I don't own the Lion King
Sarafina raised an eyebrow at Sarabi's proposition. "I'm sorry Sarabi," she slowly shook her head, "are you really sure about this? If Scar finds out-"
Sarabi took a deep breath and as her chest got bigger, Sarafina halted her words. She could easily see in the queen's eyes that each day she was growing irritated with Scar's attitude towards the lionesses and his use of treatment. "This was my idea Sarafina," Sarabi said as she looked at her friend straight in the eye, "and if Scar dares to lay a paw on any of you, he will have to go through me. If he wants to punish a lioness, then it has to be me. I am only asking for your assistance to help me move that rock where that poor lioness is trapped in."
Nala, Kya, and Sarafina looked at one another. Nalia was their friend too and they couldn't just let her starve in that dense dark cave. "When are you planning on getting her out?" Nala spoke after the brief silence.
Sarabi nodded her head at the young teen lioness. "Tonight, after Scar and the hyenas are in deep sleep."
As the hours passed, the lionesses were sent to hunt for food again. Sarabi sighed as she bowed her head to the ground in disbelief. How could Scar not understand that the more they hunted the less food they were going to have. Her ears perked up when she heard a lioness let out a pitiful groan. Turning her head to the left, she noticed a lioness, a little older than Nalia, who was barely standing on her paws.
Sarabi immediately ran over to the lioness and put her head under her chin to support her body weight. However the lioness's body failed to stand straight and collapsed to the ground. Sarabi stared in horror as her eyes scanned over the lioness's lifeless features. Her eyes were closed shut, her mouth was a little open, and her body was so skinny that the queen noticed the ribs sticking out.
Sarabi let out a sad sigh and bowed her head to the ground. This was one of lionesses that was part of their hunt and she considered the most powerful lionesses when they hunted. However, when they were hunting a couple of days ago, Sarabi did notice that she looked a bit fatigued but she hadn't expected for her to die like this.
Outraged, Sarabi broke away from the lionesses corpse and ran over to the others who were awaiting for her order to go and hunt. "My dear pride," Sarabi announced as she walked down the line of lionesses, "a fellow huntress has just passed away."
Each lioness looked at one another with sadness. Sarafina let out a disappointed sigh. She was disappointed at the lack of rule that Scar held for his brother's lands, that he fought so hard for to keep peace between each and every single creature. What Scar was doing was that he was damaging the lands where the creatures lived and causing fear between them. What were the lionesses supposed to do? They had to hunt for food for themselves but when they did, the hyenas stole it away from them because they were hungry.
"This causality has to show, not only to the hyenas but also to the..." she swallowed as she continued to speak, "the king that we will not hunt anymore until he allows us to have a say in his ruling!" she stomped her paw on the ground and looked as each lioness nodded their heads in agreement and sent their queen a satisfied smile.
Nala smiled at Sarabi's decision. She hated the fact that she had to hunt for hyenas and Scar but an idea hit her while Sarabi spoke. "Excuse me," she spoke as Sarabi stopped talking and every lioness, including Sarabi turned their eyes to her. "I'm sorry to interrupt Queen Sarabi," she shyly spoke.
"No need to apologize child," Sarabi shook her head and gave her a gentle smile.
"How about we hunt in secret?" Nala suggested. "I mean, Scar and every hyena would probably be sleeping during the night. Not many animals might be out during the night but it wouldn't hurt to try hunting. Also, whatever animal we catch, we can share small portions with one another but we have to do it away from Pride Rock so Scar and the hyenas won't find out."
The lionesses chattered in agreement when Nala finished. "An intriguing idea," Sarabi nodded her head to the blue-eyed lioness, "however, as good as the plan sounds, we have to be careful of the hyenas that are on night patrol."
"What do you recommend we do?" one of the lionesses spoke up.
It was a rather risky action to do but Sarabi did not have any other choice. "If they notice us, then we have to attack them as silently as possible. We do not injure them, we kill them."
On that note, the lionesses broke away from the line and walked around the Pride Lands. Sarabi walked over to the lionesses corpse as Sarafina, Nala, and Kya followed her. "The poor thing," Sarafina whispered as she gently swept her paw over the lionesses head.
