Nakala

Chapter 8

Nakala has lived among the hyenas for three and a half years. As he grew older he has been on more missions and has grown stronger and closer to the ones around him. Now grown into a full adult, the voice of Scar has yet to say anything to him, and Nakala begins to consider the possibility that Scar's voice has finally been lost to time.

"Hey, kid!" while the lion was just sitting outside the den Amana called to him.

"What's up, Amana?" he tilted his head towards her. The female hyena grinned and motioned for him to follow her.

"I'm bored, that's what! Come on, let's do some fighting!" she challenged him. In these recent days Nakala was the only one Amana wanted to practice with. What was training with hyenas compared to training with a full grown lion?

Nakala, at his adult stage, followed close behind her. This was the third time this week she wanted to fight him. He could not blame her for it at all. For the last year he was training and joining in hunting parties and nightwatch shifts. All that work resulted in him growing stronger, his strength being seen in his shoulder muscles and legs. His mane had grown in along with his fangs. Though he was an adult, there was still much for him to learn.

"You ready?" Amana challenged. Nakala shook his head and blinked. He was lost in thought as he followed her and had no idea that they already made it to the training grounds.

"Uh, yeah. Ready when you are!" he challenged back, preparing himself for attack. Amana charged at her. He prepared to use his paws to bat her away, but she skid to a stop and made sure to kick up as much dust as possible. The lion coughed and sputtered as dust stung his eyes and caught in his throat. Before he could do anything to retaliate he was tackled and successfully pinned down.

"This brings us to equal wins," Amana bragged. From their previous fights they had that week it brought the total of wins equal to both of them having 2two.

"I gotta admit that was something," the sparring mammals separated at the voice of Janja. "Using the dirt as a weapon. Pretty good idea, Amana."

"Well, thank you. I thought of it last night and I wanted to try it out," she gushed. Nakala felt that strange feeling towards her again. It was weird to him because he only felt it when Janja was talking to Amana. He admired her for the fair victory, but it was a feeling of jealousy he could not explain.

"But we're not just done here," Amana growled confidently and turned back to Nakala. "I can see that you got skills, but they need a bit...polishing. But lucky for you I'm gonna give you a crash course in the hyena way!"

"Why would you do that?" the lion asked in confusion. He was just beaten by her and now she's offering some kind of advanced hyena training?

"Well if I'm gonna beat you again I want it to be a challenge," Amana laughed. "Plus it looks like you need it."

Nakala felt a bit offended by those words, but decided that a little training wouldn't hurt. It would also be a good opportunity to get to know Amana more. He had heard many things about her from other clan members and was admired by many, especially Chungu. When she approached him this morning he found it strange, but knew better than to question her intentions.

"Well, I guess..." Nakala nodded, not exactly knowing what to say to the high ranking hyena.

"Well, let's get started then. Care to watch, Janja?" Amana called behind her.

"Sure, I wanna see what this whole hyena training is for myself," Janja said. Amana nodded in confirmation and turned back to Nakala.

"Alright the first thing we're gonna do is a speed drill. Speed is important for a lot of things: hunting, fighting and even escaping," Amana began, pacing back and forth in front of the lion who listened intently. "Now what we're gonna do is a series of sprints from this rock to that bush over there."