The Savannah Ch3

The afternoon sun was merciless, and the cubs soon awoke uncomfortable...and hungry. Their mother arose quietly as possible and exited the den.

It was time to hunt.

Leaving the three cubs alone was beyond risky, but for the sake of survival, she had no choice.

The females decided to pass the time by practising their skills...and what better way to do that then  wrestling.

Caspian, however, became increasingly restless, being the only male was not ideal, and it was no fun to beat up the girls. Instead, he set his sights on the lighted passageway to the outside world.

Every instinct told him not to leave the safety of the den, that and the memory of his mother's distinct voice echoing in his head.

Unfortunately, curiosity and lack of judgement got the better of him. He started heading towards the slope entrance, glancing over his shoulder only to find his sisters were too preoccupied to notice.

He crept out the tunnel and into the full blast of the sun's rays. It took him a moment to adjust before he got his bearings. He traced his gaze over the scenery. The sights, scents and sounds, everything was new to him.

Without wasting any time he scampered along the edge of the brush close to the river bank, keener than ever to explore this new world.

A sudden chirp from the grass stopped him.

His attention caught he silently followed the sound to it's source. It was a young lizard-like creature, with a long snout and tail, running through the reeds (or at least trying to).

Caspian had never seen a crocodile before, big or small. His mother had made him aware of them, she had thought it best that whilst safe she might as well prepare her young as much as possible.

Caspian cocked his head slightly in confusion as he watched the little creature flee for it's life. In all the stories he had heard, it was always the crocodile doing the chasing or ambushing as his mother would describe.  

This particular one was being chased by a large stork-like bird, with grey feathers and a broad beak, it was known as a Shoebill. He remembered his mother mentioning that too. With it's long legs and huge wings it looked pretty fearsome but was no threat to them.

The huge bird was just about to close in on the baby when Caspian let out a relatively loud snarl running out from cover. He figured if it was no threat, then why not play with it?
Surprised the bird let out a panicked cry and flew away.

The little croc stopped and looked up at the large fur ball that had saved it from becoming lunch. Intrigued Caspian went down to it.

“Hey!”

The small reptile tried to conceal itself in the reeds again.

“Wait don't go!”

It halted, but as he got nearer it let out a small cry. Caspian took that as a sign not to get any closer, yet undeterred, he sat himself down on the sandy soil. He flexed his paws and twitched his tail, all the while just staring at the tiny creature in silence.  

“I'm  Caspian!” He said suddenly.

At such a young age Caspian had not yet learnt not to interact with other predators...or any other animals for that matter.

“You wanna play?!” He exclaimed with sudden excitement, jumping up and bowing his back in a playful gesture.

The hatchling poked it's head out, then clambered out into full view.

“Your not like me.” It chirped. Obviously as unaware of the rules as the youthful feline.

“What happened to your fur?” Caspian asked inquisitively.

“Where are your scales?” The croc countered.

“What are s-scales?”

“What's fur?”

“What's your name?”

“I don't have a name.”

“That's silly, everyone has a name!” Caspian said in disbelief.

“Mama calls us all the same.” The hatchling replied.

“Who's us? Do you have brothers and sisters too? Are they all tiny and s-scaly like you?”

His questions went unanswered as the young reptile suddenly began crawling towards the water.

“Hey where you going?” Caspian bounded after it, disappointment in his tone.

“My mama's calling me.” It said simply.

Caspian pricked his ears up, but he couldn't hear anything.

“Wait! Stay and play with me.” He pleaded.

“Mama says I have to go NOW!”

And with that, the little creature submerged and swam away. Caspian growled lowly in annoyance, but soon became otherwise occupied chasing a butterfly. The attention span at this age was relatively short.

“HEY WAIT COME BACK!” He shouted, “I just wanna play!”

He swatted at the butterfly as it started floating away. He became so focused that he didn't realise he had wondered away from the river bank and was now bordering on the edge of the wide open plain.

To be continued...