Chapter 6

Sabini moved away from the others, grunting to herself. She didn't understand how they could be so blind. Simba assured them all that the Outsiders had changed, that the influence of Scar and Zira was long gone. But it wasn't long dead spirits and tyrants she was concerned with. The outsiders had chosen to follow Zira and Zira had fallen in love with Scar, without any undue influence of dark spirits or ancient shamanism. They had chosen to support a murderer and killer, and they had spent years in the wilderness training and rehearsing their eventual coup. She seethed quietly. It ought not to take a genius to figure out who had been killing for pleasure, who had been hunting to extreme. It had always been the followers of Scar before. Why should she expect any better of them now? She wisely kept such thoughts to herself, but she knew that it could only have been a matter of time. She'd hoped it wasn't true, of course. At least that was what told herself. She'd hoped her suspicions were unfounded, that she was merely being paranoid. It brought her no comfort. Her brooding continued for some time, until movement ahead distracted her out of her thoughts. Two of the Lion Guard were approaching, and seemed to be dragging something between them. At first, she thought with alarm that one of the other lionesses had been injured – or worse, that perhaps there was a mysterious threat stalking the Pridelands after all, and it had struck at her Pridesisters. But that was quickly shown not to be the case. This was grey furred and black manned, with a spotted hide. She recoiled.

"A hyena?" Why on earth had they brough a hyena into the Pridelands? Her questions would have to wait though, because already the rest of the Pride was spilling out of Pride Rock. With a roar, she saw Vitani hurtle past her, and immediately began interrogating one of the lionesses even as the other laid the hyena onto the grass. The wretched thing was hideously injured, that was apparent to anyone, even one without any of the expertise in herbs and medicines that some of the lionesses had. She was covered in blood, and her breath was shallow. She was no herbivore, but it made her draw breath.

"Damu! I need you!" Vitani shouted, and she saw the quiet lioness leap to her feet. Damu was present, there at her left paw, even as she was called.

"What can I do?" She asked her, looking stricken. Vitani stared down at the hyena on the ground.

"You know your way with the medical herbs? Can you do anything for her?" She asked her. Damu looked over Jasiri once, and nodded.

"Maybe. Quickly. Press the wound to slow the bleeding. Here." And without so much as another word, she all but shoved Vitani out of the way. The leader of the Lion Guard seemed more than happy to let her take over, and she looked about at the other lionesses in the small crowd that was forming at the base of Pride Rock. The cubs had stopped playing and where looking on in alarm. Unsurprisingly, they looked shaken.

"Someone needs to alert the King!" Vitani said. Before any of the lionesses could respond, and was sudden movement from between the paws of Almasi.

"I'll go!" A voice said. The voice belonged to one of the cubs, one of the twins. He looked faintly queasy at the sight of the injured hyena, but was eagerly scampering away, running as quickly as he could in the direction of the watering hole where he knew King Simba would be.

"No, Inti!" His mother, called out after him. But the flame haired cub was already going. She made as if to follow him, but Vitani shook her head.

"Let him, Almasi. It's not like he can do much else to be of help here." Vitani said, ignoring the looks of surprise from the other lionesses, presumably at the shock of sending a young cub to summon the king of all people like a serving-bird… Damu meanwhile was inspecting the hyena, and counting the number of deep wounds.

"She's bleeding heavily, and I can't guess count how many ribs she's broken…" She said.

"Mom, here –" Zuri told her. The young cub had dragged a pair of stone coloured gourds from their place at the back of the den. They contained a few herbs and fungi that the lionesses used from time to time to treat the seriously injured. It was shamanism, of a sort, Vitani suspected. Damu had learnt some of their secrets from Meetra, the Outlanders medicine lioness. Though her own talents were nothing compared to the Pridelands Mjuzi, Rafiki, whose skill with medicine bordered on the arcane. Damu thanked her daughter, and immediately began sorting through the powdered herbs and juices. It seemed pitifully inferior compared to the hyena's injuries.

"Vitani, this is far beyond my skill, she needs a real Shaman quickly. Rafiki or Makini – " She began, But Vitani shook her head.

"Well, Rafiki isn't here and Makini is with Kion at the Tree of Life, you're all she has." Vitani snapped, more sharply than she had intended. "This is Jasiri… Kion's friend…" Vitani said quietly.

