Heir to the Throne
Disclaimer: I don't own Lion King or any of their characters. I do own Meera, Thusa and Kanai, my own original characters.
A/N: This is the improved version of this chapter, my formatting got lost when I uploaded this so I realized it was a bit difficult to read. Hopefully all that is fixed now.
An Outlander's Pride
From a young age I'd known that there was something different about me. Something that separated me from everyone else. It was like a little sun burning inside my chest that illuminated the dark world around me. They were drawn to me. Cubs, lionesses, lions, of all age and creed were drawn to me like moths.
I had charisma, said my younger half sister, Vitani, though the expression on her face when she said it didnt support the compliment. It resembled jealousy more than anything else.
I was like my mother, said Nuka, my half brother. Though I didn't agree with him. I would never be like my mother. I didn't want to be.
I began to revel in the praise they gave me, in the adoration I received from the Outlander cubs. I was their leader. They would follow me without question. My words were law.
As an Outlander cub I was predisposed to be mischievous, like all Oulander cubs, but the rest of them weren't as mischievous as me.
Against the word of our parents we would often wander into the Pride Lands. To prove our defiance and pride we would drink from the rivers, play in the grass and even catch and eat some of the birds. We felt like rebels, like more than we were, we defied Simba himself. The great king Simba!
No one could stops us! We were invincible. Especially me. I was invincible.
But when I returned home, my resolve crumbled. Once I was with my mother my sun burnt out, fizzled into darkness. When her red eyes flickered over me. I became mortal once more.
"Where were you today, Meera?" She asked me in an even voice. She was lounging on an outcrop of rock, paws dangling over the edge. She spent a lot of time lounging these days, as heavily pregnant as she was, she couldnt move too much or hunt with the other lionesses. It was up to her second in command, Naledi, to keep our contingent in order. And if it wasnt Naledi then it was Thusa, the rogue lion who'd joined our small group. Incidentally he was the father of the cub still growing in my mothers swollen stomach. She watched me with somewhat bored eyes. As was her habit her claws were extended, they always were. "I hope you were not leading your troop of Outland mongrels into the Pride Lands againyou know what the price is for any Outlander caught in the Pride Lands? King Simba doesnt have mercy for the likes of us. Even if you are only cubs..."
I swallowed. I would have to lie. "No, Mother. I wasn't in the Pride Lands."
She looked at me dead on. "Then where were you?"
I looked back. We were by the dried waterhole. It was the most convenient lie. Cubs went to the dried waterhole all the time. When it had rained the dusty cavity became sticky with mudpools. We would roll in the filth until we were as dark as the afternoon shadows and then we would wrestle one another for champion.
She slipped lithely off the outcrop. All the while keeping her eyes fixed on me. They were the eyes of a predator, unwavering, fixed alone on the eyes of the prey.
I was the prey.
"Don't lie to me, Meera. For all your little ego has to say you are not greater than me. You are not to lie to me. You are not to disobey me". She hooked her paw around my chest and dragged me towards her. "You've never seen how angry I can get." She whispered in my ear.
I tried not to shake. "Yes, Mother."
"Good." She said, releasing me. "Hm, the lionesses have returned. Go fetch your siblings. It's time to feed."
I nodded, bobbing a little to enthusiastically. That was me, always eager to please her. She liked it. She liked watching me bend over backwards for her.
The lionesses had had to go into the outer Pride Lands to hunt. They were cautious, trying not to raise suspicion. Most of the time they could pass as one of Simba's pride at least to the other animals but if one of the real pride lions saw them they had to run for it. When we still had some of the hyenas on our side we could still pass in and out of the Pride Lands unchallenged with them as escorts. It ruined my pride as a lion to be consorting with hyenas but we had no choice it was that or starve. But a few moons ago Simba chased them out of the Pride Lands for good. It made it harder to hunt and also ruined our chances of ever reclaiming Scars lands.
It had ruined my mother. With her plans down the drain she had lost her drive and spent most of her days simply existing. She'd fallen into something of a depression. That was after shed quit trying to persuade the hyenas to come back. They said that the urge to help her was not as strong as the urge to stay away from Simba. They said that they weren't sure if she would betray them like Scar had.
Even so, she promised them all the things Scar had, food, water, land, power but they, unlike her, had learned from the past.
The lionesses had caught a zebra from the looks of it. I watched them drag the carcass across the dry red earth. It was only a small one. Probably wed still be hungry tonight. The smell attracted the pride the way an elephant dropping attracted flies.
