Prepare For The Coup Of The Century

Nala, of Pride Rock:

Geremin had died that morning. The half tailed, scar-sided beast had stopped breathing while sleeping in her den. It was a nice way to go.

Nala watched as her mother tried to force her tears back, creating a horrible sound and not serving to hide her grief at all. Her face was pushed into father's chestnut mane, trying to disappear and hide. Nala knew what grief looked like. She knew how it felt. Scrunched up in pain, ears twisted and tucked. When she was a cub, after Simba's death, she cried every night. She remembers how it felt, all burning and hollow.

She didn't want to be here.

Father's orange eyes travelled to where they sat. With a tiny narrowing of his gaze and yank of his head, he gave them both permission to leave the vigil over Geremin's body. Berta trotted out quickly, ever obedient to father, with Nala following in her sister's shadow.

"Do you think mother will be alright?" Berta whispered as they came to stroll shoulder to shoulder.

"I don't know," she snapped.

Nala didn't mean to snap, she was just fuzzy and annoyed. Annoyance was an emotion she had gotten used to, it was almost constant this moon. Feeling fuzzy and sad on top of that? Ergh. It was getting to her. Stupid pride mentoring her to some old lazy warrior. How obvious could she possibly have made it that she wanted to be a hunter? It's not like she hadn't spent every single waking moment honing her hunting craft. And now, what? She was going to be trained into some brawling idiot? A warrior? What the hell was there to fight?

The good season was almost upon them. The return of the migration, daily rainfall making muddy creeks run clear and the grass grow above their heads. It was due to be a violent season if the bird talk held true. Apparently the East was bearing the brunt of it now, lashed by violent storms and soothed with floods. The talk went that the storms had made a lake out of deserts, and the thunder had been so violent mountains sank to their knees. Even the Wasteland was starting to bloom after a hundred years of dusty bones.

Travellers spoke of the storms like a beast, a thing stalking them, a predator. Nala rolled her eyes when they got talking. The weaver birds where the worst for it, gossiping about bad omens and whole herds swallowed by the storms, vanishing overnight.

Dust still got up her nose and the rivers were low. Hippos tumbled around in them with permanent grumpiness, and the grass had started to bleach and thin. If this storm to end all storms was on its way to destroy their lands, then she hoped it would hurry up.

"Are you doing anything with Magnar today?" Her sister asked brightly, an attempt at cordial conversation. At the mention of her mentor, Nala's eyes rolled backwards. "He might call it off, with your grandmother dying overnight and all..." Nala wondered about the probability of that. Magnar was an old thing with more scars then skin and three missing toes. As tended to be the way with those who lived to old age. He would probably leap at the excuse to cancel training.

"Hmm, there is a high chance of that," Nala admitted, jumping softly down the rocks with her sister shadowing behind. "What about you and Sarabi?"

"Hunting. We always hunt. The pride needs food." Berta looked unimpressed by the idea, as if the thrill of a hunt had become a chore to her.

Nala felt the now familiar twist of jealously, why couldn't she be a hunter? She was the best at it! No, instead she got Magnar. She brushed that useless twinge aside, intent to forget about it. She needed to focus on productive thoughts. Pride unity. Impressing lionesses with hunting skills, killing Magnar, hiding the body, being reassigned. It was a simple but flawless plan.

Two lumbering males were coming along the path towards them, and Nala nimbly made to weave around.

"Wait, girls, you know where you Dad is?" Zareh asked, his ridiculously chirpy green eyes now sober and tired. Berta was the one to answer.

"He's up the rock. Mum's trying to pull herself together." Zareh nodded mutely to Berta and started to turn, giving Nala a clear view of who was behind him. Surprise rushed through her as she recognised their King.

She hadn't seen Scar in days, and it was super weird for him to be following Zareh around. They hardly talked and seemed to shrink at the sight of one another. There was obviously a long standing feud between them, one that left an old and bitter wound. There was talk about them being half-brothers, she never believed that, but...

They usually seemed so starkly different you wouldn't believe there was a drop of shared blood between them. Scar was all red and dark while Zareh was gold and honey. The only colours they shared was the green eyes, and even that was different. One chipper and light, the other jaded and dark. But, standing next to each other like this, a rare sight, in the orange light of dawn... Nala could see it now. They had the same high cheekbones and triangle noses with soft willowy manes.

Zareh's eyes were open and kind as he looked at the cubs. They seemed to shimmer just because of how he smiled. Scar's eyes were closed and cold, hooded and dangerous. On the strange occasions that a smile found its way onto his face, those eyes glinted.

It was like night and day.

"Ah, sorry," Zareh muttered as he turned and noticed Scar behind him. He side stepped and let their King move softly by, his entire posture dropping into submission. Scar's head dipped as he drew close to her, his gravelly voice just loud enough for her and Berta to hear.

"Immediate blood ties will be excused for three days mourning. Which includes you two. Let that mentor of yours know that does not mean he is free of duties. I want that rouge rooted out before sunset, understood?" Nala nodded, a cheeky smile on her face at the King's distain for Magnar. Scar then grunted and brushed past, a small nod spared for Berta before he disappeared around the rock face. He never so much as glanced Zareh's way. The half-brother didn't seem too upset by this; he had already turned away and started down the rock face.