That drew some gasps from the other lionesses. There were very few hyenas whose names were well known to the people of the Pridelands, and even fewer of those were held in what might be termed respect. Or thought of as friends. Everyone knew about Jasiri though. She was the hyena who led a small clan in the Outlands, forgoing the great clans of her people in the Shadowlands, and instead eking out a subdued existence with a similarly minded band of outcasts. She always maintained a friendly veneer when among the lionesses of the Pridelands, though she had been seen less and less within their borders since Kion had departed the Pridelands to rule the Night Pride. It made more sense, Sabini supposed. Any other hyena would have been left to die on the edge of the Pridelands. Vitani winced at that. Perhaps, before her, was the only creature in the whole of the Serengeti who understood how she felt about that… Vitani turned to the Lion Guard that had brought her.

"Explain yourself." She said. Tazama flinched, though Imara shrugged.

"Ask her." She said. Tazma said evenly. Imara didn't look away.

"We found her near the Outland border. We had a… brief… fight with some jackals. And she was nearby." Imara said.

"Jackals did this to her?" Vitani asked her, looking shocked. Maybe she was wrong, and the threat facing the Pridelands was a particularly vicious, and stealthy, band of reavers from the Outlands.

"No. We don't think so. She was exhausted. She was running from something." Tazama said, looking frightened.

"Running? Running from what?" Shabaha asked her. The bravest in the Pridelands looked eager to finally have some answers, but she had none to offer her. Instead they looked back to where Jasiri was lying about.

"Mom? What's going on?" Kiava asked. He could sense the agitation around him. Vitani cursed.

"Kiara, get him out of here, he doesn't need to see this!" Vitani said, once again forgetting propriety in the moment, and glaring at the princess. She'd regret her bluntness later. She was too used to giving orders. Nevertheless Kiara snapped up the protesting Prince, and moved him back to the den of Pride Rock.

"Can we get her to lair of the Lion Guard, before Simba arrives at least?" Vitani asked, and with little further provocation, the other lionesses helped Vitani move Jasiri there. The hyena was completely unconscious, and Sabini watched them go in shock. It didn't sit well with her. She wasn't one to abandon someone in need of help, but everyone knew what had happened the last time the hyenas were welcomed into the Pridelands. She hoped Vitani knew what she was doing.

Back within the main den of Pride Rock, Kiava was indignantly trying to break loose of his mother.

"Mom!" He protested. "Let me go! I want to see! I want to know what's going on!" He said. Kiara deposited him on the ground.

"I said no! Kiava please, I don't have time. Not now. A friend of your uncle has been hurt, and we need to make sure he's okay without having cubs underfoot. I just need you to keep our of the way for bit." Kiara protested.

"But Zuri –"

"Is busy helping her mother, like a good cub!"

"But Mom –"

"I said no! Enough!" Kiara said, raising her voice slightly. That was unusual for her, and Kiava knew it, and backed off. Her volume however had attracted other attention.

"Hey – what's going on – Oh! Highness! Sorry! I'll leave." The adolescent said, getting up to go. Rather than look annoyed, Kiara instead smiled at him and beckoned him forward, causing Danyal to blush.

"Where – Oh. Danyal. Thank the Kings. Here. Please, watch Kiava for me." Kiara looked relieved. Danyal started, looking at the Princess in surprise. Before this week, she had barely exchanged ten words with him. Now it seemed, she knew him on sight. It wasn't to be unexpected, they weren't a massive Pride, but it still surprised him that the Princess would so readily request he watch over the royal cub. Surely there were more suitable candidates. He was about to articulate as such, but in no time at all, Kiara was rushing back to the rest of her family. She seemed pale, but determined.

"Princess –" He began, to say, but Kiara was already nodding in thanks.

"Thank you!" She said, and with that, Kiara rushed off, back out of the den to where her father, and Kovu were quickly approaching, and were soon directed to the lair of the Lion Guard, where Damu was administering what few herbs they had access to. The red maned King looked weary and thin to his eye. Danyal watched her leave. He quashed his immediate thought. The Princess had asked him to do something, so he was going to do it, like it or not.

