John Burkitt - The Leonid Saga

Kombi felt something stick in his throat. “Well I hate you too, then!” His chest hitched, and with a choked growl he swatted blindly at Togo. A sudden flurry of paws exploded at him, and the two rolled about haphazardly, squealing and growling epithets that would have shocked their mother.

A loud snarl ripped the air, and they separated abruptly. Sarafina stalked quickly toward them, her eyes flashing in anger. “Stop it right now, you two! What’s going on here?”

“Komb-b-bi’s making f-f-un of me!”

“He said he hated me, Aunt Fini!”

“I DO hate you!”

“ENOUGH!” Sarafina shook her head. “I’ve heard all I’m going to listen to of this. You two apologize to each other.”

Togo’s lip stuck out and he set his shoulders. “No.”

Sarafina stared at him disbelievingly. “What?!”

“I’m sorry, Aunt Fini, I’m not being disrespectful...but I can’t.” Togo looked at Kombi venomously. “I’ve had it with him. He always makes fun of me when I say what I mean.”

“Oh yeah? Well you always make me feel stupid with your fancy-tail songs and poems.” Kombi looked ready to burst into tears again. “You think you’re better than me. Well, you’re not!” He looked at Sarafina. “I’ll never apologize to him! I swear!”

“Don’t say that.” The lioness sighed and lay down, motioning to them to approach. They did, warily keeping her bulk between them as they drew close to her. “I’d like to tell you two about two brothers who had the same problem.”

“N’ga and Sufa?” Kombi made a face. “I know about them already.”

“Me too.” Togo shook his head. “We’re not like them, Aunt Fini. We’re SERIOUS.”

“And so were these brothers. It is not N’ga and Sufa of whom I speak.” Sarafina settled back, remembering the long ago lioness who had held her in her paws and told her the story of two brothers who never forgave...

Duma and Obade were brothers and were fond of each other. They had a sister, Asherati, by their father Jadi’s remarriage. Obade lusted after Asherati and went to great lengths to seduce her, though it was an unholy thing. He finally forced her and she ran sobbing to her father.

“Forced her?” Kombi asked. “Forced her to do what?”

“Something naughty,” Fini said. “Then King Jadi set out to punish Obade, but the punishment--that he would not be King after him but would defer to Duma seemed too weak a punishment to Duma. Duma wanted blood. Duma argued with his father, but Jadi told him that the judgment was final and sufficient, and that in good lion fashion, he should forgive his brother.

But Asherati kept inciting Duma to hate Obade. “You must kill him to avenge my lost virginity.”

Togo shuddered, and crept close to his aunt, who laid a forepaw across his small shoulders, covering him in welcome warmth. Kombi paused uncertainly, then did likewise on Sarafina’s other side.

“Oh, I get it!” Kombi said. “Kind of like Taka and Elanna were doing the other night.”

“Kombi!” Sarafina was all huffy. “I ought to tell your mother!”

“I was just passing by,” he said. “I mean, they were at the spring. Anybody could have seen em. Please don’t tell Mom! Please??”

“Well, I guess we’ll let it slide this time. OK, I won’t tell her. Still, once you knew what was going on, I hope you didn’t hang around.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know! He was saying, ‘Come out, you naughty little bunny. There’s nowhere else to go.”

Sarafina began to giggle nervously. “Naughty little bunnies?? Don’t you tell another living soul what you just told me, understand??”

“I promise.”

“Uzuri is going to die. She’s just going to die!”

“Please don’t tell my mom! You promised!”

“Oh, that’s right. Darn it, I got the scoop of the year and I can’t tell my own sister!” She tried to regain her composure and go on with the story. “Duma swore a mighty oath by Aiheu that he would avenge her. Then Aiheu appeared suddenly from the clouds. “What is this evil thing which you have done?”

“And he was afraid but said, ‘Milk and mud are easily mixed, but once together, who shall separate them? Thus is the oath mixed with my blood, and only spilling my blood can release me.’

“Aiheu rebuked him saying ‘I am the Lord who made the soil and made the mother’s milk. And to those I anoint comes the power to separate mud from milk, that they may also separate foolishness from righteousness. What mother would vow to give her cub mud instead of milk? How then shall you vow to slay your brother when it is evil?’”

“But Asherati came to him day after day, rebuking him and accusing him of having no love nor courage. “You must kill him to avenge my lost virginity!”

“Duma plotted Obade’s murder. He lay in wait for him. He successfully overwhelmed Obade and then as he was about to strike the fatal blow, Aiheu came to him angry and upbraided him. “Did I not tell you this was an evil thing??”

“He felt ashamed that he tried to kill his brother and begged Aiheu for mercy, which he received.

“But Aiheu also upbraided Obade and told him that he was banished into the Big World there to be a rogue until he had learned forbearance and duty.

“Obade went out into the Big World and he was gone for five years, the time of bitter wandering foretold by Aiheu. Finally when he was allowed to return, gaunt and worn but much wiser, he found that his father was dead and Duma was King in the land.

“’Much have I suffered, brother. Much have I learned. May I stay here?’

“’You may live here, but so does the acacia tree and I do not love it nor do I speak to it when I pass.’

Obade turned started to leave, but Duma wept and ran after him. “Do not listen to my words of anger, my brother! I have lost my father, but my brother who was gone has returned again!”

Sarafina fell silent, peering down at the two cubs under her paws. Togo and Kombi lay quiescent a moment, the raised their heads to gaze uncertainly at each other.

“Kombi? I’m sorry I said I hated you.”

“Me too. I didn’t mean it.” Kombi looked at his brother a long moment. “Actually, I thought your poem was nice--actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Togo nuzzled forward under Sarafina’s gentle weight and pawed his brother’s cheek. “Friends?”

Kombi grinned and pawed Togo. “Yeah.”

Ahadi was sitting at the end of the promontory where he had been for an hour or more just looking out over the lands. Taka crept quietly out on to the shaft of stone. With stealthy pads, he approached his father, anxious to see what mood he would find him in. Akase looked rather upset but would tell him nothing about what the King wanted. He hated it when she did that.

“My son, come sit by me.”

“Dad, did I do something to make you angry?”

“No. Come sit by me.”

“You’re not sick are you?”

“No. Just sit by me.”

Taka sat next to his father. Taka’s breath came and left in hurried bursts and there was a trembling in his limbs. “It’s not fair! I know something’s wrong!”

“It all depends in how you look at it.”

“I don’t even know what it is.”

“It’s just that I’m having one of those times when it’s not easy to be king. I have to make a lot of difficult decisions, and when I do, I come up here and let the wind clear my head. Feel the wind, Taka. My son, if you concentrate hard enough, you can let the wind blow your worries away and all that is left is the decision itself.”

“So you are making a hard decision? And you need my help?”

“In a way, yes. I’ve made the hard decision already, but I don’t know how much pain it will cause, my son. Pain inside me, and pain to the ones I love.”