Chapter 18 : Pride and Prejudice

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It had been a while since Shargra had found out that Simba might still be alive and both him and Shanika had been on the lookout for a lax in the guards that might have let them get out of the pridelands to find Simba, though they had not found one yet. Both Shargra and Shanika were now fully grown though Shanika still acted like a small cub at this point they were walking around the edge of the pridelands checking the guards.

"Why are we doing this again?" Shanika asked.

"I answered that five minutes ago!" Shargra answered, rolling his eyes, resisting the urge to feed her to the nearest hyena.

They were heading towards the place where the last guard should be - to check if it actually was there.

"Is there any point checking here, Shargra? I mean, there is always a guard here, what's the point really? Let's just go!" Shanika said nervously, not wanting to walk any further, even though they were in sight of the point.

Shargra was about to argue, but then looked up and saw that the guard was there as normal, and, more to the point, was starting to notice them. "Okay, you're right, there is no point," he sighed, and he had just turned to go when a voice called his name.

"Shargra, is that you?"

Shargra turned and saw the hyena guard staring at him.

"How do you know my name?" he asked.

"Don't you remember me? We were talking in the Pridelands and Mufasa came and chased me away. You stuck up for me…I've been so desperate to find you and say thanks!" she said, looking pleased.

"Nasiha," Shargra smiled with recognition, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on guard duty, it's extremely boring but that dammed Scar makes us do it!" she replied. "Still, better than being up at Pride Rock. I don't fancy a job surrounded by lions – oh, no offence," she added hastily.

"Plenty taken!" said Shanika dryly, and Shargra was about to tell her off when an idea occurred to him.

"Nasiha, could you do me a favour? Could you let someone come through here?"

"Um…Shargra, you're a nice lion and all, but I dunno…I could get in a lot of trouble…" she replied, shuffling her paws.

"Oh, so you insult us and then refuse us a basic favour? Funny way of showing gratitude!" said Shanika, and Shargra was both upset and surprised to see a snarl curling in Shanika's lip.

Nasiha raised her hackles. "Just because I'm not stupid enough to go against Scar and give up my life? I'm just trying to survive!"

"So are we!" Shanika growled angrily, and she put out claws.

"Shanika, STOP IT!" Shargra yelled, and she growled again, but did as she was told and put her claws back in, muttering.

"Please Nasiha, I promise I'll take the blame if anyone finds out, I'll say I forced you or something, please?"

Nasiha sighed. "Okay, fine, but after this we're even, yeah?"

Shargra agreed.

"Great!" he said, he turned to Shanika.

"Shanika, go get Nala."

"And leave you alone with a hyena? I-" she started, but Shargra cut her off.

"Just go get Nala!"

Shanika ran off incredibly quickly, and it was a matter of mere minutes until she returned with Nala - who looked confused when she saw Nasiha there. Shanika mumbled some rude words under her breath.

"Shargra, how can I get past? There's a guard right there…"

She said it quietly but nevertheless Nasiha still heard her.

"I've temporarily gone blind," she said, smiling at Nala, and then she turned and walked a small distance away.

"How did you do that?" Nala asked, surprised.

"It pays to make friends with hyenas sometimes," Shargra answered, grinning all over his face as Shanika gave a snort. "Now go quickly, before her shift is over!"

Indeed he could see another hyena approaching in the distance, and Nasiha noticed it too, for she hissed "Hurry!" to them.

Nala stared at the pair of lions. "You –"

"Nala, go already!"

So Nala ran, her legs taking long, powerful strides across the Savannah faster than she had ever run before, until she was just a speck on the horizon, and then she disappeared from view.

"I hope she gets back with help soon… for all our sakes…" Shargra muttered, half to himself, but next to him Shanika gave a whimper in agreement. Suddenly the winds of the plains seemed a lot colder, now that the plan was out of their control, and they huddled together for warmth.

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