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Nala snuggled her newborn nephew. He had been born two nights ago.
The whole village had been celebrating the Prophetic birth and everyone was exhausted.
Finally the village was quiet and Nala was giving her sister Queen Hepsha a needed break
from new motherhood.




Coral was sick of being a slave to the Gotta Boogy tribe. Out of all of the exhausting work that Coral had to do,
she looked forward to taking care of "Coota" Queen Hepsha's pet bird. Coota did not like anyone else to care
for him and would bite anyone that tried. The birds beak was very strong and could break bones. Coota liked
Coral though and never bit her and enjoyed her company. But today Coota suddenly flew out of his cage and
headed towards the Jungle. Coral knew that she had to go and catch Coota quickly before anyone noticed.
She would face a beating or worse for losing Queen Hepsha's bird.



"Are you trying to get me killed?" Coral scolded Coota when she finely caught up to him.




"That was very naughty of you to fly off like that! But you are such a
pretty bird that I am sure you are sorry and I forgive you." Coral told the bird.




"Preeety Biiird, sorry Pretty Biiird! Coota then whistled a merry tune that
cheered up Coral.
"Oh Coota, you are my only friend here. I love you." Suddenly Coral and
Coota were forced to be quiet, they heard loud voices arguing.





"I want to let them go! I like Herb and Coral! They were promised that they
could leave when the prophesy was fulfilled they have done that!" Shouted Tobit
to his mother.
Queen Hepsha was his twin sister. They were very close but Tobit and his
mother were not. Tobit was also not as wise as he was handsome.




Coral was frozen to her spot. She needed to listen but her heart was
beating so hard in her ears that she had to force herself to concentrate,
breath and listen.



"Tobit, I am always surprised that you are your sisters twin. If I had not
given birth to you and suckled you at my breast I would never guess that
you were my child. Why do you care for these strangers? They are food for
the volcano god."





"Mother, I know I have never been your favorite and you think that I am dull
witted. That may be true, but my heart tells me that we should honor our words
to these people and let them have their freedom."




"Do you wish to ANGER the gods?" she shouted at him. Luta was a very
intense woman most of the time and when she was angry you could feel the
wrath of her like the heat from a volcano.





"No mother I do not wish to anger the volcano god, I wish to let our people have
honor by keeping our word and letting Herb and his wife leave. They have worked
hard and deserve their freedom." Tobit argued with his mother.



"Our first duty is to our god. The volcano wants them both as a sacrifice.
A worthy payment of innocent blood for the birth blessing of our future great
leader." Luta informed him in dark tones.



"If you are half as wise as you are handsome you had better do as you are told,"
Luta warned him with contempt in her eyes.





Queen Hepsha walked up on the heated argument just in time to keep her beloved
twin brother from angering their mother further. Luta had always preferred Hepsha
over Tobit. Hepsha could not understand how a mother could love one child and not
another, especially when they were twins. But that is the way it was in her family.
Luta being the Tribal Shaman had great power and Queen Hepsha was often worried
for her dear twin brothers life. Hepsha had always loved Tobit, he was her best
friend. He was not very bright but he had a good heart and woman loved him.
When she had became queen she was sure that she could protect him from
their mother but that had been becoming more and more difficult as time went by.



"Why are you two yelling at each other? Hepsha asked, playing the role of peace keeper
as she often had between these two.
"Our mother want's to sacrifice Herb and Coral to the volcano god after we already gave
them our word that once a male child was conceived and born they could go free," Tobit answered.
"Mother is this true?" Queen Hepsha asked her mother Luta with a cool look.
"Yes its true the bones have spoken to me. The god demands the blood of the child's father
and his wife." Luta stated coldly.
"Mother are you sure?" Herb is the father to my child, I wish him no harm and especially not being
thrown into the volcano."
"The BONES NEVER LIE!! Luta shouted at them both. Hepsha knew her mother well and played
a old game with her brother they had developed as children to keep him out of trouble.
"Tobit, mother has never led us wrong before. Why do you mistrust her now?" Hepsha said in a small silly voice.



"Because it is not right to kill them, we gave them our word and they have
co-operated." argued Tobit.
"My poor brother, you must of had to much sun today," Hepsha quickly
said as their mother was still fuming.



Tobit then decided to go along with his twin sisters ploy.
"Oh yes, I was out hunting in the hot sun all day." exaggerated Tobit.




"Dear Brother, why do you make me worry about you so much?
Go and see Nala she will give you something cool and refreshing to drink."
Hepsha encouraged him to leave.




"Perhaps you are right sister, I will go and get something cool to drink."
He then left in silence towards Nala's hut.
"We must sacrifice them!" Lupa insisted, the bones have spoken if we
do not, the god will be angry with us and take his revenge on the village!"
"I understand mother, let us go and check on the prophesy child. I can feel
my milk coming, it must be time to feed him. Hepsha wanted to keep her
brother Tobit and her mother Luta apart
for the time being. Today the air had a uneasy feel to it and Hepsha
did not like it.




