The Lion Guard: Hidden Secrets

by Andon

Within the tree of life lies a secret power that has been dormant for centuries. Now with Kion as king that power has awoken, and so has its guardian. There's a reason the roar was destined to return to the tree of life, and Kion finds there may be more to learn about it. A new era is about to unfold in the kingdom, but it will attract some unwanted attention.

5. Shida

The Lion Guard: Hidden Secrets

Chapter 5: Shida

'Kovu!'

'You will never hurt Kiara, or Simba. Not while I'm here.'

'Vitani, Now!'

'No mother… Enough.'

'If you will not fight then you will die as well.'

'Let it go, it's time to put the past behind us.'

'I'll never let it go! This is for you, Scar!'

'The river!'

'Give me your paw. I'll help you.'

"Ahhhh!"

Zira's eyes snapped open. It was dark and she was drenched in sweat. She was breathing rapidly and had to force herself to slow down. 'Where was she?'

She glanced around and a dim light started to illuminate what now appeared to be a cave and a tall dark figure seemed to be carrying the light source towards her. She tried to get up but her body was too weak to move, everything hurt. As it got closer she could start to make out some of its features. It walked on two long legs, had a skinny torso, and long arms. In one of them held the light source, and in the other looked like a long stick. 'Was it the mandrill, Rafiki? But no, this creature was much taller and stood much more upright.' As it came into view she finally understood what it was and was not pleased. A human. It had pelt wrapped around its midsection and a bare chest. It had dark skin and black hair with a bit also on its face. Though, its most captivating feature were its eyes. They were orange with threads of black woven in that made them look like the flame she now could see the man was holding. The man took that flame and tossed it onto a pile of dead wood off to her right and gradually the cave became fully lit by the much larger fire. Now she could also see that the thing he was holding in the other hand was more than just a stick, it was a spear with a black sharpened stone at the top. She was transfixed by it because it looked as if the black was swirling and shifting on the spear head.

She was snapped out of it when the man spoke. "You make quite the racket when you dream." He had a smooth, deep voice but it didn't sound like a voice that should match his body.

Her only response was a loathsome growl.

"Now is that any way to treat your savior?" He questioned teasingly.

"Ha. Are you actually trying to make conversation with me?"

"Well that is part of the reason I saved you."

Zira was dumbstruck. "Humans cannot communicate with animals." She said defiantly. 'What was going on? Was she still in a dream… or nightmare?' But her throbbing body was telling her otherwise. This was real.

"I am not human. Not entirely anyways." The man said plainly.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She growled again but then winced. Even that hurt.

The man turned and went to a corner where a brown skin bag was propped up along the wall. He retrieved some sort of plant then turned back and offered it to her. She glared at him.

The man sighed, irritated. "Do I really need to explain the whole 'If I wanted you dead you'd be dead' scenario. Now eat this and stop your growling."

She reluctantly took the plant in her mouth and ate it. It tasted bitter, but she could already feel her pain starting to fade. "What's your name?" She asked, still not trusting him.

"My name is Shida. And yours?"

"Zira, now what do you want with me?"

"Straight to the point, I like that. So here's the deal then. I'll tell you my story, my history, how I came to be here, and how I found you. In return you tell me your story."

"Why?"

"You will find out soon enough." Shida sat down on a rock ledge that protruded from the cave wall, but still held firm to his spear. "The first thing you must know is that I did not originate in this era, I existed centuries ago. Second, is that though this body is human, my spirit that dwells within is that of a lion, which is why I can understand you."

Zira narrowed her eyes. "I'm leaving." Except she couldn't. Now realizing that the plant she ate had taken the pain away, but it left her lower extremities numb. "What did you do!" she snapped.

"I simply gave you something to help you relax, but I doubled the dose so you wouldn't be able to leave or try to attack me while we have our little chat."

"Perhaps I will just attack you when it wears off." She seethed.