Nala followed after Zareh to where the pride was gathering for the morning meetings. Mufasa was lying in his usual place by the den's mouth, talking with some lionesses and Sarabi. The Queen's eyes flicked up and caught her, jerking her head in a clear gesture to come over. Nala frowned, not sure what for as she took slow steps in the Queen's direction. Had she finally realised her mistake? Was it finally time to go out and hunt? A ball of hope lodged in her throat and threatened to choke her.

Berta brushed past, jogging over to Sarabi and starting to rapidly answer the Regent Queen's questions. Ah, Sarabi had been looking at Berta instead. Nala shook herself and walked off in search of her mentor, hoping no one saw that embarrassing slip.

Magnar was sunning himself on Pride Rock's eastern face, purring in his sleep. He was so old his purrs sounded like a rabbit chocking, one too many blows to the throat, he had explained once. The joys of being a warrior.

"Oi," Nala growled, jumping up beside him and swatting at his nose with one pink paw. He groaned and yawned like the grumpy hippo he was, twisting around and scratching his back against the ground.

"Shouldn't you be off somewhere crying with family?" He growled as Nala plonked herself down on the warm rock and tucked her paws neatly underneath her chest.

"No. We're not much for wallowing. Scar said you are on rouge hunting duty today, and he wants him found before sunset." Magnar's one good eye popped open to glare at her.

"Young Scar says that every morning, but it's still been three days and nothing yet." He rolled away from her, muttering under his breath. "Just cause he freakin hates rouges doesn't mean I have to go chasing them down like some nitwit..." He said a few more sentences after that, but it was too slurred for Nala to pick. Magnar then groaned and dragged himself to his feet.

"Come on little devil, there is a favourite sunning spot of mine out to the west I'd like to visit today." Rolling his shoulders and stretching his back out, he smirked at Nala's wince when his spine cracked all the way along.

"I think Scar wants us to find the rouge, not some rocks. But that could just be me misinterpreting something." One eyebrow was up and the other scrunched down, a judgmental glare on her young face.

"Who's the mentor here?" He snapped, looking skyward as he pleaded to the ancestors. "Father give me strength!" Nala got to her feet alongside him, also looking skyward.

Grandmother give me strength.

Nala was pleased as she always was to see how tall she was getting. Her eyes were level with the centre of her mentor's burly chest. Magnar was nowhere near the biggest lion in the pride, but she still felt accomplished as they stood side by side. "We get high, we stay quiet, and more often than not the prey slinks right into our paws. I thought you were some proud hunter or something? Ambush one-oh-one little devil."

"I was under the impression lions were a bit harder to hunt than any other beast." Nala said sourly, thinking back on the secret hunt the cubs had gone on together. They had searched for hours on a fresh scent, and there had been so many of them, but still nothing. Poor Ulan had looked lost and stricken for days afterwards. Magnar snorted loudly, nearly missing his step down the rocks.

"You can use the time to hunt, you like doing that, right? And you will serve as good bait if he is as big and bad as everyone is fretting about."

"You think they are wrong to worry?" Nala never considered the possibility. It didn't make sense to question lions as wise as Sarabi or Scar.

"Not wrong, just, so worried they are tripping over facts. Lesson in observation little devil, have you noticed that the lioness who encountered him is the least panicked of the lot?"

No, she hadn't realised that.

There was nothing to hunt by Magnar's sunning rocks, which was by far the most annoying thing of today, an accomplishment considering how supremely annoying the day had been already. He had her drill fighting strikes instead, claiming that the burn of the rising sun was only a small bite to endure. It would toughen her. During midday she went and napped in the shade with him, exhausted beyond belief. It was nice out here. Quiet and calm. The noise and bustle of the pride gone. The wind was cool against her sweat soaked body, and the unending grass rustled like a song. She wondered if her grandmother was out here, touring her home one last time before leaving to the stars and joining Simba.

The clouds were beautiful today, all long and wispy, layered above one another as they were spun between horizons. She wondered if they were the beginnings of the rainstorms, finally rolling in from across the Wastelands.

That night the clouds had gone and the sky was brilliantly clear, obviously the storms were still far off. The stars were magnificent, and she had spent all night peering out at them from the top of Pride Rock.

Nala, Three Months Later

It was just before the rains came when the sharp toothed lioness arrived with her three dark cubs. There had been brief showers and happy rain flittering into the Pridelands, but the ground still felt parched under her paws. The gnu were only now reaching the border, slowed down by floods and distracted by new lush plains.

"They say the gnu are close, like, a few are already here close. I can't wait! It will be a paradise, herds as far as the eye can see." Sade had practically drooled as she gossiped with Nala earlier that day. "More meat then I can eat! Can you imagine? It feels like I've been starving all my life, look at me! I'm skin and bone!" Nala chuckled in the back of throat at her best friend's antics.

"Just because there are more of them, it doesn't get easier to hunt one down." The young lioness glared at her, her pink tongue licking her lips clean and running over razor teeth.

"Well at least they will be easier to find," Sade grumbled, her paws twitched underneath her and claws extended to chip against the rock. If it was anyone else, Nala would have made a joke about her not being able to find a gnu even if it kicked her. However, Sade was becoming one of the best hunters the pride had. The bronze lioness had great instincts, and she had been forged by the best hunter their pride had until, well, that hunter died. After Grandmother's death the pride scrambled to find a suitable mentor for Sade.

