“You mean?”
“Heck, if she’d married me, he would have expected no less. Friendship is important among our peoples.”
“That’s nice,” Rafiki said, shaking his head and scratching his beard. “Whew, there is a lot I have to learn.”
Krull looked at Rafiki with an amused twinkle in his eyes. He began to snicker.
Rafiki looked at him crossly. “Why you old scoundrel--you’re pulling my beard!”
“YOU didn’t know I was kidding, and I’M the old scoundrel!” Krull laughed. He had a pleasant, infectious laugh and Rafiki was sorry he’d not heard it before. “I’m already spoken for. Her name is Brill. If my own brother touched her, I’d bite off his tail and shove it up his nose!”
Rafiki smiled. “Well spoken! So her name is Brill, eh? What does that mean?”
“It means beloved.”
Rafiki smiled wistfully. “That is a good name. In our tongue, it is Penda.”
“Your daughter?”
“Yes, Krull. Thank you for remembering.” Rafiki gave Krull an affectionate pat. “Once a leopardess taught me that other people have feelings too. How quickly we sometimes forget.”
CHAPTER 46: MINSHASA’S AUGURY
It was well into the second year of Taka’s reign as king before things became noticably wrong. Rafiki had seen countless dry seasons come and go, but this year it had begun several weeks early, and with much greater ferocity. Coruscating winds swept across the open plains, sifting dust into every nook and cranny. It got into everything. The lionesses found it neccessary to clear a place in their caves to lie down in. It drifted into the dwindling water holes, making a clean drink impossible. It even got into the body in one way or another; Rafiki could feel it grinding between his molars as he chewed his dinner, and his patients kept him busy constantly cleaning the dirt from open wounds and sores which refused to heal under the onslaught, but simply became infected.
One evening, he sat down after treating a cut on Khemoki’s rump. The Zebra’ha Incosi had suffered a small wound, but to hear him talk, it was as if his leg had been torn asunder from his body. The piteous moaning and complaining had set Rafiki’s nerves on edge, and after the zebra left he brewed a cup of tea to calm himself.
The balmy scent of the tea combined with the slightly medicinal side effects had the desired result, making him drowsy and feeling slightly disconnected. He leaned back, closing his eyes, and began uttering his prayers in a low voice. His mind’s eye opened, and he found himself sitting upon a rock in the middle of a grassy plain.
He heard a rustling behind him and looked about curiously. A small vixen wended her way through the grass, her questing snout twitching delicately. She looked up and brightened. “Oh, there you are!”
“I don't believe I’ve had the pleasure...”
Her large ears flickered in amusement. “Oh, I don't have a name. Don’t need one. I’m just the messenger.”
“Oh? What’s your message?”
“Mishasa will be along soon. She’s quite busy.”
“Oh.” Rafiki looked nonplussed. He’d never heard of a Nisei having a full schedule. “I guess I’ll wait.”
“Good idea!” The vixen sat and began to groom her lush tail. Rafiki eased to the ground and leaned his back against the rock, looking at the bautiful sky above. He began to while away the time by finding animal shapes in the clouds overhead, amusing himself by trying to count how many of which animal he saw in the clouds. First one to 20 wins.
He had upped it to 50, with the lions well in the lead, when he finally gave up, looking around agitatedly. “Where IS she?! Even a Nisei shouldn’t take this long to do anything.”
The vixen lifted her head from herpaws where she had been napping. “What’s wrong?”
“She thinks she’s got me flummoxed. But no, I know what she’s up to, you see.” He wagged a finger at her. “She’s playing mind games with me, that she-devil of a lioness.”
"So you think you have her all figured out, eh?"
“Enough to know I wish I was large enough to give her a good spanking."
The vixen grinned suddenly, her teeth flashing in the sun. "You should have done it when you had the chance." Laughing, she darted behind a nearby rock.
Rafiki sat up. "Hey you, come back!"
“Okay.” The brilliant white head of a lioness arose from behind the rock. "Spank me, daddy!" she said, grinning, and launched herself at him. Rafiki backpedaled madly as she flew through the air, knocking him to the ground and driving the air from him in a rush.
