Keywords: Scar

  "King Ahadi !", 
one of the lionesses called as she came running up the ledge 
leading to the promontory of Pride Rock. While it took her a 
second tp catch her breath, the lion king recgnized her as Ndeli,
one of the lionesses he had assigned to the seaching party he had
sent out in the morning.
  "King Ahadi.", she continued, "We found her."
So the searching party had been successful, the king thought. He
had sent them to look for one of the lionesses, Mbana, who had been
due to give birththat day.
But the cub weren't his - in a brief moment of his inattention, a
passing rogue had managed to take his chance.
  "But ...", the lioness went on, but was cut off by the king's
voice.
  "Where is she ?", Ahadi asked.
Ndeli evaded his stare, looking at the ground instead.
  "We found her near one of the hills close to the northern border,
sire. But ...", the lioness replied, but was again interrupted by
the king.
  "I will go there.", Ahadi said, and started to pad down from the 
promontory.
  "But ..." This time, the lioness was able to speak, "Sire, you
do not need to go there anymore. Someone else has already done the
job for you."
The king stopped suddenly - he felt a cold paw seizing his heart 
as he uttered a, "Who ?".
Ndeli met his gaze briefly, then stared at the ground again.
  "It was the hyenas.", Ndeli answered, and anything else she 
wanted to add was cut off by a mighty roar of grief and anger as
the king raced northward, into the darkness of the night.

...

Mbana was not hard to find. The lingering smell of blood and death
was leading the way. Then Ahadi found her body, or what was left of
it. The hyenas who had killed her had already begun to feast on the
carcass - it was not a pretty sight, even to a lion.
Ahadi sniffed .. it was not only the smell of lions' blood hanging
in the air, but also that of hyenas' blood. So Mbana had not given
up her litter without a fight - but it had been in vain. The king
noticed that there was no trac of the cubs - obviously the hyenas
had eaten them first.
As he padded about the scene, examing it with shock and incresing
anger, his ears picked up a faint rustle nearby.
  "Who's there ?", he demanded. 
But there was no answer. Cautiously, he approached the source of 
the sound. His thoughts were still with Mbana. Out of love of her
cubs she had left the protection of the pride and put herself into
grave danger. Then she had sacrificed her life to defend her cubs,
but to no avail. The circle of life was cruel at times.
As the king walked, more faint sounds were coming from the 
direction. He could not see very far, as the grass was becoming 
higher, almost as high as a grown-up lion. 
Then suddenly, there was a slight motion in the grass in front of
him and he took a closer look to find ... a cub ! Instinctively,
he bent down in order to snap its neck, but a wave of thoughts
made him hesitate.
Why was he doing this ? Mbana would never bear his cubs now -
killing the last of her litter would not change that. Instead, it
would destry what she had been willing to die for.
He examined the cub closer, and it squirmed a little as he touched
it with his muzzle. It was a male. Ahadi thought about the pride -
his newborn son Mufasa was the only male cub in the pride so far,
and none of the lionesses were expecting. But eventually, his son
would need someone to play with, to wrestle with, to train with,
and one day, when he had grown up, to defend the Pride Lands with.
Someone of who was of his own age.
A ... brother.

There have been enough killings for this day, Ahadi thought. This
cub would live, for Mbana's sake.

  "The star's are shining brightly on you tonight, little one.",
the king said. Then he picked up the cub by its scruff as gently
as a lion could manage, and headed for the shelter and safety of
Pride Rock.


    
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Christoph Franck                                               |,,|
http://www.dillingen.baynet.de/~cfranck                        ,OO,
Cheetah-Fan                                                    O()O
TLKM Arianna; IRC-SNM-ATM Ihlosi                               (__)
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