra sure he was always looking his best for the lucky Llasani. He spent hours keeping every part of his fur and mane spotlessly clean.

In his dreams she instantly succumbed to his masterly advances and cried out for him and told him how wonderful he was. Yet despite all his plans, when he got close to her she would turn to him and ask, "Is there some way I can help you Nengwe?" or "Yes? Do you want me for any reason?" or "Come on Nengwe, out with it!" His dreams melted and he felt as though his mother had caught him; he could almost feel her claws rake deep through his magnificent face. He could not bear to tell Llasani what he really wanted, far less to take her in the manner of his dreams. He could only run off or worse still, bluster incoherently.

His mother clearly saw the signs that her oldest cub had become a red blooded young lion. Yet she could not know that he had had any practical experience on what he described vaguely as his recent 'hunting trip'. She thought her 'little leopard' was just simply full of the joys of adolescence. His brother, Talashi, could see that Nengwalamwe spent a lot more time close to, and even following, Llasani, but he had no clear idea why. To find out he decided to keep a close eye on his older brother, from a discrete distance of course. He wanted to try and see what Nengwalamwe found so interesting now that he was beginning to tire of fighting and biting games at flame-red-flooded sunset.

The oppressive heat of the day was passing and the time for a little rough and tumble approached. Nengwe's mane made such a great target for the younger cubs that Tashi tried to persuade Llasani to come along to lure his reluctant brother into being a pouncing partner again. However she merely laughed at Tashi and shooed him away with a twitching tail and bristling whiskers.

Nengwe tried to put his heart into the games he had once played tirelessly all day, but as soon as he realised Llasani was not going to turn up he excused himself and wandered off. He settled down to watch from a low rise a little way off downwind. Tashi shrugged and took over from his brother. Nengwe half-heartedly watched him wait silently for his brothers and cousins to appear from out of the grasses. He saw one of the youngest males creep stealthily and low towards Tashi whose ears twitched continually to ward of the flies that heralded the coming of the rains. Before the cub leapt, Nengwalamwe felt another of the flies land on his own left ear. Like his brother, he twitched it, reaching up with a paw to brush it away. He had to close his eyes as he drew the paw across his tilted head.

"Not joining in then?"

Nengwalamwe looked up suddenly and turned round to the voice. He felt a gently painful mixture of elation, stupidity and strange warmth that came from deep within and tied his tongue. The under-fur smooth voice was that of Llasani.

"Eh, I… Well, you know. I'd much rather be with you." He lost his nerve and suddenly couldn't bear to look her in the face and decided to feel a twinge in his left shoulder. "Oooh, too much hunting again. Oow!"

"Hmmm, it never hurts me. It must be that lions are different somehow."

"Well, we are bigger you know," he said softly still looking slightly away from, and self-consciously beyond his cousin.

"Ah, and getting bigger all the time."

Now he was glad that fur covered his face as it hid the redness growing beneath. He felt hot all over and again had to fight the urge to stand.

"You're a growing lad, but I think you could get bigger still."

He shut his eyes and pulled his head away.

"Eh, what's wrong? Don't you want to join in their games?" She pushed her head closer to his. He did not fail to catch her delicate and inviting scent.

"Naa, they just play stupid cub games," he said in an attempt to change the subject; it failed totally.

"Oh yes? And you want to play lion games I suppose? Hmmm?" Llasani brushed her cheek over his sensuously.

"I don't," he coughed quietly; "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, I think you do… I think you do." She raised her head and drew forwards a pace so that she stood over him, looking down at a patch on his mane that was even darker than rest. She drew in his scent, closing her eyes in a warm half-smile. Then her smile broadened and she opened her eyes a little. "Why don't you get up and join me? Is there some more grown-up game we could play together? Perhaps you want me to teach you one?"

He was not sure whether she was teasing him; was she just pretending not to realise how much her scent drew him on?

