Nakala

Chapter 62

"T-that was very good," Kufo panted. "But even when you have the advantage you have to be alert and aware or you'll leave yourself wide open."

Hani tasted the dirt on his tongue and grit his fangs. Shakily he rose to his paws and turned to his father.

"Do you want to try again?" Kufo asked his son.

Hani stamped his paw into the dirt and growled. "No, I don't! Why am I doing this? Why am I wasting my time?! I'm never gonna be as good as you!"

"Hani.." Kufo said gently, approaching his son. "You've been making good progress—"

Another growl came from Hani. "That's what you always say! Just tell me the truth. I'm never gonna be as good as you, am I?"

Kufo turned away from his son, refusing to answer the question. He gave a sigh, hearing the footsteps of the young hyena running away.

It was later that day that Kufo led a hunting party, leaving Hani alone to think about their interaction earlier. He felt bad about everything he said to his father and had already decided he was going to apologize when he came back. But it had been a long while since his party was gone, much longer than the usual time. It made Hani worry that something bad had happened but he also held onto hope that it was nothing his dad couldn't handle. He was the greatest hyena who ever lived, whatever was slowing him down would be no problem at all.

Hani continued to wait, and wait, and wait some more. It was late afternoon when his father left, leading the hunting party. But now the sun was nearly set, filling the young hyena with worry. Now he was certain that something had gone wrong out there and just hoped that his dad would return okay.

He was one of the many hyenas gathered at the entrance that day. Words spread that the party finally returned and Hani was waiting for the return of his father.

"Whoa! What happened here?!" It was the voice of the clan leader, Janja, who had come after hearing the news as well. But instead of the confidence he expected there was fear clearly being heard in his voice. Behind the clan leader followed the lion, Hani always found it strange that there was just a random lion among them, but his thoughts were mainly on his father and seeing if he was okay.

At the front of the entrance stood four hyenas, Hani recognized them as the ones who joined his dad's party. But where was he? Looking closer he could see that the party members were clearly injured, covered in scratches and open wounds.

"We were out hunting...near the Pride Lands. I guess we got a bit too close...Some lioness came out of nowhere and we just barely managed to get away," they hyena Hani recognized as Nne coughed.

"I...I'm just glad that you guys made it here safe. We'll get you guys patched up...Hold on a minute. Where's Kufo?"

Now Hani was paying full attention to the conversation, as was the rest of the clan. All of them wanted to know what had happened but none of them had the same kind of stake that Hani had. His breath caught in his throat upon seeing the grim look shifting on Nne's muzzle.

"He...He didn't make it back," It was another hyena that broke the terrible news. Nne himself only looked away for a moment before explaining.

"Kufo fought against the lioness to buy us some time. I saw her swing her claws...she hit his throat..." Nne told them.

"He's the only reason we could come back here.." The third hyena in the party spoke, bowing his head in respect.

Hani couldn't bear to hear anymore. It couldn't be true. There was no way someone like him could be killed. He just went out on a hunting party, something like this should have happened.