Chapter 23: Knowing is Half the Battle

"Now Maalum, are you alright with this? This isn't just asking you to act scary, but to take on several hyenas. If all goes to plan, you should have help quickly and the hyenas should start to retreat…but if not, you may have to fight by yourself for a few minutes." ~Upesi

"…and another time, I rescued two baby hyenas from a river flood, but I got swept away in the process. I had to use my power to fly and save myself before I drowned. But right when I got out, the masked hyena with fire eyes grabbed me by the neck. I managed to rip the mask off as I struggled, and it was me! That's when I woke up. What do you think that means?" Yaya rambled as she laid on her back like she was in a therapy chair. "Could it be that my worst enemy is my own self? That even though I could prevent myself from drowning in the sea of life, I still manage to choke myself at the end of every situation?"

Upesi blinked. "…I think it was just a dream."

"But could the twin baby hyenas represent two situations that require my attention simultaneously?"

"…again, I think it was just a dream."

"You're probably right." Yaya paused but then gasped. "Unless I was the baby hyenas too!"

Upesi just watched as the white hyena continued talking herself in circles. What started off as a simple chat about how she met Maalum turned into a dream-interpretation-monologue-therapy session. Upesi found Yaya to be friendly and all, but her constant chattering and random cackles made it hard to converse with her. Currently, they were still in the back of the den – Yaya in the bone cage and Upesi seated beside it – waiting patiently for the plan they made to start...

After the situation was explained to her, Upesi nodded and sat down. "I'm going to need a little time to think this through."

Vitani gave her a pointed look. "We don't have much time."

"Then we should plan together."

"Four heads are better than one," Maalum agreed and when Vitani reluctantly nodded, he continued, "Alright, so how do you want to do this? You want us to think of a bunch of ideas and then put together what works? Or do you have a method to how you plan things?"

"So, I plan ahead by using what I know about the situation to predict how things will play out. From there, I'll choose how to move to alter everything to my preferred ending."

"Discernment and manipulation," Vitani said plainly.

Upesi looked at her for a moment, but nodded. 'That's one way to put it…but instead of manipulation, I prefer the word 'maneuvering'." She looked down and started drawing on the ground with her nail. To them it probably looked like lines and scribbled, but to her she was seeing alternate routes. "So, let's use Bishara as an example. She's flexible and quick, but she lacks good judgment and has a tendency to overestimate her abilities. She'll try to take on more than one hyena at once. She may get one or two down, but hyenas are persistent so they'll ultimately wear her down and hurt her. To maneuver around that, we can't leave her alone. She'll need to be with at least three other lionesses at all times. Any less and she'll sustain a serious injury. And depending on who the others are, she can still get hurt. There's roughly a forty percent chance of just shallow injuries."

"Wow."

She smiled at Maalum's awe but didn't feel it was that impressive. It was pretty basic in comparison to what she would've planned in the past. As an outlander, she would've twisted it to make sure Bishara was hurt in a certain way instead and she would've taken more advantage of Bishara's lack of good judgment. "There are a lot of variables to take into account, so this is really generalized. When we make an official plan and build off of it, I can make a more accurate plan of how to use Bishara."

"So, let's make a plan already," Vitani huffed. "We need to use Yaya to scatter and confuse her pack. She said they don't know she's here, so we can use that to our benefit."

"Right." Upesi nodded and looked at the ground again. She wiped away what she'd already drawn and then started drawing again. "We can make them think she's still on their side if we release her, but since the others in our pride don't trust her, they'll probably try to seriously hurt her. We need to work around that."

Maalum watched her draw. "What if we protected her?"

"That won't look good to either side. Whatever we choose to do has to look natural."

"Oh, I'm a good actor! Let's act something out." Yaya interjected then. "I can remember any line and make anything look natural. I can play dead one second and then have the crowd rolling the next. It happened with a few crocodiles I met before."

"Try to stay on topic, Yaya," Maalum encouraged. "We need to come up with a realistic plan."

"If the others saw her attacking her own pride, maybe they wouldn't attack her," Vitani continued trying to come up with something.

"Conflict of interest. She came to warn Maalum, but she never said she was abandoning her pack. Not only that, but based on her size, she couldn't stand against them."

Yaya looked amazed. "Wow, she's good."

"What if we used her as intel on each member and use that information against them?"

"Not bad, but that'll take too much time."

