A/N: Hello once again, readers! Thank you for sticking with me to the second chapter. For the long first segment this time, do have a listen to "The Lioness Hunt", a Lion King musical exclusive. You won't regret it, I swear.
While the sun rose higher into the late morning sky, it meant playtime for the cubs. But to the lionesses lazing in the shade that morning, that was another story. It came the time where the lionesses felt the need to hunt and bring back food for the pride. Because there were now more lionesses due to combined prides, the hunting parties could rotate and take turns every few days. It saved a lot of energy, and kept the Pride from over-hunting the animals all around. Another advantage was that the patrolling team inside the Pridelands could take turns, and any cub left at Pride Rock was left to their care. Not long after her daughter had ran off to play with Kovu, Nala roared loudly, calling the other lionesses back to Pride Rock.
Nala, now the Queen and the leader of half of the hunting party, then led a group of about nine lionesses out into the open savannah. For miles around, it was a rolling field of long grass, and the midday sun was so intense that it sizzled the very air itself, and any water from the ground was quickly evaporated away, giving an illusion that the air was trembling under the heat. The group of lionesses stalked through the field, panting from the heat. What kept them going, however, was the scent of prey. Nobody complained despite the heat because they were almost sure that they could catch their meal. And nobody spoke, either. That was a waste of energy especially in the sweltering heat, and if anyone spoke too near their prey, they stood a higher chance of alerting prey to their presence. Only the leader of the hunting party will speak to the group before the hunt if they spotted prey on the horizon, and only to depart strategies. It was a general rule that everyone mutually agreed to.
One of the more experienced hunters in the group, a sandy pelted lioness named Furaha, caught sight of a herd of antelope grazing in the far distance. She perked up her tail and pointed her chin in their direction, signalling the presence of prey in their sight. Everyone caught her signal, and stopped, turning their attention from Furaha to Nala. Nala nodded, and spoke softly but quickly.
"The hunting strategy is the same. Three of you," she gestured, "will scatter the herd. Three of you," she gestured to another trio of lionesses, "will exhaust the antelope. Chase off the stronger ones and narrow the weak ones down. The three of us," she pointed out two other lionesses and herself, "will target onto one prey that I select. Remember the rule. No young antelope are to be touched. Target what I target. Bahati njema." The group nodded to her instruction and lowered their stances to crouch into the long grass, their coats blending into the environment. Only their tips of their tails were held above the highest blades of grass to give out their positions to the other lionesses. Although they could see where each other was, it was hard to see exactly what the other lionesses were doing. It was a matter of trust as they circled the antelope, staying as silent as the trembling air.
As the tension built up and even the air itself started feeling more hot and tight, Nala tuned out all the other sounds in the savannah and focused her attention on the grazing herd. Her gaze swept across the herd quickly, picking out the possible targets. A full grown antelope that favoured it's right front hoof, leaning heavily on it. An older one that moved slower than the others. She watched the young antelope hop about, frolicking with their parents. Those were the young and healthy ones, and not their targets. All the while, she surveyed the seemingly moving blades of grass near the antelope. The strange grass inched closer and closer to the herd, even getting among unsuspecting prey. Nala held her breath and tensed her muscles, ready for a pounce. Any moment now.
An adult antelope suddenly perked it's head up to attention, eyes bright and ears straight. It's nose twitched slightly, and before it could let out a call of warning, out sprung a lioness from the middle of the herd, fangs bared, claws latching on to the bucking antelope's rump, catching it by surprise. The commotion of both the prey and the predator instantly caused panic and confusion in the herd, and in the middle of the flurry, out leaped two other lionesses, charging at nearby antelope. Nala saw another lioness, running down the weaker ones in the herd. Who the lioness was did not matter-all of Nala's attention went to the fleeing antelope. She barked an order and charged at the antelope. Yes, this one was the one that favoured a hoof. She heard her other party members behind her, catching up to assist. But no matter. She was near enough to hear the breaths of her prey and feel the flying dust cloud that he had kicked up in an attempt to escape. It zigzagged desperately. But no matter. Nala's hunch about his injured hoof was right, and she was flying after him, catching up with him in a matter of seconds. As if in slow motion, she caught the slightest hint of her prey's bad leg tripping it, and she sprung.
