Heirs and Usurpers

Written by

Muziki

Chapter One:

The Pride of the Crater Lands

"GET BACK!" Haki roared, with a vicious snarl. Muziki, ears flattened against her skull, lowered her head and backed off the fallen zebra, slowly. She knew better than to get in the way of a very hungry king and a fresh kill, even if she was the one who had brought it down. She ran over to the other lionesses.

Long live the King.

Muziki and the rest of the pride looked on as Haki tore into the abdomen, where all the choice parts were. His face and paws were already crimson within a few seconds.

The three cubs of the pride could simply not stand still, despite their mother's growls of warning. The heady scent of meat and blood wafted over to them on a light breeze. The smallest of the trio, tail up and ears turned toward the gluttonous lion, began to approach him warily.

"Bado! No!" Amira, the female of the three, hissed. "Don't be stupid!"

But it was too late. The crater lands echoed with Haki's roar, and Bado was met with a swift swipe to the face. The cacophony of birds and insects came to a disquieting halt.

Stunned, the little cub fell on his side. His mother ran to him and hastily grabbed him by his neck scruff. Her eyes locked with the king's in defense of her cub, who was also his cub. Haki's pupils dilated in anger. He let out a last warning growl before he continued eating.

"I hope you learned by his mistake, Hadar," said Aheizer, King Haki's majordomo. He jumped onto the cub's shoulder, wrapping his bushy tail around his neck and pointing his muzzle to his ear. "As future king, you must use your wits, and not act in such haste. Your brother has a lot to learn..."

The young cub did not hear the small yellow mongoose mutter under his breath, "…if he survives!"

Hadar ran over to his half-brother, who sat dazed between his mother's front paws. With an "oof!" Aheizer jumped from the cub's shoulder to Muziki's. Hadar knelt in front of the prone cub. "Bado! Bado, are you alright?!"

"He'll be fine, my prince," Bado's mother, Azima, said. "This should be a good lesson for him, what with disturbing your father like that. In fact," her tone took on a low growl as she turned her gaze down towards her son, "it actually saves me the trouble of having to cuff him myself!"

Little Bado only answered with a weak groan as he slipped back into unconsciousness. Hadar's eyes widened as he started at him. Azima chuckled. "No, really, he'll be alright. He's more frightened than hurt. A mother can tell these things."

Hadar wouldn't know. His mother, Queen Fahari, was a mere shadow of his past. She had died when he was so young. Hadar had just learned to eat scraps of meat the first night she had left his side to resume her hunting duties…to never return. He considered every lioness of the pride to be his mother now.

"Go on and play with Amira." Azima's voice carried Hadar out of his thoughts, "Muziki's been keeping her company between hunts, but she is becoming too old for such things. Come now, my prince. Don't trouble yourself with a lioness' work. What would Haki have to say? I'll stay here with my son until he wakes up."

Hadar looked up at Azima's smiling face before obediently making his way over to Amira, Azima's younger daughter and his half-sister. Amira's attention was no longer on Bado. Hadar saw her looking intently at something on a tree branch, which hung several feet above her head. The young prince ran to her side and sat down, following her gaze. He noted something blue moving slowly behind the gaps the leaves left. "What is it?" He asked.

"Shhh! You'll let him know we see him!" But it was too late. At Amira's sharp "shhh!" a small, pointed beak emerged from the foliage. Almost an instant later the rest of its body followed. Hadar and Amira watched as a pretty little blue bird shot from the branches and flew off with rapid speed. In half a second they were left staring at a swaying branch and falling leaves. One landed right on Hadar's nose. Amira giggled.

"That isn't funny, " Hadar said, wiping it off with a paw.

"Well that's what you get for scaring my bird away!" Amira said between giggles.

"Why is it yourbird, anyway?" Hadar growled. "I've never even seen it around here before!"

"Simple, silly," the young lioness had finally stopped laughing. "It was here!" She rolled her eyes as Hadar returned her statement with a quizzical gaze. "Everything in the crater lands is mine!"

She ducked her head down a little as the prince narrowed his eyes at her. "Well…um…ours, I mean," she hastily corrected herself. "We are royal, after all."

"Now who's silly?" Hadar said, settling himself down on the yellow-green grass. "No animal is ours, even if we do run things."

"Oh yeah?" Amira replied. "Who said that?"

"Aheizer said."

"Well that's not what I heard father say!"

Hadar was about to reply when Muziki, with Aheizer still on her shoulder, stepped between them. She looked down at the two cubs.

"What's this? Arguing?" She asked. "Last time I checked, arguing was not a part of royal behavior! Isn't that right, Aheizer?"

"Surely, madam," the mongoose narrowed his beady eyes at the two. "A young prince and princess must not act like common runts! What on earth has gotten into you two, especially you, the future king?!"

Amira resumed her giggling as she saw Hadar hang his head.

"I hardly see the humor, princess!" Aheizer snapped, adding a hint of mockery to the last word. Amira immediately fell silent, staring wide-eyed at the king's right hand. Muziki met him with a short, low growl. He shut his mouth.

"They're still cubs, Aheizer. I'm sure they learned their lesson now. Chin up, Hadar!" She said cheerfully. "Since all Amira seems to be good at right now is giggling, why don't you tell us what started all this trouble?"

Hadar looked up into Muziki's large, green eyes. There was a slight glint in them as she smiled fondly at the heir to the throne. He immediately forgot being scolded by his teacher.

"Well, Amira was only mad because she thinks I scared the bird away," he turned his head towards the little cub, scowling, "even though I didn't!"

Amira took drew a swift breath and was about to defend herself before Muziki raised a paw, calling for silence.

"The fighting is over. Forget about whose fault it was. Go on, Hadar,"

The scowl left Hadar's face. It seemed to have transferred itself to the face of his half-sister, who sat in brooding silence. "It was blue, and really fast! We never saw anything like it before!"

Aheizer quickly whispered something into Muziki's ear. The lioness raised an eyebrow.

"It was blue, you said?"

"Yeah!" Hadar's eyes lit up. "So you've seen it before, too? I never saw such a color on an animal! Where did it…?"

"No, I've never seen it," Muziki cut him off, "but it might be important. Good work, my prince."

Aheizer sighed and said something to Muziki that the cubs could not make out. She creased her brow and nodded.

"Hey! I was the one who saw it first!" Amira whined, springing to her feet.

Aheizer fidgeted, scratching rapidly at his ear with a hind-paw. "Of course, princess. You are thanked as well, but don't you think it's time for us to be going, Muziki?"

"Anyway," the lioness said quickly, "I must tell the king now. He would like to know about it."

"But why would," Hadar began.

The yellow mongoose coughed and flicked Muziki's ear with his tail tip. She turned her back on them and swiftly bounded away, Aheizer clinging to her neck scruff and wrapping his tail tighter around her neck to keep from falling off. "I'll talk to you later, children!" She called back to them.

"Well that was stupid!" Amira grumbled.

Hadar watched his older half-sister and Aheizer depart. Why would father want to know about the bird? He thought to himself. Sure, it was pretty, but father doesn't care for pretty things. He yawned, his ears filled with cricket-song. It was about time to sleep. He blinked at he saw one scamper across his paw and disappear into the tall grass. Father will just get mad again. He doesn't like being bothered with stuff like that. It's too small and quick to eat, and it certainly isn't dangerous!