Wheezing, he drew in a breath of air, and was nearly smothered as she drew her tongue across his face in a long, wet, drooling lick. "I love it when you talk mean to me."
“All right! I surrender!”
She rolled away from him and sprawled comfortingly in the grass, motioning for him to sit beside her. Her face sobered as he lay his head against her shoulder. “You seek answers.”
“Yes.” He looked at her searchingly. “We are afflicted with a terrible drought. I have suffered through hard years before, but this is unnatural. I fear the Makei are responsible.”
“You are correct.” She looked off in the distance at the shimmering horizon. “Some of the worst Makei feed off pain. One of these has entered the Pride Lands, drawn by the pain and suffering Taka bears, as well as that which he has wrought.”
Rafiki shuddered. “What can we do to stop this? Our land is dying in front of our eyes.”
“The Makei that holds this land in his grip will not permit the Nisei One-who-brings-rain to enter. The pain of this land has given him enormous power, and he holds the other Makei in bondage, to keep his grip upon you.” She paused, looking into his eyes. “There is a way to defeat him, however. But you may find it harder than you think.”
“Tell me! Before Aiheu I swear I will try, no matter what the cost to myself.”
“Very well. This Makei is fixated upon Taka’s Ka. It is the center of the suffering here, and it is the anchor with which he remains. Your only hopes are three-fold. Either you heal Taka’s pain, drive him off, or kill him.”
The mandrill moaned and covered his eyes. “I would rather hurl myself from the top of my tree than kill him. Please don't ask me to do that.”
Minshasa bent and gently kissed his forehead with her tongue. “Of course I won’t. Were your face young and untouched by the evil released by this curse, I could still see the love your heart bears for him.”
“But what am I to do? I am yet Aiheu’s servant, but I am only an old ape.”
“You are not without hope, my son. Someday, while there is still time, I will send a light into the darkness. You will receive a sign of great joy. Wait for the son of the king.”
“Bless you, my Lady.” He fell before her. “I touch your face.”
“I feel it.”
When he arose, Minshasa was gone.
The day Taka emerged from the cave on Pride Rock and announced that Elanna was pregnant, Rafiki was absolutely ecstatic. “It’s the sign!” His hopes were dashed, however, that terrible night that Krull summoned him to come with him to Pride Rock, informing him of Elanna’s impending miscarriage. Rafiki worked feverishly over the lioness, but his medicines were depleted entirely, and no amount of reassurance from Uzuri and Taka could dispel the fact that the birth could not be stopped.
In a moment of desperation, Rafiki stepped outside the cave for a second. "Oh gods, where is Asumini? Where is she when the whole world cries out to her?" Light flicked at the edges of his vision, and he glanced at it hopefully, only to see the light from the moon glinting off of the surface of the water hole. Dejected, he turned and went inside.
As he passed Zazu, folorn in his ribbed prison, he looked thoughtfully at the hornbill for a moment, then stopped, eyes wide. “Taka!”
The lion padded over quickly. “What?”
“I need two plants to make a medicine that can save your mate. They grow far from here, though.” He began to describe the herbs, an
d Zazu began to hop about excitedly.
"I know those plants," Zazu said from his confinement. "Please let me go."
"But you won't come back," Taka snarled.
"I would come back for her."
Their discussion was sundered by a wavering cry of pain, followed by a lower and more agonizing wail. Isha emerged from the cave, eyes streaming as she bore the dead child of Taka and Elanna in her mouth. She laid the child before Taka, who stood, trembling. “You son, Bayete. Mano has called him away.”
The lionesses bowed their heads. “He waits for you,” they intoned softly. “He waits by the side of Minshasa.”
Taka nosed the still form, tears blurring his vision as inhaled the scent of his son, locking it away in his mind forever. “Aiheu abamami,” he finished, his voice breaking.
Isha picked up the cub and caried it over to Rafiki. He took it from her gently, stroking the lifeless child as tears ran down his face. “You were our only hope,” he thought. “Oh gods, we are all abandoned to die here.”