Coral stood frozen hardly daring to breath as she watched them all walk out
of sight.
"You were a very good bird," she told Coota. "I am so glad that you were quiet.
"QUIET!" Coota squawked loudly giving Coral a small heart attack
not knowing if they were well out of earshot or not. Coral waited another 15
minutes and then took the long way back around to the village to return Coota
to his cage. Most of the villagers were tired and dragging themselves around
from too late a night to notice Coral sneaking back with Coota.


LATER THAT DAY




Nala was outside when she first felt the earth rumbling beneath her feet.
The rumbling got louder and louder. She thought it might be a earthquake,
but it was much worse than that.



She heard the very loud trumpet calls of many elephants, the sound got closer and
the rumblings got more intense.
Nala jumped in fear and screamed at that the top of her lungs STAMPEDE!!
Run for your lives!!"



"The rumbling and noise had brought me to the edge of my prison cell to see what all
the commotion was, it was indeed a stampede!" Grandpa said to Brandy and Dustin.
"A Herd of Wild Elephants was charging through the village. I have been in Africa
for many years and though it is not impossible for them to behave this way it was unusual.




When a herd of wild elephants is charging through your village the only thing you can do is,



"GET OUT OF THEIR WAY!"



FAST!!!!




The first wave of elephants charged right up to the prison I was held captive
in and knocked down a wall, allowing me my freedom. I knew this was the
distraction that I had been waiting for from Sheeta.




I quickly looked around for Coral and scrambled out of my prison. I spotted her and waved to her.



Coral seemed to be in a daze as she watched the stampede of Wild Elephants
pass.



Coral! I shouted to her, CORAL!" Still she watched the stampede in a daze.



Tobit was on the other side of the stampede and could see Coral just standing there.
Tobit shouted to her "Coral! Run! Coral! Save your life!"
"I then Whistled Very loudly, the Sheeta call. This finally drew Corals attention and
she noticed me, I pointed for her to run to the wild orchard as planned and we both started running.



I made it to the edge of the jungle first;




and was quickly reunited with my dear wife Coral. We had made it out of the
village but we were not free yet. We had to keep moving quickly. Luta was
watching us from the front porch of Queen Hepsha's home. She could do nothing
because the stampeding elephants kept them trapped on the porch.
Queen Hepsha also watched from the porch while Coral and I made our escape.




A steady flow of ornery Wild Elephants prevented anyone from chasing after us.



Queen Hepsha had a soft smile on her face as she watched Herb and Coral run
for the Wild Orchard. She was glad that they were getting away. She would of
come up with a plan somehow with her brother to help them escape, this just
worked out better. Queen Hepsha was very pleased with herself. She had her
prophesy child, Herb and Coral gained their freedom and she had once again kept
her brother out of trouble with their mother. Not bad for a days work she thought
smugly.



"It appears our love birds have escaped. No worries we will send our best
warriors to hunt them down and return them for proper sacrifice,"Luta said cruelly.
"No Mother! There will be no sacrifice! Queen Hepsha said sternly.

"I am afraid I will have to disagree with you my daughter, the god of the
volcano will have HIS SACRIFICE of innocent blood!" she hissed nastily.




Queen Hepsha followed her mothers line of view just in time to see her dear twin brother
Tobit;



being crushed and trampled by the stampeding elephants.




"He angered the gods with his disobedience!" Luta said with a nasty smile on her old cruel face.




Queen Hepsha could not breath as she watched her dear twin brother being trampled to death by wild elephants.
She screamed in her head and then she realized that she was screaming out loud.


TOBIT!!! Noooooooo!!!!!! Tobit!! Nooooo, not my brother! Leave him alone she screamed to one elephant that was about to step on him again.



The elephant seemed to have understood her and looked at her through his
large dark eye and then left her brother alone and continued the stampede
with the herd.




"The Queen screamed hysterically until the last elephant left the village.
Coral and I had the chance to turn around and witness the horrible event
as we made our escape." Grandpa told them in somber tones.

Coral gave a sudden loud sob and burst into tears.
"Mom are you OK?" Brandy rushed to her mothers aid.
"Yes dear, I will be fine. Its just that Tobit was a really great guy,
Coral sobbed, and I was very sad to see him die such a horrible death.
He did not deserve that. I know that he was trying to get
to me before you father got my attention with Sheets's whistle.
I remember him so well. He must of tried to cross the stampede to try and
help me. Me a lowly slave!" Coral burst out in to full blown tears.
Brandy poured her mother a fresh cup of tea, and Coral poured herself
another large drop of Cognac.
And Grandpa continued telling the story at the dinner table.




I knew Sheeta was waiting for us somewhere, we steadily kept running to
the Wild Orange Orchard.




"Welcome to freedom," Sheeta greeted us cheerfully about two miles from
the village well inside the wild orchard.

"How did you like my diversion?" Sheeta asked with a curious Kitty face.
"A stampede of Wild Elephants was a excellent diversion Sheeta,
Thank You." said Grandpa politely.
Then suddenly Coral fainted and I had to carry her through the jungle
until she recovered.My poor Coral hardly weighed anything I could feel
every bone in her body as I carried her through the jungle. We had to
keep moving Sheeta told us that the elephants had agreed to stay in
the village only until sunset. Apparently the elephants owed Sheeta a
favor and she called them on it.



************To Be Continued****************

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Happy Simming everyone!







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