Pride of the Plains (3 page)

Moja was dejected and very contrite. He turned and trudged back to Challenger's boulder, his head sunk low between his forelegs. Challenger caught him up. ‘Don't ever do that again,' he admonished him. ‘You see what happens when you try to go it alone? You're too young and too tender to go unprotected. You nearly made those dogs a nice little meal. I hope you've learnt a lesson.'

‘Yes,' Moja whispered. ‘And I'm sorry you've had to go hungry. I'm really grateful to you for – for saving me.'

Challenger relented. ‘All right,' he said with more sympathy. ‘You've had a bad scare. So it evens out in a way, doesn't it?'

‘Shall I go into hiding again?' Moja asked humbly.

‘Yes. I have to satisfy my hunger somehow. There might be some scraps remaining from my stolen meal.' Now Challenger sounded angry again.

‘There's some of the meat you brought me. I haven't eaten all of it. If – if you'd like it,' Moja offered uncertainly.

‘Lizard? I don't think so. Keep it!' Challenger growled.

Moja could think of nothing else to make amends. ‘I know I did a stupid thing and I've made you really angry,' he murmured, ‘but – but – you will still help me to find my pride?'

Challenger considered for a moment. He had no intention of abandoning his plan and he thought how he could best turn Moja's misdemeanour to his advantage. ‘You will have to do
exactly
as I say from now on,' he told the cub briskly. ‘No matter what happens. Is that understood?'

‘Yes, Challenger.'

‘Then it's settled. That's our pact.'

During the next couple of days Moja's pride moved further off. The lions were following the herds of prey as the latter continually sought fresh pasture. Challenger managed to keep them in view but he found himself travelling increasingly longer distances from his den area. If it hadn't been for Moja and the need to keep him fed and under observation, the young male would have deserted his usual base.

Huru and Kimya, the sister lionesses, were the hunters for the pride. Their skill and intuition meant that their hunting resulted in a high proportion of kills. All the pride members ate well. The big males Battlescars and Blackmane sometimes collaborated in a hunt, although whether they did or didn't made no difference to the rule that they always fed first and took the best of the meat. The lionesses came second and the cubs were tolerated as they tried to seize what bits they could so long as they didn't overstep the mark. The system worked well in the wet season whilst prey was abundant on the plains.

Challenger was cautious in his approach. Huru and Kimya had no idea they were being tracked. It was the males' job to watch for intruders and Battlescars and his brother were perfectly aware of Challenger's presence. They remembered him but made no move while he kept his distance. Yet the young adult's vigil was irksome.

‘We should leave here,' Battlescars said as they lay panting in the heat of the day. ‘We need to look after our other interests.'

‘You're right,' his brother agreed. ‘And as soon as we do, our constant young shadow's waiting game will be over.'

‘He'll be around the sisters the moment we're out of sight.'

‘We could set a trap for him,' Blackmane growled.

‘I've been thinking the same thing,' Battlescars said.

Moja began to doubt Challenger's motives. Every time he asked the young adult about returning to his pride he got the same answer.

‘Not just yet. It's not safe enough.'

The first time he was told this Moja reminded Challenger that he had said it would have to be at dusk.

‘It will be,' Challenger had responded. ‘Darkness is the only possible time for you to travel in safety. But we must choose an occasion when there will be the least interference.'

After that Moja's question was repeated regularly and always met with the same response. The lion cub was tired of remaining in the same confined area, either hidden away in the rock hole he had come to hate or crouching nearby to eat what was brought him or to lap from a pool. Because of the distance he had to cover, Challenger's absences became more protracted. Moja was half inclined to run away, but the pact he had made with Challenger kept him rooted to the spot. His only hope was that eventually his unwanted guardian would decide it was safe enough for him to be taken to rejoin his pride, although as time passed his faith in this outcome was gradually being eroded.

