He looked up to see the two of them looking at him wonderingly. "Was that all right?"

Simba nuzzled him. "Beautiful. You're a good friend, Pumbaa."

Timon nudged him. “It’s time. Go for it, kid.”

Simba nodded. He took a deep breath and roared, the sound shattering the stillness as it echoed across the rocks and canyons. The raucous sound of the birds below fighting for breakfast fell silent, and there was only the sound of the falling water.

CHAPTER 57: SPOTTING THE LEOPARD

Simba was walking restlessly along a well worn path through the jungle, his feet making no sound as they padded along the trail. He paused, glancing down at the far end where it ended, the trees beginning to thin out at the limit of his vision. A slight smile rose as he set about carefully marking the unseen boundary between the savannah and the forest. Grouchy old booger, he thought. Come in HERE and I’LL show you a thing or two. He longed to trot down to the end of the path and roll under that delightful sky once again, but dared not; he was still not fully grown, and he was well aware of the difference between boldness and foolishness.

As he turned to leave, the sharp crack of a tree limb above reached him, and he ducked sidewise, expecting to see the colorful splash of a rotten fruit strike near him. Stupid monkeys, he thought irritably. He was smart enough not to look straight up. There had been times before when he had caught a ripe fruit right in the face.

Instead of a fruit, however, an antelope fell out of the tree and plopped on the ground right in front of him. As he stared, shocked, a voice floated down from above.

“Damn! Of all the times to drop something!”

It was a female voice, a melodious catlike voice but not a lioness. Moments later, a large leopardess came bounding down the trunk with the intensity of a vertical run. She pounced on the antelope and said, “Mine! Buzz off!”

Taken aback, Simba looked up in the tree and back at her. “You got that all the way up there?”

The leopardess glared at him. “What of it?”

“Well, I just thought....” He looked at her and at the antelope. “Did you have help?”

She half smiled. “No. I did it by myself. Haven’t you ever seen a leopard do that before?”

“I’ve never seen a leopard before.” He looked at her appraisingly. “Those spots are so--so neat!”

She purred. “I’ve seen you here before, and I’ve always wanted to ask. How did a lion like you get in a forest like this?”

“Long story,” Simba said with a shrug.

“You hang out with those two?”

Simba knew immediately whom she was referring to. “Well, uh, yeah. What of it?”

“Oh nothing. I just thought I’ve never seen you with another lion before. But there are a lot of strange things in this forest. Like that pair of hyenas.”

“Gur’bruk and Kambra?”

“You know them? They healed my shoulder once.”

“What do you know! They saved my life once.”

“Small world, isn’t it?” With a quick snatch of her powerful jaws, the antelope was on its way up the tree. In five or six bounds of her powerful legs, the prey was cached away in the branches.

“Whoa! I’d give anything to know how to do that!”

She came bounding down again. It was always disconcerting to Simba when she did that.

“Let me get this straight. You’re grown and you don’t know how to hunt?”

“Yeah.” Simba looked away.

“Didn’t your mother teach you anything?”

Simba looked at the ground. His ears and tail drooped. “She didn’t get a chance. My dad gave me a few pouncing lessons.”

“And?”

“He died when I was very little.”

“I’m sorry. So have you scavenged all this time?”

“No, ma’am. I’ve eaten bugs.”

“Bugs??”

“These guys helped me. I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

It brought out some of the motherly feelings in her. The corners of her mouth twitched. “I lost a cub once. I had a lot of things I wanted to tell her, and they’ve been bottled up inside me. Look, if you wait till I chow down, I’ll give you a couple of lessons, OK?”

“Neat!”

CHAPTER 58: CATS LIKE US

The leopardess had a leisurely meal in the tree. She did not offer to share her meal, and she was not asked. Timon and Pumbaa watched her pull off strips of the fresh meat and mince them with a look of pleasure before swallowing. Timon stared at her hungrily, running the tip of his tongue slowly around his lips. “Look at that, Pumbaa! That’s how real people live.”

Pumbaa said nothing, but his stomach complained periodically. Simba was quite content to watch her. Part of his missing heritage would be given him, and he awaited the wonderful secrets she would impart with open-mouthed wonder. “Imagine, me a hunter! A hunter like my mother before me!”

Pride began to swell in his chest, and he hadn’t even tried his luck at it yet.

Finally as the sun was getting low in the sky, she nosed the carcass and it fell out of the branches. Stretching in her precarious perch, she yawned, shook herself, and ambled down the tree. “You ready?”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Lose the ‘yes ma’am.’ My name’s Mikosi.”

“I’m Simba.”

“Glad to meet you at last.” She nuzzled him.

“I’m Timon, if anyone cares. This is my friend Pumbaa.”

Without even glancing in their direction, Mikosi continued. “If you’re going to learn from me, you must do what my cub would have done. Speak when spoken to, and then very softly. Every word we say is an enemy, seeking to betray us. Do you agree to this?”

Simba nodded quietly.

“You learn fast, I’ll grant you.”

For nearly two hours, she gave him lessons on stalking, running after prey, and staying downwind. Timon and Pumbaa watched with horrified fascination at the list of killing tactics, especially when she used them as examples in laying out an approach.

Then when the moon disappeared behind a cloud and the forest was cloaked in inky darkness, she said, “Let’s do it!”

He did exactly what she told him to do. And to his absolute amazement and hers he brought down a small antelope on his very first try!

“Maybe it’s beginner’s luck. But you earned this.”

Mikosi dipped her paw in the blood and made a pawprint on his cheek. “Somewhere out there your parents are proud of you.”

Before Simba could eat, she dragged the carcass up a nearby tree!

"Hey! Bring that back down here! I didn't even get a bite!"

"This is my payment for showing you where to hunt, big boy," she teased, chewing contentedly. “Next lesson: guard your prey from jealous eyes. That’s why I climb trees.”

“But that’s my first! I want to know what it tastes like!”

“I’ll describe it to you.”

“We could share.”

“We certainly could. But what would be the fun in that?”

“It would be nice and friendly.”

Simba extended his claws and began to shinny up the rough-barked tree with absolute determination in his eyes.

She stopped chewing, her claws flicking out as she hugged the limb for balance. "W-What are you DOING?!"

He flailed clumsily, trying to ascend and keep his own balance. "I'm going to join you for dinner, hon."

"STOP!" The tree, not that big to begin with, began to sway drunkenly. "You're too big, imbecile!"

"Well I’m getting smaller by the minute. I'm hungry."

CRAAACK!!!!

Splinters shot up in a spray and sap spewed into the air in haphazard patterns as the tree surrendered, shredding at its lower end to come tumbling down with a crash. As it neared the ground, the end of the tree snapped clear of the stump, pistoning out and jarring the cats, sending them flying clear. The gazelle was not so lucky; Mikosi had wedged it into a fork of the tree to keep it from falling, and she did her job well; it remained there all the way to the ground, where it was obliterated by the smashing weight of the trunk.