Prologue

High in the mountains, past the pass of Mahali Pajuu, the brutal sounds of fighting could be heard for many leagues. Roars and screams of pain echoed as creatures great and small fought in the high fells. The Mountainlands were a cold a desolate place by the standards of the lions who visited from the savannahs that bordered the Serengeti River. There was no snow, even from the higher peaks this time of year, but the ground was hard and cold.

Three lionesses struck together as one, clawing at their foe with desperation. Their enemy, a great tiger, struck back with practiced precision. He weaved under their blows with expert skill, and struck back with both sets of claws. They scythed through the air and deep into the neck of one of the lionesses. She went down immediately, collapsing into a pool of her own blood, but the tiger was already focussed on her fellow. They were Shai'tan.

He was not alone. Another figure of flame orange fur was squaring off against a great hulking creature, that loomed between them.

"Twende kiboko!"

The shout echoed throughout the mountains as the colossal hippopotamus slammed into the Shai'tan. Mortread cursed and struggled, his feet digging far into the rocky ground, sending pebbles scattering. High above them, a great eagle shrieked in encouragement and dived toward him. Mortread with him only with him pawful of wilddogs, and a pair of jaguars – one of which lay to the side with his skull cracked open. The Shai'tan roared in fury, and turned his full attention to the hippopotamus. He hadn't expected such a creature here among the lion pride, nor had he expected it to fight with such temerity. He was forced to back away from the prone body of the one of the lionesses that he felled mere seconds earlier. Beshte smashed into him again, kicking up stones and small rocks as he did so. His foe grunted. The first indication of pain, the first blow even so much as landed. It didn't draw blood but did force the air out of his lungs. He snarled.

"'Zuri!" Mazuri heard someone call her childhood nickname. The blood streaked lioness, was dazed and her friend tried to pull her to feet.

"Tiffu…" It could only be her. Only she still called her that. "Where's Afua?" Mazuri muttered, her head spinning and her ears ringing. She thought she might have slurred her words. Her mate gave a roar in challenge as she laid eyes on him. Afua was the spitting image of his father, a golden lion very similar to Simba in his prime, with a black mane and iron eyes. The King of the Mountain Pride roared, and tried to fight his way towards the two, but was immediately set upon by the remaining jaguar, and his canine allies. He was standing near the body of another lioness, but she could see even from here that she was not to rise again. Blood pooled around her and vicious wounds covered her entire body. The Shai'tan, as it had called itself, had fought with a terrifying savagery.

Tiffu hauled her old friend to her feet. Then her eyes widened. The Shai'tan behind them was viciously biting into the form of the last of the lionesses. Afua shouted out in anger.

"No!" And rushed towards the tiger.
The second of the Shai'tan allowed himself a small smile. Ice cold and with deliberate cruelty, he let the lioness fall to the ground as Afua swiped at his head. He ducked and backed away, dancing at the edges of the mountainside. His monstrous form seemed too large for the elegance with which he moved. He didn't look down, didn't show any fear or concern at the appalling height, or the terrifying fall that followed it. He leaned into the wind, and clawed back at Afua, striking him across the face. Afua howled in pain, as lines of brilliant red burst into being on his face, blood stinging his eyes, and blinding him.

"Zuri, we have to run!" Tiffu tried to tell her friend. But it was too late for that. There was nowhere to run. Like Pride Rock, the lair of the Mountain Pride was atop a mighty peak, and there was nowhere left to run. Nowhere to flee to. Her mouth was dry. Zuri looked about in panic, saw her mate struggling with one of the Shai'tan. Now the two Shai'tan were standing side by side, standing in front of Afua and Beshte, who had closed the gap between them. The jaguar was carefully eying the two lionesses, waiting for a moment of weakness to suddenly close the gap between them. The fighting was short, bloody and brutal. As soon as Afua had refused surrender and submission to the Imperium, the killing had started and the Shai'tan were nothing if not efficient. The two tigers were not quite in step. They were different in shape, temperament, even in the way they fought. But they were focused on the king, and by necessity on the great hippo that defended the Mountain Pride. She had thought them fortunate the Night Pride's strongest had been visiting when the attack had come; but now it seemed not to have made any difference at all.

"Give up." The Shai'tan commanded them. "You cannot win. You would do well to surrender, and spare yourself a painful death."

"We aren't afraid of you." Beshte shouted back. The other, colder tiger sneered at that.

"We've heard that so many time before. And you know what? They were liars too." He said. At some prearranged signal, the two tigers lunged forward. Beshte was prepared, but then taken aback when suddenly and without warning the two tigers swapped place, and the other tiger leapt passed his brethren and began to violently claw at him, whilst Afua was faced with the other, cold, practiced tiger lord. Beshte stumbled. He was slow and he knew it. He needed time to move, distance to charge, to crush the murderous tiger with his unrelenting strength! But he had none. The tiger fought with unnatural ferocity. A blur of tooth of claw.

Then he heard a sound behind him, a shriek of terror from Queen Mazuri as Tiffu fell. Beshte's eyes widened and the distraction was all the tiger needed. If they were in water, he might have had a chance. If they were in the river, cool and with its flow to aid him. But here he felt bloated, lancing pain cut through him, as the tiger bit at his leg. Something gave. Bone snapped or muscle ripped. It didn't matter which, but it gave. Beshte was off balance. Then the tiger was under him, and lifted.

Impossibly, incredibly, his strength failed him. He tipped and crashed to the ground. The tiger stood over him, eyes gleaming in triumph. The Night Pride's Strongest was down.

