CHAPTER 3 – Do not rouse the Lion

-Who is responsible for this? – Scar roared straight into Sarabi's face. The rest of the hunting party was standing behind their leader in disappointment and sadness, as they were grieving over the utter unsuccessfulness of their hunt. – You had those warthogs practically served on a plate, and yet you failed to kill a single one of them!

The old huntress didn't quite know what to say. Scar was actually right- she didn't have a clue about what exactly went wrong. Everything was just as she had planned it before, until Zira came out of nowhere, that is. But she used to do that all the time, and although it was annoying, it usually helped the hunt rather that jeopardize it. Sarabi saw Zira and Nala gaining at their target warthog, and she was almost sure that they would get it… but when she went to them, she saw nothing but shock in the eyes of the two huntresses. And Scar, entering the hunting grounds, expecting the lionesses to serve him his dinner.

-Well… - she answered in an unsure tone. – These things happen sometimes… no hunt is a sure one…

The king did not like what he heard. He charged at the lionesses roaring, fury in his eyes. The frightened females jumped back in every direction, some filled with fear, others- highly irritated. They stood gazing at the growling lion for a moment, as he was eyeing them distastefully, baring his fangs. There was only one who would step forward to confront him.

-Pardon me for my boldness, sire – Zira spoke with fake humility. – But you shouldn't blame the whole pride for the hunt's failure.

Scar ceased his growling and looked at her with expectation. Sarabi felt happy that Zira stood up to protect her hunting party… but only for a moment.

-It's clear that only one of us is to blame. I am, of course, talking about Nala…

The blue eyed lioness felt extremely offended by her competitor's evident lie.

-Shut up, Zira! You liar, you were the one who tried to make me fail my attack! And besides, it was those two strange lions who took the prey!

The king frowned and shook his head to such surprising news.

-What? What are you talking about? You lionesses just can't seem to stop getting on my nerves. Who were these strange lions you speak of?

Nala was happy to hear that Scar actually paid attention to her explanations.

-When we were both chasing the warthog, two males, who were hiding in the reeds, snatched it from under our paws. We both saw them fleeing with the kill. Me as well as Zira!

That indeed was the truth, only that the older huntress was far from admitting it. She had her own plan.

-Oh, Nala… You are so young and inexperienced, and yet instead of simply confessing to your failure, you make up stories about imaginary lions…

The young lioness growled.

-You are an envious witch, Zira! You saw them too. You're just hiding it to drop the blame for your stupid behavior on me!

Scar covered his face with a paw and groaned.

-Rah! Why do I have to deal with this nonsense day after day? I'm hungry and now I'm getting a headache…

Zira was neither disturbed, nor discouraged.

-Hm-hm, fortunately there is someone, who can solve this problem. Sire, don't you think that if there were any alien lions in the Pridelands, the hyenas would have surely spotted them?

Scar raised his head, baring an angry, yet curious expression.

-Right… Shenzi! – he roared. The lionesses weren't very surprised about the fact that a large number of hyenas was hiding all around, waiting to rob them from the captured prey. Their leader came from behind the grasses momentarily, along with her two male companions, Banzai and Ed. The rest of the hyenas stuck their heads out of various hiding places, curious about what's going to happen.

-Yes, Scar? – Shenzi halted in front of the king and bowed her head. The lionesses were looking at the three hyenas with disgust. Everybody knew that they usually worked for the pride's detriment.

-All right, ladies. Let's settle this little quarrel once and for all. I don't really care about who made you fail the hunt anymore, but somebody here is lying, and I take that as a personal insult to my reign. So I intend to find out who is that disrespectful little pussy cat…

Scar looked at both Nala and Zira in an equally warning manner. They seemed to be calm on the outside, as both of them were sure to be right, but internally they were greatly concerned. Then the king turned towards Shenzi.

-So tell me, did you, or any of your hyenas, see any alien, unknown lions crossing the borders lately?

A tense silence fell, as Shenzi was thinking how to answer with a dumb half-smile on her face. She gave Banzai a communicative look. The male reacted swiftly and thoughtfully, as Ed, who was standing behind him, was already starting to try and answer the question with giggling and waving his head. To prevent that, Banzai gave him a merciless kick in the snout with a hind leg, sending the weird hyena to the ground and out of consciousness.

-Err… - Shenzi answered with hesitation. – As far as I know, we didn't see no… alien of any kind. Especially lions. I'd know. But… I didn't hear anyone talking 'bout no… lions…

She backed off, as Scar was approaching her and looking her straight in the eyes, examining whether if he believed her. Finally, he raised his head and stood in front of the lionesses.

-You have your answer! – he roared, suddenly giving Nala a forceful slap on the face, making her stumble to the ground. – Now we see who the cowardly liar really is!

The rest of the pride didn't like that at all. At once, Scar became surrounded by the sound of loud growling. The growling of a dozen lionesses. They were gazing at him with bared fangs, furious about him attacking one of their own. Scar looked around fearfully, but then he growled himself.

-It seems that you've forgotten who you're messing with…

He smacked Shenzi on the head. The dazzled hyena woke up from her numbness, and then howled with a resonant war cry. A moment later the growling choir of lionesses was drown out by the voices of countless hyenas, surrounding them from every direction. The canine soldiers were laughing, barking and howling, almost invisible to the eyes of the pride, yet still dangerously frightening. There was no chance for them to make any objections any more. After a minute the hyenas slowly began to silence. The lionesses, humiliated, had nothing else to do but to stand and wait for what on earth was Scar going to do. The king adopted a passionless expression, and approached Sarabi closely, in order to whisper into her ear.

-Get back to work – he hissed.

Scar left, and after him ran Shenzi and Banzai, dragging their stunned comrade. Sarabi could only frown with sorrow, looking at Nala, laying on the ground and rubbing the sore side of her face, and on Zira, maliciously grinning at the sight of her rival's tears. She turned her head… and almost gasped, because of the first time she had ever seen her best friend, Sarafina, with a face disfigured by sheer fury.

AN: So Scar is still an abusive, edgy dictator, but he knows perfectly that he needs the lionesses, so he just keeps ensuring them that he has absolute power over them. And that makes the females quite angry themselves… What will they do? I'm planning to give Sarafina a little bit of character and a lust for vengeance in my story, so if someone likes her, you can be sure she'll have more to say than in the film.

I sincerely appreciate all of your reviews! Thank you all for motivating me to continue my writing XD