Chapter 8 – Dignity and Indignity

Nala woke with a start the next morning. A voice carried down to her from the tree overhead.

"Nala, what's this? The sun is high and the rest of the hunting party is gone. I realize last night was… exhilarating, but one must not forget to provide for others."

Nala's head jerked up. Scar was lying on a branch, watching her lazily.

"How dare you!" she cried. "Whatever you think, I'm not afraid of you—"

"Oh, I've known that," he cut in.

"–and I don't love you!"

"I've known that as well," he said smoothly.

"Then why must you strip away my dignity?"

He considered her and leaped down.

"Strip away your dignity?" he repeated. "No, my dear, I gave you the greatest thing in the world."

"What's that?" she spat, backing away from him.

"The power to rule," he replied. "Should you decide to follow through with last night, you could sleep out of the weather, you could always eat, you could rule as my queen—"

"I will never be yours!" she snarled.

"On the contrary my dear, you were mine last night," he sneered, stalking around her. "Now, go out and hunt. The cub must be healthy, and I won't have anything destroying what I worked so hard to create."

She shuddered.

"You yourself are thin as well," he noted. "Go."

Nala moved as quickly as she could. She scented the pride hunting an old wildebeest on the plain and slipped into position next to Sarabi.

"Go wide," Sarabi instructed. "Head it towards us."

But before Nala could move, Talani rushed the animal. It charged away, kicking up dust in their faces.

"Talani!" Sarabi growled. "Why did you rush him? Times are rough everywhere, we don't need to be making them any harder!"

Talani's eyes narrowed. "She doesn't need to eat with us," she said, glaring at Nala.

"What are you talking about?" Sarabi snapped.

Talani flicked her tail in disgust. "She gets special treatment from Scar, and then expects to come back here and be normal with the rest of us."

"Special treatment, my tail!" Nala cried. "He attacked me, he…" she trailed off.

"He gave you the chance of a lifetime!" Talani snarled. "Out of all of us, he chose you as his queen!"

Several of the lionesses gasped. "Talani," said Raka slowly, "you make it sound like a good thing."

Talani snorted in response. "I don't see why you're all against him. It's just like it used to be: we have a ruler. And what's better, if any of those wild rouges come, we have an army. Mufasa had a queen, why should Scar not?"

Nala stared at her. "If you think Scar should have a queen, then go and volunteer yourself!"

Talani bristled. "Well, I would if you hadn't already filled that position."

"Enough of this!" Sarabi cried, stepping between them. "Talani, Nala didn't ask for this. We need to work together—"

"Not a chance," Talani snarled. She darted away, followed by Malena, Utani, Renabo and Zira, leaving Sarabi, Nala, Raka and Tunai, a cub, looking after them.

Sarabi shook herself. "Let's see if we can still organize…"

The small group tried and tried to fell prey, and every time it eluded them. Late in the evening, Raka finally scented an older creature near their tree. Tunai pounced and when the other three caught up, they realized the mistake: it was a hyena.

A great whoop rose in the air from a group of the beasts that were passing, and the lionesses turned to see a huge pack of hyenas coming toward them. They yipped and cackled wildly, gazes flickering over each huntress in turn.

At last, the hyenas parted, leaving a path for Scar. He glanced at the fallen hyena, then gave the lionesses an evil smirk. "Well? Which one of you has done this?"

Tunai was terrified. The penalty for killing a hyena under Scar's rule was death.

"I did." Nala stepped forward, staring at him defiantly. His eyes widened.

"Well, well, well… Nala… I daresay you know the consequence of such an action…"

The hyenas began to close in, and Scar raised his voice.

"However, I shall excuse you because of the current… circumstances."

His eyes swept her boldly, and the hyenas cackled as they dispersed.

Life for Nala continued in this vein for several months, always making her nauseous and miserable.

A/N: There ya go, guys. I'm trying to keep up with this one too, and it's harder than you think. Like I said, I've had a load of inspiration for one of my Phantom fics, so that's where most of my time's been going.

PS: Anybody catch the LK2 reference? ...Zira... cool.

Phantomfreak07