Lion King III: The Chosen Ones
Wanderer's Arc
Chapter Eighteen-Alliance
"He's beautiful Kiara," Nala murmured softly to her daughter.
Kiara smiled at her mother before looking down fondly at the tiny ball of fluff that was snuggly curled up in a ball near her stomach. Her son was currently sleeping, his small back rising and falling as he slept. All Kiara could do was marvel at how tiny and perfect he was; unlike his siblings this cub was an early birth. Despite some initial worries about if he was even going to make it his first two nights, everything else had gone along smoothly.
The cub had the pelt of the golden sands of the Great Desert, a rich golden brown color that reminded Kiara of her late father. His little paws were a lighter creamer color and dark spots covered some of his backside and forehead. He had Kovu's nose and from the time he actually opened his eyes, had his father's eye color as well. Kiara beamed as she felt a gentle touch as her son slowly moved toward her elbow, eyes still closed.
"Heh, I wonder if Simba was this cute when he was born," Nala joked. Kiara laughed. "Have you thought of a name for him yet?"
"I was actually waiting for Rafiki to come back. Kovu and I hadn't really agreed on a name for this little one. The last time I talked to Kovu, we got into a fight over what to name her!"
The former queen shook her head amusedly. "I don't know what to do with the both of you. That's exactly what happened the last time with Tanabi and Ayira. My grandchildren went without names for a whole week because both of you couldn't agree on anything." Nala looked down at her grandson with a thoughtful look on her face for a minute before turning to Kiara. "How about naming this little one Chaka?"
"Chaka?" Kiara asked curiously.
"Yes, that would have been your name if you were a boy." Nala replied with a smirk. "Your father was dead set on that name for a long time, all the way up to your birth." her smirked broadened. "He was so proud that he came up with a name so easily. I can still remember the look on your father's face when he found out he was having a little girl instead of a boy."
Kiara's hazel eyes lit up. "Well, I think Chaka is a perfect name. You hear that my little boy? I hope you like it." The tiny cub let out a huge yawn of approval and Kiara giggled.
The two lionesses sat there in silence for a few moments. The Tree of Life was a very peaceful place to be Kiara thought to herself as she watched the many contraptions of Rafiki's sway in the wind. From when she first set her paw in his home, Kiara was stuck at how beautiful the Tree was. She loved how light filtered out from the huge green canopy above them and the gentle clinking of the gourds that hung high above her by various vines. Though there wasn't much room to move around, Kiara often entertained herself with looking at the paintings of the royal family members.
A frown slowly came to her features; nothing inside of this mystical Tree could quell her worries and bad dreams. I miss home. Kiara thought to herself sadly as she lowered her head. She hated waiting. What was worse she hadn't heard anything from Kovu in the last week. Kiara longed to see her mate again, to be able to be by his side. To hear him laugh again and to actually talk to him and tell him everything would be okay. She missed hanging around Vitani and the other lionesses of the pride. She missed the hunts that they used to go on together.
But most of all she missed her cubs, Tanabi and Ayira. The night Ayira left, Kiara had a very hard time allowing herself to sleep. There were so many thoughts of what could happen to Ayira or what did happen to her…none of them were promising. Ayira shouldn't be gone this long, she continued to tell herself, almost as it became her mantra. What if Ayira doesn't want to come home?
Kiara stubbornly cursed herself for even thinking a stupid thing like that and sighed.
"What's wrong Kiara?" Nala asked her daughter out of worry. She put a paw to Kiara's forehead. "Are you feeling sick?"
"No mother…" Kiara said with another sigh. "I just…I just can't take any of this waiting. I need to know what's going on out there. I want to go home."
"I know baby, I know." Nala said soothingly, as she nuzzled her daughter's cheek. "Just hold on a little longer, everything will turn out fine. I promise."
Kiara pulled away, giving the light crème lioness an annoyed look." Stop telling me that! How can you be so calm about all of this? A war is going on and you just tell me that everything will be okay? Nothing will be okay!"
"Kiara..." Nala said slowly. The light orange lioness averted her gaze and lowered her ears. "As long as we have hope and as long as we live, good things will come out of it."
"How do you know? How can you be sure about that?" Kiara asked sadly. Nala put a paw on her daughter's own and smiled, looking down at her grandson.
"Because I have faith in our pride and in our future. It's as simple as that."
...
Dhaifu stared out into the distance, his mind completely at war with his heart. This morning, at Sheikh's insistence, he had lead a group of six other cheetahs to find the queen of the Pridelands and end her life. Much to his relief, they hadn't found a trace of the queen yet, nor had any lionesses spotted them. He had taken his party further out than what Sheikh had ordered him to do and was praying to the spirits that they wouldn't find a pregnant lioness anytime soon.
"What's wrong with you Dhaifu?" a familiar voice called, startling him back to reality. He turned and found it was Ajizi, who was looking up at him with her scarred face. "Do you see something?"
"Nope! Not at all!" Dhaifu said quickly, his voice feigning cheerfulness. "Why do you ask?"
