A Kingdom Reborn: The Legend of Mohatu
Chapter 12: Life and Death
Several hours passed since the lions had eaten their breakfast zebra. The journey had been long and arduous ever since, without even a single cloud or tree to please the eye. There was nothing but sand: mounds, slopes, and hills of hot, bright orange sand, all across the horizon.
"Why does Earth have to be so big?" Mohatu asked sarcastically with a dry tongue. The lion then glanced behind, seeing only two lines of paw prints that faded off into infinity.
"I'm kinda surprised we haven't fallen off the edge of it already," Mari muttered with a similarly bitter tone. "And if this sand gets any hotter, we'll never reach it."
Mohatu did not speak for a minute, while he continued walking beside the lioness. As the two approached the top of a hill, he could see nothing but a vast expanse of even
more scorching hot sand below.
The lion held his jaw open before speaking very slowly. "Oh. Dear.
God."
"This is getting ridiculous..." Mari panted. Her eyes found no trace of anything but scattered bones, all across the horizon.
"
Getting ridiculous? What are you even saying?" The male lion shook his head. "This was ridiculous
yesterday."
"Well, this is worse," the lioness corrected herself.
"Hot sand or sharp barbs? I'm not too sure about that one."
The lioness groaned. "At least we had
water yesterday."
Mohatu sighed as well, realizing his companion was right. The mere sound of the word 'water' made the back of Mohatu's throat tingle with an excruciating thirst. He was incredibly dehydrated, without even a shadow of doubt.
"There must be water around here somewhere," Mohatu added.
"I doubt it," Mari argued. "There's a reason why no lion ever goes out here."
Mohatu shrugged. "Well, something went out here."
In a state of confusion, Mari studied the lion's expression intently. "Uh... huh?"
"Look," the lion lifted his paw, pointing at a rib cage of a long-dead animal, far off in the distance.
"Hmm... that is weird," Mari replied, analyzing the curved bones which protruded from the sand as the two walked closer.
Mohatu stopped for a brief moment, to get a quick look at the dead animal. "Looks kinda like a hyena," he concluded, based on the general shape of the fossilized bones.
Mari dug her paw through a bit of sand, to reveal a few smaller bones that hid below the old fossil. After seeing that one piece had been fractured, the lioness's mind immediately jumped to one conclusion.
Mari began to speak softly. "I wonder if... this is one of the hyenas that Leo killed..."
Simply put, it was the only possible explanation for a fractured bone in the middle of the barren badlands.
"Actually," Mohatu interrupted, while his eyes darted across the horizon. It was not just one dead carcass that sat barely visible above the sand, but several. Perhaps there were even a dozen hyena carcasses, if he had the patience to count the skulls.
"It looks like there was a
group of them," the lion concluded. A sudden realization struck Mohatu, as he gazed out at the wasteland of death. His mind began to fill with a strange vision of two young and inexperienced lions...
--- --- ---
The heavy gaze of a dark, spotted hyena fell on Leo, while the lion was tired, thirsty and exhausted.
"So, you made it out this far," the female hyena spoke with a raspy voice. "That's rather impressive for a duo of feline furballs."
Leo's eyes glanced over at his brother for a split second, to make sure Rex was still beside him. "You bastards are going to pay for what you did to Abeni," he taunted ruthlessly, despite his apparent lack of strength.
The hyena raised her paw to the rest of her clan, who had surrounded the two lions completely. "Back away," she commanded. "This is what we have been waiting for."
Leo and Rex hesitated slightly, while the many hyenas that once surrounded them followed their orders.
"It seems I have underestimated your abilities," the matriarch commented with a hint of admiration in her voice. "I have to admit, I did not expect you to survive this far away from home."
Musashi stepped forward to the two lions, with open paws. "I'll make you a deal," she continued. "If you kill me, my clan will leave the Pridelands. If I kill you, my clan owns the Pridelands. There are no terms of engagement. Winner takes all."
Leo simply clenched his teeth together and drew out his claws. "Why did you have to kill Abeni?"
