The Lion King III: The Chosen Ones

Wanderer Arc

Chapter Eleven: The Rogue

Darkness was all around him. It was a comforting place to be for once. Like all moments of peace, however, it didn't last long as tiny rays of light interrupted the darkness. Stirring tiredly, he found that from his muzzle down to his hind paws were numb and heavy with sleep. He didn't want to get up. It was too much work.

Suddenly, his senses went berserk. The scent of another that wasn't there before invaded his nostrils. He pricked up his ears for any sort of noise, but all he could make out were faint murmurs and the sound of slight movement. They started to steadily get louder as the scent got stronger and more pervasive.

"…Be careful. We don't know how he'll react," cautioned a female voice.

He tensed. The scent started to mix with another one. He lied there in his darkness, waiting to see if the strangers would leave before he would strike.

"Don't worry mom, I will," another feminine voice, obviously younger, reassured the first one. He felt this one move even closer to him as the air around him shifted. He felt a light yet hesitant brush against his face. The young voice spoke to him gently, "Hey, hey, wake up."

In an instant, Tanabi's eyes snapped open. The harsh waving sun shot into his vision and he squinted against the light, snarling fiercely at the lioness standing over him. Before she could think to blink, he lashed out. The ex prince knocked her flat on her back, pinning her with everything he had. He knew better than to let anyone get distance on him. She tried to struggle against Tanabi's weight, letting out terrified gasps but he slammed his paw onto her throat tightly, cutting off her air supply. He continued to snarl down at her as he lifted his right paw, ready to finish the job. It was either kill or be killed, there was no mercy, no second chances.

"Stop! Please stop!"

Tanabi broke out of his trance, whipping his head around to meet lock eyes with another lioness. This one wasn't a threat in his mind. She was scruffy and elderly looking, fur the color of dark caramel while her muzzle and paws were like dirt. The lioness stood away from him defensively, shaking.

"Please calm down," she told him nervously. "We don't mean you any harm. You're safe here."

He studied her for any sudden movements, any signs of her lying to him. He didn't want to take the chance of getting attacked but he eventually get off the lioness he had pinned down. The younger lioness after launching herself into a coughing fit quickly scrambled away from him and to her savior's side in horror.

"Naima, are you okay?" the older lioness asked concerned, checking for any signs of injuries, "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"I'm fine, mom," grated Naima. She tried to shoot a glare at Tanabi, despite the fact that she was obviously shaken by what he did to her. "Are you slow in the head? You can't sleep out here, you'll fry to death!"

"Naima…please…" her mother shushed her when Tanabi let out a low growl in retaliation. The lioness turned her attention to the teenage lion and gave a weak smile, "I'm very sorry if we woke you from your nap. We had thought you had fainted and we couldn't've possibly left you in this heat."

"Thanks," he said cautiously. Tanabi didn't want to admit it but he had fainted from heat exhaustion and his head was throbbing like a drum. Not seeing the point in wasting anymore time with talking to the two lionesses, he turned to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" the younger lioness called to him curiously, "Out there's nothing but desert."

The brown lion found himself stopping and flicking his tail in slight irritation. Damn, just what I need. More desert. He shifted his paws, turning to the mother and daughter. Tanabi wanted to avoid having a conversation with anyone, but it looked like karma wasn't going to be kind to him.

"...Then if that's the case, can you take me to your pride?" the ex prince spoke up quietly almost flatly.

Naima snorted amusedly, "You just tried to kill me and you expect us to help you out again? Boy, you must've lost your everlasting mind."

And you're making fun of someone who can and will finish the job. You're about as idiotic as I am apparently. Tanabi thought dully, sighing inwardly. It was worth a try. Nobody was going to stick their neck out for a rogue.

"Please don't listen to my daughter. We're more than willing to take you to our king, I'm sure Kufuru will understand," Naima's mother replied gently, trying to be helpful. Before Naima could protest, her mother held up a paw to silence her.

Tanabi was surprised but didn't show it in the slightest. They're actually going to let me come with them..? He nodded tiredly, "I really appreciate it. Thank you."

"It's no problem," the elderly lioness told him with a warm smile. She looked up at the sky for a moment, a small frown coming to her mussle. "Well, we should start getting a move on. The sun's already high and I want to beat the sandstorms before they start. I would advise you to keep a close distance to us, if you manage to get lost, we won't be able to find you."

"Alright," the brown lion said as they started to walk.

"By the way, I don't believe we've truly met," Naima's mother said politely. "I'm Nyarai and I'm sure you already know my daughter, Naima."