Ajizi raised an eyebrow. "You're a weird one you know that right? I can't believe my mother asked you of all cheetahs to lead this mission. I'm sorry to say Dhaifu, but you're too soft."
Yeah, I'm also the only one who has a conscience here, Dhaifu told himself before laughing outwardly. "You really think so?"
"I know so." Ajizi answered with a worried frown. "Dhaifu, don't even think about going against my mother's wishes. I'm warning you for your sake. Just do your job as you're told and forget about anything else."
Dhaifu nodded in agreement, noting the uncertainty in the female's good eye as she turned away from him. She must be scared out of her wits, Dhaifu thought to himself, feeling a pang of sympathy for Sheikh's daughter. The poor cheetah had been blinded in one eye and almost been killed by her mother just because she had done something kind for her fellow clan members.
Suddenly a powerful roar shook the air. Dhaifu and Ajizi spun around in horror, eyes wide.
"What was that?" Ajizi asked Dhaifu, her voice filled with concern mixed with awe.
"I dunno," the male cheetah replied, wincing as another powerful roar was heard this one much more longer than the first. The next thing the cheetahs heard was the distinctive sounds of yowling, setting off alarms in Dhaifu's mind. He started to panic. He knew what that sound was!
"C'mon, Dhaifu! We've gotta go!" Ajizi snapped at the bewildered male.
"Who, us? Are you crazy? That lioness is going to kill us!" Dhaifu cried out incredulously, looking at his companion like she was out of her mind.
Ajizi spat disgustedly at him, "Coward." With that Ajizi bolted toward the sound of the roars. Sighing, Dhaifu took off after his companion; there was no way that he was going to get left behind especially with the thoughts of lionesses in the area.
When Dhaifu finally caught up with Ajizi, he couldn't believe what he saw. His companions were circled around the form of a young adolescent lion. The tawny lion was miraculously (just doesn't seem like the right word. How about "thoroughly" or maybe "brutally"?) incapacitated, dark blood pouring out from a grievous wound located near his stomach and multiple scars covered his upper torso. While he wasn't exactly fighting anymore, Dhaifu grimaced at the sight of the lion's face, which was contorted into the personification of fierceness. Great spirits help them if he decided to come back to life.
"Is he…you know…dead?" Dhaifu asked nervously to the king cheetah on his right.
"Nah, we just knocked him out," a female answered with a self-satisfied smirk. "We've seen this one hanging around Pride Rock a lot, so we figured he'd give us some answers."
"Alright. Let's bring him back to mother. She'll know what to do with him," Ajizi suggested as she put one of the lion's legs in her mouth. The others nodded as they started to put in their mouths anything that they could in order to make it easier to drag along the ground.
A small, secretive smile came to Dhaifu's spotted muzzle. This was perfect.
When the group of cheetahs finally reached Sheikh's cave, the cave was surprisingly empty. There were no signs of any of her guardians nor of their great leader herself, but it was fairly obvious to Dhaifu that Sheikh had gotten bored with hiding in her cave all day long and had decided that everyone else was just as bored as she was. The only sign that gave away that Sheikh had just left was that the dead, rotting lioness that Sheikh had "played" with earlier was left unattended in the entrance. Dhaifu was unlucky to actually lock eyes with the unseeing ones of the lioness as he carefully stepped over her head. He quickly felt the taste of last night's dinner in his mouth.
They gently placed their prisoner on the ground near Sheikh's throne and collectively let out sighs of relief. Stretching out on the cool cave floor, Dhaifu closed his eyes in order to get the image of the lioness out of his head.
"Who told you to relax, Dhaifu?" Ajizi said, annoyed, poking him with a sharp claw in his side. "We have more work to do. Killing that cub remember?" When the male cheetah didn't answer her, Ajizi growled and stabbed her claws into his back, making him yelp in surprise.
"Ow! Ajizi, what was that for?" Dhaifu cried out as he sat up, frowning as he saw small specks of blood seeping from the scratches. Ajizi rolled her eye at him.
"Stop being such a pussy cat!" Ajizi snapped at Dhaifu. "You're supposed to be our leader. If you're going to be a male, at least act like one!"
"…But that hurt!"Dhaifu complained, drawing snickers from the other cheetahs in the group.
"Aw, be nice Ajizi," a female teased. "You don't know, Dhaifu might be your father one day!"
Oh hell no! Dhaifu thought horrified, his imagination cruelly painting mental pictures of him and Sheikh together as mates. If that happened, he would happily kill himself without a second thought.
"Shut up Nhaya," Ajizi ordered, daring the young cheetah to continue. "The rest of you c'mon, we're going to find the Queen ourselves. Dhaifu, since you're so bad at being a leader, stay here and keep watch over the lion. He's injured so you can't mess this up."
Dhaifu was about to cry out that they couldn't just leave him there with the lion by himself, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Ajizi was obviously furious with him, and considering how bad her temper was, it was only seconds until she would attack him. He nodded wordlessly, allowing the group to go on without him. As the last one left the cave, Dhaifu let out a sigh of relief.
