Hey there!
This is it… the big one. This is the biggest chapter by far up to this point.
Thanks again for the comments.
Now, if the 8th chapter was the 'naked gun' of this story, this definitely the 'transformers' of the bunch. Which brings me to a request. Since this chapter is really action packed and I want to do stuff like this in the future, I would like to know if I have gone over the top in terms of the violence and brutality. Especially in relation to Mwehus role in this part.
Jatha and Reldor: Thanks a lot
With that out of the way…
Chapter 11: escalation
Tojo and Nala kept walking, neither one of them paid attention about where and how long they kept padding through the kingdom. At this moment, life couldn't have been better for the ochre colored lion. Although there was barely a day, the two didn't spend together. It was still something completely different to be out here with just the two of them. There were no smart remarks from Malka or Tama. Chumvi and Kula were not drawing all the attention. It was just him and the cream furred lioness.
Nala herself was a bit unsure how to handle this. Of course, she realized that Tojo was acting kinda weird lately when she was around. And of course there were Tama and Kula who were giving her signs and little remarks about the situation. Yet she did not expect to be taken out by her friend today. And as a matter of fact, she never thought about her and Tojo getting together in the end.
But why not? She thought. Tojo was gentle, quite good looking, cocky sometimes even though he wasn't that much of a braggart. Come to think of it, his behavior was very similar to Simbas. There still was not a single day where she didn't thought about her golden furred best friend. And of course that went along with the agreement hers and Simbas parents made over a year ago. Tojo really reminded her of him. How would he react if Tojo and I would become a couple? She shook her head slightly. It wasn't right to think about Simba right now. Tojo was trying to be nice to her and all she was doing was keeping thoughts about her lost fiancé.
"Nala? Are you listening?"
His voice broke her out of her trance as she gave him a confused look, yet tried to fake a smile. "Uhm yeah, I'm still here. Sorry I was just… thinking." She said a bit out of order. "What did you say?"
"I wanted to know if you were thirsty. There used to be a small spring just around that bush. We could stop by there if you want." He was trying to be as gentle as possible and tried not to annoy his friend at in any bid.
Nala pushed her shoulder into his side in a friendly gesture. "Sounds like a good idea!"
Both lions trotted around the little bush as Tojo started moving his paws over the ground to get some water bubbling out of it. His eyes widened as he realized. "It is… completely dried out. Just like the waterhole." The ochre lion gasped while he still tried desperately to get something out of the spring.
His cream furred friend padded over to him and put a paw on his shoulder. "Let it go Jo-jo! It's no use!" She mumbled in defeat while Tojo smashed his paw onto the ground in anger. Nala on the other side once again stared upwards to the sky. Although it looked beautiful, the fact that it had not rained for months send a shiver down her back. "This was once such a beautiful place. And now, it is just like that desert at the eastern border." She bowed her head as tears reached her eyes.
Tojo at once realized what was going on rushed over to her and put an arm around her. The lioness replied by burying her head into his fur. Tojo had not seen Nala cry since… since Scar told them about Simbas death. As gently as he could, he struck his right front paw over his friends side while whispering into her ears. "The rain will return. We will get through this."
She looked up at him with her aqua eyes being full of sadness. "Mufasa and Simba would have never forced us to overhunt. The circle of life would never have been broken."
"I know!" Tojo answered. As much as he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, the vision his cream furred friend being completely miserable right now made him forget of all his desires immediately.
Nala brought her head up once more. "I'm… I'm sorry Jo-jo! I think I ruined out little date here." She said moaning and swiped away some of her tears.
"Naah… it's okay. Just stop of giving yourself such a hard time." He gently replied still keeping her in a gentle embrace. Nala then got up and nuzzled Tojo warmly. The two spend quite a while in that position before walking back towards pride rock.
"What do you mean we lost him?" A hyena shouted out towards his comrades in anger. "How could you have lost him? There is barely even anything left for him to hide in this god forbidden desert." He continued before another male hyena stepped in.
All three of them couldn't believe what just happened. King Scar ordered them to go after the adolescent lion called Mwehu. It was a simple task, follow the pale cream creature and assassin him in his sleep. Now however, the found themselves in the middle of the veldt with no sign of their target anywhere to be found. "He couldn't have gone far Baghami! He must be around here somewhere. We just have to keep looking."
The leader of the three eyed the third one still in anger. "If Tobwe would have paid more attention, we didn't have to keep looking."
Baghami, Tobwe and Bozi had been pals for their whole life. They really made the perfect trio with Baghami being the brain and leader of the trio with Bozi being the muscles and Tobwe being the mouth, yet sometimes goofball. Yet all three of them earned their rightful spot in the upper ranks of the hyena clan. They followed the call of their king with pleasure. Ever since their first encounter with the scarred lion, they wanted to tear him into pieces.
It happened over a year ago at a waterhole. Baghami and his friends were about to have some fun with some lion cubs as Mwehu walked in and mocked them long enough for an adult lioness to enter the scene and scare them away. What kind of business did he have to engage in their fun of bullying a few lion cubs anyway? Hell… he even was a lion cub himself.
"Me? Paying more attention? There are three of us. You are as much as sloppy as me." Tobwe remarked defensive extracting his paws in an apologizing way.
Baghami went fourth and growled at his friend in fury. "You were supposed to read his tracks. If you can't do that, then you should think about shifting your focus." The hyena continued but quickly backed away.
Just a few yards away from them, Bozi shook his head and once again stepped in between. "Come on guys, let's call this off. There's always tomorrow. Let's just get back to the boss." The bulky hyena mumbled and nodded his head into the direction of pride rock. "I think that the bastard is long gone anyway." Baghami backed off from Tobwe and followed his friend as they trotted back to their home.
If the trio would kept more attention to their surroundings, they would have noticed the pale craem spot that could be see just behind a tree truck lying horizontally on the ground yards away. If the wind wouldn't have changed minutes earlier, Mwehu would have been at least badly injured. He had no idea he was being followed until he caught the hyenas' ugly smell. Those clowns would have jumped me the first chance they had got if I didn't duck. He thought. Well at least I'm sure now that Scar wants me dead. He raised his head so he could peek over the wooden barrier.
The scarred lion watched his three chasers as they put more and more distance between them and him. Maybe I could have taken them on all by myself. But not tonight, I will fight… but that will happen on my turns, when I want and how I want. It was in his nature to be confident and sure about his actions. If Scar would have executed me in public, he wouldn't have sent those three punching bags after me. He wants to do it quietly. Yet going back to live at the tree all on my own is kinda dangerous. Better to seek for a new home.
Mwehu got back to his feet and trotted over the veldt, his task of getting back at Scar just had reached a whole new level.
Being on his own, being able to live a life that was completely free of commitments and responsibilities was all he wanted right now. It was the live that Timon and Pumbaa always told him about. It was the life of hakuna matata. As a young cub, all Simba could think of was to become the next king of the pride lands. There was not a single day where he didn't think about taking his place on the throne. But all that lay in the past now. He was no more the prince he was supposed to be. And he enjoyed it.
Right now, the adolescent golden furred lion was lying on his back with his stomach directed towards the sky and scratching his belly with his paws. While the light of the sun came down to him with the plants and leaves of the jungle blocking some of the heat from above. It was really enjoyable as Simba inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. Just like Timon and Pumbaa always say… hakuna matata!"
"What's up buddy?"
He right away opened them again as he recognized the source of the voice. The meerkat raised his hand as he greeted his friend. "What ya' doing?" Timon then asked and gave a wink to his pal Pumbaa as the warthog came into view.
