CHAPTER: WITHOUT A PRAYER

The next night came in silent splendor. Sarabi looked with misty eyes at the stars as they made their nightly migration across the heavens.

“Aiheu,” she wailed. “Help us! Call up the ancestral spirits! Send Taka wisdom to turn from the path he has taken! Help him to see the folly of his ways. But until he finds the right path, help us to deal with these hyenas.” She pawed at the sky and added, “I don’t understand any of this. I don’t understand why good people like Simba have to die while Shenzi goes on and on. But you are merciful. I know you are just and good. Don’t forget us in our hour of need! Please don’t forget us!”

Ber also prayed. “We are hated here. I want to go home and take my family with me! These lions do not want us, and though their land is good, I cannot sleep safely in the shadow of this rock. Touch our Roh’mach and open her eyes to the truth! Drive out from among us the deceiver and forgive us of our recklessness!”

“Let the hunt begin,” Taka’s voice boomed with unbridled optimism. “Hunt mistress, we need your blessing!”

Uzuri went to stand near Taka. The blessing was supposed to be an important milestone, and the new King had given her some prompting on what he wanted her to say. It should not have taken her much thought to do that. He wanted her customary reference to “Aiheu” to be expressed as a more generic “God,” and wanted all references to “Him” or “His” changed to avoid offending the hyenas whose God was the female Roh’kash.

And yet Uzuri stood before the crowd, lions on her right and hyenas on her left. She looked at the expectant hyenas and felt a shiver run down her spine. Then she glanced over at the lionesses. Their faces were downcast and their ears and tails sagged. Taka’s ideas on a “glorious new era” stuck in her throat. She could say nothing.

“Come on, Hunt Mistress,” Taka hoarsely whispered.

The desolation on Yolanda’s face matched the depth of bitterness in Isha’s expression. Uzuri had to drop her glance.

“Uzuri,” Taka growled, “they’re waiting.”

The hyenas began to murmur uncomfortably. She had to do something, so she did the only thing she could do. She faced the lionesses squarely and prayed.

“Have mercy on us, O Lord. For our transgressions, do not punish us. Look with favor upon we who call on you. And on the trail, let us find sustenance for our bodies and comfort for our spirits. Blessed Aiheu, hear our prayer!”

The lionesses somberly bowed one by one. “Blessed Aiheu, hear our prayer!”

The hyenas looked one at the other. “Great Mother, sustain us,” they said, nervously, bowing. Soon, the whole hunting party lay prostrate on the savanna.

“Good hunting,” Uzuri said shakily. She started to walk off.

“Interesting prayer,” Taka said with a harsh edge to his voice. “Did I detect a note of pessimism?”

“You detected a prayer,” Uzuri said, pushing past him.

Ber pushed up alongside her. She had been avoiding eye contact with the hyenas and it took a lot of work for him to get her attention.

“Well, what do you want?”

“It’s about that prayer.”

“I’ve already been called down once about it.”

“I’m not calling you down,” he said. “I can tell that you’re a good person, and I know Roh’kash will side with you. When the revolt comes, and I feel one will, spare my mate and pups. They are loyal to the old ways and do not want to be here. Remember us.”

She stared at him and sniffed. “I will.”

“I was the hunt master. Now I’m just a guard. Of all the lions, maybe you alone know how much I’ve lost.”

She looked him right in the eyes. For the moment, her feelings for hyenas was tempered with compassion. “I know what you’ve lost, and I hope I’m not next. Pray to your god for me and I’ll pray to Aiheu for you.”

Ber smiled. “God is God. She will hear both our prayers.”

Uzuri went to initiate the first cooperative hunt. She looked at Beesa and sighed. “Well, let’s do this thing.” She felt even then that the hunt was doomed.

CHAPTER: KICKING A DEAD HORSE

The first cooperative hunt was a disaster. Now Taka did not ask her but TOLD her to give the hyenas another chance. To make it worse, Uzuri’s plea for Ber to lead the hyenas fell on deaf ears. Taka deferred to Shenzi in the matter, and she wanted Pipkah to remain in charge.

Apparently the little creep was a better liar than he was a hunter.

Uzuri had little choice but to accept Taka’s decision, but she was going to make it quite clear to Pipkah that THIS time he would wait for her signal to close in.

Just as she was thinking of a diplomatic way to make her point, Pipkah swaggered up to her with a couple of large hyena guards. “Your advice got us into this mess, and it’s up to me to get us out. This time I plan the strategy, Toots.”

Uzuri looked at him speechlessly.

He continued. “Shenzi and Taka have the utmost of confidence in my abilities when I’m allowed to do what I do best.”

“If that’s irritating me, you have succeeded beautifully....”

“This is an outrage!”

“....and NEVER call me Toots!”

Uzuri was ready to explode. She looked over at her sister Sarafina, searching for the right words to vent her feelings. Frustrated and inarticulate, she struck the ground with a paw. “Look, Sis. You deal with this--PERSON--while I take a walk to clear my head.” She turned and started off.

“You’d better take a mighty long walk,” Pipkah called after her.

She whipped about and snarled. “I warn you, Pip Squeak--you don’t have enough friends to keep me from ripping your leg off and jamming it down your throat!”

“Now Sis,” Sarafina purred soothingly. “Don’t threaten him like that.” She patted Pipkah on the head with a paw, none too gently. “He might lose his concentration in the hunt and have an unfortunate accident.” She winked in clear view of Pipkah and Uzuri winked back.

Pipkah’s ears went back and his jaw trembled. “Holy Roh’kash, you can do without me or my plan! I always said it was a mistake to trust your kind! Didn’t I, boys?? Accident indeed!” He slinked away, looking over his shoulder uneasily. “The Roh’mach will hear about this!”

CHAPTER: OUT OF BOUNDS

Taka was a lion who inspired pity for a while, then contempt and finally anger. Uzuri had pitied him once. She had reached the stage of contempt during his difficult adolescence. Now she had reached the point of anger, a white hot anger that could swallow up the moon and the sun and make the rivers run red with blood. She was headed to the eastern meadow, ready to leave and never come back.

Being hunt mistress was her sense of belonging, her identity. Uzuri was beautiful, but she always saw herself first as a good provider and a leader. That night by siding with Pipkah, Taka had stripped her of all she held dear. She felt naked and ashamed and very angry. If he did not appreciate her talents, she would find someone who did.

Uzuri had no idea where she would go. Indeed, the world beyond the Pride Lands was unknown to her and fraught with danger. The intimate knowledge of her home that made her such a fearsome huntress would be gone. She would see only what was in front of her nose.

As she calmed down, her reckless courage failed her and she felt very vulnerable and small. Could she leave her sister Sarafina and young Nala? Could she spurn Ajenti’s sage wisdom, Beesa’s compassion and Yolanda’s gentle advice? And then came the terrible thought of losing Rafiki’s matchless devotion.

She realized she could never turn her back on those she loved. And the void her anger left behind filled with fear. Glancing about, she saw a large pair of eyes glowing in the moonlight.