Chapter 5 – Confrontation and Confessions

I stopped at the waterhole to fill my canteen that was in my backpack. By now, the sun was fully risen. After filling the canteen to the brim, I stood up and looked around. Pride Rock's majesty could not be denied as it stood with dignity in the risen sun. I could see several lionesses padding down from its slope towards me to get a morning drink. I waved, acknowledging them, and they nodded towards me.

I set off to the south. There were a lot of grassland and acacia trees in this area. Here and there were several herds of zebra and antelope grazing. I stopped for a moment, wondering if I should go around. Cautiously, I took one step forward. Some glanced up at me, and then went back to their breakfast. Smiling, I started forward, walking between each antelope and zebra. They did not even seem to care about this strange creature disturbing their meal. Apparently, the news of the human within the Pride Lands had spread fast.

As I walked through, I began to wonder if the other animals could talk too. I stopped near some zebra and waited to see if they were talking. Sure enough, I did hear some words, but they came from behind me rather than from the group I was watching.

"Hey buddy, could you move over just a little? You're in my grazing area!"

I whirled around to see an antelope staring at me. He looked fairly young, but he was defiantly not a child. He didn't look annoyed, but he was acting antsy, and clearly was waiting for me to move.

"Oh! Sorry!" I said, and I stepped aside so he could keep eating.

I watched him for a moment and then he spoke to me again.

"So you're the new member of the pride, huh?"

I smiled. At least he wasn't ignoring me.

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm Ayden."

He looked up at me, smiling through a mouthful of grass. He swallowed and said "I'm Sambo."

"Nice to meet you." I said sincerely.

He went back to grazing, but continued talking.

"So what brings you here? Did'ja get bored being up at Pride Rock?"

I smirked, stifling a laugh. Boring was not the word for my situation up at Pride Rock. I was always bombarded with question after question by all the lionesses at Pride Rock. It was sort of a relief to get away from the constant barrage of questions.

"It's never boring up there." I told him. "Somebody's always doing something. I just wanted to explore out here more, you know."

"I get ya." Said Sambo.

"Speaking of the lions," I began, "Don't you guys ever worry that you're gonna…you know, get eaten?"

Sambo looked up at me. "Nah. King Mufasa has a system worked out that seems fair. Usually, at least once a week, we get a few of our kind who become sick or are dying. It's pretty common around here. Usually, we die if we get sick. So the lions hunt them and put them out of their misery. If we have none who are sick or dying, the lionesses hunt outside of the Pride Lands so we are not disturbed. Sure, it's sad at first, but its all part of the circle of life."

I thought about this for a moment. It made me like Mufasa even more. He did not kill unless he needed to. He was a fair, just, and kindhearted king who cared about everybody in his kingdom, not just himself.

Suddenly, Sambo's head shot up, and he kept his body very still. He looked around attentively.

"Danger's afoot!" he hissed quietly to me.

I looked around. I didn't see anything to worry about. What I did see was that every antelope and zebra was doing the same thing that Sambo was. Every head was upright and moving from left to right, while their bodies remained motionless. Then, as one, the herd began to run to the east.

I ran with them, for fear of being trampled if I remained still. They were much faster than I was, and they easily outran me. Soon, I was nearing the back of the stampede. I glanced back as I ran, and to my horror, six gray dog-like creatures were running at the back of the stampede. Hyenas!

As I looked back at them, I felt my foot hit something hard, and I fell forward. I groaned in pain as I lifted my head up from the ground. The stampede ran past me and soon was long gone into the distance. I started to get up, but stopped as, to my right, I heard a deep voice.

"Geez, what spooked them this time?"

I looked over and saw a small brown gopher peeking his head out of his hole. He looked at me, expecting a answer. Before I could say anything, six gray objects surrounded me with such intense speed, they might have materialized out of thin air.

The gopher gasped and disappeared into his hole.

I gulped and looked back up. The hyena in front of me was grinning evilly, drool dripping down from between his putrid yellow teeth. He was about the size of a Labrador retriever. On his head was a stripe of white fur that stuck up, like a Mohawk.

"Well look who it is boys!" he declared, "It's the new member of Mufasa's pride!"

Slowly, I stood up, looking back to see if I could run, but I was completely surrounded. The hyenas began to circle me, licking their lips as they did. I focused on the one with the stripe on his head. He seemed to be the leader of this pack. My hand slowly went to my pocket where my knife lay.

