An Ominous Day

Ten years had passed since Malik and Janna's rule had officially began. In that time, they had defended the Tree of Life from invasion, improved the standard of living in the country and had two sons together; Sahasi and Surak. The King and Queen were still as in love as ever; one observer noted that "His Majesty cannot bear to spend long away from the Queen, as she is equally sad during times when he is not beside her,". Hilah and Adesh, meanwhile, had been trying for a baby for ages, but, until a few months previously, their efforts had only resulted in two miscarriages and a stillbirth. Seeing the Queen having two healthy sons with the King had fueled her bitterness towards the royal couple. With her efforts to have a child with her husband fruitless so far, Hilah was ready to give up on her revenge plan. However, seven months previously, she had discovered that she was pregnant with Adesh's child, and she was due to give birth to their baby shortly.

One day, King Malik and Queen Janna were seated on their thrones, waiting for the arrival of a diplomat. Just then, a herald stepped in and cleared his throat. The King and Queen had requested that the heralds only use their horns if it was absolutely necessary, so now, the heralds generally just cleared their throats to let people know when they had something to say. "Your Majesties," the herald declared. "I hereby announce the presence of Zazu, royal adviser to King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi of the Pridelands,". In stepped a short man with an orange, yellow and blue suit. He gave a bow to the King and Queen. Hilah, who was due to give birth any day now, was spying on them. "Oh, yes," she thought to herself. "Mufasa's adviser who is about as interesting as watching paint dry on the wall,".

"Your Majesties," Zazu declared in a heavy English accent (courtesy of the fabulous Rowan Atkinson!). "What an honour it is to be back at the Tree of Life. I remember coming here years ago, and King Hasim and Queen Mzuri were so welcoming towards me. I just met your children there, and they were so polite to me... unlike Prince Simba, who only ever calls me "Banana Beak" or "Dodo". But he's nowhere near as bad as the King's brother Scar. I mean he tried to eat me alive once,". "As much as I don't like Scar," Hilah thought. "I do wish he had succeeded in eating Zazu,". As Zazu waffled on, Hilah groaned. After thinking about it for a minute, she decided to poke some fun at him. "Why don't you sing something?" she asked, disguising her voice so that no one would recognise her. "Who said that?" Zazu thought to himself, upset that his trail of thought had been interrupted. "Well, I have been known to sing in my spare time,". With that, he cleared his throat and started to warble a song.

Zazu: (off key) It's the circle of life! And it moves us all! Through -

"That's lovely, Zazu," Janna said. "But perhaps it would be best if you didn't sing any songs while talking to the King and myself,". "Right you are, my lady," Zazu nodded. "Now, where was I?". "You were just saying about me being good friends with Mufasa,". "Oh, yes; thank you, my liege," the majordomo bowed. "Well, because Your Majesty is good friends with King Mufasa, His Majesty has sent you both a message saying that should you ever decide to come over for a visit to the Pridelands, you will always be welcome there,". Hilah groaned as she covered her ears to block out Zazu's speech. "I'm going to go to bed and see if this baby is ready to come out," she thought. "I bet giving birth is a lot less painful than listening to that idiot talk,". Just as she was about to leave, Sahasi and Surak whizzed past her. "Sorry, Aunt Hilah," six-year-old Sahasi apologised. "Surak and I are just playing a game of chasing,". "Caught you!" three-year-old Surak said mischievously, tagging his older brother. "Love you, auntie,". With that, the two princes continued their game. Hilah would never admit it, but, even though they were the children of her worst enemies, she was actually quite fond of them. "Maybe when I murder Malik and Janna," Hilah thought to herself. "I'll take them in as my own,".

Just then, Adesh arrived with one of his hands behind his back. "Hello, husband," she smiled. "How was the pub?". Although her initial wooing of Adesh and her subsequent act as a "loyal and loving wife" had been part of her plan to get revenge on her enemies, but over the years, she had started to genuinely fall in love with him. He was always so sweet to her, whether it be when they were in bed or at dinnertime, and when they had experienced the agony of their lost babies, he was there to comfort her and assure her that they would get through it. Her heart told her to succumb to her romantic feelings for Adesh, but her head told her to see him as being part of her revenge scheme and nothing more than that. Hilah believed from a very young age that a person should always listen to his or her head.

"Quite excellent, to be honest, " Adesh admitted. Ever since the night where Hilah came to see him and declared that she had changed her ways, he had slowly but surely returned to his old, cheerful self again, much to the delight of his friends and family. "That pub does some of the best cider in the world. And do you want to know what the best part is, wife?" "What's the best part?" Hilah asked. "Well, I know that you can't have alcohol at the minute for... for obvious reasons," Adesh explained, gesturing to her pregnant belly. "So, I flashed a smile at the barman, and he made a chocolate milkshake, which I know is your favourite,". He took his arm out from behind his back and handed his wife a tall glass almost full to the brim with a chocolate milkshake. On top was a piping of whipped cream, some chocolate shavings and a glacé cherry. "Thank you so much, Adesh," Hilah smiled, taking the glass off her husband. Adesh beamed, delighted to see his wife happy.