There was a moment of silence as they each thought to themselves. Upesi ran through different routes in her mind, but nothing was producing a good outcome. It was like having Yaya wasn't as big of a benefit as they thought. She paused at that and then started drawing faster. "Wait a minute…we've been focusing on how to use Yaya, but what if she's not our greatest weapon?"

Maalum stared at her, confused, but Vitani's eyes widened in realization.

"Maalum," the lionesses said in unison.

He just looked between them. "Me?"

"I'm willing to bet they've never seen a liger before. He'll automatically be frightening."

"And Yaya was onto something with the acting - if they see him chase Yaya and pretend to attack her that'll make him even more scary."

"Yes!" Yaya grinned.

Upesi continued drawing. "That's a good idea. The others in her pack don't care for her, so it won't be seen as a personal loss, but they will see it as a show of Maalum's strength. Given that they're pretty daring, they may still try to take him on. That'll be less hyenas attacking the pride and more hyenas around him. To keep up the act of him being some type of super lion, we need to make sure he has help. I'll rally a few select lionesses to help. Maybe Kula and Eshe."

Vitani raised an eyebrow. "I can help him."

"Yeah, but it'd be better for you to stay close to Kiara."

"Why?"

Upesi stopped and looked up at her. Knowing Vitani, she'd likely buck against this. "Because Kiara is one of the most at risk. She's not the most skilled and since a lot of hyenas will likely be around Kovu, she doesn't have any protection. If the hyenas manage to hurt Kiara, we'll be in trouble in more ways than one. Regardless of what we plan, the chances of her getting seriously injured is high. You're good enough to take care of yourself and her."

Maalum noticeably tensed at her words and looked at Vitani. She looked back at him and then sighed. "Fine."

Upesi raised an eyebrow at that exchange and how easily Vitani agreed, but moved on. "Thank you. Now Maalum, are you alright with this? This isn't just asking you to act scary, but to take on several hyenas. If all goes to plan, you should have help quickly and the hyenas should start to retreat…but if not, you may have to fight by yourself for a few minutes."

Vitani looked unsettled. "Can't you think of a way around that? He was just hurt not too long ago. I don't know if having him fight is the best idea."

"I can do it," Maalum said suddenly. "Yaya risked her life to warn me. Vitani, you're protecting Kiara. And Upesi, you're handling this whole plan. I'll do my part too – whatever I have to do to protect the pride."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Upesi turned to Yaya. "And are you good with acting like Maalum is chasing and attacking you?"

"Sure. This will be my best act yet."

"Then it looks like we have a plan."

"What will you be doing?" Vitani asked.

"I have a few things to maneuver to make sure everything goes to plan." When she just stared at her, she smiled. "Don't worry. After I set things into motion, I will join you guys on the battlefield."

It may not have seemed like much, but Upesi's role was very important. She had to handle the small details to make sure things went according to plan and the pride was safe. There was no need to bog them down with those details – after all, this is what she did best.

Small detail one: Making sure Kovu faced the leader. Separating the hyenas from their leader was imperative. They would scatter easier if they didn't have a leader around. If the leader left Kovu to face Maalum, and all of them went after him at once, her friend would be in serious trouble. She had to make sure Kovu stayed with the leader.

Small detail two: Staying in the den. Very shortly Malkia and her cub would be in here, hiding. Malkia was a decent fighter, and she'd be especially on point since she'd be protecting her cub, but it never hurt to be on the safe side. She needed to be there as backup.

Small detail three: Making sure Sarabi and Sarafina had help. While they had a lot of experience, they were older and she didn't want them to get hurt. She would've preferred them to stay back in the den with Malkia, but they never shied away from battle. So, she had to rally a lioness or two to stay close to them.

She handled these things shortly after Vitani and Maalum left to get in position. It was just a matter of going around and telling certain members of the pride to be set up in a different way. Since they knew her reputation from the past, most didn't have a problem trusting her direction.

Everyone was tense about the upcoming fight, but she felt calm. Partially because she already knew how this would turn out, but also because Maalum instilled a sense of confidence in her. He was really something special. She hoped her plan for him would turn out well.

She said she would get Kula and Eshe to help him when the hyenas came to attack further, but truthfully, she wouldn't. She just had to make him think he would have help so that he would do it. It was all for the purpose of making him look like the hero to the pride and getting him back in their good graces. There was a chance he would get hurt again, which she felt bad about risking, but he had a way of shocking her for the good.

