The Promise cotpl-7

by John H. Burkitt

  “Me too.” Mabatu leaned against Taka’s dark mane. "So Dad, when you were my age, did your dad do this with you?"

  Taka said, "My father was...." He stiffened and his jaw began to quiver. "He was always.... I mean, we never...."

  The words stuck in his throat. Tears began to stream down his face.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Oh nothing.” He wiped his eyes with a paw. “Please, don't watch me cry. Please? Just go run along and see your mother--I'll be with you in a minute."

  Reluctantly, sadly, Mabatu nuzzled his king and stalked down the promontory leaving Taka alone with his private grief.

  "Aiheu! Roh'kash! Anyone!” Taka cried in an anguished voice that echoed off the distant hills. “If you’re really out there, why did you take my son?? Why??" He dropped his face to the ground and sobbed helplessly.

  CHAPTER: A NICE COLD DIP

  Mabatu was living up to his promise. Those who thought handsome babies often grow up to be plain had to admit that there were exceptions to every rule. At one year of age, Baba was still a youngster, but his beauty would turn the heads of the female cubs. Like warm sunshine was his smile, and his walk was a carefully choreographed dance of joy that delighted the eye and gladdened the heart.

  Lela padded over to him at the cistern as he stopped to draw refreshment and watched him with deepest admiration. “Baba? What’cha doing now?”

  “I’m seeing what I’d look like with big round wrinkles.”

  She laughed. “I don’t think you COULD look ugly if you tried.”

  “Oh really?” He crossed his eyes and covered the end of his nose with his tongue.

  “Eww, gross!” She turned sideways, and bending her body away from him, she said, “How about my long, furry tongue!” She opened her mouth and passed her tail along her opposite cheek and wiggled it.

  “Cool! How about a big wet kiss with it!” He did likewise. “Like this?”

  “Yeah! That’s so sick!”

  “Hey, that’s nothing. Wanna hear me roar?”

  “You, roar??”

  “Sure I can. Just listen....” He gulped air several times, then with a look of supreme concentration, he held up his snout and vented it in a long, soulful belch.

  “You win!” she said, giggling. “I could NEVER do that!”

  He sprang at her and put his paws around her neck. Giggling, she wrestled with him, planning all the time to let him win but not to let it show.

  Back and forth they swayed, standing on hind limbs with a supreme effort to unseat each other and pin shoulders to the ground. Then Mabatu lost his footing and rolled backwards. With a loud splash, he landed in the icy cistern, paddling in shock through the chilly waters to the side.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Lela said, helping pull him out by the scruff of the neck. As he stood dripping and shivering, she kissed his face. “I like you, Baba! I always have! I’d never do anything to hurt you!”

  “I know.” He shook off, showering her with moist diamonds. “Hey, so I slipped. No big deal.”

  “So you’re not mad?”

  “No.” He touched her cheek with his tongue. “It’s OK.”

  “I’m glad.” She kissed him back. “I really do like you. Do you think I could see you again?”

  He smiled. “Why not? Just don’t drown me, OK?”

  She laughed. “It’s a deal!”

  Just then, Isha walked by. “Were you swimming in the cistern?”

  “I’m sorry, Isha. It was an accident.”

  “Well try to be more careful. Hey, we have to drink that stuff!” She nuzzled him. “I’m headed out to Anteater Kopje to scout out the herd if anyone asks where I am.”

  “Can I come too??”

  “Sure, if you’ll be quiet.”

  His face positively glowed. “Not a word,” he said, putting his paw over his mouth and winking. It may have looked funny to other creatures, but among lions it is a solemn promise of silence.

  Lela’s ears drooped. “But I wanted to play tag!”

  “Maybe later,” Mabatu said.

  “Tag sounds fun,” Isha said, encouragingly.

  “Yeah, but I have stuff to do.” When Isha left, he trotted along behind her toward the distant kopje.