"Leo..." Musashi whispered ominously while she stared deep into the lion's eyes. "Leo, Leo, Leo... don't you understand? Death is only a part of life."
"You sick bastard..." Leo crept towards the hyena with an incredibly aggressive fighting stance.
"Eventually, you will realize it is true," Musashi added, neither backing away nor preparing to fight. "I can see it now..." the hyena continued. "You're not like the rest of them."
With all the lion's energy, he struck out against the hyena. However, the battle-hardened matriarch blocked Leo's strike with a simple stroke of her forepaw.
"You walk the path of a warrior, Leo," she spoke effortlessly. "You know what must be done... unlike your idiotic father."
The hyena's words only incited more anger from Leo; he began to strike with greater and greater force, but to no avail. After several failed attempts at trying to hurt the hyena, Leo stepped back, until he stood beside his younger brother.
Musashi continued to stare deep into Leo's eyes, absorbing all the lion's hatred that he held deep within. "That is what brought us here. That is what makes us
better," she growled.
The hyena raised her paw up suggestively, before turning her back on the two lions. "Look around. There's a whole
world out there for warriors like us, just waiting to be conquered."
This time, it was Rex's turn to try a few attacks. After watching his older brother fail consistently with each stroke of his paw, Rex thought he could be a bit more unpredictable with his strikes. However, after several close misses, the lion only depleted his breath and energy.
"We're not too different, you and I..." Musashi continued, unfazed by the lion's attempts to kill her. "You want me to die. I want you to die. There can only be one true supremacist between us."
With frustration, Leo launched himself toward the hyena with bared teeth. Musashi simply stepped out of the way, allowing the lion to plow into the sand behind her.
"But I know there is no honor to be found in what
you are doing," the matriarch retorted with condescension.
Seeing his brother on the ground, Rex stepped up to Musashi with bared teeth.
"After a time, you'll realize it's not about winning or losing," Musashi stepped back, grinning slightly while leaving herself exposed to an attack. "It's the glory and honor of battle that drives us to push forward, day after day. This is how life works."
After regaining his balance, Leo stepped closer once again. He was determined, more than ever, to go in for the kill.
"You're wrong," Leo retorted coldly, jabbing his claws into the side of Musashi's throat with the quickest, swiftest motion any lion had ever seen.
The hyena snarled in retaliation, but Rex attacked her from the other side before she could regain her balance and orientation. With the matriarch suddenly in disarray, Leo bit down using the rest of his strength, going in for the kill.
While the hyena managed to strike a heavy blow to Rex's head and knock the lion down before she felt lightheaded, her fate was inevitably sealed. Leo had her pinned to the sand and on her last breaths.
"It
is about winning," Leo growled, unleashing a roar the almost blew every hyena back with a shockwave of power. "Pumzika kwa amani, mkundu!"
With a cry that pierced through the hot and dry desert air, the remaining hyenas lunged toward Leo and Rex, kicking up an enormous cloud of dirt and sand that engulfed the entire area. The two lions stood at opposite ends, protecting their backs from a continuous onslaught in all directions.
Before the dust settled, every hyena was dead.
--- --- ---
"My God..." Mohatu muttered, as the memory played through his mind. "It
was Leo. He did this."
"It's terrible," Mari said, looking down at another hyena's cracked and broken skull. "I know he was upset by the death of Abeni, but I never would have imagined that he did something like this."
"He just... murdered them," Mohatu looked away out of disgust. The entire situation gave the lion a strange, eerie feeling that he could not shake away. Never before had he felt so close to death.
The lioness shook her head slowly. "After all those two did to us—his own pride—I really should have expected to see something like this."
While Mohatu was far less surprised, he did not like what he saw. "Come on, let's go," the lion muttered. He turned away, unable to bear the pain of being reminded of the bloodshed.
As the lion walked away with Mari following, Musashi's heavy words only seeped into his conscience.
It's the glory and honor of battle that drives us to push forward, day after day. This is how life works.Mohatu pondered the thought briefly and in silence. To a great extent, it was true. Almost everything he and Mari did was a result of the situation they faced: the war with the lion kingdom.
