Hey there, and welcome back to the Lion King novel. We've gotten some more reviews, including from my old friend Canada Cowboy. Thanks for dropping by and taking a look at this story. I'm really glad you like it so far.

Also, someone said in a review that I kinda overshadowed Kamari and Azizi in the elephant graveyard chapter. Fortunately, those two will get more screen time here...or at least the novel equivalent of screen time. I hope they get enough of that in this chapter.

Uploading Date: August 21, 2019

Enjoy!

...

Be Prepared

Back in the elephant graveyard, Shenzi was livid. Mufasa had dared to invade her territory, and for what? Two tasty lion cubs that shouldn't be in her territory in the first place? She had every right to eat those cubs for being on her territory, and yet she was the one to come out wounded, while Mufasa and Simba waltzed back to the Pride Lands. That thought was enough to make her tear her own fur off.

She had been discussing plans with Kamari and Azizi on what to do next. While Banzai and Ed were her best friends, she relied on Kamari and Azizi for carrying out plans. Now she left them alone to argue while she tended to her wound, listening to them from a ledge above them. As for the den they lived in, it was the biggest den in the elephant graveyard, enough to fit a dozen hyenas.

When it came to rest from their battle, Kamari walked over to sit closer to the wall. "Next time Mufasa comes here, I'll teach him a lesson he's never gonna forget," he snapped, licking at a wound.

"Come on, Kamari, what can you teach him?" Azizi asked brightly. "He knows a lot of stuff. He's a wise king."

Kamari rolled his eyes and sighed. "I wasn't gonna actually teach him anything, dummy," he retorted. "Now go away and give me some space."

Still not getting what Kamari was saying, Azizi pressed on. "We can teach him how to chase down the sick and injured," he suggested, smiling. "Or we can teach him about how we raise our cubs."

"What I meant was," Kamari growled, trying not to lose patience with Azizi, "is that Mufasa was being unfair for prancing in and beating us up. He's gonna pay for this."

"Okay, I get it now," said Azizi, sitting down next to Kamari. "Just a question, though: what'll we make him pay with? A wildebeest? I can go for some wildebeest. Can we have some wildebeest?"

Kamari slapped his own forehead with a paw, grumbling to himself. When he spoke aloud, he snapped while walking away, "Now I know you're doing this on purpose. I need my personal space. Lay anywhere in here, but not near me."

Azizi got up as well and walked...right after Kamari and sat next to him again. With an anguished growl, Kamari muttered something about Azizi being spiteful this time around.

Not too far away, Banzai was grumbling a lot louder than Kamari. "Man, that lousy Mufasa!" he snarled. "I won't be sittin' for a week!"

He tried scooting again, but it didn't work. Ed just giggled at the sight of the claw marks on his friend's rear.

"It's not funny, Ed," snapped Banzai.

Ed clamped his paws over his mouth, as if to stop himself from laughing. But he couldn't hold it anymore, and he let loose a very loud cackle.

"Hey, shut up!" Banzai growled.

But Ed kept laughing. With a snarl, Banzai pounced on Ed, and the two were now wrestling on the cave floor. Kamari glanced up from laying down, giving them a scolding glare, while Azizi tried sidling up to him again.

Shenzi rolled her eyes. She appreciated having Banzai and Ed around, ever since they were all pups together. But when they fought each other over stupid reasons, it started to get annoying. She was close to them, yet they were pretty much silly, while Kamari and Azizi weren't as close but much more competent.

"Will you knock it off?!" Shenzi snapped at the two males.

The two broke away from their fight, leaving Ed to start gnawing on his own leg. "He started it!" Banzai whined, pointing at Ed.

Shenzi climbed down from the rock, Kamari and Azizi at her heels. "Look at you guys! No wonder we're danglin' at the bottom of the food chain."

"Man, I hate danglin,'" griped Banzai while drooling a bit.

"You know, if it weren't for those high and mighty lions, we'd be runnin' the joint," Shenzi continued.

Banzai shook his head as if he had gotten wet. "Man, I hate lions!"

