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  The Promise

  ( Chronicles of the Pride Lands - 7 )

  John H. Burkitt

  David A. Morris

  История Мабату и Иши после того, как они оставили Pride Rock, чтобы жить с другим прайдом. Слишком юный и неумелый, Мабату вынужден оставить родной прайд и отправиться искать свое счастье далеко за границами Pride Lands. Это слишком серьезное испытание... Проходят годы, но Иша, его первая и единственная любовь, по-прежнему верит, что наступит день - и ее юный супруг вернется, чтобы забрать ее с собой, в края, что стали его новой Родиной.

  THE PROMISE

  by John Burkitt and David Morris

  Part Seven of Chronicles of the Pride Lands

  FOREWORD:

  IN APPRECIATION: To Trey McElveen who read and re-read the rough copy with a kindly but critical eye.

  After the stylistic experiment of “The Leonid Saga,” it was comforting to return to something tried and true. But would be unfair to say “The Promise” was not experimental. All of the Chronicles stories have been like exploring new worlds. Even my most devoted fans--and some of them are very wonderful--could not enjoy reading these stories any more than Dave and I enjoyed writing them. I recall with misty eyes the joys and suffering of certain favorite characters. Once in “Under the Acacias” I strove to capture in one short paragraph the way I felt about Uzuri before finishing the main Chronicles series. It was my way of thanking her for all the wondrous experiences she had given me. The sky outside was soft and purple, and the stars were winking into splendor one by one. I sat at the keyboard and typed the one short paragraph:

  “Inside the cave, Rafiki sat bent over with age. In his lap was Uzuri’s head. She was too old and sick to pretend anymore, and when Rafiki put his hand down to stroke her cheek, she took his fingertips in her mouth and gave them a gentle squeeze between her teeth. Tears welled up in Rafiki’s eyes.”

  I wept. Her charm was a two-edged sword that cut both ways. One moment I was Makaka circling her warm, soft neck with my arms and listening to her soft breath. Then I was witnessing an intimate and tender moment of grief. When Uzuri died, I knelt, put my arm around Rafiki and hugged him. “Look at her,” I said. “Isn’t she beautiful.” Only he didn’t hear me or see me. That’s when it really started to hurt, for we had switched roles. I was the imaginary character, the shadow without form or substance.

  Writing another story always seems to help. Depressed, I turned my eyes to The Leonid Saga, and then to The Promise. I hope my simple therapy makes you feel better too.

  -- John Burkitt

  Nashville, Tennessee 1997

  Everyone who takes the time to read or write fiction of any sort has favorite moments that they enjoy, things that take on a new meaning and characters that stand apart from the rest of the text.

  How do they do this? It goes beyond the magic an author weaves into his or her work and into the characters themselves. Like us, each of them has their hopes and dreams. And all to often, like us, those are disrupted by forces beyond our control and smashed to lie in pieces at our feet.

  It is those who pick up the pieces and keep on going regardless that earn our admiration. Those that endure the pain because they know that pain is as much a part of life as pleasure, and that pain cannot last forever...but love always endures.

  Those like Mabatu and Isha.

  -- David Morris

  Wilmington, North Carolina 1997

  CHAPTER: THE BEGINNING

  "It was a hard journey they made, but one they walked

  out of love for you."

  -- Umande

  The anniversary of Taka’s reign was also the anniversary of Mufasa’s death. Taka hated to stand in the shadow of his brother and forbade Gopa the stork to spread the news.

  Still, out of love for Elanna, he celebrated his first wedding anniversary. By tradition he went hunting and what he killed would go to his wife. He was not much of a hunter, and the best prey he could find was an old honey badger too weak to defend itself. Under most circumstances, badgers would not have been considered prey, but this gift was his best effort and a token of love. Elanna would understand. Besides, he felt a certain satisfaction in conquering an old fear from his cubhood days.

