THE LION and THE TIGER

By Heidi Williams

This is a timeless story of love that spans four lifetimes - a soul connection destined to reconnect. A beautiful heart-warming tale of love that is timeless and unforgettable. From the Serengeti to Tuscany this endearing story shows how some love stories never end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gem-in-Eye Productions
• Release date: Aug 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781914996214

Book preview

THE LION AND THE TIGER 

A STORY OF LOVE

Written by

HEIDI LOUISE WILLIAMS

Gem-in-Eye Publishing

All rights reserved: No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher

First published 2021

Gem-in-Eye Publishing

Text copyright © 202 Heidi Louise Williams

Cover design copyright © Heidi Louise Williams

© Gm-in-Eye Publishing

Photograph on front cover by Sarah Ritcher (Pixabay)

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ISBN: 9781914996207

All Characters and events in this book, other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, being alive or dead, is either karmic or coincidental.

DEDICATED TO THAT RARE UNCONDITIONAL ONCE IN A LIFETIME LOVE

Contents:

1880

1980

2002

2080

1880

The colourless sun bled through the listless faded bluish-grey sky like bleach on old jeans, scorching the large jagged rocks and dry dusty terrain. The lioness stayed away from the rocks during the day. She sheltered her three cubs under the isolated tree. With pride, she watched over her adorable lion babies, two female and one male, who scrabbled and tumbled in play.

      The lioness leaned backwards and licked her sleeping lion awake. It was that time of day when the shadow fell across the plain, and prey would venture to the waterholes. It was that time of day for her to hunt. It was the time of day when her lion needed to stretch and yawn and shake himself off to watch their children while she was gone. 

      He opened his eyes. She was grinning at him, lovingly. Although he was by nature a grumpy riser, her cheeky smile and the blissful love in her big eyes, and the big sloppy kiss were enough to make him secretly laugh on the inside. She could make him feel so joyful that the amusement would start to leak out of his mouth, and he’d catch himself half- smiling.

He would give her a big sloppy lick right up the centre of her face which he knew irritated her. She rolled over onto her stomach, shook herself off, and gave him the look. He grinned.

Unable to resist his smile, she snuggled affectionately into his huge soft mane. She kissed his scarred face gently. The lion nuzzled into her energy, her being. He loved her unquestionably. No other lioness could turn him on like she could. She bit him gently, teasingly. He bit her back rougher. She liked it.

He stopped. He was listening. He could smell humans. She smelt it too.

She jumped up and grabbed her little boy by the scruff of his neck, knowing the girls would follow. She led them to the hot rocks, and dropped the boy into a hole to hide him between the boulders. He scrambled and whined to get out but she hissed at him, and in a low growl she told him it was too dangerous.

She picked up each of the girls and placed them in the hole between the rocks with their brother. The lioness heard the men approaching. Her lion had gone to fend off the human threat. They were on an open plain, and this was a bad plan. They needed to run but she couldn’t carry all of her babies at once. She tried to walk away from the rocks in case the humans saw her and suspected her cubs were hidden close by. She tried to leave them but her mothering instinct told her that she needed to grab them and run, but then she considered it might be better to keep them hidden and to leave them. She couldn’t decide and it was making her pace back and forward between the tree and the rocks.

She fretted about how long her boy cub would sit still and stay quiet because the rocks were so hot. She knew the girls would be too frightened to show themselves until they knew it was safe but her blue-eyed boy rarely did what he was told. He was too little to understand the danger, and he would react to the discomfort of the hot rocks.

        Six tall Zulu men came charging across the dried-blood-red terrain with spears and shields. They stopped ten metres from where the majestic lion stood waiting.

      The men raised their shields and aimed spears at the lion that now had his head down, his shoulders lowered, and his yellow eyes fixed on the three men. He was ready to attack.

      The lioness was pacing faster. This was such a bad idea. Her lion was going to get himself killed.

One of the men rested a pistol on the top of his shield. The pistol had been a gift from a Dutch explorer. The lioness saw it turn, and the barrel faced her. She was too close to the rocks. Her baby boy was starting to climb out. He would be seen. Her heart was pounding.

She couldn’t help her beautiful lion now. She had to save their son. She ran towards the rocks, grabbed her son by the scruff of his neck and ran as fast as she could.

The man holding the pistol took aim. He fired. She fell. Her mouth opened as she hit the blood- stained earth, releasing her frightened cub. The cub knew his mother was badly hurt. He could feel it. He whined and nuzzled into her, and licked her face but nothing worked. He felt his mother’s energy float away. He lay down beside her body and cried.

      The lion had felt his one true love’s spirit float away too. He roared in anger and emotional agony. He charged. They fired their arrows. He charged. They fired. He stumbled. He charged. They fired. He fell.

      With what he sensed were his final moments, the lion, impaled by two spears, a bullet, and a throwing knife, turned away from the men and crawled on his stomach towards the body of his favourite lioness; the one he had always loved the most.

He remembered the joy reflected in her enlarging pretty eyes when she looked at him. Those eyes were closed now. He wished he could see that look just one last time. He wished he could see her cheeky half-smile which made him grin, even when he was being serious and trying to discipline her. She would always turn it into a game, and he would always end up having an overpowering urge to make desperate savage love to her.

He wished he could once more hear her soft purr. He wished he could feel her gentle nibbles and her passionate nuzzling.

      He tried to get up onto his feet in a desperate attempt to get to her faster. The knife had fallen and he was bleeding out. He was growing tired and weaker but he had to get to her.

      The shimmering haze that you see in the distance on a scorching hot day was getting closer; it seemed to be consuming him. He fought against the fading. He stumbled and crawled across the hot rust-coloured dirt.

He couldn’t see anything now but he could smell her lovely familiar scent close by. He stumbled and fell beside her. The lion