"What's going on?" Kiava asked of him. Before he could answer, they were quickly joined by Sara who had been waiting nearby, and had been clawing at the grass earlier. A moment later they were joined too by Inti who had returned with the King and Prince Kovu, before being unceremoniously sent away to join his friends back at Pride Rock, away from the carnage.

"I don't know! They said that someone had been hurt…" Sara said. Inti nodded in agreement.

"I got a good look at them, there was loads of blood. It was a hyena I think." Inti said.

"Hyenas! Are we fighting hyenas now!"

"No! No one is fighting anyone. Are they?"

"Well someone must be, or they wouldn't be hurt."

"No, Mom said it was of Uncle Kion's Friends."

"King Kion has hyena friends?"

"It could have been an accident."
"Some accident."

"Enough. We shouldn't speculate." Danyal said sharply. The sullen youth looked to be repressing his own irritation at the three cubs.

"Yeah, why don't you ask our parents? They'll tell you what's going on." Sara said, pleadingly. Danyal made a sound. Ah. To be young and have such naivety. To the rest of the Prides eyes, he was little more than a cub himself, albeit one who enjoyed a little more autonomy then the three helpless cubs in front of him.

"They might have. Except now, I have to watch you three, so that's what I'm going to do. Zuri is helping her mother with the herbs, maybe you can ask her about it when she's done." The twins looked about expectedly. Sara still seemed skittish about him. That wasn't unusual. Inti enjoyed his company for the stories he knew and could tell, but Sara was not one for stories of fighting and killing, and that hardly seemed appropriate right now. Kiava looked after his mother with an odd expression. Then he sighed.

"Alright. Fine. We'll wait… What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" he asked.

"Is there any food?" Inti asked. They hadn't eaten since yesterday, and that hadn't been a particularly large meal. Danyal rolled his eyes.

"No. You'll get me in trouble if you start raiding the little meat we have outside of mealtime." Danyal said. Sara nodded.

"Yeah Inti, stop thinking with your stomach." She said. Inti immediately pounced upon her, and soon enough the siblings were rolling in the dirt, each trying to pin the other. Danyal let out an audible groan. He had personally intended to catch up on some much-needed sleep. The recent goings on the Pridelands hadn't been conducive to a being a well-rested lion. But that seemed a fruitless enterprise now.

"I guess you can play some sort of game?" He suggested idly. That should be fine. So long as -

"Tag!" Kiava said, jabbing him with a claw. The three cubs scattered in separate directions. He sighed. So much for that.

Meanwhile, In the lair of the Lion Guard, on the other side of Pride Rock, Simba and Kovu finally joined their respective mates,

"Dad! Oh, it's just awful!" Kiara couldn't keep the pain out of her voice as she quickly explained to Simba all that had occurred and what the Lion Guard had found. Vitani paced nearby, feeling useless, and throwing angry glares and sullen looks at anyone who dared get in her way. Simba felt the same way. He and Kovu had been marking the southern borders of the Pridelands in the vain hope that it would ward off whatever it was that they faced. They had been attentive and quick about it, but he didn't think it would make much difference.

"Poor Jasiri…" Nala murmured.

"She isn't dead just yet. Damu is doing the best she can, but she really does need some kind of Shaman, or I don't like to think what will happen." Kiara fretted. Simba nuzzled his daughter.

"We won't let that happen. I've sent birds to Rafiki's tree, but he wasn't there when they got there. Rafiki isn't known for sticking around in one place for too long." Simba said.

"I take it we'll be playing host for Jasiri until she recovers?" Kovu asked. Simba nodded fervently.

"Of course. Jasiri might be a hyena, but she's proven herself to be a friend to the Pridelands time and time again. Be sure to remind any of the lionesses of that, if they raise objections to letting hyenas within our borders." Simba said. Nala smiled. A handful of the more conservative lionesses might have reservations on the issue, but long gone were the days where Simba leapt to judgement on such things.

"I'll make sure the rest of the lionesses know not to bother her. And make sure Damu and her daughter are holding up okay." Kiara said. The princess nuzzled her father, who looked down on her fondly.

"Is there anything we can do Simba?" Timon asked interrupting their moment. Simba looked down at the aging meerkat between his feet. Simba sighed, and tried to imagine how all this would feel to the short insectivore. He had always been of a nervous disposition around Pride Rock.

