Chapter 12

Dry season was in its full fury. All the water holes were drying up. Feather and I searched and searched. We hadn't had anything to drink in days, the last place we had found to drink was a muddy puddle, what remains of what used to be a fairly large water hole, judging from the size of the dip in the ground which had been filled with water just a few short months ago.

To my agony Feather was getting weaker and weaker. I took to carrying him; because I didn't want him to waste precious energy he had left walking. I was worried about him. He was usually so talkative, but now he would just hang limply when I carried him. I was so afraid he was going to die of thirst.

After all, his body was smaller than mine, so it couldn't go as long without water. To make matters worse, we hadn't come across any prey. Nothing. We found many bodies.

Predators and prey alike were going thirsty. I used to try to cover Feather's innocent eyes when we came across them, but there were so many, that no matter what I did, I couldn't hide the fact that death was all around us.

One day we found a crocodile, wandering the open savanna. It was dragging itself awkwardly across the dusty terrain. Its yellow eyes were staring blankly ahead as it pulled itself along. Its olive coloured scales didn't glint in the sunlight, this crocodile wasn't wet. But wait…I looked at its belly. It was tracking dirt, but the dirt was stuck there, and a shade darker than it was on the ground.

The crocodile's belly was wet! It must've had to leave its water hole because the water level was just too low to survive in; the poor creature was looking for a deeper one. Since it was still wet, that meant that it hadn't fled it's home very long ago, which meant there was a water hole nearby!

The crocodile stopped moving. The poor creature's labored breathing was audible from where I stood. I walked over and put the poor thing out of its misery. Well, this was the most helpful crocodile I'd ever met! Now that it was dead, it would provide our first real meal since we left the pride and showed us that there was water nearby. I put Feather down. He didn't move, just sat there in a heap.

"Hey Feather, we have a nice big meal here. I hope you're in the mood for scaly." I whispered into his ear. He didn't move. I prodded him with my nose, "Come on lazy bones. Get up." He was still. Fear tore through me. I stepped back. Was he dead? No! He couldn't be dead! Just when I was about to scream, I noticed the steady rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing. Why didn't he get up then?

I prodded him again. This time he opened his amber eyes in tiny slits. "Did I fool you?" He said through the corner of his mouth, grinning. I glared at him. One moment ago I was terrified that he was dead, now I wanted to kill him.

"Yes you fooled me..." I growled. He got up shakily, and stretched. "That was a good one eh? Geeze, you were SO afraid! Ha." he said smiling for the first time in quite a while. It was good to see that carrying him was doing at least SOME good. He was acting more like his old self.

He stepped gingerly over to the dead crocodile. "What's a crocodile doing out here?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. "He's out here so that we can eat him. Go on, take a bite." I didn't want to raise Feather's hopes about the water. I was pretty sure it should be here, but for all I knew, it could already be dried up.

"I've never had crocodile before…you didn't find it dead did you? I don't want to eat anything rotten…" "No Feather, I killed it. Now come on! Do you want to eat or not?" Feather sniffed it, and wrinkled his nose. He reached down and pulled a scale off, then spit it out. "How are you supposed to eat it?" He asked.

How was I supposed to know? Up until now, I'd always thought a crocodile would eat me, not the other way around. I studied it. It had tough scales on its back, and along its sides, but on its belly, the skin looked easy to pierce through, and easy to get at the meat. I flipped to crocodile over and dusted off the dirt. I took a bite.

"That way." I replied through a mouthful of it. "Cool!" Feather tore hungrily away at the carcass. For once there was enough for both of us. I was fully fed, and so was he. And soon we would have water…

We slept there that night. The next morning we got up, and I began trying to scent water, or find any signs of where it was. "So where's the water?"

Asked Feather, who had refused to let me carry him, and walked beside me. "What water?" How did he know there was water?? "I'm not stupid Hobbs! That croc's belly was wet! That means there's WATER!"

He exclaimed excitedly waving his little tail in the air. "You're too smart for your own good Feather." I told him smiling. "Yeah, yeah whatever. Where IS it? I'm so thirsty I could drink a lake!"

"I'm not sure…" "Why don't you ask them? They look like they're from around here." Feather nodded his head toward a cheetah and her cubs, who were gathered around a gazelle body. "Good idea Feather." I strode toward them. "Excuse me-" I began.

The female cheetah turned around and her face twisted into a snarl. "Run! Dapple, Chase, GO! Lions!" She hissed urgently to her cubs. Both of them turned around, one had a disfigured face, and he squeaked in fear, then got dragged away by his sister. They ran faster than any lion could ever hope to.

Their mother turned her hostile brown gaze on me. "You should be ashamed of yourself! You lions think you own everything, well what about us!? I hope you all die of thirst!" She hissed, her fur puffed out, "Where's the rest of your blood thirsty, prey stealing, pride?"

"You don't understand I'm not trying to steal your kill, I just want-" "Oh, you don't want my prey you just WANT something else? Well you can't just take everything from us! What if I don't give you what you WANT?

What then? Will you kill me? Go after my cubs? That's what your kind did last time! My little Strike was killed because I refused to give up my prey! You disgust me!"

"No, please, you misunderstand me. I just need-" "Oh so now it's NEED is it!? Well-" "SHUT UP FOR A SECOND AND LISTEN TO HER!" roared Feather, stepping confidently out of the bushes. The cheetah was silent for just a moment while she looked at Feather curiously.

"We-need-directions-to-the-nearest-waterhole-because-you-see-we-found-this-crocodile-and-think-that-there-is-water-nearby-because-his-belly-was-still-wet!" I explained, all in one breath. The cheetah looked at me strangely. "What..?"

Good. Now I could speak normally. "We need directions. We don't have a pride, we aren't trying to steal your kill, we just found a crocodile who's belly was still wet, and thought that might mean there was a water hole near here…we really need the water, please, will you tell us where it is?" The cheetah narrowed her eyes. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because you know what it's like to lose a cub. Well, I don't want to lose Feather, he's the cub, and he really needs a drink." The cheetah's expression softened. And her fur finally lay flat. Looking up from Feather, to me she said,

"Well there IS a water hole near here, but it's very shallow. It used to be quite large, and was home to many crocodiles. But now that it's dried up, they all just huddle in the little water there is left. It's too dangerous to drink from.

They are everywhere. If you want to see for yourself it's due east from here." She said, her brown eyes still narrowed at me. "Thank you. And I'm sorry about your cub." She hissed at me. "Don't talk about my cub. It was your kind that killed him. Now get out of here, leave us in peace."

I nodded and headed east. Feather trotted behind me, glancing back at the cheetah, who watched us go with hostilely. When we finally reached the water hole, I knew that the cheetah wasn't exaggerating. There were crocodiles piled on top of each other, trying to keep themselves wet, it was just a moving mass of reptiles.

I watched them feebly fighting amongst themselves. The cheetah was right. It was too dangerous to even attempt to drink here. We would be killed in a second. "I'm sorry Feather, we can't drink here. We'll have to find somewhere else." I murmured.

When I got no response, turned my head to look at him, but he was gone. I got to my feet. To my absolute horror, I saw Feather running toward the mass of crocodiles.