Pride of the Plains (7 page)

Huru and Kimya exchanged looks. They remembered
their
early days fending for themselves alone. They still had that in common. But their inseparability now was dictated by habit rather than by desire. Kimya guessed Huru suspected her of jealousy. She often felt her scrutiny when the pride was drowsing. And she
was
jealous on occasions when she imagined Battlescars was ignoring her. However, so long as the cubs' welfare was her and Huru's priority, resentment on either side remained muffled.

One day, while matters were still in this unsatisfactory state, the sisters met up with an old friend. Ratel, the honey badger who had grown up with them at Lingmere Zoo in England, had come looking for them. He, too, had been kept for a while at the Kamenza animal refuge centre before being released into the wild, and his path had crossed with the lionesses' on a few occasions since. Now he had a problem he thought they might be able to solve, and together with his mate Clicker had searched long and hard before finally locating them. At last, using the utmost caution, the badgers approached the small pride.

The cubs were lying with their mothers under an acacia tree whose umbrella shape provided a wide
area of shade. The wet season was over and the day was blisteringly hot. The honey badgers had looked for Huru and Kimya mostly by night, but on this day Ratel had smelt lion and had continued the search after dawn broke. Clicker was less confident than her mate about deliberately going up to the lionesses without a reliable bolt-hole nearby.

‘It'll be all right,' he kept telling her, ‘they'll recognise me. They'll remember my call. You can stay back a little if you wish.'

Clicker certainly did wish, and the closer they got to the pride the further behind she dropped. Ratel began his calls: a sort of chirrup or a rattly whistle. The lions were all dozing and his cries didn't disturb them. He moved nearer.

‘As soon as they see my black and white coat they'll know me,' he assured himself.

Clicker called, ‘That's far enough! Be careful! There's another big lion coming to join them.' She hastily scrabbled for cover in some prickly scrub.

Ratel hadn't reckoned on the big male. Battlescars had been sleeping on his back in some grass but the heat had proved too intense and he was heading now for the shade. The lionesses woke as Battlescars padded in, giving his throaty growl of greeting. Kimya yawned and sat up. She saw the honey badger and roused Huru.

‘Look, sister. Is that—'

More calls from Ratel interrupted her as the badger hurried to identify himself. Now Battlescars looked too and the cubs began to show interest.

Huru said, ‘Well now, what does he want?'

‘Let's go and see,' said Kimya.

‘I'll
go and see,' Battlescars snarled, already irritated by the heat. He began to run forward. Ratel looked round for cover but he was too slow. The lion
bounded up and took a swipe at him. Ratel slipped to one side and squealed, ‘Lions! Sisters! It's me. Quickly!'

Kimya was the first to react. She owed Ratel a favour. She had once badly wounded him by mistake, when she had mistrusted him and attacked him when he had actually been trying to help her. She ran in front of Battlescars, who was preparing to deliver another blow. ‘He's a friend,' she told the male. ‘An old friend from—' She was about to say ‘our zoo days' but remembered that would be meaningless to Battlescars. ‘—from way back,' she explained. ‘Before we knew you.'

Battlescars was uninterested but his aggression faded. ‘Really?' was all he said in a bored tone before he strolled back to the acacia and slumped down.

‘Thank you,' Ratel gasped. ‘I didn't know about him.' Now he was surrounded by curious cubs who gambolled about playfully, putting out paws to pat the strange creature, then skipping off before he could react.

‘Why have you come, Ratel?' Kimya asked. ‘It was dangerous.'

Huru biffed the cubs away and sat down beside her sister.

‘I – we – want your help,' Ratel told them. He looked behind him but failed to see Clicker, who was still hidden. ‘It's all right!' he called. ‘I told you.' He was aware of the irony in the remark, considering he had nearly been killed. He looked at the lionesses sheepishly. ‘We've had trouble,' he continued as Clicker emerged with caution.

‘What trouble?' Huru asked.