There was only one lion in the pride and he wasn't our leader so the lionesses ate first along with him. Then the cubs. It was always a test to see who was more dominant. The one who ate the most was usually the strongest, ie: the one who could fend off all the others long enough to eat.
I was good at this. The other cubs learned to stay wary from my snarls. I was usually the least hungry of the cubs after we ate.
"Come on, Meera, at least let me take one bite!" whined Nuka, he was the oldest in our family after me. He tried to steal a strip of flesh. I growled and swatted him away. He snarled back.
"Contain yourself, Nuka. There's enough to go around." Vitani said, snubbing him when he began to complain.
"I don't get it. Lions are supposed to be the bosses around here ("You're not a lion yet." muttered Vitani) but it's always you lionesses that dominate everything. It's sobackwards." Nuka complained, sitting down heavily and sighing.
I narrowed my eyes but didnt say anything. I would get him back tomorrow when we went back into the Pride lands to play by the waterhole. Maybe being held under water for a few seconds would teach him the meaning of backwards.
Thusa, who had been eating beside Nuka, looked up at me, catching sight of my ferocious expression. He smirked. "Easy there, Meera, I don't want you to hurt yourself." His green eyes flickered with amusement when I extended my claws and took a menacing step towards him. Still smirking, he stood, suddenly widening the height and size gap between us. I didn't back down.
He pushed me out of the way. "Like I said, I don't want you to hurt yourself."
Evidently he'd finished eating because he walked away, black brush tail swishing in the red dust.
Nuka stared after him in wonder. "He is so regal."
Vitani rolled her eyes at him.
"Regal or cocky?" I said.
"You're just jealous, Meera, because you know he can rip you to shreds if he wanted to." Nuka retorted.
I smiled at him." Just what I should do to you."
He looked away, eyes wide.
Vitani sniggered and I glanced once more at Thusa's retreating figure.
I didn't want to admit it but I thought Thusa was regal too. His coat was dark like mine and so was his mane. But his eyes were bright and green. Just like mine. And just like my fathers. I assumed that it was his looks that had charmed my mother. He was almost like her replacement for my father. A look-alike but not the real thing. That my mother had the capacity to miss my father made me wonder if she did have a heart somewhere inside of her.
I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. Wasn't possible.
Overhead the sky was darkening, it had turned a rich shade of red, mottled with twinkling little stars. Clouds drifted just on the edge of the horizon sinking along with the sun. The shadows shifted, black and eerie, stretching long over the flat land like spilt ink. When the sun had set they took over. It was night time. Shadow-time.
The following day the Outland Cubs returned to the Pride Land. We were on an expedition to the Water Hole. I was looking forward to it.
The savannah was, to me, a mystical place. Endless fields of golden grass stretched out infinite. Grass, a luxury that was not native to the Outlands. There were trees too. There were thorny acacias, ancient baobabs and even the intoxicating marula tree that the elephant were so fond of. The cubs and I headed first to the Marula tree. Elephants weren't the only ones who got drunk on their fruit.
The fruit at the base of the tree, the ones that had rotted slightly, were the ones to eat.
When we got there we found that we weren't alone.
Three elephants had gathered around the tree. They were chuckling raucously.
At first we were cautious. Pride Land animals didn't like us Outlanders. But these elephants seemed harmless. Plus they were as drunk as loons so they probably wouldn't remember in the morning. We approached.
"Grab some," I hissed to my small contingent. We were six subs altogether. My little army obeyed immediately. Each cub grabbed a fruit and we bolted.
"I love marula fruit!" Nuka swooned, he took a bite out of the fruit, squirting juice at nearby cubs. They snarled at him.
"I always knew youd become a drunkard, Nuka." Kanai smirked. Kanai was my best friend and second in command. He was a dark tawny colour with fierce red eyes.
"You would know all about that, Kanai." Nuka replied.
The other cubs who had been lying on their bellies, slightly dizzy from the effects of the fruit suddenly paid attention to Nuka and Kanai who were circling each other at that point.
Kanais mother was especially fond of the Marula fruit. She was regularly passed out or so intoxicated that she would be sick. I was told she had once been extremely beautiful and a noble lioness during Scars reign but no longer. Her pale coat, so pale, that she had been named Bora, meaning snow, was dull and unclean a lot of the time. She barely hunted anymore.