  With a cut on his muzzle and still panting, Taka crept up the side of Pride Rock and stalked into the cave, the badger dangling from his jaws. Elanna looked up expectantly. She saw the gift and knew at once what it meant.

  With the excitement of a puppy about to be fondled, Taka closed the remaining distance with ears erect and tail twitching. He dropped the gift at her feet and smiled. “Happy anniversary, my darling Lannie!”

  “Oh look, a badger!” She rose at once and rubbed him sinuously full length. Then she raised on her hind legs and put her arms around his neck, rubbing his face with hers and bearing him lovingly to the ground where she panted in soft leonine laughter. “You didn’t forget!”

  “You’d better eat it while it’s still warm.”

  “Forget the meat, my husband. Have I told you lately that I love you?”

  “Every day. It’s what wakes me up every morning and it’s my lullaby every night.” He touched her with his gentle pink tongue and reached up with a paw to fondle her cheek. “Oh gods, I love you more than life itself!”

  In the midst of their intimate moment, Isha came in. “Sire, there’s a strange lioness that wants to see you.”

  “A strange lioness?? What does she want?”

  “She won’t tell us.”

  He nuzzled Elanna. “I’ll be right back. Remember where we left off.”

  Taka headed to the mouth of the cave. A miserable creature was slowly trudging up the side of Pride Rock. “Who is that?”

  “Her name is Kako,” Isha said. “She came from the east.”

  He could tell that she was expecting cubs, but her face lacked the radiance lions called the “light in the eyes.” She slowly strode before the Pride Sisters, and each one dropped her eyes in turn. She was beautiful and noble in her suffering. Taka felt that he could relate to her somehow. He had known suffering intimately, and realized with a shock that he could almost read her thoughts.

  She walked unsteadily to the mouth of the cave and looked in Taka’s eyes. “Please help me.”

  Taka looked back into her hazel eyes. The sadness in them was overwhelming, but she managed to straighten herself and put forth some pride in her bearing. It was clear that she was used to being respected.

  “My dear, what brings you to my kingdom?”

  “I’m seeking a home.”

  “Why are you homeless?” He looked at her with pity. “You have--you had--a mate. Did he die, or were you a rogue lioness?”

  She looked at him directly in the eyes. “I am a good huntress--one of the best in these parts, and I can prove it. My name is Kako.”

  “Well, Kako, you aren’t guilty of some crime are you? Or--ugh--sick with something catching?”

  Again she looked at him unwaveringly. “If you don’t want me, I can move on. But I am not sick and I have committed no crime.”

  “And you actually want to come here?” He glanced around at the hyenas and back at her. “Why, pray tell?”

  She stood as regal and silent as a statue and kept looking him in the eyes. Taka could not explain it, but he felt a deep shame, a feeling of unworthiness he would have only expected from the white lioness herself. If she needed a home, somehow he must make prov
ide one.

  He glanced about at the other lionesses and could see expectation in their faces. Clearly this Kako had their sympathies. Besides, her blend of pride and sadness put thorns in his heart.

  “Kako, my heart is not made of stone. You do not show me proper deference, but I will not turn you away. Will you accept my authority as your King?”

  She gave a single silent nod.

  Taka looked into her large, sad eyes and regarded the droop of her ears and tail. “I will respect your privacy and require my pride to do likewise. But may I hope to see you smile someday? Your sadness staves me through.”

  Tears formed in Kako’s eyes and began to roll down her cheeks. She did not avert her gaze, though her chin trembled and her breath came in short gasps. Taka struggled to maintain his regal pose, even though silver tears formed in his eyes and worked their way down his cheeks. But after a few moments of exquisite pain, Taka had to look away. “Isha, Uzuri, see to her needs.”

  Taka wandered into the cave where Elanna sat by the badger. “Well, how did it go?” she asked.

  “Lannie,” he half whispered, “I think I just saw a ghost.” He nuzzled her desperately, drying his tears against her sympathetic shoulder. Then he settled next to her, trying to recapture his good mood as she ate.

