The twins were asleep when a rat knocked over hot coals. They woke up to their mom shaking them awake, “Feza! Mutale! We have to leave now! I will come back for our stuff.” She handed them each a sack of food and water and said, “I love both of you very much and just know that I will always be with you. Now stay together and don’t look back!”
They ran until their legs felt like they would fall off. They fell asleep hidden in the tall savanna grass. The air was moist with the month’s rain. They both fell asleep wanting to know why mama sent them away in the dead of night with the food and water they had collected the morning of.
Mutale stretched in the now dry morning sun and left Feza to sleep as the sun danced on her gold brown skin. In the silence the he heard something, it was very faint but he could not think of what it was. His eyes widened with horror when he realized they were in the lions territory. He looked to where the noise was coming from and went to investigate. He saw two young lion cubs in a dead snag of a tree with a hyena at the bottom waiting for breakfast.
He looked around and saw a long dead branch. Satisfied with his weapon he charged at the ugly savanna dog with a horrific war cry. The creature yelped with surprise and lunged at him. Mutale slashed a good sized gash into its deformed face. It let out a sharp quick yelp and with one more bare of his teeth he trotted away. Once the creature was far enough to satisfy Mutale he climbed the dead snag comforting the small lion, “Don’t worry that ugly creature is gone. I made sure he knew who he was messing with.” The cubs crawled into his arms. Mutale was unsure if the bigger cub was limp because he was tired or injured.
He parted the grass to their hiding place and saw Feza cleaning a small pan with a small amount of water. She looked up and with a flash of surprise and confusion asked, “A-Are those lion cubs?”
“They sure don’t look like elephants!” Mutale said with a joking hint in his voice.
Feza rolled her eyes and gently taking the larger cub and with the sad cub said in a quivering voice, “H-He is b-bleeding out.”
Mutale looked at him and said, “I thought so… they were in a tree with a hyena at the bottom. Let's feed Rori and Kopa something and make Kopa a bed so he can go to sleep thinking of his happy times.”
“Rori? Kopa?”
“They are so cute I can’t help it lil’ sis.”
“For the record you are only 6 minutes older.” Feza said rolling her eyes making a bed for the dying Kopa.
“Did Mama teach you how to make this oatmeal? This is good! Rori likes it to.”
“Feed him some meat. They need protein. Maybe some goats milk. I have some in leather pouch.”
The cubs ate died gazelle meat and Feza boiled Kopa’s to make it softer. After that she dumped out the small amount of water and warmed the milk. They ate as if they had been stuck in that tree for a week. Kopa ate all he wanted and the twins put him in a leave bed with feathers and fur Feza found and they loosely put a small piece of hide from a half rotten carcass.
The two kids and one hideon lion cub went off to town to see what happened to mama. They asked around and knowone said anything until, “Ha. Every thing and one in that pile of rubble burned to death!”
They turned to see Caymen and his goons. With a knife Caymen spun in his palm and in a quiet laugh he said, “And we are heard to end your blood line.” He pounced at Mutale but the younger boy was missed by a mile. In anger he wildly slashed at Feza grazing her calf. In the fight no one was a lion cub jump out of the bags they had been carrying.
A road rang out and they saw an angry lioness with a small cub growling at Caymen and his group. The large beautiful savanna cat ran to the group and started to attack. A mother-daughter pair attacked Caymen, “The mother is Zira and the daughter is Vitani.” Said Feza as Mutale have her an odd look, “Well you got to name the cubs.”
After the group of thugs had been dealt with the blood lust in Zira's she was not gone. The lion charged at them. Vitani took it upon herself to protect the people who had saved her leaders cub and pushed the older lion down. Zira looked at her daughter in defeat and sadness. In one horrible scene the younger generation ended the other in a blood bath. The twins looked on in horror as they saw Vitani let out a victory roar. The other lions joined her. Soon the frightening chorus of roars mixed with the sound of two human children joining with the traditional song of their new family.
