Chapter 11: The Forest

Simba

"You do realize how insane this is, right?"

I swiveled my head around to lock eyes with Usiku, giving myself a weird sense of vertigo in the process. Being held fifteen up in the air by a rickety tree branch does that to you. Other than that, though, my idea to hide in the treetops of the acacia copse where Kima had gotten his first kill seemed to be working beautifully. Not that Usiku would ever accept one of my decisions so easily.

"Of course it's insane," I whispered back. "That's why they won't expect it."

Usiku didn't answer for a moment, giving me an opportunity to check on how the other Pridelanders were faring. Nala was still perched on a bough next to mine, and Jua had her forepaws clamped tightly around Usiku's branch in the tree next to the one Nala and I shared. About thirty feet away, Tama shared a particularly large acacia with Amani, and Afya and Uruzi were set up in the tree next to them. Tojo and Tani looked like they were doing fine as well in a tree to my right, provided neither of them fell from the lofty branches they had chosen as their hiding place. The only cub I couldn't see was Kima, but I wasn't worried about him. After all, a lion named "monkey" had to be fairly good at climbing trees, which was why I had charged him with being our hyena lookout. If Kima caught even one whiff of those mangy mutts, he'd warn us all with a fake birdcall.

"So what do we do if they find us?" Usiku blurted out suddenly.

"They won't find us," I replied confidently. "And even if they do, we have the higher position, so we have the advantage."

Usiku still didn't look convinced, and I could tell he was still trying to find a hole in my plan. "You know, optimism never killed anyone," I teased with a smirk.

A thin smile briefly played across the dark lion's face. "Hey, someone's gotta play devil's advocate," he said with a laugh. "Although I will admit it's a pretty tricky job right now."

"So we're cool, right?" I asked tentatively, hoping I had finally gained Usiku's trust. For a few seconds, he was silent once more.

"We'll see," he finally replied. I would've have pressed further if not for the scratchy caw that rang out through the forest at that exact moment. Despite the implications, my grin grew wider for a split second at the sound of the gravelly yell. For someone so accustomed to being high in the air, Kima really sucked at bird calls. Nevertheless, it did the trick, and the woods instantly took on a deathly silence.

For what seemed like hours, the whole forest was motionless. The prickly shadows of the trees lengthened more with every minute, and the only sound was the occasional booming roll of thunder. As dark storm clouds blanketed what little bit of the sky I could see through the thick leaves of the forest canopy, I began to have second thoughts about my idea to hide so high up in the air. When Kima had first inspired my latest crazy plan, it had never occurred to me that we might have to watch out for a bolt from the heavens in addition to a bite from the ground. Another thunderclap split the sky, this time accompanied by a jagged slash of lightning criss-crossing across the clouds, and I gripped the branch supporting me as tightly as I could.

"Damn, that was a big 'un!"

I glanced down as slowly as I could, trying to keep the branch completely still. Through the gaps in the branches, I saw two hyenas picking their way through the shrubbery, one of them thin and wiry and the other more solidly built. As the two canines padded closer to my hiding spot, I saw Usiku's eyes narrow out of the corner of my eye. I kept my gaze focused on the hyenas and prayed that he would stay calm. He had seemed fairly levelheaded earlier, but I hadn't known him long enough to predict how he'd react. All I could do was hope he'd stick to the plan and not give away our position.

"I don't know what we're doin' wanderin' around in here," the thicker hyena complained as he stopped right under my branch. "Hell, if they're dumb enough to hang out in a bunch of trees during a thunderstorm, they can stay here for all I care."

"It's a good thing you do care, then," the smaller one replied in a sarcastic tone that was surprisingly high-pitched. I was a bit surprised when I realized that the smaller hyena was female. "Or at least, you care about Scar not ripping your tail off and using it as a chew toy."

"Hey, lighten up already," her stockier partner growled. "You don't give a rat's ass about catching those cubs any more than I do!"

"We have orders!"

"Screw orders! We're not Scar's slaves! Ten minutes ain't gonna make a difference." Before his comrade could argue, the larger hyena plopped down and stretched out under a giant tree. More specifically, the same giant tree I was currently sitting in. I groaned inwardly and fervently hoped that his partner would be able to get him moving again.

"What the hell d'you think you're doing?" the girl said with a glare. "Get your lazy ass up!"

"Make me," the larger male mumbled back, refusing to move even when his partner gave him a hearty shove in the back. The girl let out an exasperated growl and stalked away, mumbling something about her friend being able to "find his own way out if he's so smart." I kept my relieved sigh as quiet as I could manage. Now there was only one hyena to deal with. At least, that was the case for a little while. Emphasis on little.

You know that old legend about tapping your claws on wood? Turns out those old wives knew a thing or two, because I swear not even a minute had passed before the girl was back again, slowly creeping back to where her now alert partner was sprawled out underneath my tree.