I know there is no honor to be found in what you are doing.Sneaking under cactus fields and going without water through the badlands was hardly honorable. With the recent and unfortunate deaths of both Narisah and Riza, Mohatu really wasn't much of a true warrior. He
wasn't the lion he wanted to be.
We're not too different, you and I... Of all the dozen hyenas that Leo and Rex confronted, every last one of them died. Of all of Usama's subordinates who burned the jungle to the ground, Mohatu killed every last one. As a frightening realization, Mohatu really wasn't all that different.
The lion jolted while he walked, suddenly caught off guard by the many similarities between him, the hyenas, and the kings. Yet, as the memory of Riza's surrender rushed into his mind, the lion relaxed slightly.
He did not kill unless it was a necessity. That is what separated Mari and him from the malevolent kings. When it came right down to it, Mari was right.
There can only be one true supremacist between us.Mohatu's eyes widened, as the words echoed through his mind. If he remembered correctly, Leo killed Musashi before he first spoke with the ancient king Zosma, and both events obviously preceded the conquest of Mari's pride.
Had Musashi predicted the future?
There was only one supremacist, and he was the lion king. While that title once belonged to Leo, it was now Rex. As the future began to unfold, would that title be given to Mohatu?
If he killed Rex, would he even have a choice?
What would happen if Rex died, and no lion or hyena took his place?
Suddenly, Mari's logic made loads of sense: neither of the kings were ever the actual threat. Perhaps he was beginning to truly understand the situation. The lioness was actually a step ahead, and the expanse of her wisdom was certainly beyond admirable.
As Mohatu briefly glanced behind at the lioness, a second realization fell upon him. Mohatu didn't want to be a warrior like Musashi, Leo, or Rex. He wanted to be like her. While Mari wasn't the toughest lioness, she possessed remarkable qualities of strength, courage, virtue and wisdom.
Mari wasn't a king. She was
better.
Look around. There's a whole world out there for warriors like us, just waiting to be conquered.Did the world really only exist to be conquered? Even to a lion, at the very peak of the food chain, it didn't make much sense.
With animals of all shapes and sizes roaming the Serengeti, the ecosystem was much more complex than lions and hyenas simply being destined to rule it all. Many other creatures were necessary to keep a balance.
You know what must be done... unlike your idiotic father.Looking back, it was obvious what Musashi was referring to. The lion closed his eyes, trying as hard as he could to push the thoughts of genocide out of his mind.
Leo, Leo, Leo... don't you understand? Death is only a part of life.Mohatu looked down at the sand below his paws. There was a frightening truth to Musashi's opening words. Death was unstoppable and unavoidable. Only the kings of the past managed to figure out how to cheat death, and that was by transforming into a ghost of some sort.
Regardless, the statement had many varied interpretations. Did it mean he should not fear death? Did it justify killing?
"Mari," Mohatu began quietly, catching the lioness's attention before phrasing his question. "What do you think about... death?"
The lioness raised her head while she walked closer to Mohatu. "Like... what do you mean?"
Mohatu groaned, not entirely sure of how to phrase his question. "I don't know. Is it... necessary?"
"It's something I'd like to avoid, if at all possible. I think we've seen enough already."
"We're all going to die someday," Mohatu whispered sadly.
"Yes, that's true," Mari agreed. "But I'd rather it be from a natural cause. Sure, death is inevitable, but that doesn't mean it's
okay to kill unless it's absolutely necessary. Usually, it isn't."
Mohatu almost interrupted, before the lioness continued. "But, unfortunately, those situations have been
forced upon us quite frequently, as of late."
"Yeah..." Mohatu nodded.
"You know what?" Mari suggested elatedly. "Look, I'm tired of thinking about this. We've actually been pretty far today... it wouldn't hurt if we stop early tonight."
Mohatu raised a brow. "Hmm?"
"I was just thinking," the golden lioness replied. "Maybe we could just kinda relax."
Mohatu almost chuckled. "You mean,
you're actually suggesting that? What's wrong with you?"
