CHAPTER 6

The blue sky above began to glow as evening came. For what seemed like an eternity, Mwana lay still, holding his now sleeping brother close to him, staring blankly at the horizon. For the last few hours, the lion had let sink in what had happened to his pride; his beloved and wise parents were probably dead, and the lionesses who hadn't been killed were most likely forced into submission by the rogues. Fury flared up in Mwana's mind at the thought of those lions, who dared take away the only family and home he'd known.

Mwana took a deep breath and tried to assess the current situation. He had to take his brother and get as far away from the rogues as he could. Mwana knew they might try to find the brothers and eliminate what was left of their father's lineage. However, thought Mwana, where could he and Kidogo find a new home? Would another pride of lions be generous enough to take them in?

Mwana cut his thinking short when he felt his little brother begin to stir next to him. Kidogo opened his green eyes and glanced about him before sighing sadly and falling limp again.

Seeing the younger lion like this broke Mwana's heart. Gently, he nudged his muzzle against Kidogo's smaller head.

"Hey," the older lion said soothingly, "Are you alright?"

Kidogo didn't respond to his brother for several moments. "For a second, I thought I was just having a nightmare," he finally whispered.

Not exactly sure how to respond, Mwana set his maned head down on the warm ground. "Yeah, me too."

"...So this is it?" Kidogo began again as he moved away from Mwana and sat back down. "Do we just wait here until we die? Do we go back home? Who am I kidding? Mom and Dad are gone and it's my fault for getting caught by those rogues."

Seeing his brother becoming frantic, Mwana went over to where he was sitting and nuzzled him. That seemed to quiet Kidogo down, and he buried his face into his elder brother's mane as fresh tears began rolling out of his emerald eyes.

"What happened wasn't our fault, Kidogo," Mwana murmured, trying to comfort him. "Those rogues could have easily caught our pride by surprise anyway."

The younger lion remained silent. Suddenly he stiffened and began to tremble. "...Mwana? Do you smell that?"

Mwana arched an eyebrow in confusion at his brother. "What are you talking about..." he began to ask, until he smelled a scent that made his hackles stand on end. It was the scent of death and bloodlust. The same scent they had smelled from the rogues.

"Stay back, I'll check it out," Mwana whispered in order to not betray the fear in his voice. Crouching low, the older lion sneaked through the tall yellow grass around them towards the awful smell. At first, Mwana could not see anything or anyone in the area. Just before he was about to return to Kidogo, however, he glimpsed something moving on the crest of a nearby hill.

Mwana looked up and immediately froze. One of the rogue lions was standing on the hill, gazing out at the land before him with untamed eyes. His muscular body was covered in new scratches and bruises, and his messy mane shone with dried blood.

Mwana, trembling, began crawling backwards as carefully as possible to his little brother. He kept his eyes locked on the rogue, who continued to survey the area from his post. Suddenly, the rogue's eyes snapped to Mwana's position in the grass. The young lion froze and closed his brown eyes, hoping that he was blending in with the colors of the grass.

Mwana heard silence, and then an angry snarl. His eyes flew open in shock, expecting to see the rogue male flying down the hill to end his life. However, he only saw the other lion spin around and pad down the opposite side, a frustrated air about him. Extremely relieved, Mwana spun around and bounded back to the grove of trees where Kidogo had taken shelter.

"Kidogo! Come out, it's me," the elder called as he approached.

The adolescent nervously peeked around a tree he was hiding behind, eyes wide with worry. "What did you see, Mwana?"

"It was one of the rogues," he responded quickly, "I think they might be looking for us."

"But why? They don't mean to...finish us off...do they?" Kidogo stammered fearfully, moving closer to his older brother.

"That doesn't matter right now, Kidogo," Mwana replied softly, not wanting to confirm the cub's fears. "Right now, we just have to keep moving."

Kidogo opened his mouth to complain, but stopped himself once he saw the anxiety and fear in his brother's eyes and stance. He had never seen Mwana act like this, and it frightened the younger lion. Kidogo nodded mutely, not knowing what else to do.

"We'll head downstream. Come on," Mwana blankly said, taking charge again. He padded over to his little brother and nudged him gently along. Reluctantly, Kidogo followed his brother out of the trees' shade and into the scorching evening sun.

As the brothers walked, Mwana kept his head raised and eyes trained ahead. The lion knew that looking back would only twist the spine deeper into his wounded heart. When he looked sidelong at Kidogo, he could tell he was thinking the same thing. The adolescent kept his sad emerald eyes on the stream flowing next to them, tying to forget about what was happening to them.

How could everything change so much in just one day? Mwana wondered as he and Kidogo continued their slow trek into the unknown lands ahead of them.