The Promise cotpl-7

by John H. Burkitt

  “No.” Habu trembled. “What do you mean by ‘scored?’”

  “You know. Getting down. Heavy breathing. The wild thing.”

  Habu gasped. Tears started down his cheeks and he let his breath out in a great wail. “Mommmm!”

  “Hey, Habu! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Kombi said, genuinely distressed. “That’s where babies come from. It’s just your Dad wasn’t old enough, and you get busted for that around here.”

  Sobbing, Habu bolted for home. He huddled against his mother’s soft, warm body and cried. “Tell me it’s not true about Daddy!”

  Isha regarded him with her heart crumbling and kissed him gently and repeatedly until he settled down. “Let me tell you about your father.”

  Isha explained to him in gentle terms about the lifelong love Mabatu had for her, about the time Taka suddenly determined he must leave the Pride, and about the bittersweet night before his mantlement. “I loved your father and I pledged to him. He had to go away for reasons only Taka understood, but he said he would come back for us someday. Then he will love you as I have loved you, and we will be a family again. I promise.” She was uncertain if Mabatu was alive or dead, but she did not share this with Habusu.

  The question preyed on her mind more than ever. She had to settle her heart one way or the other, so late that night when Habu was peacefully asleep, she went to see Makhpil.

  The hyeness was not surprised to see Isha coming. Few things surprised a medium of her quality.

  “Please be truthful with me. Please.” Isha stroked Makhpil’s foreleg with a paw, a desperate gesture of pleading that a hyena would understand all too well. “I know we have been enemies in the past, but the gods have given you this talent for a reason. Please use it for good. Do not lie to me.”

  “Lies cost me my best friend,” Makhpil said. “She was my only friend. I will not lie as she did.”

  “I will be your friend,” Isha said.

  Makhpil looked into Isha’s eyes. “Yes, there is truth in you. Goodness that I did not expect to see. Your friendship honors me.”

  “I have a problem,” Isha said. “It’s driving me crazy. I have to know if....”

  “Hsssh!” Makhpil said. “Silence, my girl. Silence!” She closed her eyes and drew back her ears. From her parted lips came an eerie high-pitched whine. It sounded painful, but she didn’t seem to be in distress.

  “You are worried about your husband.”

  Isha started. “Yes!”

  “Hsssh! It comes to me. Yes, your husband is alive. But how he fares, I do not know. The spirits are unclear.”

  Makhpil’s eyes flew open with a wild stare and she shook as if to rid her coat of water.

  “Are you OK?” Isha asked.

  “Of course. Glad I could help.”

  “Please tell no one what you have seen. Tell no one of Habu’s father, not even Shenzi or Taka.”

  The hyeness looked in her eyes. “You fear Taka. You fear us too.” She looked away. “I don’t blame you. I’m scared all the time. Shenzi has spies everywhere watching us.”

  “You too?”

  “Yes. They need me, but my powers frighten them, so I’ve taken to sleeping lightly when I sleep at all.” Makhpil touched Isha’s cheek with her paw. “Roh’kash gave me strong teeth, sharp ears and quick feet. I have no need for lies and tricks. Your secrets are buried deep.”

  “Bless you, and bless the news you bring.” Isha fondled Makhpil and kissed her. “I live again. Perhaps he will come back to me. Perhaps he will claim what is his.”

  “Perhaps he will, koh’met.” She nuzzled the lioness tenderly. “Never underestimate the power of love.”

  CHAPTER: THE HOMECOMING

  Habu was trapped in a small fissure in the side of Pride Rock. He’d gotten separated from his mother during the heat of The Great Battle, and fled shrieking from a hyena into the first place he could hide. It was barely adequate at best. If he’d ever had reason to fear hyenas before, he had an even better one.

  The guard that was after him reached in with a paw trying to pull Habu’s small body into his deadly jaws. The cub huddled back as far as he could and watched as the paw swiped slightly closer each time as the hyena wedged himself more tightly into the crack. It was only a matter of time until the claws found flesh and began to tear gashes and finally manage a grip. In mad desperation, Habu timed his next move, snapped at the flailing paw, and held on to it.

