Kiara opened her eyes and saw that it was light - well, as light as this gloomy place could get. Bands and pools of shadow replaced the consistent black, and somewhere away from the graveyard birds sang.

"Wake up Kovu! It's morning! We can go home...Kovu?" She looked around for her friend, but the spot where he had been was empty.
"Did he sneak off without me? The little..." She broke off as she saw a lion cub enter between the stone pillars, and was about to dash and meet him when she saw it wasn't Kovu.

This cub was bright gold, even in this dim light, and walked with a cheeky swagger. A quiff between his black-rimmed ears gave him a raffish appearance. Behind him came a second cub, a pale-coated female who looked admiringly at her companion with dancing green eyes.

"Who are you?" Kiara asked, but the others didn't seem to hear.
"We could get in big trouble!" the girl cub whispered, sounding as though she was pleased at the idea.

Kiara giggled. So the strangers, too, had come here without permission, looking for adventure. Cool! Maybe they could be friends?

Just then a blue bird with a large orange beak swooped into the cave and landed in front of the cubs.

"Zazu?" Kiara wondered.

As the hornbill proceeded to tear the cubs off a strip and chivvy them out of the graveyard, Kiara put a paw over her mouth to prevent another giggle from escaping. That was Zazu all right! But who were these strange cubs he was hounding? There was something familiar about them, though she knew she had never seen them before.

Suddenly Kiara noticed a pair of eyes gleaming from behind an elephant skull, and heard a low snicker of pure evil. She tried to yell, but no sound came. Her paws seemed stuck to the ground, and she could only watch wide-eyed as three spotted hyenas bounded out of hiding and began a cruel game with the lion cubs.

She shrank back, afraid she would be discovered as the hyenas pursued their prey in and out of the bones, hooting and shrieking to each other and cracking jokes. One in particular terrified her, with its crooked gait and mad, rolling eyes.

For a moment it looked as though the two cubs and the hornbill would escape. Indeed, Zazu could easily have flown up and out of danger, and as Kiara watched him stick by his charges she regretted all the times she had teased the pompous little bird. But as they neared safety the girl cub slipped and slithered all the way down a pile of bones, almost into the jaws of the hyenas. Kiara clenched her paws as the other cub came skittering down after her and whacked one of the hyenas across the face with a small paw. The pair took off again, dodging into a small cave. They were trapped, and there was nothing Kiara could do.

She could hear one of the cubs trying to roar, a sad little mewing cry which sent the hyenas into a frenzy of hysterics. Kiara's own mouth opened in sympathy, but no sound came. Then there was a sound like a river in flood, a tumult of noise which echoed around the hollow canyon. The biggest lion Kiara had ever seen was standing in the entrance, mouth wide and eyes blazing. His appearance panicked the hyenas, who fell over themselves to prove they had meant no harm to the cubs and slunk off into the shadows. Kiara let out her breath in a shuddering sigh.

"Let's go home," the lion said to the cubs in a quieter voice, though his power and anger still showed through. As the trio padded away, Zazu flapping overhead, Kiara heard him speak again, faintly: "Come on, Simba."

Simba. Dad? Kiara blinked and rubbed her eyes with her paws. When she opened them, lions and hyenas were gone. It was still dark, and Kovu was by her side, one hindleg twitching. She shook him awake and he sleepily opened his eyes, drooling a little and whimpering.

"Wassit?"
"Kovu, I don't think we should stay here. I think something bad happened here, once."
"No kidding. Things come here to die." Kovu said grouchily, his eyelids starting to close again.
"But I saw..."
"You scared of ghosts, Kiara?"
She looked at him angrily, then her face crumpled and she cowered down. "Yes." she said softly.

Kovu relented at once. "It's OK, Kiara. You're safe with me," he said in such a grown-up manner that Kiara had to smile. He wrapped a brown foreleg around her and drew her close to him. He was warm and fuzzy, and Kiara felt sleep overwhelming her as she snuggled close to his side.