"Uh… nothing much. You know, relaxing, enjoying the day… all what makes life great. And you?"
Pumbaa carried a small tree branch with his toes and dropped it right in front of his lion friend. "Just preparing the menu." Timon laughed as he made a signing gesture at the wood. On the other hand, Pumbaa gasped deeply. Both his friends could see that working and body exercise was not his most favorite thing to do.
"You know, the best start for a good and healthy body is a strong base of nutrition." The red colored warthog said just before a small belch escaped his muzzle.
Both Timon and Simba waived their paws in front of their faces while turning their heads away in disgust. "Good and healthy body huh? I can't find anything healthy about that thing." Timon answered sarcastically with all three of them bursting out in high pitched laughter. "Y'know Pumbaa! If you keep doing that, we might have to consider having you on quarantine for two or three nights. With your status of health it might be dangerous for us to be around you." Simba and Timon continued to laugh.
Yet it was in that moment that another one of Simbas memories came back into his head.
"Sorry Simba, but that is not such a good idea right now." His mother said to him as the still young cub let his ears hang down for a while.
"But mom, I really want to go out play with Nala. I promise I won't do anything that could endanger me." He answered in a pleading voice and with big eyes.
Yet his mother kept her calmness and determination. "As long as Rafiki did not take a look at her, nobody is allowed to be near her. And that includes you young man. Only her mother gets to be with her." The beige lioness answered giving the cub a slight nudge on the head. Simbas head dropped as he faced the ground sadly. "Come on my son. It is only for a short period of time. It won't last that long. Why don't you play with your other friends for a day?"
"They're not as much fun as Nala. They're not as funny and not as clever as her. And since she is in that prison, the whole day is ruined." He replied disappointed yet know that there was no one really to blame.
Sarabi smiled and shoved her son a bit further to the mouth of the cave they were in. "It's not a prison; she's just ill. It's more of a precaution. Call it a… quarantine!"
With that Simba trotted out of the den muttering in disappointment the whole way down pride rock "How do you get sick anyway. Thirst thing I'm going to do as king is to forbid being sick ever again."
The golden furred lion remembered everything from that day. He remembered how he sneaked in the den later on as Sarafina wasn't there for a moment. And he remembered being really worried about her. His best friend was coughing and sneezing for the whole time. Her eyes were red from the tears she couldn't help to prevent; and that, most of the time, she was deadly tired and wanted to sleep.
And he remembered something really strange happening that day. Since the cream furred cub as asleep for most of the time, he couldn't help but stare at her for a while. The thought of his best friend laying there made him smile and his gaze wandered off into the distance. But suddenly he felt a paw waiving in front of his face as he stared into the eyes of Timon.
"Hey! You still here?" His friend asked.
Simba smirked and shoved his friend gently away and got to his feet. "Yeah I'm alright, listen guys. I'm going to take a walk, don't wait for me till dinner." H quickly left his two friends behind with somehow baffled faces as they watched after their huge companion.
Since Kula, Tama and Nala had been completely integrated in the hunting parties, the adolescent males were mostly left alone back at pride rock. And so they decided to relax for the whole afternoon. They had settled down under a small tree just in the shadows of pride rock and except for Tojo, everybody was there.
"So… the guy walks up to this huge rhino, looks deeply into his eyes… and says straight out 'what the hell is your problem'." Malka laughed as he told the other three males about an incident a few months back. "You have to think! There is this lion, barely a year old, walking up to this giant animal that could rip his head off and impale him with his horn. And he thinks that he could go all predator on it." Meethu and Chumvi shook their head while laughing with their paws in front of their muzzles. Then the pale orange lion continued with his story. "I have no idea what he thought he was doing, but I'm sure he would regret it back then. Didn't you Mwehu?"
All their heads turned around towards the pale cream lion that lay down on his stomach. Mwehu kept his eyes closed in annoyance as he rubbed the sides of his head. "Why did I let you talk me into this?" He muttered tired.
"Hey!" Chumvi called out and jerked his head up. "Last time I checked, it was you who wanted to come along with us." The dark brown replied in mocking sound. "If you don't want to be around us, you can go back to the place where you live anyway."
Mwehu rested his head on his paws and looked away from the group. "Try to make me!" He replied challenging. Right away, Chumvi got to his feet and growled at the scarred lion.
It was then that Malka got in between them. "Guys, guys calm down. I don't want to put both of you into your places. It's just not worth the effort." Slowly, both relaxed and laid back down.
"So!" The scarred lion said once more. "This is what you do all day long?" Since the events of last night, Mwehu decided it was the best idea to get some company for a change. He needed at least some crowd during the day to get a good game plan for dealing with his three stalkers. But he never expected anything like this. "This is so boring and dull." He muttered once more.
Meethu, not far away, rolled his eyes in annoyance. "What do you do with your time? I mean besides not ruining other lions' fun." Beside him, Malka chuckled slightly and tilted his head in the direction of pride rock.
"I hunt… I train… at least I do stuff!"
"Hey guys!" Before either one of the lions could respond once more, they heard another voice coming from behind them.
Chumvi tilted his head as he spotted the ochre lion Tojo padding over to his three friends. Right away, Malka and the dark brown lion locked eyes on each other as they exchanged mischievous smiles. "And… Jo-jo! How did it go?" The pale orange lion asked while stroking with his paw through his black mane. But Tojo didn't even have to answer as Malka saw his friend dropping to the ground. "That bad huh?" He remarked quickly.
"Actually not, it went well at first. It went really good. But somewhere in between, she just broke down crying. There was nothing to do and I just brought her back home." Tojo answered plying with his claws on the sandy ground.
"What did you do to make her cry?" Chumvi came in trying to be as polite and reserved.
"I didn't do anything to her. Somehow, our conversation came back to Simba and Mufasa and then… she began to cry."
Chumvis and Malkas eyes grew wide as some sort of realization came to their minds. Meethu, who had kept in the back, just shook his head and laughed a little. "Haha… Tojo and Nala sitting in a tree… k-i-s-s…"
"OH WAIT YOU LITTLE…" The ochre lion yelled as he chased after the younger male. Chumvi and Malka rolled on the floor as they laughed hysterically.
"That kid has so much of his father!" All three left over males lifted their heads to see Nala and Tama joining them. The cream colored female also glanced after her brother running through the veldt.
"Who is this kids' father anyway? The only male I've seen around lately is Scar. And devil help us if he is the one." Mwehu asked and caused Tama and to roll her eyes and face palm.
"Come on scarface. His name should indication enough." The tarnish lioness answered in a mocking tone.
"I don't get it!" Mwehu answered.
"Oh jeez… okay listen. His name is Meethu right?"
"Yeah!"
"Meethu as in the meaning 'me too' right?"
"Go on!"
"Me too is a response to the sentence 'I am'!"
"Okay!"
"Like… if I would be going up to you and be like... I am a lion. What would your respond be?"
Mwehu thought a little bit before he answered. "Yes, me too!"
"So the response to me too is I am!"
"Get to the point."
"African slang for I am?"
The scarred lion brought his paw to his chin. "Oh that one I know! It's…" He started to say as his eyes grew big in realization.
Tamas face lit up as he padded the lion on his back. "WOW! He's got it."
"Hm… come to think of it, once you get to the conclusion… it wasn't that farfetched." Mwehu added scratching the back of his head.