"Huh. Unlikely." Zazu said, the blue hornbill swooping down and looking around at the rest of the Kings closest friends and advisors with a gloomy expression. The bird's usual acidic tone wasn't present. Instead, he seemed positively grim. Timon rolled his eyes, and looked to Simba expectantly.

"Uh, Timon…" Pumba offered, but Simba shook his head.

"I'll tell you what you can do, Timon. See if you can rustle up some grubs. Or some snails. I have the feeling I might need a few tonight…" He said. Nala, usually the epitome of stone-like grace and beauty couldn't help but make a repulsed sound, and Timon nodded, smiling wistfully at the memory of times gone by.

"If I might be so bold as to impose, sire," Zazu, said, shuffling his feathers. "I might just join in that enterprise." And fluttered off with Timon and Pumba. Nala chuckled.

"Don't stay up too late, Simba. You know what those vile things do to your indigestion." She said, shaking her head, and flicking her tail at him as she left. Simba watched her go, with an entirely guilty expression.

"Simba." Kovu said, when it was just him and Vitani left. Simba held up a paw.

"Vitani?" Simba asked.

"Yes my King?" Vitani replied. It was strange, with Vitani. She could forget all propriety and lose all sense of decorum and dignity in the heat of the moment, but trying to get her to loosen up, even around her own family, in times of quiet was an exercise in futility.

"Tell the Lion Guard, Good work. Who knows how long Jasiri would have lasted out there by herself. She owes you her life, and we all owe you our thanks. You've trained them well." He said. Vitani looked at the ground.

"Not well enough sire. They're at each other's throats most of the time. They still look to me as if I'm…"

"As if you were your mother? They're used to anything and everything trying to kill them, and used to being in competition with one another for just about everything. Give them time. They'll get it. I underestimated one Lion Guard at its founding. I am not going to underestimate another." Simba assured her. Vitani looked askance.
"I am grateful for your confidence your majesty." She said. Though it was clear she didn't share it. Once upon a time she had boasted of the prowess of her Guard, and been humbled. She wasn't going to repeat that error. "We have more training in the morning. I need to –"

"Of course." Simba said. "You're dismissed Vitani. Good work. Well done." Simba said. Vitani stamped the ground in salute, and left them, leaving Kovu and Simba alone. Kovu watched his sister go.

"You know she can probably count the number of times Zira said that to her on one paw." Kovu muttered. Simba's expression hardened, as it often did when talk turned to Zira.

"Zira wasn't much of a mother to you." Simba said, candidly.

"Oh no, I heard her praise for every little thing I ever did. Vitani heard it much more rarely. And Nuka… well… You can guess how often that happened." Kovu said. There was an awkward silence.

"Kovu… when I exiled your mother, you know that I never dreamed –"

"What? That she'd willingly live in a burnt-out wasteland, and waste years of her life and her children plotting vengeance? I worked that out, Simba, fairly quickly. Even Zira's most loyal followers knew you meant her exile as a mercy. Not a torture. She chose to make her home in the Outlands, rather than let go of the past. You made a difficult choice. I've made my peace with it. I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same…" Kovu muttered.

"You wouldn't have?" Simba asked, with a sinking expression.

"Yeah. There is a definite chance I would just have had her killed." He said it flatly, with a hint of shame. At Simba's expression he quickly added. "It's what mother would have wanted. What she taught me." He said. Then he met Simba's eyes. "I don't know that I would have been as strong as you, if I were in your place. Not then." Kovu said. Simba smiled.

"And now?"

Kovu didn't answer. Simba sighed.

"Walk with me, Kovu." He said, and the two lions moved some distance from Pride Rock, even as the sun hung low in the sky. The two walked in silence for some time. Simba watched the dark maned Lion. For months and months, Kovu had reminded Simba of his own uncle. It had been a welcomed changed when one day, he had looked at Kovu and his first thought had been instead how his uncle faintly resembled Kovu, instead of vice versa. "You'll be faced with your own challenges. And when you do, you'll make right the choice. I'm confident of that." Simba assured him. "You and Vitani made every right call so far." He said.

