Lion King 3: The Chosen Ones

Part Two

Chapter Fifteen: The Valley of the King

Furaha sprinted as fast as she could, her heart throbbing in her ears, her mind in a complete panic. Find Kovu! Just find Kovu! the lioness kept chanting to herself as she blazed through the grass and leaping over the large rocks in her way. She didn't even stop to notice the other lionesses calling her name; Furaha just kept on going. As the grayish yellow lioness saw Pride Rock, her heart skipped a beat and she felt a weight lifted off her shoulders.

I'm almost there! Please hold on my king! Furaha thought excitedly. It was only a bit further to go, only a few yards away…

Suddenly Furaha hit something hard with her front paw and lost her balance, hitting the ground hard. Groaning in pain, she sat up and met the malevolent eyes of a cheetah.

"Going somewhere?" the cheetah taunted as she flashed Furaha a toothy grin, dark blood stains on her teeth and muzzle. Furaha's eyes widened. How did the cheetah manage to get through the lines of defense?

"Yeah, I am!" Furaha snarled, before feeling something sharp pierce her fur. Furaha let out a cry as she lay back down on the ground, writhing in pain. More pressure was pushed onto the pain and Furaha felt a wave of horror crashing over her. A cheetah had caught her from behind. Furaha swiftly turned around to face her opponent, but the first cheetah clamped her jaw onto her neck, making Furaha scream in utter agony. She could literally feel the tissue of her neck being torn into by the cheetah's sharp teeth.

"Did you really think you could make a difference?" the second cheetah asked Furaha as the first put more pressure on Furaha's neck, making Furaha shriek. Tears sprung to Furaha's red eyes. I'm sorry,she thought to herself as the worst pain she ever felt consumed her body, just before her vision went black.

Furaha would not be the first casualty that night…

The Next Morning

Ayira stirred as the morning's first light shone on her. Wha—morning already? She groaned as she opened her tired eyes. It was what she had been dreading, the bright sun and the azure sky greeting her. She hadn't gotten any sleep since last night's events; she had become fidgety with anticipation and worry for her worry for her family.

"Good morning, my princess," her companion, Kutu chimed light-heartedly as Ayira sat up. "Did you get enough sleep?"

"Hardly," Ayira scoffed as she stretched the kinks out of her body. "I couldn't sleep because of the grass, it was way too itchy. I'd rather sleep on the nice soft ground."

"But you have to keep yourself presentable for King Jarumi," the crimson lioness reminded Ayira gently. "You wouldn't want him to turn you away just because you're too dirty."

Ayira smirked at her friend. "Well, he'll just have to get over it, won't he?" She grinned at Kutu. "Besides, King Jarumi won't turn us away, considering you're his niece and all."

"I don't think it'll be that easy. He probably won't even accept me as part of his family."

Ayira shook her head. "Kutu, you know you're just being completely paranoid, right? There's no need for us to worry about him until we actually meet him. C'mon, let's go. We've got a lot of ground to cover and little time."

It was a pleasant day to take a long walk; the air wasn't especially hot, with a cool gentle breeze wafting through the air. This was more than enough to keep the young lionesses' spirits up. Throughout their trek, they did nothing but talk idly about anything and everything that they saw.

The thing that had caught Ayira's attention was the huge canyon that they had started walking through. It was as vast as it was deep. Huge walls of crème-colored rock towered above them from as far as the eye could see. Many other rock formations jutted out from the ground, making it look like they were stairs to the various levels of caves inside of the canyon. It was extremely quiet and no life stirred with in the valley, bar the odd chameleon scurrying across the floor. When Ayira was a young cub, her parents told her that her great grandfather Mufasa had perished within the valley, and that his spirit watched over the valley to this very day. While Ayira had gotten old enough not to believe in these ghost stories, there was no denying the powerful sense of someone watching over her. After the death of Mufasa, the pride called this sacred place the Valley of the King.

"I wonder if I'll meet a handsome rogue on this journey," Ayira said jokingly to Kutu. "I bet he'll try to sweep me off of my paws and ask me to become his mate. Then we'll have a little cub of our own and live together forever."

"Oh, that sounds so romantic," Kutu swooned with a dreamy look on her face. "I hope a rogue lion could fall in love with me. That would be my dream come true. I can just picture it now." Kutu closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh, before frowning. "Of course, we all know that probably won't come true."

Kutu, you just don't know how far from the truth you are,Ayira thought amusedly. Kutu was an amazing lioness in Ayira's humble opinion. She was sweet, gentle and caring. Kutu would make any lion happy and she probably would make a great mother.

And beautiful... a little voice whispered inside Ayira as she studied her friend. From her gentle, light, hazel-colored eyes to her lithe form and her flawless red pelt down to her perfect creamy thighs. Ayira felt a warm, tingling feeling come over her cheeks and she quickly tried to dispel her thoughts. Whoa girl, you're getting too into this. Kutu isn't into you. Period,Ayira told herself stubbornly, but could help but blush even more.

"What does your dream lion look like Princess?" Kutu asked, thankfully snapping Ayira out of her little fantasy.

"Do you think I'm the type of lioness who would settle with a lion?" Ayira asked Kutu hypothetically. "I'm perfectly able to take care of myself. I'm a strong and independent lioness. I don't need a lion to tell me what to do."