From the very beginning, he caught her attention and the mental challenge of trying to figure him out held it. Everything he did took her by surprise and she couldn't predict his next move. When she thought he would be aloof, he was more understanding. When she thought he would get into it with Kovu at some point, he didn't. When she thought he would react positively to her advances, he rejected her. It was like she had to peel back layers to see what she was really working with. She spent the days she took him his dinner and sat with him trying to do just that. But even now, there was something different about him from yesterday although she couldn't place her paw on why. While she did want cubs somewhere down the line, she was lying to say that was the main reason she was after him. It was mostly the enigma of him that attracted her.

But in the same way Vitani wasn't blind to her being up to something, she wasn't blind to Vitani. The feisty lioness felt a certain way about Maalum whether she realized it herself or not. Upesi felt genuinely crossed about this – she wanted Vitani to be happy, but only one of them could have Maalum at the end of the day. Should she encourage Vitani and set them up for success? Or should she worry about her own happiness and keep going after Maalum?

"Hey, uh, what's your name again? Ukulele? Euphrates? Tina?"

She snapped out of her thoughts at Yaya's voice and turned back to her. "It's Upesi."

"Right." She sat up. "What's the signal again, Upesi?"

"When Zazu starts squawking, I'm going to let you out and you're gonna go down the side of Pride Rock. You'll wait at the bottom, hidden, until Maalum comes to you. Then you two will start with the plan."

"Okay." Yaya paused. "You know, if this works, then my clan will think I'm dead...and I won't be able to go back to them."

"Yes." Upesi nodded knowingly. "But if this works, you won't need to. This will be your new home." When Yaya looked unsure, Upesi smiled at her. "Trust me. This wouldn't have been possible with Simba, but Maalum is different. As long as you're with him, everything is going to be alright."

"The Hyena Killer is coming! Run! Run! Every man for himself!"

Maalum couldn't help but think Yaya wasn't exaggerating about being a good actor – not only did she look petrified as she ran through the battlefield, but her words sounded natural too. He wondered if the way he was running after her and growling matched her energy. Upesi told him to roll around in the dirt beforehand to make his mane look wild and give him a more ravenous look. By the way the surrounding hyenas visibly tensed, he concluded that it worked and he was a good co-actor.

"No! Don't let him eat me! Help!"

Maalum barreled after Yaya, letting out deep growls and nipping at her heels as she sprinted. They caught the attention of all the hyenas and lions alike, almost like everything paused just to watch them for a moment. When they were in the thick of the battle, Maalum jumped on her and pinned her to the ground. He pretended to bite her neck and shake her, which was actually just a fast nuzzle, and Yaya squealed before going limp. He then lifted his head and let out a roar that could rival Simba's.

"What is he?!'

"I don't know, but he got Yaya!"

"Is she dead?"

"Did she say 'hyena killer'?"

Maalum hadn't been in many battles, so he didn't realize how quick they were. Within seconds, that moment of everyone staring passed and he was encircled by hyenas. And while they were hesitant, they still lunged at him. With a swipe of his paw, he managed to knock one down and with a bite and toss, he threw another aside. But very quickly, the situation turned out of his favor. He was being attacked from different directions. One bit his leg and when he turned, another bit his side. When he went to swipe at them, another bit his behind and then his other side. He was surrounded and too much was happening at once to figure out what his next attack should be. Where was his help? Were they all still occupied?

He let out another roar, hoping to scare them, but it wasn't as effective as he hoped. They must've seen that he was overwhelmed and was taking advantage of it. Their attacks were relentless and Maalum felt himself getting tired, but he continued to fight. If he went down, he would go down defending this pride with everything in him. He swung his paw to knock down another hyena, but at that moment, he saw one flying toward his neck. There was no way he would be quick enough to stop it. He could only try to move back, but luckily, a lioness flew out of nowhere and caught the hyena before it could get him.

He was surprised but relieved to see it was Vitani. He wanted to ask about Kiara, but it wasn't the appropriate time. Her sudden appearance startled the other hyenas and watching her deal roughly with the one made the rest scatter. It was then that Maalum realized how close they had been to him and just how many were surrounding him. There were at least twenty! He watched as Vitani went on the offense and started attacking the ones that were still too close. Maalum followed her lead and sprang into action, swiping at the ones in range.