Seeing since this has gone long enough. Nala decided to get this crowd moving. "Come on guys, we have to keep going. We need everybody to participate in the hunts. It's getting nearly impossible for us to find enough food for us." Her head hung low as she thought about how the previous hunt went along. And since Scar was no longer accepting failures, they had no choice than to keep searching. Leaving Mwehu behind, the all followed their "leader" with hanging heads back to pride rock.
Scar was frustrated as he lay down in his den yet kept himself in the shadows. Every where he looked he saw nothing else but insubordinates and fools. The lionesses were doing their best to sabotage his royality, Sarabi and Sarafina were holding back their lionesses in hunts so that the hyenas were going to him to ask for food. It was all of them conspiring to throw him off the throne.
The hyenas were not making things better. Over the last months they had changed into a bunch of lazy pretty madonnas that were always coming up to him to moan and complain. Why couldn't they just walk up to the lionesses and talk to them about their problems. Speaking about problems, those three fools which he send after that scarred troublemaker lion had been a completely waste of time. How could someone lose sight of a lion that was walking right in front of their faces through a veldt? Their stupidity was even far bigger than he had experienced by dealing with Shenzi, banzai and Ed.
And then there was his son and Zira. Not only did the tarnish lioness trick him into fatherhood. No… she also had the audacity to give him a son that was an even bigger fool than the ones he had to deal with everyday. If he would have been able to mate with Sarafina, she would have given him a worthy child. He watched her daughter Nala and her son Meethu growing up in this pride and become quite confident in their movements. The way how the young cream furred lioness had walked away yesterday with that Tojo reminded him a lot about his own youth and how he tried to get a date with Sarafina for so many times.
But now, all of them were against him, ready to push him off his throne all they needed was… a confident male. Scars eyed widened immediately as the thought got bigger and bigger and peered itself into his mind. "ZIRA!" The king yelled for the tarnish lioness that had helped him getting to the position he was in right now.
"Yes Scar!" She said as she entered the den alongside her son Nuka.
"Hey dad, look what I can do!" The seven months old Nuka said as he went into a fighting stance and started pouncing on his father. The tarnish cub/adolescent jumped at the king as he tried to throw Scar of his feet. The red/brown lion was clearly annoyed by his sons little games tried to ignore him. But Nuka tried it again and again until Scar had enough.
With a quick move, he slapped his son across the face as he flew straight up towards his mothers' feet. "YOU LITTLE BRAT, can't you see that I got more important things to do than BABYSITTING YOU?" He yelled and showed no emotion towards his supposedly heir.
Nuka quickly eyes his mother as tears began to come out of his green eyes. But he didn't even receive any emotion form her either. "When the king wants to speak with somebody, you better keep it down and mind your manners." She said not as cold as Scar, but making it pretty sure what she thought of his actions back there. With a defeated and hurt look, the cub/adolescent lion walked out of the den without taking any further look at his parents.
"What is it you wanted to talk about with me?" Zitra then asked without any second thoughts about Scar hitting her son across the face.
Scar eyed her with his cold green eyes and got pretty close to her. "I want to know everything about the relationships between the lionesses, who they like most, how their bonds work, and what their attitude towards the males is."
"What do you need it for?"
A vicious and mischievous smirk appeared across the kings' face as he brought his muzzle close to her ear. "Strengthening my position as king."
By the time the adolescent lions arrived back at pride rock, a huge crowd had already gathered in front of the kings' chamber. Loud mumbling could be heard from far away as they made their way up to their pride. The lionesses stuck close together as nearly the whole hyena clan decided to join in on this commotion. Lots of the grey animals snarled at them while the lionesses countered with angry eyes and bared teeth. Right away, Nala and Meethu made their way up to their mother who had put on a stern expression. "What's wrong?" She asked Sarafina as she nudged her with her nose.
At first, the older lioness did not really respond while her eyes kept locked on the entrance of the cave. "Our 'king' wanted all of us to gather around pride rock so he could 'inform' us of a special occasion taking place." She then answered letting everyone know that she didn't like the idea one bit. Sarafina had barely spoken with her daughter as the brown/red furred king walked out of his den.
Scar had his head held high in arrogance while he padded up a small boulder where he could overview all of the animals. "Today, is the day that we celebrate one year of our new era." He started calling. "I decided to have a special feist for all of us to show our unity and greatness.
If the situation wouldn't have been so serious, Subira and Sarafina would have started laughing right on the spot. The cream lioness brought her muzzle close to Tamas mother as she whispered. "I hope he is joking about this whole 'unity' thing."
"He doesn't even get the dates right. His time as king is going on for more than a year. Either he is really sloppy, or there is a bigger purpose on this. In any case, I don't like this one bit." Subira replied in the tone yet showed more of a concern.
Yet Scar continued with his speech. "So in order for this glorious celebration to take place, I want all of you lionesses to go out there and find the biggest kill in the world."
The lionesses gasped as they realized what he was challenging from them. "Scar!" Sarabi intervened right away as she stepped forward from the pride. "You can't seriously demand us to go out there again, they are tired, they've been hunting for nearly the whole day. They need a rest." The former queen said angrily yet had an almost pleading look on her face as she stopped only two feet away from him.
"Oh you can… and you will!" Scar replied cold and Sarabis eyes narrowed as the beige lioness frowned.
"What gives you the right to treat anyone in the pride lands as your little bee that is only there to provide you with food and make your ego bigger and bigger?"
Scar held his green yes on her and never changed his expression. "Oh I don't know Sarabi. Maybe it's the fact that I AM KING OF THE PRIDE LANDS! So YOU will do as I say." They both glared at each other while all of the hyenas observed the scene with delight. The pride on the other side was completely tensed.
Finally, Sarabi faced her pride members as her eyes showed all the dislike and the anger that was running through her body. "Let's go!" She muttered in defeat as she walked through the lines of disbelieving lionesses. Subira and Sarafina took a glance back at their king with anger before following the rest of the pride down from pride rock. Chumvi, Tojo and Malka looked at each other confused as they didn't know if they should join their female pride members. But just like Nala said, they needed everybody to help them keeping the pride provided with food.
The trio was about to follow as they heard Scar once again calling out to them. "HEY YOU THREE!"
Right away, the males stood still and turned around to the king who made its way down to them. "You are not part of the hunting. I have a different task for you." Scar said with a faked and mocking smile.
Miles away
Baghami didn't even wait for the rest of the gathering to end as he had already distanced himself from the giant castle called pride rock. He knew what task his king had instructed him with and wasted no time persuading it. "Get up you two!" The male hyena said as he passed the sleeping Tobwe and Bozi. He kicked them in the side to finally make them wake up. "Come on, we got no time to waste!" Baghami kept shouting as his two friends raised their heads and went to their feet.
Bozi and Tobwe didn't need to think twice in order to understand what their leader was hinting at. With still dreamy moves, they followed Baghami over the dry and dusty ground. The trio passed another duo of male hyenas as they received the same treatment than Bozi and Tobwe. "Are you in?" The hyena in the front asked the two lying on the ground.
"What are we doing? Where are we going?" Both of them nearly asked at the same time while Baghami gave them a nasty smile.
"We go rogue hunting!"
The lionesses were on the hunt. Tension could be felt all over the field as the group kept as low to the ground as possible. Subira could feel her friends' breath getting lower and calmer with every step they took forward. Her face wandered off into the distance where the group had spotted a full grown buffalo. A meal that she hoped was worthy for their king.