"Pleeased to meetcha!" the weird lioness slurred cheerfully, extending a slender paw to Tanabi. He raised an eyebrow at her. What exactly did she want him to do to it? Shake it, slap it or kiss it? He sure as hell wasn't going to kiss it and he really wanted to slap her paw away from him but kept his urges to himself. Naima looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say more.

"The name's Gwala," Tanabi lied curtly. Naima wrinkled up her nose and drew her paw back in confusion.

"Gwala? You must've had some really cruel parents to name you that. What a weird name!"

"Naima!" Nyarai exclaimed in shock, glaring at her daughter. "Have some tact in front of our guest for once!"

Tanabi once again sighed tiredly to himself. It was going to be a long, very boring, journey to wherever their pride was. He hoped that Naima would be the only annoying thing that he would encounter in the desert today.

OooO

In hindsight, the ex prince wish he could have took his hopes back. The desert itself was the most frustrating thing he had ever encountered in his travels. And while Naima was the only other head banging against a tree level of annoyance, Tanabi figured that was just the ancient kings' way of picking on him.

He had sand in every hole he could think of, he could feel it all in his fur and mane. The hot sand underneath his paws shifted too easy and was often deeper than he thought, so he would trip clumsily over himself. His poor mouth felt glued shut from the lack of water and the worst was the fact that his mane was irritatingly clingy to his face. His new found 'friend', the sun, beat down on him relentlessly and maliciously.

The desert just never, ever, seemed to end. Tanabi just assumed that he was going crazy because of the heat and it would have been much easier to bare if Naima would shut up. The ex-prince tried his hardest to ignore her, but she babbled on and on about complete nonsense. He wasn't even sure that Naima was aware that he was paying her no mind.

"…And I said to him: if you want to eat, you can just go out and catch something yourself. I mean, hunting isn't even that hard. But I can say that 'cause I'm, like, a lioness. You seem like a big enough lion, do you hunt by yourself? I betcha do…Hey! Are you even paying attention to me?"

Tanabi resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "No. I'm not"

"You're so anti social," Naima pointed out in annoyance, flicking her tail back and forth idly. "I bet you can't even say more than three words. You haven't said a thing since we've been walking and that's been ages ago! Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

Did yours? Tanabi thought to himself sarcastically as she jumped in front of him. The ex-prince growled at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. You know, you'd be more attractive if you kept your trap shut.

He had to admit, he had studied Naima while they were walking and he liked what he saw. The lioness had an off white pelt, almost a very yellow color while her mussle and paws were as pure as snow. She had retained some of her cubbish attributes like her round cheeks and big innocent violet eyes, coupled with the tuft of fur on top of her head; in a way, she was very cute. So cute that Tanabi knew he would hit that like the fist of an angry god if given the chance...but her personality was just so obnoxious.

"I am going to get you to talk!" Naima retorted to which Tanabi glared right back. Females. "First off, you're not like any lion I've every seen in my life! I have never seen a brown lion, much less one with an orange mane! What kind of kooky crazy land do you come from?"

"I come from a place where the sun doesn't shine," he replied sarcastically and dully, lightly brushing past the lioness. She scoffed.

"Bet you do, it's so obvious," Naima wrinkled her nose up playfully. "Just my luck, we finally stumble upon someone else in Jabari knows how long and he just happens to be the whole dark and moody type. You're not even that cute, so don't try and play the tough guy on us."

"Naima, be nice," Nyarai reprimanded her daughter, she seemed to be enjoying the interaction between her daughter and the rogue by the way she was shaking her head amusedly. She cocked her head at Tanabi and studied him, "But I'm also curious. If you don't mind me asking…Where's your family, Gwala? You seemed a bit young to be out on your own."

Not really…I'm almost a year now...Tanabi scoffed under his breath. He wondered how she considered him 'young' when he was a full head taller than her. The teenage prince took after his mother's side of the gene pool, he had already started to fill out with lean muscle and if he would have grown up in the pride lands, he would have easily been about his father's size. Instead, he was slender and covered from dirt and grime from head to tail, small scars from fights and skirmishes covered his young body. His short reddish orange mane was unkempt and tangled but Tanabi didn't care for personal appearance that much, if anyone was bothered by his mangy look, they would get over it.

They finally came upon what the ex prince assumed to be their lands and the mother and daughter became uncomfortably silent. It wasn't much to look at; it was just a collection of small rocks and boulders littered across the ground, some of the larger stones looked like they had been leaned in together to form makeshift shelters. A few dirty lionesses lied around lazily in various areas until they picked their heads up in alarm as soon as they locked eyes with the strange new lion their pride sisters had brought back.

