Lion King 3: The Chosen Ones

Wanderer's Arc

Chapter Nineteen: Hellfire

Dhaifu and Jelani continued to walk through the cave, as fast as they could. Dhaifu made sure that he wasn't putting too much pressure on his injured companion. Even though Jelani hadn't complained about any of his wounds, it was more than obvious to Dhaifu that he was in pain.

Heh, if I was in his situation I would've dropped dead by now. Dhaifu thought to himself wryly as he exchanged looks with the tawny lion. He had to admire the lion's determination to save his aunt; it was interesting to say the least. The cheetah had never met a creature like that… well not in his clan anyways. They were raised to only think as a unit and have no real personal relationships.

A small smile formed on Dhaifu's muzzle as he saw the cave's entrance in the distance. They only had a bit further to go, just a few more minutes and then they would finally be able to warn Kovu. For the first time in the cheetah's short life, he had never been so happy to see the exit.

"Hey, we're almost through," Dhaifu told his lion friend encouragingly. Abruptly, Jelani stopped walking and pushed off of Dhaifu's shoulder.

"I'm not so sure about that," Jelani replied in a hushed tone, his grey eyes wide from shock. He slowly backed away from Dhaifu, keeping his terrified gaze stuck in front of him. Confused, Dhaifu turned his head away from the lion to see what exactly was freaking him out.

And wished he hadn't…

There she was, sitting on her throne and glaring at them with those dangerous emerald eyes. Sheikh was exuding a dark, threatening mood. The worst thing was her huge, twisted, creepy smile. There was no emotion in it at all, and when placed with the murderous glint in her eyes, it was very obvious to Dhaifu that she had snapped.

All he could do was shake his head in total disbelief. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. Sheikh had left with her half of the clan… How the hell did she come back without Dhaifu knowing? He didn't even hear her come in or anything like that… but how?

"Why are you shaking your head like that Dhaifu?" Sheikh asked, her voice eerily calm. "Don't you want me?"

"How? How...did you?"Dhaifu asked hoarsely. He gulped past an obstruction in his throat. "How did you get back here so quickly?"

"It's called walking. But I doubt you will be doing any of that in the near future," Sheikh growled, narrowing her eyes in disgust. "I'm glad Ajizi informed me about her doubts in you before I came in. Don't try to deny it, we heard everything… Isn't that right my family?"

As if on cue, Sheikh's half of the clan slowly appeared out of the shadows, one by one. Each cheetah stood behind her, fixing their steely eyes on their intended target. There were no signs of emotion in any of their faces at all, almost like they were empty shells. By the time they all had gathered around in front of Sheikh, Dhaifu had counted at least twelve cheetahs in all. If Dhaifu wasn't so worried about keeping his dignity, he would have started bawling by now.

Shit! She's going to kill me! Dhaifu cursed to himself, his mind and heart screaming at him to stop being so stupid and run away. He stood, paralyzed; his fear of Sheikh completely had him in its grasp. He could hear his heart thundering loudly in his ears. It was over for him.

For the next few moments, time seemed to have stopped moving for everyone. No one dared breathe or make a sound for fear of incurring Sheikh's wrath any further. The atmosphere was thick with tension. For a while Dhaifu was convinced he was going to slowly die under Sheikh's persisting glare.

"Sheikh," Jelani inaudibly murmured beside the male cheetah. Dhaifu chanced a look at the young lion beside him. Jelani's stormy grey eyes were wavering back and forth on Sheikh, his lips pursed together like he wanted to say more. The next thing Dhaifu knew, the tawny lion suddenly flinched as if he was struck by some unseen force.

