Kako was always present on the hunt, even the days she was sick with a fever and barely able to stay awake. Her pregnancy was only an inconvenience to her, one she dealt with firmly.
One night they were hunting wildebeests. Kako’s gait was unsteady, and often gritted her teeth in pain. Uzuri was loathe to order her home, so impressed was she by her courageous dignity, but she winced when Kako held her cries to a stifled moan to keep from alerting the prey.
Uzuri stalked closer and closer to the herd, excited by the prospect of getting a decent kill for the first time in a long while.
Fanning out to the full width of the crescent, the huntresses awaited Uzuri’s signal. Kako was on the left tip, a position requiring some skill, but she had proved her worthiness time and time again. Kako was tense and preoccupied, fighting her discomfort with a will only a lioness could muster.
Uzuri’s ears twitched. She sprang from cover and soared toward the herd like a golden hawk. Sarabi closed in quickly from the right to drive the herd as it blossomed into full retreat. Kako lumbered along on the left, trying to block out her pain and give her best effort.
Uzuri closed on a wildebeest, locked in a battle of two wills to survive. Three other lionesses swarmed over the unfortunate beast and soon it was gasping for its final breath with Uzuri’s strong jaws closed on its throat. The pride would survive another week.
On the left flank, Kako let out a shriek of agony. It galvanized the other lionesses who thought she had been gored. Isha and Sarafina came running to her aid.
Kako was trying to stagger out of the way of an oncoming wall of animals. Isha and Fini rushed to her side. They snarled and clawed, parting the wildebeests the way a large rock in a stream divides the water until she was out of danger. Isha trembled like a leaf. “Whoa, girl, that was a close one!”
Sarafina said, and without irreverence, “I know how Mufasa must have felt. They look different when they’re running AT you. They’re BIG.”
“I know.”
“Oh gods!!” Kako shrieked, her slow, unsteady gait betraying her extreme agony. Isha and Sarafina looked around at their pride sister grimacing in agony. Her water broke, quickly soaking the fur on her leg with blood and humors. She stumbled a couple of steps toward her friends and she moaned. “Help me! Somebody help me!”
“Lay down! Lay down!” Isha ran to her as she collapsed on her side. “Kako! Honey Tree! It’s going to be all right!”
“Isha, you’re so good to me. I love you, Isha.”
“I love you too. Don’t you die on me, girl! Now listen to me--I know you’re in pain, but bear down. Push as hard as you can, and it will be over sooner.”
“I don’t think I can.” Kako gritted her teeth as a moan of agony escaped her. “Aiheu! God help me! Help me!”
“Bear down!” Isha said in a commanding voice. “Do it!”
Kako’s eyes bulged until the whites showed, and sweat popped out, matting her fur. “I’m trying, Isha! I’m trying! I shouldn’t have come out tonight!”
“I hate to say I told you so,” Isha said, trying to be calm. But the tip of her tail twitched nervously. “Push! Bear down, for God’s sake! Push!!”
Oh gods!” She gasped. “I think something’s happening!”
Blood stained the grass near her tail. “Look!” Uzuri said. “Here it comes!”
“Come on, Honey Tree!” Isha kissed her on the cheek. “You can do it, Sis!”
A half smile broke through the tense face on Kako. “Yes, I can! I can! It’s happening!”
With a half-choked-back shriek, Kako expelled a small body still wrapped in its maternal cloak. Excitedly, Isha pulled the sac from the infant and began to clean it off.
Uzuri came over excitedly. “Oh, look at him! He’s beautiful!” The other pride sisters gathered around in respectful silence before the start of a new life.
Isha said, “Mother, behold your son.”
Panting with the effort of bringing life into the world, Kako looked at the small, wet treasure that God had given her. “Come, my son.” She gently nudged the small child against her abdomen and lay exhausted as he took his first meal under the starry sky. With a tired smile, Kako said, “He was born at night. He’ll be a mighty hunter someday.”
Isha touched the small infant with her tongue. “Isn’t he beautiful! What are you going to call him?”
“He will be Mabatu, like his father.”