Chapter 6: A Shining New Era Is Tiptoeing Nearer

An hour later, Simba and his entourage reached the treeline and stopped behind a line of rocks. He slunk up and peered through a gap to see the clearing beyond. The Pridelanders had gathered in a massive herd, and Taku was giving final orders to the carnivores in the center.

"Teams Alpha and Charlie, you're going in from the north. As soon as you peak the hills, signal me when you have a 20 on Bara. Sierra team, you're going to take the northwest corridor. Follow the empty creek bed and stay in the trees."

Sarabi went so awkward, everyone in the crowd could feel it. "We're going in alone?"

"We don't have a choice. If we send everyone in at the same time, Bara's going to spot you."

Nala let out a sniffle. "Taku, we haven't eaten in eight days. We need help."

"Ma'am, I don't have to remind you that your boyfriend's in our custody. All I have to do is give the order, and you'll be hearing him scream all the way over here. Understand?"

Nala stared helplessly at him and choked back a sob, then gathered her breath and nodded.

"All right, then." And the elephant lifted his head, showing a hint of a smile. "Let's do this thing."

Simba smirked and said to himself, Let's do...

And he dropped his voice to a rumble and gave it a lilt, and out of his mouth came the voice of Bara. "What do you think you're doing, my dear Taku?"

A horrified silence filled the camp, and Taku's eyes bulged out.

"Don't even think about running from me, you fool. We need to talk."

A zebra let out a whicker. "S-Sir? H-H-He's in there. B-B-Bara…he's in there..."

Taku drew in a breath through his gritted teeth. "Something's wrong..."

"There certainly is," Simba said. "I thought you agreed to let me kill Simba and his friends. Instead, they killed a unit of my pride and ran away. You told me they would be an easy kill, but it appears you were mistaken."

Sarabi swung to Taku. "You tried to kill my son!"

"Ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about—"

"Oh, but you do," Simba purred. "That was our little arrangement. I would give you back your families if you told me where Simba was…and if you gave me his pride as compensation."

The Pridelanders murmured and rumbled in alarm.

"Is that why you brought us here?" Sarabi said. "You're giving us up to that monster?!"

"Ma'am, he's lying. Now pull yourselves together and kill him."

"Oh, please," Simba crooned. "We both know they couldn't challenge me. They haven't eaten in a week. Tell them to surrender, as you agreed to do."

A chimpanzee turned to Taku. "You made a deal with our enemy!"

"Oh, it's worse than that," Simba purred. "Your precious Taku hasn't just negotiated with me. He planned for the destruction of your own men. The leopards he sent to guard Simba, for example? They're all dead. He was supposed to send them into battle against me, to rescue your precious families, but he sacrificed them to me."

The herds bayed and roared in fury.

"YOU'RE A TRAITOR!" a zebra neighed.

"YOU LIED TO US!" an ostrich squawked.

"YOU'RE WORSE THAN SCAR!" a cheetah snarled.

"HOW ARE WE GETTING OUR FAMILIES BACK?" a rhino shouted, and the herds bellowed with greater vigor.

"Why do you think I made a deal with him?!" Taku said. "If we'd gone in there, we would have been killed! That's why I made the deal: We would have gotten our families back while she and her bimbos got justice." He ignored the bellows and brays of the herds as he swung to the rock formation. "Bara, I'm giving you his pride. Now honor the deal and let our families go!"

Simba snickered and said, "Oh, my dear Taku...that will never happen."

"You gave me your word!"

"Did you really think I would honor your silly agreement? If I give you back your families, I would lose the war with the leopards. I would never put myself at a disadvantage, not even for the women."

Sarabi blinked tears away and let out a sob. "Simba was right," she said. "We failed our people. But we're not failing them again. We're going in there and killing Bara now."

It's about time, Simba thought. "Oh, this should be amusing. A starving, leaderless pride against the Butcher of the Highlands. I had always wanted women who could put up a fight, but I think I will be sorely disappointed with the lot of you. However, before you bimbos do anything...foolish...there is something you should know."

Sarabi bared her teeth and narrowed her eyes. "What?"

A pause filled the air, and Simba slipped into his own voice.

"I already killed Bara."