‘A bird steals our food,' Ratel explained. ‘A big, fierce bird with talons and a hooked beak. It can run fast overground as well as fly. It follows us and pounces
on our kills. We're – we're starving. And that's not all—'

‘It's a goshawk,' Clicker interrupted. She knew more about birds than Ratel. ‘It sits on a branch and chants. I think it's mocking us. And we—'

‘We had young,' Ratel interrupted. ‘Like you, lions. We had a den in some rocks.'

‘I remember it,' said Kimya.

‘The bird killed the babies. It was always around. It waited and waited and got them all, one by one. We moved to another den. But it always follows us.'

‘I'm sorry for you,' said Huru. ‘But what can
we
do?'

‘Give a show of strength, perhaps,' Ratel suggested.

‘Hm. Not very effective with a bird,' Huru said. ‘We have trouble ourselves with vultures.'

Kimya had been thinking. She wasn't happy in the uneasy relationship with her sister. Also she did feel she wanted somehow to make amends to Ratel for that injury in the past. Maybe this was her opportunity.

‘Where is this bird?' she asked.

‘Wherever we are,' Clicker answered impulsively. ‘It follows us around.'

‘But it's not here now, is it?' Kimya pointed out.

‘No, no,' Ratel answered impatiently. ‘We travelled mostly by night. What she meant was, it's always around our den.'

‘And where's that?'

‘A rocky place with a fig tree on top.'

Kimya's ears pricked up, and so did Huru's. It sounded very like the first den they themselves had found after their release into the game park. ‘I think I know it,' said Kimya. ‘Perhaps I could come to help. What do you think, sister? Could you cope with all the cubs for a while?'

Huru yawned widely, displaying her huge teeth.
Clicker scampered away again and then stopped, feeling foolish. Huru thought a spell without Kimya could be beneficial. It could serve to lessen the tension between them. But she didn't feel like making it easy for her. ‘I suppose so. If you
must
go,' she said.

Ratel was delighted. ‘Wonderful! Thank you, lions. Shall we leave at dusk?' he asked, turning to Kimya. ‘My mate and I could take the opportunity to feed now.'

‘Dusk it is,' Kimya agreed. She turned to Huru. ‘It won't be for long,' she assured her. ‘I'm grateful to you, sister.'

The honey badgers grubbed around for insects and carrion and whatever small prey they could find. Clicker made sure she was well out of reach of the pride but Ratel ignored the presence of the lions while he was busy. Only Battlescars reminded him with a half-hearted roar now and then that he didn't want the smaller animal to come too close.

Kimya was ready to move as the sun began to set. She licked her cubs fondly but she had no qualms about leaving them in Huru's care. The sisters had raised their young together, sometimes suckling each other's as well as their own. So all the cubs were just as happy with either lioness as guardian.

Ratel and Clicker trotted off in their usual sprightly way with the lioness plodding along comfortably in their wake. Every so often Clicker would glance behind to make sure she was still there and not planning some kind of trick. Kimya was perfectly content to follow and was at ease until she knew she was beyond the limits of the small pride's territory. Then she trod more quietly and kept her wits about her. The honey badgers' den was not actually very far distant; they had wasted days searching for the lionesses in the wrong direction. The three animals reached the rocky outcrop without incident and in
thick darkness. Although it was a cloudy night and moon and stars were obscured, Kimya recognised fig tree rock at once.

‘How strange you should have settled here,' she said. ‘It holds memories for me. It was the first real den my sister and I had in this area.'

Ratel wasn't terribly interested. ‘The bird will probably be perching on the fig tree as light breaks,' he informed her. ‘It sits there and waits for us to stir.'

‘But as you've been absent for a while perhaps it won't still be around,' Kimya suggested.

‘We shall see. I doubt if it's shifted itself. It likes the way we hunt,' Ratel growled bitterly. He and Clicker scuttled into their den.

Kimya climbed up the rocks. She lay down among the old fig's trailing roots and thought for a while about Huru. She remembered how they had sheltered here together in the early days of their life in the savannah country. How close they had been then! Kimya felt sad as she pondered their present relationship. Was there an estrangement? If there was it could only be on the surface. She knew that if she were in danger Huru would be the first to come to her aid, as she would for Huru.