"Knew you couldn't stay away," he said with a cocky grin as she gingerly lied down beside him.

"Shut up," the girl replied, a tiny smile ruining her attempt at an angry glare.

Great…now I've got two hyenas parked right underneath me, I moaned inside my head. And my legs are starting to cramp up. Could this possibly get any worse?

You'd think I would've learned not to tempt fate by now.

"We're gonna get in so much trouble," the girl said suddenly.

"Who says anyone's gonna find out?" the guy answered in a quiet and somewhat seductive voice. "There's no one out here to see us…" He rubbed his muzzle across the girl's for a brief moment. "And no one to make us do anything we don't want to…"

The girl turned to face her partner, a strange gleam in her eye. All I could do was stare and wonder whether this was really happening right underneath my hiding place. Apparently, things could get a whole lot worse.

Oh, come on, I half-begged under my breath. Please don't make me watch this. They're not really gonna start kissing right under my…

Yes. Yes, they are. Boy, I suck at picking hiding spots.

I became incredibly interested in a single leaf dangling above my head and tried to ignore the various noises escaping from the two lovesick hyenas I was forced to share a planet with, praying as hard as I could for a lightning strike somewhere close by. Preferably, right on top of me. Usiku kept his eyes open, but I noticed his tail take a strategic position right over Jua's muzzle. I couldn't see Nala, but I had a pretty good idea of what her face looked like.

Hey, Dad?, I asked silently as an impassioned moan rose through the swaying branches of the tree. Little help?

Well, I will say this: the next thing that happened did succeed in distracting the two lovebirds lying fifteen feet beneath my aching paws, which would've been great had the "distraction" not been a loud and distinctively leonine squeal coming from across the way. My eyes snapped open as soon as the shriek reached my ears, and there in front of me were two sights that would give me nightmares for weeks. The first thing I saw was another full-on view of our two hyena friends…or rather, another full-on view of one of our hyena friends. I could only assume that the girl was hidden somewhere underneath the hulking mass currently slobbering all over her face. Try and get that image out of your head. Possibly more horrible, though, was the source of the scream I had heard a moment before, which turned out to be a panicked Uruzi hanging onto a branch with nothing but her forelegs. As I watched in slowly dawning horror, the terror-stricken cub's claws slipped farther and farther down the rough bark of the branch, until with a final shriek she separated from the tree entirely, dropping like a rock to the hard earth below. To make matters worse, Uruzi apparently hadn't heard the news about cats always landing on their feet, and the rustling crash of her back slamming into the brush below was probably loud enough to make the lionesses back at Pride Rock prick up their ears, let alone the two vicious hyenas lounging a few feet away.

Usiku was moving almost before I had even registered what had happened. The male hyena hardly had time to look up at the sudden noise before Usiku's forepaws slammed into the back of his head, knocking him out cold. Luckily for us, the mutt's girlfriend was too shocked by the sight of the dark lion cub straddling her unconscious boyfriend's back to even think about attacking, allowing me to slide out of the tree without her noticing. Of course, she probably noticed when I used her skull to break my fall, but thankfully she wasn't awake long enough to do anything about it. She was knocked out just as quickly as her partner.

I rolled off the now motionless hyena and glanced over to where Uruzi was slowly getting back on her feet. She looked a little wobbly and was nursing what must have been a wicked headache, but otherwise she looked fine. I had half a mind to change that on the spot, but I managed to restrain myself. After all, she didn't mean to fall out of a completely motionless tree and almost ruin our entire plan and almost get everyone killed. It was an accident. I wasn't going to get angry.

Right, and neither will the monkeys flying outta my…

"Simba?" Nala asked suddenly. I blinked. When had she come down from the tree? And why were my claws latched into the ground like I was about to fly off the face of the earth?

"You okay?" she continued, glancing down at my clenched paws. I retracted my claws as casually as I could and nodded.

"Yep, just peachy," I said with hardly any strain in my voice. "Uruzi's okay, no one's dead…we're all just-"

"There they are! Get 'em!"

Maybe I should just carry around a big block of wood and smack myself in the head with it whenever I was tempted to speak. You know, just to solve two problems at once.

I didn't even need to look to know who had spoken, but I did anyway. Even from a hundred yards away, it was obvious that these two hyenas were both at least twice as large as the one Usiku had knocked out and probably twice as nasty. Judging by the deep growls emanating from both of their throats, they were also both male, effectively eliminating any chance at another romantic distraction. And as if I needed another reason to briefly lose control of my bladder (not that I did, mind you…no way), they looked fast. And hungry. And extremely pissed off.

"Come on!" I yelled, intending to just garner the attention of Usiku and Nala. Unfortunately, Tojo seemed to think that my call applied to him too, which prompted him to do exactly what I had hoped he wouldn't do and jump down from his own tree to join us. The hyenas' eyes narrowed at the same time mine closed in exasperation.