The tarnish/orange lioness then spotted another team of her pride members getting closer from the other side, Kula and Tama. She smiled as she saw how great they worked together with the older lionesses. A quick move to her left made her turn around to see Sarabi giving signs and orders to every part of the hunting party. In order to kill a full grown male buffalo, they needed every member doing the part they were ordered to do.
In a dried out river bed, Nala, Himaya and Sarafina lay down and hid their heads from being spotted by the chosen prey. Beside the complete focus on the task at hand, Sarafina had never felt more proud of her daughter than now. Even in her young age, Nala was chosen to make the final move and the killing bite. It was then that she quickly peaked over the edge of the bank and saw Sarabi giving the commando for the hunt to start heating up.
And then, Kula and Tama along with three other lionesses went into a sprint making the buffalo tilt his head in surprise and shock. Seeing as his life was very close to come to an end. The black furred animal ran away as fast as he could. Tamas and Kulas lungs were giving everything they had and their legs were working as strong as they could.
On the other end of the field, Sarabi made a nod towards Subira and her group as they too rushed out of their hiding position going into the buffalo's direction. The prey made a turn as he darted off into the left. Yet Subira didn't panic, it was just the direction they wanted their victim to go. Subira noticed the river bed getting closer and closer.
That was when Sarafina tilted her head to her daughter. "Are you ready?" She asked calmly.
"I was born ready!" Nala answered with her voice showing all her determination and will power.
All three lionesses waited until the buffalo stood at the edge of the river before they jumped up throwing their jaws at the animals' neck. Sarafina came from the right trying to bite down on the side of the animal. But just in the right moment, she got hit by the buffalo's horns and she sailed through the air to the ground. As she hit the dry earth, Sarafina could feel her left front foot make a nasty sound and she immediately collapsed back down. Nala caught their victim from beneath and sank her teeth into its neck. Yet she couldn't hold on and fell back off herself.
The buffalo had now shook off every one of the attacking lionesses and ran further away into the distance. That left Nala frustrated on the ground as she tilted her head to see how the others were doing. Her eyes immediately fell on her mother who was aching in pain. The cream adolescent lioness didn't waste any second and ran over to her as panic ran through her veins. "Mom! You alright?" She gasped as she finally reached Sarafina.
"Yes! Yes I'm okay." Sarafina mumbled as she tried to get back to her feet. Yet as she put some pressure on her left front paw, she cried out a little as an uncomfortable pain struck through her body. "Ow… ah… I think I twisted my ankle there." Sarafina then said while Nala moved her body closer to her to give her mother some sort of lean on.
"Well, in that condition you won't be able to help us." Himaya remarked.
Sarafina let out a frustrated gasp before she answered. "I think so… it might be the best idea to get back home and have Rafiki take a look at it." The older cream lioness muttered and limped a few steps.
Right in that moment, Sarabi and Subira came up to her with the same concerned looks on their faces like her daughter. "Is it bad?" the former queen asked coming to a halt right in front of her.
"No, no I can walk!"
"Should I come with you? I mean if you need me." It came out from Nala who still had her body leaned on her mothers' to support her.
Sarabi glanced into the distance towards the direction where the buffalo had gone. "If we keep moving we can catch up to it again. Nala! Make sure that Sarafina gets back home safely. The rest will follow me!"
At once, Sarafina moved away from Nalas support as she nudged her with her muzzle on the side of her head. "No need to honey. I can do it myself." She smiled forced. "I made it through far longer distances in far worse conditions than this." Nala and Sarabi smirked before the adolescent female nuzzled her mother. Carefully to not put any unnecessary pressure on her ankle, the cream furred lioness left the group in the direction of pride rock.
"Alright! Tama will take Sarafinas spot in the jumping team. We use the river bed to keep a low profile and catch the buffalo off-guard." The beige lioness then commanded which was answered with approving nods from the rest of the pride. Quickly they moved out to continue their hunt.
"Patrol? He let us go out here and do a simple patrol!" Chumvi said angrily as he hit a little stone with his right front paw and send it flying away. He and his other two friends had been wandering through the eastern valleys for more than an hour now. The lands here looked even more dry and deserted than in the rest of the kingdom. All that was left was grey rock and brown earth with no sign of grass anywhere to be seen.
"Jeez Chumvi! I always thought that patrols were one of those things you would look forward to." Tojo answered smirking as he walked to his dark brown friends' right. Patrols were indeed duties which young males were assigned to when the right time had come. And yes, Chumvi was looking forward to it. The idea was that there was at least some sort of warning if any kind of danger was ahead. Due to the gophers that were wandering around the underground, messages could be send far into the pride lands within short times. But ever since the pride lands had become this wasteland, there was no need for patrols. Nothing was about to endanger the kingdom. It had just become so deserted that nobody cared about it anymore.
"I did! Gosh… it almost feels like we're being punished. Yet I have no clue for what!" Chumvi answered kicking another stone away. Right now, the trio had made their way up to a small gorge that lay just beside a hill to their right. It wasn't really that deep, yet falling down into it could cause some serious injuries.
Malka had kept pretty quiet until now as his mind was running extra miles. "What advantage could it bring to Scar that we are far off chasing ghosts around the eastern valleys?" he thought out loud causing his friends to glance at him confused. "And why today, why now? With all the lionesses being out there, it would leave pride rock completely unguarded." He pondered as he stroke his mane.
"Maybe he wants you away from his place!"
All three of them switched their heads around to find a single male hyena standing right in front of them. He had a smirking grin on his face which almost felt taunting to them. His stance was confident and his eyes were full of fire. Chumvi, Malka and Tojo eyed him with challenging looks while walking a few steps forward. "Excuse me; I seem to have problem with keeping all your names. Who are you?" Malka asked provocative as he pulled his left paw to his chest in an excusing way.
"The better question is… what do you want and what do you mean?" Tojo added coming right at the side of his pale orange friend.
"I'm just a nice trespasser who seeks for the wonderful in live!" The hyena countered.
Tojo and Malka exchanged questioning faces while Chumvi rubbed his forehead. "Okay! That's a new one! Does anybody have an idea what he said?" The dark brown cub directed sarcastically at his friends. Yet the hyena kept moving forward, the fact that he was facing three male lions which all thought that he was an invader in their home didn't even scare him one bit.
Tojo at once held out a paw to order him to stay away from them. "You better get back to your clan if you know what's good for you." He said with a warning sound. But the hyena kept coming. "I said back off!" Tojo added as the stranger was only inches away from his face.
"Come on buddy! Don't you want to strike me if I don't move? I bet that's what you want to do with everyone of my kind. So why not start now." He challenged the ochre furred lion and stretched out his tongue in bloodlust.
If it wouldn't have been for Chumvi, Tojo had smacked the provocateur right on the spot. But the dark brown cub held on to his friends' paw to stop him. "Scar made them pridelanders, and the law says that when you put hand on a pridelander in cold blood, you can be banished." He said calmly into Tojos ear.
The adolescent ochre lion breathed a few times heavy and turned his face away from the stranger. "Yeah, better not risk anything." He muttered in defeat.
"That's right! Go back to your mothers and cry yourself to sleep." The hyena again yelled almost wanting to get beaten up. And then…
WHOM!
Malka had pushed the hyena with his front legs as hard as he could. Right away the hyena tumbled backwards losing nearly all of his balance. With waiving front legs, he tumbled to the edge of the gorge before falling all the way down it. Tojos and Chumvis eyes widened in shock as they saw the grey animal going over the edge and falling down to the ground. They immediately rushed over to see what happened to him. And there he lay, with his eyes wide open and his neck in an awkward position. All three adolescent lions looked at each other as they couldn't realize what just had happened.