The lionesses rose up and stared goggle-eyed at the rocks. Behind them, the crowd murmured and gasped, going still with shock. Simba leapt out of the shadows and padded over the rocks, and Rafiki, Pumbaa and the meerkats, and Hazeez and his leopards followed behind. As he loped onto the grass, the crowd stared at him in stunned silence. The herds and the lionesses gawked at Simba's wounds, staring in awe.

Taku glared down at him, his mouth half-open with anger and awe. "You played us..."

Simba gave him a wry smile. "Sorry about that."

"Hazeez, is it true?" a gazelle said. "Did Simba really kill him?"

The leopard and his troops nodded.

A stunned pause settled over the clearing, and the herds erupted in a mighty cheer. Big cats patted each other on the shoulder, monkeys shook paws and clapped each other on the back, zebras went up on their hind legs and whinnied their cries of victory, elephants threw back their trunks and bugled into the air, and an ostrich flared his wings and said, "THREE CHEERS FOR SIMBA!"

"ALL OF YOU, SHUT UP!"

The herds fell silent and spun around to face Taku.

"Don't you see what kind of king he is? He pretends to be your enemy just to get you on his side?"

"He had to," a buffalo said. "You weren't going to confess."

"And don't think you're getting off that easy," a zebra said. "He and his pride were going to help us, and you were going to kill them!"

"This is why I didn't tell you. You wouldn't have understood."

"Then explain it them!" Simba said. "You killed your own men, you tried to kill me and my friends, and you tried to give up my pride. Why?"

"You want to know why?" Taku said over the rumblings and bayings. "It was for justice. It was for a better world."

"I killed Bara! I want to get your families back! What's this better world that you're fighting for?"

A pause settled over the glade, and Taku's face went dark with revulsion. "A world without you. I want you, your pride, the leopards, the cheetahs, and all you monsters to be destroyed."

The big cats murmured and rumbled in alarm.

"It's what you deserve. You carnivores are murderers. You hunt and kill your prey, you strip the flesh off their bones, and you strut around like you own the world. You're all sick in the head. And you bug-eaters and plant-eaters who bow before these monsters? You're cheering on your own destruction. You're so insane, you don't deserve to live. The rest of us are going to create a new world, a world that we'd only dreamed of, a world without carnivores and misery and waiting to be eaten. And you carnivores?" Taku let out a cruel chuckle. "You'll just be history. You'll kill each other over scraps, you'll butcher each other over land, and at last, you'll know what it's like to be prey."

"But what about your families?" Simba said.

"What about them? Now that Bara's dead, we can get them back."

"No, you can't! The rest of his pride's up in the hills. I can give them a Code Zero—they'll stand down."

Taku cocked an eyebrow. "If that's all it takes, we don't need you. A Code Zero from us is as good a Code Zero from you."

All the breath went out of Max's lungs. "Nice goin', Simba. Givin' up the only leverage we had."

Simba's face went slack as he realized what he had said.

Timon gave Taku a nervous smile and twiddled his fingers. "So what are ya gonna do? Are ya gonna kill Simba?"

Taku snickered. "Haven't you figured it out? You're not worth the trouble, not when someone else can do the job for us. And let me tell you: Sakora's not a senile old grandpa. He's a warrior and a champion. He's got five sons, and he taught them everything he knows. When he finds out you killed Bara, he's going to rain down wrath on you like you've never imagined. And your precious Pridelander laws won't do you any good. You'll have to kill just to survive. It'll be amusing to hear the reports out of the Far Lands, how a bug-eater and his bimbos killed a champion and died in the effort. You predators will get what you deserve, and we'll get the world we always wanted—a world without you."

More murmurs rippled through the herds. "What about the Circle of Life?" a rhino said. "We can't just break it!"

"We can, and we will." The rhino went confused, and Taku stared down at him with a cold and impatient gaze. "Think about it, you idiot: We eat the grass, then die and become the grass, and our children eat the grass. The Circle of Life will begin and end with us, and the carnivores won't have a place."

Silence fell over the clearing. The herds stared at Taku, silently questioning his sanity. But they turned to each other and murmured their thoughts, and their gazes grew dark and strong. As Simba's heart sank into his chest and his mouth fell open, they hardened their faces and trotted into formation.

