Chapter 3:

Rana stared at her grandfather in disbelief. Her mind raced with questions. "Why do they want revenge? What did we ever do to them?" Simba could see the worry building in her eyes. "Please, Grandpa, tell me the story!" At this moment however, Kiara called Rana for her bath. "I'm afraid that will have to wait until tomorrow, sweet heart." Simba gave her a kiss goodbye and the little cub ran off, disappointed that she had to wait.

That night, Simba told Nala about his conversation with Rana. "What! Leopards? They can't be here again! It's been years! They were supposed to be banished to the jungle!" Nala was practically screaming with fright. Leopards were one of her greatest fears. "Nala, calm down. We don't want all the Pride lands to hear us! We have to keep this under wraps until we know for sure!" Nala looked at him. Suddenly, as many do when they are worried, Nala became angry. "Isn't that just like a leopard! Holding a grudge! If they ever show their faces around here, they'll have to fight me!" Simba smiled and at the same time felt sorry for the leopards. His wife could be a fierce fighter. "Lets hope they don't come here, or they'll be sorry!" Simba laughed.

First thing the next morning, Simba could see the tan little body of Rana running as fast as she could towards him. Instead of the usual greeting, the first thing Rana said, or in this case shouted, was, "Can you tell me the story now, Grandpa? Please!" Simba felt a bit guilty when he saw her. He could tell she had been up all night thinking and fretting about their previous conversation. "O.K, calm yourself. I'll tell you." The little cub looked relieved as she settled herself down for the story. "Now, it was many years ago, here on the Pride Lands, when I was your age."

Rana interrupted. "You were my age once?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was! I'm not that old!" Laughed the lion. He cleared his throat. "Any way. As I was saying, I was your age and your great grandfather, Mufassa was king of the Pride Lands. Back then, there were three main types of great cats that lived here; Lions, cheetahs, and leopards. As you know, lions ruled the land as they do now. The cheetahs were just fine with that. They liked to live here, without all the responsibility of ruling. Leopards were different though. They thought that they should rule the Pride Land.

Mufassa tried to reason with their leader, Chui. We gave them rule over the edge of the savannah, where the Pride Lands meet the jungle. The lions figured since they went back and forth between the two places, why not give them the land near by it as well. However, Chui didn't have the same opinion. He claimed that the leopards were here first, so they should rule.

We tried everything. Positions in our council, more land, even hunting locations. Yet, they still wouldn't agree. Leopards are known for their stubbornness. They wouldn't take anything less then total rule. Still, the lions tried to reason with them.

"Why couldn't you just send them away?" Rana piped in.

" They were a big part of our society. Leopards protected the creatures and helped kept the peace. That is the duty of all large cats in the Pride Lands. The thing was, the leopards weren't helping at all. In fact, they were causing trouble. Leopards were harassing lions, fights broke out, and our society was falling apart. My father was usually a very peaceful lion, but when the leopards killed one of his advisors, he wasn't going to let the leopards carry on. He called Chui for a meeting.

The leopard leader arrived at the meeting with an army of his followers at his tail. I was there next to my mother, watching the whole thing take place. I had never been more nervous. The leopards scared me, just as they scare you. " What do you want, lion?" Chui snarled at Mufassa. "I believe you took something from the lions." Mufassa replied.

" We didn't take anything from you!"

" Then how do you explain your followers taking the life of our chief advisor? You have crossed the line! We can't let you continue!"

" It is not we who took something from you, but you lions who took from us! We were here first, we deserve to rule! And we will fight if you do not give us back our throne!" Mufassa sighed. He always hated war. "I am about to give you one more chance, Chui. We will give you the entire southern border of the Pride Lands. We don't have to have lives lost over this issue. Do you agree or not?" Mufassa looked at Chui with the fiercest glare I had ever seen. Fire raged in his eyes. I had never known my father to get angry, but when his people were at risk, he could be the most ferocious lion to walk this planet.

"How many times must we tell you, lion?" Snarled Chui once again. "We rule this entire land and since you won't hand it over to us, then I declare war!"

"Then war it shall be." The war hadn't even begun yet, but my father looked defeated. His wish for peace was denied. He had done all he could. Unfortunately, war was the only option.

Over the next few months, my world was nothing but fighting. Everyday, I saw lions and leopards killing each other, nothing held back. I was disappointed that I was too young to fight; I wanted to help my father. However, even if I were old enough, my mother wouldn't have allowed me to. Being the prince, I had to stay back and watch. It was terrible.

After almost a year of fighting, we finally won. My father and his remaining army had over powered the leopards and defeated them. As punishment, the leopards were sent away to live in the jungle. They lost all power they had and were no longer under the protection of the other animals. It hurt us a lot, but we couldn't have any more of their violence.

The leopards never forgave us. The day that they all migrated to the jungle, Chui looked back at Mufassa. "You may have won the war, lion, but we leopards will have our revenge. Mark my words! You all will pay!" That's the last we ever heard from them again."

Simba sat back. The worried look had grown on Rana's face. "I guess they are back, just as Chui said." Her voice trembled. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. We need to first find out if they are here to stay and fight. Tomorrow night, we will go and search for them. Leopards will most likely be out hunting at night."

"I want to help!" Rana cried. It reminded Simba of himself back when he wanted to fight in the war. He didn't want her to feel the same disappointment as he had. "Ok, you may help."