The day came when Challenger couldn't find Moja's pride at all. Moving with care as usual he scanned what he understood to be Huru and Kimya's territory without so much as a glimpse of them. Panting with exasperation, he slunk to a much-used waterhole which he knew the entire pride visited on occasion. An area of bush fringed one end of the pool. Challenger lay down to wait. He didn't venture into the thicker vegetation straight away but positioned himself under cover at its edge where his tawny hide was well screened. Without stirring he watched successive groups of animals come to drink, from zebra to antelope to a mother rhino and her calf. But no lion showed up. Finally he went to drink himself, keeping constant watch as he did so. He was on the point of leaving when all at once the sister lionesses with their remaining cubs arrived at the waterside. Their appearance was by then so unexpected
and sudden that Challenger was startled. Anticipating that Battlescars and Blackmane would now soon appear on the scene, he hastened to return to cover. The sisters' faces were red with gore and so were those of the cubs. They had recently feasted and were thirsty. Challenger recalled his own empty stomach but he dared not move again yet.

Kimya had spotted his retreat from the pool and stood for a long while looking towards his hiding-place. She thought she saw him still lurking amongst some foliage. The dipping sun was reflected in the water, making everything shimmer in a golden haze. She couldn't be sure, but she was eager to know his identity. She remembered how she had persuaded Blackmane to spare a young male who had been badly beaten in a fight.

‘Yes, he was a daring youngster. Foolish, too,' she murmured to herself. ‘I wondered if we'd see him again.'

Huru noticed her abstraction. ‘What is it, sister?'

‘Look. Over there. D'you recall the courageous young male?'

‘The stout one with all the bravado? Of course. Is that him?'

‘I'm fairly certain of it,' said Kimya. ‘And if it is him, he's here because of us.'

Huru looked solemn. Her first thought was for her young. ‘We should move away,' she advised. ‘And get the cubs into cover. Battlescars is absent. We can't take chances, whoever that young lion is.'

Kimya didn't respond at once, but bent her head to lap some more. The cubs were splashing in and out of the pool, reckless of any danger as they played.

‘Come on, sister,' Huru urged her. ‘It's not safe here. We both know what a determined male is capable of.'

‘Wouldn't you like to be sure who it is who's so interested in us?' Kimya asked artlessly.

‘We'll find out soon enough,' Huru growled, and began to move off. She nudged Mbili and Tatu, calling them away from their games. The other cubs followed instinctively and finally Kimya turned and, with a final long glance at the half-hidden male, brought up the rear.

Challenger remained where he was for a while, still expecting Battlescars and Blackmane to show up. But as time went on he at last began to suspect that, quite by chance, he had discovered the lionesses alone. He pulled himself from his screen and padded, cautiously as always, after them. He paced alongside the pool, his eyes raking the more open country beyond for sight of the two proud sisters he so much admired.

And there they were with their cubs running between them, just breasting the last of a patch of scrub. Challenger checked his immediate surroundings, then broke into a trot. Almost as he did so he heard the first roars of the males who had tricked him. Crashing through the undergrowth skirting the pool, Battlescars and Blackmane leapt on the astonished Challenger from behind, their claws and teeth digging deep into his hide. A din of roaring from all three lions made Huru and Kimya pause and look back. They saw Challenger on his back, fighting furiously for survival, kicking out viciously with his feet at the exposed undersides of his assailants. Blackmane was torn and lost his grip on the younger lion, but Battlescars continued to deal savage bites on his opponent. He aimed a lunge at the throat area which would have been fatal had it connected. But Challenger twisted free and battled hard, knowing his life was at stake. The lionesses hurried away, driving the cubs before them, and were soon out of sight.

Gasping in agony, Blackmane limped off to tend his wounds. He was badly ripped; blood flowed from several gashes along his chest and belly. With him out of the picture Challenger and Battlescars fought a straightforward contest for supremacy, and eventually Battlescars's greater strength and experience began to tell. The younger lion's resistance wavered until finally, severely mauled, he managed to wriggle clear and stagger away. Completely exhausted, Battlescars was incapable of following up his advantage by pursuing Challenger and killing him. He stood on quivering legs, heaving great lungfuls of air, his eyes so dulled by his exertions that he could scarcely make out the direction of Challenger's retreat.

When he had recovered his breath, he moved unsteadily towards his brother and slumped alongside him. ‘The youngster's beaten,' he murmured.