"They're in the trees!" one of them shouted with a snarl, confirming my worst fear. Tojo took on a nauseated look as he realized the gravity of his mistake, and he immediately backed up into the shrubbery as if that would somehow erase the last ten seconds. With an anguished groan, I yanked him back out and took off into the suddenly foreboding woods with Nala, Usiku, and a now terrified Tojo right behind me.

A thousand thoughts rushed through my head as I ran, most of them having to do with the rest of my pride I had just abandoned. My last hope was that the hyenas would focus on me and not the other more difficult targets squirreled away in the rafters of the forest canopy. Everyone knew that our last resort was to meet at the river fork nearby and try to cross from there, and the hyenas being distracted by my escape attempt would make it that much easier for the rest of the Pridelanders to sneak away to our predetermined rendezvous point. Unfortunately, that plan didn't really account for the survival of the four of us currently sprinting for our lives away from two of the biggest and scariest hyenas I had ever seen. It also didn't account for the piercing scream that rang out without warning and seemed to punch the breath out of the very forest.

"HELP!"

I skidded to a halt as the wail echoed ominously in the distance, feeling queasy with dread. Whatever fear I was feeling paled in comparison to the look on Usiku's face, though. For the first time in my life, I saw an expression of utter terror completely encompass the black lion's features, and I began to have a sinking feeling that he knew exactly who had made that terrible noise.

"Jua…" he said in a horrified whisper. He was gone before my stomach had even gotten a chance to finish dropping into my feet.

"Get to the river!" I yelled at Nala and Tojo, who had stopped a few yards behind me. I didn't bother to wait for a reply before tearing after Usiku like my life depended on it. Or rather, Usiku's life. No matter how good of a fighter he thought he was, he would never survive a full-on battle with the two meatheads chasing us. I had to stop him, or at the very least help him free his sister from the clutches of the hyenas.

Of course, that would've been a heck of a lot easier to do if I'd had any shot at catching up to the dark blur streaking between the even darker trees. Even in a full sprint, I could just barely keep Usiku in my sights, and that was before another gut-wrenching scream made him somehow run faster. I threw my legs out in front of me as quickly as I could, my throat feeling dry as a desert. How could he keep this up for so long?

The answer to that question was made obvious as the two hyenas came into view once more. Trapped behind their twin leers and vicious grins was an utterly terrified Jua, who couldn't do anything but shudder as the two massive canines slowly advanced towards the quivering cub. Even from so far away I could see that her face was soaked with tears, much to the delight of the heartless hyenas. Suddenly, the angriest snarl I'd ever heard made both of Jua's captors whip their heads around. Usiku had finally reached the clearing.

I don't think the first hyena ever even realized what hit him. Heck, I barely even realized what hit him. I blinked, and the next thing I knew the hyena was ten feet away flat on his back, with a stocky black lion cub clawing at his throat. The other hyena threw himself head first at Usiku, and with a growl bit down hard on his motionless partner's bare chest, aiming for what he had thought was his friend's attacker. Usiku was already two steps ahead, though, and with another snarl he slammed into the confused canine with blinding speed, sending the pair of them rolling across the clearing like two cubs play-fighting by the watering hole. Except this wasn't a play-fight. This was as real as it gets.

My sprint slowed to a jog and then to a dead stop as I watched the ensuing battle with a mixture of horror and awe. The hyena was three times the size of Usiku and tough as nails, yet I couldn't see one scratch anywhere on the black cub's body. The hyena, meanwhile, was a different story, with a new wound appearing on his legs or his back or his muzzle every second. The hyena fell away for a moment and waited for Usiku to charge at him, absolute rage seeming to spill out of every pore in the dark cub's body. The hyena's destroyed face twisted into an angry leer, and just as Usiku leapt for his throat he brought his right foreleg around and swiped at Usiku with all the strength he had.

The hyena never even touched him.

Before the hyena's claws could slice through Usiku's vulnerable flank, the black cub already had his jaws around the beast's throat. The hyena was dead before he hit the ground.

As Usiku stood up slowly, blood dripping from his open muzzle and a blackness darker than his coat flashing in his eyes, I started to feel incredibly lightheaded. It wasn't long before I realized I hadn't taken a breath since the fight began. Usiku's fury had left me utterly spellbound, but just as soon as it had come it was gone again. His eyes went soft as he glanced over to where Jua was staring at him with gaping eyes still wet with tears.

"Jua…" he said softly. "You okay?"

Usiku moved closer and tried to wrap a foreleg around his sister's back, only to have her stumble away. The terror from her encounter with the hyenas hadn't faded at all at the sight of her brother coming to the rescue. If anything, it had gotten worse.

She was afraid of him.