Finally. They've left, the male cheetah thought to himself as he stood up. Now, I have to plan what I'm going to do.
Dhaifu had never planned to go back out with the others in the first place. Before they had fought the lion, he was honestly thinking about defecting from the clan and living on his own. There was no way that Sheikh could expect him to do something that wicked for no reason other than being spiteful. Despite Dhaifu's original plans on leaving, he just couldn't follow through. Something was holding him back and planting doubts in his mind…that something was fear.
The male cheetah was never exactly a strong willed individual to begin with, and the knowledge that any of Sheikh's zealous followers could find him and drag him back to Sheikh was unnerving. He didn't want to die. The only thing Dhaifu could hope for was the lion would help give him an alibi so that Kovu would listen to him. That was the only way the male cheetah could see living in peace.
His prisoner started coughing, snapping Dhaifu from his deep thoughts. It was now or never.
...
Jelani slowly opened his eyes, frowning as he adjusted them to the surrounding darkness. He let out a pain-laced gasp as he felt a overwhelming pain from his side burst through, everything was hurting like crazy. The lion instantly felt a sticky, warm liquid as he tried to sit up and frowned as he smelled the stench of blood. The air around him was stuffy and the only source of light he could make out was a small crack in the dark sky. What happened to him?
Jelani could only remember bits and pieces of earlier that day. He had gone out to check up on Aunt Kiara just like Kovu had ordered him to. He hadn't tried to take any short cuts that would get him lost. The last thing he remembered was being ambushed by a cheetah, knocking it down just before another one came…and then another one…
That's right! I blacked out, Jelani thought, the familiar feeling of confusion washing over him. Then why am I not dead? He shook his head; that was the last thing he needed to think about right now. He needed to find out where he was and tell Kovu that there were cheetahs in the surrounding area. Jelani hissed as he tried to stand up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice piped up from out of nowhere, Jelani sharply turned his head towards the sound. Just then, a dark slender figure made its way toward him, cloaked in the shadows. Jelani narrowed his grey eyes in order to get a better look at the creature but as the sliver of light hit its spotted fur, he knew exactly what it was.
"Get away from me," Jelani snarled, backing up to the cave wall that was closest to him.
"Why? It's not like you can do anything to me," the male cheetah remarked as he stopped in front of Jelani, looking at him with a frown. "Are you part of Kovu's pride?"
"It's none of your damn business if I am or not!" Jelani retorted watching the cheetah intently, waiting for a sign of weakness. The cheetah let out a sigh.
"Sadly, it is more than you know." he said. "If you are, I have to warn you about something."
Warn me? More like trick me! Jelani thought sardonically with a scoff. "What makes you think I want to talk to a backstabbing feline like you?"
"Because this backstabbing feline has some very important information to give you," the male cheetah snapped back. "Sheikh is planning the murder of the Queen of the Pride Lands. We have scouts out looking for her as we speak."
Jelani's eyes widened. Aunt Kiara? How the hell did Sheikh even know she was gone? He literally felt his heart plummet down to his stomach. This was bad. "Then…why are you telling me this? What are you playing at?"
"I'm honestly not trying to trick you. Please believe me," The cheetah said sincerely, shaking his head. "I only wish I was making this up, but I'm not. You don't know how much I'm risking to tell you this information." Jelani continued to sit there dumbfounded as the cheetah came to his side, gently nudging him to stand. The lion let out a hiss as he felt another white hot pain across his chest, ignoring the dark pool of blood that had been collecting beneath him. Suddendly Jelani felt dizzy. The cheetah quickly caught on to this and allowed Jelani to lean on his shoulder for support.
"They really did carve you up pretty bad didn't they?" he murmured more to himself than Jelani. "We must hurry, Sheikh and the others will be back anytime soon…If she catches us…" The cheetah shuddered. "Never mind…I don't even wanna think about it."
The adolescent lion nodded in agreement, gritting his teeth in pain as they started walking out of the cave. "I should thank you. Thanks to you we'll be able to protect Aunt Kiara."
Jelani's captor laughed dryly. "Please don't thank me. If we hadn't captured you, I would have just ran away. I figured having you as a bodyguard wouldn't be bad, considering Kovu would probably eat me alive if I showed up on his doorstep!"
Jelani had to smile at this. "Fair enough. My name is Jelani and you are?"
" Dhaifu."
...
"Aw, isn't this wonderful? Little Dhaifu has made a friend!" Sheikh snarled sweetly from the entrance, her green eyes flashing dangerously in the sun's golden light. The deranged smile she usually wore quickly twisted into a bloodthirsty one. "C'mon Dhaifu, it's time to die."
Well, that's the end of chapter eighteen! Heh, I was hoping to finish the whole Cruelty thing within this chapter but I split it into two parts. Cruelty pt.3 will be up very very very soon and let me just say I personally think it will be the saddest chapter yet *sobs*. Anyways thanks to Hikari123, RunningWithTime728 and Prince of Pride for reviewing. Now go review or I won't put the next chapter up ^^.