"Sire! Sire!"
The young hornbill knew he wasn't supposed to be here. His mother was the king's advisor, not him. What was he thinking, bursting into the king's home unaccompanied? But he'd seen what he'd seen, and something had to be done, and fast. He flapped towards the sunning rocks as quickly as he could manage.
"Sire!" Zazu cried again as he swooped down in front of the great king himself, sprawled across a large rock near the top of the hill. The golden-furred, black-maned creature looked enormous to the young bird. He was snoring faintly. "Sire, please!" Zazu begged nervously, fidgeting and shifting from foot to foot. Still no response. Zazu took a deep breath and crept tentatively towards the lion, craning his beak towards the great cat's ear. "Sire?"
"Wha—?!"
Ahadi's head shot up as he was startled from his sleep. He turned quickly to the bird, his reflexes already at the ready. "You!" he said after half a moment's pause. "You're Zuzu's son."
"I-I-Indeed, sire," Zazu stammered.
"What happened?" Ahadi demanded, already fully alert. "What did you see, a fire? Rogues? Hyenas?"
"Wild dogs."
Ahadi tensed. No dog packs lived near the kingdom. "Where?" he demanded, leaping to his feet.
"South, downriver," Zazu panted. "Outside the border."
"Oh." Ahadi relaxed slightly. "Good, so they know the boundary. It's not as urgent as I feared." He started to settle back down.
"Sire, please!" Zazu pleaded, his voice cracking.
"What?" Ahadi spat, looking back up at the bird.
Zazu cowered in fear beneath his king's hard emerald gaze. "If y-you'd seen," he began, quivering, "if you'd been there and heard."
The king exhaled sharply. "What?"
"Y-You know the kingdom to the south?"
"Maliki's pride?" Ahadi was sounding interested again.
"I didn't get all too many details," Zazu recounted, "but it seems the king—"
"Maliki."
"Well, they were poaching in the ki—er, Maliki's lands. Apparently he recently found out and drove them away. And now," Zazu lowered his voice to a whisper, "they're plotting."
"Plotting?" Ahadi responded in an equally low voice. "Plotting what?" He sounded concerned now.
"Plotting to sneak into the pride. To kill the king."
Ahadi was speechless for a moment. As a rule, different lion prides didn't generally help each other. Sometimes delegates or the kings themselves would meet to solidify boundaries or resource disputes, but they didn't actively provide assistance. At least, not traditionally.
"Sire, I beg you," Zazu pleaded," you can't let them do this."
Ahadi thought for another moment, then abruptly stood up. Screw tradition. "You're right, young one. This atrocity must not happen. Mufasa, Taka!" he barked as he began to gallop down the hill. "Come with me!"
As the king reached the bottom of the hill, two younger males appeared from the rocks. Ahadi's sons fell into step alongside their father as the trio ran across the golden grasslands, headed for the southern border.