"Perhaps, but who's to say you'd win." He said giving a menacing smile, and if she wasn't mistaken it looked as if his eyes had flickered like the flames off to her side. Before Zira had a chance to respond though Shida went on. "Now as I was saying. My spirit is that of a lion and I existed long before your era. Centuries ago I started out as a weak and timid lion. That is until one day in my youth I came across a viper named Chini. She told me she had a way to make those who were fearful and weak, strong and powerful. I was so sick of feeling powerless that I was intrigued and asked her how she could do such a thing. My answer was a strike from her fangs across my left eye. I shrank back and covered my face in pain. She slithered back up to me and told me that if I survived her poison it would remove the parts of me that made me weak and leave only strength. Before she slithered off she said one more thing. That one day my scar would be a mark of power, and she was right. After a time I no longer feared taking what I wanted and instead others became afraid of me. Other lions saw the transformation I had gone through and wanted to become like me. So I found Chini again and had her give them the marks across their eyes as well. I became their leader and together we were known as the Mtekaji. We went from land to land taking what was rightfully ours and any resistance, even from our own kind, was met with our unrivaled force. We loved a good challenge, and once the land was ours we would lay claim to it until it had no more to give. Then we would move on to a different land, and so on it went until…"

Zira let out a roar of outrage. "You were just a bunch of rogues! You destroy families and take what isn't yours. You are no better than the lions that killed my first mate and you speak to me as a human, whose kind killed my father while I was still young! If I could get up right now I'd rip you pieces!"

Despite the violent interruption, Shida just sat and stared at her with amusement upon his face. "Do not forget my dear, it's my turn to tell my story, you will get your chance soon enough. Though I'll be interested to hear more on what happened to your family."

Zira simply fixed him with a glare that could kill and snarled. Though Shida didn't pay her any mind and simply went on telling his story.

"You think me cruel for taking over lands, but I believe that only the most powerful should rule, and that was us. So we went on from land to land until we came upon the Pridelands."

Upon hearing that Zira stopped her snarling but continued to glare at Shida.

"Ah, so you know of the Pridelands, how interesting. I do believe I will enjoy hearing of your past very much… once it is your turn."

"Just get on with it." She spat.

"Very well. Among all the lands we had conquered, none were more unified than this one, and it meant taking it would be all the sweeter. They had a king named Ungana, who not only managed to unify his lions, but every animal in his kingdom. Coming after his land full force was not an option, so instead we picked away at it piece by piece, doing short blitz hunts on the herds, and making our attacks at night. The one who gave us the most trouble though, was the king's younger brother, Askari. He was the fiercest of the pride and led each attack against us. He, and whatever animals he had with him would follow his lead and push us back, but we just kept coming. One day though, we noticed Askari was absent. I thought it a trap at first but after two days of the animals fighting without him we became more aggressive in our attacks. After a month of his absence I believed we would finally win out and seize the Pridelands. Until one day Askari returned with something we never expected. While he was gone, which I later learned was due to a visit to the tree of life, he had gained a power none had ever seen before, the roar of the elders."

Zira knew that roar all too well. Her beloved Scar once had that roar, and now Simba's pesky little brat had it.

"In one breath that roar sent our Mtekaji three kingdoms back." She could see Shida's grip on the spear growing tighter. "I would not let us be so easily defeated after we were so close so we went back. On multiple occasions we were sent flying, but we always returned, we do not give up on a challenge. In our final attempt at seizing the Pridelands I faced Askari, lion to lion. As we fought, Askari asked me what it would take for us to leave the Pridelands alone. I responded that nothing short of destroying me would keep me from conquering them. He then asked if I were to conquer the Pridelands, would I stop here. My simple answer was no and he immediately stopped his attack. I prepared myself for another roar. He looked down and took in a deep breath, but when he raised his heads he did not roar, he spoke, though it was not his voice alone. He spoke with the voices of all the spirits who roared with him and his eyes were glowing pure white. Sounding like hundreds of voices in unison he said; 'If you will not stop this and continue to disrupt the circle of life then you must be removed from it.' He then let out a roar so concentrated on me that my spirit was ripped from my body and sent to the dark world."

Puzzled, Zira asked; "What is the dark world?"