"YOU BITCH!" Jelani roared with all of his might, charging blindly at Sheikh. Dhaifu watched in utter horror as his fellow clan-members instinctively made a protective circle around their leader. They wasted no time in attacking Jelani as he tried to break through. At first Jelani was hacking his way through the cheetahs, throwing his forepaws in mighty arcs in any which way in order to hit someone. Though he was strong and was able to take out a few of them, a cheetah was finally able to jump on to his body and bite down on his neck, making Jelani roar out in pain. More and more started piling on top of him, Dhaifu gasping as he saw Jelani go under. A couple more seconds later, the barrage of spots dispersed with Jelani lying on the ground before Sheikh, completely powerless.

Jelani let out a pain laced roar and he struggled underneath the remaining cheetahs who had lain on top of him for good measure. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" he repeated fervently, trembling in pure rage.

"Says the one who is under my mercy," Sheikh said, her voice venomously soft. She watched the lion pathetically writhe on the ground with a cold, impassive look on her face. The leader turned her attention to Dhaifu. "Chafua, Uchama, restrain Dhaifu."

Dhaifu's eyes widened as he realized that she was talking about him. He quickly turned to run away. He only went a couple of steps before Uchama tackled him to the ground. Dhaifu let out a yelp of pain as the back of his head was slammed into the ground and he heard his ears ringing. He then felt his throat tightening as Chafua put her paw onto his throat and started putting pressure on it.

"You must think I am stupid!" Sheikh hissed fiercely as she jumped out of her throne, she then started walking towards Dhaifu fire alight in her eyes. "What the hell were you thinking Dhaifu? What made you think I wouldn't find out about this?"

"I… don't know. I—I wasn't thinking." Dhaifu replied with uncertainty in his voice, he felt his body trembling with worry. Sheikh let out a horrible loud yowl at him.

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" the clan leader screamed at the male cheetah, her mask of feigning cheerfulness completely shattered. Dhaifu let out a pitiful cry as she slammed her paw down next to his head. She then shoved a confused Chafua out of her way and pushed her other paw straight into Dhaifu's soft throat.

Suddenly Dhaifu felt his airway being abruptly cut off and, to his horror, he couldn't breathe at all. He started coughing and gagging for the tiniest bit of air as Sheikh's grip of his throat tightened even more. Dhaifu tried to fight against the female in a panic while gasping for air, hot humiliating tears blurring his vision.

I can't breathe! I can't even get her off of me! the cheetah screamed in his mind, as he continued to thrash wildly. In his peripheral vision, none of his so-called family dared move an inch, but rather watched impassively as he struggled for his life. A feeling of light headedness came over him and then his senses became fuzzy. Within seconds, the male cheetah's body went limp and the sounds of choking stopped.

Sheikh slowly moved away from Dhaifu's lifeless body. At first, she examined him with curiosity. A strained, funny sound came from her throat, and then another one. Her trademark smile came back to her face and her shoulders shook slightly as she let out a childish giggle. Sheikh then threw her head back, laughing uncontrollably as if she had found something hilarious. The hollow sound rang through the silence of the cave and struck fear into all that inhabitited in it.

"Oh ho! Oh ho! This too much!" The female cheetah exclaimed finally in between another fit of laughter as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Dhaifu always knew how to make me laugh!"

"You are a seriously fucked-up cheetah," Jelani finally spat in disgust from his spot on the ground. The act of seeing the poor, heroic cheetah's life being snuffed out made Jelani's blood boil even more. He cursed himself silently for not being able to come to Dhaifu's aid. No one deserved to die like that. "What do you want from us? What makes you hate our pride so much that you would start a war?"

She giggled childishly again. "I love the thrill of it all! The killing, the blood and the sorrow! I enjoy watching that bastard Kovu suffer!" When Jelani started snarling at her, Sheikh rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Wait, why should I justify any of my actions to an inferior creature like yourself? You're obviously too stupid to comprehend."

"Because I'm not psycho like you are, Sheikh!" He snapped in retaliation, not missing a beat. Jelani couldn't believe what he was hearing, there was no way in hell she could possibly be serious. She was willing to wipe out a whole lion pride and sacrifice her clan members just for the fun of it? He prayed his uncle would not take her so lightly… She was clearly someone who was dangerous and unstable. "You claim that we are the cruel, unjust ones, yet you want to kill us for fun? Who exactly is in the wrong here? I haven't heard anything from your mouth yet to prove me otherwise!"

