CHAPTER:  A WAR OF ATTRITION

	A lone lion made his way through the grass with the fearful, 
empty tread of the recently exiled.  His old friends, his family, and 
his familiar grounds were behind him, perhaps forever, but this time 
he did not seek solace in a new beginning.  He bore an extra weight 
on his shoulders that made his ears a little flatter, his tail a 
little lower and his step a little slower than most.
	"Oh gods," he muttered to himself, for he was once again his 
only audience.  "Oh gods, what could I have done?  What could I have 
said differently?  I was happy, truly happy and willing to spend my 
life with her!  She wouldn't even tell me what I did?  One moment she 
loved me, and now she has driven me away, and all I want to do is go 
to sleep and never have to wake up!"
	Memories of the blissful moments he had spent with Elanna came 
crowding over him, torturing him in his loneliness.  If only Gamu had 
known what his lie had caused, he would have reveled in perverse 
satisfaction.  Kubali fell to the ground and sobbed.  "Oh gods, 
you've taken away everything I lived for!  Why not let me die!  Oh 
gods!"
	Unaware of the extent of his mischief, Gamu was busy trying to 
solidify his claim on Elanna.  He felt victory, complete victory, 
waited for him over the next rise or behind the next rock.
	Gamu alternated fear and tenderness, playing on Elanna's 
helplessness and setting himself up as her one salvation.  So far it 
had not resulted in a mating with Elanna, the mark of his absolute 
and utter destruction of Kubali.  Knowing that Kubali had something 
that had eluded his grasp was more frustrating than his unfulfilled 
desire.
	She refused him consistently.  Once, in the throes of passion, 
he followed her about with a tense purring in his throat.  He reached 
out with a paw and shoved her rump down, starting to mount her 
willingly or unwillingly.  She turned about smartly and cuffed his 
face with all her might.  As he lay stunned on the ground, she 
snarled at him.  "Touch me there again and I'll leave scars visible 
at night!"
	She got very little sleep throughout the next day and night.  
She was afraid of him, almost as afraid as she was of the hyenas.
	The end of her receptive period offered Elanna some relief from 
his constant entreaties, but his war of attrition shifted to other 
fronts.  He went from a prospective lover to a caretaker.
	"Lannie, if you will pledge to me, I will find a pride where 
you can be a queen again.  You could hunt with pride sisters again as 
you once did.  You can be respected."
	It went on subtly, day after day.  Like water running across 
once baked earth, he began to gently, patiently wear gullies in her 
firm resolve.  She did not grow to find him handsome, but she began 
to submit to his kissing her.  She never kissed him back, but Gamu 
felt that would come with time.  "It's like that hyena game, whatever 
in hell that little weasel called it."
	Flush with what he perceived as signs of success, Gamu was more 
bold in taking leave of Elanna to chat with Griz'nik and keep him 
apprised of his progress.  With a plan that ingenious, Gamu had to 
brag to someone or he would burst at the seams.
	Never did Gamu pay any head to the circling buzzard overhead 
who watched--and listened carefully.  


CHAPTER:  MARKAAAGH'S ERRAND

	Markaaagh saw what he thought was a dying lion.  He had a 
personal preference, hoping it was not Kubali.  Despite his 
professional detachment, he had grown rather fond of the polite, 
intelligent lion.  He lighted next to him, hoping to at least say 
something to ease his torment at the end.
	"Hey Fuzzy, are you OK?"
	"I'm not ready to be the guest of honor at your dinner party."
	"For once I'm relieved."  The buzzard regarded him closely.  
"Where is your lady friend?"
	"Gone.  She dumped me."
	Markaaagh looked surprised and disappointed.  "Tell me it ain't 
so!  Brother, I know how you feel."
	"How could you?"
	"Oyeghegh left me without so much as a pinfeather."
	"Oh?  I'm sorry."
	"Of course, I take these things in stride.  In my younger days, 
I was quite the rage among the young ladies, and I still haven't lost 
it entirely!  Har har!"
	Kubali covered his eyes with a paw.
	"You poor boy, I was happy for you.  I was hoping this match 
would work out.  I'm really sorry."
	Markaaagh trundled across a bit of savanna, flapping his huge 
wings until he was airborne and could put some distance between 
himself and the lion.  He embraced the buzzard policy of not getting 
involved with animals he could eat.  It was only courting pain and 
conflict.  Still, he felt he had to get to the bottom of this.  If 
only to find some dirt on Gamu that would give him the satisfaction 
of ripping out his liver when Fuzzy got through with him.
	It took a while.  In fact, it took several days.  Then by 
patience and silent soaring, Markaaagh caught Gamu in a bragging 
mood, talking with a "dead" hyena about his imminent conquest.  He 
heard Gamu tell the story for probably the hundredth time, though it 
was the first time he could put all the pieces together.
	He had heard enough. "We can eat three day old carcasses, but 
some things we just can't stomach."  He smiled a nauseating vulture 
smile.  "Today, greedy gut, you get yours!  Drive me off with 
insults, will ya??  I'll see you ripped like a gazelle!"
	Markaaagh flew quickly to find the moping lion.  He told Kubali 
what he had heard.
	"You have earned yourself FIRST RIGHTS at my next five kills!"
	Kubali rallied.  Suddenly he stood tall and straight and proud.  
It did Markaaagh's heart good.


