Pride of the Plains Read Online Free Page B

thought of Moja, isolated and now unprotected, waiting in vain for his return.

—4—
Battleground
    The warden of the game park, Simon Obagwe, and his little daughter Annie had been witnesses when a cow elephant had found Moja too close to her dead calf and had slung him out of the way. It had upset Annie greatly and she never ceased to wonder what had happened to the cub. From the beginning the little girl had been involved in the lives of Huru and Kimya, when the lionesses had been in the care of her father Simon at Kamenza. She had been thrilled when cubs had been born to the sisters and Moja’s fate concerned her greatly. She pestered her father for news each time he returned from his rounds. His reply was always the same. ‘No, Annie. There’s no sign of him.’ He wouldn’t tell her the cub was dead because he didn’t know if that was the truth. Yet of course he suspected it was.
    â€˜Have you asked Joel if he’s seen him?’ Annie would then ask. Joel, who had once been Huru’s and Kimya’s keeper in the English zoo, was now assistant manager of the Kamenza animal refuge centre. When time permitted he liked to take a Land-Rover into the game park, sometimes on his own, to look for the sister lionesses and their pride.
    â€˜I don’t need to ask him,’ Simon would tell his daughter. ‘You know he would tell me at once.’
    Annie’s disappointment never seemed to lessen with each repetition. She believed Moja was alive, but even she realised that if he didn’t soon reappear it would mean he had been unable to survive on his own.
    And now his survival really did look uncertain. When Challenger failed to appear Moja remained for a time out of sight in the hole in the rocks. He kept a constant check on the outside, staring from the entrance for any sign of his strange companion. When night fell and he was still alone, Moja recalled what Challenger had said about darkness being the only safe time for him to move.
    He was worried about the young adult. Challenger was the key to his rejoining his pride. Without the older lion he had little hope of finding it. Furthermore, Challenger had brought his food. Now Moja was very hungry and it seemed there was no prospect of being fed. He pattered about by Challenger’s boulder, listening to every slight sound for a hint of the noise of a lion. Bird calls, hyenas’ cries, jackals’ yaps and, once, the snarl of a leopard were all that came to his ears. The big cat’s cry was close. Moja shrank back against the rocks, his heart fluttering nervously. He yearned for the security of the pride: his mother’s reassuring presence, his father’s haughty stare, even the playful bickering of his siblings. He knew the likelihood now was that he would have to search for them alone. But there was one other possibility. If he could find Challenger first, perhaps the young male could still lend assistance in some way. Moja screwed up his courage and waited for the leopard to pass. He saw its stealthy figure slink through the shadows only two or three metres away,half turning its head as it caught his scent. It moved on and Moja recovered his breath.
    â€˜I can’t stay here,’ he whispered to himself. ‘I’ll go quietly and carefully and follow Challenger’s direction. I know which way he used to go.’ He waited a sensible interval longer so as not to run any risk of colliding with the leopard, then paced forward. Cool air blew against his face. It smelt clean and sweet after the stale smells he had endured in the rocky cleft. Hunger nagged at him insistently. His hunter’s instinct was alert for the slightest chance of a kill; there was always the possibility that one of the many small nocturnal rodents would cross his path. And he tried to talk himself out of his fearfulness. ‘I’m Battlescars’s son,’ he chanted as a constant reminder. ‘I can look after