He clenched jaws, pressing there liana and prepared himself to submerge into moving sand. But what happened then surprised him in every aspect.

In stead of soft plashing into dry swamp he hit the solid ground. That meant: his paws landed on soft, but still sand. Guided by impulse, Sparthi laid down and spread his paws wide, to make the biggest possible area of his body. But then he opened his eyes to see he was still on surface – and saying exactly – on ordinary sand, while cubs on “shore” and Zira herself were laughing aloud.

“Surprise!” called princess and lifted her paws above the ground.

Then Sparthi noticed as she was in earlier prepared hole (even of digging spoil was simply spread around without any special attempts to hide it) and then she exited it in few moves. Sandymaned was still lying on solid ground, holding liana in his mouth and thinking intensively what was going on.

“That is not a quicksand.” Concluded price, standing up.

“Right, ten points for you.” Laughed Zira and walked to friends. She left empty hole after her <drowning>.

“How could you!?” called Ghera with shocked voice and looking on Zira.

“That wasn’t so hard.” Replied princess. “After all, we all were digging.”

“That’s unacceptable! Your brother thought…” started lioness, but she was muffled by laughter of cubs and – what she discovered with surprise – also by laughter of Sparthi himself.

Sandymaned came after his sister to four of cubs and they all sat on grass, still looking on hope in sand, laughing. Ghera finally joined that, however she was in fact extremely angry on Zira.

“That was good!” judged lion. “I really thought that was a quicksand! Even that looked completely dry and I don’t recall any trap nearby.”

“The point is to sold the story properly.” Said Epesi. “HELP! Zira is drowning!” she called, faking terror.

“Shhh!” gasped Sparthi. “Someone hear that and would panic as I did.”

“Your sister was awful.” Said Ghera with stern voice. “She has no right to scare us so much.”

“Well… but it all ended good.” Noticed princess. “And moreover, look how brave my brother is.” She addedsand. But that wasn’t so strange – place didn’t look like quicksand at all. Sparthi was steeping farther and farther and with surprise he was discovering that he still had some solid ground.

“Don’t come any closer!” yelled Zira.

In that moment returned Ghera with several metres of liana. Prince jumped back on safe grass and grabbed in jaws a plant. Then jumped back, being careful to step only on checked ground and took a deep breath. Then crouched to gain impetus and rushed ahead to get as close to Zira as it was possible. He clenched jaws, pressing there liana and prepared himself to submerge into moving sand. But what happened then surprised him in every aspect.

In stead of soft plashing into dry swamp he hit the solid ground. That meant: his paws landed on soft, but still sand. Guided by impulse, Sparthi laid down and spread his paws wide, to make the biggest possible area of his body. But then he opened his eyes to see he was still on surface – and saying exactly – on ordinary sand, while cubs on “shore” and Zira herself were laughing aloud.

“Surprise!” called princess and lifted her paws above the ground.

Then Sparthi noticed as she was in earlier prepared hole (even of digging spoil was simply spread around without any special attempts to hide it) and then she exited it in few moves. Sandymaned was still lying on solid ground, holding liana in his mouth and thinking intensively what was going on.

“That is not a quicksand.” Concluded price, standing up.

“Right, ten points for you.” Laughed Zira and walked to friends. She left empty hole after her <drowning>.

“How could you!?” called Ghera with shocked voice and looking on Zira.

“That wasn’t so hard.” Replied princess. “After all, we all were digging.”

“That’s unacceptable! Your brother thought…” started lioness, but she was muffled by laughter of cubs and – what she discovered with surprise – also by laughter of Sparthi himself.

Sandymaned came after his sister to four of cubs and they all sat on grass, still looking on hope in sand, laughing. Ghera finally joined that, however she was in fact extremely angry on Zira.

“That was good!” judged lion. “I really thought that was a quicksand! Even that looked completely dry and I don’t recall any trap nearby.”

“The point is to sold the story properly.” Said Epesi. “HELP! Zira is drowning!” she called, faking terror.

“Shhh!” gasped Sparthi. “Someone hear that and would panic as I did.”

with proud smile. “He rushed to rescue me… but wait.” She paused. “I thought you would just jump to me and then find that was not a swamp.”

“I think I did the optimal actions for that case.” Said Sparthi. “I knew nothing about quicksand and I need to make some recon. Moreover if I just jumped there, there was a serious probability the marsh was too stiff for me and I would drown as well. I sent Ghera for liana, because I didn’t want to tire myself before some serious effort with manoeuvring in sand. And it was safer that I was checking the ground than she…”

“Oh, yeah.” Nodded Wivu. “But we thought you would just jump for Zira instantly. That would be more heroic.”