Shock mingled with disbelief on Usiku's face, until finally the two emotions merged into a miserable look of heartbreak. As Jua closed her eyes and looked away, Usiku blinked hard and glanced down at his still blood-streaked claws, his ears flat against his skull. For a minute, I was sure he was going to cry. But when he looked up again, his eyes were still dry despite the utter devastation spilling out in his drooping face and mouth.

"Jua…" he started again. "I'm so sorry. I got so worried about you, I just…I'd never hurt you now, you know that."

Jua didn't turn around, but she also didn't move any farther away. A bit of hope began to push through the cloud surrounding Usiku's face as he inched a bit closer to his still fearful sister.

"Please, Star," he continued, somehow keeping a steady voice. "Don't…don't do this to me. I…" Usiku paused and licked his lips, shuddering at the lingering taste of the hyena's blood. "I lost control. I won't do it again, I promise."

Jua finally looked her brother in the eyes again. She blinked once, and bit her lip. She still looked scared, but I couldn't tell if it was stemming from the sight of the black lion sitting beside her or just left over from her encounter with the hyenas. Usiku stared unblinkingly back into his sister's face, almost daring her to look away again. She didn't move a muscle.

"You know me," he murmured, his voice so soft I could barely even tell he was speaking. "You know me."

And just like that, the barrier between them was gone. Jua practically flung herself into her big brother's chest and quietly sobbed, her eyes squeezed shut and one of her forelegs wrapped tightly around his. As I watched an almost imperceptible sense of relief wash over Usiku's face, I began to have the feeling that I was intruding on something far bigger than I ever could have imagined. Usiku's bond with Jua went way beyond just a tough guy looking out for his little sister, and as that became more and more clear it started to dawn on me that there was a lot more to the dark-furred cub in front of me than met the eye.

For a while, the three of us just sat there in the clearing, Usiku holding onto Jua like he never wanted to let go and me feeling like the unwanted eavesdropper lurking in the shadows. I didn't want to break up the tender moment, but I was also getting edgier by the second as the far-off echoes of distant hyenas continued to reverberate through the shadowy tree trunks. We, quite literally, weren't out of the woods yet.

Luckily for me, Usiku clued in to my agitation before I was forced to play killjoy and break them apart. With a gentle nudge, he helped Jua to her feet and padded over to the tree line where I was waiting.

"Is she okay?" I asked, motioning at the pale cub still standing close by Usiku's side.

"She'll be fine," he replied, his normally curt tone a little bit softer. "We should get moving."

He didn't have to tell me twice. Without another word, we took off into the forest, heading in the general direction of the river. Or at least, what I thought was the general direction of the river. With the light from the moon blocked out by the thickly woven tree branches above our heads, it was nearly pitch-black on the forest floor, and even though we could all see in the dark just fine, all the trees began to look the same after a while. After ten minutes, I was completely and totally lost.

I finally decided to stop and get my bearings when we stumbled across a clearing that looked an awful lot like the one we had just left ten minutes ago. As Usiku and Jua came to a halt behind me, I stood in the center of the glade and slowly rotated in a circle, trying to look like I knew what I was doing.

Okay, so there aren't any physical landmarks that would be any help, I thought, silently reasoning out what to do next. And the river could be anywhere. The only thing left is instinct. And right now, my instincts are telling me to go…

"That way," I finished, stopping my gaze on a particularly large tree a few yards away. "We need to go that way."

Usiku gave me a skeptical look. "What, did you forget something?"

All I could do was stare and wonder how I'd screwed up this time. "What are you talking about?"

"Just wondering why we're going back the way we came. I assumed you forgot something." He raised his eyebrows and let his dubious look grow in size. "Or are you just guessing and you really don't have a clue where we are?"

I couldn't decide whether I felt more embarrassed or depressed. I had tried so hard to look confident and competent for the sake of the two other cubs, but once again Usiku was proving impossible to fool. Just one more thing to add to the quickly lengthening list of things I didn't know about the dark cub following me.

I turned around again and listened as hard as I could, desperate to catch even a single whisper of running water. But the forest wouldn't give up its secrets so easily. All I could hear was another distant rumble of thunder and the sound of the wind gusting through the canopy above our heads. Come to think of it, I could hardly hear anything over the sound of rustling leaves and creaking wood. The storm was picking up.

Suddenly, the rustling of the leaves picked up, almost as if something had brushed past them. Except this rustling wasn't coming from the treetops. It was coming from somewhere to my right. Somewhere on the ground.

Something was running through the underbrush. Something big.

And it was headed straight for us.


Wow, I actually kept my promise. Sweet. And I've even got the next chapter betaread and ready to post. But when to post it...

How does Sunday sound? That's pretty good, don't you think? A five day wait isn't long at all, although I suppose I might be swayed to post a bit earlier if I were to get five reviews before that time. It's your choice.

I wonder if this will look evil in retrospect...probably. Five reviews, people. That's the deal.