CHAPTER:  THE CONFRONTATION

	Gamu's fear campaign had worked too well.  Elanna was truly 
afraid to remain alone for even a moment with hyenas about.  If only 
she had known that the nearby clan was the histrionic attempts of 
Griz'nik to be seen in several different places in quick succession, 
using variations on his voice with every territorial yip!  He would 
call out "Ta'bliz!" (Attention!) and answer himself, "Mar roh!" (Yes 
milord!).  The sound of the dark tongue would send chills down 
Elanna's spine as she worried about those hyenas.  Not used to 
freeloading off the lions, these were surely hunters of the first 
order, fierce and coldly efficient.
	When Gamu left her with strict orders to remain behind, he 
really expected her to stay put.  Though it was supposedly for her 
own good, Gamu's ordering about was intended to complete his 
domination of her and to give him free reign to contact Griz'nik for 
further orders.  Without careful coordination with the hyena, Gamu's 
main trump card of fear of the hyenas would become worthless, for a 
frightened lioness can run faster than an angry lion.
	Elanna used all her stalking skills to stay within hearing 
range of Gamu that she might be a simple shout away if intruders 
targeted her.  Little did she know what she would hear that fateful 
day!
	Elanna saw Gamu talking to the hyena.  She overheard what he 
was saying.
	Griz'nik was laughing when Gamu told him again about the 
deception.  That Elanna was foolish enough to believe Kubali loved 
Gamu after making love to her all night!
	She knew that was the hyena that Gamu said he killed.  She 
recognized the voice as one of those that called about her in the 
night.  And she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out.  
	Griz'nik asked Gamu what would happen to him when Elanna 
pledged to him.
	Gamu said, "I was just about to tell you that myself."  He 
started forward.  "Old friend, I had three great ambitions.  One was 
to have her warm my belly.  One was to see Kubali dead in the dust.  
My third wish is of great interest to you.  It's to keep you from 
ever telling my secrets to Lannie.  I've practiced your little cries.  
Ta'bliz!  Mar roh!  En'khet koi, Roh'mach!  In fact, I think I can 
get along without you."
	"You're sending me away??"
	"Clear to whatever hell you believe in."
	The hyena backed back.  "Oh gods, don't do this!  Let me run 
away, Gamu!  Oh gods, don't hurt me!  Please!"
	Griz'nik had backed back into the corner of the small shelter 
as far as he could go.  "I'll do anything!  Oh gods, this is madness!  
Stop!!"
	Gamu was about to bite the hyena's neck through when suddenly 
in burst Elanna.
	"Griz'nik, I should have recognized your smell anywhere!  If 
you want to live, you better tell the truth!"
	Griz'nik urinated freely in his utter panic.  "He wanted to 
kill me!  Have mercy and I'll tell all!  Gamu is a cheat and a liar!  
He invented that story about Kubali being in love with him, and he 
told Kubali you had betrayed your husband!"
	She raised her face in an agony of extreme hate, roaring to 
shake the walls of the small cavern.  Her eyes glowed red with fierce 
bloodlust, and she sprang on Gamu.  "I'll kill you, you devil!"
	For all her determination, Gamu was a young adult male, and he 
outweighed her by half again her bulk.  Her claws tore hunks of fur 
from his mane but barely grazed the skin beneath.  He raked her 
shoulder and  easily brought blood.
	Elanna did not really care.  If she could only mark him before 
she died, she could look down from the stars on him and feel 
revenged.  Gamu, who had so often tried to make love to her, was 
bringing the terrible brunt of his anger on her.
	Then a lion announced his presence with a terrible roar.  "Keep 
your paws off of her!"
	Gamu looked about.  It proved to be his undoing.  Elanna 
clubbed Gamu on the back of the head with one massive blow of her paw 
and sent him sprawling.
	In an instant, Kubali was all over him, battering him and 
covering him in small cuts and scratches.
	From seemingly nowhere, a gallery of buzzards had gathered to 
watch the fray.  One of them yelled, "Give it to him, Kubali!  Tell 
him who's the stupid bird NOW!"  It was Markaaagh.  Somewhere, 
somehow, Kubali would remember that the bird used his real name.  He 
was "Fuzzy" no longer.
	Kubali wanted to kill Gamu, and with the rival pinned to the 
ground, he started to inflict a killing bite to the skull.  Elanna 
stopped him.
	"No, honey tree.  There are fates worse than death."  She 
looked at the pathetic lion  You wanted to take Taka's place.  So be 
it."
	Gamu tried to shake his head "no."
	She raised her paw and quickly raked his face.  He screamed and 
rolled out from under Kubali, whimpering and putting a paw over the 
fresh wound that lay where his right eye had once been.  "Oh gods!  
Oh gods!"  His back feet dug into the soil and he kicked 
spasmodically.
	"Now you ARE Taka.  Go and never come back, for the next time I 
see you, I'll kill you!"
	He scrambled to regain his footing.  Tilting his head to one 
side, he staggered away yammering in the half-darkness of pain that 
had become his world.  If he lived or died, Aiheu would decide.
	Kubali wanted to apologize, and so did Elanna.  Neither could 
get the words out.  Instead they nuzzled, wrestled, kissed and rubbed 
with a desperate intensity.  Tears came, and they lasted a long 
while.  The wounds were deep and cruel, but love would heal them all.  
	As for Griz'nik, he went away and they never saw him again.
	Kubali touched Elanna's tear-stained cheeks with his tongue.  
"We will never be parted again, though all the Makei in hell stand in 
our way."
	The buzzards smiled.  "Awwww...."
	"I'm so grateful, my friends."  Kubali touched Markaaagh with 
his paw, something he'd never done before.  "How did you know?  It 
was a miracle!"
	"Maybe you're right."  Markaaagh bowed, then took off, followed 
shortly by the others.

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