Krull was careful to keep away intruders as he escorted Rafiki back that evening. It took four cups of tea to calm Rafiki’s nerves, a dangerously high amount, but his scrying bowl was ruined, and he had to speak to Minshasa quickly. Krull looked on in fascination as the mandrill’s eyelids fluttered, deep in the depths of his inward journey.
As his vision cleared, he saw the lioness lying down placidly, nursing a cub. Mano lay watchful nearby. Rafiki looked from one to the other. “Your cub?”
“Now he is.”
With a sudden rush of emotion, he recognized Taka’s cub. “Gods!” “Shhh,” she said. “Be very quiet.”
Rafiki smiled at the sight of the small body replete now with health and vitality. Bending to his knees, he kissed the lioness on the forehead. Mano nodded with a kindly smile.
Rafiki smiled back and looked to Minshasa. “Now you have a little one of your own.”
“I have thousands,” she said. “And he is not the last. The hopeless, the helpless, the lost all come to me. Mano gives them safety, and I give them comfort.”
“Bless you. But how do you find the time?”
“All the past, all the future is mine. I have time for your needs as well.” She took the cub gently in her teeth, placing him between her large paws and began to bathe him with her tongue. “This child is not the sign. You must look for another.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that. No riddles this time.” She resumed bathing the cub. The look on her face was so gentle that Rafiki knelt by her and presumed to interrupt her one last time. “How is Asumini?”
Minshasa looked up at him and smiled tenderly. “Your path has not been easy, Metutu. You walk the stony ground of servanthood. But if you are faithful, the Lord will pull all thorns from your heart and kiss away all your tears.”
He bowed his head and closed his eyes for a moment while the warm words filled his darkness with shimmering light. When he opened them again, he was facing a hyena. Krull’s face was lit from within.
“Did you see her, Krull?”
“No, though I would have pulled out my whiskers one by one.” He leaned dreamily on the wall. “I could feel a presence. Oh gods, what peace. The last time I felt that way, I was....” He looked down, embarrassed.
“Nursing at your mother’s side?” Rafiki smiled. “She died when you were very young.”
The guarded look threatened to return to Krull’s face. “Who told you?”
“No one. I could see it in your eyes.” Rafiki draped his arm over Krull’s shoulder and gave him a little pat. “Well, my friend, hope is not dead. Life continues. We will look for another sign.”
CHAPTER 47: LOOKING FOR LOVE
The announcement of Uzuri’s pregnancy was a thorn in Taka’s side, made all the more evident when her children finally arrived. He felt as if the lionesses were deserting him, perhaps even preparing to run off and join other prides. His mate, Elanna was no less distraught; at first she saw the pregnancies as evidence that Taka’s late night excursions were more than just simple “patrols.”
The sight of the newborn Togo and Kombi reassured her; the cubs had none of the earmarks of her husband. Even the scent was wrong, and she secretly delighted in the knowledge that Taka was hers. That evening she snuggled alongside his warm body, nuzzling his dark mane.
“Uzuri’s children are quite beautiful, aren’t they?” she said dreamily.
“I have yet to find out; I couldn’t even get near her today,” he said crossly. “You’d think the lionesses had never seen a cub before.” His eyes darkened. “I shall have to make a formal inspection in the morning.”
“Good. That means I have you all to myself tonight.” She nibbled on his ear, sending shivers down his spine.
“Don’t try to distract me. You know what I mean.”
“Yes love, I do. Now let me show you what I mean.” She kissed his cheek as the night drew gentle shadows around them.
The next morning, Uzuri felt a cold wave of fear sweep over her as Taka entered her cave. “Good morning, hunt mistress.”
“Good morning, sire.” She looked on with astonishment as Taka touched the twin cubs with his tongue. “You are blessed, Uzuri.”
For the first time in her life, Uzuri was at a loss for words. She nodded numbly as Taka sat down, his tail stirring restlessly as he watched the tiny cubs wriggle and roll about at their mother’s belly.
“I was young and fresh like them once. Before I was marked, and life took it’s toll on me, there were people that thought I was cute. Remember, Uzuri?”
“You were a cute cub,” Uzuri said. “I remember.”
