Chapter 11 – The Awful Vision

The old hyena got up from the ground with a loud groan, feeling a strong pain in his lower back. He shook his head, remembering that it must have came from the fall he experienced just after he saw the lion… Oh, right! The lion!

Although he was still aching all over, he started to run with desperate haste, almost as if one of the old skeletons got back to life and started to chase him. Sliding down the gravel at the edge of the valley, he reached the bottom and took the shortest path known to him in order to come back to the spot where his pack presently resided, hidden from curious eyes. As he went pass the guards, not paying attention to anything but to delivering his message as fast as he could, a few of his brethren snapped out of their slumber and raised their heads concerned with the whole commotion. But there was no time for explanations- things like these had to be immediately reported to their leader, or- as the animals themselves called her- their matriarch.

Slowing down a little, the old scout went under the shadow of great elephant ribs that covered his superior's lair like the leaves of a palm tree. At once he felt the eyes of her praetorians piercing him. The hyena was surrounded by her kin, males and females of all ages, at least half a dozen or so. As soon as they saw the grunt approaching their mother hastily, they let go of their bone-chewing, play-fighting and rolling on the ground to create a unison choir of warning growls. Even more intimidated, the scout stood to attention, the shivers that went down his spine having an effect also on the stability of his voice.

-"Uh, Sh-sh-shenzi? Listen up, I-I-I got s-sumthin' to tell ya…"

The matriarch raised her old, tired head and turned towards him a face that showed signs of many years and many fights. Gazing at him with her yellow eyes at first she was just examining him, trying to determine the cause of his alarmed behavior, later motioning to dismiss her guards.

Shenzi has been the pack's leader for years, even since from as far as before Scar's reign. After being exiled by Simba she was the general during the war with the Outsiders, and even though after the pack's shameful defeat she was lucky to even be alive, her later successful alliances with the neighboring clans and the resulting victories in the area north of the Pridelands made her not only a matriarch, but sort of a hyena empress who now commanded dozens of subordinates. The role she presently played made her important to her underlings, which gave her extra personal benefits and protection. But even though she was an experienced fighter, old, wise and also fat due to the honors she received as a ruler, she never forgot the old bound that connected her with the ones she once referred to as "friends".

-"Leave us alone!" – she said demandingly. At once, all of her spawn scattered around, howling and laughing in a typically hyaenine, loud and disgusting manner. When everything became silent, she encouraged her comrade to speak. -"You're lookin' quite shocked, Banzai. What's up? Dang, I haven't seen you like this since that night when those hags from the Outlands attacked us!"

Sensing that his fear was no game, she even put her paw on the old male's shoulder. After all, they were related to each other, even if within a hyena pack it was a bit hard to determine if someone was your half-brother or just your second cousin. Anyway, attempting to control the quake of his jaws, Banzai looked her in the eyes and started his report.

-"I-I-I was up at the look-out spot… y-y'know, at th-the ledge. I thought I h-heard sumthin' an when I turned around…" – Shenzi could see a frown of being scared to death appearing upon her comrade's face. – "I saw Scar! I though I was crazy, but he was there! H-he had the same black mane, and the green glow in his eyes… and the scar! I tell ya, it was him!"

Banzai looked as if he was about to cry, while Shenzi seemed more stupefied by his words and reaction.

-"Man, have you been eatin' rotten mean again?" – she asked distrustfully.

-"Y-yeah, but that's not it! You weren't there! I know what I saw, I swear over Ed's grave!"

After he said the words, the female gave him a nice juicy slap straight to the face.

-"HEY! What the hell was that for?" – Banzai asked, a little sobered.

-"That was for mentioning Ed like that!" – growled the matriarch, combing back the wisps of hair that fell on her face. – "Now listen up!"

The hyena's eyes were already opened wide, but when Shenzi grabbed his head with her paws and pulled it close to her grinning, broken fangs in order for him to understand her clearly, they nearly jumped out of their orbits.

-"Scar's dead, ya hear me? He's dead 'cause we killed 'em, and you know that 'cause ya saw it. Furthermore, you were personally among those who ate his body, so don't be givin' me no damn stupid ghost stories, get it? I ain't a pup which you can scare, and I certainly ain't gonna act like one, just like you're doin' right now. Ya heard?"

Banzai shook his graying head awkwardly.

-"Good. Now what I'm gonna do is explain to you what ya did see there on the ledge. So pay attention! What you saw was a lion. You know what a lion is, dontcha? Scar was a lion, but the one you saw was not Scar. You saw another lion. And that means that THERE WAS A LION SPYING ON US HERE!"

Shenzi suddenly let go of Banzai's head what made him fall on his back. As he was lying there, he gazed at her with as thoughtful an expression as he was capable of.

-"Hey, come ta think of it… a lion spy sounds way better than Scar's ghost."

