Pride of the Plains by Colin Dann Page B

lion. However, the ever-present hyena packs were always ready to capitalise on her hard-won successes. Upesi’s cubs were growing, too. She kept them well hidden and Huru and Kimya rarely saw them. The lionesses still marvelled at Upesi’s breathtaking speed in the chase. Nothing could rival her and the sisters sometimes interrupted their own activities to watch her. Battlescars, however, was unimpressed.
    â€˜Imagine using all that energy and then losing akill,’ he grunted. ‘And how often does she make one? Hunting individually is a thankless task. I should know.’
    â€˜Oh? How should you?’ Huru teased him. ‘I thought you only ate what we brought you.’
    â€˜That’s the best arrangement,’ he agreed, unperturbed. ‘A lion should be left free to defend the pride, so the females must keep him well fed. But don’t think I don’t know about hunting. I’ve done my share. As young adults my brothers and I survived several seasons on our own.’
    Huru and Kimya exchanged looks. They remembered
their
early days fending for themselves alone. They still had that in common. But their inseparability now was dictated by habit rather than by desire. Kimya guessed Huru suspected her of jealousy. She often felt her scrutiny when the pride was drowsing. And she
was
jealous on occasions when she imagined Battlescars was ignoring her. However, so long as the cubs’ welfare was her and Huru’s priority, resentment on either side remained muffled.
    One day, while matters were still in this unsatisfactory state, the sisters met up with an old friend. Ratel, the honey badger who had grown up with them at Lingmere Zoo in England, had come looking for them. He, too, had been kept for a while at the Kamenza animal refuge centre before being released into the wild, and his path had crossed with the lionesses’ on a few occasions since. Now he had a problem he thought they might be able to solve, and together with his mate Clicker had searched long and hard before finally locating them. At last, using the utmost caution, the badgers approached the small pride.
    The cubs were lying with their mothers under an acacia tree whose umbrella shape provided a widearea of shade. The wet season was over and the day was blisteringly hot. The honey badgers had looked for Huru and Kimya mostly by night, but on this day Ratel had smelt lion and had continued the search after dawn broke. Clicker was less confident than her mate about deliberately going up to the lionesses without a reliable bolt-hole nearby.
    â€˜It’ll be all right,’ he kept telling her, ‘they’ll recognise me. They’ll remember my call. You can stay back a little if you wish.’
    Clicker certainly did wish, and the closer they got to the pride the further behind she dropped. Ratel began his calls: a sort of chirrup or a rattly whistle. The lions were all dozing and his cries didn’t disturb them. He moved nearer.
    â€˜As soon as they see my black and white coat they’ll know me,’ he assured himself.
    Clicker called, ‘That’s far enough! Be careful! There’s another big lion coming to join them.’ She hastily scrabbled for cover in some prickly scrub.
    Ratel hadn’t reckoned on the big male. Battlescars had been sleeping on his back in some grass but the heat had proved too intense and he was heading now for the shade. The lionesses woke as Battlescars padded in, giving his throaty growl of greeting. Kimya yawned and sat up. She saw the honey badger and roused Huru.
    â€˜Look, sister. Is that—’
    More calls from Ratel interrupted her as the badger hurried to identify himself. Now Battlescars looked too and the cubs began to show interest.
    Huru said, ‘Well now, what does he want?’
    â€˜Let’s go and see,’ said Kimya.
    â€˜I’ll
go and see,’ Battlescars snarled, already irritated by the heat. He began to run forward.