"...Is this supposed to be some sort of joke..?" one of the younger ones spoke up nervously, almost in a whisper," What is he doing here, Nyarai? Who is he?"

"Don't be frightened, Bahati," Nyarai told her gently. "I'll explain it all soon. Can you find Kufuru for me and tell him it's urgent?"

The lioness didn't waste any time in doing what she was told. Tanabi shifted uneasily, he didn't like what was going on but brushed it out of his mind. Of course they would be afraid of him, he knew the infamous reputation rogues had. How they were supposed to be murderous and completely selfish. He probably couldn't change their minds and he didn't want to, he just wanted a night to be safe for once.

Another lioness ran up to them with a cub in tow, her brown face stony with worry. "What were you thinking, mom? Bringing him here?" the lioness hissed with an abnormally deep voice, looking around them in fear, "Kufuru's going to have your head! He's going to have all our heads!"

The murmurs from the rest of the pride started to get louder and frantic as everyone whipped their heads around to find two lions and a lioness appearing out of one of the makeshift shelters. So this must be his highness, Kufuru. Tanabi mused anxiously to himself, shifting more uncomfortably. He didn't like the dark atmosphere that was starting to form in the air and if the way Naima was starting to shield herself behind Tanabi was any indication, it was about to get worse.

"Yeah, that big one there's Kufuru," the light colored lioness almost spat, her ears flattening to her skull. "He's someone you don't wanna mess with...Gwala, I don't like how he's looking at you."

Now you tell me. The ex prince bit back a snarl, what was with this lion that made his pride so afraid of him? Tanabi wasn't going to run, it was way too late for that. If he even tried to turn his back on the so called king now, they would obviously go at him in pursuit, he had been in this situation before. No, he was just going to stand his ground, he had a better chance at surviving.

The king was a large charcoal colored lion, bigger than how Tanabi remembered his own father being. He had a thick billowing mane of blackness and carried himself with such an strong, controlled manner that even Tanabi knew he was going to be an aggressive threat.

"Nyarai. My dear Nyarai," Kufuru singled out Naima's mother with fake politeness. "Where is the food I asked you to get? Don't tell me that you failed your king again?"

The elderly lioness bowed at his paws, slightly trembling. "I apologize, we were unable to find anything, sire."

He slowly smirked, "Is that so? It seems to me that you and your daughter managed to scrounge up something after all," his gaze dropped to Tanabi, who was currently scowling at him. "Nothing but trash, but I digress..."

"My name is Gwala," Tanabi spoke up as Kufuru raised an eyebrow at the adolescent's brazenness, "It is my fault that they were unable to complete their task and I apologize for that. I humbly ask to join your pride."

"You want to join our pride?" A voice cried out, it belonged to a smaller lion that looked a bit like Kufuru except he was scrawny and mangier. "You just disrespected our king!"

"Kato, please. I find this young one intriguing," Kufuru replied with an amused smirk on his face as he looked Tanabi up and down." The kid has spirit, I'll give him that much. But I wonder why a Pride lander want to join us?"

Tanabi's eyes widened in shock and Kufuru's smirk deepened, "Don't look too surprised. News travels fast. I remember seeing a lion around here not to long ago. Later, I learned that he had become King of the Pridelands, now what was his name….?"

Kufuru tapped his chin lightly before smirking again, "Ah! I know now, his name was Simba! You know I had learned that most royalty in the Pride lands wind up rebelling against their own family. And you bear a resemblance to Simba; you two couldn't possibly be related by any chance?"

"No," Tanabi replied icily as a memory of his grandfather passed through his mind, he mentally shook it out.

"That's fine then," Kufuru replied, "Welcome to the pride, Gwala, we have needed a strong male." Tanabi bowed, a gentle wave of relief rolling over him. He didn't actually believe he was getting off scotch free.

Kufuru turned to his pride and smiled," My friends, let us retire for the night and honor our new member of the pride. "

And that's the end of Chapter 11. I had fun writing this, especially with the introduction of my new characters and I have been anticipating writing them for the longest time now. Next chapter you will meet the rest of this pride and let's just say the lions in this pride are…unique to say the least, especially a certain promiscuous cub ^^. I can't really think of a name for my new pride tho, .if anybody has any suggestions, feel free to let me know. Oh a shout out to HiddenMusic, Hikari 123, Prince of Pride and Poefreak for reviewing!

Names:

Nyarai: Humility

Naima: Esctasy

Gwala: Coward

Kufuru: Mockery

Kato: Same