‘Males complicate things,' she muttered, feeling the familiar twinge of jealousy as soon as Battlescars came into her mind. ‘They're better off without me for the moment,' she mumbled, ‘though I can't stay here for long.' Head on paws, she fell into a doze.

Day dawned bright and clear. The clouds had passed over and the temperature rose quickly. A shaft of early sunlight penetrated the sparse canopy of the stunted fig tree and fell on Kimya's face. She woke and looked up. The tree's branches were bare of bird life. ‘I thought so,' she said to herself. ‘The goshawk has flown.'

But she was wrong. A little later Ratel and Clicker emerged from their den. As if at a given signal the hawk zoomed in from wherever it had been roosting and found a perch in the fig from where it could watch their movements. The honey badgers pretended they hadn't noticed and set about their foraging. Kimya peered up at the bird, directly above her. The lioness was well hidden from the unsuspecting hawk, which imagined itself completely safe as it watched confidently for the appearance of food.

‘That bird's going to get a nasty shock,' Ratel hissed to his mate with the greatest satisfaction. ‘Our lion friend's on the top of the rock.'

Clicker said nothing. She wasn't beyond thinking that, after the lioness had dealt with the goshawk, she might turn her attention to them. She just wished for the episode to be over so that she could burrow away out of sight between the rocks where nothing could reach her.

Ratel caught a mouse and sat looking at it. He knew the bird was looking at it too. There was a flap of wings as the goshawk abruptly launched itself from its branch, followed immediately by a shriek. Kimya had reared up simultaneously and aimed a blow with one powerful paw at the swooping bird. She caught only its tail as it dived past her, but it was enough to rip out its long tail feathers. The goshawk managed to steady itself, though it corrected its flight with great difficulty, shrieking its chant-like alarm cry. However, when it sought refuge back on the topmost branch of the fig, the lack of its tail feathers upset its balance and its grip was uncertain. Screeching in panic, it tumbled from its would-be perch and crashed down through the branches, where Kimya pounced again and finished the job. Then the lioness bounded from the rock.

‘You won't be troubled again,' she grunted.

Clicker showered nervous praises on her in a bid to ingratiate herself. Ratel was simply relieved. ‘I knew you could do it. We're in your debt, lion.'

‘No,' Kimya answered. ‘It was a debt repaid. I owed you.'

Ratel knew at once what she meant. ‘Well,' he said with some emotion, ‘friends always now. Eh, lion?'

‘Always,' said Kimya.

The goshawk's last piercing cries had attracted attention elsewhere. Other lions were calling to each other about the commotion. Kimya remembered in haste that she was a trespasser in strangers' territory.

‘I must get out of here,' she told the badgers sharply. ‘Can't stay a moment longer.' She sniffed the air and looked around to make sure her exit was clear. ‘Goodbye, Ratel!'

Kimya sprang forward and ran. Ratel called after her, ‘I hope we see each other again.' Kimya was out of earshot before he had finished but it didn't matter. She understood, and she shared his sentiments.

Clicker felt differently. ‘I hope we
don't
see each other again,' she said bluntly. ‘I'm not happy with lions about, despite what that one's done for us.'

‘There are lions. And there are friends,' Ratel replied loftily and he began to pluck the goshawk with his powerful jaws.

Kimya crossed the alien territory in leaps and bounds. She knew the lions of the neighbourhood would be at their most alert in early morning. She was approaching familiar ground and congratulating herself on her safe passage when a male lion suddenly appeared ahead of her. She stopped short, weighing up her chances. The animal was solitary and no bigger than she was. Kimya relaxed. She had the lion's
measure. Its mane told her it had barely reached full maturity. They stared at one another. The male gave a growl of greeting. Kimya didn't return it but she recognised the young lion's voice and found herself tingling with excitement. It was Challenger.

‘I wondered when I'd come across you,' he said. ‘I knew you'd left your pride.'

‘I haven't left it,' she answered brusquely. ‘Don't make that mistake.'

‘Well, why are you here?'

‘It wouldn't interest you to know,' she replied. ‘But I can tell you that I'm returning to my family right now.'

‘Of course you are,' Challenger said serenely. ‘How's the male?'