‘But at what cost?' Blackmane croaked. ‘Look at me. Now you must travel on alone.'

‘Never!' Battlescars declared. ‘I'll wait for you to recover, brother. How could I leave you?'

‘You must,' Blackmane insisted hoarsely. ‘I shall never move from here. I've no strength left.'

With a heavy heart, Battlescars acknowledged the truth of his brother's words. Blackmane's wounds were terrible; Challenger had dealt him his death blow. ‘I shall stay with you none the less,' he said compassionately. ‘Until … '

‘Until I tell you to go,' Blackmane forced himself to say. ‘And I do tell you. Go, brother. Find our other pride and see that all's well. I ask for nothing else.'

Battlescars sighed. ‘So be it,' he replied sadly.

Challenger, meanwhile, had disappeared. The young lion had reached the shelter of the bush at the edge of the waterhole and collapsed. There was no
way he could get back to his old den and he thought of Moja, isolated and now unprotected, waiting in vain for his return.

The warden of the game park, Simon Obagwe, and his little daughter Annie had been witnesses when a cow elephant had found Moja too close to her dead calf and had slung him out of the way. It had upset Annie greatly and she never ceased to wonder what had happened to the cub. From the beginning the little girl had been involved in the lives of Huru and Kimya, when the lionesses had been in the care of her father Simon at Kamenza. She had been thrilled when cubs had been born to the sisters and Moja's fate concerned her greatly. She pestered her father for news each time he returned from his rounds. His reply was always the same. ‘No, Annie. There's no sign of him.' He wouldn't tell her the cub was dead because he didn't know if that was the truth. Yet of course he suspected it was.

‘Have you asked Joel if he's seen him?' Annie would then ask. Joel, who had once been Huru's and Kimya's keeper in the English zoo, was now assistant manager of the Kamenza animal refuge centre. When time permitted he liked to take a Land-Rover into the game park, sometimes on his own, to look for the sister lionesses and their pride.

‘I don't need to ask him,' Simon would tell his daughter. ‘You know he would tell me at once.'

Annie's disappointment never seemed to lessen with each repetition. She believed Moja was alive, but even she realised that if he didn't soon reappear it would mean he had been unable to survive on his own.

And now his survival really did look uncertain. When Challenger failed to appear Moja remained for a time out of sight in the hole in the rocks. He kept a constant check on the outside, staring from the entrance for any sign of his strange companion. When night fell and he was still alone, Moja recalled what Challenger had said about darkness being the only safe time for him to move.

He was worried about the young adult. Challenger was the key to his rejoining his pride. Without the older lion he had little hope of finding it. Furthermore, Challenger had brought his food. Now Moja was very hungry and it seemed there was no prospect of being fed. He pattered about by Challenger's boulder, listening to every slight sound for a hint of the noise of a lion. Bird calls, hyenas' cries, jackals' yaps and, once, the snarl of a leopard were all that came to his ears. The big cat's cry was close. Moja shrank back against the rocks, his heart fluttering nervously. He yearned for the security of the pride: his mother's reassuring presence, his father's haughty stare, even the playful bickering of his siblings. He knew the likelihood now was that he would have to search for them alone. But there was one other possibility. If he could find Challenger first, perhaps the young male could still lend assistance in some way. Moja screwed up his courage and waited for the leopard to pass. He saw its stealthy figure slink through the shadows only two or three metres away,
half turning its head as it caught his scent. It moved on and Moja recovered his breath.

‘I can't stay here,' he whispered to himself. ‘I'll go quietly and carefully and follow Challenger's direction. I know which way he used to go.' He waited a sensible interval longer so as not to run any risk of colliding with the leopard, then paced forward. Cool air blew against his face. It smelt clean and sweet after the stale smells he had endured in the rocky cleft. Hunger nagged at him insistently. His hunter's instinct was alert for the slightest chance of a kill; there was always the possibility that one of the many small nocturnal rodents would cross his path. And he tried to talk himself out of his fearfulness. ‘I'm Battlescars's son,' he chanted as a constant reminder. ‘I can look after myself.'