"Very funny," Mari retorted sarcastically, flattening her ears. "If that is where Leo and Rex were, there could be some water nearby. Or something. We'll stop, have a drink..."
"I don't believe this," Mohatu smirked.
"Look, after all we've been through in the past few days, I'd rather spend the night thinking about something
other than death, for once."
"It's alright, we can stop early," the lion finally responded, with a bit more seriousness this time.
"Good!" the lioness exclaimed in agreement. "Be on the lookout for a nice place to rest," Mari added.
"Y'know, why don't we just stop here?" Mohatu asked. "By the time we get over those hills way out there, the sun will be going down anyway."
"Because it's too
hot," Mari exclaimed. "I'd never want to sit down on this! It would burn my tail for sure."
"Okay, okay, but what about those rocks over there?" the lion inquired.
"I guess we could take a closer look," the lioness replied, veering off from her initial path to inspect the shadowed location Mohatu had pointed out.
As the two lions approached, it became obvious that the rocks were obscuring a strange sort of valley, hidden beneath the sand. Mari was first to leap down into it, suddenly feeling the relief of a gentle breeze and a dark shadow. Mohatu followed, sliding carefully down into the depression with his claws digging into the clay that lined one of the sides.
Naturally, Mari collapsed to the ground as soon as she felt the shade on her back, simply from heat exhaustion. Mohatu stepped closer to her before arching his back to stretch. After a few seconds, he sat down as well.
As the lion inched closer, he felt the electrifying jolt of Mari's fur barely touching his. He was afraid to move any closer.
Mari lifted her head up, staring at the empty blue sky above for a moment. "I wish we could have found some water here..."
Mohatu rested his chin gently above his forepaws. "Yeah," he said softly, only being reminded of the terrible sensation of dryness lingering in the back of his throat.
"We'll find water tomorrow, I guess," the lioness continued. "No big deal."
Mohatu sighed, waiting for the lioness to say something else. After what had happened the previous night, he was wondering if she decided to stop walking early to tell him something.
Or, perhaps she was waiting for him to tell her. That seemed far more likely, considering just how nervous she had been the night before.
Yet, he was not quite ready to tell her how he felt. Of all the romantic situations that he could imagine, sitting in a valley without water in the middle of a desert wasn't very high on the list. He was hardly appearing very attractive after several hours of trekking through an endless sea of sand, and the scenery wasn't all that mesmerizing either.
Of course, that was aside from the dead hyenas.
As the lion looked around, all he saw were rocks and sand. He knew he would not even be able to see the sunset, because the entire horizon hid above them, as the two rested in the shadows.
Finally, the lion gave up. "What are you thinking?" he asked, unable to bear the anticipation of silence for a more prolonged period of time.
"Oh, nothing..." she replied quietly. "Just... remembering things."
"Like what?" Mohatu inquired.
"When we were cubs." Mari answered.
"It's not a sad memory, I take it?" Mohatu asked, noting the lioness's more lighthearted tone of voice.
"It is... kinda. But only because of what happened since."
Mohatu closed his eyes, while moving one of his hindlegs to get more comfortable. "Would it make a good bedtime story?"
"Don't you think you're a little too old for that?" Mari asked rhetorically.
"Not really," the lion purred. "I'd tell you a story, but the one I have in mind is almost worse than ours."
"I doubt it," Mari replied, almost trying to force a laugh out of the situation. "The Story of Mohatu and Mari in a nutshell: everyone gets killed."
"Basically."
"Nah, this is a little bit better," Mari smiled.
--- --- ---
A female lion cub sat buried in the thick grass of the Pridelands. She began to hold her breath, trying not to make a sound. At the same time, she raised her rear end into the air, shifting her weight slightly, preparing to pounce on an unsuspecting friend.
"What are you doing, Mari?"
Or so she thought. An exasperated sigh escaped the cub's muzzle. "Ugh... nothing," she lied, raising her body above the golden line of grass.
Mari missed her chance. If only she had a few more seconds to prepare herself, she could have pounced on the other cub, like the mighty huntress she desired to be.