“Look at them. They are too young to know I’m ugly. When I kiss them, they don’t want to slink away and rub in the grass.”
“You don’t look that bad,” Uzuri said, forthright even then. “People are just afraid. Afraid of you and afraid of the hyenas. Maybe you have this unique kind of thing with them. Maybe they like you. But they don’t like us. They make it painfully clear that all we’re good for is hunting. Don’t take my word for it--just ask them.”
“It’s too late to change that now.” He shook his head. “I will never live to see them gone, just as I will never live to be forgiven for bringing them here. I don’t think they like me any more than they like you, but they bow and scrape before me, seeking favors.” He sighed. “They’ll kill me when they get the chance. Every time I pass one of them, I wonder, ‘will it be you?’ And every night the same dream reminds me that each day may be my last.”
“Oh gods, how awful!”
“So you’re not amused by my plight? You have a kind heart, just like your mother had.”
He spoke to her so tenderly that Uzuri dared address him unbidden.
“Sire, when you were born you weren’t breathing. I saw Rafiki breathe life into you with his own mouth. Can’t you find it in your heart to forgive him? It would mean a lot to me. Please?”
With a great sigh of resignation, Taka said, “Of all else, I could forgive him. But for trapping me in this life of pain, I cannot. And what’s worse, I am too much of a coward to undo it. If I could just go to sleep one night and never wake up....” He sighed deeply, then reached down and kissed the cubs again. Taka half laughed. “I do tend to run on like a fool, don’t I?” He silently turned and padded away.
Later, as he lay upon the peak of Pride Rock, his majordomo, Gopa the stork, flew in with a great flapping of wings. “I have your daily report, Sire,” he grated.
Taka peered down at Uzuri, who lay sunning herself on an outthrust rock below, her cubs nursing placidly. Tameka lay beside her, the pronounced swelling of her abdomen unmistakable. “Gopa, where are all these new children coming from? I have cubs practically running out of my ears!”
Gopa blinked, the wattle under his neck shaking gently as he glanced down at the lionesses, then cocked his head at Taka. “Who do you THINK brought all those cubs? The stork? Well it certainly wasn’t me.”
<
br /> Taka looked at him askance. “What in the devil are you talking about?”
“Forget it,” Gopa sighed. “You want this report or not?”
CHAPTER 48: CLOSE QUARTERS
Rafiki and Uhuru had just finished their evening prayers when there was a great deal of excitement among the other hyenas outside the baobab. Fabana was rudely thrust into the baobab hollow. One of her guards looked at Uhuru and relayed the orders of Shenzi’s anger:
“Krull, merketh Fabana om arant. Beershomb nik gorun om Shenzi flethun, om Fabana marukh! Oblez?”
“Oblez!”
“Kreblat Roh’mach!”
“Roh’mach kreblash!”
Uhuru glanced at Rafiki. “It seems we have company. Indefinitely.”
“Oh I see.” Rafiki sighed.
Fabana fell before Uhuru. “Krull, oms merketha besath! Beshum Taka gatha om Shenzi pardu om I’bu! Roh’kash ne nabu!”
Krull tried to comfort her as best he could. “Fabana, Roh’kash ne nabu. Disi blechuri m’oh, okash.”
Rafiki breaks in. “That is so sad! Your own daughter!”
Fabana stares at him. “Bet’ra hyanikha?”
“Bih hyanikha,” he said with a nod. “And without a strong accent, I might add.”
“Is there nothing you don’t know?”
“Plenty. Like why your own daughter renounced you?”
Her ears pricked up in anger. “Because I renounced her first. She is a butcher and an ingrate. She would kill Taka by driving him insane and pushing him to suicide. No daughter of mine would do that to her own brother.”
“Then it’s true, isn’t it? You adopted him.”
“Yes. Now they will probably tell him I’m dead or or that I’ve run away.” She looks at Uhuru. “Krull, in the name of the gods, please get a message to Taka telling him what had happened to me.”
“Not a good idea,” Rafiki says. “If your heart is still tied to your family, and I suspect it is, you must not tell Taka. Out of love for you, he would have Shenzi put to death. Do you want to make that kind of choice? Son or daughter?”
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