"They're so pushy..." Shenzi started.

"...and hairy..." added Banzai.

"...and stinky..." giggled Azizi.

"And boy, are they UGLY!" all three of them said, ending with insane laughter.

But suddenly, a new voice echoed in the cave. "Surely, we lions are not all that bad?" the voice said, smooth yet slick.

The hyenas spun around. From the frame that filled their cave entrance, they at first thought that Mufasa had come back. But this lion was skinnier, more frail compared to the more powerful Mufasa. When the lion stepped in, he indeed had darker fur and the black mane, and one did not simply forget the scar over his left eye. In his mouth, he held the dismembered leg of a zebra.

Banzai, Ed, and Azizi looked at the zebra leg with grins and lolling tongues, but Shenzi was on alert, Kamari by her side. Even though she and Scar were civil towards each other, their alliance was on shaky ground. Banzai, Ed, and Azizi seemed to like Scar the most, but Shenzi herself and Kamari were wary around the king's brother. If he tried anything against the hyenas, he would become the snack that Prince Simba should have been.

"I thought it was somebody important," Shenzi snarked.

"Yeah, like Mufasa," said Banzai, his voice dripping with dislike for the king.

"Tell me about it," said Shenzi. "I hear that name, and I shudder."

With a grin, Banzai exclaimed, "Mufasa!"

This made Shenzi shiver, her dark fur ruffling. "Do it again," she told Banzai.

"Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa!" Banzai chanted some more. "Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa!"

Shenzi rolled down on the ground, yelping "It tingles me!" Azizi and Ed leaned against each other, laughing loudly as if they had heard the funniest joke ever.

While this went on, Scar shook his head. He was allied with some of the hyenas here, but he didn't like their antics at all. They were sometimes no better than a lion cub. And Shenzi, a leader herself, could easily be fooled into acting so immature. "I'm surrounded by idiots," he muttered.

"You and me," Kamari agreed, having heard Scar.

"Not you, Scar," piped up Banzai as he, Shenzi, and Azizi stopped laughing. "You're our buddy, our pal."

"You're one of us," Azizi said with a big goofy grin. "You're more hyena than we are!"

Somehow, that sounded like an insult to Scar. "Charmed," he drawled.

"That's why I like him," Azizi told Banzai and Ed. "He's not a king, but he's got our backs. Or is that necks?"

Banzai snickered. "Got that right, Azizi. Hey, Scar!" he barked to the lion in question. "You got anything to eat, ol' buddy, ol' pal?"

Scar merely glanced down at the meat, which the hyenas looked at like they were starving dogs. After the paltry attempt at the cubs life, he was surprised that they were surprised that they were getting anything to eat.

"I don't think you five deserve this," Scar told the hyenas, picking up the meat. "You have stripped your own land dry with your greedy gullets. How do you explain living in this countryside of bones? Yet I practically gift-wrapped those two cubs for you, and you couldn't even dispose of them."

"We can always eat you instead," Kamari replied, giving Scar a contemptuous scowl. "Seriously, this can be the first time we've ever tasted a lion."

Azizi licked his lips, drooling. "Yeah. Some lion tenders sound good right about now."

Scar rolled his eyes and dropped the meat in front of them, and he climbed onto a nearby rock to watch them eat. Immediately, the hyenas were on the zebra leg, eating all they could. Gulps and chewing and growls echoed in the cave as they devoured the zebra meat, briefly nipping each other to get the choice cuts.

"You know," Shenzi said, her mouth full, "it's not like they were alone, Scar."

"Yeah, what're we supposed to do?" Banzai added, swallowing his mouthful of zebra meat. "Kill Mufasa?"

Scar grinned. "Precisely."

The hyenas shared glances before looking back at Scar. What did he mean by killing Mufasa?

"Look, it's that simple," said Scar, climbing down the rock towards the hyenas. "I know how tiresome it can be, living in this graveyard. Why eat one meal when you can eat for the rest of your lives?"

Again, the hyenas shared confused glances. Shenzi stepped out from around the stripped zebra bone until she stood face-to-face with Scar. "Yeah? What can you offer us, huh?"