Five minutes felt like five hours as the two of them took down several hyenas. What was worse was that they didn't get any extra help from the other lionesses. Not that they didn't want to help, but they were all preoccupied with battles of their own. He saw flashes of Eshe on her back, Kumari in the air, and Nala pinning a hyena. It was seeing Kovu struggling by himself that really caught him off guard.

He had roughly ten hyenas around him. They were giving him the same treatment Maalum was just receiving with the overwhelming bites, although, he was in worse condition. He looked tired and was bleeding in different spots on his body. One particular hyena with darker fur jumped on his back and bit down hard, causing Kovu to fall. When he didn't get back up immediately, Maalum yelled toward Vitani that he was going to help him.

Maalum ran toward Kovu at full speed and threw the hyena off of him. For a moment, he could only see the blur of hyenas and teeth, and his body reacted on instinct. When he finally got a moment to catch his breath, he found himself standing protectively in front of Kovu. The hyena with darker fur was holding her hind leg up as though wounded and a few others were on the ground.

"It's the Hyena Killer," one of them said. "What should we do?"

Maalum assumed the darker-furred one was the leader since the group looked toward her for an answer. She was glaring at him. "We're going to take him down like all the rest."

Maalum glared back and growled. "Get off our land. Now."

"You don't scare me. There are a million of us and a few of you. Your land is ours." At that word, the other hyenas looked wary but got into a fighting position again.

Maalum let out a roar at that challenge and took a step forward. "Don't let the numbers fool you. I will go through a million hyenas to protect this pride. You better think about the best decision for your pack."

"They'll do what I tell them to, and if they die then so what? We've got enough to replace them."

Maalum was startled by her callousness and found his anger growing. She was willing to sacrifice her team's health and safety even though it was clear they couldn't win! She treated them like they were expendable. That wasn't a leader. That was a selfish and cruel animal.

"Get out of here, Maalum," Kovu said suddenly. He pushed himself to his feet and walked in front of Maalum. "I can handle this myself."

"You're hurt."

"I don't need your help."

Maalum clenched his teeth. They didn't have time for this. "If you don't want to stay back then fine, but we'll do it together." When Kovu started to object, Maalum met his pride with narrowed eyes. "I said I would do what's best for this pride and I meant it. You can't handle them alone and you need to make it back to Kiara. This is bigger than us."

The mention of Kiara and the realization that he was right made Kovu pause. It was clear by his expression that he hated to give in, but he gave a nod. They both turned toward the hyenas.

"What are you waiting for? Get the both of them!" the hyena leader shouted at her pack suddenly.

They hesitated, but then obliged their leader and started toward them. As they tried to attack, Kovu and Maalum were able to knock them over and toss them aside. Maybe it was because the threat was so serious, but somehow, they worked well together. Where one was weak and tired, the other was able to cover him.

When Maalum saw an opening, he darted toward the leader. With all the speed and strength he could muster, he jumped on her and pinned her down. She looked bold and fearless even in the face of his bared teeth.

"Call them off."

"No."

"You won't win. Call them off."

"Never."

Maalum growled. "Those are your friends and family risking their lives at your word! They could be hurt or worse. How could you treat them like that?"

"This is my clan and I can do what I want. They exist for me, family or not."

Maalum hadn't been trying to kill any of the hyenas – only injure them enough to ward them off – but a sudden desire to kill her came over him. She didn't deserve to go on another day. Glaring at her, he opened his mouth and leaned toward her neck…

You come from a line of wisdom during tough decisions, perseverance during trials, and leadership during chaos.

Mufasa's words echoed in his ears, and he hesitated. He couldn't make a major decision like this out of anger. He had to use wisdom. This hyena wasn't a good leader and there was no way he could just let her go, but he couldn't kill her either.

"What's wrong, hyena killer?" She smirked. "Realize that it doesn't matter what you do? I'll still win in the end."

He stared at her in deep thought for a moment before mustering up the loudest roar he could, lifting his head and letting it out. It echoed in the land and everything seemed to stop and look at him.

"Enough! Hyenas, I have your leader. It's over."

"It's not over!" she yelled immediately. "Keep fighting!"

"You can't win. And this is your chance to get out alive. Go home."

"Don't go anywhere! Finish this!"

"Your leader is willing to let you all get hurt and die pointlessly, but it doesn't have to be that way. Think for yourself! You have family and friends who care about you. Make the decision to see them again."