She had tagged along with other cubs, at times joining Nala in her warrior lessons and patrolling the borders. Once even Rafiki the baboon had taken her out and taught her to read tracks in the earth. Even more bazaar, King Scar had allowed her to ghost along with him as he did his usually wandering things or... whatever he did when he wasn't at Pride Rock. That could only last so long, Sarabi said day in and day out, a cub needed training not supervision.

In the end Diku claimed her. The lioness was mature, a good hunter, and had proven herself loyal to the Pridelands. She was one of the last full-time hunters the pride had left, but splitting her time was a blow the pride would weather. They were strong, no prides pressed their borders or begged for aid, no lords were disputing land rights and any predator attacks were taken care of by oddly bloodthirsty hyenas. Magnar called it a suspiciously peaceful time.

Trouble steered clear now that Scar had established his reign. A crushingly powerful rule, with no room for mercy.

During the day, when everyone was asleep, Sade would teach Nala hunting, and Nala would tell her about the warrior lessons. She had taken an intense interest in them after those days ghosting Scar. They would play in the tiny shadow that Pride Rock cast at midday, pouncing around like cubs and pricking their ears to the rustle of birds overhead. They would sit, heads pushed together and whisper.

Tonight will be different. Nala's eyes roved around impatiently searching for her friend, annoyance flaring inside her. Magnar, her Father and King Scar had already gathered at the foot of Pride Rock, talking quietly about the coming hunt. Even the hyena were here, both of them lying in the grass and panting with excitement.

Nala's belly had been fluttering ever since she was told the news that morning, and it had only grown as the sun set. A big hunt. The type that was a warrior's duty. The day Magnar had told her about this particular responsibility was the day she stopped complaining. For what felt like moons she has been waiting for this, and now it was here. Sure she was under strict instructions to watch only and hang behind, but ancestors was her heart pounding in anticipation. Just the thought of it, a buffalo, with the size and strength of a mountain.

What was taking Sade and Diku so long? When two lions became visible under the moonlight, she almost roared at them to run the last hundred meters down the rocky slope. She bit her tongue when the outline of the other's sleek mane became apparent.

Scar rumbled a greeting, but as they drew closer, the warmth in his voice quickly cut off. It was Zareh who had brought Sade, his green eyes looking at them all guiltily.

"Diku has taken sick, nothing serious but enough to endanger the hunt. Sarabi has asked me to take her place for tonight." As he spoke Sade bounced up to Nala's side, the stars making the pools of her eyes shimmer. It was the look of an excited cub, undoubtedly Nala looked similar.

"You are not a warrior, why not someone else. Lea or that Kuu?" Her father asked Zareh with curiosity. Scar was sitting stiffly as they spoke, something darker then annoyance flashing in the cracks of his usually solemn expression.

"Busy or tired. I will fill the position you planned for Diku well enough, she was not a warrior either."

Magnar grunted his approval of the change. As the most experienced his opinion held weight. Scar's eyes skittered to the side and regarded the old lion's expression before nodding his head and turning away. Nothing more needed to be said.

They streamed out, settling into single file as they trotted across the land. Scar led, his pace sure and quick. He was a traveller, and he looked more comfortable then she had ever seen him. They said he could cross the entire Pridelands in a night if there was no companion to slow him down. Next was Magnar, then her as his shadow. After that the two hyena, Zareh and Sade, then her father at the rear.

They went to the last place the herd had been seen. A watch had been put on them over the day, lionesses tracking their movements and searching for any injured. There was two, an elderly and one weak from a brawl with the herd boss. Magnar had said they would likely go for the injured bull simply because Scar was itching for a battle.

Everyone knew about Scar's temper. He had once been a quiet King, back when the cubs were young and he was new to the throne, but after his lioness left him something changed. There was more glaring and roaring, more arguing with Sarabi and disappearing for days and nights. His hyena saw more of him then the pride did this particular moon.

His hyena. She could feel the one behind her, breathing down her back. The pride was in their debt after the Gnu Massacre, she heard tales of how they fought savagely and bravely. More hyena died that night then lions, and so they won a debt. They were easy to live with once you got used to the occasion brawl breaking out in the heat of high day. They protected Pride Rock's blind side, making the ancestral seat of power more impenetrable then it had been in generations. They were a key part of King Scar's rapid hold to power. Sarabi said they need them for stability... for now.

But when Scar changed they changed too. They were definitely his dogs, not the prides'. An uneasy feeling started to accompany them whenever they were close. Some instinctual knowledge that if Scar wasn't there, the pride would have been double crossed by now.

They arrived at the wallow, catching their breath and lapping at the muddy water quickly. They were allowed to talk, but no one was. Nala turned to Sade but her words caught in her throat.

An itch of worry had started. The adrenaline was still there, but fuelled by a tiny seed of panic. Something was off. She would even go so far as to say that something was wrong. The night felt like a stranger.

She was meant to be shadowing Magnar tonight, but unthinkingly she started to gravitate towards her father. They picked up on the ridiculously wide and smelly trial that all large herds left, and set out again. Scar still lead, but now his hyena's flanked him, with Magnar, Sade, herself, Father then Zareh.

The longer they trotted, the bigger the gap between Scar and everyone else became. His hyena's kept up, tongue's lolling out the side of their jaws, flecks of foam on their sides, but the rest of the party kept to the pace Magnar had set. Slower, steadier... more weary, as if he was unsure of what he was leading them into.