"I can offer you a place where your hunger will be completely satisfied," said Scar. "A land where everything the light touches is yours for the taking. That's why I want you to be prepared."

The hyenas shared glances, and then they laughed. Shenzi almost joined them. Scar was no better than his brother, waltzing into the place like he owned it and lorded his superiority over them. But a chance to get a lot of food seemed too good to be true...in fact, it was literally a little too good to be true.

"You for real?" Shenzi snapped. "The Pride Lands ain't yours to give away for free."

Kamari stood beside Shenzi, nodding. "Yeah, Mufasa controls those hunting grounds. That's why we aren't allowed there now and why he chases us off."

"And that's why we're waiting for the death of the king," Scar replied. "Once he dies, I will allow you to cross over freely into the Pride Lands unchallenged."

"Why, is he sick?" Azizi asked curiously.

Scar scoffed. Sometimes, these hyenas really were stupid. "No, fool, we're going to kill him."

"Great idea," Shenzi piped up with a snicker. "Who needs a king?"

Together, Banzai, Ed, and Azizi started dancing in a circle. "No king, no king, la la la la la la!" they sang, while Kamari rolled his eyes.

"Idiots!" Scar roared. "There will be a king! I will be king!"

Before anyone could say anything else, Shenzi got serious again. "Be real, though, Scar," she growled. "Lions and hyenas have been fightin' ever since the dawn of time. They steal each other's kills and kill each other's cubs. You'd never fight on our side!"

Scar shrugged, not wanting to argue. "It is true. But the truth is, my kind hates your kind even more. They are too prejudiced to look beyond their own noses and care for the other predators that share their lands," he preached. "But where others may describe greed as a sin, I see it as a virtue. I call it ambition. Mufasa has always shown too much restraint when it comes to hunting. Which is why I will become king. Stick with me, and you will never go hungry again. The mighty will claim what is rightfully theirs, to take whatever they want. Because a hyena's belly is never full."

Shenzi looked away from Scar and shared glances with her clan. What Scar was saying really did sound like a dream come true. All the food they could eat, with no one to stop them. It sounded like paradise to the hyenas.

But then again, it sounded crazy. Mufasa was a brute to their kind, but he wasn't stupid. While the hyenas had numbers on their side, Mufasa had the lionesses' skill and strength. It didn't matter if the hyenas outnumbered the lions, they themselves were outmatched.

"How could you think that this'll work?" she questioned. "Mufasa's far too powerful to challenge."

Kamari nodded. "Yeah. He thrashed us pretty good when he rescued those cubs." He pawed at his badly torn ear. "I think I'm still feeling it."

"Speaking of cubs, my brother has a weakness that he has never had before," Scar pressed on, ignoring the hyenas' antics. "It is a weakness that clouds his judgement."

"Simba?" Shenzi guessed. She used a paw to rub over the claw marks a certain cub had made on her muzzle. "You mean that spunky prince kid who scratched me?"

Scar nodded. "Indeed. We can be rid of him too."

Shenzi slowly nodded, her eyes meeting Scar's. Maybe Scar's idea didn't sound that bad after all. If she and her clan helped in offing Mufasa and Simba, then she could make sure that Scar would keep his end of the bargain. They would never starve again.

"All right then," she declared, holding her head up. "We're in. What d'you want us to do?"

"Be prepared for the chance of a lifetime," Scar replied, climbing to the top of the tallest rock. "Be prepared for the coup of the century, for the murkiest scam. And prepare for this revolution." The hyenas nodded together, now at full attention. "Now...are your teeth and ambitions bared?"

All five hyenas nodded and bared their teeth. Out of the shadows loomed more hyenas, even more than the ones that chased the cubs, baring their teeth as well. They were indeed enough to outnumber the lionesses at Pride Rock.

Scar smiled, his dreams of becoming king closer than ever before. "Good. Because my teeth and ambitions are bared as well." With a roar that echoed in the cave, he bellowed, "Be prepared!"

To be continued...