Since she had scared off the strange lioness, Bahari had been a bit worried. There had been no other signs of lions. Perhaps the stranger really had just been a nomad, scrounging for food. That made Bahari think no more kindly of her, but it did make her feel a little less tense. Most of the pups were near-grown now, but Bahari didn’t like to think of any of them tangling with a lion. Even Manyara, who was tiny for a lioness and extremely stupid to boot, could have beaten them.
So Bahari was taking Manyara with her on a hunting trip. The lioness was clumsy and not very bright, but she did what she was told and was perfectly willing to cooperate. Besides, she was bigger and heavier than a hyena. One of Manyara’s wild, ungainly leaps onto a prey animal’s back tended to make an impression.
“Where’re we goin’?” The voice came from behind her. Bahari glanced over her shoulder at the grey lioness marching along. As usual when she wasn’t being shouted at or punished, Manyara wore a bright and empty smile. The lioness must be happy to leave her own cubs for a while, Bahari reflected. The three lion cubs were well-behaved little things, but Manyara had no one to help her care for them. And there were the hyena pups for her to look after, too … and little, benighted Igola, who was Manyara’s almost constant shadow back at the den. Manyara didn’t appear to mind, but what sane mother wouldn’t want to get away from her brats for a while?
“We’re gonna get some food,” Bahari replied casually, her eyes returning to the view in front of her. Something small and not too fast, that would be perfect. Something she could chase to Manyara so that the grey lioness could pounce on it. “Walk quietly, we don’t want to scare any animals away,” she reminded Manyara. The lioness’s exuberant stomping quieted. Yes, Manyara was certainly trainable. It was also possible that she had brightened up a bit since joining the hyenas, although Bahari wasn’t holding out any hope for miracles.
“I haven’t been huntin’ in a while,” Manyara said happily, her voice low so as not to give them away. Bahari let her talk, focusing on looking for prey. The grey lioness did tend to ramble a bit. It was easily ignored. “Usually I take care of babies. I like babies, but I like huntin’ more. I hope when all the babies grow up we can go huntin’ together. It’ll be real easy to hunt when we’re all together. Except we’ll probably have to hunt real big animals, on account of there’re so many of us and hardly anyone likes to share. Probably a giraffe would do. We can pile up all the baby hyenas to reach it.” This idea tickled Manyara, and she let out a giggle, being careful to keep it quiet. Bahari, quite used to the grey lion’s inane observations, did not comment.
“How come you want me along anyhow?” Manyara asked suddenly. “Not that I’m complaining. It’s just usually you like some time for yourself.” This was unusually observant for Manyara, and Bahari shot her a sharp look. Sometimes she thought the lioness was cleverer than she appeared … but only sometimes. Very rarely, in fact. Manyara’s face was as open and blankly curious as ever, so Bahari dropped the thought.
It took her a moment to decide whether to share with Manyara. She had told Dikeledi, of course … but Manyara? Well, it wasn’t as though the lioness would run off and tattle to someone. Bahari was fairly confident of that. “I saw a lioness out here the other day,” Bahari said slowly, glancing back at Manyara to see how she would react. It wasn’t often that Manyara saw other lions.
The grey lioness looked appropriately surprised. “What was another lioness doin’ here? I’m the only lioness here. And the babbies,” she added as an afterthought. Another lion … well, it just seemed strange, and wrong. Bahari watched Manyara’s face go through a number of interesting expressions as she struggled to come up with a response. “How big was it?” Manyara asked finally, blue eyes perplexed.
“Big,” Bahari said. “Much bigger than you.” She shook her head. “I bit ‘er on the arm, and told her to get away from us. We don’t need any trouble from lions.” Scowling at the memory, Bahari shook her head. “If you see her, you should bite her too,” Bahari said firmly. If the brown lioness came back, it would probably be looking for revenge, and Manyara would be pulverized. She didn’t tell Manyara that, though.
Manyara nodded as she spoke, frowning. “Yup. Okay. I’ll bite her.” She matched Bahari’s scowl, pacing along in her usual place behind the hyena and off to the side. “Lions aren’t supposed to come here,” she said, her tone indignant. “This is our territory!” Although technically it was probably the hyenas’ territory alone, Manyara felt that she was part of their family (the bottom part) and thus owned it as well. The hyenas had told her all about nasty lions, and she didn’t want them coming to eat her babies. The scowl deepened. Her own mother had beaten her as a cub, and Manyara was deeply suspicious of lionesses. They weren’t great mothers like hyenas! They beat up cubs and ate them. Nope, nope. Manyara did not want strange lionesses in her home.
It always startled Bahari when Manyara identified with the hyenas so strongly, and it probably always would. It pleased her though. She nodded, slightly amused by Manyara’s strong reaction. “That’s right. It’s ours. If we see that lioness again, we’ll drive her off.”
“We’ll drive her off,” Manyara repeated obediently. “Don’t want any big nasty lions too lazy to catch their own food trying to eat our babbies.” The tiny lioness shook her head, frowning. But the mention of food was lifting her sudden dark mood, and she smiled again. “Bahari, look, I see some antelopes ‘n’ things over there.”
The hyena lifted her head, following Manyara’s gaze. There were indeed some animals off to the side, huddled under a tree. Perfect. Nodding to the lioness, Bahari lowered herself closer to the ground and began to sidle towards the prey animal, confident that Manyara would follow. As strange as it was, they worked well as a team. Whether it be hunting prey or hunting lions, Bahari was sure that Manyara wouldn’t disappoint her.
