Chapter 4

My mother came charging down to the water hole followed closely by Stealthspeed. She held her head and tail high and glared at Hover. "How dare you steal valuable water from our pride? Have you no shame?" She snarled, curling her lip up to reveal her perfectly white fangs.

"I didn't steal anything. I was just taking a drink. And, The water hole belongs to the hippos anyway, I don't see them complaining." Countered Hover calmly. "Why are you here? Where is your pride?" Growled my mother narrowing her amber eyes suspiciously.

"I don't have a pride. Well…not yet." explained Hover, grinning at my mother. "Not yet? What's that supposed to mean?" "Wow, you're slow. I want to join this pride." replied Hover still grinning, still very sure of herself.

My mother looked disgusted, and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off. "What's going on here?" called Quickmane from the top of the sandy hill overlooking the water hole.

"DAD! There's a stinky lioness here who called my nose fat!" whimpered Stealthspeed pathetically when she saw Quickmane descending the hill, "Chase her out! No kill her! No, no, feed her to hyenas!" She screeched. Then quieted down after a look from Swiftspring. Quickmane put his tail on his daughter's shoulder.

"Peace Stealthspeed." He told her, then, turning to my mother and Hover he asked, "Well, what is going on? And who is this lioness?" Hover flinched when she saw his face. I couldn't help but smile to myself. His face was truly ugly.

His nose had chunks missing, and a clean cut stretched down from his snout-tip to the bottom of his lip, so that a section of his top teeth were always visible. Where his right eye should be, there was just a mass of skin and blisters. I flexed my claws, digging them into the parched earth, remembering the feeling of giving him those horrific injuries so long ago.

"This lioness has asked permission to join our pride." answered my mother respectfully bowing her head to the one-eyed Mane. He doesn't deserve respect, I thought bitterly. Quickmane circled Hover sniffing her up and down curiously.

"You're not seriously considering letting her join are you?" Hissed my mother disbelievingly, "We can barley feed ourselves! We don't need more weight on the pride." She shot me a glance at this, and I just lowered my gaze to my paws.

"All the more reason for another productive hunter. You can feed yourself can't you?" he asked Hover. She nodded. "But Daddy! She called me fat!" cried Stealthspeed indignantly. Quickmane ignored her and addressed Hover. "Do you truly wish to join this pride?" "I do." "Do you swear to be loyal, and obedient to me, and this pride?" "Sure."

"Right. Then all you need is a pride name. Our eldest female, Swiftspring, will give you an assessment whenever you're ready." "So I'm in?" "Yes. You're in." "Quickmane, you can't-'' my mother cut in. "Yes I can Swiftspring. I can and I have. Now, Stealthspeed, darling, will you take our new member on a tour of our territory? And Swiftspring, you return to the inner territory with me."

Stealthspeed made a horrified face but was clever enough not to disagree with her father and nodded. Hover grinned and shook some of the blood off her shoulder before trotting up to Stealthspeed. "So, where do we go first?" She asked light heartedly. "This way." growled Stealthspeed. "Hey, can Hobblestep come?"

"Pfft, whatever. You can be freaks together." "Come on Hobblestep!" called Hover. I uncertainly fell into step beside the other two lionesses. We walked for a while, along our border, it stunk of Quickmane's fresh scent markings. He must have been re-establishing his claim on our territory when he found all of us. Stealthspeed stopped.

"So…..our territory spreads out in that direction, into a bunch of plains which are where a lot of impala, and gazelles and prey like that hang out when they aren't down at the water hole. Over that way are the Hyena grounds. You don't go there unless you have a death wish. It's overrun with the annoying little mutts.

They'll tear anything that moves to pieces. We take our dead to that place, so that the hyenas can get rid of the bodies. Though I've never seen anyone in our pride die, Hobblestep over there can tell you all about it, isn't that right?" said Stealthspeed, making me flinch.

"Your little brother was taken there right? Apparently he tried to take on my father when he was just a cub! HA!" She smiled smugly.

Rage burned through me. How dare she joke about my brother's murder. I bared my teeth at her. "Shut up….." I growled, trying to hold back a roar. "And how will you make me? You can't do anything to me. You're just a weak little cripple." I glared at her curling my lip up further to show the full size of my teeth.

"Oooo. Scary. About as scary as that baobab tree! The oh-so-frightening plant." She laughed. I couldn't control myself. Before I knew it, I launched myself at Stealthspeed and was scratching wildly at her. She kicked my in the chest and knocked me off of her, then pinned me down.

I bit her front paw and dug my back claws into her belly, dragging then down through layers of fur and skin. She screeched in pain and bent her head, teeth out, ready to plunge into my neck. I closed my eyes and waited, but instead of the sting of teeth in my pelt, I heard a startled grunt from Stealthspeed and her weight was lifted off of me.

I sat up to see Hover standing over Stealthspeed. "That's enough wildebeest-breath. I think this tour is over. Come on, Hobblestep." She said walking past me, I followed confusedly.

"I'M TELLING MY FATHER THAT YOU BOTH ATTACKED ME! And my breath smells NOTHING like a wildebeest!" squealed Stealthspeed before getting up and dashing away to find her father.

"Hover….." I began. "What?" "You really shouldn't have done that…" "Why? Wildebeest-breath was going to kill you. Or at least badly injure you. I couldn't just stand around."

"But…Now Stealthspeed will tell Quickmane you attacked her…he might change his mind about letting you join the pride…" Hover hesitated, then spoke. "Doesn't really matter… I had to repay a debt anyway…" "Huh? What? A debt to me?" I looked at her confusedly.

She nodded, all the light heartedness melting off her face. She looked like she had when I first saw her. Extremely serious. "Hover what is it?" I inquired, curious now as to what was upsetting Hover so much. "Come with me." She murmured and walked off silently.