  Lela sighed. “Oh well.” She went and looked in the cistern at her reflection, then touched it with a paw. The waves made her face dance, and she had to smile at the effect. “Maybe tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER: OUR DAILY BREAD

  Food was harder to come by and the hyenas started to grumble. Shenzi had promised them unending abundance, and that promise was failing. At first, Shenzi claimed that Roh’kash was merely testing their faith. They began to pray almost without ceasing for relief, but it did no good. It was becoming clear to even the strongest believers that Roh’kash could and would let them suffer hunger and thirst from the Roh’mach clear down to the smallest pup.

  Scrambling not to lose her people’s loyalty, Shenzi was looking for ways to make the food go further. Rationing began among the hyenas, and they looked toward the lions looking for ways to reduce their tremendous appetites as well. They looked at the male cubs and thought they may have found an answer in rushing some mantlements. Even an adolescent lion ate as much as three hyenas. And who knows, with a couple of well-placed teams waiting just outside the border, they might even have a way to supplement their diet even more.

  One male cub posed a special threat. Mabatu was now in line to succeed Taka as King, and it was the general opinion of the hyenas he would be a powerful and dangerous king who believed Pride Rock was for lions alone. Terrified of the prospect of a bloody war in the making, Skulk submerged his usual disdain for lions and offered to take Mabatu on a trip around the Eastern Meadow to hunt palm squirrels and rabbits. They were gone for only a couple of hours when Skulk came charging into Shenzi’s cave, fuming and cursing. “I was SO NICE to him! You’d think I was his real FATHER with the way I treated the brat! He didn’t say two words to me the whole time, and when I slipped in the creek, he laughed at me!”

  “He’s a boy,” Shenzi said gently.

  “He’s a hyena hater,” Skulk said. “Don’t you think I could see it in everything he did? I patted his shoulder, and when he didn’t think I could see him, he rubbed in the grass to get rid of my scent!”

  Shenzi’s eyes narrowed to slits. “We’ll get rid of his scent--permanently!”

  Makhpil had clearly foreseen that Taka would die young and violently. It was a vague prophesy, but one that filled Shenzi with the urgency of the moment. They didn’t have much time before Taka was gone and the popular Mabatu became King of a pride full of strong and determined lionesses.

  One of them suggested that they kill Mabatu, but there was no telling what Taka would do in retribution. They would have to be more subtle.

  Time passed, and unlike some of Taka’s mercurial friendships, his bond with Mabatu grew closer with each passing day. So when Mabatu was only eighteen moons old, and a few bits of ruff around his neck began to form a real mane, the leaders of the clan had a private meeting and decided it was time to act.

  But how? Certainly, Shimbekh must be involved. Fed information from Makhpil, she still made several correct predictions to Taka, enough to cover all the lies Shenzi wanted to sneak in.

  Relying on the old hyena proverb that a half truth is like a half carcass—it can be pulled twice as far—they decided on a lie that would soften the blow, but still strike home.

  Timid and unsteady, Shimbekh stood before Taka to deliver the news that may bring instant death. “My Lord, evil tidings.”

  “Oh? Surely not!”

  “I don’t know how to say this, my lord. But there is an evil spirit in this place. One too strong for our powers to drive off. Unless Mabatu driven off early, the day after his mantlement he will go mad and kill his mother, then you.”

  “What??” Taka came and faced her down. “If you’re lying to me, I’ll rip you apart!”

  Tears filled her eyes and sh
e touched his cheek with her tongue. “You love him, don’t you.”

  “Yes, I love him.”

  She kissed him again. “Then send him away now while his heart is pure. You know what it is like to suffer from the inside. There is nowhere to hide.” She looked down and moaned. “No one knows what torment there is in the wounds we bear inside. We try to smile when our heart is breaking!”

  Taka looked at her in the eyes. His chin began to tremble. “I’m stove through,” he muttered. Tears began to stream down his face. “Go, Shimbekh.” The hyeness’s ears drooped and her tail hung limply.

  “Old friend, we are both stove through.”

  “Go, Shimbekh! Please, just go!”

  Shimbekh trudged outside, the weight of the world stooping her shoulders and bowing her head. Shenzi said, “Very convincing. You really sounded concerned.”