Even with her golden-orange fur exposed to the horizon, she remained mostly camouflaged in the savannah. Yet, the cub's former prey was still able to detect her presence. It was certainly not the first time, to Mari's continued surprise. She simply could not approach Leo without the cub knowing, almost by instinct.
"But, what are
you doing?" Mari retorted, in an attempt to mask her poor hunting skills.
"I'm going to the water hole," Leo explained casually. The dusty brown tuft of fur atop his head blew in the wind as he nodded towards the direction he had been walking. "You wanna come?"
The young lioness beamed back at him. "Oh, yeah," Mari lied. "I was... ugh... going there too."
"Let's go," Leo smiled in return. He stepped carefully through the grass, carving his own trail. Mari followed in the cub's path.
Leo stepped out of the grass leading to the waterhole, where his younger brother waited for him. He noticed a strange smirk on his younger brother's face. Something was wrong, he knew that much.
The cub looked down to the mud below his forepaws. Was he about to step in something? No, that definitely wasn't it.
Rex dug his claws into the wet dirt below him carefully, hoping his brother would not notice. The cub's grin only grew wider as he deviously formed a ball of mud below his paw. So far, his plan was working perfectly.
Mari walked around to the other side of Leo, revealing herself to the various creatures drinking in harmony, and the mischievous cub Rex. The lioness cub shifted her blissfully ignorant gaze to the two brothers and twitched her eye. "I don't get it. What's going on?"
Her question was answered with a streak of brown stuff flying through the air. As Rex kicked the dirt towards his brother Leo, it split into hundreds of tiny pieces, but the largest chunk followed a trajectory leading directly under the cub's ear. Leo closed his eyes while shifting his head away to the side, out of reflex.
Splat!
Leo shook the mud out of his fur, causing bits of dirt to fly in every which direction. When he opened his eyes again, he found Rex's mouth wide open, laughing heartily at him. There would be no way the lion could get away with this; he would not be humiliated so easily. For a moment, Leo pondered saying something in return, but quickly changed his mind. His actions would speak louder than words, after all.
Leo formed a ball of mud with his paw as well. Quickly, he tossed it back at his laughing brother, aiming directly for his open mouth. "You want to fight?" Leo taunted playfully, kicking the dirt precisely at his brother's face.
Rex coughed and spat, and then looked back to find Leo ready to pounce on him. He closed his eyes and rolled into the mud with his claws unsheathed, turning his tan coat of fur into a much darker shade of brown.
In only a matter of seconds, the two male cubs grappled one another, engulfing themselves in a giant ball of violence. Mari watched from the side, until deciding to join the fray as well. It was not like she had something better to do.
As the three cubs sparred out in the open, it eventually caught the attention of several other creatures.
"Oh, great," a lioness exhaled sarcastically as she observed the fight at the waterhole. "What are you doing, Mari?" she asked, seeming disappointed with her daughter's behavior.
The three cubs put an end to their shenanigans immediately at the first sign of an adult. Mari smiled innocently, recognizing the voice of the lioness as her unhappy mother.
"You're a mess!" Karttiki exclaimed, giving the cubs a scowl. "Leo and Rex, follow me back home. Mari, you're getting a bath as soon as we get back!"
"But Mom!" Mari retorted quickly. "We were just-"
"I know... I know..." her mother sighed. "But, good God, Mari, how can you even see with mud all over your face?"
The cub attempted to wipe her eyes clean with the swipe of her muddy paw, but only made her face dirtier. "I... can't," she admitted. Careful not to trip over anything, she slowly stepped towards her mother. The other two cubs followed as well.
"That was kinda fun," Leo chuckled quietly.
"Yeah... let's do it again some time," Rex added deviously.
As Karttiki and the cubs approached their den, several old lions, including Busar, stood at the tip of Pride Rock, before a falling sun. His color almost turned to an elegant shade of red as the vibrant rays of light bathed his coat of thin, wiry fur. Another male was cleaning his the back of his ears beside Busar, while two more reclined happily on the rocky surface without a care in the world.
Mari's mother picked her daughter up in her mouth, and dragged her into the den with a group of a dozen or so lions. Leo and Rex waited by their father, outside the den.
