towards Kufuzu and giving him a loving nuzzle, which he returned gratefully. He was feeling so much love for her and she felt the same way for him. They both shed tears of happiness and joy at the fact that they were going to be official mates.

 

After a few minutes of embracing, they were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a lioness’ voice calling Kufuzu’s name. From near the den, Kamili was running towards the long grass, unsure of where Kufuzu and Mwezi had gone because of the length of the grass in the savannah. Kufuzu grumbled at the interruption of his first loving moment with his now mate, but quickly stood to his duty as he rose up from beneath the grass to let Kamili know that he was there. Mwezi soon followed.

 

“Oh, there you are you two.” Kamili said to them both, “I’m so sorry to interrupt.” It was as if she knew what was going on.

 

“Worry not.” Kufuzu replied softly, “Shoot.”

 

“I was just taking a break from eating to explore, when I saw an entire pack of hyenas some distance north-west of the den. They have trespassed into our land!”

 

Kufuzu and Mwezi looked at each other for a moment in shock and surprise. It was a greater surprise to Kufuzu as the mention of the hyenas gave him a flashback of certain childhood memories. He then turned back towards Kamili.

 

“How many of them are in sight?” He asked.

 

“Must be more than twenty, according to what I saw.” Kamili replied.

 

Kufuzu then gave it a bit of thought before speaking to her again.

 

“Then assemble several lions to go after them; but I do not want you to kill them or chase them out just yet. I want them surrounded so that they cannot escape. I assume that you know how?”

 

“Yes, sir; with the Cage of Death.”  

 

 “Good; then after they are surrounded, keep them held so that I can speak to them myself.”

 

“But, sir,” Kamili protested with extreme perplexity, “They are hyenas. They don’t belong here. Why would you want to…”

 

“Please, Kamili; you have to trust me on this.” Kufuzu interrupted, “You and the pride have the training and experience as well as numbers; so they will be no match for our standards; and I must know why they are trespassing onto our land.”

 

Kamili thought about what had been said for a minute, then nodded confidently at Kufuzu and turned to run back towards the pride.

 

“What are you trying to do, Kufuzu?” Mwezi asked in confusion.

 

“If there is one thing that I have learned about being a leader, it is that all trespassers must be brought to judgment; because they are either trespassing or seeking a request and we cannot make any rash decisions or jump to conclusions before knowing their business first.” Kufuzu replied, “But there is more: I developed a kinship with hyenas when I was just a cub, so I understand them very well.”

 

“Kinship?” Mwezi asked, “What do you mean?”

 

“It is a long story. I will explain later as soon as we get this situation sorted out first. Now, come on, we must join the pride in this operation.”

 

With that said, Kufuzu and Mwezi ran towards the pride, which had started to travel north towards the hyena pack and get reading to carry out their operation.

 

9

 

Several miles north-west of the savannah, a pack of 28 hyenas had just crossed into the territory of Tsavo National Park. They were all heading south from where they came from, hoping to find a new place to reside in. They were being lead by three hyenas at the front. One was a female with large crest-like hair that stretched from her mane. The second was a male who had a clear head and very sharp teeth. The third was another male who had cuts on his ears and his tongue sticking out of his mouth, which had several warts on it (gross sight, really). He wore this very unusual yet happy expression on his face at the same time: He was smiling and his eyes were very wide. He would even break out slight chuckles from time to time while they were walking. But just because he was laughing did not mean that anything was funny.

 

“Ohhh!” The second male hyena groaned in fatigue, “I am sick and tired of all this ‘migration’! How hard can it be to find suitable territory?”

 

“Hey! Would you stop complainin’?!” The female hyena shot back at him, “It ain’t helpin’ nothin’. There are plenty of savannahs all over this entire continent. The right one for us is bound to be out there somewhere. Now come on, we can’t give up now.” With that said slowly they continued their journey to the south.

