Chapter 2 – Illness and Prophecies
It seemed to be the season of love at Pride Rock. Ajali and Dafina were inseparable, much to the dismay of Chimalsi. He began to keep in the cave, sulking and wishing that he was with Dafina, not Ajali. Chimalsi never thought of himself as the jealous type, but he was. Wema and Kabili also spent more and more time away from the others, enjoying their own company and not caring about what their siblings would say. However, nothing would stop the group’s rough and tumble times with the addition of Ajali and the loss of Chimalsi.
However, something was wrong with Kabili. It seemed he was getting weaker and weaker in their games, lost his appetite and had to remain in the cave under the careful nursing of his mother Vitani and father Kopa.
A few days later, Wema decided to go and pick a flower for Kabili to show her feelings for him and try and make him feel better. She had gone to a beautiful part of the Pridelands, a place buzzing with insects and colourful with the hundreds of flowers scattered around in the grass. Finally, Wema found a lovely bright blue flower to match Kabili’s eyes and picked it up in her teeth being careful not to tear it’s precious petals.
She ran up to Pride Rock and almost into Rafiki. She stopped just in time to see Simba and Kopa supporting a weak Kabili. She dropped the flower and ran to her love. His eyes were barely open.
“Rafiki! What’s wrong with him?” She cried.
Rafiki just shook his elderly head and wiped a tear from his eye. He hated seeing a lion in such distress as this.
Wema then confronted Kopa and Simba. “Where are you taking him? I want to come too!”
They were about to say that she should stay inside, but the look that she gave them stopped the words from coming out.
“He is gravely ill, Wema, and he needs to remain away from us. We don’t know what he’s got or whether it’s contagious.” Said Simba.
“We are taking him to a small cave in the Pridelands to recover. He’ll need you to support him Wema. Come with us.” Said Kopa.
Wema peered into Kabili’s face. “Don’t worry.” She whispered. “I’m coming too.”
Rafiki led them to a tiny cave. The view from the entrance allowed Kabili to see Pride Rock and there was a small river running through the back where he could drink. It wasn’t too cold and there was enough sunlight to supply vitamins. Simba and Kopa lay Kabili down in the sheltered area and went about explaining to him where he was and why he was there. Then they got up and left, leaving Wema alone with Kabili. She went and lay down next to him.
“Kabili, I want to tell you that I love you and that you shouldn’t give up. Fight whatever is hurting and keep going. I will be here for you as will everyone else. Just don’t leave me…”
By the end, Wema was in tears. Her heart felt like it was going to explode and she felt like cursing the Great Kings for what had become of her love.
She went outside to Simba and Kopa. Rafiki had gone, so the three of them walked up to Pride Rock in silence.
The mood suddenly dropped at Pride Rock over the next few weeks, but everyone was doing their bit to help.
Some had set up a guard rota to protect Kabili from other animals. They would sit atop the cave keeping watch, but not disturbing Kabili from his rest.
Dafina and Ajali would go down and offer tons of support and comforting words.
The huntresses brought food down and left it in the entrance of the cave for him to eat.
Wema would bring flowers and stones as gifts and go inside and sit and talk with him. Sometimes, she’d go down with Kopa as he told Kabili and Wema storied from their ancestors.
Some days, Kabili seemed fine. He’d even managed to request some of Rafiki’s paint to draw pictures in the cave from all the stories, but other days he was very ill. He wouldn’t eat or drink and his fur looked like it hadn’t been washed for weeks. He would start shaking uncontrollably and there wasn’t anything they could do to stop it. His eyes became glazed and Wema didn’t know whether he was attentive or not. It was taking all her self-control not to cry in the cave in front of him.
Meanwhile, things were tense between Ajali and Chimalsi. Chimalsi had started bullying Ajali and was making his life miserable. Then Dafina confronted him.
“Why Chimalsi? What do you have against him?” She roared.
“He took you from me.” Chimalsi said, plainly and without a hint of the raging beast inside him.
“You weren’t mine, Chimalsi!”
“But you could’ve been!” He yelled. “Do you remember what we were doing on that day Dafina?”
“We were playing tag and other games when he came and joined us.”
“What were we doing just before you met him?” Chimalsi growled.
“You were asking me a question, but you never finished.”
“And what question do you think I was asking?”
Dafina gasped and looked shocked. “You were asking me to be your mate, weren’t you?”
Chimalsi’s anger faded and instead he felt drained. He nodded and began to sob silently. He turned and ran into the cave, ignoring Dafina’s pleas to return.
Wema became a beautiful lioness. She had gone hunting with the other lionesses until it was time for her first hunt. She was so excited and promised Kabili that they would share whatever she caught. That thought got her through.
She got plenty of encouragement from everyone at Pride Rock and Kiara told her not to panic because it wouldn’t be as bad as her first hunt. Then it was time to go.
She padded over the familiar hunting territory until she found a group of gazelle. She remembered to be careful around gazelle because of what happened to Ajali’s mother. Very soon, she had caught a young gazelle and had started taking it back home. Everything had gone smoothly, just like the Pride had said.
However, she spoke too soon. Suddenly, she was surrounded by a hyena clan. They had gone when Simba had banished them after the death of Scar, but they had obviously returned. She put down her gazelle.
“Why are you here? You were banished by none other than King Simba himself.”
The hyenas stared at her, amazed by her bravery. Then one stepped forward, obviously the leader.
“We were told by a prophet that a cub would be born that would destroy the lions of Pride Rock. We have come to see that cub.”
Wema was astonished. A cub that would destroy Pride Rock! Was that one of her cubs? Or one of her friends? An enemy?
“Leave now! No one will destroy the lions of Pride Rock!” She roared.
“We’re not leaving without something in return. Come with us and we can train you to kill, or bring one of your friends.”
“Never!”
That was when the hyenas attacked. Wema was never a strong fighter, she was more of a hunter, but she fought back. The struggle lasted a long time and when it ended Wema was covered in scratches and bites, dripping blood. The hyenas backed off. Wema felt her consciousness leaving her.
“No one will destroy Pride Rock!” she yelled before collapsing.