The cheetah flashed her yellow teeth at him, her soft voice literally dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, yes that's right! The Pridelands have never suffered under your pride's reign! Or perhaps you have forgotten Scar? That was great leadership there! Or the time when lions burned down most of our land! All you stupid pathetic creatures know how to do is destroy and create wars!"

"That was in the past and you know that!" Jelani cried out incredulously, disgusted that she would even bring that up. No one in the kingdom was allowed to whisper anything the royals had buried in the past."You weren't even born in the times of Scar! How can even you try to point that out?"

"His demon offspring is all the proof I need! Kovu murdered my father, condemned him without a fair trial! He was the leader of our clan! My father was clearly out of his mind, and yet no one took that into consideration!"

"He tried to kill Tanabi and Ayira! Your father tried to kill two small cubs, how dare you even brush that aside?" the tawny lion almost screamed at her, wincing in pain as his wound started acting up again. Jelani was shaking with rage; it was trying to envelop him. He could swear he could feel tears coming to his eyes. Because of her father, they lost Simba, the closest thing Jelani knew to a grandfather. Because of her father, Ayira was almost killed that day and was never the same again. Because of her father, his best friend Tanabi left the Pridelands and never came back. Jelani shook his head in anger, there was no forgiveness in that.

Sheikh snarled. Jelani was actually starting to get a rise in her nerves. "Your precious princess Ayira murdered my brother! I won't even let you try and deny that! I saw her with my own eyes!"

Ayira? Jelani thought in horror before he quickly tried to wipe that thought out of his mind. He knew Ayira, there was no way she could ever bring herself to harm someone, much less kill them. "You're lying!"

"What other orange lioness do you know with two long scars around her neck?" Sheikh asked Jelani. There was no spite or hatred in her voice. It almost sounded sincere. "We were hunting in the field and she came and ambushed us. My brother fought valiantly against her but she was too strong. When she was done with him, Ayira was covered in his blood and there was nothing left of him!"

Jelani's eyes widened; he remembered a while back… he had found Ayira trying to wash off the dark blood from her pelt. It was so bad that it had started to turn the pool red. Jelani had just thought Ayira had found a good kill that day, but after that day she started acting more distant than usual and pretty jumpy. No… No she couldn't have… Ayira wouldn't… She couldn't have…

Sheikh had a triumphant look on her face as she saw him come to the realization. She looked at Jelani with a sigh. "Your empty words bore me, young cub." A small, cunning smile made its way to her spotted muzzle. "Why, I believe it's time for the real fun to begin." She walked up to the furious Jelani and towered over him menacingly. Sheikh then leaned slightly forward to peer into her captive's face. "You are going to tell me where the Queen is hiding."

"Now doesn't that sound fun?" the tawny lion retorted, mimicking Sheikh's exact tone of voice. "If you want her so bad, go find her yourself."

Sheikh's smile melted off of her face and in an instant she slapped Jelani clear across his face, her extended claws raking across the bridge of his nose. Jelani let out a hiss of pain as his head whipped around. As he turned around back to face her, blood started leaking from the small cuts on his left cheek and nose.

"I won't ask you again," the leader snapped. "Where is she?"

Jelani smirked and spit the blood in his mouth right back at Sheikh's face. While it had made its target, rolling down her cheek, Sheikh barely batted an eyelash. She then smacked him again in retaliation, this time much harder, and didn't stop when Jelani cried out in pain. She gave another blow and then another, cutting deeper and deeper into his injuries. He let out an agonizing roar as he felt his fur and some skin start to tear off from her sharp claws. It didn't stop Sheikh; instead she continued to claw at his face, making sure each time she raked down, she did it as painfully as possible.