Shida scowled. "Creatures of life are not supposed to know about the spirit world." But then he shrugged and grinned. "But what do I care about the rules. The spirit world has two sides, a light world and a dark world. As you might expect all the spirits who have disrupted the circle of life or harbor darkness in their hearts are sent to the dark world and it is exactly as it sounds. The realm to which I was sent is utterly and completely dark. There is no light and any spirits who dwell there are cut off from the world of life and the light world. Our only link is to that which every spirit is connected, the Tree of Life. Though spirits of the dark world cannot appear unless summoned. It wasn't long after I was banished to the dark world actually that I was summoned to appear at the tree. Apparently back then there were human guardians at the Tree of Life and this one had heard of me and my conquests. He summoned me to ask why I had wrought so much destruction and what the purpose of it all was. I laughed and told him it was for my enjoyment. I loved the thrill of taking on the world and any resistance was simply a challenge that I longed to overcome and display my power. I vowed to this man that the dark world was but another challenge and that one day I would overcome it and return to take over the world of life. In disgust the man sent me away, but not before I learned something. While summoned at the tree I could feel the faintest threads of other links to the world of life and it was from these weaker links that I was summoned again. And how fitting it was that the lion who banished me became partially responsible for my spirit to return to the world of life. Askari made a mistake that when he banished my spirit he did not do so with the remaining Mtekaji. They made the pridelanders believe they had fled when I was killed, but in reality they stayed back and continued to spy and plan for their next attack. One day they eavesdropped on a conversation between king Ungana and a visitor from the Tree of Life. It was a mandrill who was searching out others of his kind to become what he called 'Royal Mjuzi.' The mandrill claimed that he could train them to be knowledge keepers and, with the help of a bakora staff, allow them to hear from spirits of the past. That night one of my lions went and stole the mandrills' bakora staff and brought it to the caldera on the boarder of the pridelands where the Mtekaji were hiding. They tried using it to speak to me but that link was too weak to reach into the dark world, that is, until Askari showed up. The mandrill apparently could track the whereabouts of his staff and led Askari right to the Mtekaji. Askari was so enraged that they were still near the Pridelands that he used his roar in anger at them, but it was a foolish move. Because of his anger his roar did not destroy them like it had me. Instead it opened up the once dormant volcano and in the chaos the bakora staff was dropped into the lava. The combination of an item from the world of life that was linked with the spirit world being destroyed by fire and my name being the last called to it was enough to create a tear in the dark world that my spirit was called through. I was able to once again lead my lions in the attack against the Pridelands, though not in body but in a spirit of flame. However, it was short lived. Askari realized he needed help this time and assembled what he called the lion guard. Of its lions were the fastest, bravest, strongest, and keenest of sight. He and his guard eventually pushed all the Mtekaji back to the volcano and the lions of the past once again intervened. Though this time, instead of just banishing me back to the dark world they sent each Mtekaji there with me and eliminated us from the world of life… or so they thought. Centuries later, our legend still hadn't faded from the world of life and a rogue lion named Raju sought to become a Mtekaji. The foolish thing about the royal mjuzi is they record everything in paintings. Raju snuck into the Pidelands one day and learned how to summon me from those paintings. He stole a bakora staff from the Royal Mjuzi of his era and found a vein of lava in the volcano that had not been fully sealed. As long as the liquid fire was accessible he didn't need the roar to awaken the volcano. He deposited it into the lava and called out my name and it worked. I was able to appear once again in the flames. Raju asked how he could become one of the Mtekaji and I knew this was my chance at redemption now with Askari and his guard long dead and out of the way. Being back in the world of life I could sense a cobra with the venom needed to make the transformation and told Raju where to find him. Raju returned with a cobra named Mbaya and I had him strike Raju across the eye as all Mtekaji must, but something happened… When Mbaya struck him, a drop of Raju's blood fell into the lava pit where I had been summoned. There was a sound of thunder and everything went dark. At first I thought I was back in the dark world, but I could feel that my eye hurt. When you're a spirit nothing is supposed to hurt. I realized my eyes were closed and when I opened them I was staring at Raju's spirit trapped in the flames. His blood falling into the pit caused our spirits to change places and I was now in Raju's body. Raju of course was outraged at the change in form. I assured him I would find a way to change us back, though I had no intention of actually doing so. I used my new body to explore the land I had laid siege to so long ago. The Pridelands were now under the rule of a king named Mufasa."

'Now this is getting interesting' Zira thought, though still quite skeptical.

"And to my disgust…" Shida sneered. "there was a new lion guard led by the kings brother Taka, who also possessed the roar of the elders.

'Wait, Taka? Was that Scars real name?' She had only ever known Scar as 'Scar.' She knew he got that name later, but he had never told her his original name. He claimed that 'that version of himself was dead.'

Shida though continued on without pause. "I studied them from afar for a time and I became aware that Taka didn't have the same fondness towards his brother that Askari had held for Ungana. Taka also liked to patrol on his own, leaving his guard behind. This gave me the opportunity to confront him one day, alone. I proposed to him my belief that only the most powerful should rule, and with my help we could rule the Pridelands together. In befriending the leader of the lion guard I believed the roar could be used to my advantage rather than trying to fight against it. I led him to what they now call the outlands and I had Mbaya sitting in wait. Once we got to the volcano Mbaya struck Taka across his eye, making him one of the Mtekaji."