The smell of the buffalo grew thick and strong. Their scent was a pungent one, muddy from the wallow they had spent the day in, and meaty. The air was also heavy with dung and sweat - letting the lions know that the herd had been camped under these trees for awhile. Most likely since sunset.

She could pick the moment when Magnar realised there was going to be no careful planning and waiting. A quiet growl sounded from his chest, and his pace kicked up into a gallop. Her father clung tight to him, matching the sprinting pace as they tried to position themselves either side of the buffalo herd before Scar and his hyena could break from the grass and startle the herd. She and Sade tried their best, but they could only muster half the speed. Nala watched with growing dread has her mentor and father disappear from view.

Magnar had told her, that a reckless hunt was the most dangerous there was.

"Girls!" Zareh snapped from behind them, making them both slow and look to him. The hunt was starting. The hyena's were already laughing and the herd had started to bellow, making the night air explode with anger.

The roar of the bull was deafening. Nala's feet went cold with the thought that once day she would be expected to face off against such an animal.

Zareh started to lead them around, trying to find a safer spot where they could watch the battle unfold. The ground trembled, as the herd broke and started to trample through the long grass. Zareh's ears pitched up and down as he tried to pin which direction they had broke in. Nala knew it was towards them when he snapped around like a viper, eyes liquid bright with urgency. He jumped into a run that ripped his mane away from his face, they tried to follow, but once again their paws could only strike a pace half that of the grown beast.

The first buffalo came through the tall grass, missing them by a meter. Sub-adults and crying cows ran after, clumped together like a rock fall. Hooves struck so hard that she thought the earth would crack open. Weaving wildly she managed to clear the herd and gulp in rasping breaths. Just as she and Sade managed to catch up to Zareh, a cow saw the shape of the lion from the corner of her eye and spun around to charge him wildly.

Sade scattered like a sparrow, but Nala's eye snapped up to look in the white's of the approaching animal. She was massive, horns as wide as Nala was long, coats upon coats of dried mud covering her like armour, muscles that bunched and sprung, catapulting her unbelievable weight at a speed fit for a proud lioness.

All her life hunting had been fun. Stalking lizards, ground birds and little antelope. For the first time Nala knew the fear her prey must have felt whenever she came bearing down on them.

She didn't decide on anything. It happened too fast for her to really think about it. Instinct and fear was what drove her to leap high and into its face. Their eyesight was bad, but if she darted to the side at such close range, she would have seen her and could have charged in confusion. And there would be no time to gather herself and run again if that happened. She had to jump high, any lower and she would slam into her and be thrown down under her hooves.

Nala soared like the young cat she was. The shadow of her caused the cow to lower her head in panic at the last second and a horn caught her in her gut, but thankfully not high enough to crack a rib. It felt like being flung at a rock, and all her breath was knocked from her. The cow bellowed in outrage as Nala slumped and flipped from her forehand down onto her back.

The cow lifted her head up, trying to throw the lioness. It was enough for Zareh, she heard him roar as she tumbled, felt the breeze as one of his paws slammed down an inch from her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut in prayer – a novice mistake. Her head was wacked hard by something on her way down, arse over end. Whether it was Zareh or the cow she would never know.

Her fall to the ground was less like a landing and more like a blow. As if the dirt had decided it wanted to be in on the hunt as well. Nala groaned and rolled, staggering and moving as quickly as she could away from the phenomenally deafening sounds that Zareh and the cow were making. It sounded like murder. It probably was. Someone was going to be murdered tonight.

Prey usually dies quickly and quietly, eyes looking up to the clouds or stars, gasping in exhaustion as they wait for the lionesses to finish it.

Buffalo have other plans. She should have expected it, way back when Magnar told her that the beasts would sooner turn around to kill you then they were to run.

Nala was gasping terribly, trying to get her breath back and hold down the growing need to thrown her guts up. Her vision had cleared, so at least there was that. She looked around, searching for Sade. A roar she knew to be Magnar's boomed from behind her, making her spin fast enough that she saw the moment he flung himself from the grass and onto the cow's back, claws ripping cakes of mud away from its skin and giving his jaws access to the flesh beneath.

Blood came from her sides just as it was coming from her neck, where Zareh was working his fangs deeper and deeper into the thick muscle. It fought for another ten minutes, losing rivers of blood but still fighting and shaking ferociously. Nala almost cried in fear when it managed to drive and trap Zareh between its skull and the ground, she through for sure it was the end of him. Somehow he managed to twist and kick away, ripping up the part of throat he had been biting into. It was such a large chunk that flaps of hide flopped out the sides of his jaws, and when he spat it out, the chunk rolled. It had to have killed it, but the cow still stood on locked legs. Zareh was too injured to go on, instead limping back to shield Nala and Sade should anything happen. By what means, she did not know.

It took King Scar to finish it, roaring and covered in blood – so much that his mane was mattered and weighed down with it, making the sound of wet slapping as he ran towards the bull. His lunge was precise, the weakening bull not as fast as it was when Zareh had first gone of its throat first. Scar's fangs found the sweet spot, tucked just underneath the cow's jawline. He bite down with a gurgling growl as the blood rushed into his mouth.