"I don't think you can teach me anything Llasani - that I don't already know that is. I'd rather just sit here if you don't mind, I'd much rather be alone. I have important things to think about." He lied of course but just could not face being embarrassed by Llasani. He felt things for her that he knew might get him forced out of the pride, or worse. His mother had seen to it that he knew how to hunt; his father had seen to it that he could defend himself and down by the streambed a lioness had seen to it that he could do everything else a lion needed to do. What more could a young lion need to know? His fourth year had just started and his mane was beginning to darken as it grew to cover his neck and forequarters. Llasani's intimate scent was temptation beyond resistance and it appeared she was willing to do more than just tempt. He smiled to himself, 'But I can teach you something Llasani. Yeah, let's see if you know how to treat a real lion,' he thought, 'Time to show that I'm no longer a cub.' He stood up suddenly, causing Llasani to turn to look elsewhere. She saw why he had been reluctant and giggled thoughtlessly.

"My, you are a little pleased to see me!"

This achieved what Nengwalamwe could not. He rushed off, as near to tears as he had been at any time since his second year. He felt ashamed at himself and anger at her who had so humiliated him. He had failed when it had mattered most and he determined he would never look at another lioness as long as he lived. He felt certain that would not be very long if his father caught him. He had seriously thought he might have loved Llasani, now it was evident that she just thought him no more than a fool. He vowed never to look at her again and to make sure no one else could.

In his confused pain, Nengwalamwe ran blindly. He had no idea for how long, nor where he was or where he was going and he didn't care. He fretted: cussing and cursing every living thing he encountered. Why should they have been happy when his world had fallen apart completely? He wandered on and on into the evening. As night fell he found himself growing tired as the effort of maintaining his anger drained him. He soon gave in to his fast growing tiredness and lay down to sleep alone in the shelter and seclusion of an acacia thicket. The hours drew on and he dreamt uneasily about a great herd of prey standing round him, staring at him, boring into him with their eyes. Running, running, running with hyenas at his back but he couldn't run clear for dread fear of the baying hunting dog pack ahead, standing proudly, defiantly facing him.

Later he dreamed himself with Llasani again, this time he didn't hate her and she didn't tease him, it was just as he had often imagined he'd be with her. She looked invitingly into his eyes and turned from him. Her breath became heavy and strained as she pressed herself down to the ground, offering herself to him. Her heat and scent mingled in him and drew him forward as he crouched over her. She made no sound as his embarrassment melted into her as she pushed back gently and completed their union. In her he felt like the lion he was sure he had become, while she felt all the lion cub he was. They were together until the passion flooded from him and pushed her into exquisite voice.

He felt her neck with his teeth, gripping the folds of her scruff by which she had been carried as a cub. He roared his triumph gently and stood up, not to her laughter but to her purrs as she rolled on to her back to enjoy the heat of his body on her belly.

"Those are the sort of games we can play," she said softly in his dream. He laid down beside her and let the blanket of sleep descend on him, alone again.

He woke a few hours later, the moon had set and the first steely glow of dawn was just pushing away the coldness of the night. He was not cold. He felt warmth beside him, a strong fur covered warmth that reminded him of his mother; soft, enveloping and protecting. He opened his eyes, not at all sure what this warmth could be. It moved and looked back at him sleepily. It yawned loudly and turned over, pressing its belly to his back saying, "Again, please. Do it again Nengwe. I enjoy that game more than any other."

'Again?' he thought in alarm. 'AGAIN? What game?' He shouted in near panic at the contented lioness lying beside him, "What game? WHAT GAME?"

Her rump bent the tips of his whiskers. Then he noticed the mingled scents of his passion and her contentment on her hindquarters. He drew it in and knew what it meant. He slumped down heavily and began to cry like a two-week-old cub.

"What are you crying for? That was nothing to cry about." Llasani smiled broadly as a similar agglomeration of scents wafted up from his thighs. She seemed to be a very happy lioness who was just about ready to become even happier. She looked at Nengwalamwe pleadingly with soft, glowing eyes.

"NO! Your father will kill me." Nengwalamwe paused as his panic rose. He had no idea what to do. The scents filled the still air all around him. "No, my father – he'll kill me first. Llasani what have I done?"

"You mean you don't know? Come here Nengwe; my dear Nengwe; and let me lead you through it again." She looked up at him with eyes that melted his panic but which lead him further astray. He knew what he had done, yet he could hardly remember, he was so tired and confused. "Come, stand close behind me." The pull of her scent was all-powerful, too powerful for a lion barely out of cubhood such as Nengwalamwe. He felt himself drawn to her. He felt himself prepare for her. He felt himself do all those things he had dreamed about and afterwards he stood over her back and felt his life ebbing away with his preparedness. It was over quickly and he felt strangely distant towards this vision of sensuality. He didn't feel as though he had any need to spend the rest of his life with her.

