Melmokh watched with glee. What an opportunity! He went to touch Watanga to influence him, when Watanga turned around.
"Melmokh, have you learned nothing?" The cub spoke in a deep and powerful voice totally unlike his own.
"How did you see me? How did you know my name??"
"I see all and know all."
Melmokh tried to look into the cub's eyes, but he saw in them an overwhelming goodness and righteousness which burned him like fire. He quickly looked away. "Aiheu! You tricked me!" He backed back till the wall of the cave stopped his progress. Swallowing heavily, he could almost feel the walls closing in on him. "Aiheu, have mercy! Have mercy!"
"You have made no progress, though I have extended you the benefit of the doubt and shown you great patience."
"Don't kill me! I'll do anything you ask, but don't kill me! I’m a miserable wretch who just wants to be left alone! I’ll go away, far away!"
He turned to flee, but found that Tanabi and his Queen had vanished. In their stead were the brilliant forms of Mano and Minshasa. He was trapped.
"No! Don't!" He fell before the cub and with his eyes tightly shut began to kiss his feet. “My life is not worth living, but I’m afraid to die! Don’t hurt me, Aiheu! Please!”
Aiheu looked on him with pity. "Since you cannot escape me this time, let me tell you what's about to happen so you won't be afraid."
"You're going to kill me! How can I not be afraid??” He began to rub the cub’s forearm with his paw. “Like all living things, I'm part of your spirit! If you kill me, you would decrease! You would only harm yourself!"
The cub shook his head. "Your spirit will go on living, but in a real sense, you will die. Everything that made you Melmokh will perish along with your past."
Melmokh cowered down. "All of it?" He whined and pawed at Aiheu. “Will nothing be left?”
“If there were, the memories would only torment and sicken you. It is best that you remember nothing.”
“For my own good? Even the wisdom it took me centuries to acquire?”
“It did you no good, Melmokh. You attained much knowledge, but acquired so little wisdom. You don’t even know how to love! What else is worth knowing when your heart is desolate?”
Melmokh said, “But it is not my fault! I have tried to love! Really I have! And if I were a rock or tree that didn’t care, that would be different, but I can hurt. Hate, jealousy, fear, these all come easy to me. They are as unpleasant to me as they are to Mano and Minshasa, yet I have drunk only from those streams. Must I die never knowing love? Never knowing happiness?”
“Your last thoughts as Melmokh will be happy ones.”
“Will it hurt?”
“No. I will make sure it does not.”
"Is happiness anything like pleasure? I know what pleasure feels like, but I can't remember ever feeling happy."
"Happiness is even better than pleasure." Aiheu trotted over to the cistern. There in the mud by the water lay a small lion cub. "Look at her, Melmokh. Look closely. That’s where you will find happiness."
"Is she dead?"
"She has never lived. I made her from the mud. Complete in every good thing except that she lacks a living spirit."
Melmokh looked at his Lord slowly, hope dawning at last. "Mine?"
"Yes. And you will know enough love and happiness in this small body to outweigh a thousand lives as Melmokh."
Melmokh padded over to her. He felt strange. "Oh, isn't she beautiful!"
“She pleases you?”
“Yes, but....”
“But there’s more to it than that?”
“Yes, Lord. I’m not sure what.”
A small coal of happiness inside him began to grow. There was much tinder that had accumulated over many cheerless centuries, and all those buried feelings burst into flame. Tears began to stream down his cheeks. "Is this it? Is this happiness?"
"Yes."
"If I could feel this way, I wouldn't want to hurt anyone. Why not let me go, My Lord? Why kill me now?"
"You are already dying. It is the happiness that is burning away your past. Don't fight it. Let the feeling flow through you. All your pain is burning away."
"Then let it burn! Yes, Lord, let it burn! I want it to burn!" He ran his paw over the small, furry child. “Look at those tiny little paws! And those ears! I never had a mate or a child of my own. Oh, look at that little pink nose!”
The hyena shuddered and his shape began to dissolve into a mist. "Oh gods, I feel so happy! Happy at last! So very...."
Within seconds he completely deresolved, leaving only a golden fog. Aiheu breathed in, capturing the spiritual essence. He then carefully parted the female's jaws and gently breathed into her the breath of life, watching her chest rise, then fall. She gasped and her eyes opened.
Aiheu looked at her with mirth and amusement in his eyes. "Wake up, Shandra!" He smiled and nuzzled her. "Happy birthday, little girl!"
She smiled, yawned, then stretched luxuriously. Rising to take her first steps, she rubbed against Aiheu, then toddled over to Minshasa who lay ready to nurse her. With a friendly paw, Minshasa cuddled her to her milk.
"Well," Minshasa said with a sigh, "There's always room for another."
"No thanks," Mano said. "I just ate."
She smiled wryly. "Oh you are so wicked sometimes!" She jerked her head. "Come over here where I can nuzzle you!"
Mano settled next to her and purred softly, rubbing his face against the sweet comfort of her cheek. Aiheu smiled and raised his paw in blessing. "Daima pendana. Love one another as I have loved you." And so it was that the shadow of the Makei was lifted from the land.
THE END: SHADOW OF THE MAKEI
LEGAL NOTE:
This original copyrighted work is based on Walt Disney's feature film, "The Lion King." Elements taken directly from “The Lion King” are the property of The Walt Disney Company. "Shadows of the Makei" is distributed free of charge excepting reasonable distribution costs. Quoting passages from our work, writing original pieces based on our work, or using characters we created is fine as long as you secure prior approval. That begins by sending either of us a copy of the work. Our e-mail addresses are:
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Your comments on our work, pro and con, are always welcome. We have been asked about our legal note. This is our official response: “The copyright is maintained solely to prevent patently vulgar or lewd misuse of our characters. Most any work, including parodies would be fine as long as it meets certain reasonably broad standards of decency. We reserve the right as copyright holders to define and change those standards. None of these standards is meant to force the applicant to be consistent with the literary style or plot of the original work.”
The characters Akase, Isha, and Malaika are the property of Brian Tiemann. Used with permission.
This story is a fictional work, but we don’t claim that any resemblance to any characters living or dead is purely coincidental. With love and respect, we acknowledge the debt we owe to those who taught us how to laugh and cry. Without acting as clear models for any one character, many great souls, some non-human, have been woven deeply into the fabric of our lives only to end up in “Shadows of the Makei.”