The cow remained standing for ten more seconds, still and silent besides her massive ragged breaths. Then she sunk to her knees, crying a keen cry for herd mates, sisters or perhaps her bull. Her eyes roved around, searching for hope or comfort as she fell down like a hundred year old tree. The cow's lips formed words, but nothing came out besides wheezing. Scar's bite had been deep enough to destroy the windpipe and everything else that lay there, in that sweetly venerable spot. The King started to shake and tear at the throat now that the cow had fallen, shaking like a crocodile tearing meat off a bloated corpse. He ripped the cow's throat apart, pulling back with his own mouthful of blood, arteries and the strewn vital pipes.

Nala knew Scar's eyes were green, but they looked to truly be as black as underground caves that night. Bottomless and swimming with rage and pride.

A wet nose pressed against her side, making her jump. Her heart had crawled so high in her own throat that her scream was soundless. Nala looked at the face of her own father, who was inspecting her for wounds.

"Alright?" He asked her, breath still short from the hunt. Nala could see in the way his orange eyes burned and flickered around with worry that her father knew tonight could have been much worse. She feared to look at Magnar's face. He would be furious. But the old lion was holding his tongue as he circled the bull and came over. He would hold it until the colour returned to Scar's eyes, and then he will roar at him for breaking from the hunting party. He would roar that stupid hunts like this was how young warriors were killed. He would roar to his daughter, to Nala, to Sarabi and Mufasa, and then eventually he will calm back down. Her father and Magnar shared a dark look, both still gulping in air and eyes haywire with adrenaline.

"Zareh, how bad are the injuries?" Magnar asked, making the lithe male shake his head and wince. He knew better then to make them out as nothing. Her mentor's old face tightened and he grunted.

"I will fetch the baboon. You must lay. Sade," her fellow sub-adult flinched at the call of her own name, "Geremin must have taught you something of healing, inspect him and do what you can." Magnar tossed a look over his shoulder to King Scar, who was busy eating into the bull's neck. "The two hyena are at a kill they've made downwind." Her father sighed and nodded sternly. "Watch out the herd, or the herd bull, does not double-back". Magnar jogged off, it did not occur to Nala that she should have shadowed him... they had both slipped out of lesson mode long ago.

Nala watched as Sade inspected Zareh, getting him to move and rotate what joints he could, trying to locate any broken bones. She washed what blood she could from him, searching for cuts. Sitting quietly and listening to Sade talk was calming. Her heart rate returned to normal and breathing levelled. With cold fear now gone, Nala walked over to look curiously at the cow. Scar was eating quietly, every now and then a sound like a snore coming from him when blood clogged his nostrils. The hyena were making more noise than him, and they were a ways away.

She wondered what it took to break the hide of a buffalo, and so she tried to bite through the skin on her exposed side. It was tough and thick, she had to turn her head and grind it between her sharp back molars for it to unravel. The muscle underneath was tough as well, dense with strength. She must have been a lead cow, or perhaps a deputy. Nala wondered how the herd would fair now with two of their strongest killed tonight.

She ate for as long as she could, and when she stood up to inspect the damage, it looked like she had barely begun. The pride will eat good on this, gorge themselves fuller then they have been in moons. Tonight and into the morning, possibly into the evening as well.

"Scar, we're going back to fetch the clan. We'll let your lionesses know too, eh?" The hyena were licking their lips clean beside the kill, one even licking her toes clean. They had appeared from nowhere and Nala frowned in disappointment. She should have noticed them coming. Scar just grunted and waved his tail. They giggled and left, still high on the success of a hunt.

The King looked up and watched them go, he had worked a bone from the leg and was rolling it around his mouth. His molars made harsh sounds as he chewed on it.

Scar's eyes were normal again, lighter then they had been in awhile, like the fresh meat had flushed his system. He looked at her and smirked.

"So how was your first hunt?" The King's cheeky smile banished all tension from her. Nala matched his smirk, looking to the sky in an act of thought.

"Hmmm, I think you might be in trouuubleee." She teased, "Magnar didn't look very happy." Scar scoffed and spat the vertebrae out.

"Magnar never looks happy. The most successful hunting we've had in moons, and he is still sour like corpse milk."

That may be true, but she had learned to respect Magnar these last three months. When he became disappointed in her, she felt ashamed. When he gave advice, she listened. Kings, she decided, did not feel shame like the normal lion. They were, after all, Kings.

Zareh tenderly walked over, Father and Sade both watching him closely. Scar was in such a good mood that he did not even glare as his relation drew within five meters of him. Zareh picked his spot just behind the front legs to starting eating at, her father inspected where she had ate and took his own mouthfuls from there. Sade was still busy sniffing and jumped whenever her whiskers caught on the cow's hair.

Nala's eyebrows rose when a crow bravely landed by the kill, squawking nosily at them. Scar stared at it in surprise too before his face lit in realisation.

"I'd best guard the other kill," he told them while getting to his paws. With the large males starting to tuck into the bull, Nala knew their attention would be wholly undivided for a long time. She leapt off the buffalo and chased after him, Sade watching her closely but not following.

Scar led her out of the tall grass to an expanse of land the herd had chewed down. The kill was visible now. He was the inquired bull, young but still massive. A trio of crows, an eagle-owl and a vulture had already gathered. They were currently squabbling over access to the gash the hyena had left, hissing and puffing up at one another. Scar crossed the chalky ground in no rush, birds ate next to nothing. It was when they started to crowd like flies that they could strip a kill to the bones.