"It was you!" Zira exclaimed.

Shida cocked an eyebrow, annoyed now at another interruption. "Excuse me?"

"You're the strange lion who gave Scar… Taka, his namesake. He told me of a lion who led him to the outlands and gave him his scar. He said that incident changed him and gave him the ability to take his rightful place on the throne."

"He called himself Scar afterwards? How original." Shida scoffed. "So he managed to overthrow his brother did he? That is satisfying news indeed. Tell me, does he still rule the Pridelands?"

Zira looked away. "No… Mufasa had a son named Simba who ran away after his father's death. He ran away and Scar became the rightful King, but one day that miserable Simba returned and tried to lay claim to the land that he left behind. Scar wouldn't back down and Simba killed him for it." She had a single tear roll down her cheek. "Wait!" She turned back to face Shida. "I know Scar did not follow the circle of life, so that means his spirit would have been sent to the dark world. How do you not already know all this?"

"The only spirits who have any connection in the dark world are ones that had a connection in the world of life. My brief interaction with Taka in the world of life was not enough to create a strong enough link for our spirits to be connected in the dark world. I had no idea what happened to him and I wouldn't have had much interest in speaking with him anyway. After Taka, or Scar as you call him, received his mark he became enraged and used the roar of the elders to send myself and Mbaya into the pit of lava from which I was originally summoned. Which of course resulted in mine, Mbaya's, and even Raju's spirit to be sent to the dark world."

"You sure have had a lot of failed attempts at returning to the world of life." Zira bitterly mocked.

Shida shot to his feet and glared at Zira and a jolt of fear swept through her as his eyes now not only looked like fire, they were fire, flickering and burning with fury. "Failed. Failed!" He yelled as he approached her. "According to you I gave your 'Scar' the transformation he needed to dethrone his brother and become king. I made a Mtekaji king of the Pridelands! So tell me Zira, does that sound like I failed? Does this" he shouted, gesturing to his body. "look like I've failed?" He came so close to her face that she thought she could feel the heat blazing from his eyes. She stayed silent and still couldn't move, but tried not to show him any fear.

Shida stepped back and began to calm, his eyes now returning to their original orange. "I am destined to conquer the world of life, the dark world obviously cannot hold me. Now it seems only a few years have passed since my last summoning and I have returned once again. This time was definitely unique however. Here's a little history lesson for you my dear. An event that was well known by the animals of my era. Humans used to exist within the kingdom of The Tree of Life but were at some point banished for disrupting the circle of life and all knowledge of that place was removed from them. Though, something I came to understand after taking over this body was that when they were banished some of them unknowingly had pieces of the tree stuck to them as they left, acorns to be exact. The humans, though no longer knowing of the tree, kept these acorns and called those that held them shamans because they believed they could hear spirits through the acorns. This was true but all they could hear were indistinct whispers since these links were so weak. And what they heard were not spirits from the light world but of the dark world. Since the acorns had been separated from the tree they had eventually turned black and became a direct link to the dark world, but the human shamans didn't know that. Yasu, the man whose body I now possess was one of those shamans that held a black acorn. One moon cycle ago he made the biggest mistake of his life. He had a son who had died from some sickness and tried to use the acorn to speak with him again. The sons name was Shida." Shida smiled. "Some might call that luck but I call it fate. Yasu called and called but received no answer from his son, just more indistinct whispers. So he crushed the acorn with his fist, giving him a scratch on the side of his hand and drawing blood, then swept the remains of the acorn into his fire. You can guess what happened next. Because the acorn was only linked with the dark world, when calling the name of his son he actually was calling me. I suppose his son could have been there too, who knows. But the man was not specific when calling out the name and my spirit was more powerful. It was quite the shock though let me tell you. One moment I'm sitting in solitude and darkness, the next I'm slammed into an unfamiliar body and one that isn't even my own species. The odd thing was, when I opened my eyes the fire was out and no one was around, but I could hear someone shouting at me demanding to know what I had done and to give them their body back. I found that Yasu's spirit had not gone to the spirit world when the fire went out, but was trapped in the ashes. In the past when the bakora staffs were sent into the lava they were utterly destroyed, but in this instance remnants of the acorn still existed in the ashes, not allowing Yasu's spirit to depart from this world. This gave me an idea. If his spirit could be trapped in the ashes, what if others could too. The interesting thing about possessing another creatures' body is you have access to all their knowledge and information. What I don't have access to is the creatures' memories. That part belongs to the spirit of the creature. In other words, I can access things that matter to the brain but not stuff that matters to the heart. Like I know he had a son, but I can't access the feelings and emotions he had for his son. Not that it really matters but anyway, using the knowledge of the man I took the ash and made a paint with it. I then retrieved what the humans call a spear."

