Well, here it is another chapter. Ni (male) is copyrighted to the authors of "The Lion King: Six New Adventures" series, but there are some important differences between that version of Ni, and my version. Mori (male) Anuka (female), and Rafu (male) are my characters, and are not to be used without my permission. Now that is over, let's begin the chapter.
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Chapter 33 – Seven scarred hyenas
Nala got like paralysed when she saw the huge rogue lion pouncing on her. To the little female cub, it seemed that time had stopped, and that the was seeing the rogue pouncing on her in slow-motion, eventhough the predator was pouncing with unexpected speed, and wide-open mouth, seemingly ready to bite Nala with a crushing blow.
She had three options. One of them was to return into the high grass. Some time before, she had arrived to a clearing in the middle of the grass, where she was now, watching the rogue pouncing on her.
There she was easily seen. But, if she returned to the high grass behind her, the rogue wouldn't see her. But even then wasn't easy to consider to have a chance, because it should be quite easy for the lion to listen to her running in the grass.
Her second option was trying to remain un-noticed, after returning to the grass, but surely she would have been sniffed out by the rogue, and it would be an even worst solution, even considering that the rogue wouldn't easily see her in the high grass.
Her third option was to run towards the rogue, and try to intercept him and to confuse him somehow, and then run away. But it wouldn't be easy to pass by the rogue without being killed. Anyway, Nala's mind was too much divided between her three options, and she, while she wasn't choosing any, was also still.
If she wasn't so scared, she would have listened that the sound of some big animal running in the high grass was still being listened, and so, it wasn't the rogue the one who had been chasing her. However, before Nala could make any move, the lion was already in the air.
The cub tried to close her eyes, but her eyelids seemed to not to obey her, and she just stared at the pouncing lion, who seemed in an attack mood.
However, it also seemed that it wasn't in the mood of attacking Nala, because, much to Nala's surprise, the lion pounced over her and landed right behind her. Nala turned back right on the time to see the landing rogue, and noticed what had atracted the lion's attention. It was a hyena, and Nala assumed that the hyena had been chasing her, and also that the hyena had eaten the quail, because her lips were blooded and some feathers were mixed with the blood on her mouth. And it also didn't take much time for Nala to know who the hyena was.
It was Ramuka, who was right now on the edge of the small clearing, being attacked by the aggressive rogue. Nala watched with fear, thinking that this would be her best chance to escape, but for some reason her paws didn't seem to obey her brain.
She noticed the rogue lion landing right in front of Ramuka, whose expression had turned of hateful and hungry to terrified, and gave her a blow on her nape with his right paw. The hyena fell unconscious on the clearing right after that, and the rogue pushed her body into the middle of the high grass. Like Nala didn't hear any bone-cracking sound, she could assume that the hyena wasn't dead, but only knocked out.
It seemed that the rogue also assumed that, because, right after, he turned to Nala, and pushed her firmly (yet carefully), with his front left paw, shouting: "RUN!"
This time, Nala's body seemed to obey her, and she didn't waste any time in following the suggestion of her rescuer, who had just disappeared in the high grass. Nala followed the rogue, leaving the clearing, and now she had understood the idea of the lion. By pushing the hyena into the grass, she wouldn't be able to see where they were running away, in case she woke up suddenly. Nala followed the rogue as fast as she could, right into the tree to where she had been running to escape from Ramuka's jaws.
The lion climbed the tree, and Nala followed him shortly after. They stopped on the lowest branch (yet far too high for Ramuka or any hyena to reach it), and the lion lied down on the branch calmly. Nala sat in front of him, and, for the first time, she could take a real look on the rogue, while she recovered her breath.