The crows jumped into the air and flapped away when they saw them, the rest backpedalled, hissing. The vulture made an ambitious threat display at them, raise his wings out and screeching. Scar humoured it with a snarl that sent it scrambling backwards.

It attracted a lot of interest. The thundered of the hunt and stink of so much blood was a beacon. Many more birds started to gather at the edges and soar above them in the night. Even the yips of curious jackals could be heard sometimes.

Nala licked at where the blood had blackened and congealed, there was so much blood in a buffalo that it could make a meal on its own. Looking up, she caught Scar's eye. He was watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not your kill to have," he warned her. No, it was the hyenas. They had brought this one down and claimed it. Nala hadn't really been trying to eat it, she knew how stroppy they could get when it came to food. Another sensitive subject.

Scar set about working a new bone free and took to chewing on it to pass the time. He could do as he pleased, as both lion king and honorary hyena king. At some point three impatient vultures got fed up and came back to the kill, but Scar sent them flapping.

The grass rustled, the sound coming slowly closer. A large beast was wondered through it. Nala first assumed it was the hyena returning, but they were coming from the wrong direction, Scar had gone quiet. It didn't smell of his hyena. It was a strange smell, unrecognisable but distinctly lion. She became tense, thoughts of the rouge from months ago racing through her mind. Would Scar be enough to drive him off? He was meant to be a large, boisterous male and if he wanted the kill he would gamely fight them for it.

Her fears washed away when the sleek body of a lioness emerged from the grass. Nala sighed and smiled in the blood rush that followed scares. Scar though... he was still tightly coiled, like a tree who grew out a cliff face.

Her shape was different to what Nala knew. Thinner in every way, ears sharp like fangs and eyes that glinted dangerously no matter how simpering she tried to be. The grass rustled loudly and then another lioness stepped out. Now they no longer had the numbers, and she grew weary again.

"State your business," Scar growled impatiently. The second lioness chuckled.

"Forgotten me already? Oh dear, this is going to be a bit awkward then." She drew beside the smaller lioness, the moonlight striking her and casting her face clearly.

The King growled. He knew the female then, but his reaction was closely guarded. Nala had no way of picking if she was a friend or a threat.

"What are you doing here? You couldn't leave fast enough and now you just waltz back in - there are pardons you need to seek to cross the borders, you know this." As Scar spoke they both spotted a third lioness waiting in the grass, concealed. The cub beside her had grown impatient and given away her position.

"Hmm, yes I know this, but we do not work with the birds like your kind does." The lioness followed their line of sight and clicked her tongue. "Come out Bela," she commanded, sounding like she was steeling herself.

The hidden lioness slinked out, followed by two – no, three cubs. They were small. For the first time Nala truly felt grown, bulky and strong next to the tiny chubbiness of these cubs.

"Once they were old enough to manage the distance, I brought them. I believe introductions are in order. Scar, meet my cubs, Nuka, Haru and Shetani."

They look like him, was the first thought to come to her mind. All the stranger lionesses were fawn, but these cubs had varying shades of red in their coats. Dread filled her as realisation of what the lioness was implying hit. Nala didn't dare turn her head to the side to see what Scar's expression said, it was probably as unreadable as ever. She didn't know how he would react, good or bad, or if he had even pick up on the undercurrent yet. They fell deathly silent, waiting for a response, even the scavengers had quietened. Nala fought to keep the cheeky grin off her face. This was juicy gossip of the highest order.

"This is not a funny joke, Zira," Scar scoffed. The eyes of the Zira lioness flashed in anger, rightly upset that her cubs had been called a joke.

"You think I would joke about this?" She hissed. The King drew away and cursed quietly into his mane, nose scrunched up the more time past, like his thoughts were taking him to more and more unsavoury conclusions. The King leaned over and whispered an order to her.

"Could you leave for a moment?"

Nala dumbly nodded and ducked away, quickly loping across the plain. Eyes bore into her back as she went, watching to make sure she left. Nala focus on looking relaxed as she ran, fast but not too fast. They must think she wasn't a threat, or perhaps didn't pick up on the secret, maybe they thought she had not paid close attention or the dark of the night concealed the cubs enough.

The embrace of the grass was dry and pricklier then before. Rushing towards her father and Zareh, the more distance she put between herself and the King, the more worried she became. He was alone with three unknown lionesses, maybe she should have hidden nearby and watched over in case something happened? No. If the discussion was about the matter she thought it might be, he would have listened to the rustle of the grass disappear to make sure she truly left. Nala's pace picked up again, going so fast now the grass whipped at her. She should tell father and Zareh, they will protect the King.

Zareh is injured, she remembers.

When Nala finally reaches the kill, she opens her mouth to tell them, but no words come out. Looking at the three others, a thought has occurred. Scar can be a kind lion sometimes, but his temper is terrible. No one can really know what will set him off. Scar's face had been dark when he whispered to her. He did not want her there, he wanted the lioness and cubs to be a secret, at least for now. It would cost her nothing to keep quiet until Scar told them himself, a far safer option then speaking and risking his ire.

Sade was licking her lips and watching her out of one eye.

"You look like somebeast was chasing you," the caramel lioness probed. Nala scoffed at her.

"Just burning off the adrenaline."

"The hunt was a while ago Nala..."