As he stood looking down at her back, he knew that she had led him on to what could result in his death. He realised that he had just stolen a few pleasant moments. All he had left were blurred memories and aching muscles in his hind legs. Indeed, as she rolled over, her hind claws raking unthinkingly over his nose, exposing her almost white under-fur, he began to wonder just what he had seen in Llasani. Certainly she had her charms, he supposed he now knew rather more about those than any other lion, but she was nothing more than any other lioness. She was alluring, pleasant and responsive to his attention but little else.

Something else began to trouble him more and more as the hormones of lust subsided in him. He was in trouble: big, deep, deadly trouble. Here he was standing over his cousin whom, probably within sight of his home pride, he had just mated. If his father were to hear of it then Nengwalamwe, regardless of being his son, would die; that was certain. If her father were to find out then Nengwalamwe would also die. That too was certain and he would surely find out when the roundness that heralded his cubs began to appear in Llasani's sides and belly. Surely his father, Nengwala, would have known about Llasani's heat? Wouldn't he have taken steps to satisfy her needs? He had often talked of how he had fought and killed other males who tried to take advantage of his lionesses. He was proud to be able to say that he, or at least his brother, was the sure father of every cub born in the pride. That was a boast few lions could make with any degree of certainty. There had been much blood spilled to make that boast true. Here was Nengwala's own eldest son taking advantage of one of his very own, very special, very accommodating, very demanding, very hot and very willing lionesses.

"Are you going to stand there all morning? Or are you going to show me just how much you really like me?" Llasani had risen to her paws and now padded over to stand beside him. She brushed her head against his neck forcefully, rubbing her scent into his mane to mark him as her mate.

"No, no, we mustn't. We must stop this now. Get away Llasani." He feared her touch, he feared what she could make him do, he feared where it must lead. "Please! We must stop now, perhaps there's still time to..." but he stopped as he could not work out what there might be time for. She wove herself around him, brushing up against him repeatedly. Her readiness was all too apparent. He turned his head away each time she tried to look deep into his eyes. He felt a powerful urge to lash out at her but he held back, knowing that he would not be able to explain away any injuries he might give her. He could do nothing but plead to her. "Stop this… you know what'll happen to me."

"So why fight it? If you're really going to die, why not die with a smile? Come on, you know you liked it. You know you loved it - I did. You were more than I could have ever imagined a lion could be; so, so much more."

Nengwalamwe had always struck Llasani as an interesting lion; rather young and with a somewhat 'little brotherly' manner about him, just right for teasing and poking fun at. His mane had made him rather more interesting; still rather young but now with vigour, strength and a lustre of his fur that would become lost as age took its toll. Llasani didn't quite know what to think of him, but he had certainly smelled good and that had made her task easier. He had performed just as she had expected him to but she suspected she might be asking a little too much of a cub to mount her again so soon and so often. She had heard all the stories of her uncle Nengwala's great feats with lionesses. After all it would hardly have been worth protecting them if those stories were not true. Certainly her older aunts and sisters were all eager to be with Nengwala when their time came. He though had been busy satisfying another lioness's demands, and as it was only Llasani's second heat she had not merited his undivided attention. She did not really feel anything for her father so she had decided to offer herself to the Nengwala's son: her cousin, little Nengwe. She had wondered if he was quite old enough. His display by the pouncing cubs had demonstrated that he was capable of satisfying her needs and that he was not all that little after all. She hoped his son had inherited some of his father's prowess.

She had spent much time planning this with her older sister, now carrying her first litter. She had mated late, even going so far as to hide her first season so well that even their mother had not realised her daughter had become a lioness. She had not expected the burden of cubs quite that soon. Llasani however was not thinking of cubs, she was thinking of lions. Her sister's advice was to not let him get away from her and to make quite sure he knew of her state of season. Llasani had listened attentively. She was now profiting from the advice, indeed she now wanted to increase her profit.

"Come, come to me again my lion, come to me."

