you asked to see us, here we… “ARE!!!”

“Sarabi! Do you want to wake everyone up?”

“That is the general idea.” Ah, that must be him now. Yawning echoes from the cave. Indistinct voices. Yes, that’s the king.

“Who the heck is…” There he is at the cave mouth: looking a little bleary eyed. “Ah, it’s you Sarabi.” He’s coming closer, slowly. I’ll just stand and watch. What’s Saffi up to? Oh no, she’s dropping her head for him. She gets a polite nod for her trouble, not that she can see it. Here it comes. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. You know, he’s got nice eyes. I’ve never noticed that before. Kind, but strong. He’s quite a bit like Mufasa, only totally Ahadi. I really don’t see much in him, though if he wanted, I’d probably lie for him… probably… if he asked… really nicely. Wow, he’s sitting down! I expected he’d haul me over the coals standing up. Oh no! Scar and Fluffy are coming out behind him. No, we could have done this without them. Scar’s barely able to keep awake. I wonder what he’s been up to?

“Sarabi and Sarafina.” So it begins. “Something very worrying has been brought to my attention.” No, Sarafina didn’t do anything. I asked her to stall Mufasa: it was all my fault. “I don’t summon lionesses to Pride Rock very often, but this matter is really very disturbing.”

“You can do whatever you must to me, but Sarafina wasn’t part of it.”

“Errr, yes she was…. You both saw her.”

“Her?”

“Yes, the lioness.”

Sarafina, do you have any idea what he’s talking about? “Sire? The lioness?”

“Yes, down by the waterhole. Who was she?”

An empty husk. A shadow. A ghost lost to the years.

“That lioness. Ah, yes, well she was gaunt almost, like a ghost on a night like this. Not so much thin as built like that, more like Scar than Mufasa I’d say. Long nosed, marked over the centre of her head, light coat but ragged and marked. Looked, well, like she was used to living alone, you know, as if she could look after herself. I’ve never seen her, and few like her. I thought she might want to join the pride.”

“Thank you Sarafina, very… comprehensive. Did she see you?”

“Must have.”

Of course she saw us. Didn’t seem to care if she did though.

“She looked at us for long enough.”

“And you Sarabi?”

“I… I barely saw her. She was at the other side of the waterhole. She seemed…”

“Yes?”

“Well, almost familiar somehow, but I can’t place her. She looked… hardened, cold; like this rock. That’s about it.”

“I see. It’s as I suspected. Oh yes, I understand you’re getting on well with my son. That’s good.”

Which son is that exactly? Fluffy of course… got to be. He’s getting up already. Is that it? Oh look, he’s going to get Fluffy to…

“Mufasa?”

“Yes Dad?”

“You stay here and look after the pride. You’re the king until I get back, you hear?”

What? What’s going on? “Wait sire… you think you know who it is; don’t you?”

“Maybe, but you need not worry anymore about that. Your job’s done, and well done too. Thank you.”

If you’re going after her, don’t go alone Ahadi, take Mufasa!

“Scar, you’d better come with me. Go back inside and say goodbye to Akase and meet me at the waterhole. I’m going to have a closer look.”

Saffi’s looks as dumbstruck as I am. Can her jaw drop any further? What’s this all about? Who was that lioness? Well, that’s the question, and Fluff’s not going to be able to answer it. How’s Scar going to be any help? He’s as much use as a dewclaw. There goes Ahadi. Not hanging around either.

“There, you see Sarabi: I can’t be all that bad, now can I?”

Yes Scar, yes you can be. Just keep a straight face, don’t give him anything. Go on and run back to mummy.

“Oh go on, ignore me if you feel you must, but you can’t keep it up forever. One day you’ll see…. One day.”

“Sarabi?”

What’s up Saffi? Ah, that’ll do it: here comes Fluffy. “Scar, isn’t there somewhere you need to be?”

“Oh look, if it isn’t the King and Queen of Pride Rock… together for a change.”