  CHAPTER: THE SISTERHOOD

  Kako was greatly helped by the love and support of her new pride sisters, and she looked for a way to show her gratitude. She offered to join them on the evening hunt though she had not studied the land.

  As the Pride Sisters gathered up, talk centered on the new arrival. The few details they could pry out of Kako’s dark past were tantalizing. She had borne cubs before and had survived an attempt on her life when she was three moons old. She said that she had once seen the white lioness herself, Minshasa the blessed. But the reason for her exile was sealed away behind her soft, enigmatic hazel eyes.

  Kako had many questions herself. She did not understand why Taka put up with hyenas or why he did not require them to hunt for themselves. “You would think he owed them a big favor.”

  Sarabi remembered how Taka had loved her once, and she raised a half-hearted defense for the sake of what he once meant to her.

  “There is a curse on him. I used to deny it. I thought it was foolishness, but I have seen it grow and spread destruction over everything he touches. He despises life, but he fears death, and so he goes on through a never-ending nightmare.”

  “I could see it in his eyes,” Kako said.

  “We were going to be married, but he wanted to leave the Pride Lands with him. I told him that I couldn’t, so he asked me to choose between my home and his love.”

  “And you chose to stay?”

  Sarabi looked down. “Yes.” She sighed. “Kako, you must understand, I loved Taka like a brother, but not like a husband. I loved Mufasa, and if you’ve ever been in love, you know how hard it is to fight your own heart.”

  Kako’s eyes filled with tears and her chin trembled. “It’s almost impossible, but it can be done. It really can.”

  Sarabi blinked. A tear ran down her cheek. “Kako, honey tree, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up painful things!”

  “Don’t be sorry,” Kako said. She nuzzled Sarabi. “Where did the hyenas come into this?”

  “Taka went away to find peace at the bottom of the gorge. Fabana stopped him. She adopted him, and when his mother Akase died, she was his only family. I must admit that her love for him is almost leonine in its strength and I feel she is a good person--for a hyena.”

  “OK. I might have invited Fabana to stay, but her whole clan too? Does he always act without weighing the consequences??”

  Sarabi sighed deeply. “I didn’t say it made sense. I only said he has known a lot of pain in his life, and somehow they make him feel better. It’s strange, but he’s always been a little strange.”

  “A lot strange if you ask me,” Isha said.

  “I didn’t,” Sarabi said with mild irritation.

  Kako quickly nuzzled Sarabi. “Well you girls make ME feel better. I didn’t mean to cause any problems.”

  “You didn’t,” Isha said, nuzzling Kako and then kissing Sarabi. “We have our little scrapes, but we’re a sisterhood.”

  Kako set about to prove herself on the hunt. She was very focused, as intense on the hunt as she was facing Taka. The hunt was a dance between predator and prey, and Kako was a graceful ballerina, a thing of beauty and deadliness. Uzuri gave her wide latitude in choosing her own approach, sure she had another Avina in her care. It proved to be correct, and while the others pursued a group strategy, Kako silently crept up on a bontebok. Her rush was sudden, terrible, and victorious. Isha gasped with amazement at her effortless grace even in the kill, and came to her as she stood over her trophy. Isha nuzzled her warmly and said, “Well done, my sister!”

  “May we be sisters?”

  “Of course. I take some pride in my own hunting skills. It will be a bond between us.”

  Kako nuzzled her back. “Even so. And we are passionate about our beliefs. That is another bond between us.”

  Isha led her away a short distance. “Kako, I wouldn’t dream of asking you in front of the others. But if we are going to be sisters, confide in me.”

  Kako looked away and sighed. “If we are going to be sisters, insist that I say nothing. Turn from me even if I come willingly to pour out my heart. You must give me the strength to bear this awful secret for the love of one I left behind and one I bear inside me. Help me, Isha--a lot depends on it. Help me!”