Jelani tried to keep his mouth shut to keep the screams from coming, but with each white-hot pain becoming more and more intense, he just couldn't stop himself. It was so painful! He tried to writhe away from Sheikh's paws but the cheetahs on top of him were too heavy to knock off. The tawny lion instinctively closed his eyes.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jelani let out a bone-chilling scream as someone kicked him hard right where the wound on his stomach was and his grey eyes quickly flew open. Specks of blood came out of his mouth from the impact and he started coughing violently.

"I'm not playing with you any more lion!" Sheikh announced as she stopped carving into his face, her paws completely drenched in Jelani's blood. "I will ask you one more time: where is the Queen?"

Jelani glared at her defiantly, grateful for a break in the attacks. The whole left side of his face looked like something at a butcher's. Dark streaks of blood mingled in with some pink tissue. The fur Jelani did have was almost nonexistent except for a couple of patches around his eye. Some of his dark mane was matted onto the left side of his face and the worst of the wounds was a long cut that ran along the bridge of his nose, while some of the fleshy parts of his lip were torn as well. He panted heavily and in pain. He wanted so bad to just throw up everything he had on Sheikh, but couldn't… Jelani felt himself growing tired, but he would be damned if Sheikh was going to get any information from him!

The clan leader glared at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"You know something, Sheikh? Your eyes are beautiful," Jelani replied mockingly, a mischievous, proud grin on his muzzle. That was the snapping point for Sheikh, whose face quickly turned dark with fury and she lunged at him with full intent of killing him right then and there. Jelani held his breath waiting for her attack… but it never came.

"Mother! Mother!" Ajizi cried out hastily as she scrambled into the cave, almost tripping over her own feet. "Mother! We have found the Queen! The group is preparing at the Elephant Graveyard as we speak! They're going to burn down the tree where they found them!"

Shit! Jelani screamed at himself, his mind freezing in terror. The tawny lion started to panic and started struggling with all of his might, clawing at the ground desperately to get the cheetahs off of him. He was just too weak from blood loss, and the more he struggled, the more tired he became. Sheikh's hysterical laughter was the only thing he could hear, and at that point he realized it was hopeless.

"Aha! Hahahahahahaha! Hahaha!" she cackled evilly before a malevolent, dark smile graced her lips one more time. Sheikh faced Jelani who was now in tears and scoffed at the adolescent lion. "We've won young lion. I won't kill you… no that'll be too easy. I'll just let you lie there and rot with your despair eating away at you. You won't ever see the sun again or your precious little pride, and when you die, I will devour that pathetic body of yours!"

OooO

Nala reluctantly opened her tired eyes and exhaled a soft sigh; it was still night outside. It seemed like she couldn't get a decent night's sleep ever since Chaka was born. This had nothing to do with the small cub; it was more like the former Queen felt restless in her sleep. She carefully sat up making sure she wouldn't stir the peaceful Kiara beside her.

Something strange caught Nala's senses and she cautiously sniffed the night air. A frown came to her lovely features.

...Smoke? she thought to herself in confusion. The air smelled warm and muggy, almost as if something was burning nearby. The light crème lioness decided to take a look outside of the tree to see what was going on.

In the distant inky darkness, a giant looming smoke cloud enveloped the sky while light colored flames crackled and danced along the ground. Nala gasped, backing up from her position in the tree. When…how did this happen?

The first fear that shot through her heart was that the fire had spread anywhere near Pride Rock and she fervently hoped that the pride was doing okay. A few more lights caught the corner of her vision and she looked down the base of the tree. What she saw made her eyes widen in horror. There they were: cheetahs with burning sticks in their mouths, racing straight towards their haven. The beige lioness felt a deafening thump of her heart and she sat there, absolutely paralyzed.

We have to get out of here! Nala snapped at herself, barely containing the panic attack she was about to have. A million thoughts were racing in the poor lioness' mind, but the one that kept popping up was Kiara and Chaka's safety. They would die if she didn't think of something soon.