"What have you done?" They heard another voice behind them and once again turned around. There they found Zira with another bunch of hyenas' right behind her. "You… you killed him!" She gasped her voice stern and yet a bit shocked.
Malkas mouth dropped as he right away realized where this was going. "No… no I didn't, it… it was an accident."
But Ziras yellow eyes were now full of hate and determination. "I saw you push him over the edge, and that only because he said something about your mother." The nearly fifteen hyenas strong group behind her went fourth and lined up around the tarnish lioness. "You know what the punishment for this crime is?" She then said cold.
At once, Tojo and Chumvi stood right beside their friend as the raised their paws in defense. "No, you have to understand. He… he provoked it. You can't honestly banish me for this." Malka remarked yet slowly getting ready to defend himself.
"As second ruler of the pride lands, it is my duty to make sure its laws are kept and executed. A law that has been given over from king to king and that not even you can avoid to obey." She said and as a nasty smirk appeared on her face. "I hereby banish you from the pride lands." Zira almost laughed as Malkas, Chumvis and Tojos faces lit up with fear, horror and anger.
"First, you have to go through us!" Tojo yelled and stepped right in front of his pale orange friend.
"With pleasure!"
With that, the hyenas darted forward attacking the three lions. Tojo right away struck one of them across the face and send the hyena falling to the ground. Chumvi grabbed one of them by the neck and threw it directly into two other hyenas charging at him. "Now I know why Scar wanted us out here." He said while throwing paws and bites at the grey attackers.
Malka had one hyena pinned to the ground and growled viciously. "We better get back home! LET'S LOSE THESE BOZOS!" The three adolescent lions ran off into the distance as the hyenas gave chase.
Back at the scene, Zira walked up to the edge of the gorge and glanced down at the dead hyena. That is "believed to be dead" hyena. Suddenly, the animal tilted his head up and smirked up at the tarnish lioness. "And… how was I?"
"Excellent Hank! Excellent!"
Miles away from the scene including Chumvi, Tojo and Malka, the scarred lion Mwehu walked side by side to yet another dried out river. With the king wanting him to be dead, he needed time to reconfigure his strategy. Wherever the pale cream lion was going now, he had to expect one of Scars minions to jump on him. And like he said before, since he had to face them anyway it was going to happen when and how he wanted.
The landscape showed a slope to the left as he had to wander down into the river bed. Since the path aside the river was to small to have him walk across it. When it came to the bottom line, Mwehu had to admit that he kinda felt attached to this place. And he hated to feel warm about something, even over the last months as he kinda got along with the rest of the lions, he still wanted a live on his own being free from any connection and attachments to the world.
Upwards, Mwehu could hear rumbling and his ears perked up in attention. "What the hell…?" His eyes widened as he looked up and saw a tree trunk rolling down the slide right into his direction. "OH NO!" Mwehu stuttered and rolled to the side. The trunk missed him only by an inch, crushing into thousand pieces as he protected his face.
"Hyenas! OW!" He had barely spoken out the work as numerous paws and claws connected with his head and made him yell out in pain. So much for 'on my turns'!
As the male lion looked up, he directly glanced up into the eyes of Baghami. The hyenas smirked evil at him while Bozi and another hyena pressed their paws on his back. "I bring a message form Scar my dear trouble seeking friend." Baghami smacked Mwehu across his face. "He wants to let you know that you are now officially banished from the pride lands." Another paw connected with the scarred lions head. "But you don't have to worry about finding a new home. For where you're going, you won't need any shelter." Baghami bared his teeth preparing to bite down on Mwehus neck. "Any last word?"
Mwehu spat some blood on the ground before he turned his head to the still triumphant looking hyena. "Just one!... thanks!" With that he brought his head up and hit Baghami onto his chin. With quick moves, he got loose of the two as he used his right hind leg to hit a hyena on the temple knocking it out completely. Another hyena jumped at him and tried to bite down on his neck. Mwehu grabbed him quickly and flipped the attacker over. The hyena didn't realize what happened as the pale cream lion already held on to his neck and breaking it at an instant.
Right then Baghami got back to his feet and saw what Mwehu had done to the other two hyenas he and his friends had hired earlier. Tobwe and Bozi were right beside as they all glanced up to the now bloodthirsty looking lion.
"I don't know about you… but I'm ready to go!"
Back at pride rock, the only lions that had been left were Meethu and Sabini. Both of them were not old enough to hunt or go protect the border of the kingdom which had them often stick together. And since the two were the only ones at their age, they really grew a connection. The cream furred male and the pale golden female had settled down just beneath the huge ledge that emerged from the giant rock formation. With their heads directed to the sky.
"Man! This is so boring! Why isn't anything exciting going to happen?" Sabini said as she yawned and rubbed her back on a small stone.
Right beside her, Meethu lifted his paw into the air. "Yeah! Without Nala, Malka and the others this place is as wasted and deserted than the rest of the pride lands." His eyes closed in boredom and he got ready to take a quick nap.
"I know someone who can change that!" A voice interrupted the two as they saw another bunch of hyenas coming right up to them. Their yellow eyes were nasty and their body language was showing hostile intentions.
Meethu right away went to his feet and got into a protective stance in front of Sabini. The barely a year old lion growled at the aggressors. "You better get moving pals if you don't want to get into a fight with the whole pride." He snarled challenging trying to show no sign of fear at all. Yet the hyenas showed no sign themselves of stepping back.
"Oh I don't see anyone here except you two… and us!" The leader of the bunch said out loud as the ring around the two lions closed in.
Meethu on the other hand, stared to the ground while he moved his paw over the dusty earth. "Well in that case!" WHAM! With a quick move, the cream lion blew a paw full of dust into three hyenas faces before charging at the small opening that had built up. He felt Sabini being right behind him as they ran through the gap. "Quick… find the lionesses and inform them what is going on!" Sabini just nodded at her friend and darted off to the side.
"Oh no you don't!" Another hyena said and smacked her across the head knocking her out cold.
Seeing as his friend was lying unconscious on the ground, Meethus eyes filled with horror. Yet he had no time to go back and check on them. He had to get out of there. Thank the great kings; they are not interested in her! He sighed relieved as the hyenas somehow lost their interest in his female friend. The male lion rushed around a corner, but only to find himself staring at another group of hyenas blocking his path.
"Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" A female said mocking as the circle on Meethu again closed.
Yet suddenly, one of the grey animals got knocked out by a cream colored figure that jumped right in front of the male lion. As Meethu looked up, he saw his mother growling viciously at the aggressors. "Leave my son alone!" Sarafina said but still only was able to stand on three of her paws.
Tojo swung his right paw at one of their 'execution commando' knocking the animal over to the side. He had barely a second to recover as he got attacked from behind and yelled out in pain. One of the hyenas had its teeth rammed into his fur. He had a real hard time to get it off. Just out of the sudden Malka came over to him and sank HIS teeth into the hyena to make IT yell out in pain. The animal let go of Tojo and Malka tossed it through the air as it landed just in one of its companions.
"Come on you two! Until we get back home, we're basically sitting ducks here!" Chumvi called as he fought off two hyenas at the same time. Out here at the border of the pride lands, there was no chance of them getting any help from their pride members. And since Zira basically threw them out, they needed all the help they could get.