Just then, a surge of water flew out of Hilah, which caused her to drop her milkshake before she even had a sip of it. The glass smashed on the ground; the floor was now drenched with the chocolatey drink. "Really?" Hilah groaned, realising that she had gone into labour. In the throne room, the King and Queen heard the noise. Adesh popped his head in and said "Hilah's gone into labour,". "Sorry, Zazu," Malik stated. "But we'll have to continue our conversation tomorrow,". With that, he and the Queen rose from their thrones and ran off to get the doctor. "No worries," Zazu called. "I remember the day my brother was born, and...".

After seemingly hours and endless shouting from Hilah, the baby was born. It was a boy. Hilah decided that she wanted the baby to be named Vurugu, and she had convinced Adesh to approve of her choice. Prince Vurugu had red eyes, dark skin like his parents and a bald head. Perhaps the most ominous physical trait of Vurugu was a scar on one of his cheeks, despite only being born minutes ago. When Vurugu was in his mid-thirties and had just committed his most well-known crime, everyone at the Tree of Life viewed the scar on his cheek as a sign that he had always been evil. At the time of his birth, however, no one seemed to take any notice of it, and they all took turns to hold the newborn baby. Vurugu's parents pressed their foreheads together, feeling blessed that they now had a healthy son. Hilah in particular was over the moon, delighted that the first part of her revenge plan was now complete.

That night, Adesh was en route to his and his wife's bedroom. However, he was intercepted by a peddler. "Can I help you, sir?" the prince asked politely. "I think the question is "Can I help you?", Your Highness," the peddler stated. "You see, your newborn son is not the innocent baby he appears to be; he is a product of the devil,". "What?" Adesh asked, confused. "He will go on to commit some of the most horrific acts of evil in the Tree of Life's history," the peddler explained. "And at the time of his death, people will only remember him as a murderer, a traitor, a schemer and a monster. Be warned of this,". "Oh, get a life, would you, mate?" Adesh groaned as the old man left. "Lousy fortune tellers. Vurugu is a gift from the love that Hilah and I share; he will not grow up to be what that peddler described,". With that, he went into his bedroom and fell asleep beside Hilah.

Unfortunately, if that was what Adesh truly believed, he was completely wrong because Vurugu would grow up to be far more devious, far more power-hungry and far more ruthless than his mother ever was. The man who would gone on to, in the peddler's words, "commit some of the most horrific acts of evil in the Tree of Life's history," experienced his first feelings of jealousy towards his uncle Malik when he was five years old. It was the King's birthday, and Vurugu, jealous of all the attention his uncle was getting, questioned why most of the courtiers barely acknowledged he was even there. However, Sahasi and Surak, not wanting their cousin to feel left out, got ice-cream with him and then played a game of hide and seek together with their Aunt Heather; hide and seek was a game she and Adesh loved to play when they were younger. This seemed to calm Vurugu down a bit.

On the day of his birthday, Malik had received news that his close friend Mufasa had been killed in a stampede in a gorge in the Pridelands and that Scar had taken over as King. At the time, people believed that Simba had also perished in the stampede, though, as we know, that wasn't the case. If course, Malik did not take the news of his friend's death well at all, and he suspected that Scar had something to do with it. And Scar teaming up with Shenzi and her followers and reducing the Pridelands to a wasteland certainly didn't do anything to ease the King's suspicions. Thankfully, the Queen was there to support her husband and help him get through it.

As the party drew to a close, Surak pulled his cousin to one side and told him that the feeling of jealousy he felt towards Malik was just a fleeting emotion and that, like most things that occur during childhood, it would pass as he matured. However, it never did. Vurugu had always been a bitter and jealous person, but his descent into villainy did not truly begin until he was twelve years old. Hilah believed that Vurugu was the way he was because she kept pouring poison into his ear about Malik and Janna when Adesh wasn't around, but, in truth, she had little to do with him being evil. There was a far more sinister reason for Vurugu's personality as the man who would become the monster received a mysterious letter when he was twelve. In time, even Hilah would become disgusted by her son's actions.

In the present...

Makini briefly closed the book. "Wow," she thought. "This book is incredible. I wonder what the letter was about. Let's see..." She flicked back to the contents page. "There is four more chapters to go, so I hope we find out,". Just then, the young Mjuzi heard the clock chime. "Goodness, look at the time; it's nearly one o'clock!" she exclaimed. "Better get reading again; there's a very special person coming to the palace later on, and the King and Queen might want me to help welcome her,". She took a quick bite out of the sandwich she had made for herself before opening the book again. "Now, according to the synopsis, someone dies in the next chapter. Well, if that's not ominous, I don't know what is,". With that, she resumed her reading.

To be continued...

A/N: Just to clarify, when I say there's four chapters left, I mean there's four chapters in the book, and then the fanfic's epilogue. So, I have five chapters left in this fanfic. Thanks for reading, everyone, and be sure to review! =)