  “Go to hell!”

  “See you there, Shimbekh!”

  As Shimbekh walked away, she heard behind her the soft, deep sobs of a lion. Somehow, like a fugitive from a daydream, a memory came back to her of playing with her sister Kambra. What would the pup she was think of what she had become? “What I wouldn’t give to lay at my mother’s side again and nurse myself to sleep! My heart is so tired, Muti. So tired! If I could be your pup again just for tonight and feel your love once more!” Tears spilled down her cheeks and she slinked to her quarters like a forgotten shadow.

  Mabatu was told two days in advance that he would get a commoner’s mantlement so he could prepare himself, but he was not told the reason why. Taka was clearly heartbroken, and Mabatu could sense it. Mabatu could not hate him, and no matter what his mother said, he kept faith that deep inside Taka loved him as much as ever.

  Mabatu and Kako were both in a bit of a panic. Baba was not ready yet—he had minimal hunting skills and he was still not what most lions consider mature. Kako made an impassioned plea for a little more time—that not waiting a moon or two would condemn him to death--but Taka was insistent. “He will learn. It’s nature’s way. Besides, I will pray for him every night.” Tears slid down Taka’s cheeks and even Kako could see the horrible pain he felt.

  “Won’t you at least tell us why you’re doing this?”

  “Sometimes love must be firm,” he stammered. “I’m so sorry.”

  CHAPTER: LOVE TRIUMPHANT

  As Bor the monkey pounds his fruit

  Upon the tree to free its juice

  And savor its elixir sweet

  So pounds against my anxious chest

  my trembling heart.

  -- The Love of Kigali and Lisha

  Mabatu spent the night before his mantlement with Isha. She wanted to teach him everything she could about survival before he faced the unforgiving challenges of “The Big World.”

  Mabatu was a good fighter for someone his size. Playful wrestling with the other cubs had gracefully prepared him for the serious challenges of battle. Isha still remembered the time he threw her in a wrestling match by grabbing one of her hind legs. They spent little time on fighting except for Isha’s advice that running away was not always shameful or cowardly.

  Hunting skills were a different matter. Isha had plenty of fond memories of hunting rabbits and antelope with her mother. Luckily Isha grew up in a time when the savanna rejoiced in abundance. Mabatu was a child of hardship, and his mother had to spend toilsome hours hunting just to survive. Little wonder his education was sorely neglected.

  Mabatu had almost no knowledge of stalking and pursuit. And it was clear if he ever caught up to an antelope, he wouldn’t know what to do with it. It was an unpleasant surprise to her, for all lionesses believed a cub born at night would make a great hunter, and he had literally been born on the hunt. Maybe when old folk wisdoms failed, a little determined teaching would have to do.

  “We must look at holds,” Isha said. “Here on the arm, you can restrict movement.” She gently gripped his arm above the elbow. “Here on the flank you can rip. But the throat hold is one of prime importance....” She put her arm across his back. “You strike them here and push with your weight.” Isha leaned into him, nearly pushing him over. “It’s important to let your weight do the work. Then you go for the throat and cut off his wind.” She gently mouthed Mabatu’s throat.

  Mabatu trembled. She quickly let go and looked him in the eye. “Your heart is pounding. Are you all right?”

  He stared back. “Isha....”

  “I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. It is I who have offended you.”

  “Nonsense,” she said, nuzzling him softly.

  He returned her nuzzle and nibbled at her ear. Before she could pull back with surprise, he said, “Don’t hate me. You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do that.” He sighed. “How VERY long.”

  “We need to get back to hunting,” she said unsteadily, recognizing the look in his eyes. “We don’t have much time.”

  “We DON’T have much time. I must hunt now. I may not have a chance, but I’ve stalked for a long time. Now I must break my cover and rush to you.”

  She took a step backward. “Even though I’m old enough to be your mother? I’m flattered. Really I am. But when you’re older, you’ll find someone more your own age. Then you’ll look back on this and laugh.”

  “You know I’ll never get much older. I’m being sacrificed to help the others. You know it.”