"I would rip your eyes out, Nuka if your mother wasn't the matriarch of our pride." Kanai growled. "I'll settle for giving you a scar."
Kanai sprung at Nuka, who lifted his claws in retaliation. They scuffled, flinging dust into the air. The other cubs roared and pawed at the ground, egging them on.
I yawned. Scuffles were common place in my gang. Vitani glanced at me. Her look was a little pleading.
Kanai had Nuka by the throat.
"Meera!" Nuka choked. I felt a little bad for him and he was my brother. Vitani nodded at me.
"Kanai!" I roared. He dropped Nuka and loped away immediately, shooting venomous glances at my brother as he did.
"Next time keep your mouth shut. Or get sharper teeth." I hissed into Nukas ear as he got back onto his feet.
Vitani came up to us. She was the youngest and smallest of our little gang, just barely out of infanthood. "Thank the fact that Meera was here to help you, Nuka." She said, though I noticed how she shivered.
"Well, I'm tired of you guys pushing me around all the time. I don't regret anything." Nuka retorted.
"You would if I had let Kanai rip your throat out." I pointed out.
Nuka sighed heavily." I'm going to go back home."
"Don't you dare tell Mother." I warned.
"What are you going to do about it?" Nuka replied. "You're afraid of her."
"You tell her and she'll know you were also in the Pride Lands. You'll get in just as much trouble." I shot back.
Nuka rolled his eyes and started to walk away.
Kanai stood beside me. "Running away, Nuka?" He called after my brother.
I indicated with my head. "Come on let's go. This is getting boring."
Nuka stomped angrily through the tall grass that grew to twice or thrice his height. He was fuming inside. His sisters were so high and mighty, always trying to prove how worthless he was. Well, he wasn't worthless. Although his claws and teeth weren't as sharp as theirs his brain was certainly bigger. He could probably be the leader of the Outland cubs if he was just given the opportunity.
"Scar was the king and he was just as scrawny as me." Nuka said aloud, stopping to sit underneath the shade of a thorn tree. The heat was stifling and the air rose of the ground in rippling waves. From where he sat he could see Pride Rock clearly. He hadn't realised it but Meera had led the cubs dangerously close to Pride Rock. If any Pridelanders caught them they would be killed.
"Serves her right." He muttered. The wind suddenly rippled violently through the grass and it gave him the chills as if some unearthly body was running through it.
He had the good sense to retreat deeper into the shadows of the tree because from the grass a huge lion emerged.
He was a gold coloured male with a regal red mane and flashing red eyes. Nuka recoiled, realising that this lion may be the great King Simba himself. Hatred boiled in his gut as he thought of how Simba had killed his father and banished his mother.
He imagined that if he were older he would've ripped Simba to shreds.
The Lion King was looking back over his shoulder as if waiting for something. Nuka followed his line of sight. The grass was rippling again but more like a fish would ripple a pond. Nuka let out a small growl as a golden cub a little older than he was emerged from the tall grass.
"Dad, wait up!" The cub gasped. Nukas eyes widened. Dad? Simba had a son?
The cub did bare some resemblance to the lion in feature but his colouration was lighter. His fur was almost the colour of sunlight shining through leaves in the morning and his eyes were green. Nuka had heard rumours of Queen Nala. She had a white gold coat and eyes the colour of the sky. Zira always called her a pretty face with no real teeth. A lion's pride. This cub clearly had a lot of his mother in him.
"I thought you wanted to see how fast I could run, Kopa." The King asked his son playfully. "Can't keep up?"
"I could beat you in a wrestle!" Kopa replied spiritedly. He sprung onto his fathers back, growling. King Simba fell to the ground as if Kopa had been a huge lion with huge muscle.
"Oooh!" He groaned as if hed been dealt a fatal blow. Kopa was laughing and growling, as he attacked his father.
Nuka was taken aback. What was this? Why were they acting like they were high on marula fruit? He had never seen lions act like this. If he had known the word he might've said they were acting frivolous. He couldn't imagine Simba as the King of the Pride Lands.
"Your Majesty? Kopa?"
The lions paused in their fun to look up.
"Oh no, it's Zazu!" Kopa moaned. "I thought we lost him!"
Simba grabbed Kopa by the ruff of his coat. "Let's hide behind this tree." He started padding towards Nukas tree..
Nuka froze. "Oh no!" He growled under his breath. He couldn't move without revealing himself and if they came any closer they would see him. He could only run for it and hope they didnt catch him. From what hed seen earlier of how quickly Simba could run he didnt have much of a chance.
