Nakala

Chapter 30

"The time has come!" Zira stomped his paw firmly to the solid rock underneath it. "The lion seems to have promise but I want to be certain. And that's why I have called the two of you here once again."

The two leopards Badili and Mapigano nod their heads and return their gazes at the lioness as she continued.

"There's only one thing I want from the two of you: Find Nakala and fight him to the death!" Zira snarled, a grin growing on her face. "I want to see how the lion fares when his very life is in peril. Go! Find him! And when you do! Do not hold back!" the lioness ordered. She swiftly turned around to retreat to her den.

Mapigano and Badili were left alone once again. The two leopards gave each other a quick look. Both gave a quick smile and turned to leave the Outlands lioness' den. The two of them spent most of the day trekking the Outlands towards the Hyena Mountain. The two took their time with it still being early in the day. Both Badili and Mapigano knew that it was best to strike the lion late at night when he is the only one about.

That night stepped out of the caverns. He took a deep breath of the cool night air and looked up at the stars twinkling above. It gave him a good feeling that things were going to go well.

"We're all set, right?" Janja asked, following Nakala out of the cavern.

"Yep," Amana confirmed following with Chungu right behind him. "We got everything we need. The earlier parties told me that we hadn't found anything. Should be an easy one tonight."

"Right," Nakala nodded. "Guess we should get started then." The hyenas nodded and they set out towards the Outlands. Nakala felt a mix of excitement and pride swell within him. He had been a part of a few of the patrols before but this was his first experience on night patrol. Janja and Amana thought it would be best to be the ones to join him and show him the ways of the night patrol. Once Chungu heard he begged Amana to let him join the patrol and she just couldn't say no to him. Janja led the party through the usual route of the night patrol. Nakala was sure to look around and become familiar with his new surroundings. Janaja explains how to keep a lookout and to communicate often with other patrol members.

Unbeknownst to the patrol nearby Badili and Mapigano were watching them from a distance.

"There he is," Mapigano growled. "The lion's right where we want him."

"Yes. But he's not alone," Badili pointed out. "You think we should still go after him?"

"Of course we do!" Mapigano tore his gaze away from Nakala and the others to turn it sharply at the other leopard. "We have a job to do. We're taking that lion out and if those hyenas want to get in the way then that's their mistake."

"A-alright then," Badili gulped and held his breath as Mapigano turned back to eye the lion once again.

"They're moving to a good spot. Come on," Mapigano ordered, already walking out from their vantage point to stalk the lion. Badili said nothing and followed quietly behind.

"And when the dawn starts to rise that's when you all regroup and come back to the caverns and report anything suspicious or dangerous," Janja finished the run through of what his duties were as a part of the night patrol. Nakala listened to it all intently, knowing that the stakes were higher meant that the lion felt he had to work even harder to protect the hyenas.

"Amana? Anything I forgot?" Janja asked the elite hyena catching up to the two of them.

"I'm just gonna assume that you just about covered everything," Amana huffed, looking back to make sure that Chungu was not too far behind. They hadn't gone too far from the caverns but it was far enough that it was about time for them to get serious about being a patrol. Though encounters were rare, the Outlands at night could be very dangerous.

"Oh, wait!" Chungu added, once he caught up to the group. "Keep on the lookout for jackals, too." The larger hyenas took a moment to catch his breath before explaining further. "I've only seen one of them when I was a cub. It nearly caught me."

"What?" Nakala looked at Chungu in surprise. "How come I've never heard of that before?"

"Well, like I said encounters are pretty rare," Amana explained. "And the only one we've ever encountered recently tried to hunt down one of the boys on patrol. But the jackal ran away once they were led back to the rest of the patrol. We hadn't really heard anything from them since."

"Well, ya can't be too careful in the Outlands," Chungu whimpered looking around.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Nakala assured. "If a jackal comes for us, don't worry about it. I'll chase them off." Chungu didn't say anything but Nakala could see the tension in the large hyena's shoulders ease.

"We should keep going. First time or not, we're still a patrol," Janja reminded. The rest of the group got back into formation and continued their patrol around the territory.

Mapigano and Badili followed behind at a distance, doing their best to keep themselves from being discovered.