Nakala

Chapter 31

Everything looks good here, Nakala thought to himself. He scanned the area around him, finding nothing in particular but the barren stretch of Outlands. But he continued to stay vigilant, keeping his guard up. The patrol had broken up to different areas around the caverns, surrounding it and keeping watch for anything dangerous.

Nakala stood firm and kept watch until he saw the first sliver of light rising over the horizon. He took that as a sign to return to the area they all agreed to regroup and report any findings they had. Nakala took one last look around the area and again found nothing. He stretched and yawned, feeling the all night watch catching up to him.

Returning the rest he could see the same tired look on all their faces, except for Chungu who still looked high on alert. Nakala figured that through the night he was looking out specifically for any jackals roaming about.

"Anything to report?" Janja asked the rest, fighting back a yawn.

"Nope," Amana shook her head.

"Didn't see anything," Nakala added.

"I did. I heard a weird noise and when I went to check it out I saw a pair of eyes glowing. But when I looked again they were gone," Chungu admitted. Upon hearing that the spooked look on Chungu's face now made sense.

"That doesn't sound good," Amana said. "I'll warn the hunting party about it."

"Good. As for the rest of us now we've earned some sleep," Janja yawned. "It's the crack of dawn so we'll have some time before the rest of the clan is up."

"Is it really that early?" Nakala groaned, now feeling his eyes growing heavy.

"Yep. Night patrol goes out later and comes back earlier than anyone else," Amana nodded, amused at the lion fighting to stay awake. "You'll get used to it the more you do it."

"Yay..." the lion yawned.

The group was about to return to the cavern when a loud snarl froze them all in their tracks.

"That's what I heard! But it wasn't that loud..." Chungu shuddered, looking around.

"Whatever you found must have followed you back here," Amana deduced. "Show yourself!"

The leopards were more than happy to oblige, revealing themselves.

"Who are you and what are ya doing here?" Janja barked at the unfamiliar felines.

"Oh, we're just some leopards from the good old Backlands. The name's Mapigano and this is Badili over here," Mapigano grinned, taking a step forward. "Let's just cut to the chase..."

"..We're here for you, lion," Badili snarled, lowering himself in an attack stance.

"And we're not leaving till you're dead!" Mapigano snickered, the leopard had been waiting for a good fight for the longest.

"We're only here for the lion. The rest of you can stay here if you want..." Badili threatened.

"But we don't mind killing the rest of you, too!" Mapigano snarled. "The more the merrier!"

"That's enough!" Nakala growled, all the sleepiness he felt had drained away. "If you want a fight then you got it!"

"Nakala! You can't take on the both of them," Amana advised.

"I have to. If I don't they're probably gonna kill the rest of you guys," Nakala argued. The lion took a step forward and readied himself for the two leopards in front of him. His ear twitched and Nakala looked around him to see the rest standing beside him, ready to fight alongside him.