 

But before they could go on any further, six lionesses suddenly shot out from the long grass; jumping right in front of the hyenas and blocking their walking path. They had their teeth bared, supposedly ready to strike at any moment. At the same time the other six lionesses, including Tanya, Kamili, Allia, Nabila, Fikira, and Sashi came running from the northern side and towards the pack. They stopped just before the pack and began forming a circle. The other four lionesses did the same on their own side; and soon the Cage of Death was formed; trapping the entire hyena pack inside with no gap to escape from.

 

The hyenas started to huddle together inside the Cage of Death; quivering with fear at the same time, knowing that they were only a few seconds away from all being killed; because they were no match for this many lions as they were not as powerful as they were. They waited nervously for the first strike, but after a few minutes it never came. Then the leading female hyena dared to speak to them on Tanya’s side, anxiously wanting to know what was going on.

 

“Wh…Wh…What d…d…d…do you w…want from us?” She asked nervously, shaking uncontrollably in fear.

 

“You have trespassed onto our land.” Tanya replied to her. “We do not allow scavenging predators like you roaming around here. You had better be lost, or else you will not last more than five minutes before you all take a dirt nap.”

 

“Please listen!” The leading male hyena spoke up in a merciful voice, “We really meant no harm. We were just looking for…”

 

“RROOOOOAAAAARRRRRRRR!” Kufuzu suddenly jumped right into the Cage and let out a roar that could have been heard over the entire National Park. It made the hyenas jump out of their skin, but they still stayed exactly where they were; knowing that they could not find a way to escape the Cage. They became even more afraid when they realized that this lion was the alpha of the pride.

 

Before Kufuzu could break into interrogation, co-leader Hekima suddenly appeared with Mwezi beside him and they joined the circle behind Kufuzu. Kufuzu turned around and had them both in his sights. He was quite surprised to see Hekima; considering that he told Kufuzu that he wanted to continue sleeping not twenty minutes ago; but he wasted very little time and turned back to face the hyenas, who were all still huddled together and shaking so hard as if they had just climbed out of icy waters.

 

“As alpha male of this pride, I preserve the right to question exactly what your business is by stepping onto our territory.” Kufuzu said sternly but quietly to the hyenas.

 

“I’ll handle this.” The female hyena whispered to the two leading males, then turned to face Kufuzu, “We meant no harm, sir. We did not come to trespass or steal your territory. We have simply been travelin’ over the middle of the continent for the past three days. We recently got kicked out of our last territory by a pride of lions, who attacked and killed some of us in the process. Since then we have been searchin’ non-stop for a new home.”

 

At this point, Kufuzu was paying more attention to the faces of the three leading hyenas than what the female was saying. He was staring at them in a curious way as if they looked familiar to him.

 

“I see.” Kufuzu remarked, then immediately changed the subject to get whatever was on his mind off of his chest. “What are your names; the three of you?” He gestured to the leaders.

 

“I am Shenzi; this is Banzai;” She gestured towards the male leading hyena, then to the other male with the cuts on his ears and his tongue sticking out, “and this is Ed.”

 

Kufuzu then wore this really surprised look on his face as he was immediately taken aback at the mention of their names. His brain then brought up some of his childhood memories.

 

“Wait a minute!” Kufuzu said, with his voice slightly raised in a somewhat excited and awed tone, “I know who you three are. Do you remember me?”

 

“Uhhh….” Banzai began in slight confusion, not entirely recognizing who was speaking to them, “…should we?”

 

“It’s me, Kufuzu.”

 

At this point the hyenas stop shivering and looked at Kufuzu in awe and surprise. The other lionesses just looked at each other with confused expressions, not knowing where on earth this conversation was going.

 

“Kufuzu?!” Shenzi and Banzai said at the same time, then just simply became extremely pleased to see an old friend again; “Oh my gosh, you’re alive!” Shenzi added as she, Banzai, and Ed suddenly jumped towards him and embraced him in a friendly fashion. He did the same as he was completely

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