  She looked down. “I wish you wouldn’t say that.”

  “But you don’t deny it.”

  “How can I?” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “My poor Baba! My precious little Nisei! I love you more than the food I eat or the water I drink. Even more than the air I breathe. I would give them up if it would save you.”

  “I love you, Isha. I’ve always loved you.” He kissed away her tears. “Remember, I said when I grew up, I’d marry you. You laughed then, but if you laugh now, I’ll die. While life holds my soul and body together, I will love you. Even in death I will love you.”

  “In death?” She pawed and nuzzled him. “Don’t think of death. You are alive. There is still hope.”

  “How can I be alive? I’ve never lived!” He looked her intently in the eyes. The fire in his hazel eyes was unmistakable even if it was uncertain. “If I could only be close to you, just for tonight, I would have LIVED, Isha.”

  She looked deeply into his eyes and saw the sincerity of his love. Isha was held captive by its overwhelming purity and depth. She pawed him affectionately and he playfully batted back at her. She drew off a length and began to circle him, looking for an opening. “If you hunt big game, prepare to exert yourself.”

  He watched her lithe body as it crept gracefully but forcefully about him. Any moment the huntress could rush her prey. A flick of her ears betrayed her attack, but it was not enough warning. She pounced, collaring his throat and wrestling him. Laughing and panting, she nearly shoved him to the ground. He flailed at her with his arms, but struck her very gently.

  "I can still throw you," he said.

  "Prove it!" She threw her weight on him with a mighty thrust and easily pushed him over.

  Mabatu regained his feet and circled her. He tried to use his weight to push her over, but she had the advantage and sidestepped him. She put her arm over his shoulder and began to lean in on him, causing his legs to start buckling. Then when it seemed victory was hers, she relaxed and did not move. He put his head under her arm and pushed her over into the grass and looked down into her face. “Gotcha!”

  Her paw reached up and gently traced the curve of his cheek and fondled his chin. She looked deep into his eyes smiled alluringly as his breath came and went like a wild wind. “Now that you’ve caught me, do what you will.”

  “Oh gods!” Breathless, he knelt down and began to nuzzle her passionately, nibbling her ears and pawing her cheek gently. Her fragrance made him tremble, and he kissed her on the cheek and forehead murmuring, “Isha, beloved!”

  She whispered, “No
t here. Come, my lover, where the night shall hide us away.” They rose from the verdant grass and he walked, pressed against her warm, soft body into the shadows.

  When they were alone, he stroked her thigh with his paw. “How could one lioness be so beautiful?” He expected a reply, but suddenly she broke away from him and began to run.

  “Isha, wait! What did I do??”

  She looked at him reassuringly. “If you want me, you’ll have to catch me!”

  He realized it was a game. Laughing like a cub, he began to pursue her through the tall grass. She cornered sharply like a wise huntress, keeping him off balance and maddeningly at bay. They bounded over the hill and down the other side, splashed through a small creek, and ran around Anteater Kopje. She looked back and laughed. “Can’t you run faster than that??”

  “Are you kidding?? You haven’t seen anything!”

  Driven by the fierce heat of desire, he lunged forward and began to narrow the gap with each spring. Sensing his approach, Isha plunged through a field of gold and purple blossoms, somewhat wilted by the drought but still holding an essence of their former beauty. And amid the blossoms, she stopped and looked back.

  Mabatu came to a halt and looked at her wonderingly. “Give up?”

  “You’ll need some of that great strength,” she said. “I wouldn’t leave you drained. We'll start out simple.” She took a couple of steps and crouched among the fragrant blossoms. “Come, Baba. Make love to me.”

  He stared at her apprehensively. An awkward moment passed.

  “Do I not still please you?”

  “Isha, you ARE pleasure. It’s just--well--this is my first time. I don't know my father and my mother did not speak with me. All I know about making love is a lot of cub gossip.”

  She smiled. “I’ll help you if you need it. Just remember, you are saying farewell to cubhood. Once you’ve taken this step, you will be a lion.” She smiled disarmingly. “Come and kiss me. Would you like that?”