The trio ran through the veldt with the group of grey animals giving chase. Once in a while they stopped to swing their paws at their enemies to bring some distance between them. Right now, Malka used his left hind leg to kick a hyena directly on the jaw and knocking it out. Chumvi had grasped one by the leg and swung it back into the direction of their persuaders.
"You know! Once we get to pride rock, not only do we have to fight these guys… but the rest of the clan too." Tojo mumbled under heavy breaths to his dark brown friends as the three had gone into a sprint.
Chumvi replied nothing and kept running. Banished! Can she do that? Can Zira just banish three members of the pride for accidently killing an animal that provoked them? We didn't do anything wrong. Doubts were filling his heart, and his mind wandered off to Kula. If this is really going to happen, how will she react? How will the rest of the pride react? Did Scar have his paws in this?
Malka on the other hand was thinking at other tasks ahead. Oh they will pay, each and every one of them will pay! He quickly jumped over a small rock and came right to a halt as he landed. The pale orange lion swung his right paw as it connected with the feet of a hyena that jumped right over the rock. Without the stability of his legs, the grey animal sailed through the air and landed hard on his neck being out cold.
Pride rock was only a few miles away as the trio fought their way through the savannah back to their home. As another pair of hyenas ran right in front of them and blocked their path. Tojo realized what was going on. This is a trap; I bet that Scar arranged this to get us out of this kingdom. He dodged another attack from the left and rammed his hip into one of their attackers.
If he didn't know better, Chumvi swore he could hear growls and yells coming from the huge rock formation barely a mile in the distance. He avoided another attacker who passed him by only inches and collided with one of his hyena friends. "We better get up there. I have a bad feeling about the noises from up there.
"I don't get it! How can we lose a single lion twice in just about two days?" Bozi yelled frustrated while he hammered his paw on the ground. He breathed heavily from all the running and fighting they had done previously.
Right beside him, Tobwe had collapsed to the ground coughing and gasping for air. "I- I-have… I have no idea!" He answered before pulling himself back to his feet. Just a few minutes ago, the three hyenas were all over the pale cream furred lion and had him just at the edge of a loss. He quickly deked them before disappearing around a rock and having completely vanished.
"Keep searching, he can't just vanish in the daylight in this barren wasteland." Baghami then called while he kept his head up and his eyes searching over the field. This whole situation of bringing down the scarred lion was definitely not worth the pain and the losses they would have to endure for the rest of the day. And yet there was no sign of their target.
AH… this really hurts. If I don't get loose of these guys, I can go find a nice grave to lie into. Mwehu thought as he leaned himself against a boulder being completely out of sight from his attackers. But even though he needed a short moment to catch his breath and to summon some left energy, he still didn't want to waste any time to engage in another battle with his three enemies. Then something happened that made his eyes lit up with, dare he say it, joy! The three hyenas were splitting up and went separated ways. This is perfect! I can't believe those guys are actually that stupid. He had to think quickly for his first target.
His eyes fell on Tobwe who was supposed to be tracker of the trio. He smoothly moved around the boulder as he carefully observed the grey animals sniffing the ground. A quick twist of his head made him see that the other two had completely gone out of sight and Tobwe was on his own. The scarred lion moved forward as silent as possible with him only being a few yards away. Tobwe still had his head directed to the ground as he seemed to have no idea what was going on behind him.
Suddenly, the sniffing hyena could hear heavy breathing behind him and jerked his head up in shock as he realized. "Got you!" It was all he heard before the sharp teeth of Mwehu drilled down into his neck as he was completely caught in the lions grasp. Mwehu rolled his body around which forced the hyena to move in an awkward way as the lion broke his victims' neck. Mwehu felt the animal under him going limb and he quickly released him. "One down! Two to… OWW!" he gasped as he got grabbed from behind. Claws were running all over his body and cut deep into his flesh.
As he glanced up he saw into the hateful filled eyes of Baghami who was shaking in anger. "You, you killed my friend!" he muttered as he slashed the pale cream lion across the face.
Mwehu once again yelled out in pain but kept showingno sign of fear of death or doubt of his strength. "I told you! Your species lives dangerous." He snarled and wasted not time to make his move. Within seconds, he had freed himself from Bozis grasp and was now standing tall over him. Baghami tried to jump him from behind but received a paw to his chin. The scarred lion then bared his teeth as Bozi got to his feet. With one move, the lion bit down on the hyenas' leg and cut right through the bone letting Bozi howl out in pain.
As the hurt animal desperately tried to crawl away from the now completely bloodthirsty lion, he glanced over to his friend Tobwe who lay there with his eyes wide open but showing no sign of life. All he could think about in that moment was how he could possibly beg for mercy. Yet all this vanished as he saw in the eyes of the scarred lion, they had turned completely insane.
And Mwehu didn't even waste a second for doubt to come into his mind as he rammed his right hind leg into the hyenas back cracking through the spinal column. Bozi screamed out fiercely but sank together immediately having all the life vanquished from his body. The scarred lions then faced the now completely frightened Baghami who stared at his two friends in horror.
"You! What kind of devil are you?" He stuttered having trouble to bring out any words.
But Mwehu didn't respond as he gave chase to the fleeing hyena.
The rest of the hunt went just as unsuccessful as the first part. Even though the lionesses had the buffalo cornered for two times more, the black furred animal always managed to shake them of and get away. Evening was already luring over the kingdom and the pride finally decided to call the hunt off and head back home. Right away, Nala was the one who went ahead in a much higher pace. She wanted to get back to her mother as quickly as possible. Feelings of guilt ran through her mind. Maybe it was because I couldn't bring him down right away. If I would have been more determined, nothing would have happened.
Right beside her were Tama and Kula who tried to keep up with their friend. "NALA! Wait up!" The caramel lioness called out going into a jog.
"I don't have time. I need to check on my mother as quickly as possible." Nala replied without wasting time to look back at her friends.
"Come on, she just hurt her ankle. I'm sure it's not that bad anyway!" Tama remarked trying to calm her down.
"NO! It was my fault that she got hurt. So it's my duty to make sure she gets fine."
Both her lioness friends stopped on the spot at the sudden outburst from the cream furred female. "You can't be serious! What makes you think that it is you who is responsible?"
Now Nala stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face Kula and Tama. Her eyes were filled with sorrow and regret as her ears leaned on her head. "If I would have reacted faster, if I would have been more serious about my actions, I could have brought the animal all down by myself. And then it wouldn't have rammed mom and she wouldn't got injured."
Kula walked up to her and wrapped her arms around her. "Hey… come on. You have no control of who is getting hurt in a hunt and who doesn't. Besides, we're talking about a 700pds heavy buffalo been taken on by an adolescent lioness. What chance does someone like you have to bring this monster down all by herself? There is so much going on, in no way you could have prevented these things from happening."
The cream colored lioness faced he ground and breathed slowly. "Guess you're right! Thanks Kula!" Kula smiled softly.
"Don't mention it. What are friends for anyway?"
The fresh piece yet was interrupted by a loud roar filling the evening night and made all three lionesses tilt their heads up and their faces fill with shock. "MOM!" Nala yelled out and wasted no time before running towards pride rock. Kula and Tama glanced after her as they could hear growls and scrams hailing over from their home. They both darted after her but quickly got interrupted by loud noises emerging from their left. Seconds later, a pale cream and grey colored figure crashed through a dried up bush and landed right in front of the two females.
"WHAT? MWEHU!" Tama yelled as she recognized the scarred lion who pinned the smaller hyena Baghami to the ground. "What's going on here?" The tarnish/orange lioness gasped shocked.