Don’t Fluffy. Just let him go.

“Now then Sassi, Scar is right about something, we are together.”

“Not now Mufasa.” If he presses against me any harder I’ll not be able to resist. “I’ve got to go.”

“Where? Oh no. You heard my father; you’ve done what you needed to. Now stay here.”

“Fluffy, I need to know who she was. I can’t leave it.” He’s pulling away, leaving me. “If your father won’t tell me, then maybe you know?” He’s sitting, distancing himself, looking aside.

“I don’t know. You intend to go after her, don’t you?”

“Yes, I have to know.”

“I thought as much. Look, I heard a name, maybe: Immali. That’s all I know. My father told me to look after the pride, that’s what I intend to do. I can’t be in two places at one time.”

Thank you, thank you.

“I won’t stop you, Sassi, but I do ask you take someone with you.”

“What? Who?”

“That’s up to you. You decide.”

That’s easy. No problem at all. I absolutely know who. “I’ll take Sarafina.”

“I thought you would. Take care, you might need it. Please, come back safe. I need you.”

“We’ll be fine. Won’t we Saffi?” She’d better back me up, or else this all falls apart right here.

“Oh yes, sure we will. We’re lionesses; we do this sort of thing all the time. We’ll be back by dawn.”

I said back me up Saffi. Don’t overdo it!

~oOOo~

“Why are we doing this? What is it that we’re doing exactly?”

“We’re searching for that lioness, ‘Immali’ or whatever she’s called.” Just keep walking. “I’m doing it because the king told me I couldn’t. Why are you doing it?”

“Because I want to help you Sarabi, that’s not too hard to believe, is it?”

Yes, I know. I know. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you just making a point?”

“A point?” A point… you know Saffi, you might be right. “Maybe, but I am making a choice too.” The point… “All my life I’ve been told what to do. Mother, then the males, all of them. I get told what to do, when to do it. What to hunt, or mostly what not to hunt. I’m told where I should be and where I shouldn’t go. I’m told everything, even whose cubs I’ll bear. Why? Because I’m a lioness, a female, and I don’t get a choice. This is it: the last day I’m being pushed around. Today I’m making my own decision, my own choice. I’m going where I want. I don’t know if I’ll find this lioness. I don’t know what I’ll do if I do, but it’ll be my choice, and mine alone.”

“…And mine. I’m coming with you.”

“Yes Saffi, I know. I asked you. I wanted you beside me on this. I didn’t want to make it look as if I was forcing you to come. I’m sorry if it seems like that. It’s not too late to turn back if you want.”

“No way. I’m in this till the end. Whenever that is?”

“You said it: dawn. We’ll be home by dawn.”

 

Immali

 

Fresh and alert, the two lionesses set out for the waterhole, following almost in the two males’ pawfall. They were well enough used to hunting by night, the darkness held no terrors. Indeed, for many other animals they were that terror; that cry in the dark, the ending of all things.

From the ridge where they had first seen the lioness, Immali, crouching in long grass, they struck out in the direction she had taken. They tracked blind. They were not hampered by the night. They would have had little more success by day. There was no spoor: neither track nor sign of any kind that showed any animal had passed that way. It had simply been too long for the key marker, scent, to have survived to be distinct. What little scent they did pick up gave them hope that they were on the right track: this was, most likely, the way the lioness had gone.

The half-moon had long since set. The going had toughened; now rock strewn hillocks, steep gullies and dense thorn bushes. Though still several hours before dawn; the trail could get no colder; the lionesses were beginning to consider returning.

 

“Have you got anything there?”

“No, nothing.”

“Do you think Ahadi’s having any more luck with Scar?”

“Don’t know, if they did, they didn’t come this way. I’ve not smelt either of them since the waterhole.”

“I think I caught a bit of Scar a while back.”

“Oh, lucky you, Saffi. You know, this might just be the making of him.”

“Oh come on Sarabi, he’s not that bad. He’s really quite nice when you get

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