"Time for your bath," Karttiki sighed, plopping Mari down on the hard, rocky floor. Afterward, the lioness spat out a clump of saliva-coated dirt as well. "How did you even..." she asked out of frustration, staring at the pile of mud that her daughter was in. "Damn, I don't even know where to begin!"
The lioness sat down, grabbing her daughter with her forepaws. Mari mingled around slightly, and twitched as her mother licked her neck. As her expression revealed, Karttiki wasn't particularly enjoying the situation either. With every stroke of her tongue, the older lioness ate a clump of mud.
About an hour later, Mari emerged from the shadow of the den, much cleaner than before. Noticing that her two friends were waiting for her, she crept up to the brothers slowly, until she was within pouncing distance of both.
The older brother did not turn around. "I know you're there, Mari."
"Aww..." she sighed. "How did you hear me?"
"I don't know," Leo replied. "But I thought you would have learned by now. You can't sneak up on me."
Rex chortled. "Nor me."
"Oh yeah?" Mari retorted, scowling at Leo's younger brother.
"Yeah!"
"Alright," Leo interrupted. "Let's settle this." He looked up to the top of the enormous monument almost directly above each of them. "First one to the top of Pride Rock wins."
"Hah!" Rex shouted confidently. "You know I'm going to win this." He darted off directly for the base of the cliff, and sunk his claws in to the crevasses of the rock. In only a matter of seconds, he began working his way up.
Leo and Mari each ran to find a different path upward. Between the two, Leo seemed to have more luck. After nearly a minute of strenuous climbing, he had not only caught up to Rex, but surpassed him as well.
Not after long, the very top of Pride Rock was within Leo's reach. He placed his forepaw above the plateau with dignity, then the other. With both his front paws at the top, he managed to pull himself up.
Panting, the lion cub looked back over the edge of the cliff. Rex and Mari followed behind in his path.
As Rex neared the top, Leo placed his paw out to help his brother up, grinning slightly. Later, the two did the same for Mari.
The three cubs turned around, to find all the lions distracted by the sunset below. The trio of cubs examined the horizon as well, before being mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the golden landscape.
The plains of Africa were abundant with life and movement, even at dusk. Yet, none of the creatures seemed to be aware of the greater tranquility far above.
"It's a good life we live," Leo said.
Rex corrected his brother. "The
best."
"I just hope it never changes," Mari added.
--- --- ---
"And I hope it never changes us," Mohatu smiled happily, purring as he stared into Mari's sandy coat of fur.
"Yeah..." the lioness sighed, yawning dryly. "That's what y-"
The lioness stopped immediately, realizing that her tongue almost slipped. "
...he was a different lion back then..."
Mohatu nodded. "Yep. He
definitely changed... a lot."
Fortunately for the lioness, Mohatu did not catch what she had almost said, as evident by his response.
Mari sighed in relief, resting her head above her paws as well. During the many moments that followed, the lioness simply stared at the dirt wall in front of her, looking back at her cubhood memories with Leo and Rex.
As she was reminded of Mohatu's presence by the warmth of his gentlre breathing, she was beginning to come to a new realization. Maybe, just
maybe, things could be the same again.
While she did not want to give herself any false hope, Mari could not deny that her story of redemption would be one worth telling, if it had the happy ending she began to imagine.
But, needless to say, it seemed ridiculous to be thinking about the end so soon. There was still a long, dangerous, and unpredictable journey ahead.
--- --- ---
A/N: To be honest, I really don't like the way this chapter turned out. It seems like it was just kinda thrown together, and that's because it certainly was. Part of this was written long, long ago, another part was written long ago, and yet another part was written not too long ago, so the whole thing is rather inconsistent (to me, at least).
But, I really don't want to rewrite any of it, so I'm just going to leave this as it is and say that the updates in the weeks to come will be quite a bit better, once I start getting to the meat and potatoes of this story.
I don't want to get anyone's hopes up too much, but the following chapters are proving to be
much more fun to write, which should mean they'll probably be better to read.