Scheming in the dark

The conversation with Scar was short and not very informative. He seemed to dislike Askari's admiration towards his brother and the few words he lost about Mufasa were dripping of irony and sarcasm. It wasn't hard to tell, that he and the king – despite being related – were anything but good pals. After they ended their little talk, Scar tore off a leg the buffalo and went on his way.

"Charming guy", Askari commented, after the slender lion was gone. "He surely has no thing for his brother."

"Being a younger brother myself, I wouldn't judge him for that", Ushindi said. "Or he is like you and gets grumpy when he's hungry. Did you see how much meat he took?"

"Maybe he was afraid you wouldn't leave something for later", his friend mockingly guessed. "You're twice as heavy as he is."

"All muscles", Ushindi replied with a grin, making Askari chuckle. Then he lifted his eyes, noticing Shauri heading their way. One of the Pridelanders was with her.

As she reached them, she introduced them to her companion, a lioness with the name Sarafina, who was going to show them a cave where they could spend the night. Actually, they truly were tired by now, so the gladly accepted and followed the females to pick up the rest of their group.

The last daylight was long gone when a dark figure crossed the northern border of the Pridelands. It was the silhouette of a dark maned lion, quietly moving through the bone piles and glowing geysers. The bad smell and the occasional eruptions of the steaming holes in the ground left him unimpressed as he snuck from shadow to shadow, making his way towards one of the rugged canyons in which the elephant graveyard split up into. He could already hear them.

Banzai's voice reached his ear long before he could see him. "Ouch!", the hyena yowled seemingly in pain, followed by Ed's crazy laughter.

"Ups. Sorry."

Now he could see them. He had walked around a corner and was now climbing some natural steps in one of the rocky walls. While moving towards the edge of the slope in front of him, he watched Shenzi stepping away from the male with a somewhat sorry expression.

"Why do ya always touch me when I'm hurt?", Banzai growled, making Shenzi switching from somewhat caring to furious in an instant.

"Hey! I said I'm sorry!", she snarled back. "Just wanted to see how bad he gotcha!"

"Very bad!", Banzai replied still angry, but intimidated. He winced, as he carefully licked one of the deep scratched on his hind legs. "Well, thanks for caring so much!"

"Oh, stop being so theatrical. That's Scar's job."

"I heard that." Finally, he decided to reveal his presence to his friends. "And please don't compare me with Banzai."

Although he had spoken in a calm, nearly uninterested tone, the two arguing hyenas flinched, while Ed instantly started to laugh at them.

"Oh, shut up Ed!", Shenzi snapped at him. She and Banzai had already recovered from the scare.

"Well, I'd never compare you to myself, Scar!", the male quickly said, trying to use the situation to rise in his favor. "You're way more theatrical than I am!"

Sighing, Scar lay a paw on his forehead while Banzai slowly got aware of his own stupidity.

"Oh…", the hyena said and looked down in shame. At the same time, Ed passed him and moved towards Scar, sniffing into the air. Noticing their friend's behavior, the other two hyenas gazed at Scar, surprised and thankful.

"You brought something?", Shenzi happily cheered.

"Well, I can't let Banzai getting himself killed in an attempt to steal food from our new friends, can I?" With a casual gesture Scar pushed the half-eaten buffalo leg he had carried all the way over the edge. "Ration it, I won't always be able to bring you this much." While still saying it, he already knew his words fell on deaf ears. The hyenas were already noisily munching on the meal.

"Oh, you're the best, Scar!", Shenzi praised him, her muzzle full of meat. "Haven't eaten for days! That bastard took our last kill from us, ya know?"

"Yeah! I hate this guy!", Banzai added between two bites.

"Oh, that feeling is mutual I assure you. As I can see, he already tested the sharpness of his claws on you and I bet he'd love to do the same with his teeth. He's more than eager to taste hyena blood." He saw the fearful looks Banzai and Shenzi exchanged and even Ed gulped. They knew how serious the situation was. This rogue – although being not fully grown yet – was a real threat, especially with the two brutes who accompanied him. These beasts were as dumb as they were strong and at least as cruel, but for some reason they listened to his every command.

"And you're still sure you can't help us to kick them out?", Shenzi carefully asked.

Scar wouldn't admit it, but even with the three hyenas he probably wouldn't be able to do that. Maybe, if the lions wouldn't know about his alliance with the trio, he could have lured them into a trap, but sadly the element of surprise had been taken from him. The young rogue had already seen him with his friends. "Yes", Scar said while he remembered that day. "I can't risk getting hurt and being asked about it by the pride. But…"

"That's exactly what you said the last time we were in trouble", Shenzi complained.

Instantly Banzai joined her. "Yeah, we had to deal with this psycho all alone! Wait…" Suddenly, he looked thoughtful. "We could use the 'yeena boiler!"

"Awesome idea", Shenzi growled rolling her eyes. "You'll play the bait. Oh, and good luck luring them one after the other into the same trap."

"Aw man… You're right." Banzai drooped his tail. "But I really wanted to try the boiler…"

"Don't be sad buddy", Shenzi tried to cheer him up and petted his shoulder. "You'll get your chance to send someone flying."

"As I was saying…" Scar raised his voice again, sounding a little upset about being interrupted with such a stupid idea and the hyenas listened up again. "I will not throw him out for you, but maybe that's not even necessary."

"Huh? Why not? It doesn't look like he's gonna leave on his own."

"He has all the motivation to leave. Sadly, he won't storm off into a battle he cannot win. He's too clever for that. But what if he was provided an unexpected opportunity, promising victory?" Scar grinned. While he had made his way through the Pridelands this plan had begun to form in his head and was now becoming clearer. With these rogues and his brother's guests, new pawns had appeared on the board. And if these pawns were too powerful or risky to take, maybe he could make them move on their own… probably even into a direction that benefited him. Yes. His grin became wider, as his plan grew further. If send on the right path, these unwanted additions to his game would soon remove themselves from his board again and in the best case, would in time be replaced by other pawns. Pawns that would play his game and not their own.

AN: Chapter 20! A milestone I suppose.

I know it is a short one again, but it marks the beginning of the next "phase" of the story if you want to call it like that.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to set things in motion, but then I thought Scar would be perfect to set the hare running. Btw. Has anyone an idea who this rogue is they're talking about?