The lion had tawny-golden fur; however it was a little bit hard to distinguish the real colour of the rogue, because he was quite dirty. He had a dark-brown mane, but it wasn't yet a real mane. His mane had barely begun growing. She noticed that the lion's mane covered the top of his neck, already covering a little bit his forehead, and then going through all the neck, but barely reaching his shoulders. And, on the inferior part of his neck, the lion had another line of dark-brown mane, that didn't reach the full length of his neck. In the rest of his neck, the mane was still to grow. The eyes of the rogue were light-gray, and Nala thought that the lion seemed friendly; however she hadn't enough breath to speak. When, she recovered the first thing that she said was:
"Thank you." said the cub, smiling slightly at the lion.
"You're welcome, little one." said the rogue, smiling back.
Nala noticed that the voice of the lion was still half-cubbish, which meant that he was younger than she had expected. She estimated the lion's age to be around two and a half years. However, he was unusually big for such a young lion. He was already as big as some of the biggest lionesses of her pride, and when he became full-grown he would probably be as big as Mufasa.
For some time, they remained silent, until Nala began speaking again: "I thought that you were going to kill me. But instead you saved me."
The lion seemed slightly shocked at what Nala told, but then he replied, in calm voice: "I don't attack other lions, unless they attack me first. And especially I don't attack lost cubs, like you are."
"I'm not lost!" shouted Nala, and this time she was even more shocked than the rogue was when she told him her thoughts.
"Then you shouldn't wander in the plain all alone." replied the lion. After he asked, with an inquisitive look: "What were you doing, exactly?"
"Oh…" said Nala, feeling ashamed of the dare for the first time. "It was… sort of a dare…"
"A dare?" asked the rogue, more and more intrigued. "And what was the dare, exactly? And why did you accept it?"
Nala was getting sick of the lion's questions about the dare, so she just said: "My name is Nala. And you, what's your name?"
"My name is Ni." replied the rogue.
"Nice to meet you, Ni." said Nala.
Ni nodded, and then Nala asked: "But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your pride?"
At that moment, Ni let out a sigh of sadness, and said: "In theory, I should, but I guess that in practical matters, I'm not."
"Aren't you a little bit young to be kicked out of your pride?" asked Nala, confused.
As far as she knew, lions were sometimes kicked out of their prides, or simply left by their free will, when they were three years old, but Ni, seeming to have only two years and a half old, was too young for any of those two things.
Ni sighed of sadness again, and then, he said: "As a matter of fact, I should be. My king should have waited at least for five months more before he would kick me out. But my story is rather complicated, and sad… you wouldn't want to hear it."
"Try me." said Nala honestly. "I've been through some hard times recently as well."
Rather than answering, Ni just got up, and looked down. When Nala asked him what he was doing, he gave as an excuse (or maybe he said it honestly) that he was seeing if Ramuka was following them. Then, he lied down again, and sighed deeply. Nala gave him some moments of silence, before asking: "Will you tell me your story, or not?"
Ni raised his head, and looked at Nala with a somewhat angry look, very simmilar to the one that he had when he pounced on Ramuka. And Nala remembered that the rogue, even after saving her, was a stranger. Ni said: "You wouldn't be able to stand it. It's rather dark… even I barely stand it…"
"Maybe you just need to talk to someone." said Nala, gently placing her paw on Ni's muzzle.
Ni seemed surprised, like if he had never been touched in a friendly way, but Nala said: "Sometimes, talking may be a big help. Believe me."
Ni sighed again, but he said: "Alright… I will tell you… but you must promise me one thing. You must promise that it will be a secret between us both. And you must promise that, if you start disliking it too much, you will tell me, and I will stop. I won't get angry."
"Alright." said Nala. "I promise all of that. And I keep my word."
The rogue looked around several times, like if he was seeing if the place was really empty and no one would eavesdrop their talk, and then he finally decided to tell the story of his life to Nala, in a resumed version.
"My father was the leader of a pack of rogue lions, and his name was Rafu." began Ni. "He and his three friends arrived to my homeland in some especially hard times, ready to take it over. As far as I think now, they decided to wait for some days, scouting the land, looking for life-signals, before taking it over. But, one day, my father, when he was hunting alone, met a lioness. That lioness was my mother, and her name was Anuka. She was a member of the pride that he wanted to take over."
