“No, not that. When I face Aiheu, I want to face him as your husband. Would you please pledge to me? Please? I hear you’re not the marrying type, but when they ask me who I’m praying for, I want to say it’s my wife.”
She was stunned. She’d never been asked quite that way before. She only had to think a moment. “That’s the only thing that could make this night any better. I’d be glad--no--honored. And when I go into the east, I’ll sit next to you throughout eternity.” She nuzzled him and kissed him gently on the cheek, between the eyes, and then rubbed his face with her own. “Maybe I was saving myself all along for my little Baba. My heart is swift prey, and no one else could catch it.”
He smiled warmly and nuzzled her. “I don’t want to catch it. I want to set it free the way your love set me free.” He put his paw on her shoulder. "Before the gods, before the stars, before the assembled host I swear to give you my protection, my life, and my comfort forever."
She pawed his face and kissed him. "Till the last beat of my heart, to the last breath I sigh, our lives are one, so help me gods." She kissed him again. “It is done, husband.”
A moment went by when neither of them spoke. Then, almost abruptly, Isha said, “I HAVE to teach you how to survive out there! I won’t let it end like this! I can’t!”
“No more lessons. These memories have to last me, my wife. Let’s lose none of this time together.”
Tears began to stream down Isha’s cheeks. “Baba, I love you!”
“I love you too, but please don’t cry. I’ve known love all my life, first from my mother, than from my King, my friend and my lover. I have no enemies, and no one I’ve loved has ever left me. I’m the luckiest lion in the world, and you should be glad for me.”
She kissed him and nuzzled him. “I am. I love you so much, Mabatu! Who in heaven or earth wouldn’t envy me tonight!”
“I’ll come back within the year. If I don’t, then consider yourself free to remarry. Only death can stop me.”
She wept again. “You must come back! I’ll pray for you each night--you can’t die! You mustn’t break my heart!”
“Please don’t cry.”
“Don’t forbid it. It makes me feel better.”
He pawed her. “But I don’t want to remember you sad. Can’t I make you happy? Just for a little while? Be sad tomorrow, but not now--this night belongs to us.”
She said, “Yes. Make love to me. Let me feel you next to me once more.”
He nuzzled her passionately. “Habusu am I, a prisoner of your love.” He rose to his feet and awash with mixed pride and passion he tenderly mouthed her throat.
CHAPTER: THE SEPARATION
Isha looked at Kako and her heart sank. Kako had always been so friendly to her and smiled so beautifully. The beauty was still there, but she looked like she was at a funeral, not a mantlement. Deep inside, that’s how she felt too. Mabatu looked very small, pitiful, and frightened. The proud lion of last night shrank down like a disciplined cub, pacing about, lost in the whirlpool of his inner turmoil.
Taka stalked into the meadow with slumped shoulders and dragging tail. He looked like the weight of the world was on him, and indeed he looked back as if to see what sat on his back. He was really watching Elanna who filed silently behind him.
Only Shenzi seemed to be upbeat. She had never seen a mantlement before, and she sought to satisfy her idle curiosity with a little pageantry and culture.
There would be little pageantry. It was a very private ceremony and very somber. Standing in the midst of the blossoms where the night before Baba and Isha had first made love, Kako put on her best smile and looked at her hapless son. “Where has my little cub gone? All I see is this lion.” She shuddered to say it.
“I’ll always be your son,” Baba replied, and nuzzled her.
“Remember me,” she said. “When you are a great king, do not forget that I gave you milk.”
He looked deeply into her eyes. “When you are gone to be with your fathers,” he stammered, “pray for me.”
“I will pray for you.” Tears began to stream down her cheeks. She looked at Taka with desperation and cried, “Oh gods, my son, my little son!”
“Don’t cry, mother.” Mabatu kissed away her tears. “You must be strong for me. I will carry this moment with me for the rest of my life.”
“I’m sorry.” She sniffed back her bitter tears and managed a smile. “Besides, we will meet again among the stars, and nothing will separate us. May the Lord Aiheu smile upon you. May the grass be soft beneath you. May the great kings enfold you. May you find love and safety wherever you go.”
“I’ll be safe. The gods are with me.”
Isha trembled and tears flooded her eyes. Mabatu noticed and went to her, kissing away her tears. He whispered, “I’ll come back for you. If Aiheu lets me live, I’ll make a place for us. Will you wait for me?”
“I will. I swear.”
“I will always love you. If I die, look in the stars. I will be watching over you.”
“Don’t die. Promise me you won’t die!”
“I promise you I’ll try not to. You are everything to me--wife, lover and friend. I will fight to hold on for your sake, and someday I’ll make a life for us and for our children.”
Isha turned from him and began to sob. Mabatu quietly walked back to his mother and nuzzled her. He wanted to remember how she felt, smelled, and sounded. He peered into her sad eyes and said, “Mother.”
“My son.” She touched him with her tongue for the last time and stroked his cheek with her paw. “I release you to God.”
Silently, he turned to the north and walked away without looking back, as custom dictated. He reached the edge of the forest and drew close to the border of the Pride Lands. One more small meadow caressed his feet in fond farewell. One last clump of reeds stroked him as he stopped for a moment at the far side of the meadow. “I’ll come back for you,” he murmured quietly. “Isha, my dearest Isha, I must leave you now.” He stepped across the threshold of The Big World and immersed himself in uncertainty.
CHAPTER: A LIFE FOR A LIFE
As he wandered the strange land, memories of the blissful moments he spent with Isha came crowding in on him. He was unprepared to be out on his own, but his greatest fear was not death. There was a chance that Isha would bear his children in the middle of a drought and there would be no husband to see to her. What if the hyenas turned on the lion cubs? What if there were no more rains?
Isha had begged Taka to be freed from her obligations and leave with Mabatu. Of course, she could not say she had married him, for Taka would not have recognized vows taken before mantlement. It was a mistake to speak of leaving to the King. Not only did he refuse her passage, he sent hyenas to trail her every move to prevent her from fleeing. It seems he knew more than he was admitting.
Grief came to many that day. An old king had driven off some rogue lions that tested his authority. He and his brother were weak from age, and while they had both sired many daughters, there was no son to shoulder the load of defending the pride territory from the jealous eyes that wanted it.
Prince Baliaha’s life was flowing away in a crimson river. Remnants of his once splendid mane lay scattered on the ground, and he gasped for breath. He looked up with eyes that strove to focus. “Are they gone? Brother, have we driven them off?”
“Yes, we have.”
“Good,” he said with a sigh of resignation. “They’ll come back, you know. And I’m afraid you’ll have to handle them alone.”
“You’ll recover, but there will be scars.”