  With a shriek of pain, the hyena gave his paw a mighty yank backward. Habu’s canines and shearing teeth had set deeply, and they gouged long parallel gashes into its flesh. Screaming, the hyena turned about in tight circles, holding his paw up. “Krekh toh! Krekh toh, you dirty little bormarkh! I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do!”

  Suddenly, a tawny streak passed by and with another shriek, the wounded hyena was raked brutally across the abdomen. He collapsed at once into a pool of his own blood and humors, writhing in his death struggles.

  Habu cowered in the back of the cave, his eyes squeezed shut. He tried to drown out the awful moans of the hyena, putting his head down and clamping his paws tightly over his head.

  “Roh’kash! Roh’kash ne nabu! Roh’kash ne nabu!”

  Habu could smell smoke. At first he thought it was the scent of a dying hyena, for he had never experienced fire, but as the smell grew in its acrid intensity, he felt he must take another look outside.

  What he saw was incredible. The hyenas were being driven off! They were running away! He looked about and saw flames consuming the dry grass. The whole world was on fire! He did not understand the red plague, but some distant ancestral memory told him to avoid it.

  He glanced down at the hyena. The eyes turned to look back at him. Though Habu was still frightened, he understood that he was in no immediate danger. He stepped around the blood-spattered body as the eyes followed him, and trotted off to find his mother. Amarakh still lay twisted in the knot of her final death spasm. He had liked Amarakh, but he was frightened and could not bring himself to touch her lacerated body.

  “Momma! Momma!”

  He ran down the steep switchbacks of the trail leading to the ground. There at the base of Pride Rock, he stopped for a moment to look at his friend Taka who lay with a gaping wound on his abdomen. He trembled and headed to the sad lion that had stared at him balefully. Taka had been his friend, and he shoved him with a paw. “Are you OK? Taka?” He walked about, but the eyes did not follow him or blink. “You’re dead, aren’t you?” It was a foolish question. “Poor Taka.” He reached out and gently stroked his mane. “I guess you’re gone to see Jona.”

  It was his first time to see a dead lion. Sad and confused, he wandered off to find someone--anyone--that could tell him where Isha was. He prayed that she was not with Jona too.

  It began to rain. The pelting drops from the sky were a new experience for him, and he watched as the ash on the ground began to run in gray rivulets across the parched earth before being absorbed.

  “Habu??”

  Habusu’s heart almost went into his mouth. “Mom??”

  Isha came running across the scorched earth. “Oh thank gods!!” She fell to her side and with a quick swipe of her paw, pulled his squirming, happy body to her heart and kissed him repeatedly. “My little boy! Oh gods, I was going crazy with worry! Don’t EVER run off like that again!”

  Miss Priss rubbed against his mud-spattered body. “Habu!” She was usually very affectionate to him, but this time she spared no degree of effort, kissing him and pawing his face until his heart swam.

  A large male lion with a wet but still impressive russet mane strode toward Pride Rock past them.

  “Who’s that, Mom?”

  “That’s Simba! He’s the true king! Wave at him!”

  Habusu rose, covered with ash and mud, and waved his paw. Simba turned and nodded at him.

  “Did you see that, Mom?? He winked at me!”

  “He sure did, honey tree!”

  The old mandri
ll Rafiki stood at the base of the promontory and hopped impatiently as the lion ascended the trail leading up Pride Rock. He glanced at Taka, shook his head, then spoke with the mandrill.

  “What’s going to happen?” Habu asked.

  “He’s going to climb the rock and roar for us. Then he’ll be king of the Pride Lands.”

  “Is he going to do it now?”

  “Soon. Just watch.”

  Trembling with emotion, Isha drew Habu to her side and watched through the rain as Mufasa’s son ascended the granite promontory. The hyenas were gone, and hope for the future made her heart swell and filled her eyes with tears.

  "Gods forgive me," Isha said, "but I never thought I would live to see this day. Look, Habu! There is your king!"

  Habu watched the lion come to the end of the promontory. He had never known Mufasa, but he heard so many wonderful things about him that he thrilled to see his son come home and take his place as king. The infectious joy and hope affected him deeply, and he nearly danced with an excitement that seemed to fall in the rain, blow in the winds and bubble up from inside all at once.