"What do you want us to do, Sir?" a zebra said.

"No!" Nala said. "You can't do this!"

Taku smirked at her, then turned to the zebra. "We're going to even the playing field. We've got too many carnivores here."

"Can't we get rid of them all, Sir?"

"If we do that, Sakora and his allies will take over the area, and we're back to where we started."

"So who do we kill, Sir?"

Taku turned to Simba and gave him a cruel smile. "Whoever puts up a fight."

And with a cruel smile, the elephant threw back his head and bugled at the sky.

Simba didn't wait to give the order. He swung around and ran, and the cats followed him as the herds began to charge. The cheetahs and leopards scattered to and fro, leaping over mounds and swerving around trunks, and Rafiki and the meerkats stood upon Pumbaa's back as the warthog veered between two boulders. The herds burst through the trees and swerved through the trunks as monkeys swung from tree to tree and screeched, "HE'S GOING THAT WAY!" "SHE WENT THIS WAY!" "THE PIG'S BREAKING LEFT—STAY ON HIM!"

Simba gnashed his teeth and flung his head over his shoulder. A line of zebras galloped after him, neighing in triumph. He heard a cry and a crunch, and his stomach flipped. He glanced left and saw an elephant stomp a cheetah without breaking out of his stride. A rhino flung his horn into Hazeez's chest, and the leopard tumbled through the air and smashed into a boulder. A zebra kicked at a cheetah and sent him airborne; he landed into a tree with a thick crack. Out of the corner of his eye, Nala sped up to him. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was hanging open. She aimed her terrified gaze at him, begging him to do something, but he gave her no reply.

The world blurred by as wind roared in his ears. His muscles screamed for relief, his wounds wept blood, and his lungs burned in a desperate plea for air. He begged the forest to end, but the trees stretched on.

The herds crashed through the trees, stretching from horizon to horizon, gathering the carnivores together and driving them down a slope. The grass was slick and cold, and Simba's paws gave way and sent him collapsing. He tumbled down the slope, his wounds howling in pain, and as he rolled to a stop and the world spun, he lifted his head. The trees had broken, and a great plain stretched before him—

Pain exploded across his chest as he slammed into the grass, throwing the wind out of his lungs. The buffalo veered back around and started to charge again, aiming his horns at Simba's wounds. The lion scrambled to all fours and heaved himself away, but the buffalo rammed his head into Simba's shoulder. He lay in the grass, heaving and gulping for breath, ears ringing and deafening him to the world. Every limb was shaking, his mouth was quivering, his chest was spasming, and the buffalo backed away and started to charge—

Sarabi leapt upon the buffalo and slashed his side. The bovine howled and went up on his hind legs, sending her flying into the air. She landed on all fours and swung around, claws and fangs bared, and she roared and charged at the beast—

And Taku burst out of the trees and plunged a tusk into her chest as Simba screamed, "NO!"

The elephant whipped his head and hurtled her over his back. Nala screamed, the pride screamed, Rafiki stared in open-mouthed terror, and Sarabi tumbled tail over head and slammed into the ground in front of them.

Simba sat upon the ground in a daze, his face wide and his body numb. His ears were clogged with a whine, but he saw Nala's face warping in agony, her mouth hanging open in a wail. The rest of the pride stood over her, their faces teary and twisted. Behind them, Rafiki slumped against a rock, his hands trembling and his mouth quivering. The meerkats stared in numb shock, and Pumbaa blinked and loosed a pair of tears.

Simba turned to Taku and bore his fangs. He pulled up his back legs, and gathered his breath and started to roar, but his legs buckled, and he went limp in the grass as he gasped for air. Taku stared down at him, his tusk stained with blood. There was no smile, no victorious gleam, just a cold stare, and words that needed no voice to be understood.

She got what she deserved.

The elephant turned away and lumbered toward the trees, seizing the attention of the rest of the herds. Simba's ears began to clear, and over Nala's bawling and the pride's sobbing, he heard Taku's cold voice chill the air.

"We're done here."

With a tilt of his head, he guided the herds back into the trees. Simba lay on the ground behind him, trembling and panting as the cries of the pride filled the air.