  “Forgive me,” Isha said quietly. In lion fashion, she put her paw over Kako’s mouth and then kissed her. “I have sealed the secret away. But from this point on, let no new secrets divide us, Sis.”

  “I’d like that,” Kako said, breathing out a sigh and smiling for the first time.

  CHAPTER: THE LITTLE STRANGER

  Kako was always present on the hunt, even the days she was sick with a fever and barely able to stay awake. Her pregnancy was only an inconvenience to her, one she dealt with firmly.

  One night they were hunting wildebeests. Kako’s gait was unsteady, and often gritted her teeth in pain. Uzuri was loathe to order her home, so impressed was she by her courageous dignity, but she winced when Kako held her cries to a stifled moan to keep from alerting the prey.

  Uzuri stalked closer and closer to the herd, excited by the prospect of getting a decent kill for the first time in a long while.

  Fanning out to the full width of the crescent, the huntresses awaited Uzuri’s signal. Kako was on the left tip, a position requiring some skill, but she had proved her worthiness time and time again. Kako was tense and preoccupied, fighting her discomfort with a will only a lioness could muster.

  Uzuri’s ears twitched. She sprang from cover and soared toward the herd like a golden hawk. Sarabi closed in quickly from the right to drive the herd as it blossomed into full retreat. Kako lumbered along on the left, trying to block out her pain and give her best effort.

  Uzuri closed on a wildebeest, locked in a battle of two wills to survive. Three other lionesses swarmed over the unfortunate beast and soon it was gasping for its final breath with Uzuri’s strong jaws closed on its throat. The pride would survive another week.

  On the left flank, Kako let out a shriek of agony. It galvanized the other lionesses who thought she had been gored. Isha and Sarafina came running to her aid.

  Kako was trying to stagger out of the way of an oncoming wall of animals. Isha and Fini rushed to her side. They snarled and clawed, parting the wildebeests the way a large rock in a stream divides the water until she was out of danger. Isha trembled like a leaf. “Whoa, girl, that was a close one!”

  Sarafina said, and without irreverence, “I know how Mufasa must have felt. They look different when they’re running AT you. They’re BIG.”

  “I know.”

  “Oh gods!!” Kako shrieked, her slow, unsteady gait betraying her extreme agony. Isha and Sarafina looked arou
nd at their pride sister grimacing in agony. Her water broke, quickly soaking the fur on her leg with blood and humors. She stumbled a couple of steps toward her friends and she moaned. “Help me! Somebody help me!”

  “Lay down! Lay down!” Isha ran to her as she collapsed on her side. “Kako! Honey Tree! It’s going to be all right!”

  “Isha, you’re so good to me. I love you, Isha.”

  “I love you too. Don’t you die on me, girl! Now listen to me--I know you’re in pain, but bear down. Push as hard as you can, and it will be over sooner.”

  “I don’t think I can.” Kako gritted her teeth as a moan of agony escaped her. “Aiheu! God help me! Help me!”

  “Bear down!” Isha said in a commanding voice. “Do it!”

  Kako’s eyes bulged until the whites showed, and sweat popped out, matting her fur. “I’m trying, Isha! I’m trying! I shouldn’t have come out tonight!”

  “I hate to say I told you so,” Isha said, trying to be calm. But the tip of her tail twitched nervously. “Push! Bear down, for God’s sake! Push!!”

  Oh gods!” She gasped. “I think something’s happening!”

  Blood stained the grass near her tail. “Look!” Uzuri said. “Here it comes!”

  “Come on, Honey Tree!” Isha kissed her on the cheek. “You can do it, Sis!”

  A half smile broke through the tense face on Kako. “Yes, I can! I can! It’s happening!”

  With a half-choked-back shriek, Kako expelled a small body still wrapped in its maternal cloak. Excitedly, Isha pulled the sac from the infant and began to clean it off.

  Uzuri came over excitedly. “Oh, look at him! He’s beautiful!” The other pride sisters gathered around in respectful silence before the start of a new life.

  Isha said, “Mother, behold your son.”