The Lion Guard: The Northern Crocodile

Chapter 14

Sunrise at Makuu's... 

"Makuu! Wake up!"

Makuu jerked awake from a peaceful night's sleep, and all thanks to someone yelling at him.

"Huh? What in the world?"

Makuu was wide awake now, and once his vision adjusted to the morning light, he noticed Masika floating right next to him.

"Masika, you better have a damn good reason for waking me up."

{This better not be another one of her jokes, or I swear I'll...}

"Have you seen Talib? It's an emergency and I need him now!"

"How am I supposed to know where Talib is? He's a bird for heaven's sake! He's probably just flying around doing whatever he wants."

Makuu swam over to shore, eager to get out of the water for a little while. Anxious about keeping the conversation going, Masika followed him.

"Well, when did he leave? Which direction did he fly towards?"

"Why do you need him so badly?"

{Jeez she's persistent.}

When they reached the water's edge, Makuu climbed out and walked over to a grouping of acacia trees. He felt relieved when his scales began to cool off under the shade provided by the leaves.

"I need him to fly around the swamp where Zaire and I held our bet. The bet's been over for hours, but Zaire hasn't come out of the swamp. I'm worried that something happened to him."

"Zaire seems like he can take care of his own just fine. Maybe he just got lost."

"Trust me, my brother never gets lost!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. You're worried about your brother, I get that. However..."

"What? Come on, Makuu, what do you want to say?"

"Well...maybe you should be a little more patient and give Zaire some time to show himself. Who knows, maybe he's left the swamp and is on his way back here right now."

"He's not on his way back here!" Hodari called from his look-out post in a nearby tree.

"Oh really? How do you figure that?" Makuu questioned.

"Cause he's already here!"

"He is? Oh thank goodness!" Masika breathed. "Come on, Makuu! Move that lazy hide of yours!"

"Stop calling me lazy!" Makuu snapped, stalking past Masika and into the acacia grove to meet up with Zaire.

{What in the world took him so long to get back? I hope he didn't get into any trouble while he was gone, or else Simba will have my tail.}

When Makuu snapped himself out of his thoughts, he spotted Zaire making his way through the acacia grove. However, something wasn't right. As he got closer, Makuu noticed that Zaire was covered in blood and limping.

{What the? What in the world happened to him?}

"Zaire?!" Masika cried, dashing out from behind Makuu and over to her brother. "What the hell happened? Who did this to you? I swear that when I find them, I'll tear them to shreds! No one messes with my family and gets away with it!"

{I don't believe this. Who could possibly be strong enough to nearly kill Zaire?}

"D...don't bother," Zaire rasped. "You...you don't need to worry about it now. I took care of it."

"What do you mean? What did you take care of? Zaire?" Masika tried asking her brother, but from what Makuu could tell, Zaire didn't seem to hear his sister.