Shida gestured to the long, pointed shaft he was holding. "I coated the spear head in the paint and went hunting. Using the Yasu's knowledge of the land, I came to what is called the roaring plains where a pride had made their home. It was night and I was able to enter their cave without waking any of the lions, which actually surprised me. Being in a different species body I expected to have a hard time getting used to how these two legged creatures walked. Though interestingly enough, the body holds onto muscle memory. Once a body learns a movement, such as walking, running, kicking, etcetera, it remembers it. All it takes then is the spirits will to perform the action and it will happen as long as the body has already learned that action. And Yasu is quite the talented mover. He learned much about stealth and fighting which has come in handy for me. Now, where was I… ah yes, the lions. I snuck in and made my way to the pride's King. He was relatively young and his pride was small, only seven lions, besides him. As he slept I took the spear and extended it towards his face. I thought about running the tip over his eye to create the mark of the Mtekaji, but without the venom I thought it a betrayal. So I lowered the point and gave him a scratch on the side of his face instead. In one instant his bright golden eyes flashed open and his body tensed and in the next he stilled and shut his eyes again. I thought perhaps it had killed him, but then I felt the presence of a second spirit within the spear and saw the steady rise and fall of the Kings' chest, indicating that the body was still living. Holding the Kings' spirit captive I then instilled my will into the body of the lion and commanded it by thought to open its eyes. It did so immediately and the once golden eyes were now a stale gray. I couldn't believe it. I had found not only a way to trap spirits, but by keeping them trapped here in the world of life it kept their body's from dying and allowed me complete control over them. My astonishment distracted me though and I hadn't notice that the queen and her daughter had awoken and were not happy upon the intrusion of a human in their den. They attacked at once and I had no choice but to use the spear in a more aggressive manner than I would have liked. I learned a few things from this encounter. First, I discovered what an excellent fighter Yasu was as I stabbed the queen through the heart and then cut a lethal gash in the side of the princess before they could even put a scratch on me. Second, I learned that with the bodies destroyed the spirits of the two lions departed and were not trapped within the spear. At this point the rest of the pride had awoken, but I was prepared this time. I was able to deliver only a minor cuts to the next two lions that came at me and with their spirits trapped I was able to use them and the former King to hold down the other two in order to deliver similar scratches and trapped their spirits as well. With six lions now under my control I named my small army the Hakuna Roho, which means 'no spirit.'

"And where are these 'Hakuna Roho?' Zira asked, unbelieving.

Shida closed his eyes and when he opened them again they were utterly black, even the whites of his eyes were gone. In a moment five tawny lionesses entered the cave and circle around Zira followed by a young male who had tan colored fur with a black mane. Each of them had pale gray eyes and were completely void of any emotion. It was as if they were dead… but not dead.

"You're a monster. You not only destroyed lives in the past, but now you're stealing them."

Shida blinked and his eyes were once again that fiery orange. "A monster am I, hmm. Well then that would make Scar a monster too then wouldn't it, and from what I can tell you had quite the attraction to him."

"He was nothing like you, he only took the land that was rightfully his. Mufasa was a bully. Scar was powerful, but fair to those who believed in him."

"He was still a Mtekaji. Now, I believe it is time you told me your story."

"Forget it."

"Oh I think you might want to reconsider, unless you'd like to end up like one of them." Shida said sweeping his hand to gesture to the Hakuna Roho. Zira took another look at those dead gray eyes and shuddered inwardly.

"Why do you care about who I am? Why not just add me to your collection? And you still haven't told me how I got here?"

"I could care less about who you are. If you haven't figured it out by now, I care about the information you can provide me. That's part of the reason I rescued you and haven't made you one of my walking puppets. I found you shortly after taking over the Roaring Plains. You were floating on a log on the river near here, unconscious and barley alive. I figured I would test Yasu's knowledge once again and see if I could revive you. I was able to expel the water from your lungs and treat your wounds. I initially considered making you one of my Hakuna Roho once you awoke. However, I realized that outside of Yasu's knowledge I had no idea what has happened in the world since I last was here, and didn't even know how long that had been. Already though, through your multiple little outbursts and interruptions I have learned much, and if you can provide me with more valuable information I will reward you."