But it was better than being cornered against a tree and ripped apart without a hope of survival.
He steeled himself and darted from the shadows towards the grass. The wind was suddenly howling in his ears and he ran without stopping. He didn't care to look back or to see if he was being followed. He couldn't hear anything except the winds roar in his ears.
He ran and ran until his chest threatened to burst. Please don't catch me. Please don't catch me, he thought over and over again along with please don't eat me.
The Pride Lands melted away into the Outlands the change visible by the thinning of the grass, the stooped trees and the sudden gusts of strong wind that blew ash into Nuka's face. The line that separated the Outlands and the Pride Lands was a thick band of blackened earth where debris from the End Fire (the fire that destroyed a lot of the Pride Lands at the end of Scars reign) lay in heaps of white ash.
Nuka stopped when he got here realising that no one had followed him. He collapsed where he was, trying his best to regain his composure and his breath. He almost had a heart attack when he heard something coming nearer. Since lions can be completely silent when they need to be one only realises they are there when it's too late to run.
"Nuka? What are you doing out here?"
Nuka lifted his head to see Thusa, looking curiously down at him.
"Where are the other cubs?" Thusa asked. "And what happened to you?" The lion bent to pick Nuka up off the ground where he had been sprawled.
"I was having a race with someone and got lost. I don't know where everyone else is." Nuka lied. He didnt want Meera to kill him when she saw him for telling.
Thusa regarded Nuka with a critical eye. "You got lost while having a race? All the way to the Black Divide?"
Nuka nodded. "It was also a test of endurance".
Thusa raised a black eyebrow. "So why is that when I found you you were facing the Outlands as if you had been running towards them instead of from them?"
Nuka hesitated, running a list of excuses through his head."I was..".
"Are the other cubs still in the Pride Lands, Nuka?" Thusa asked seriously.
Nuka knew hed been caught. He nodded sullenly.
Thusas eyebrows creased. "Simba will destroy all of us if the cubs are caught. Why must you insist on going there, Nuka?"
"It's not me!" Nuka cried, wanting to defend himself. "It's Meera, she's crazy!"
"Did anyone see you in the Pride Lands?" Thusa asked.
Nuka swallowed hard. There was no way he was going to tell Thusa about Simba. So he told him about the three elephants that had been bingeing on the marula fruit.
Thusa nodded. "They probably won't remember any of this in the morning. Good, you cubs got lucky this time. Nuka go back to your mother. Don't tell her about this. Tell her the cubs are at the Dried Waterhole if she asks. I'm going to go and fetch your sisters."
"Yes, Thusa."
Thusa watched as the cub raced back to Outlands. Then he turned his thoughts to the problem at hand. As usual Meera was leading the other cubs into trouble. He knew from his own visit to the Pride Lands that the Pride Landers were out in the savannah today, the lionesses were hunting and the King was wandering the plains with his son. There were so many eyes to see them. Knowing Meera, he had a good idea of where she was headed in the Pride Lands. He turned on his paws and began running full speed toward Pride Rock.
I blinked as the huge rock loomed above us. It really was as beautiful and majestic as Id imagined. And one day it would be mine. Meera's Pride Rock.
"That's my future home, Kanai." I said, admiring it and imagining myself standing at the tip of it, roaring my power for all to hear. I roared experimentally now but my voice was still young and it came out a little squeaky. Kanai grinned. "You'll be Queen and I'll be King!"
"You wish! I'm going to be the sole ruler. Queen of the Savannah!" Kanai looked disappointed at my words. I tried to ignore him imply we would be married one day. I wasn't going to be married. I would only be Queen.
"I'll be a princess of some kind, right?" Vitani asked, taking her place on my left. Kanai was always on my right.
"Of course." I said.
"So what am I then?" Kanai demanded.
"You can be my second in command."
"So king?"
"No.: I rolled my eyes. Never. I was wanting to see how Pride Rock looked close up. "Why dont we go closer?"
They nodded. Anything for me. We started running towards Pride Rock. None of us noticed the eyes watching us or the silent paws that followed ours.
A/N - I don't have a lot to say here except please review! Sometimes reviews actually help get rid of writer's block so send them in. They're a kind of miracle to us writers as I'm sure any writer will tell you. I also just want to make a note of Thusa's name. It's pronounced "Too-sha". It's actually a word in Northern Sotho a southern african language, meaning 'help.'
Thx!