The clan bristled, most of them snarling as they huddled together in an aggressive cluster. Shenzi wheeled to stand at their head facing the lion, who nonchalantly sidled into view on a rock ledge far above them and settled down on his stomach.
"I suppose you're wondering why a lion would help hyenas," he said, his tone so casual it was almost a purr.
"Lions don't help hyenas," Shenzi said flatly, answering quickly before Usaliti could butt in and try to set the tone for the conversation.
"If you ask the others, I'm barely a lion," the lion said, a hard edge creeping into his voice. "It seems the lions of Pride Rock make enemies easily."
"You're their enemy as well, I suppose?" Shenzi asked, putting sarcasm in her tone for the benefit of those behind her. They didn't know the two had spoken before and she was guarding that to herself. The entire situation was very precarious and intricate and any shred of extra information she had was precious.
To her relief the lion played along with her. "You're not the only ones the pride has mistreated," he said. "You're not the only ones who would be pleased to see them… removed."
"You're going to take down the lions?" Usaliti cracked. Shenzi permitted her interruption. It was a valid question on the entire clan's minds and the others needed to express their anger and suspicion as well.
"I'm not going to do anything," the lion said. He raised a paw and delicately examined his claws in a motion that seemed to Shenzi bizarrely vain for a beast of prey. "Not for a long time."
"Then why the food?" Shenzi asked.
"Patience, patience," the lion tutted. "I'm not going to do anything… for the moment. Not until I think of a way that will destroy them without the slightest risk of harm to me. Or… to you."
"Us?" Shenzi demanded. "We're not part of this."
"And that brings us back to the food," the lion said. "I'm not doing anything yet. But I do know that if ever I do have a plan, it would pay to have some friends. Friendship is earned and proven only with time. Best to start now so if ever that day comes you will already know my loyalty."
"Why would a lion come to a hyena for help?" Shenzi asked, not expecting an answer. She'd asked the lion multiple times already and he'd given her nothing but pretty-sounding but empty words, something she was coming to see was a habit from him.
The lion stood and looked down at them with new energy.
"Because it's time the hyenas finally got their due. Who is it that hunts the food the lions steal? Hyenas. Who is it that's been driven from their homes again and again because the lions never have enough for themselves? The hyenas. Hyenas are twice as strong and twice as fierce as any lion I've known. If the lions have no place for me perhaps the hyenas will do me that honor," the lion growled.
To Shenzi's surprise, she smelled uncertainty on her clanmates behind her. No doubt they were thinking the same thing she was. It was only one lion up there. Clearly he was rejected by his pride if he was willing to come to the elephant graveyard and speak to hyenas. And he was the first to speak to the hyenas- to speak to them as equals and not to give them orders he felt he was entitled to give. It was the first time she'd ever heard a lion say something complimentary about a hyena. And he said it with such fervor and such sincerity. Crazy or not, she found herself believing that he believed it.
"Just let me assist you to get some small part of what you deserve," the lion continued once he saw that no one was going to interrupt him. "Give me a chance to repay you for all the lions have done."
Shenzi turned to look at her clanmates. Some of them were riveted on the lion, already waiting for him to tell them more. Others, mostly the older hyenas, had grown bored of him and were looking hungrily at the antelope. Almost none of them looked openly hostile. Inevitably, it came down to herself. She was the leader and it was time for her to speak.
"We'll take your food," she said. "We owe you nothing."
"What?!"
Usaliti surged out of the crowd and ran to Shenzi's side, her eyes flashing. "You're going to serve a lion?"
"I serve no one," Shenzi said, raising herself into a dominant stance.
Usaliti failed to respond with a submissive stance. "What kind of leader are you?"
It was not a direct challenge. Shenzi could read in Usaliti's voice and eyes that she had no intention of challenging her at that moment. But she did see that she now thought it was an option. She did not yet dare but would be searching for the moment when she did.
Shenzi rolled her eyes upwards at Scar as though she thought she had seen something. Usaliti followed her gaze, lifting her head to see the lion. Instantly Shenzi buried her teeth in Usaliti's exposed throat. As Usaliti reflexively reared back Shenzi twisted her head to the side and tore herself free, her still-clenched jaws ripping out a channel of flesh. Usaliti's wild, strangled whines sliced through the air as she wheeled, running panicked in a half-circle as her blood sprayed out like a tilted waterfall. It pooled at her feet until she slipped in it and her foot shot out from under her. She lay on her side, twitching and wetly gasping. The other hyenas stood motionless with shock and uncertainty.
"Are there any other questions as to who is the leader of the hyenas?" the dark-maned lion asked as though nothing noteworthy had happened. And with those final words Shenzi was convinced. She was the leader of the hyenas. All of this was her own idea.
There's the rest of the chapter! Sorry about the anticlimax with Usaliti but Shenzi's pragmatic, not honorable. Of course this won't be her only enemy... Also I'm super glad to see a new reader! For you I'll definitely have to finish it!