CHAPTER 11 - Coup d'etat

Scar looked at his reflection in the water. He hasn't changer much over the years of his reign- he was still handsome in his own eyes, not a gray hair spoiled the beauty of his large, raven-black mane. He even thought that all the pressures of ruling a kingdom actually made his face look stronger and more endurable. He did manage to cope with quite a lot of trouble- keeping the lionesses at bay, sustaining discipline among his hyena army, dealing with an endless, exhausting drought… Those were things his late brother never had to deal with. He, Scar, who others always thought to be the weaker one, did deal with it, and that proved to him that he was in fact ten times the king his brother had ever been. Despite what the rest of his pride was saying, despite what even the hyenas were sometimes bold enough to accuse him of, he was perfect. Well, maybe except for that scar on his face. Snapping out of his thoughts, the king lowered his head to drink from the small waterhole. He closed his eyes. It was a shame that water was so scarce these days. In the beginning of his reign, before the drought, after a big breakfast he would usually visit the pond near Pride Rock, drink to his heart's content and fall asleep before it was even noon yet. Recently however in the evenings he sometimes had to walk for miles with an empty stomach in order to find something to drink and not pass out before the lionesses got back from their hunt. This is how it was today. Drinking the silty, warm water in the light of sunset, he felt his stomach rumbling. The lionesses better do their job today, he thought. How could they be so lazy? How could they be so ungrateful after all he'd done for them? Getting rid of Mufasa was indeed a salvation for the pride. There was no chance his brother would ever cope with all the troubles that he, Scar, got the pride through successfully. And all he wanted was his rightfully deserved respect… The king opened his eyes and looked on the surface of the water he was drinking. At first he saw only the movement of the waves, but then a shape of something appeared among them. A shape of the face of a lion. Scar almost choked when he noticed, that that wasn't his face.

-Ekh-ekh! – he caughed. Lifting his head with terror, before him he saw two male lions, a tan one and a hazel one. The first was standing just on the other side of the small puddle, grinning maliciously. Scar immediately roared at them with all his strength, the water dripping from his muzzle. – RRRAH! Who the hell are you? You are not welcome here!

The strangers seemed unconcerned. They just stood in front of the king, mocking him with their smiles. After a while, the tan one, who was seemingly younger, said with irony.

-Heh-heh, well, what do we have here? A loner… - he circled round the puddle and came a little closer. Scar stood in combat stance, baring his teeth. The second lion just stared at him with his one eye. – Don't you think it's kind of dangerous to stray to such dangerous lands alone, especially if you're such a skinny parody of a lion as yourself?

The king expressed immeasurable anger, but in his heart he was starting to feel quite unsure of his situation. The lionesses were all at the hunting grounds, which were far away. The hyenas… well, he didn't bring any along with him and didn't see them anywhere around. And that was bad.

-I think you are unaware of who you are dealing with… - he growled at them as threatingly as he possibly could.

-On the contrary - this time the hazel lion spoke. His voice was deep and calm. – We know who you are. Black mane, green eyes… and that scar on your left eye, which gave you your name. You are the king of the Pridelands.

-Welcome, your highness… - his companion snickered.

At that moment a new thought appeared in Scar's mind. Shenzi… You lying bitch, I'm going to disembowel you… And Zira! I would accuse anyone of treason, but you? Then he stopped growling. It was no use, either one of his opponents was stronger than him. Yet again, he had to talk himself out of this, using his mind as clever as ever. Because this time every mistake almost certainly meant death.

-So… - he began slowly, with a silent yet firm voice, despite his overwhelming fear. – I suppose you are the two rogues I've been hearing rumors of? Rogues, who… are looking for a pride for themselves? My pride, that is?

Both of the lions laughed.

-Well, look at the big brain on Scar… - said the younger one. – You should have been prepared for young, strong males attempting to dethrone you, since you're such an old and weak bag of bones.

This time the king laughed himself, as fake as it was.

-Heh-heh… You underestimate me. I do know the dangers of ruling pretty well. Obviously, you are the ones who know nothing about the life of lions, since you attack me together.

The hazel lion, calm and immobile until recently, suddenly ran through the puddle, splattering the water all around, halting in front of the hunched king.

-Listen here, tyrant – he almost yelled. – My brother and I know enough about your pathetic customs, and I assure you that we are not like the other stupid rogues, who team up to gain control over a pride only to slaughter themselves afterwards, fighting for who gets to be the ruler. After we're done with you, we'll take over your pride and rule together.

The outlander was quite surprised to hear Scar burst out with laughter. And it didn't even sound fake this time.

-Hahaha! Oh, what a fable… What an illusion you live in…! - the old lion was turning his head, as if he had heard a piece of total nonsense. That made the two brothers growl with anger.

-You are treading on thin ice, grandpa… - said the tan one, very irritated. He was pretty close to attack, but the older one gave him a sign to wait a little longer with that.

-What is so funny? – he said with a demanding tone. Scar took a deep breath and looked at his assassins with pity.

-Did you just say that you are brothers?

-Yes, that's what I said.

-Well, in that case let the old, experienced ruler give you youngsters a word of knowledge before I join my ancestors – he had enough boldness to address them with his famous sarcasm. He sat down on the ground, acting calm, but aware these words were either his last ones or, somehow, his rescue. – Consider yourselves warned. I once had a brother, too. He was older than me, and I suppose that at some time of our life we were even quite similar to you two. From the day we were born, our father, the king, made us both sure that only one of us can become his heir. The lucky one was my brother, and he enjoyed that thought every day, constantly assuring me that he was glad he had been chosen over me. You have to understand how angry that made me feel. So one day, when my brother was already king, I went to him and killed him, along with his son and heir.

Hearing those words, and the way Scar said it, almost as if he was proud of what he'd done, the brothers fell into an amok. The old lion was prepared for their attack, and he didn't even waste his strength to struggle with them. After a moment, surprised to still be alive, he was lying on his back, with two pares of paws crushing and immobilizing him. Above him he saw an angry face of a hazel lion with one, green eye.

-You murderer! We'll be glad to rid the world of the likes of you. You're the source of chaos in all the lion kingdoms everywhere! You rather spill your own blood than share anything with them… But behold, Scar- your sun is setting…

The king coughed under their constricting embrace, but still had enough breath to utter a warning message.

- Ekh… Now look whose talking of murder… Don't you understand? Do you think you can escape the envy that dwells inside your hearts? You fools! Tomorrow, when the sun raises above the land again, you will slaughter each other arguing over who was the one who killed me…

AN: ... and what now? Should I run a survey? XD