Pride of the Plains (13 page)

Huru saw Upesi and one of her cubs far ahead and she tried to keep them in view, seeming to draw strength from their speed. Kimya saw her pulling away and cried out.

‘Sister! Don't leave me!' Even the cubs' vulnerability was forgotten in the most basic instinct for self-preservation. But Huru was checked. As Kimya drew
level Challenger sprinted past and found time to feel a wisp of triumph, knowing Battlescars to be well behind. But it wasn't a race and Challenger knew no better than any other animal which was the safest course to run.

Upesi suddenly veered wildly and the lionesses saw a tongue of flame almost catch her from a direction where no fire had seemed to be before. There appeared to be no escape. The plains, long sucked dry of moisture, were alight. In the absence of any resistance, it was as though the whole landscape lay prostrate before a terrible conqueror. Only those creatures who had been forewarned and had had time to dive into deep burrows were not put to flight. A few quaked in rocky crevices or holes, not daring to move. Amongst these were Ratel and Clicker.

Huru's and Kimya's cubs had so far managed to keep close to their mothers. They saw them swerve to follow Upesi's track. Suddenly Moja knew there was only one way they could be sure of escaping death. The river! If they could just get to its near bank, it surely would require no great feat to cross it after the long weeks of drought. However low the water now, it might suffice to present the vital barrier to the fire's progress. He tried to assess their surroundings. In the semi-darkness and in the first throes of panic none of the lions had taken any stock of where they were heading. Now Moja was astonished to see that they were running, after all, towards a rocky outcrop that he recognised as fig tree rock, where Battlescars had wanted to go all along. He could get some kind of bearing from that. He looked again for his father but now Battlescars couldn't be seen at all. Moja gasped to Huru with what little breath he had to spare, ‘Mother! The river! It's our only chance.'

Huru turned momentarily without slackening her
pace. The flames threatened to encircle them but there was one narrow channel ahead that was clear and Moja spurted past Hunt towards it. Many of the other animals had taken different directions. It was impossible to tell if they had escaped or been consumed. The lion pride was almost alone. Challenger had disappeared; so had Upesi. Moja saw a bulky animal looming to his right, seeming to have given up any attempt to survive. It was Pembe, who had been stupefied by heat and was standing still, waiting for the flames to claim him. Moja tried to call to his friend, and managed to croak, ‘Pembe! Come with us!'

The rhino blinked and his heavy body shook as he came to his senses. He began to lumber towards the exhausted pride.

The lions passed through the gap. They could feel the scorching breath of the fire on their pelts, but they kept just ahead of the tongues of flame, some of which were beginning to lick around the honey badgers' rocky shelter. And now the roar of the inferno was constantly in the pride's ears. It was like a voice that bellowed at them from all sides, as if made furious by their efforts to outdistance it. Moja didn't know how he kept running. The other cubs were close to collapse. Huru and Kimya were side by side, mute, deafened and without thought. But the river bank at last came into view. Moja threw himself over the rim and tumbled down towards the narrow, muddy channel of water. He remembered Pembe and Kifaru and their walk across, and found himself up to his neck in the river with his feet just able to touch the bottom. He was too exhausted to swim and stayed where he was. Mbili, Nne and Tano came next with the lionesses. Huru and Kimya waded through the river, lapping at the water greedily as they crossed.
Sita joined the other cubs at the river's edge. Moja saw that his sister Tatu was missing just as a burst of flame rushed up to the lip of the bank. Tatu seemed to be in the middle of it and she was howling. All at once a huge bulky creature appeared behind her, lowered its head and butted her into the water. Pembe had saved her and Moja willed him to save himself. The fire had caught the rhino but he blundered on and slammed on to his side near the cubs. Steam rose from his body as the river lapped at him. His tail and rump were burnt but he was alive.

The cubs watched in trepidation as the flames hovered above them. Fire began to creep down the bank. Huru and Kimya called repeatedly, ‘Youngsters, you must swim. Come across, come across.'