Instinctively, Nala twisted around to face her sleeping daughter. "Wake up, Kiara!" The former queen cried out as loud as she could. Whether Kiara would react to that, Nala didn't care as she started to roughly shake her by her shoulders. "C'mon girl! Wake up!"

Kiara slowly opened her eyes, still glossy and full of sleep. "Wha…?"

"Get up Kiara!" Nala demanded quickly, nudging the tired lioness into sitting up. She grimaced as the smell of smoke got thicker from inside the tree. "We have to get out of here! Sheikh's clan has found us!"

The orange lioness was now fully awake and gaped at Nala in horror. "How did they find us?"

Nala shook her head. "There is no time for that! We must take Chaka and get out of here!"

It had only taken a split second for Kiara to react; she snatched up the sleeping newborn by the nape of his neck and nodded to her mother that she was ready to leave. The two lionesses jumped out of the tree, from the instant they hit the ground, they ran as fast as their legs could carry them and wouldn't stop. Without either realizing it, a few cheetahs had taken off after them in hot pursuit.

Nala's mind was in an complete whirlwind of terror as the fire's destruction behind her blurred by as she ran. She could hear the crackling sound of the flames drawing closer, burning and ripping across the plains like it was nothing. She tried to keep up with her daughter, who was a short distance in front of her, running in a blind panic. We have to go faster, at this rate the flames will catch up to us!

A sharp sensation broke her out of her focus and the beige lioness let out a surprised roar. What the…?

She felt the weight of someone else trying to pin her down and the next thing Nala saw was a cheetah speeding past her towards Kiara. The former queen whipped around and bit down hard on the enemy on top of her, using her powerful jaws to rip into the cheetah's shoulder. The cheetah let out a yowl of pain and let go of its grip on Nala, which allowed her to throw the cheetah off of her back.

"KIARA!" Nala screamed, terrified.

Kiara stopped running at the shrillness of her mother's voice and turned around, but soon realized this split second decision would cost her life. She gasped as a cheetah lunged at her and she shut her eyes in fear. This was it for her and Chaka, she knew it. But the pain and her death didn't come as her mother had deftly intercepted the cheetah's tackle and had it pinned to the ground.

"Kiara! Don't just stand there! Get out of here!" Nala snarled in frustration. She was wrestling with the cheetah, trying her hardest to keep it at bay as she dug her claws into the ground. "I'll handle these two!"

Tears started to form in the young mother's bright eyes and she slowly shook her head in disbelief and reluctance, she couldn't leave her mother! Nala snapped at her more forcefully, "Now, before it's too late!"

Kiara recoiled from her mother's harsh tone but did as she was told. Nala let out a sigh of relief as she saw her daughter running away. At least she and Chaka would be safe, that mattered more than her own survival or safety. The beige lioness pressed down as hard as she could on the cheetah's neck, snarling viciously down at it.

She had a duty to protect her daughter at all cost and that meant doing what ever it took to ensure it. Those cheetahs had nothing more to worry about Kovu ruling the kingdom any longer because Nala was going to silence them and their hatred. Permanently.

*slow clap* How was that for an ending? Will Nala and Kiara reunite or will Nala meet her demise at the paws of the cheetahs...hmm I guess you'll have to read further to find out XD.

There is hope left for the Pridelands and it now rests with Tanabi and Ayira...the next chapter will kick off the start of Tanabi's Arc. This final Arc will answer if either one of them will take their destiny as rulers of the Pridelands or they will turn their backs on their home and allow everything to fall apart. Only time will tell...

A big thanks to Prince of Pride, Pigs Go Moo, RunningWithTime728, raekafajrajo and Kivulinduli for reviewing{ thanks to my beta Kovukono as well}! And for the rest of you, go review. Not updating until you do ^^

Names:

Chaka: Hot season

Chafua: To taint

Uchama: Filth