"I wouldn't say that. Jasiri needed our help. Besides, maybe she can give us some idea what it is we are facing. If she's fought whatever it is that's attacking the Pridelands then maybe she knows something." Kovu suggested.

"True. I'll see to it that someone stays with her so we'll know when she awakes. In the meantime, we have to be ready for anything. Jasiri was running, and there was no sign of the rest of her clan. We'll need to make sure word gets to them that their leader is safe and sound in the Pridelands." Simba said, firmly.

"Jasiri wouldn't come here unless she felt she had no choice. She's turned down offers to make her home here before." Kovu shook his head. "Something frightened her."

"I guess that's it then." Simba said. He sighed. He didn't bother inviting his son-in-law to join him and his friends for snail-slurping later. Spirits help him, he might feel compelled to accept out of politeness.

"I should make one last patrol, round the northern borders…" Kovu idly said. Simba rolled his eyes.

"Oh no you don't. Leave it. This phantom has avoided the lion guard, and hasn't been deterred by our patrols yet. I doubt it will start tonight. Go home. There's nothing more you can do here." Simba said. Kovu nodded. He tried not to think of the aching pain in his stomach. There hadn't been much to eat the past few days. Not with the herds so devastated. The Pride had been cautious in their hunting. They couldn't afford to be aggressive now, not when there was no telling when or even if the herds would recover. What little food they had had gone to the younger members of the Pride, and rightly so.

"Are you sure? I can help…" Kovu asked. Simba nodded.

"You're not King yet, Son, and you have nothing to prove to me. That's my job. Go and spend some time with your mate and cub." Simba assured. The sickly red of the sky was turning dark now, and the first stars would soon be out. "She can't tell us anything until she wakes… Maybe Jasiri can shed some light on this whole affair when she does." He said, trailing off. Kovu sighed.

"I wish I could do more…" He said.

"You've done enough." Simba sighed. He paused, wondering if he should tell him of his plans with Nala. Of leaving the crown in their paws. He couldn't do that now of course. Couldn't abandon them in the middle of a crisis. "Kovu… You're going to be King of the Pridelands one day. When you are… Don't be scared. You can do it. You have everything you need in you to rule wisely, and fairly." He said honestly.

"Simba…" Kovu began, but Simba was waved away his concerns with a paw.

"I'm know I'm not as young as I was. But with age comes wisdom. And now I have it, I can look back without arrogance and tell you exactly where I made mistakes. I mean, I grew up in a Jungle. Raised by a warthog and a meerkat. I didn't know the first thing about ruling. I did my best, but I made mistakes. Your mother wasn't the first, and she wasn't my last. So please, trust me when I say that I already know that you will be a far wiser King than I ever was. When the time comes, have confidence in yourself. Zira was right about one thing, and one thing only. You will be a Great King. And I couldn't be prouder of the two of you." Simba said. For a moment, Kovu didn't have the words to reply to such a statement. Then he nodded.

"Thank you. I'll do my best." He said simply.

"I know you will. I've never doubted it." Simba said, nodding. Kovu left him then, and pausing to look back only once, leaving Simba deep in thought. Simba watched him go. Then looked up at the stars, twinkling overhead. For a while he just stood there, and slowly sank to the ground, ignoring the lingering ache in his own stomach. He'd promised his subjects that they'd never go hungry again after Scar's disastrous rule. Till now that had been just about the only promise he'd been able to keep in its entirety. The hours drifted past, but he didn't return to Pride Rock to join his subjects. Instead, he continued to wander. Kovu would let Nala know and stop her fretting.

"What would you have done?" he asked the heavens. The stars gleamed down at him. Silent and unmoving. They hadn't ever look so dim and cold to his eyes. "You would have sought out this threat, and not stopped until you had ripped it out, root and stem." He said. "You would have had the trust of all of us. You'd have led a united Pride." He paused. Early in his reign, Nala had told him to be more confident in his ruling, to lead by example, and with authority. But he had seen the failures of that too, in his affairs with Zira and the rest of the Outlanders. Now there was no one here, no one watching, no lionesses, or Kovu, or Timon and Pumba. He let out a long and drawn out sigh.

"You did say that you'd never leave me. You promised me. That I'd never be alone. So why do I feel so lost? Vitani's Guard… It isn't going to be enough is it? Kion was right. It isn't enough to just be the best. They have to be a team." He stared up at the stars.