Mwehus body was bruised up as claw and jaw marks were spread all over his coat. His breath was heavy and his eyes were blazing with tiredness and anger. "Let's just say that HE wanted to play in the big league and got served." He growled giving no reaction to the two other lions t the scene.
Now, Kula and Tama realized who Mwehu brought down right in front of them. It was the same hyena that wanted to drive them off the waterhole back when they had been cubs. "What are you going to do to him?" Kula asked hesitating as she didn't really wanted to know every detail.
"Well… the pride lands seem to be rather crowded over the last time. I think I'm going to create a bit more space around here." His voice was sinister and cold. The scarred lion faced the completely frightened hyena with fury. Baghami was so scared that he wasn't even able to say a single word.
"Okay calm down Mwehu! I bet there are better ways out of this than by slaughtering hyenas." Kula replied and raised her paws in a calming motion.
But the pale cream male stared at the grey animal underneath him before shaking his head. "Ah- I don't think so. You see… this fellow was pretty clear when he talked about me getting extinguished from this world."
The caramel female stepped back and forth nervously. Her mind drifted off to pride rock and what Nala was going through right now. They had to get back there to see what was going on there. Yet they would probably need the scarred lion and couldn't risk of him killing hyenas in cold blood. "Think about it! Scar made all the hyenas pridelanders. If you do kill him, you'll get banished from here. Do you want that?"
The hyena under Mwehu saw his final chance to find a way out of his misery. "Yeah… yeah… listen to her. I mean… do you really want to have this blood of your hands? Do you really want to be forced to be thrown out there in the desert or the shadow lands? You better listen to her." Baghami stuttered unsure if any of his remarks would have an effect.
"Think about it! This has been your home too!" Tama tried once more to talk some sense into the pale cream male.
Now Mwehu eyed his supposedly victim and snarled. "What do you think? Should I be merciful and let her talk me out of this?" Baghami nodded quickly. Mwehu then eyed Kula and Tama before facing the hyena again. "Well… in order for me to obey pride land laws, and to take advice from little miss sunshine over there. I would be supposed to actually give a damn." Baghamis eyes widened in horror as Mwehu grabbed his neck and broke it.
Kula and Tama looked away as the male lion knocked the life out of the hyena. They padded over to him as he glanced down to the last member of his hunters with tired eyes. The caramel put a paw on his shoulder but got denied immediately. Mwehu glanced away. "You know, we could really use you as a friend." Tama said out as she tilted her head.
"Save it. I already killed four of them miles away. Every hyena of the kingdom would be after me anyway." He eyed them tired and aching in pain. "Well… better get going!" He didn't even bother to look back at the life he left back in the pride lands. That was all over for him now.
By the time Nala reached pride rock, she was completely out of breath. They day had left its tributes on her. Her lungs were burning and her head hurt form all the hunting, shouting and running. But she had to get to her mother. She could hear her screams that indicated some sort of pain. As fast as she could, she ran up the path that led to the plateau right in front of the giant rock. "MOM! What is…" She started but immediately stopped as she saw what was going on.
Her mother was standing protectively in front of Meethu and snarled at the bunch of hyenas that were slowly walking towards her. The older lioness was breathing heavily as every inch of her body gave away the exhaustion she had to suffer from. She still wasn't able to walk on all of her feet which made her even more vulnerable.
Nala didn't wait any second and roared moving herself directly beside Sarafina. "What's going here?" She asked angry and kept growling at the hyenas.
"They want to kill Meethu! I don't know what has gotten into them." She said exhausted but kept throwing darts over to the grey animals. "You hear that! I won't let you get to him." Behind the two females stood Meethu who himself had his teeth bared and ready to defend his family.
"Count on me!" Sarafinas daughter said and made a step forward.
At once, the hyenas attacked the cream furred lions ready to run through everything and everyone that stood in their path. Nala right away smacked on hyena across the face before hitting the next one on the shoulder cutting it open immediately. Sarafina for her part hit one of the attackers with her head before sweeping another with her hind leg. Both lionesses were excellent fighters, and they needed every part of that talent in that moment.
Yet the waves of attackers kept coming and Sarafina soon found herself getting overmatched more and more. Her children tried to compensate that but soon were over powered by the sheer mass of attackers. One hyena bit down on Sarafinas hurt paw and made her scream out in immense pain. The cream lioness collapsed to the ground as Nala and Meethu rushed over to her at once. One hyena hit Nala on the back of the head and made her fall to the grown.
And as Sarafina looked, all she could see was the triumphant smirk of a male hyena that raised her paw to finish her.
"ROAR!"
Another lion sound came from the distance and the three males Chumvi, Tojo and Malka came running up to the plateau while being also chased by the grey animals. The ochre furred lion Tojo at once ran over to Nala and slashed at one hyena. Seeing as the whole scenery had changed due to the arrival of the males. The hyenas concentrated their attack on the three newcomers. Tojo however, nudged the female on the head checking out if she was okay. But the ochre lion didn't even have to ask she quickly got to her feet. "I'm fine!" She said determined and walked back to her mother.
"ENOUGH!" It hailed from Scar as he walked up to the plateau. His gaze was stern kept locked on the cream female lying on the ground. The king quickly walked over to her as his face showed a strange sign of concern. He laid his paw on her head and made her face him. Yet she showed all of her disgust and despise she held for him and twisted her head away immediately. The red/brown ion then glanced at the hyena that wanted to attack Sarafina and eyed him with cold eyes.
WHAM!
Scar struck with the backside of his paw across the animals face as he dropped to the ground unconscious. "What happened out here?" he then asked into the round as nearly all of the lions and hyenas were standing silent on their spots. By this time, Sarabi and the other lionesses joined the gathering as they two had their faces lit up with anger and worry.
"I can tell you what's going on. You made your little army go wild and attack us. Even though you promised that neither hyena nor lions would charge an attack on the other kind." Tojo called out to the king furiously as he stepped forward. Scar raised his eyebrows yet showed no emotion towards the younger male.
Suddenly Zira stepped beside the king and glared nasty at Tojo. "I saw it all; these three had committed serious crimes against the laws of the pride lands." She snarled as he gave Tojo a triumphant smirk. The lion in the background gasped as the hyenas set on mocking faces. "I saw Malka here pushing Hank over the edge of a gorge as he fell into his doom. They're murderers! They have to be banished."
Again the pride land gasped as they heard what the tarnish lioness was spelling out. Kula searched for desperation for Chumvis eyes to meet hers. He quickly formed a word with his mouth as if to say 'don't worry'! Yet Nala and the others felt their hearts drop to the kneecaps. Sabini and Nafsi were right beside each other giving Zira angry glares. Sarafina got back to her feet and limbed over to her pride members.
"NO! We didn't. First of all, it was an accident. Second, this was all a setup for our king to get us out of the way. What Zira tells is a lie." Malka yelled forth walking right in front of the rest of the pride.
Scar locked his green eyes on the male and snarled. "You accuse me of a systematic destruction of my kingdom. You dare to call my right hand a liar. Who do you think you are?"
Right away, Sarabi walked beside Malka and gave him a supporting pad on to shoulder. "I got informed by Kula and Tama that another group of hyenas tried to kill the young Mwehu out there in the fields. He managed to fight them off. Do you have an explanation for this coincident?" The former queen asked in her typical calm voice. She was not going to let her pride be weakened by that.