"But as queen, you'll need to continue the family line," Kutu replied worriedly.

"Who said I wanted to be queen?" Ayira said harshly, wrinkling her nose up in pure disgust. "They can get my unborn brother or sister to do the job. I want nothing to do with the throne."

"Ayira!" the red lioness gasped. "Why would you say such an awful thing?"

Ayira stopped walking and glared at Kutu. "Why should I have a reason not to? All being a princess has done is give me pain and sorrow. Hell, I almost got killed because of what my kingdom is based on. You know what I say? Screw being queen," Ayira spat acidly as she started to walk further out into the grasslands. Kutu watched Ayira with sad eyes before catching up with the princess. She never thought Ayira felt that strongly about taking over the throne.

Smiling, Kutu licked Ayira's cheek affectionately, making the princess turn around and stare at Kutu with wide eyes. "You're not alone, Ayira," Kutu told Ayira reassuringly, putting her paw on the orange lioness's. "Whatever you choose, I'm with you."

Ayira blushed again with embarrassment. "Th… th… thanks Kutu," Ayira stuttered, managing to make her blush deepen. She felt like she was going to faint because of Kutu's sudden sign of affection towards her, but she quickly recovered. "You're the best."

"I know," Kutu replied winking. Ayira rolled her green eyes at Kutu playfully as she walked past the red lioness with a small secretive smile on her dark golden muzzle. Ayira then winced, her head was starting to hurt. It must be because of the altitude,Ayira thought to herself nonchalantly. It's nothing to worry about.

"I can't believe we're actually here, in the Valley of the Kings," Ayira said thoughtfully to Kutu, her voice soft with reverence. "Can't you feel the great spirits of those before us Kutu? It's like we're walking with them," Ayira shuddered as another sharp pain shot through her skull, her body feeling slightly chilly.

"I guess so…" the crimson lioness replied with uncertainty in her voice. "I just can't wait to get out of here, my princess. This place gives me the creeps."

"Don't tell me that you're afraid of a couple of rocks, 'ey Kutu?" Ayira grinned mischievously at her friend and nudged her in the side. "Don't worry, they can't eat you."

"I'm not worried about that," Kutu shuddered. "I'm getting the feeling that someone is watching us and lurking in those caves, waiting for their right time to ambush us!"

Ayira laughed. "Kutu, you are the personification of the worst case scenario. There's nobody here." Ayira climbed on top of a huge boulder and flicked her tail. "Stop being such a scaredy-cat." A stronger wave of pain throbbed through her head, making Ayira gasp out in pain as a fleeting thought of two lions running through the valley flew through her mind. Ayira stumbled clumsily off of the boulder and back to the ground.

"Are you okay? Maybe we should rest," Kutu said with concern as Ayira started breathing heavily, but the orange lioness shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. I'm fine," Ayira gasped, closing her eyes as she felt another sharp pain. She opened her eyes as she got her second wind. "Let's just get out of this gorge first." Kutu nodded in agreement and continued walking but not without giving Ayira another worried look.

What's going on with me? Ayira thought as she winced again and again. Now it seemed that the attacks were more frequent. Her head was throbbing like a beating drum, and her sight was getting a blurry. She turned her head to the sky, hoping that some sunlight would help clear her head. But when she saw a ghostly white pelt of a young cub walking high above them in one of the caves, Ayira knew she was losing it.

She shook her head. Whoa. This heat is really getting to me, she thought, but frowned; she didn't feel hot at all. Actually… she felt like she was freezing. She heard the sound of her brother laughing, but fervently shook her head again. This was starting to disturb her; Ayira hardly ever thought about Tanabi after the accident, so why was she thinking about him now?

"Ayira, come on," Kutu called after the princess, looking behind her back. Ayira nodded dumbly; her mouth felt like it was filled with sand. Ayira took a few more painfully slow steps, each one feeling like it took a lifetime. She lifted her eyes in front of her to see a skinny tree snapped almost in half, curved to the point where it looked like it was bowing to the ground.

Suddenly it was like her brain had exploded inside of her and Ayira let out a horrific cry. Her legs buckled from underneath her and she fell to the dusty ground. What was worse was she had lost sight in her eyes during that moment, and she couldn't see or hear anything Kutu was doing or saying to her. A flurry of images barraged her mind. What's happening? What's happening? Ayira screamed as the images flashed by her.

Tanabi and some lion fighting.

A splatter of blood.

No! NO!

Cheetahs, many cheetahs, everywhere in the Pridelands.

A lioness's body lying in the sand.

What's happening?

A cub laughing with her father.

The blank, dead eyes of her parents.

Sheikh.

No! Stop it! Stop it please!

Ayira running through the Pridelands.

Tanabi… Tanabi was…

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Ayira's eyes snapped open and she let out a terrifying scream, one that could even bring the ghosts of the past back to life.

Sorry this update took so long! The original chapter fifteen wasn't going anywhere so I re-did it and I think it is much better ^^. A thank you to robotminione and Prince of Pride for reviewing and Kovukono my beta for editing this chapter. So if you want your penname on a magical chapter just review like these guys...if you aren't chicken that is!

Names:

Furaha: Happiness