"My! You're one tall fella! You sure you're in the right pride?" he snickered menacingly. "You look nothing like a lion…"

"I'm a special exception." I growled back. After all I had gone through, I would not let myself die so easily. I put my hand in my pocket and felt the knife. I grabbed onto it, ready for whatever was going to happen.

The hyenas circling me were growling low in their throats. A female hyena who was circling behind me spoke.

"Oh, you're special alright! Right Banzai?" she said, grinning wickedly.

"Yeah! I'll have the 'special' anytime Shenzi!" replied the hyena right behind her. The hyena behind Banzai started laughing insanely at Banzai's lame joke.

"QUIET ED!!" the one with the stripe yelled. He was suddenly much more serious. "We've got a job to do. We have orders from the boss to take care of this one. Then we can take these lands for ourselves!"

I slowly took off my backpack and tightly held onto it with my left hand. My right shot out of my pocket holding the knife. I stood in a stance, ready for the imminent fight.

"You may find that a harder job than you thought." I snarled, "This is the kingdom of King Mufasa. And it's going to stay that way as long as I remain here."

He stopped in front of me, crouched low to the ground, and growled. I raised the knife and made a motion with it for him to come at me.

With incredible speed, he leaped at me, mouth wide open and claws extended. Faster than I thought I could, I swung my heavy backpack at him and hit him squarely in the head. He was knocked aside, flying into the hyena to my right. The hyenas all barked and growled, then jumped at me. Again, I whirled my backpack around me, and hit each and every one of them aside. Amazed at myself, I stopped and looked as each landed on the ground hard.

I heard a growl, and quickly turned to see the leader charging at me. I dropped my backpack, and held up my knife.

He jumped and pushed me back into the ground, landing on my chest. His claws dug into my chest, and I howled in pain. I grabbed his head with my free hand before he could bite my face. He struggled and dug his claws deeper into my chest. I gritted my teeth, and blinking back tears of pain, I raised my right arm, and plunged the knife into the center of his chest.

He yelled and staggered off of me, the hilt of the knife protruding from his sternum. He leaned down, groaning, and pulled out the knife. Blood began to seep out onto his ragged gray fur. He glared at me with a mix of pain and hatred as he tossed it aside and charged at me again.

I positioned myself for his attack, but instead I was jolted from the right side. The maniacal hyena called Ed had charged me before the leader could get to me. He was laughing so hard, however, that he only grazed me. The one with the striped head missed me completely, and tripped over his own feet.

I regained my balance, and looked to my left to see that Ed had charged into two other hyenas, knocking them down. Behind me, Banzai and Shenzi were laying on the ground, apparently too dazed to even attempt to get up again. I guessed I hit them pretty hard with my backpack.

Wow, these guys are not very light on their feet, I thought as the leader struggled and got up to run at me again. The hate in his eyes was unmistakable. He was aiming to kill, and so was I. He jumped at me, and this time, he hit his mark. His jaw closed over my left wrist, and he bit hard. I yelled in agony as I landed on my back with him on top of me. He bit harder, and I screamed as his teeth broke into my flesh. Warm blood trickled from the wound.

I reached up with my right hand, and gouged at his eyes. He released my left arm, and backed up, whimpering and rubbing at his face. I quickly jumped up and ran at him, knowing exactly what I needed to do. I leaped with such agility, I surprised myself, and landed on his back. He was pinned under my weight, but he would not stay that way. He began writhe and wiggle wildly, turning his head to snap at me. With a quick thinking that I never knew I had, my arms flashed to his head and grabbed each side. I twisted my arms hard and felt his neck snap. He went limp underneath me, and moved no more.

Behind me, I heard a loud roar, and I jumped up, ready to attack the remaining hyenas. Instead of seeing them charge at me, I saw Mufasa, teeth bared, swiping at the two hyenas that Ed had run into. His claws tore into their flesh as easily as a knife into butter. They instantly fell and moved no more, blood seeping onto the ground.

Shenzi and Banzai jumped up, afraid for their lives, and ran after Ed, who had already taken off towards the shadowy lands to the southeast.

Mufasa was still growling as he sat down, looking at me as he did.

"Are you ok, Ayden?" he asked, his face relaxing.

Panting, I nodded. I examined my wounds. There were a few punctures in my left hand that were seeping blood, and a few deep scratches in my shirt where the hyena's claws had dug, but none of the wounds were irreversible.

I caught my breath for a moment, and then asked him, "How did you know where to find me?"

"I was with Simba and Zazu when a gopher came and relayed the information back to us. I rushed off to get the hyenas out of the Pride Lands." He explained.