Down went the antelope, and as Nala fought to keep it's kicking hooves and sharp horns off, she aimed her jaws to the antelope's throat. In a heartbeat, one of her comrades came to assist her, pinning the antelope down, and clamped her jaws around his neck in a death grip, throttling it and snapping the slender neck immediately, giving the antelope a quick, clean death. The antelope bucked for one last time, then lay still. Nala, breathing heavily, silently gave thanks to her prey. She looked up to find a young, brown pelted lioness by the name of Nzuri, breathing heavily, jaws still clamped around the neck of her kill.
"You did well," Nala praised her, "good job." The young lioness smiled exhaustedly at this and released her kill.
"Thank you, Nala," she panted. The rest of the lionesses gathered round, breathing heavily from their exertions as well. Nala stood up, first doing a head count, and after confirming that everyone was present, she counted the prey. Two antelope had fallen, and they would feast tonight.
Before Nala could praise her hunting party for a hunt well done, a little voice shouted out to her from a slightly elevated mound of grass. "Mom!"
"Kiara." Nala embraced her daughter, who ran up to her. "Kovu." She smiled warmly at her daughter's best friend, who smiled widely back at her. Turning her attention to the rest of the pride, she quickly thanked them for a successful hunt, and instructed them to take the kills back to Pride Rock, dismissing the hunting party.
"That was a very good hunt!" Kiara gushed, very impressed by her own mother.
"Thank you, dear." she licked Kiara on the forehead. Leading the two cubs into the shade of a tree, Nala stretched herself out and lay down, relaxing after the hunt. Kiara and Kovu came up next to her.
"Children, tonight we are eating antelope," she said. Kiara voiced her happiness, but Kovu seemed to be thinking deeply. Nala looked at him. "Kovu? Is something wrong?"
"Umm, nothing, Nala," the little cub stammered. Nala raised her brows. She understood where Kovu's hesitance was coming from. Whenever Kovu approached Zira to ask questions, he was turned down or swatted away by his impatient mother. Due to that, he learnt to keep questions to himself, instead choosing to find out the answers on his own.
"You have to tell me. It's an order," she said teasingly. Kovu's emerald eyes stayed locked on the ground, and he fiddled with his paws. Kiara tilted her head curiously, and Nala put her paw under his chin, lifting it up to face her. "What's wrong, Kovu?"
"Well, I was wondering-" he paused, "why do we have to kill the antelope? It's a little...evil." He could already hear his own mother glaring at him and telling him cruelly that he was a weak little lion for even thinking these thoughts. To his surprise, Nala laughed at him, and it wasn't a mocking laugh. It was one that sounded motherly, even.
"My dear little Kovu," she pulled him close to her, "Kiara, come closer too. I'd like to tell you both what my own mother once told me." When the cubs were snuggled comfortably up to her, she started.
"Children, look around you. From the crawling ant to the leaping antelope," she paused, looking at Kiara chuckle, but failed to get the irony that that was exactly what was hunted, and continued, "we are all connected in the great Circle of Life. Kovu, you asked why we hunted the antelope, am I right? Yes, we eat the antelope to survive, and give thanks for a kill. Remember that the antelopes eat the grass? When we die, our bodies become the grass."
Kiara listened quietly, but Kovu was still doubtful. "But Nala. The small antelope. They looked so scared..." he said. Nala's expression turned serious, and she looked at at both of the cubs, meeting their eyes one by one.
"Listen to me, Kovu, Kiara. Especially you, Kiara. You are going to grow up to take my place as Queen and become the leader of the hunting party in my place one day. There are two important rules when we hunt. Number one, is to always follow the instruction of the leader. The second is even more important-do not touch the young antelope. This is to make sure that the young ones take their parent's place in the Circle of Life. And remember to thank the prey's spirit after a kill for providing us with food."
Kovu seemed genuinely satisfied with Nala's answer, and he smiled, pleased to know that the antelope wasn't killed in vain. Nala licked him on the cheek. "Kovu, you are a good lion at heart. Never forget that." Turning to Kiara, she said, "And Kiara, about the great Circle of Life. Never forget it's rules and you'll be a good Queen one day." She gave her a lick on the cheek as well. Kiara felt like asking her mother more about a situation which she could avoid taking up the responsibilities of being Queen yet still marrying Kovu would work, but she kept the question to herself, smiling innocently back at her mother. The question would have to wait, she thought.