-"No, it don't!" – she screamed at him standing like a predator over his prey, causing him to flinch. – "Both sound equally crappy ta me, and since a lion spy is way more probable, I'd say it sounds drastically crappy! Use that air ya got in your head, cactus-butt! You wanna have a whole pride o' big, ferocious felines knockin' out our front door one night, just like the Outsiders did? Remember how many of us died the last time, including Ed? You wanna see that happen again, with your own self dead this time, maybe?"

Banzai became much more serious. Crawling out from under the matriarch's paws, he stood before her in a more militant pose.

-"'Course not! We're here to kick the lions' behinds and scare them off Pride Rock, not ta get smacked up ourselves!"

-"Exactly! So listen up- I'll tell ya what ta do. Take four, or maybe even five of the brightest males witcha and go find that walkin' rug!"

For a moment, the male gazed at her, startled.

-"A rug? Whatcha need a rug for? Ain't you comfy enough with hay?"

-"Uhh! The lion, you idiot! Go find the frickin' spy before he goes back and reports everything ta Simba! Move your butt, why're ya still standing here for?"

Before she ceased yelling at him, Banzai was already on his way to assemble a search team. And after what Shenzi said to him about some old memories, he was really starting to feel hungry for lion meat…

Kovu ran until his lungs burned and his heart pumped liquid fire. And then he ran some more.

Of course he'd seen hyenas before in his life, but since the memory of stories the lionesses had told him was still written deeply in his mind, he wanted to get as far from them as possible, especially considering their now simply frightening numbers. When he thought about hyenas, the images of scratches, wounds and bite marks, the effect of the Outlanders' battle with them, was what he was seeing, and he certainly did not want the same things to happen to him. He had enough of his own scars already.

His stamina ran out when he was already close to the border of the Pridelands. Although he would rather leave the Elephant Graveyard immediately, for now he just didn't have enough strength to run anymore. So after making sure that no one was following him and that the area was safe, he chose a secluded spot by one of the smoking geysers and collapsed to the ground.

There's a whole army of them… much more than there are lions in Simba's pride. Much more than we would be able to defeat if they attacked us! – the thoughts were flashing inside him desperately as he was trying to recapture his breath. – Mother was right… we're all in grave danger. What's going to happen to us now? No wonder Nuka was trying to warn Vitani, too… Oh, how could Simba ignore a whole horde of enemies right under his nose? I gotta go back… He has to know about this… But what'll we do? Oh, mother… I know we hated you and cursed at your brutality sometimes, but in times like these you were the one who knew best how to protect those that were close to you…

Internally troubled and anxious, Kovu gazed at the dancing fumes of the geyser, attempting to somehow think of a way to solve the critical situation he now found himself in. It wasn't only about him after all- the whole pride, the whole kingdom was in danger. Such a large pack of carnivorous beasts could go over the land like an infestation of locusts, destroying everyone and everything in their way… The young lion shivered at the mere thought that Pride Rock, his new home where not only his family and friends, the old Outsiders, but also his beloved mate presently lived, could soon be reduced to nothing more than a big, dead lion graveyard.

As he observed the thick, volcanic smoke just to get his mind off of what he had no idea how to deal with, it's slothful emission from the very bowels of the earth slowly started to calm him. He didn't know if it was due to the vapors or the mysterious, greenish flashes of light, but the lion was starting to give in to a kind of odd hypnosis. There, among the fumes, he saw something that was starting to look like some dreamy vision, becoming more and more clear as he strained his eyes. Kovu saw a horde of animals- an army of hyenas, numerous beyond count. But they were surprisingly not hostile- no, instead they formed an orderly parade of straight, equal rows. He thought he almost heard their might battle song… Above the marching pack, atop a rocky ledge in the Elephant Graveyard, like a ruler looking over his kingdom, there stood a lone, dark figure, much larger than a hyena. Kovu recognized it to be a lion, and as he stared at this triumphant individual as he ordered the army to charge, pointing at Pride Rock, he was shocked to find out that the lion was indeed…

Himself.

Among the suffocating fumes that emerged from the volcanic pit, Kovu recognized his own image giving the order for the hyenas to attack and overflow his home from all sides. And as they did that, the figure just sat and laughed madly…

No. There was something wrong about this vision. It just didn't make any sense. Kovu turned his eyes away from the smoke for a moment and shook his head with a strange feeling of displeasure that constricted his insides. Something told him not to look again, but the will to know was far stronger in him. As he gazed at the vision once more, he saw the hyena-commanding lion turn around to face him with a loud chuckle. And then a shiver went down his back. He was right- that lion was not himself, only someone strongly familiar to him. But even though he could hardly remember him, Kovu recognized Scar immediately.

Then, almost feeling the very life escaping from his body, he made a few steps back and cringed under the wall when his stepfather came from beyond the clouds of smoke and stood in front of him in the flesh.

AN: Oh no, the bad guys are back! I mean ok, Scar's a ghost, but still he can use his rotten tongue to mess up Kovu's mind. And what with the hyenas? Are they really going to devour the lions from existence? I hope your wondering, because I haven't fully constructed the plot until the very end of this story, so I am open for your speculations and reviews, as always.

Oh- and happy New Year, too. XD