I was confused. "If they live here, then why did they attack me? If I'm part of the pride, doesn't that mean that the subjects here have to respect me as any other lion?"

Mufasa walked over to me and sat down. "Yes, as long as you are part of the pride, it is forbidden for any animal, but a lion, to lay a paw on you, but this is a different situation. Hyenas are not allowed here." He told me. "They are scavengers, and disrupt the peaceful cycle we have worked so hard to achieve. They were banished to the Elephant Graveyard to the southeast generations ago by King Mohatu."

I looked down at the three slain hyenas. Mufasa looked down to , and his attention was drawn to the one who had the white stripe on his head that I had killed.

"Tahri?" he said, his voice sounding utterly shocked.

My heart dropped into my stomach. Did I just kill somebody important?

Mufasa turned to me with his eyes stunned. "Did you kill Tahri?"

I gulped, and then nodded. His mouth fell open as he stared at me, blank shock etched into every inch of his face.

Suddenly, Sarabi ran onto the scene, fear filling her eyes.

"Mufasa! Ayden! What happened? Are you alright? Oh my GOD!" she had spotted Tahri's limp body. "Is that Tahri?" She was just as incredulous as Mufasa.

Mufasa nodded at her, and her jaw fell open too.

"Who is he?" I asked fearfully. I had done something really big, but I was unsure if what I did was a good or bad thing.

"He is the leader of the hyenas! Well, was." Mufasa corrected himself. "For ages he has attacked and poisoned the Pride Lands with his presence! He has led countless attacks on my kingdom! He is infamous for his speed and alertness! No lioness has ever been able to even get a swipe at him! You managed to kill him? With your bare hands?"

Mufasa was almost hysterical in his disbelief. Sarabi's mouth still hung agape.

"Yeah, I did." I said taken aback. I told them what happened, how the hyenas started a stampede, how they had circled me, how they said they were going to kill me, and how they were going to take the Pride Lands once they did.

When I told them what I had said about the Pride Lands were Mufasa's and they would stay that way so long as I was here, Mufasa's face broke into the biggest smile I had ever seen on him. Sarabi did the same.

My gaze was draw to their eyes. They shone with a pride that I had seen in my parent's eyes. I felt such a connection to Mufasa at that moment, the same connection that I felt with my father. And Sarabi had the gaze my mother had. Somehow, I knew they felt the same connection I did. They were proud of me. They were proud of what I had done, of who my allegiance was to, of me as a person. Mufasa reminded me of my father in that moment more than any other time, and Sarabi, my mother.

Mufasa lifted his paw, reached over, and pulled me into an embrace. I was slightly surprised, but I let him do it. Then Sarabi came over and nuzzled me from behind, purring happily. In a way, I was hoping for them to react like this. It was such a warm feeling. I felt I was holding onto my parents again.

Wishful thinking…a voice told me.

When Mufasa let go, he looked at me in such a blissful way.

"When Sarabi and I left you on the first day you came here," he told me, "we knew there was some sort of connection between us. Sarabi told me when she first saw you, before you passed out, that she looked into your eyes. Something inside her told her that she knew you. She knew you belonged here the moment she gazed upon you. When she told me this, I thought she was losing her mind. But then I saw you, lying there in the cave where she had put you. And I knew exactly what she was talking about. I felt such a connection to you that I knew you needed to stay with us."

Hearing Mufasa confess these inner feelings he and Sarabi shared was like nothing I had ever felt. These last few weeks, I kept telling myself that I was only imagining that my parents were looking out of Mufasa and Sarabi's eyes. Now I knew that I was right. They were watching over me through these two. They were not reincarnated, but simply keeping watch over their son who still lived. They had come from high above to remain with me in these two kindhearted souls. And somehow, I also knew that my brother was watching me through Simba, that the connection I felt with him was not wishful thinking. This was real. I was with my family.

I was smiling the biggest smile I had ever allowed my lips to extend. My eyes were welling up at the thought that I was with my parents. I wiped them away, and moved forward to Mufasa and Sarabi. Tears were falling down their muzzles as well. And then, the three of us held onto each other in an embrace that lasted for an eternity.

Sarabi said, as we held onto each other, "We love you, son."

Then we broke apart. I looked at them both with such a love in my heart. Mufasa and Sarabi were my adoptive parents. I was now their adopted son.

"I feel like Tarzan." I said, laughing.

"I think I've heard of him…" Mufasa said, also laughing.