CandyLuv99; I agree with you. Totally feel sorry for Zira and as for Queen Gwen, she definitely went off the deep end.
Another little warning, a bit of a time-jump in the middle of the chapter. Enjoy chapter thirty-four!
The sun shined brightly over the Pridelands. A three month reddish-brown cub ran out of the large cave on priderock and over to the edge of the kopje. He glanced around before leaping down the stones lined up on the side.
Once his tan colored paws reached the ground, the prince broke into a run over to where he knew the cubs were.
The Watering Hole.
Prince Jesús was excited to play with the other cubs and his brothers. He wasn't paying attention when he suddenly tripped. Causing him to tumble and land the water with a loud splash.
As Jesús resurfaced he was immediately greeted with the faces of the cubs and the satisfied smirk on his eldest brother's face.
"How you like the water, you spoiled runt!" the light cream cub growled.
"Luis!" Desta growled at his friend while Malka went to help Jesús out of the water. "That's your brother!"
Luis scoffed in disgust. "Half-brother."
Jesús shivered after shaking the water from his body before looking at his brothers as Tojo joined Luis' side. "I don't understand... what did I do wrong?"
Tojo looked away as Luis growled. "You were born. So stay away, we don't want to play with the son of a tyrant!"
Jesús lowered his head as all the cubs minus Nala, Starra, Desta and Malka.
"Don't worry about them. We'll play with you." Nala smiled along with the others.
But unfortunately their kindness didn't stop the tears from falling down Jesús' face.
...
A few years has passed and Scar's reign has become more of a nightmare as time goes by.
A three month Sienna hunkered down in the tall grass, not daring to breathe as she watched her mother slink forward on silent paws. Her ears flicked back and forth as she concentrated on each lionesses' every move.
She was determined not to make a sound after having ruined two hunts already that same day. Due to her clumsy paw-steps, she had made too much noise, alerting the prey to the hunting party's presence.
In the pride, most cubs were taught to hunt in private sessions with their mother. However, due to the loss of their king and the inclusion of the hyenas in the pride lands, Sienna did not have the luxury of one on one training with Kula.
King Scar had recently decreed that every lioness old enough to eat meat must take part in the hunt. At the current moment, Sienna and Desta's four month son were the only cubs that weren't still suckling milk. The only other cub younger than Sienna and her cousin had been a infant male, which Scar had wasted no time in eliminating as a possible threat.
Sienna's mother Kula, Tama, Nyah and Nala were old enough to be apart of the hunting party. With Sienna's father Malka, Luis, Sienna's Uncle Desta, Tojo, Chumvi and being teenage males, they along with Callan were forced to protect the Pridelands with the hyenas.
While Jesús did participate he had clearance as did Ni.
It had been only three and half years since Scar assumed the throne, and already, the lionesses were struggling to bring home enough meat to sate the appetite of him and his savages. It was becoming ever more common for the hunters to not even have enough meat for the younger cubs and their mothers back at the den. With no one able to challenge Scar's tyranny, the pride members had no option but to obey.
From her hiding place, Sienna admired her mother's litheness and intensity. But it was her parents cubhood friend, Nala who had the light beige cub's attention.
Nala's strong muscles moved smoothly under her smooth coat, its tawny colour melting into the dry brush through which she padded. Although Sarabi customarily lead the hunting party, her grief at the loss of her husband and son had her running left flank, with Nala leading instead.
Sienna trembled as the group paused, readying for the attack. Giving an almost invisible signal to the others, Nala charged in toward the injured buffalo the group had targeted. This time, the hunt was a success.
Wearily, the hunting party returned to Pride Rock with their kill, relieved in the knowledge that Scar would be appeased this evening but distressed by the fact that it would all happen again tomorrow.
"Stay behind me, Sienna", Kula whispered quietly as Sarabi presented the day's spoils to Scar.
Sienna cowered behind her mother's strong hindquarters, wanting nothing more than to disappear. Sienna as did her cousin found Scar quite intimidating. She tried her best to blend in with her mother's fur as the former queen addressed their ruling male.
"We were met with difficulties in our hunting attempts earlier in the day, but have brought you the prize from our most recent hunt. We hope it is to your liking." Sarabi bowed her head in respect.
Scar looked skeptically at the lioness before him. His jaded eyes lingering on his goldish neice. With little expression, he gave a signal to the hyenas to take the kill away and wait for him. The cackling animals threw themselves upon the food in a disorganized shuffle, paying no mind to Sarabi, who was shoved aside in the fray.
Once calm again took the rock, Scar stepped lazily forward.
"What difficulties?" Scar asked, a smirk on his face.
"We.. the prey.. it…" Sarabi sighed, obviously trying not to rat out her great-neice who fumbled during the first two hunting trips.
With lightening quick speed, Scar strode to Sarabi and struck her across the face, claws outstretched.
"Spit it out! What happened?" His angry eyes flashed in Sienna and her cousin, Mapenzi's directions and the cubs felt their stomach drop. Slowly, the king slinked up to them as Sarabi held a paw against her wound.
After glaring at Sarabi and Sarafina, Scar came to stand directly in front of the cubs, his eyes boring into the frightened cubs.
"Tell me children, did you enjoy your first hunt?" Scar's voice was sweet as honey, but his eyes showed an unpredictable rage. Sienna and Mapenzi cowered beneath his green eyed gaze, too afraid to speak. "SPEAK UP! Do not dare remain silent when I address you!" he roared.