"NO!" Nengwalamwe shook his head in frustration and confusion, his head said run, his loins, equally primed for action, said otherwise. For the first time in his recent life his head was to rule. He jumped up and sprang away only to stop a few paces in front of Llasani. She just looked at him with wide-open eyes and an upturned tail. She held her ears forward toward him. Nengwalamwe panicked. "No! This isn't right, what am I going to do? Just what am I going to tell my father? How… how can I stay alive?"

"Stop worrying, I'll not tell him anything if you won't. Just come here..." she edged forwards half a pace to make sure her scent reached his broad nostrils, "...and do what you do so well."

"What do you mean, you won't tell him? Won't he notice?"

She edged forward again and waved her tail slowly in the soft breeze. Nengwalamwe drew the scent into his nostrils with deep breaths, pulling his upper lip back tightly over his teeth to open his nose fully to the intoxicating air.

"Notice what? My scent doesn't do to him what it does to his son, does it Nengwe?"

"He will - he'll notice it all right and what about the cubs? He'll notice those!"

"Cubs?" Llasani stared silently at Nengwalamwe for a moment, and then she burst out laughing. "Cubs? What's with you? Are you crazy? What? You don't think… You think I'm going to have your cubs? Oh come on. You can't think I'm going to conceive a litter fathered by another lion right under your father's nose? What is it with you? You think a couple of rolls in the grass and that's it, a lioness is up with cubs? You'd have to keep this up for days, which I doubt you're up to, and even then I'm not at all sure I would want to have YOUR cubs." She laughed on loudly.

He could take it no longer. He at least thought she might want him as a father, but now it seemed she just wanted him for…. He rushed away into the light of what he felt must be his last day, leaving Llasani laughing alone in the thicket. He wanted to run headlong between the trees. Perhaps he would run into one and end his pain there and then.

Before he had gone more than ten lengths he ran straight into the back of another lioness - a heavily pregnant lioness: Llasani's sister. She was running too, but not towards them, she too was running away. She must have seen them, possibly seen it all. What had these two been up to? Had she… watched them? Did she hold his life in her paws? He scrambled to a halt and turned to face her. She picked herself up from the dust. The heat was beginning to build. Not all the heat came from the sun. He breathed deeply and held his head low, pinning his eyes to hers while behind Llasani strode, still laughing, into view behind her sister. He wondered if he could kill them both, but quickly dismissed the thought when he considered Llasani's sisters much expected cubs.

"Well, so you've found out our little secret," Llasani said as she stifled the last laugh. "So what are you going to do now, great, late son of Nengwala? Are you going to tell daddy? Hmmm?" She paused, not really expecting a reply. Her sister spoke next, making it clear how much she had seen.

"Didn't take him long did it? Well Llasani, was he worth the effort?"

"Oh, it wasn't bad I suppose - nothing to roar about. His father was much better; he really knows how to please a lioness."

Nengwalamwe watched in total horror. Two lionesses had set him up just for a bit of fun. Llasani had led him on just so that she could add him to her tally. Now he knew they wouldn't tell anyone - except all the other lionesses.

He blurted out his thoughts in a confused rush, "You're no better than slobbering wild dogs. I knew I couldn't trust you." He started to turn away but Llasani called him back.

"Where do you think you're going, my lion?" The sisters laughed again. "What are you going to do to make sure we don't tell your daddy that you overpowered me and took me by force?" He stopped instantly and turned back in disbelief. Indeed what could he do? They held him in their paws. He couldn't kill the sisters nor could he ignore them. He could do nothing but what they wanted. If he was even to have a hope of avoiding being torn apart by his own father it lay in Llasani's paws. He was Llasani's slave and it now became clear that's just what she had wanted.

He turned away again and in despair flopped down on the dust. The light from the early sun reflected off the grains of dust that billowed up around him. They seemed so tiny, so insignificant, so helplessly carried by the lightest of air currents. He felt smaller than the smallest speck of that dust. His captor continued tightening her grip. "Good, that's better. Now first you'll have to finish off what we started back there. I think I might just let you go this evening. But you had better make it good or else I'll find something else for you to do. Do you hear?"

Nengwalamwe heard and nodded weakly in response. So began the longest day of his life...