For the longest time, Ugas’ pride managed to hold together the fragile deception that kept their sovereignty intact. The lionesses doubled border patrols after reports from several revealed a rogue male had been observing the pride carefully.
Then one evening when Adhama said in her deepest voice, “This land is mine!” a distinctly male voice answered her from the bushes.
“Nice try! Now all you need is a mane!”
The worst had happened. Through long observation, the stranger had learned the patterns of the watch, and he easily slipped through where there were no sentries.
“The king will make you pay for this!”
“Are you the king?” He laughed. “What’s the problem, Sis? Am I that ugly?”
The lion stepped out into the moonlight. Indeed, he was anything but ugly, but she did not like his attitude one bit.
“He will be back soon,” she said. “Then you’ll pay!”
“Fine.” The stranger sat down and began to groom a forepaw. “I’ll wait for him right here.”
For several minutes that felt like several hours, Adhama stared at him icily. There was no sign of nervousness in his manner. He knew that he had won.
She bowed her head. “What good is it pretending. He’s dead.”
“Good. That saves me the trouble of killing him. In the meantime, I’m hungry. What do you have?”
“A little bit of wildebeest. Not much.”
“Not much?” He uttered a short, ugly laugh. “It’s an acquired taste, lady. When you’ve eaten ‘not much’ as long as I have, you never turn it down.” He frowned at her. “Well, do I have to draw you a diagram??”
Adhama’s heart sank. She rose and led him to the larder, watching in despair as their rations for the next two days disappeared in a matter of minutes.
“Is there any more?”
“No. There is no more.”
“Too bad.” He burped. “I was still hungry.” Licking off his paws, he said, “I’m Ambia. King Ambia now. You’re really lucky, you know. I almost went east, but instead I headed west, and here I am.”
“Well hooray and hallelujah.”
He looked at her with half closed eyes and scowled. “You must be the one that peed on the shrubs. The urine was very sour.”