The next morning, Gamu looked at Kubali with a smile but also a hint of reproach. “Miss some sleep last night?”

“Yeah. The lightning and thunder.”

“I bet. It’s a wonder you slept at all.” He glanced at Elanna who hung her head embarrassed. “All that lightning and thunder.”

Kubali looked at Elanna. “Lannie, are you OK?”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” She edged nearer to him, but said nothing more. Kubali glanced at Gamu, then back at her. She made no sign whether she wanted Gamu to know about them.

“I bet you didn’t sleep well either,” Gamu said at Elanna, pointedly. He winked slyly.

“Look here, Gamu,” Kubali said sharply.

“Yes?” Gamu smiled.

For a moment, Kubali was nonplused. He didn’t know what to do or what to say. He looked at Elanna again, seeing how she wanted to curl up and die.

“Look here, Gamu. I’m unworthy of her, an exiled prince with no one to blame but himself. But last night, that wonderful creature....” He became inarticulate for a moment, looking for the right words.

“We made love,” Elanna said, moving next to Kubali and nuzzling him.

Kubali found his tongue again and straightened with pride. “Yes. Many times. And if I died tomorrow, I could look Aiheu in the face and tell him I’ve lived a full and meaningful life. Well, Gamu, aren’t you going to congratulate us?”

Gamu smiled meekly. He’d clearly lost the first round. But if anything, he was tenacious. “I’m glad for you. Both of you. I’ve lost to the better lion.”

Elanna pawed Gamu playfully. “We need to find you a mate. But for right now, you understand, we’ll need some privacy.

“Of course. You just give the word.”

Kubali leaned against Elanna and purred softly. “The word is given. Go scout up some gazelles--or something.”

“As you wish, Lover Boy.”

Gamu was soon over his disappointment at Kubali’s triumph. After all, no prize easily won was worth much. Tolerating their desire to make love in the morning, Gamu went to the watering hole and looked at his own reflection. He tried to make the most sad face he could create and looked at the reflection. “Oh Gamu,” he said in a rough imitation of Kubali’s voice. “Why did I ever let you back in my life? Why didn’t I see this coming??”

Gamu could no longer keep a straight face, and he rolled on his back with laughter. “Griz, get over here!”

Nonplused, the hyena left the cover of the reeds. “How did you spot me?”

“I didn’t. I just know you, you little sneak. The same way I know Kubali and Elanna. And my little flea-bitten friend, knowledge is power. So he’s breathing down her neck, is he? It will give him something to think about when he’s on the savanna alone.”

“I thought you wanted to kill him,” Griz’nik said.

“I’m not sure. I wandered around alone for the longest time. I know what it’s like. But for him it will be far worse. He’s lost the kingship, and he will also lose her. I see those shapely thighs of hers, and I think about the sweet delight of her lithe golden body....” He trembled. “How much sweeter it will be to know my enemy is alone and unloved! And every time she cries out my name, it will pull out a thorn that lion put in my heart!”

Griz’nik looked at him crossly. “You’re sick, you know that? Even I can tell she’s beautiful for a lioness. If I were you, I’d take her out behind the reeds, and Kubali would be the farthest thing from my mind. My gods, Gamu, if you want to know what I think....”

“I DON’T,” Gamu said, swiping at the hyena and shoving him into the water.

“One of these days you’re going to go too far,” Griz’nik said, huffing and puffing as he left the cold water.

“And then you’ll do what?” Gamu patted Griz’nik on the cheek. “Face it, my little friend. You need me. Even if you could kill me, and the thought is laughable, what would you do? Expect a handout from the mistress you ill treated and her husband? I think not.”

“You promise me much,” Griz’nik said, “but what have you actually delivered? A couple of lousy rabbits?”

Gamu gave him a withering look. “These things take time to be done right. Remember what I told you about the territory to the south?”

“The land between the hills?”

“Yes. You and Elanna and I. You’ll get to hunt gazelles and no one will bother you. Maybe you’ll find another mate and have some little--whatever it is hyenas have.”

“Pups.”

“Yeah, right. But only if you obey. Only if you wait. I’m not like your Taka. I won’t be pushed around or circumvented.”

“Circumvented?”

“Shoved aside.”

“You and your big words.”

“Big words for a lion with big ideas.”

Griz’nik shook himself, and water went flying about, getting in Gamu’s eyes and wetting his mane. Griz’nik tried not to smile broadly at the mischief he’d created. “Oh, pardon me.”

Gamu came back later that day. Elanna was lying on her back, a blissful smile on her face. Kubali was sitting sphinx-like a short distance away, looking at her with mixed pride and love.

Gamu tapped Kubali on his shoulder, jerking him out of his reverie, and he signaled for him to come away a short distance.

“This had better be good, Gamu. You know I said I needed some time alone with her.”

“You know, Kubali, I’ve tried hard to earn your respect and trust. I keep hoping someday we’ll have a land of our own, and you will be my King as it was meant to be.”

“So?”

“I come to you as a good friend to tell you something you need to know about your mate. She carries a burden on her heart and you can help her find peace. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Kubali looked at him skeptically. “A burden? She discusses everything with me, no matter how drastic. We’ve been completely honest with each other.”

“Then you know about how her husband died? Have you told her yet that you’ve forgiven her?”

“Forgiven her? For what?”

“Oh my gods,” Gamu said in a near whisper. “I thought you said you were completely honest with each other.”

“What are you going on about, Gamu?? Is this another one of your tricks??”

“Tricks?? It’s true--no good deed ever goes unpunished. Fine thanks I get for trying to help you! I know very little about her past, but she’s admitted to me the cause of her nightmares.”

“Her nightmares? She won’t discuss them with me. Why should I believe she told you?”

“That’s PRECISELY why. She doesn’t care what I think of her. She could ask me anything. You’re another matter entirely.”

“And why are you discussing this with me?”

“Because I feel I owe you something. Now do you want to hear it or not?”

“OK.”

“See, you two are not completely open as you thought. I told her that I thought she could talk about Taka with you, but she’s afraid. You need to reassure her. Then she’ll bare her soul about everything and seek forgiveness. It will set her free, Kubali. If you really love her, you’ll want her to be happy. And true happiness comes from the inside out. With this locked inside her, she’ll never be truly happy.”

“I know that Taka killed his brother, and that he tried to kill Simba. She was not aware.”

“That’s not what she told me. He went completely mad at the end. She knew it was only a matter of time until there was a civil war, so she worked with the hyenas in their plot to depose the king. She betrayed him to his enemies. They ripped him, you know. Now she has nightmares racked with guilt and remorse. I mean, when Taka died he was screaming her name. And she will carry that burden all her life. She felt she had to tell SOMEONE. It was all bottled up inside her, and she was going crazy holding it inside.”