"Yes," Sarabi nodded, "we have to give her the proper burial. I want you to put her on my back and we'll carry her far away from Pride Rock and bury her to a proper place and away from this madness."
Sarabi lowered her body to the ground as Sarafina grabbed the lioness by the scruff of her neck and gently lowered her onto Sarabi's back.
"I think I know a place where we can bury her," Kya spoke up as Sarabi, Sarafina, and Nala followed her away from Pride Rock and into the barren Pride Lands. The four lionesses walked a long mile until Kya halted in her paw steps and looked around her. Beyond them was a tress standing with it's green leaves blowing into the distance.
Though it was a strange sight to see, Sarabi smiled when she saw the one inanimate object that still had life into it. "We'll bury her in front of this tree," Kya suggested as she began to dig a hole for the lioness. Sarafina picked up the lioness by the scruff of the neck and gently lied her to the ground. Nala looked around the dry land to see if she could find anything to put onto the lionesses grave. However, there was no colorful flowers in sight. The four lionesses got to work as they dug the hole deep enough to bury the body of the lioness.
"I think this is good enough," Sarabi said as she looked at the chasm that they made. Then turning their attentions to the corpse, each lioness grabbed a section of the body and gently lowered her into the grave. Then each lioness took turns filling the chasm with the dirt until the body was not seen and the chasm was filled.
Nala raised her paw and placed it upon the dirt of the grave. She lifted up her paw and on the grave was a neat paw print. Seeing what she did, Sarafina placed her own paw print next to her daughter's and so did Sarabi and Kya.
"This shows that even though we lost an innocent life, nothing is going to break our spirits," Sarabi spoke. She rose up her head and looked at the gray sky, "and I do mean nothing."
As the four lionesses returned back to Pride Rock, the hyenas were in a frenzy with the rest of the lionesses. Sarabi saw Banzai snapping his jaws at a lioness to get up and hunt for them. She, however, refused and told him the real reason why they were hunting. Banzai let out an annoyed groan and stormed away from her.
Sarabi knew that this was the time that every lioness needed to be cautious around the hyenas. These creatures tended to be a little temperamental and if they didn't get their way, they would immediately attack without mercy.
"Move it!" another hyena yelled straight at a lioness's face, "move it now or I will report you to the king!"
The lioness got up on her four paws and glared at the hyena, "bite me," she said and walked away from him to lay at another section of Pride Rock. The hyena had a shocked look on his face and he let out a scoff and walked in the opposite direction to harass another lioness.
"Hey you!" Sarabi turned her head when the voice was directed towards her. She saw Shenzi, the matriarchal hyena marching over to her. "Why aren't you gathering your little hunting party to get us some food!" the temperamental hyena stomped her paw on the ground as little dust particles rose from the ground.
Sarabi remained calm. "I am not happy with these conditions either," she said, "there is limited amount of food and water out there and we refuse to do anymore hunting until your king changes the laws or we leave Pride Rock and migrate to another location." On that note, the old queen walked past the hyena.
Shenzi looked after Sarabi as she walked away. The hyena did not want to believe her but what if she was right? She had seen the lioness that had just died not to mention that there were a couple of casualties in her clan as well. She turned around and jumped in front of Sarabi.
Sarabi stopped in her tracks but still regained the same calm composure she had before.
"Is it true?" Shenzi asked her.
Sarabi bowed her head, "yes," she answered, "and it is only going to get worse if we keep hunting this way. Look, either you can help us survive this or you can just worship Scar."
Shenzi scoffed. "Praise Scar?" she asked as she raised her eyebrow, "we are just following what he tells us to do."
"And this is how he repays your loyalty?" Sarabi whispered to her, "he devours more than half of the food for himself and leaves nothing but scraps for you and your clan."
She's right Shenzi thought, even though she hated agreeing with a lioness. She could even see that it was not only the hyenas that were suffering from starvation but also the lionesses. She noticed that Sarabi was not as healthy as she used to be but she still retained that strong huntress posture. "What do you suggest we do?" she asked, even though she knew the answer to that.
"We migrate to another location in the Pride Lands," Sarabi repeated herself, "the sooner, the better."