"And so?" asked Nala, wanting to know more.
Ni had told her that his story was a sad story, but, 'till that moment, it wasn't seeming too sad, it was even seeming a love story.
"And so…" said Ni, sighing again before keeping. "My parents became lovers, and mated… but the king of that land, Mori, was very strict about the mating of his lionesses. My mother hoped that she and my father would leave the pride and start their own, but he replied that he still had some duties to his friends, and my mother accepted that."
"What happened next?" asked Nala, confused.
Ni inhaled deeply, and said: "I don't know everything, but as far as I know, my father and my mother went to speak with King Mori, to see if he could help my father's pack. However, during the talking, my father's pack appeared, and claimed that their leader had betrayed them, and that they would conquer the pride for them. It was rather suicide, but the main thing is that, during the whole mess, all the rogues, including my father, were killed."
Nala gasped from amazed, and wanted to ask something, but Ni interrupted her waving his paw, and said: "However, some lifes of the pride were also claimed. Mori's mate died during the battle. Almost all the pride said that the tragedy happened because my mother mated with a rogue without her king's permission, and Mori was ready to banish, or even kill, my mother. But, because she begged for mercy, and some lionesses stood for her, Mori agreed in letting her stay. Then it happened that my mother was pregnant. With me."
Now Nala knew one thing for sure: the story was sad. It should have been hard for his mother. She never knew that so many complications could come of a simple love story.
"Mori allowed my mother to stay, and I was born, but both my mother and I… mainly I… were outcasts. All the cubs chased me away, their mothers also chased me away, and many times they also fought my mother. Well, because of that thing, I spent most of the time with my mother, learning how to hunt. I became as good as I managed to, but, about a month ago, my mother died, and Mori used the chance to banish me."
For some moments, Nala didn't speak, and the only sound around was the leaves of the tree rustling with the wind. And then, Nala said: "I… I feel very sorry for you, your mother, and your father. If that is of some help to you, that is."
Ni raised his head, and sighed again. Then, he turned to Nala, and said: "Nala… you are being more helpful than you could imagine. Besides you, only my mother has shown simpathy towards me. Thank you."
Ni hugged Nala, and then he said thoughtfully: "You know… you rather look like my mother."
"Oh yeah?" asked Nala, intrigued.
"Yeah." said Ni. "Only my mother's fur is a little bit darker than yours, and her eyes were light-gray, like mine."
And then, Nala had an idea that maybe would cheer up Ni. She said, smiling at him: "Hey, why don't you come and meet my pride? You saved me, they'll treat you like a hero for sure."
"I don't know." said Ni. "I don't really know if I'll be treated like a hero. I'm just a rogue."
"But you saved my life!" insisted Nala. "I'm sure that they'll thank you. You can meet my friends. They're nice. It's just a shame that…"
""That" what?" asked the rogue.
"…that you can't meet my best friend Simba." said Nala, sobbing. "He died three months ago."
Nala released some tears, but Ni wiped them off gently with his paw, and said: "Don't cry, Nala. I wish I could say that I know what you're feeling… but I never had much of friends, or a family… so… I guess simpathy is all I can really give you."
And then, he said: "And, if that's so important to you, I will go with you and meet your pride."
"Really?" asked Nala, almost jumping of joy.
"Yes." said Ni, chuckling. "Now, go down."
And so, both Ni and Nala went down the tree, walking back to Pride Rock.
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Some time later, the rogue and the cub were making their way through the savannah, walking to Nala's home. Nala was extremely excited with the idea of Ni visiting her pride. As a matter of fact, she had a secret hope of keeping him, so that he could be her and Mheetu's big brother. It was undoubtable that Ni seemed a little bit interested in meeting her friends and family, however Nala wished that he was more interested, and she tried to give him some interest more. She said: "You'll love it! If you stay just 'till tomorrow, my friends and I can show you a lot of interesting games…"
But suddenly, the rogue's posture changed completely. On one moment, he was being friendly and relaxed. On the following moment, he became very nervous, with tensed muscles.