"Father… Dad… Please. I need you more than ever… I want to hear your voice… But all I can hear is silence." He shook his head. Kion's connection to the Spirits had always been stronger than his. He'd claimed to have been able to commune with his ancestors at will. Simba didn't doubt him, but he had always been envious. He had never truly heard his father's voice except once, that fateful night all those years ago, whilst living a carefree existence in the jungle far from here across the great desert.

Silently, pleading, he listened to the wind. But there was nothing. Like always. He let out a sigh. It was dark now. And Pride Rock was a distant shape on the horizon. It would take a while to walk back. Maybe it would clear his head.

A voice, high and unpleasant to the ear, interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh, I wouldn't feel too inadequate over it. The twilight realm is in complete disarray. The Kings aren't silent. You just can't hear them over the rest of the screaming." He said.

Simba turned, and stared at the figure who had somehow managed to sneak up on him, without his knowing. Curious. He gave off no scent, and had made no noise when he approached. Simba didn't like being surprised. The ape before him leaned on a staff of thornwood. "That's if you ever heard them to begin with, and weren't just arguing with the voices in your head…" He offered.

"What? I am sorry, who… Who are you?" Simba expression was one of abject shock. He had not become King by asking pointless questions his foes were disinclined to answer. He had been, the first question on his lips would have been 'why?' and he doubted he'd have received a satisfying answer. Instead, he stared at the curious creature before him. He had never seen his kind before, though it was no mystery as to what proverbial family belonged too. His mind raced. "Who are you? What are you? If you don't mind me asking." Simba asked. The creature, who seemed so knowledgeable in the affairs of spirits gave him a grimace like smile.

"I'm curious to see if you can guess, your Majesty."

"You're an ape." He said, looking him up and down.

"An orangutan, specifically. I am unoffended, I'd be terribly surprised if you'd ever seen one of my kind before." It stretched out unusually long arms. It gave him a gangly appearance, even to Simba, for whom bipeds were already a curiosity. "And so much more." Simba's eyes narrowed, taking in the staff, with its threads of stones, thorny spiked tip, and the strands of knuckle-bones tied into his fur, that clicked and rattled as he moved his neck about. He commanded a presence with his very being that Simba found hauntingly familiar.

"You're a Mjuzi. A Shaman. Like Rafiki." Simba said. The creature tossed its wooden rod into the air, and gripped with his tail before clapping his hands together in insincere admiration. The applause did little to settle Simba's nerves.

"Oh, you are good!" The Orangutan exclaimed. "I can see why Rafiki likes you. And why you made an excellent King." He said. The wind blew and ruffled the orangutans' fur, but it was a cold wind that sent a chill down Simba's spine and brought no comfort to him. Simba didn't like this figure one bit. There was no warmth in his eyes. The gleam that lay there was cold, calculating, and ruthless.

"You know Rafiki?" Simba asked him. He didn't feel like a friend of Rafiki, or the company that he would choose to keep. The Orangutan's eyes narrow, and he glared at Simba.

"Oh indeed. I know him too well." When he smiled, his lips stretched apart in a way that Simba couldn't emulate, revealing narrow pointed teeth and red, raw gums that almost seemed to be bleeding. "My name is Marsade. Though I rather doubt he has mentioned me… We last parted ways on… poor terms. I am so very much looking forward to meeting him again. I want to see if he got my present, to begin with. Then I have much to thank him for." He said. Simba took a step forward. There was no ambiguity to that statement.

"I don't know who you are, Marsade. I feel I ought to warn you, that Rafiki is a friend to the Pridelands, to the Crown and to me personally. If you mean him ill…" He trailed off.

"Oh King Simba. I wouldn't concern yourself with Rafiki. Soon enough, you and yours will curse the day he entered your lives, and brought such devastation down upon you, the likes of which will make Bane, Scar and Zira seem a fond memory." He smirked. Simba shook his head, having no patience for oily words or idle threats.

"It is unwise to make threats, Marsade. Cryptic or otherwise. To me, my Kingdom, or any of my friends. One would think a Mjuzi would keep that wisdom." The Orangutan leapt back, delighting in Simba's anger.