"You will let me go?"

"No, I will make you another deal."

"And that is?"

"Ah-ah, one deal at a time." He said waging his finger. "I told you my story, now you…"

"Now I tell you mine." Zira sighed. "Not like I have much of a choice."

So she did. She recounted her past, starting with the death of her mother who had died giving birth to her. Zira was then left to be raised by her father, King Tuke. She was taught to hunt and fight at a much younger age than was customary and it made the other cubs weary of her. All except for one named Nuvo, who admired her strength. He was the only one who could compete with her and Tuke eventually selected him to be her mate and to become the future King. While still training however, Zira's father had been killed while patrolling. She recalled finding him with a spear through his side and a group of humans surrounding him. She attacked, but was captured. This is how she learned that though she could understand them, the humans could not understand her. She had eventually been rescued by Novu and her pride and together they destroyed the humans that had captured her and killed her father. Afterwards, she and Novu were named the rulers of their land and they were happy for a time. They had two cubs together and a third on the way when a group of rogues attacked their pride. With a cub in her belly Novu forbid her from fighting, and though they were able to drive the rogues away Novu sustained injuries that cost him his life. With no other adult males to defend their pride and the rogues still out there they were forced to wander and find a kingdom that would take them in. Many kingdoms had given them aid but refused to take them in until they came upon the Pridelands. King Scar had openly invited them into his pride and took Zira to be his queen. He even declared that her cubs were to be treated as his own and that her cub to be would be his heir. Things were going well again until Scars nephew had returned and ruined everything. She told Shida how she viewed Simba as nothing more than one of the rogues who destroyed Novu, but this time she would not run away. Eventually when Simba had a cub of his own she took some of her vengeance out on him and killed the young prince. This resulted in her and her pride being banished to the worst possible lands that could still sustain life, the outlands. A few years later she encountered another of Simba's cubs, Kion. Though this one possessed the roar of the elders and when she tried to attack him he sent her and her pride even deeper into the outlands where they had to survive on mice and termites. It was there she trained her youngest son, Kovu, who had been chosen by Scar to be the eventual King. She trained him to overthrow the royal family, but when it came time they manipulated him and Simba's daughter, Kiara, turned him to their side.

"As if he hadn't taken enough from me, one by one, Simba took my children from me too. First he made Kovu soft, killed Nuka, and then turned even Vitani against me. He took everything from me, everything. The last thing I remember is when I led my pride back into the Pridelands. I tried to take back Scars land by force and when I finally got the chance to attack Simba his daughter crashed into my side and sent me over the cliff and into the river."

As she finished she looked over at Shida who was sitting again on the stone ledge. He was looking off to the side with one hand on the spear and the other slowly stroking the hair on his face.

"What are you doing?" she asked

"Huh, oh sorry. Force of habit, or rather, force of Yasu's habit. Apparently this is what humans do when they are thinking."

"Were you even paying attention!" She snapped.

"Of course I was." Shida shot back. "I was just processing all the information you have provided me, and what good information it was. It seems I was right to not turn you into one of the Hakuna Roho."

Zira huffed. "Oh how merciful and wise you are great Shida." She drawled sarcastically.

"Don't push it. But where was the lion guard when you led your final attack?"

"Ha, if you can even call it that. Kion was just a cub when he used his roar on us, and his guard were nothing but a bunch of Prideland animals. A hippo, an egret, a cheetah, and a honey badger. He was the only lion. I assumed that his pathetic guard had perished because when I first sent Kovu back to the Pridelands they were nowhere to be found. I never once saw Kion or any of his so called guard when I led my attack."

"Hmm, very interesting indeed. I do believe you are worthy of a second deal, and here it is. Help me grow my army. As useful as it is to have the Hakuna Roho I also need a lion who can think for themselves. Once the army is big enough I will need someone to help lead attacks and I believe that someone could be you."

"Even if I did want to help you, which I don't. What's in it for me?"

Shida grinned wickedly. "You get to keep your body of course."

Zira bared her teeth but Shida held up a finger. "And… once we take over the Pridelands I'll let you keep it."

"And why would you do that?"