The cubs hesitated. Moja was looking along the bank as far as it was possible to see, seeking his father once more, but Battlescars was nowhere in evidence. Finally he turned and began to paddle. The other cubs followed suit and soon rejoined their mothers. The flames flickered, reaching out once more for Pembe, but the rhino stirred, hauled himself to his feet and slowly, snorting with relief, lumbered across. He was not badly burnt and the water soothed his seared hindquarters. Lions and Pembe stood together silently. On the other side of the river the fire raged unchecked. It seemed to the watchers that the whole world, their world, was in flames.

The lions waited in vain for their old pride leader. They knew only a miracle could save him. But there was no miracle and at last, full of sorrow, they accepted that Battlescars's age had told against him. He was lost to them for ever.

The fire burnt for two days. The national government chartered aircraft with firefighting equipment and
tons of water were dropped in an attempt to halt the flames' destruction. On the ground the military was called in to create firebreaks to contain the blazes where possible. Everyone from Kamenza assisted, Simon and Joel working side by side, masked and muffled in protective clothing. They watched in horror as the fire's grip, despite all their efforts, barely slackened. And it wasn't until Nature's mood changed that the flames finally surrendered. A violent thunderstorm unleashed enough rain to douse the fire entirely. The savannah was left smoking and steaming, blackened and scarred almost beyond recognition where once there had been wide swaths of grassland. Many animals were lost; Simon Obagwe was heartbroken. But the game park had been purged. The plague of flies had vanished, obliterated completely by heat, smoke and flame.

The Obagwe family, together with Joel, looked out at the devastation. Through his field glasses Simon watched some of the surviving game pick its way through burnt vegetation and ashy soil. Some areas had remained untouched by the disaster and the grazers and browsers found their way there.

‘Can you see our lions?' Annie hardly dared to ask. ‘Are they alive still, Daddy?'

‘I can't see them just now,' he answered. ‘But there were lions beyond the river and they must have survived because the fire didn't reach that far.'

‘Were there cubs?'

‘Yes, cubs too.'

‘Were they … were they …?' Annie began.

Her father read her thoughts. ‘Joel and I will go to look,' he assured her, ‘just as soon as we can. We have to make a circuit of the entire park to see what animals are left.'

*

When the rains began in earnest, new green shoots began to appear through the sooty remains of the previous season. The great herds would return when it was time. Meanwhile, the resident species recognised signs of new life and were glad. Huru and Kimya had seen all their cubs survive and the pride thrived, although as yet no male had appeared on the scene to replace Battlescars. Kimya wondered about Challenger, but she didn't concern herself too much about his fate. If he had escaped the fire he would come looking for them. And if he came looking for them he would find two sister lionesses so devoted to each other and so moulded by their experiences together that it would be impossible to separate them. He would also find amongst the sturdy cubs one Moja, halfway to independence, who would one day be ready to challenge for his own pride elsewhere. The youngster's temperament had been well and truly tested by his gruelling experiences and had not been found lacking. Some of his father's old stature was beginning to show in the son. And Moja thought constantly of Battlescars; the old lion's strength and courage were his model. His father would never be forgotten.

Gradually the scars on the landscape healed. The game park took on a new coat of green. Simon and Joel had scoured the park and were encouraged by the numbers of game remaining in it. Losses, although extensive, were not as severe as they had at one time feared. Already there had been some new births. There was still much to be hopeful about. Nature was the key to the park's recovery and they must rely on her to work its salvation. But they could help, and one afternoon they were relaxing at the refuge centre after dealing with the release of the
young female rhino into the bush. During this operation they had seen Huru and Kimya hunting, then the whole pride feeding from a kill. Now they waited for Annie to come home from school so that they could take her and Emelda to see the lion family together.

‘Youngsters,' Joel murmured. ‘They're the future, aren't they? And the game park treasures its young just as we do.'