“But surely not so smart.” Replied prince.

“I guess our idea of presenting by brother as fearless hero was not fully successful.” Whispered Zira to Epesi.

“But it was a fun anyway.” Replied golden cub.

“Right, come on.” Said Sparthi. “You have your fun today. Let’s back to Golden Cave.”

“Already!?” called all kitties.

“That’s not my fault you exhaust my temper so early.” Smiled prince. “So go to wash yourselves from this dirt and head home.”

Cubs obediently went to lake, then cleared themselves from heavy layer of dirt. Sparthi was watching it from the shore and Ghera came to sit down at his side. For moment they were silent, then lioness said with serious tone.

“I think that your sister deserves some solid punishment for that.”

“Perhaps.” Replied Sparthi. “But I won’t tell father. You know how soft-hearted I am in such things.”

“How could I know?” asked lioness.

“I never told him about your pranks.” Reminded sandymaned. “And I could say that your ideas were sometime even worse than Zira’s.” She smiled with embarrassed smile. “But I liked them all.”

“That your idea of liana and checking ground… You were very… reasonable today.” Said Ghera finally. “I think that is some higher form of bravery.”

“Not so impressive, I guess.” Replied lion.

“For me just fine.” Said Ghera. She took a look around, then came closer and licked his cheek. “My hero. My prince.”

“If you say so…” smiled Sparthi. Then seeing that Epesi was already coming out from water, he called to rest. “Right, enough. Let’s go back.”

Kitties walked to beach, then formed a line and followed two adolescent lions to Golden Massif. The procession was closed by Zira and Wivu. Those two cubs still wished to stay out of keepers attention, because of still visible cuts of their fight.

“So, the deal is simple.” Whispered Zira. “Don’t tell and I won’t.”

“Sure. We already set this.” Replied grey cub. “And Said Sparthi. “I knew nothing about quicksand and I need to make some recon. Moreover if I just jumped there, there was a serious probability the marsh was too stiff for me and I would drown as well. I sent Ghera for liana, because I didn’t want to tire myself before some serious effort with manoeuvring in sand. And it was safer that I was checking the ground than she…”

“Oh, yeah.” Nodded Wivu. “But we thought you would just jump for Zira instantly. That would be more heroic.”

“But surely not so smart.” Replied prince.

“I guess our idea of presenting by brother as fearless hero was not fully successful.” Whispered Zira to Epesi.

“But it was a fun anyway.” Replied golden cub.

“Right, come on.” Said Sparthi. “You have your fun today. Let’s back to Golden Cave.”

“Already!?” called all kitties.

“That’s not my fault you exhaust my temper so early.” Smiled prince. “So go to wash yourselves from this dirt and head home.”

Cubs obediently went to lake, then cleared themselves from heavy layer of dirt. Sparthi was watching it from the shore and Ghera came to sit down at his side. For moment they were silent, then lioness said with serious tone.

“I think that your sister deserves some solid punishment for that.”

“Perhaps.” Replied Sparthi. “But I won’t tell father. You know how soft-hearted I am in such things.”

“How could I know?” asked lioness.

“I never told him about your pranks.” Reminded sandymaned. “And I could say that your ideas were sometime even worse than Zira’s.” She smiled with embarrassed smile. “But I liked them all.”

“That your idea of liana and checking ground… You were very… reasonable today.” Said Ghera finally. “I think that is some higher form of bravery.”

“Not so impressive, I guess.” Replied lion.

“For me just fine.” Said Ghera. She took a look around, then came closer and licked his cheek. “My hero. My prince.”

“If you say so…” smiled Sparthi. Then seeing that Epesi was already coming out from water, he called to rest. “Right, enough. Let’s go back.”

Kitties walked to beach, then formed a line and followed two adolescent lions to Golden Massif. The procession was closed by Zira and Wivu. Those two cubs still wished to stay out of keepers attention, because of still visible Zira…” added after a while. “Please, forget what I said. I really like to have sister and I believe that mom loves us both.”

“I know that.” Replied princess. “But it’s high time for me to deserve for that.”

*

Hunt was very strange and game turned out to be even stranger. Lone buffalo seemed to ignore sneaking lionesses and when Masa gave sing to pursue it was too late for bovid. Ten lionesses pinned powerful creature down – but for twenty paws and eighty claws even

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Next page