"I'm not here to fight you Simba… That honour belongs to another. I'm simply here to make an introduction. This meeting has been a long time coming… That I assure you." His eyes flashed, and he muttered something.

Sometimes, Simba once reflected, when Rafiki was at his strangest, he would speak in a garbled old tongue, wave his stick, and create strange smelling ointments and potions. When he did so, occasionally those around him would feel strange. Like the world was shifting slightly, like a silent, ghostly wind was changing direction, or the faintest tremors in the ground had changed in timbre. Like the beating heart of Africa had momentarily skipped a beat. How though, when Marsade spoke, harsh and cruel, Simba's untuned heart leapt as he felt the earth scream in silence and the circle of life lurch and gasp in protest. The world twisted somehow in a way invisible to his senses, and yet it was all the more profound for it. The scent of sulphur ripped through the air, assaulting his nostrils as readily as a pack of ravenous hyenas.

The fabric of reality between them split like the stomach of a rotting carcass, and light spilled out in world. A gleaming, searing gateway tore its way into Pridelands, an open wound into which he could gaze, and he saw… a strange land. A dark landscape, containing trees and leaves alien to him, and a sky burnt as if the day had already begun, though he could see for himself that the sun long since set, plunging Africa into night, with only the moon for guidance. From the orange-lit land, shapes moved, and stepped forth. Each footprint brushed the savannah beneath it, and claws clicked as they approached. Simba then first laid eyes upon his enemy.

"Hail, Simba, Son of the Great Kings."It said, and bowed mockingly low to him. Simba could only stare. Unlike the orangutan, he knew the name of this creature, though it was scarcely more than a bed-time story. A great colossal feline monstrosity, larger and more powerful than even the greatest of the Lion Kings in their prime, a creature of shadow and flame. Somewhere along the line, the stories must have become mangled, because the creature before him was one of flesh and blood. Albeit one whose fur was the colour of an inferno, and who's hide was striped with great slashes of fur as dark as midnight. Even so, the creature was of enormous size, his claws alone were twice Simba's length.

"You're a tiger…" Simba said, the pieces falling into place. "The Pridelands are under attack by Zimwi's and phantoms after all… You shouldn't exist in Africa…" He said.

"The world is larger than you can begin to guess, Simba. There are more things in heaven and earth, than are contained within your pathetic Circle of Life. I can promise you that. Lands beyond the Serengeti, beyond Africa. Beyond you. But now, Africa calls to us. It calls us home."

"And what am I to call you?" Simba asked. He tried to keep the uncertainty out of his voice, as he beheld something that his every impulse insisted could not exist. He had never beheld a creature that so dwarfed him. Was this what it felt like? To be Fuli, or Azaad, or any of the other felines within his Kingdom, to stand before the throne of Pride Rock? He decided there and then that he did no care for it one bit.

"You may call me Ben-Kai-Ra." He said. "We are the Shai'tan and I am their Emperor." Simba tasted the word on his lips. It didn't mean anything to him.

"Emperor of where?" Simba scoffed.

"Everywhere."He said. That gave Simba pause, as he looked at this tiger, and saw behind him into that other land. There were other shapes behind him. Other felines. Watching with interest. Frozen still, as if a stone, yet watching their every movement. A land so far away, and yet right before his very eyes. And that alien, foreign word too: Shai'tan. He didn't know it. As if reading his thoughts, Marsade leaned in.

"It means 'Exile' or 'Traitor' in the old tongue." Marsade said helpfully. "Although it's a tad more vulgar and offensive…" the Orangutan opined.

"You may be a scion of the Greatest of the Kings of the Past; but you are the least of a long line of better sires. You can tell them yourselves how you lost your Kingdom… You, who are the Last King of the Pridelands." The Emperor said. Simba growled in warning at that unmistakable threat and allowed his claws to slide free.

"The Pridelands have fought against evil before. And you will be the least in a long line of villains who have attacked the Pridelands, and tried to pervert the Circle of Life to their own ends. Every single one of those has been stopped." Simba said. The Emperor grinned.

"We shall see."

Then the Emperor lunged at him, his own claws and fangs outstretched like scythe. And Simba raised his own claws with a roar of defiance to meet him. And when they met with a blur of fur and claw and blood, he knew only pain.