  Simba looked down at his faithful pride. Habu nudged his Mom. “Look, he’s looking at us!”

  “Shhh, Honey Tree! Watch! You’ll want to tell your grandkids about this.”

  Silhouetted against the sky, Simba looked up expectantly. As if to answer him, a rift opened in the clouds and he saw the stars. Drawing in a deep breath, he sounded a thunderous roar.

  Isha and the other lionesses poured out their soul, their sounds echoing and blending in a joyous song of triumph.

  CHAPTER: THE CRISIS

  When good news is too good to be true, it’s sure to be followed by something bad. Simba’s return to the Pride Lands offered hope to the despondent and strength to the weary. But Isha found her rejoicing cut short when realized her most precious possession was missing--Habu was nowhere to be found.

  Simba and Nala were just waking up after their first night home. Before they could go for a morning drink at the cistern, Isha bounded into their cave, wild-eyed. "Forgive my intrusion, Incosi, but I can't find my son! Please help me!" Isha was nearly incoherent. "I let him go play with Uzuri's cubs' but they don't know where he went and he won't answer me!"

  "Calm down, Isha." Nala touched her with her tongue. "Think now, where did you see him last?"

  "I was lying in the grassy spot over by the north face. He went off to play with Togo and Kombi. I told him to stay near Uzuri but he didn't listen." She struck the ground with her paw. "I should never have let him go!"

  Uzuri slinked in morosely. "I can't find him, Isha. I don't know where he went, but I found out why." She frowned at her twins who tried to look small and inconspicuous. "It seems Togo and Kombi were playing a little...rough." She patted Isha comfortingly. "Don't worry, Hon, he's probably just sulking somewhere."

  "That's just it; he always comes when I call him, no matter what mood he's in. He's such a good boy." She buried her face into Uzuri’s shoulder and sobbed. “My son! My little son!”

  Simba glanced at Nala. "Oh boy. I'm gonna go ask Rafiki if he can help. Maybe he'll know where to look. In the meanwhile, get some search parties organized."

  Simba worked his way quickly down the rock, then ran unbroken toward Rafiki’s acacia. Isha had taken several bites meant for him during The Great Battle, and he felt suitably grateful. “Aiheu, help us! Isha deserves better than this.” By the large trunk of the tree he stopped breathless, looking up into the branches. “Rafiki! Rafiki?? Are you awake??"

  "Indeed I am. What is all the commotion about?"

  “Habusu is lost. Can you do anything to help us? We have to find him quickly, before something else does."

  Rafiki started. "Aiheu forbid--I will try."

  Back at Pride Rock, Isha was going crazy with worry. Nala was stroking her with a paw, nuzzling her. “We will find him, Auntie Isha. I promise.”

  “How can you promise something like that?” Isha trembled. “You can’t! What if he’s dead already?? What if he’s fallen into a sinkhole?? Maybe he’s calling for me!”

  “Easy, girl! Easy! Don’t think such things!”

  Simba came running back to the cave with a frantic looking Rafiki on his back clinging to his mane.

  Isha stepped out of the cave, looking hopeful, but her face fell when she saw no sign of her cub.

  "Isha, my poor dear," Rafiki said, running up and hugging her neck. "Do not fret. We will find your child." He quickly set up his scrying bowl and filled it with water from a gourd he carried. “Do you have anything that he might have touched or played with in the past day or so? An old bone, perhaps?"

  "No, he doesn't play with toys very much; he likes to pounce and wrestle more than anything else."

  Rafiki frowned. "Hmm. That will make it more difficult; I don't think I'll be able to find him without something."

  Isha said, “How about some dead grass? I made him a soft place to sleep."

  He paused, stroking the flowing white hair which grew from his chin. "Yes. Yes indeed."

  She brought a small mouthful of dry grass, but he only took a few strands. She watched closely as he dropped the grass into the bowl, where it floated about in a small circle. Isha and Simba peered over his shoulder with interest as Rafiki made a short prayer, then studied the pattern of ripples in the water. “Makpelah the Circle. He lives.”

  Simba sighed with relief as Isha sank to the ground. "Aiheu be praised," she whispered. "Where is he?"

  Rafiki scratched his head. "I don't know." But all too soon, he would have a good idea.