"Quiet!" said Ni, touching Nala's chin with his tail, and with his ears flicked up to notice any kind of sound.
"What is it?" whispered Nala, so low that Ni could barely hear.
"I heard something…" said Ni. "The grass rustling… like if someone is sneaking us..."
Nala looked around, trying to see any kind of creature in the grass, but she wasn't seeing it at all. Ni turned to the big rock, where they had just passed by, and said: "Let's go there. We can't risk the someone attacking us by behind."
The cub nodded, and followed Ni to the rock. But, right on that moment, two large hyenas jumped from behind it, blocking their way. Nala recognized them as Dhara and Vyero, two of the hyenas of Ramuka's group. And, right on that moment, the whole group of hyenas appeared from behind the rock.
The seven hyenas had formed a circle around Ni and Nala. They couldn't run away, and the only hope that they could have was to fight. A fight that couldn't be won.
"Ni can't save me now!" thought Nala, terrified. "He is big and strong for his age, but yet too small to fight seven hyenas! We'll be eaten."
Ramuka advanced towards Ni, with an evil smile. She said: "Well, well… this here is the lion that knocked me out! Deal with him! But attention, no one touches the cub! She's mine!"
Ni stood bravely, prepared to fight a battle that he had no chance of winning. But he had to. If not, he and Nala would die. However, it wasn't necessary for Ni to fight, because, right on that moment, both heard two loud roars.
They turned their heads aside, and noticed Sarafina and Moyo, running on their direction with a menacing look. Ramuka snarled at them, but Ni used that moment of distraction from the hyenas to break the circle that they were forming around him and Nala. He grabbed both Vyero and Dhara in a single grasp, and they were so surprised that they didn't even try to release themselves. The cub used that moment to run away, and she hid behind her father's paw. He and her mother had stopped for some time.
Ni dropped the two hyenas, and joined to Sarafina and Moyo. Nala's parents and the rogue opened their mouths at the same time, and all roared at the same time. Their roars were so synchronized that they looked a single, and extremely loud, roar.
The seven hyenas ran away, terrified, and even Ramuka didn't stay behind to throw an insult at the lions.
Nala came to Sarafina, who started licking her face.
"Are you alright?" asked Sarafina, worried.
"Yes, mom." said Nala, much more relieved. "I'm alright."
But then she turned to her father, who was seemingly much angrier than her mother. Nala gulped. Her father always seemed big, however he seemed bigger for sure when angry.
"Kula warned us." said the golden-maned lion. "It seems that she uses her head for more than to eat. Unlike you!"
And then, the lion spoke louder."We told you for not to come out with Ramuka and her group around here! Why don't you ever do as you're ordered? Haven't you thought about how your mother and I would feel if we lost you?"
On that moment, the lion hugged his daughter, and licked her face. And then, they heard a voice answering to Moyo's first question.
"It was a dare, Mr." said Ni, who had been silent, and, truth be told, almost forgotten by the family.
"A dare?" asked Moyo, confused, looking carefully at Ni for the first time. "And by the way, who are you?"
"My name is Ni." said the rogue.
On that moment, Nala said: "He saved me, dad! He stopped Ramuka from killing me, and he was very nice to me."
"Thank you, Ni." said Sarafina, bowing slightly.
"Yes, thank you." repeated Moyo, bowing his head a little bit as well.
"My pleasure." said Ni. "But… by the way, how did you know of those hyenas wandering here? Are they… an usual presence?"
"More than you can imagine." replied Nala, sighing. "Since Simba's death, it has been always like this."
"Well…" said Ni. "Maybe you'll introduce me to your pride first, and then you'll explain me the whole matters. If your parents agree, that is."
Sarafina nodded, and Moyo said, after thinking a little bit: "Well, like you saved our daughter, I think that it won't hurt."
