THE SCARRED KING AND QUEEN NALA- Ch XXII (nyehh, last time I accidentally said 20 instead of 21 -dies- )

Last Time- Nala hasn't moved much. Sarafina considers herself Scar's Queen, since the "real one" has gone missing. And we have seen that although Maelekeo-Sawadi's maturity level has grown, Simba has not changed much at all.

Notes- Special, atricesparrow? Naaaa, it's just been a while since I've included her, and so she's had a lot of time to grow XP

Right... Keo's not going to be in this chapter, but she'll be in the next one... -evil grin- trust me ;)

———

The time was around midmorning, but Sarabi liked to sleep in late so she didn't care. The aging lioness lay upon a large rock, with her forepaws sprawled across the top. She had a relatively pleasant expression upon her face, and was only partially awake. This was Sarabi's favorite time of the day, for though she had enough in her to think, she didn't have enough to glimpse the horrid, barren land in which she was forced to live.

However, her pleasure was quickly interrupted by confusion and pain. Another lioness pounced upon her with claws outstretched, and stealthily she snarled in vain. Twisting to see her attacker, Sarabi calculated that it was Zira. Ah, so this was what she was like... Sarabi had never known Zira- they were step-sisters, but when they were cubs Zira had been Scar's friend and Sarabi Mufasa's. And Zira had always been the quiet one, so she'd never even heard a word from her. Sarabi had always wondered whether, perhaps, she was a violent tyrant, just sitting there and taunting all around her, waiting for her next attack.

"Zira, what are you doing?" she said, despite her doubts. "It is I, Sarabi- the lead huntress! I am not a threat to you or any others arou- "

But here she stopped and gasped in pain, for Zira had just sunk her claws in about twice as deep. "Say goodbye, Sarabi... this is my claim to power!"

Sarabi only gave muffled shrieks of pain, as Zira slowly lowered her maw toward the former Queen's neck. Before long, however, the pain within her started to melt away... the world around her grew fainter and fainter, until at last she could feel or see nothing. Slowly all her senses drifted away... and then, at last, she was dead.

Zira cackled for a moment, then stood atop the carcass and roared, declaring her victory. Several lionesses had gathered about and were gasping in horror at Sarabi's dead body, then giving nasty looks to her murderer.

"I intend this to be a warning, lionesses of Scar's pride- Zira, Scar's childhood friend, is climbing toward power."

———

When Sarafina heard of Sarabi's murder, she was horrified. Not only that one of her very good friends was dead, but also that her Queenly position was to be threatened again! If Zira had killed the lead huntress, maybe Sarafina was next... or maybe she'd wait for Nala to return and kill her! Whatever way the tables turned, things looked pretty murky.

Scar, or so it seemed, couldn't care less about Zira's outburst. When Sarafina stammered to him that Sarabi had been murdered, he only said, "What a shame," but did not even so much as ask who was responsible!

"Perhaps you heard incorrectly," said Sarafina, "Sarabi, the lead huntress, has been murdered."

Scar was not flustered by this at all. "Oh no, Sarafina- perhaps you heard me incorrectly- what a shame it is that our lead huntress is dead! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend to."

Sarafina's expression now was one of betrayal and horror. "Well- aren't you going to do something about it?" But Scar wasn't listening to her any longer. He had already moved on to other matters of business.

———

Nala had moved on from her crevice, and all her misery had left her. Now she was prancing about the tall grass- which was quite lush after the storm- gently whistling and conjuring a plan with which to dispose of King Scar.

She quickly realized that planning for murder wasn't quite so hard as she thought it would be! All she had to do was plan when to make her attack, and how. Before long, she decided it would be so much easier if she could gather a large group of lions, including a male, to overthrow him and defeat the hyenas.

The only problem with this proposal, she figured, was the absence of males... where was she to find a male lion?