"Touch of the Nisei" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burkitt John H., Morris David A., Layton Ian)

CHAPTER: STRANGE PREY

After a long night with very little sleep, Elanna was unable to lie still any longer for she suffered from a different emptiness. She had eaten well for the times of Taka’s pride, but still that was poor, and she had been given even less over the last day. Taking Taka’s words in her dream to be a sign, she started off to quench her desire. Hunting had been denied her for over two years by her overprotective husband. She remembered the lessons taught long ago, but she was woefully out of practice. First would be to find some prey to test her luck with her old skills.

That didn’t prove so difficult since the terrible draught had not scorched the land beneath her feet. Silently, she made her way toward a small herd of impala. How she wished for her sisters to be behind her to back her up. But oh, if she DID succeed, what a bounty would be hers! It had been a long time since she had seen so much food. She continued to stalk the prey, hoping against all hopes that she would be able to get her wish.

Finally, after closing the distance farther than she had hoped, she burst from cover and rushed. The excitement of her youth came back. She felt so alive, so exhilarated that she began to understand what she had been missing the last two years.

The herd separated, just as she remembered from her lessons of so long ago. In front of her was a lone impala, unsure where to go. Elanna wasted no time in closing the distance and taking her prey down, ending its life so she could continue hers. Elanna panted and said her blessing as she began to tear into the body of her prey.

Just then, the familiar whoops of hyenas began to close in on her. Before she knew it, a group of hyenas closed in and surrounded her and her prey. At first, they are silent, looking over the lioness and the prey beneath her. Finally, in common speech they said, "Our share! Our land! Part is ours!"

She snarled at them as she stayed protectively over the life giving meat, "Krekh toh! Barekh moh amspach Elanna!"

The hyenas were startled for a moment and backed off, looking at each other. "Hfff! The scholarly type! But, my dear bakhret, even from our own kind we require our share of everything killed on our land."

The hyenas began to approach her, but as it appeared that Elanna would lose her work and maybe her life, a rustle was heard in the grasses. The rogue lion came out of grass, looking at the lioness, her prey, and the hyenas. He moved out more looking intently at the hyenas and growling, “You wouldn’t be making trouble for her, would you? I advise you to leave and now before I make sure you don’t come near here again--EVER.

The hyenas looked at their numbers and decided not to risk their lives for such a meager meal. With curses, both in their language and common speech, they disappeared into the night.

With a grunt of satisfaction in his work, he moved to Elanna.

Suddenly she snapped at him, "This is mine!"

"You're quite welcome," he said with a bow. "Maybe we can do this

again sometime." With that, he turned and began to disappear into the night.

Elanna watched as the rogue faded from sight. Finally she called out, "I'm sorry. Would you share with me?"

The lion turned around and began to trot back towards her. "How can I refuse an offer like that? But you go first--you look a bit thin, my dear."

Elanna dug in to the still warm body of the impala. Her stomach, unaccustomed to this food, had shrunk from long fasts and meager meals. As her insides began to rebel, she moved away from the meat and purged the food from her body, crying as she did. The male, not wanting to miss the free meal, dug in, his eyes still on the crying lioness. Finally, his hunger quenched, he moved closer to her and sits down.

"If you’re wise, you’ll eat a little grass, then take a few bites. With time you’ll get your appetite back.”

“Sounds like good advice,” she said, still sick. She nibbled half-heartedly at a few clumps of green grass.

“Are you a rogue lioness?"

"No. At least I wasn't." She sadly looked down.

"I hope I didn't offend you. I'm a rogue male--of late." He approached her closer and though she shrank from him at first she let him touch her cheek with his paw. "My dear, you look like a ghost. If you don't mind, we can help each other."

"How?"

"Well, I can drive off the hyenas and flush game. And you can talk to me."

"That's it?"

"Hey, it's the silence that gets to me. I can't stand it. I even talk to buzzards. And when they’re not around, I talk to myself. All the time."

"Well, I can talk," she said. "And if you help me hunt, you may eat your share. Deal?"

"Deal! I am Kubali, by the way. And you?”

She tried a small bite of the impala, chewing it carefully and uncertainly, then swallowing. “My name is Elanna.”

He smiled. “Elanna! What a beautiful name.”