Starra quickly moved between the cubs and the angry king, tensing herself for a blow. To everyone's surprise, however, Scar merely chuckled.
"These girls will learn, or they will die. See to it that you teach them well. We would hate for our lovely cubs to be killed, now wouldn't we?" Scar strode away without giving Sienna and Mapenzi a second glance. "The kill will suffice for tonight. Tomorrow, I expect twice as much. Perhaps then you will be given a share of it." The reddish-brown lion retreated, heading toward the hyenas and meat that awaited him.
"He can't do this!" Nyah roared as the rest of the hunting party surrounded Sarabi to check her wound.
"We deserve that meat more than they do!" Wivu added, heading toward Scar's retreating figure. Several others muttered in agreement, also turning toward Scar.
"Stop." Sarabi's voice was soft from inside the circle of concerned hunters. The two lionesses who had spoken out turned to her, surprise on their faces.
Sarafina watched as her youngest daughter rounded on Sarabi, the fur on her back raised in anger. "How can you of all animals stand up for him? How can you bow down to him as if he is your rightful king? Do you not grieve for your mate? Do you not feel for the loss of your son? Do you not grieve for the father of your daughter?"
The cubs jumped as her Nyah lashed out at the Queen, a snarl on her face before turning her blue eyes on Nala who rushed up to her sister.
"How DARE you speak to your queen this way!" she growled, her face nearly touching the younger lioness' and her claws unsheathed.
Sienna and Mapenzi hunkered down, shocked to see the calm and loving Nala they always known behave this way to a fellow pride member, her sister none less.
The creamy teen lioness unsheathed her claws and arched her back, snarling back at her sister. All but Sarabi tensed, ready for a fight.
"She is not our queen any longer! She no longer leads our hunts and she no longer leads our pride!" A general murmur went through the crowd, but Sarafina, Sienna or Mapenzi wasn't able to decide if it was in agreement or argument.
"She has not lead our hunts because she is grieving! She is still our leader and the closest thing to a queen that we have! I took leadership of the hunts as a favor to my superior, and you would do well to remember that you are outranked by the both of us at the moment!" Nala growled softly.
Once again, Sarabi's calm voice spoke over the arguments.
"Nala, stand down."
Nala's eyes widened in surprise at Sarabi's order. "I will not allow them to disrespect you this way, Sarabi. I know the pain you feel for Mufasa and Simba's loss, I do too and I will not allow them to remind you of it! I don't care if you are not officially our queen; you are still our leader!" Nala spoke from the corner of her mouth, keeping her eyes on her glaring sister.
Sarabi held her head high, pulling herself to her full height, which was impressive for a lioness. "I order you to stand down. All of you." She looked around the circle, holding the gaze of each lioness in turn. Slowly, the pride members began to relax, unwilling to disobey a direct order from their former queen. As the final set of claws was sheathed, Sarabi bowed her head and continued speaking, grief evident in her tone.
"You are right to be enraged for the actions of our new king. We all grieve over the loss of my mate, our prince, and the young male cub, myself more than anyone. But that does not mean that we can act lawlessly and without reason! We have no able males to challenge Scar, and there is no evidence that Simba is alive. Therefore, Scar is our king and Gwen our queen. We must respect him; if not for ourselves, then for our cubs and the future of our pride. We must remain strong and do what is right for our pride. Perhaps one day, a rogue will appear and challenge Scar. We can only hope that we will one day have a just and true leader. Until then, we have each other. Fighting amongst ourselves is not going to solve anything! We must survive and hope for the best." Sarabi once again met the gaze of each lioness in turn, but this time was met with bowed heads and respect. With a sigh, she smiled gently. "Come. Tomorrow is a new day. Let us rest."
Walking past Nala, the dark beige lioness nuzzled the younger lioness who has been like a daughter to her and whispered a quiet thank you.
As the other lionesses filed toward either the small or hunter's den, Sienna slowly approached her mother and father, who had recently returned from patrol with her uncle, Malka, Tojo, Chumvi and Luis.
Sienna was still shaken from her encounter with Scar and seeing Nala act so ferociously toward her sister. After being reassured by a gentle nuzzle from her mother, the young cub started toward the small den that had been her home since the new reign.
Gently, Malka picked Sienna up by the scruff, taking her instead to the den where their family, Sarabi, Sienna, Asra slept with the couple Aria and Tojo.
Finding a spot a little ways from the rest of the den mates, Kula and Malka cuddled their cub, bathing her soothingly and purring to reassure her. After some time, the den was filled with snores from all of the inhabitants.
As the night sky darkened and the Kings of the Past began to shine, Sienna laid her head on her sore forepaws. Although she had always been an active cub, she was not accustomed to walking as far as the hunting party traveled in a day, and her body was weary.
The light beige cub sighed, snuggling close to the sleeping form of her light brown mother and allowing herself to succumb to the sadness she still felt at the turmoil of the day.
Sienna lay quietly, listening to the sound of snores and also the sound of quiet sobs from where Sarabi lay with her daughter, Starra. As the night wore on with no sleep, Sienna quietly wandered outside of the unfamiliar den.
Looking out across the Pride Lands, she could see the forms of hyenas roaming in the night. Watching them and hearing their faint laughter, Sienna felt her heart fill with hate. She hated the hyenas, but more than anything, she hated Scar. Her jaw set and her tears stopped, the young cub thought about what poor Sarabi had said.
In that moment, with wisdom well beyond her short time, Sienna realized that her cubhood was over.