Unwanted Litter

The pains had started early in the morning, just as the sun had broken over the horizon. Heshima knew that it was time to give birth once again and everyone was ushered out of the den to where only Heshima and the hyenas were left. Something was different though, the pains were worse this time around and Heshima couldn't understand why. Not long after the hyenas were getting annoyed with Heshima's screeches of pain and they too left the den, although they sat at the mouth waiting for when the plan was to be put in motion. It was a simple plan really, wait until the cubs were born, then take them to the Shadowlands where their pitiful king would watch over them and use their resources.

Finally after over an hour of pain, Heshima had given birth to her first cub. When she took the cub into her arms and started to reluctantly clean it, it shocked her on how big the cub was! The newborn was almost twice the size of Kifu when he was born and he about a third times bigger than any of the girls had been. But it pained her to see that this cub was a male, his tawny pelt was a mixture of hers and his devil father's but there was no doubt that this was Heshima's cub. Many names ran through her head but she finally settled on Kiasi for an odd reason. The cub seemed to fit his moniker perfectly and now Heshima set the newly cleaned cub down as the pains started yet again.

This time the pains were more powerful and Heshima pushed out another cub. Her stomach twisted when she saw the rich brown pelt that the cub's father sported when he was alive and she almost upchucked when she saw that this cub was a male as well. As she bathed the newborn a sense of guilt washed through her, Kuzimu said that he only had produced one female in his life and it seemed to be the case here. But was it the father's genes and not the mother's that decided on what cubs were what gender? Had it not been her fault that she had gave Scar daughters instead of sons? No, it had to have been her fault and now she was repaying her debt to her king. The black nosed son of hers cried softly and Heshima silenced him with a lick. She had the perfect name for him now, Makosa meaning mistake. It was a mistake to be without the hunting party for even a second, and now this was the aftermath.

Heshima waited for the pains to come again, but they had ceased with the birthing of Makosa. The female expected a larger litter than what had been given to her and all in all she was ashamed. Ashamed that this had not been the litter of kings that Scar had wanted in the first place. But now that the cubs were all born and before she was too attached she called for the hyenas to take her babies away. Kuvuka and Kichafu, two Shadowland spies, were called to take the deed away and she pointed to the cubs, "The bright one is Kiasi while the dark cub is Makosa, please, get them out of here and if anyone asks? They're dead and you're disposing of the bodies," The hyenas nodded and took the cubs into their mouth, racing towards the Shadowlands and the royal family that they were loyal to. When the hyenas left, Heshima slumped over in silence, finally her unwanted litter was gone, and she had nothing left to worry about.