  "Hey, your Majesty!" called a hyena voice. "I would most HUMBLY request an audience with you."

  “I know that voice,” Simba said. A distant but horrible memory came back to him. “Oh gods, no! Shenzi!”

  CHAPTER: HOLDING OUT HOPE

  Shenzi had offered to help look for the child, but her veiled threats were all too clearly read, and they proved to be more than just a trick to gain influence with Simba. After a long and frustrating day of searching, Yolanda and Sarafina came and bowed breathless before Simba to make a startling report.

  “We found Habu."

  “Where is he?" Isha gasped. Her stomach knotted. "Oh God, tell me he's not dead!"

  "He is alive, Isha. Aiheu forgive me for saying so, but it might be better for him if he had died. The hyenas have him."

  After a moment of pain and anger, Simba roared loudly and said, "Come, Isha. Let's go get your son."

  Every able body was called into the rescue operation. Only the cubs were left behind. Uzuri took charge of the team for all prey was one to her, and she took this particular hunt to heart. There could be no sudden rush, for it is likely the prey would not flee. It required something more subtle than a dash for gazelles, and she was willing to do whatever it took to ensure the safety of her pride sisters as well as that of Habusu. In the back of her mind, however, she remembered Ber, Makhpil, and several others whom she could see no evil in. She prayed they would be safe as well, and maybe that they would help her.

  Quickly and silently, the ghosts of Pride Rock slinked through the grass as silently as a gentle wind, but they were a mighty thunderstorm ready to strike the enemy with lightning.

  The guards posed little problem. The quiet approach caught a couple of cowardly hyenas by surprise, and within moments they were driven off into the uncertain night.

  Uhuru, the Roh’mach, was making his nightly rounds before he slept. He saw the stealthy approach of the lions, and it surprised him that they came unannounced. “I’m going to have a word with Griz’nik,” he grumbled as he headed to meet them.

  "Sire! What an honor!" He bowed. "No news on your missing child, I'm afraid."

  Simba ran to him and snarled viscously. "What in God’s name do you think you're doing with our cub? Did you think we wouldn’t find out??"

  Uhuru quailed and shrank back. "Sire?? I don't understand!"

  Isha stared into his eyes. "Liar! Where i
s my child? What have you done with him??" She scanned the area frantically. "Habu? Habu, it’s Mom! Oh gods, answer me!" Her voice echoed, mocking her. She turned back to Uhuru, her ears laid flat in anger. "What have you done with him?"

  Sitting above them on a ledge, Shenzi laughed.

  Simba glared up at Shenzi. “Are you responsible for this?"

  "And what if I am, cubby? What are you going to do about it? Touch me and your little babykins is going to be tonight's dinner."

  Simba strode forward angrily. "What do you want?"

  Shenzi laughed. "Are you that dense? I want that pathetic excuse for a Roh'mach replaced. We need someone more qualified."

  "That someone wouldn't happen to be you, would it?"

  "Why, dearie, I thought you'd never ask. I'd be delighted to volunteer."

  "I'm sure you would!" Simba roared loudly. "I will not be dictated to by anyone, especially you. You helped Scar kill my father, and by God I either get Habusu back or I’ll rip you."

  “So she helped kill Mufasa too?” Uhuru asked. He confronted Shenzi, shouting, “Let’s end this here and now. I call on the gods to witness our Shih’kal. I challenge you to fight to the death.”

  Deathly silence fell as Shenzi stared at Uhuru, openmouthed. "What? You can't do this!"

  Azuba stepped forward. "But he has.” She was a loyalist and hated Shenzi. She scrabbled up to the ledge and drew close to her enemy, speaking through the clenched teeth of her rage. “Accept the challenge, or forfeit forever your claim as Roh'mach.”

  Shenzi looked around at the other hyenas. The challenge had been witnessed, and she faced only two paths. "Very well. I accept the challenge." She shoved past Azuba and stood before Uhuru, spitting at his feet. "Fool. You would have lost your title. Now you lose your life."

  "Really?" His eyes bored into hers intently. "We shall see."

  CHAPTER: MATCH POINT

  Shenzi began circling Uhuru slowly, sizing him up. He was smaller, but he was very quick and agile.