"Hey! I was the first to attack this beast and hold it down, a success like that buzzes for hours," Sade laughed at her. Flopping on her side the lioness continued to chuckle as she groomed the blood from her fur.

Nala cautiously looked around, neither Zareh or her father was paying her any attention. Quietly she went to her friend's side and lied down, silently blending into the deep night, waiting to see what was to come of the visitors.

Rafiki arrived under a high moon, looped over his back was a pouch made of knotted vines with medicines stuffed in it. Magnar carried another sack of herbs and strange fruits between his teeth.

"What have we here?" The baboon asked softly coming over to Zareh. Sade reported what injuries she had checked for, but the ape repeated the tests anyway, double checking the lioness's work. Nala remained silent, sitting like a statue. She watched as everyone else talked and moved around, putting healing salve on his open wounds and rubbing strengthening herbs into meat for him to digest. Magnar joked that he had been tenderised by the buffalo, Rafiki muttered that the statement was not far off the truth. He was fine, but if they were not careful worse things would come, infections his weakened body couldn't fight and bruising so deep organs might fail.

"There is damage on the inside," Rafiki said as his large palm rested on Zareh's side. "But luckily no ruptures – unless you've been coughing up blood?"

"No, I have felt sick and like throwing up, but I have not tasted my own blood in my mouth." Raifiki nodded slowly, his attention on the rib bones underneath Zareh's honey fur.

"There most likely is small cracks in your ribs, but they have not broken so bad as to pop apart. Become unaligned. You will need lots of rest, bones take a long time to heal themselves."

Rafiki was dressing Zareh's wounds with a mache of leaves soaked with sweet smelling medicine when Mother arrived. She searched Father in relief, shooting Zareh guilty looks.

"The hyena told us a male had been injured, I worried it was you. They are terrible at telling lions apart, they couldn't tell me for sure." Father purred as they rubbed cheeks.

"Where are the rest?" He asked. Mother chuffed in laughter, leaving him to come over and nudge Nala hello.

"The clan has broken out in fights again, so the hyena will be a bit slower to make it." Mother groomed her fur where it had become ruffled, making Nala feel like a cub again, safe and small. "The pride is close, I'm one of the scouts, so they should only be a minute. Send out a roar so they know." Father obeyed, turning around and roaring into the night. It was the loud, echoing ones that swept across the flat Pridelands making the air shake.

Sarabi arrived soon after that, going straight to Zareh to check on him. Her two grandcubs, Benji and Ulan came next. Nala paused. Should she tell Sarabi? Maybe if she quietly took her aside and informed her about some strange lionesses across the field? Once the Queen was done with checking Zareh, she'll ask for a moment. Yes, that's what she'll do. Nala squirmed uneasily where she lay in the grass, trying to talk confidence into herself. More of the pride arrived, making the place crowded and noisy as they started to eat their portions from the cow. Before they could destroy the kill too much, Rafiki got in with his sharp stone and cut slabs of muscle away. The baboon made quick work, familiar with the task. He had been coming to large kills and taking a share ever since Mufasa woke up. That was a long time ago now. Rafiki packed the large pieces into a spare bag and passed it on to her father to take. The big male delicately took the handles into his mouth and carried it back for Pride Rock. He had eaten, there was no reason for him to stay any longer. Once he got home, another lion would set out to take his spot at the buffalo. Nala knew this, but couldn't stop the feeling of panic as she watched the large male leave. They needed big lions here, where the unknown danger was. Nala got to her paws, ready to tell Sarabi, but the Queen was busy eating.

Nala waited, shifting her weight nervously. Every so often, she would look over her shoulder into the grass.

"Going to eat?" A familiar voice asked. Nala looked back to see Benji coming to stop in front of her. The grey lioness's yellow eyes searched her briefly before turning back to regard the buffalo. "They're tearing into it like a pack of vultures." She snorted and watched as someone started to throw their weight around too much, resulting in a contest of growls ripping through the night.

Somewhere, in the depth of her instincts, Nala knew that the information she kept would change everything. She knew what had arrived tonight was a sort of catalyst, volatile and precious. She never worked up the courage or the luck to grab Sarabi alone. Nala left it for Scar to tell.

The hyena eventually came. The hyena pups told her that there was no trace of Scar. Just crows. They ate like bottomless beasts, fast and savage, but they filled quicker than a lion, and left well over half the bull untouched. Shenzi, their matriarch, left the remains to the lions. She was confident in the coming gnu, that Scar would provide more hunts like this. Her faith in the King was unwavering, stronger than what she held for her kin.

The lions saw this, filing it away for another time.


The Queen Regent, by a River Bed:

Sarabi drank from the water's edge. Flies swarmed around her eyes, causing her to snap them shut and go blind. Stretching her other senses out, Sarabi listened for ripples in the water, ready to dart away if anyone tried something funny. Behind her, one of her last remaining cubs lay, chewing on a wounded duck she had managed to kill.

"How is Berta coming along?" Her daughter asked, sounding muffled due to the feathers filling her mouth. Straightening with a creak of old bones, Sarabi sighed and walked back to Diku.

"She is progressing well. We've just started to cover large game, tactics and that. We'll have to organise a group lesson soon, once the gnu come in earnest, so they can learn how to work in formation. That's always the hardest part."