"If you leave, you're a coward and you don't deserve to be a part of this clan! I'll kill you myself!"

Silence. Those words hung in the air.

The hyenas looked between Maalum and their leader, debating about what they should do. Finally, one hyena backed up and scampered off toward the elephant graveyard. Then another. And another. Pretty soon, the hoard of hyenas were running off. The lionesses looked like they wanted to chase them, but they respected how Maalum was handling the situation. Eventually, all that was left was the leader. Maalum looked down at her and then let her go.

"What are you doing?" Kovu demanded in clear objection.

Maalum didn't take his eyes off of her. "She can't defeat us. She's hurt and whether she realizes it or not, without her team, she's nothing."

The dark-furred hyena frowned deeply at that as she got up. She looked like she wanted to attack but obviously couldn't follow through. "Don't think you've won. I'll be back."

"No. You won't."

He met her gaze with confidence, and after a few seconds, she limped off toward the elephant graveyard. As a wounded animal, there was a chance she'd be attacked by another animal. Maybe even a member of her pack seeing as she just threatened them. And even if she wasn't, she had no others to protect her long-term. No, they wouldn't be seeing her ever again. When she was out of sight, Maalum turned back toward the pride who was coming together. He found himself immediately greeted by Yaya.

"You did it, Maalum! You saved the pride!"

"Yaya…" He looked at her for a moment and then pulled her into an embrace. "I'm sorry that's the kind of family you were born into."

Yaya's expression softened. "Yeah, I know I had it pretty rough, but so did everybody in their own way. A pack is really a reflection of the leader of it." She broke away from the hug and sighed. "Even though they weren't the best, it was the only family I had. I feel like I'm alone."

"No, you're not alone. You have me."

A glint of hope filled her eyes and she smiled. "Thanks, Maalum."

"Maalum," a voice he immediately recognized called out. He looked up to find Nala approaching him. She looked just as serious as earlier, if not more. "I told you to stay at the waterhole, but instead you disobeyed me, let this hyena out, and pulled a crazy stunt. On top of all that, you let the leader go free."

He prepared himself for the worst.

"…and I'm glad you did. Because of you, Kovu is safe, and we escaped what could've turned into a worse fight." She eyed him carefully. "I don't know what to think about you, Maalum. There's something about you that's mysterious and it makes me wary, but I can't deny that you've helped us all. Again. Thank you."

The light chattering of agreement followed and Maalum looked around at all the lionesses. Sarabi, Sarafina, Kula, Subindi, and all the rest – they all looked appreciative and like they had a newfound respect for him. Only Kovu kept his head turned away. As nice as it would've been to enjoy that moment of honor, it was short-lived as he realized that he was missing two faces in particular.

"Where's Vitani and Upesi?"

"Upesi is in the den with Malkia and her cub," Kula answered.

Tishala nodded in the other direction. "And there's Vitani. Over there."

He turned to see Vitani in the distance walking back toward them. He considered going to tell Upesi that her plan worked marvelously, but he felt like he should speak to Vitani first. She did save his life after all. As he left the others and trotted toward her, he could see that she was walking funny.

He stopped in front of her. "There you are. Are you okay? Why are you walking like that?"

"I'm fine. The hyenas managed to separate me from the pride and get me down for a minute, but I got back up." Deep red on her hind leg caught his eye. He tried to get a better look, but she turned so he couldn't see it. "I'm fine, trust me. What about you?"

"I'm alright, thanks to you. If you hadn't jumped in when you did, I would've been a goner."

"You didn't have any help and Kiara was near her mom. No sense in letting you get hurt again…" She said nonchalantly.

Though she was treating it like it wasn't a big deal, he could tell that she was concerned about him. This was different than how she acted before and it touched him. "Thank you." He tried to look at her leg again. "Your leg doesn't look good. I'm going to ask Sarabi and Sarafina to check it out."

"It's a flesh wound. I've been hurt worse."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to see you hurt at all. Let them look at your leg."

She looked like she wanted to protest, but when she met his gaze, she hesitated and turned away suddenly. "Fine. Whatever." She grumbled and with that, she brushed past him.

Hello everyone! I sense that I'm going on another hiatus soon, unfortunately. I don't know how long it'll be, but I may be able to get out another chapter or two before it'll start. As always, thank you for reading and following this story. I hope you know that you're amazing. Not because you did anything special, but just because you were made in God's image.

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb." ~Psalm 139:13