As the sun reached it's peak in the midday sky, not a cloud was in sight, and the heat got even worse. Many animals took to the waterhole, or retreated into their dens to combat the heat that rose in waves from the ground. The pair of best friends went on their way to the shadowy place, while Nala returned to Pride Rock.
As the cubs approached the border, they caught a glimpse of Simba in the far distance, doing a noon patrol of the Prideland borders. It was the duty of the King to check the borders, and that of the lionesses to patrol the insides of the Pridelands. Kiara and Kovu lowered themselves into the grass, imitating the lioness hunt. They had only one chance to sneak past the King. After what seemed like an hour to the cubs, they had slipped right under Simba's nose and out of the familiar territory of the Pridelands. When they finally came to a river, they took a huge breath, and started laughing in relief.
"Can you believe it?" Kiara said happily.
"Yeah, we sneaked out right behind him," Kovu snickered. He looked around, sniffing at the air. The place brought a scent of deja vu to his nostrils, which he couldn't quite seem to place. The scent and sights to Kiara however, were very new. The air held the smell of dust, and told stories of recent events that had come to pass in this place. A ghost of a place abandoned for a couple of seasons hung in the air. To both the cubs, the place held a sense of mystery and adventure. Here, the soil was softer and darker by the riverbank, and tall, slim shadows loomed in the distance, looking impending even though the place was lit by daylight. It was strange, however-there seemed to be a black cloud sitting on top of the tower like structures.
Kiara tapped Kovu on the shoulder. "Hey, let's get a closer look," she said, her voice tinged with anticipation. Kovu nodded, and started to follow Kiara across the river, jumping on to a low branch and scampering across.
The Outlands, as it happened, was abandoned after the prides came together, and now it was overrun with termites. The tall, dark shadows that stabbed into the sky were in fact gigantic termite mounds, and the black clouds that hung at their crowns were giant swarms of termites. Millions, no, even zillions, both cubs counted, trying to guess a number for the buzzing insects above them. On the ground was a different story-the trees, once leafless and barren, were starting to bear the tiniest hint of leaves. However, the ground was littered with the remains of skeletons of various animals that the previous inhabitants had left behind. Had the cubs known that, among the skeletons, there were a few that once belonged to lions, they would have turned tails and fled the place.
But they did not know.
Dustier, unkempt, creepier, and even hotter than the Pridelands in the day, it would have been surprising how the Outlanders had managed to hold out here for so long.
"Woah..." Kovu muttered blankly, trying to absorb every new detail. The difference in the ground, the stillness in the air, the constant buzzing of the termite swarm. Why did this all seem so familiar-
"RAARRGH!" A demonic looking creature with a huge, hollow skeleton head bumped into Kovu's flank, nearly making him jump out of his skin. He cowered backwards, and for a split second, he thought that one of the skeletons had really come to life. Until the skull started giggling. Kovu rolled his eyes and swatted the skull off Kiara. She rolled on the ground, holding her stomach and laughing uncontrollably.
"Did you see the look on your face?" She said in between bouts of laughter, "I scared you! Kovu was scared! Raargh!"
Kovu did not look amused, but he started to chuckle along with her. He would get back at her later, and she wouldn't see it coming. Grinning mischievously, he bent over the laughing form of Kiara.
"Wanna go...into that cave?" he asked.
"Which one?"
"That one," he pointed his chin towards the highest termite mound that could be found in the area.
Kiara's eyes brightened with the prospect of adventure. Pushing Kovu's snout out of the way, she got up and took a look at the cavern. A wind blew out from it's mouth with a rattling sound, making their fur stand on end. Both cubs looked at each other.
"Woah," they breathed in unison.
Sorry I had to cut it here! Next chapter, the cavern.
'Bahati njema' means 'good luck' in Swahili.
Kovu's hesitance to take away a life comes from the deleted scenes of Lion King II, in which he catches a termite and chooses to spare it. Zira, being the lovely mother that she is, chooses to tell him off about it. I also felt that there were too little scenes of Kiara and her mother. I think, with both their personalities, they'll make a great mother-daughter pair (with them siding against Simba's protectiveness and all, hehe!). And I feel that as mother of the Princess, Nala can impart her own knowledge to her daughter as well. It's not all the father's job, you know! I mean, I don't remember Nala talking much to her own daughter in the sequel but it's obvious she loves her. I just love cubhood, and wanted to show more of how life in the pride is.
Till the next chapter, cheers!