To the side, Afua crashed to the ground, breathing heavily, coughing blood. He tried to rise, but a devastating blow to the head him careering to the ground again, straddling consciousness. Silence, filled the mountain Pride, for only a moment before the tiger gave an almighty roar of triumph. The sound of it sent chills through those who heard it.

"Well fought, Amun." Mortread observed to his companion. The other, larger Shai'tan didn't react. He simply licked his maw free of the sticky redness that clung to their fur.

"Afua…" Mazuri muttered, reaching towards her mate. He didn't stir.

"Hmm. They put up even less fight than the Southron King did." The Shai'tan called Amun said.

Beshte's heart leaped at that. If the Southlands had fallen as well, that meant that King Baba the heir of Chumvi and Zalika, was almost certainly dead. That meant there was nobody to go to Kion or Kiara's aide. They would only have each other. He swallowed. He could feel blood welling his mouth. He tried to rise to his feet, but pain once again lanced through him. They moved out of Besthe's vision, and he couldn't turn to see them without pain. He was left staring off the edge of the mountainside, as his vision began to darken. He fought to stay awake, but it was like grasping smoke.

At the edge of his vision, there was a flash of light. Unearthly sounds, as the world began to tear. The fabric of the world began to twist and distort, and before them once again, the gateway ripped its way through the screaming world. The veil parted, and a figure strode through the Gateway, and looked around at the devastated Mountain Pride, its fallen people. Before him, both of the monstrous Shai'tan fell to their knees, as the Emperor stepped through the rift, and approached. He stood at the mountain, but he didn't react to the view that was laid out before them. Instead, he looked only at the pair of tigers in front of them. The first of the Shai'tan spoke.

"My Emperor, the Crown of the Mountainlands is yours. The Mountain Pride cannot rise to threaten us. It is done. The last of the Kingdoms are no more." Amun declared. It was no Shein's Spear, but the sight of the Mountain lands from its crowned peak was something to behold. The Emperor nodded. He approached the two tigers. If any of them felt fear from the aura of malice and terror that emanated from the Emperor, they didn't react. But it would have been impossible not to feel something as he approached. To Beshte, who had lived among carnivores and predators all his life, who had been friends to Lion Kings and Cheetah Lords, it was as if all his long-buried instincts leapt back into focus all at once. He didn't feel strong. He was overcome by the terrifying urge to throw himself to the ground, to flee in abject panic before him. He suspected even Bunga would have done so. He was huge. The Shai'tan had called him Emperor of the World, and he believed them.

"Good. Then with that, the spine of the Serengeti has been broken."No. That couldn't mean… The Pridelands. It couldn't be true. They needed to warn the Pridelands. Needed to warn Kiara. Kion. But it was too late for that. Far too late. The Emperor was speaking to his underlings.

"We are yours to command, Majesty."

"I am dispatching you to the Pridelands. There is a last bastion of resistance, that I want to see wiped from the face of Africa… And what's more, there are rumours of survivors of the Pridelands."

"My Lord? I thought Sekhmet and Rish'ut commanded in the Pridelands…" Mortread asked, curiously.

"And so they do, Mortread. You are to render them every assistance. I trust you have loyal regents in place of your territories?" Mortread nodded. He did indeed. But Mortread had never known for that many Shai'tan to be permanently stationed in a single territory of the Imperium.

"My Emperor, what is so special about the Pridelands"? He couldn't help but ask. Amun averted his eyes as the emperor snarled.

"Do no question me, last of the Shai'tan." The Emperor sneered.

"Forgive me my Lord." He looked around at the devastated war blasted lair of the Mountain Pride. "What about the survivors?" He asked him for a moment, nodding his head to the lioness, who was lying, weeping over her mate's dead body. His eyes were staring towards nothingness. The Emperor stared at him impassively.

"What Survivors?" He asked him. He had had entirely enough of survivors. There was no ambiguity to his words. Mortread nodded, and behind him the jaguars began the grim work of finishing off the defeated foes who still breathed. Besthe could hear him approaching. He tried to struggle, but at long last, his strength had failed him. Mortread didn't flinch at the sounds of carnage. His mind was already on the Pridelands, at what the future held. The Pridelands.

AN: 03/10/22

Hello everyone. Its been a while. Behold. The Great Rewrite continues. In keeping with the previous release, I have been avoiding releasing the book until it has reached a sufficient quality to release all at once. So, I am confident the entire book will be released within the month, and still within my promised 2022 release date.

I am anticipating that the next book shall be released within the next year. Since - unlike the last two books - it will not need to be 100% Rewritten from the ground up,

As a reminder, whilst the upcoming books (III, and IV) are still canon, they are without certain characters, threads and concepts. If you choose to read ahead, you may also find chapters and elements in the upcoming books coming out of nowhere, and also find other characters (Notably, Kion, Jasiri and others) entirely missing from the narrative, as those books predate the creation of these characters. So if you choose to read ahead, do so at your own risk.

I hope everyone's doing well. Old readers and new alike. We have surpassed the ten year anniversary of this series beginning its journey, and if all goes well we are right on track to have a final book and the conclusion of this series out and complete in 2025. Or in the very least, in a version that I am happy for people to read.

As ever, my inbox is open if anyone has any questions about the series, even if it looks as though I haven't updated in several months. I will not leave the series incomplete, however long it takes. I know some people have been burnt by that before. But even if it takes me many years, there will be an ending.

If you'd like to see the next chapter as soon as possible, please drop a review. It really does get the creative juices flowing.

As ever folks, be happy, healthy and wise.

Take care everyone.