"Really? Feels like the hardest part is getting them to be bloody quiet enough. I tell her, over and over, anyone can hunt unsuspecting prey, but a true hunter can catch even suspecting creatures. I don't think she cares about that. I might as well be talking to a tree." Sarabi chuckled at the suffering of her daughter.

"No. The young never listen close enough. But it's always been that way. They will learn in their own time. I remember you as a young lioness. You never listened. Disappearing off to ancestors know where and antagonising your siblings all the time."

Diku's eyes saddened at the memories of her brothers and sisters. She used to clash with them endlessly until, well, until they started getting murdered left right and centre. Sarabi felt a flash of regret for bringing the memories up, before brutally pushing it aside. It served no one to hide from the past.

"Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Sarabi asked gently, flopping down beside Diku. Her mother's intuition had been flaring ever since the huntress had suggested a stroll down to the river. It served no one to hide from the present either. Sarabi vaguely pondered if she had been spending too much time around Rafiki lately. Diku's yellow eyes looked over the half decapitated duck guiltily. She looked young then. Looked her age for once. Just a cub when she fell pregnant. Just a cub when Sarabi bundled her across the border. Trying to save her last living daughter from the web of danger Diku had tangled herself in. As much as Diku would be horrified to hear it, she took after her father too much. No forethought, zero fear, no sense of shame or repercussion, unreasonable to the highest degree. So this expression of guilt did not sit well with Sarabi.

Diku perked up, dread washing away from her eyes as she spotted something behind Sarabi. A distraction, an escape. Sarabi dug her claws into the sand. They were having this discussion. Not even a raging bull elephant would move her from this spot.

"King Scar!" Diku called happily.

Shit.

Sarabi turned slowly to see for herself. And sure enough, the dark king in the flesh was strolling up the river bank towards them. Sarabi carefully swallowed her rage at the sight of him. She loathed it when he went missing for nights on end, only to show up like nothing was out of order. Complacent kings were the bane of her existence, and considering her track record of assassinating kings she didn't get along with, Scar ought to be a bit more careful.

"Scar," she called out, a bite to her voice. "I'm glad your majesty saw fit to return. How long will we be graced with your presence?" Scar's green eyes rolled as he scoffed.

"Bitterness doesn't look good on you Sarabi."

"What looks good and what needs to be worn are two completely different matters, Scar."

"I think I might go," Diku muttered. At the same time as Sarabi snapped at her to stay, Scar gave her permission to leave.

"I'll tell my daughter what to do, Scar."

"I'll order my subjects how I like, Sarabi." He drew to a stop in front of the lionesses, glare passing to Diku. "Now go." Diku ducked her head and ran off, leaving her duck behind. Sarabi opened her mouth to say the first insulting thing that came to mind, when Scar cut her off.

"As much as I would like to address this open hostility, we're going to need to put it to the side for a moment. A matter of importance to the realm has come up, I've spend the last few days verifying and disproving as much as I can, but it can't be avoided. It seems I have sired cubs."

Sarabi's jaw, which had only just shut, fell back open.

"You? A father?" Sarabi's mind instantly flicked back to Maasi and the cub the dark lioness possibly carried. Sarabi gasped and smiled across at Scar, excited for him. "Has Maasi retur-" all brightness disappeared at the severity of the king's reaction to her name. His ears flattened and face scrunched into a viper like expression. A thunderous growl whipped at Sarabi, making her recoil just as the name left her lips.

"Why on earth you jumped to that rouge is beyond me, why..." here Scar quietened, burning green eyes locking on hers as he started to scowl. His natural curiosity battling to override the current emotions. "Why did you jump to that particular one?"

Sarabi look a large breath, realised it was now or never, closed her eyes to gathered courage, then committed to it.

"She talked to me just before she left, about the possibility of..." Sarabi winced, "she suspected that she was with child. Early days. Just suspicion. Nothing more." Those hastily added reassurances did nothing. In fact, they might have made things worse.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He growled threateningly. Sarabi felt a cold sweat break out, but she let nothing crack through her expression. Scar would pounce on it like a helpless lamb.

"Cubs, especially first cubs, can be terrifying for a lioness. I assumed she left for somewhere familiar, maybe the lands of her own cubhood, or to roam again. I thought, maybe she needed to be alone? Rouge's find comfort in their isolation. To face this with privacy. I waited for her to return, and when she never did, it was too late to tell you of something that was not even fact. You were an angry mess and I didn't know how-"

"I've heard enough." Scar growled, sighed, then turned around to pace in circles. "Let's try this again," he snapped, obviously not over it despite how much he tried to pretend he was. "I have fathered cubs."

This time, Sarabi picked up on the reason why this was a matter of importance to the realm.

"Cubs. As in, multiple? How many lionesses did you take as mates?"

"There is only one lioness. There is only one litter. There are three cubs."

Shit.

"She wants to be taken into the pride. Along with her and the cubs, she brought two other lionesses. I've been travelling with them and they are capable hunters. If we accept them, it will solve our hunter shortage, and the pride will be able to put back the weight we've been losing slowly since the mentors got appointed."

Sarabi cursed. Of all the times Scar started acting like a responsible ruler, it had to be now? Mufasa was going to throw a fit when she told him.

"These are not your children. Royal blood only produces one."

"You think I don't realise that Sarabi? Why do you think I've spent five days following this up before I told anyone? But their mine. I can see it. I know it. I presented them to Rafiki, and he felt it too."

Shit.