Part III : Puppet on a String

Several days passed, and, just as Uru had predicted, the gash over Taka's left eye did indeed scar. During those days, the prince kept his distance from the pride, finding refuge in the oddest of places. He just wanted to be alone, away from all the pride's pitying eyes. Even Sarafina. He didn't want pity, he wanted acceptance. He was the same lion he had always been, only with a slight superficial flaw. He was the same… wasn't he?

It was on one of these days of separation that Taka decided to explore a place where few lions ever go – the elephant graveyard. For years the Pride Land's elephants had used this spot to mourn their dead. But the land was not only populated by elephant corpses, but with the archenemy of all lions – hyenas. The hyenas had been exiled to the barren wasteland of the graveyard many years ago. The filthy vermin had been killing off the herds on which they depended on. The hyenas did not believe in the Circle of Life, and always took more than they needed. They were horrid, greedy creatures with a lust for blood.

Taka silently crept into the graveyard, hoping the hyena clan was poaching prey from the adjacent lands. He found his way into a sort of cave, but it was much more than that. The cavern was Massive. Taka could barely make out the ceiling. And, scattered all over the cave floor, were terrible, green pools of who-knows-what. All the young lion could tell was that if he touched it, he would be burned, as well as scarred.

Suddenly, the green liquid from one of the strange pools shot up as if it were a geyser. Taka screamed, and turned to run, but was tripped by something. He fell on his face, and skidded across the ground. When he was finally able to get to his feet, he turned around in a defensive position, but was shocked and horrified at what stood before him. Hyenas.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" Asked a the female hyena, who was also clearly the leader.

"Hmm… I dunno, Shenzi! Whadda ya think, Ed?" One of the males said, turning to the third, and final of the trio, another male. This hyena didn't speak, but giggled and laughed insanely. It made Taka's skin crawl.

"Ya know what I think, Banzi," Said the female, apparently named Shenzi, to her male counterpart. "I think we got ourselves lunch." The prince squirmed under the hyenas' cold, hungry eyes. He had to think quickly and on his toes, otherwise, as the female had said, he would be lunch.

They began to close in on him. Taka was panicked, and couldn't think straight, and in that moment of fuzziness, he told the trio the last thing he wanted to admit.

"If you dare spill a drop of my blood, my father will be on you as swiftly as you please, for to spill royal blood is among the greatest of crimes!" He cried. The hyenas exchanged glances, all except for Ed, the one who could only giggle and laugh, who now only stared out into space. Shenzi gave a sly look at Banzi, which told him his leader had a plan.

"Oh, your Highness! I'm so sorry! I didn't recognize you, what with that scar over your eye!" She said. Taka's fear subsided for moment as he touched his scar.

"Well, I only recently got it. The people of the Pride Lands have yet to see me with it." He said, his head hanging low. "But what do you care!" He suddenly snapped. "You're just a bunch of hyenas, banished from our lands! Why would it matter to you that my father struck me!" Shenzi's eyes brightened.

"So," She began. "King Ahadi gave his son a beating, huh? I thought your daddy loved you more than anything, Mufasa." She emphasized the name of the crown prince for good measure. Taka frowned.

"Er… Mufasa is my older brother. I am Prince Taka." Shenzi pretended to be confused at this news, silently egging Banzi on to do the same.

"Taka? Banzi, you ever heard of a 'Prince Taka'?"

"Well, it does ring a bell…" He shrugged, playing along with Shenzi's game. "Oh! That's right! I remember the announcement going out! Someone told me that Ahadi an' Uru had another kid, but that Ahadi was real ticked when he found out it was a male." Taka stared at the hyena in bewilderment.

"What are you talking about?" He asked. "My father loves me very much!" Shenzi raised what would have been an eyebrow (for some reason she didn't have them) at the prince.

"Oh yeah? Then why did he give you that nasty scar?" She sneered. Taka had been prepared for a reply, but had none. This hyena – this Shenzi - was right. If his father truly loved him, why would he strike him? While he had angered Ahadi quite a bit, he had never responded so violently when Mufasa made his mad. Could it be possible that the king was playing favorites? That he preferred one son over the other? That Taka's birth had actually saddened him, contrary to what he had always been told? Told that he loved him? Questions swirled in his head, making him physically dizzy.

"Hey, you alright, scarboy?" Shenzi asked in mock compassion.

"Yes…" He replied, his head still swimming. "Yes, I'm fine." He looked hard at the hyena trio, now unsure if they truly wanted to hurt him or not. "I… I really must be off! Goodbye!" He began to run, but was stopped by Ed, the psychotic lunatic. He giggled and laughed in a strange, almost evil way.

"Not so fast!" Said Shenzi. "You gotta promise us one thing, scarboy!" Taka gulped.

"And what would that be?" He asked, quite frightened.

"You gotta come back tomorrow so we can talk wichya sa more!" She exclaimed happily. "I like you, scarboy! I like ya a lot!" Taka's frightened eyes brightened upon hearing this. They actually wanted to spend time with him! Not because he was royalty, or scarred, they liked him for him!

"Alright!" He said excitedly. "I'll be here, same time tomorrow!"

"We're lookin' forward to it! Bye now!" Shenzi called after him as he ran off. She chuckled quietly to herself, and turned back to her cohorts. Banzi stared at her as if she had three heads.

"Uh… Shenzi… WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU THINKING?" He shouted. "I thought you were gonna kill the lil' brat once he trusted us! What's the big idea?" Shenzi rolled her eyes.

"Do you want enough food to last us a day, or enough food to last us our whole lives?" She asked him.

"Our whole lives, of course!" Shouted Banzi. "But I don't see how that skinny lil' prince is gonna solve that!"

"Well," Shenzi began. "he is the prince, right? So, if we manage to get him to trust us, he has the power to bring us back to the Pride Lands." She explained, looking quite smug.

"Uh, no he can't!" Exclaimed Banzi. "He has no power to do that! He's not gonna be king! His brother is!"

"Did you really think I hadn't thought of that, moron? We'll just keep telling him how much Ahadi 'hates' him, and 'loves' Mufasa. Eventually, he'll have so much anger towards both of them, we can tell him whatever we want about either of them, and he'll believe us. We can put whatever ideas in his head that we like! Why, we could even get him thinking up a plan to overthrow his brother, and –" But Banzi cut her off, finally understanding her brilliant plan.

"And then, he'll become king, and let us back in! Shenzi, you're a genius!" He praised her.

"I know." She chuckled. "That prince ill' be like a puppet on a string!" At this, all three of them began to cackle hysterically, giddy with joy over Shenzi's fail-proof plan. They would get back into the Pride Lands, and Prince Taka was going to escort them personally.