"Because my dear, as you might recall, taking over the Pridelands is not my end goal. It is simply a challenge I have yet to overcome. Once we have taken the Pridelands I will hand it over to you to do with as you please and I will move on to conquer the rest of the world. You will of course assist me afterwards if I should ever need your help again. So… do we have a deal?"

"On one condition, Simba is mine."

"Of course, but what of your children?"

Zira paused. "Kovu and Vitani have been corrupted by Simba and his family, but once the royal family is dead we will see if they still fight against me."

"Yes Zira, once they see your power the will no longer harbor feelings for the weak."

She nodded and now finally being able to feel her legs again rose and walked with some difficulty over to Shida. She took one final look into his fiery eyes and then bowed her head in submission. "I will help you."

He place his hand on her shoulder. "Good, but there is one more thing that must be done before you can serve me."

She looked up from the ground to see that there was now a snake beside Shida. Before she could say or do anything the snake struck her across the eye. She let out a roar of surprise and pain but did not falter or back away. She took a few deep breaths and then looked back up at Shida with a glare.

"Was that… was that really necessary? I would have accepted the mark without trickery. Now I know why Scar used his roar on you."

"And already you are showing to have more control than he ever did."

Zira was about to retort but was interrupted by a voice from outside the cave.

"Shida, your dinner is ready." The voice called, sounding feminine.

A moment later another human walked into the cave, but this one was definitely female. She wore pelt across her midsection as well as across her breast. She also had dark skin like Shida and a braid of long black hair that hung down past her shoulders.

"So your finally awake." The woman said, addressing Zira.

Zira simply cocked an eyebrow at Shida.

"Oh did I forget to mention Yasu also had a daughter. Turns out humans cannot eat raw meat straight from the bone and Yasu never learned to cook. Kweli here though is quite good at it, and is also an adequate hunter with what she calls a bow and arrow. So I kept her around. Zira, meet Kweli."

"Now you expect me to trust two humans. Why not just turn her into one of the Hakuna Roho also. If she knows how to cook and hunt couldn't you just will her to do those things for you?"

Kweli stepped closer up to Zira and knelt to meet her gaze. Now Zira could see Kweli also bore a scar across her left eye.

"That's not the only reason he didn't take my spirit." She had an appealing voice with a soft but steady tone.

Zira's eyebrows shot up "Another human that can speak with animals?" She asked looking past the woman at Shida, but it was Kweli who answered.

"I can understand you just fine."

"And that would be why I didn't take her spirit." Shida said. "I have yet to figure out why, but she seems to be the only human that has the ability to speak with animals, besides me of course. But Kweli is fully human. She was not very happy with me at first with how I stole her father's body and trapped his spirit. So I found Mavumbi." He said gesturing down to the snake. "He helped me make her a bit more quadrative."

"Don't forget about our deal as well Shida." Kweli said sternly.

"What deal?" Zira asked.

Shida rolled his eyes "Must I explain it all. Like you, I made Kweli a deal that if she continues to cook and provide aid to me I will find a way to return her father to her. As useful as this body has been I intend to find a way to transfer my spirit back into the body of a lion. In the mean time I would also like to discover why she is the only human that can speak with us, as animals I mean"

Zira wouldn't mind learning that herself. "So what now?"

Shida smiled menacingly. "Now, thanks to you my dear Zira, we know how to get back to the Pridelands. Before I didn't have a clue as to which direction to go since I was in an unfamiliar land and Yasu's knowledge was no help. But now all we have to do is follow the river from which you came down. Along the way we can add to our army and together we will finally lay claim to the land that has defied me for far too long." He started to laugh and his eyes began to blaze again as he looked out into the world that was his for the taking.

Authors note:

And there we have it, our villains. So sorry this took forever to get posted. This chapter was especially hard for me to write for a number of reasons and I ended up rewriting parts of it on multiple occasions. I also have had very limited time to work on it due to work and just life. Hopefully it lived up to your expectations. I know I had a lot of you eagerly waiting for the next chapter so let me know what you thought. Also, I wanted to let you all know I've had a reader requested lion king story come in that I will be writing alongside this one so keep an eye out for it. Eventually I hope to link up the two stories. I have a lot of plans so even if it takes me a while to update I will never let these stories die. Next chapter we will be returning to the tree of life. Umren will get to see all that has changed since he last seen the kingdom and get to share a few more hidden secrets with his new furry friends Hint hint, it will involve Kopa. Until then please continue to review and comment. Thanks for reading!