And so, the four kept their way to Pride Rock.
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"Sir!" shouted Zazu, flying inside the cave, and landing right on Scar's shoulder. "The rogue is heading towards here! Sarafina, Moyo, and Nala are with him!"
"What?" asked Scar, surprised. "What may be their relations with the rogue? Oh, well, let's just go and meet him."
And so, Scar and Zira left Pride Rock, and walked towards Ni and the family.
"Those two are our king and queen." said Nala. "The lion is Scar, and the queen is Zira."
The royal couple walked to the rogue, and Ni bowed at them. Scar and Zira seemed surprised.
"Who are you?" asked Scar.
"My name is Ni, sir." said Ni.
"And… what is your business here, Ni?" asked Zira.
"Wandering." said Ni, in a somewhat relaxed voice. "You know… young males… kicking them out of the pride… that stuff."
"Aren't you a little bit young for that?" inquired Scar carefully.
"Maybe…" said Ni.
And then, he added to Scar: "By the way, you should try to have some more control on the hyenas that wander in your land. There were seven of them trying to eat this girl."
He wasn't speaking with too much official respect, and Scar and Zira noticed that, however they were more worried with the detail of Ni speaking about seven hyenas.
"Who were they?" asked Scar to Moyo and Sarafina, although he already had a big suspect about the answer.
"I seem to remember that one of them was named Ramuka, sir." said Ni, antecipating Moyo's answer.
Moyo and Sarafina nodded, confirming it, and Scar decided that he wouldn't need any more confirming than that. If one of them was Ramuka, the other six were probably her small group. Scar thought a little bit, and then he said: "Alright. We shall see about that. Sarafina and Moyo, please get Leo and Fani here. I want you to find Ramuka and her group and bring them here, please."
Sarafina and Moyo nodded, and they went to Pride Rock, leaving their daughter, the royal couple, and Ni, behind them. Zira said: "Ni… if you want to stay for some time, you are welcome."
She looked at Scar, who nodded.
"Thank you, sir." said the rogue, bowing. "But I think that I'll leave tonight. Thank you for the invitation."
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About an hour later, Sarafina, Moyo, Leo, and Fani returned bringing Ramuka and her small group with them. Scar and Zira were waiting for them, and the judgement of the hyenas would be made in front of both the whole pride and the whole clan. The lionesses who had cubs left them under Ni's protection. Even if they didn't know the rogue for some time, he seemed trustworthy, at least according to what Nala had told them, and they trusted Nala.
Ramuka and her group were in the middle of the pride and the clan, and Scar was looking at them with a menacing look. All the clan, and even some members of the pride, seemed to fear what would happen next.
The king began speaking: "As you all probably remember very well, I told you what would happen if you hyenas didn't follow the rule about not harming the pride."
All the hyenas nodded, and Ramuka and her group were quivering with fear. Scar kept speaking: "And, as I know today, you seven tried to kill Nala, right?"
"Wrong!" shouted Ramuka.
Both the pride and the clan were wordless at Ramuka's sentence, and then, she said: "Your only confirmation of that are the words of the rogue and the words of Nala, Sarafina, and Moyo! And you know that they want us out of here!"
"In fact, the whole pride, and even your whole clan, wants you seven out of here!" thought Scar.
But, before he could speak, a random hyena from the clan said: "Yeah! What kind of a king are you, if you sentence your subjects even without having any proof of what they've done? You're an unfair and unmerciful king. You…"
"SILENCE!" roared Scar, and all the hyenas stayed like paralysed.
He walked towards the hyena that had spoken, and said: "You dare to call me unfair and unmerciful, after you have killed my father and an innocent lioness, and when, even I after that, I had pity for you and kindly invited your clan to live here? What I had full right to do now is to allow the whole pride to KILL YOU!"
The hyenas stepped back like if the sentence had hit them. Scar returned to Ramuka, and said: "And, even if the part about Nala is not truth, what I doubt very much, you've tried to eat Zazu, and, even worst, you tried to kill my son!"
Ramuka gulped in fear. Scar said: "However, because they are both still alive… I will be merciful. I will mark you, and pass you definitive exile only."
"Only?" asked Ramuka sarcastically.
Scar didn't answer. He just swiped his paw at Ramuka, leaving a scar over her left eye just like his own. He did the same to Dhara, Vyero, and all the hyenas of Ramuka's small group. And then, he said: "If these hyenas ever try to return to the Pride Lands, any member of the pride is allowed to kill them."
Mega and Jani looked at the hyenas like if they wanted to kill them on the spot, but they repressed themselves. Scar said: "Moyo, Leo, Fani, and Sarafina, escort them to the western border."
The two lion couples left with the seven hyenas on the middle of them, and then, Scar said: "This audience is over. You all may return to your duties, or, if you don't have any for now, return to what you were doing before."
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About an hour later, the four lions and lionesses returned, informing that the seven hyenas were out of the Pride Lands. Most of the pride was relieved by hearing that Ramuka and her group were out of the way, and the cubs even jumped of joy.
They had been playing with Ni, and they had much fun, because Ni was patient with them, and he liked their games. However, the fun of the cubs was nothing compared to Ni's fun. He never had cubs to play with, because the original cubs of his own pride were always driving him away, and didn't want to have anything to do with him. However, the cubs of this pride were kind to him, and showed him many ways of having fun, that Ni gladly followed.
Nala, Nuru and Mheetu in fact wanted to have him as an older brother, because they were the cubs who liked the rogue the most. However, much to the sadness of those three cubs, Ni said that he would leave the Pride Lands at the sunset. Nala felt very sad, but she didn't try to stop him. However, she tried to convince him to go to the top of Pride Rock before leaving. Ni accepted.
"It's a pity that you can't stay." said Nala, when they were watching the Pride Lands.
"Look, Nala." said Ni sadly. "I would also like to stay, but I can't. I don't think I would fit in a pride for now. But who knows, maybe I will return some years from now."
"Will you?" asked Nala, hopefully. "Promise Ni! Promise that you will return!"
"I can't promise that." said Ni, sighing. "But I promise that I will do everything that I'm able to do to return. Is that alright for now?"
Nala hesitated a little bit before answering, but, after some time, she said: "It's better than nothing. Thank you, Ni."
"Goodbye, Nala." said Ni, nuzzling her. "And good luck."
With those words, Ni went down Pride Rock, and disappeared in the savannah. Tojo, Mheetu, Nuru, Kilia, Kula, and Chumvi joined Nala, watching him leaving. For some moments, nobody told anything, until Chumvi said: "Uh… Nala… I'm… I'm sorry. For daring you. I was… really worried when you left. Ramuka and her group could… well, you know that."
"It's alright, Chumvi." said Nala, and Chumvi sighed with clear relief. "And besides, if not for your dare, I wouldn't have known Ni."
"You know…" said Kula, giggling. "If Ni just cleaned himself, he would even be cute…"
Tojo seemed a little bit bored at Kula's comment, and probably the brown cub understood that, because she said on the following moment: "Of course, not as cute as you."
Tojo blushed, but Kilia got slightly angry at that, and said: "Kula! I already told you what…"
But, before they could keep their arguing, Mheetu said, with a somewhat decisive voice: "If you want to argue, do it down there, OK?"
The two cubs were seemingly prepared to shout at Mheetu, but because they saw that the others were supporting him with their looks, they just began going down, yet Kula and Kilia's arguing was heard for a long time after they went away.
"Why when a problem goes away, it always comes another one to replace it?" asked Nuru, covering her ears.
"I don't know, Nuru." said Tojo. "Maybe it is just part of the Circle of Life."
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Well... I know that this has some differences. I know that in the original book Ni was too small for his age, and the buff coloured hyena was a male, but this is a fanfic. It is supposed to have some original parts, right? Whatever, please review!