Yet the king kept his calm and never let his eyes off from Malka. "Since Mwehu is not officially a pridelander. I can't take charges against my hyenas for attacking him." Tama and Kula exchanged glances that told 'those hyenas are not going to talk anymore'. "But here; not only do we have a bunch of murderers in our ranks, yet we have some young lions that accuse their KING of misuse of his power." His voice was booming and all lionesses and lions realized where this was going. "And so I sentence you guilty of murder and treason against the royalty. You three are banished from this kingdom and shall never return."
Kulas face completely dropped hearing what the king was about to do to their pride. On the other side was Malka who was not going to give up just yet. "Well we're going nowhere. If you want us to leave, you have to walk over us." The pale orange lion said going into a crouching position.
Within seconds, Tojo was right beside him and growled at their king. "We're not leaving our pride behind. You have to drag us out of here by force." He remarked giving everyone of the hyenas a determined glance. His eyes wandered off to Nala and it really encouraged him as he saw his friend being ready to stand her ground with them.
While the other two lions stared at their king being able to give everything they had for their pride, Chumvi waived his gaze back and forth to every part of his family and pride. They all looked torn up and tired. His eyes then locked on Kula who, even though she was ready to do everything to protect her family, couldn't hide some fear of what was going to happen to him and his male friends. The dark brown male shook his head facing the ground in defeat. "Tojo! Let's go!"
Immediately, his ochre friend twisted his head to glance at Chumvi with fury. "WHAT!"
"Let's just get out of here." Chumvi muttered defeated. Both his friends couldn't believe their eyes when he turned away from the hyenas, Scar and Zira. The dark brown cub walked over to Sarabi as they looked deep into each other's eyes. And then he buried his head into her shoulder. Never in his life did the dark brown lion feel that depressed as when he searched the comfort of his queen.
Malka was about to walk over to his friend to knock some sense into him when he spotted Nala giving him a wink. Her head nodded as if to say. Don't do anything stupid right now! The ochre lion then padded back to Tojo who was still glaring at Scar with fire burning in his body. "Come Jo-jo!" He said almost whispering and dragged Tojo along.
The trio walked over to the pride who had stepped close together seeing as their male friends had given up the fight. Or at least Chumvi did so. Malka walked up to his mother who had tears in her eyes seeing as these was the last time she would ever see her son. Malka didn't even have to say anything before he, Nafsi and Sabini hugged each other. "It's gonna be alright!" The older lioness said nuzzling her son on the back of his neck. They let go of each other and the pale orange lion started to walk by every lioness and gave them a hug too.
Still being completely against the idea of this, Tojo did the same with his mom and the rest of the pride before coming to a halt in front of Nala. "So…!" he started but couldn't get his words into the right order.
"So…!" His female friend said in a warm tone.
There was so much that Tojo wanted to say in that moment. But neither of it seemed to fit. But then again, why hold anything back now. "Do you think we two… y'know… could have ever?" He started stumbling.
But Nala kept a warm and nice smile as she gave him a quick lick on the cheek. "I'm sorry Tojo. Maybe somehow in the future, but… there are still things that I need to get into order before I can address that." She answered knowing that she would break his heart. But there was nothing more important than the truth right now. And Tojo knew that there still was this shadow of his old golden furred buddy hanging over their group that had been present every day for nearly two years now.
While Tojo and Malka were giving their farewells, Chumvi had walked right up to his mother, Kula and her mother as his caramel friend was close to breaking down. She sobbed as tears rolled down her face which Chumvi had to lick off from her. Both older lionesses had stepped aside to give their children enough time for each other. Chumvi was nuzzling and licking Kula all over her face and neck to at least calm her down a little bit. The two didn't let go of each other for about two minutes until the dark brown male drew away. They didn't say a word as their faces talked for them instead.
Chumvi joined Malka and Tojo. And with a final evil glare at Scar, the trio started walking away from their home. Neither of the lionesses let their eyes off from them until they couldn't be seen anymore. By that time, the hyenas had already begun to go their separate ways and the pride was left alone on the plateau. While Nafsi and Kulas mother lead their children back to the den, Sarabi and Nala were standing right beside the still hurt and groaning Sarafina. They were joined by Tama and Meethu with the male yearling standing right beside his sister as she had laid her left front leg around his back.
"Can you stand up?" Sarabi asked gently nudging her best friend on the cheek.
The cream lioness gritted her teeth and moved body into a sitting position. "That will have to do for the moment!" She gasped breathing heavily.
Inside Nalas head, the wheels were turning as she tried to fight of the desperation she felt right now. What was she supposed to do? The hyenas would definitely try to do something like this again. And it was now obvious that there could be no help expected from their king. Not that she wanted to get his help anyway. Within one day, her life was completely ruined. Three of her best friends had just been driven away from them; her family was nearly wiped out by those stinky poachers. And there was no chance of the situation getting better in the next time. There is no other choice! I need to do this in order to keep them alive. Nala thought and directed her head to the sky.
"ZAZU, could you do me a favor?" She said softly at the blue hornbill who had kept himself in the background for the whole time.
"Whatever you need Nala!" He answered landing on her shoulder.
The adolescent cream lioness glanced after her mother who was limping back into the cave aside Sarabi with Meethu being close behind. "I need you to go out on a searching mission!"
Beside her, Tama moved her paw over her head to wipe away some more tears as she thought about what just had happened in front of her eyes. This was all going completely out of control. She sank together to the ground and sobbed while burying her head in her front legs. She couldn't even hear Nalas words she gave to Zazu a few feet away. Slowly, the tarnish/orange lioness raised her head and spotted Kula and her mother still standing at the mouth of the cave. The two lionesses were engaged in a tight embrace. But something was off. This wasn't the typical comforting embrace. It was encouraging…
"Nala… look!"
Yet her friend was still talking to Zazu and didn't realize Tama was talking to her. "You got it?" The cream furred lioness said to Zazu
"On my way!" he replied and set off into the air.
"Hey Nala… look at that!" Tama once again said as she signed her friend into the direction of the caramel lioness.
Kula smiled at her mother who put a paw on her shoulder before the adolescent animal started a short sprint into the direction Chumvi and the others had gone. Yet she stopped short after and glanced back at her two best friends. Her face was speaking all her thoughts and she didn't need to say more. Nala and Tama nodded their heads in approval before giving her a long goodbye smile.
With that, Kula ran down through the veldt with the determination to leave the pride lands together with her 'boyfriend'.
After hours of running, Malka and Tojo and Chumvi finally reached the old mangrove tree which had been an important direction marker for all pridelanders. Neither Tojo nor Chumvi had spoken a word to each other since they had left pride rock. Tojo still didn't approve any part of the idea of leaving their families and pride members behind.
"Well guys, here we are!" Malka finally said and broke the silence. "So what's it gonna be? Do we take the path to the desert and try to cross it? Are we going to live a new life in the shadowlands? Or somewhere else?" He asked looking up at the tree. "Though that is your decision to make, I'm not that good at directions!"
"Speaking of decisions, what was that all about Chumvi? What were you thinking giving in to Scar just like that?" Tojo yelled out giving air to all his emotions and anger he had built up for the time of their walk. The ochre cub walked forward and nearly snarled as he glanced at his dark brown friend.
Chumvi however, stayed calm. "What did you expect me to do? Take on Scar and his army like some sort of a hero." He replied sounding a bit defeated. Malka was a bit shocked at the sudden change in character that his friend showed out of the sudden.
"Hell yeah you should. Malka and I were ready to defend our pride, our kingdom, our FAMILY!" Tojo countered getting even angrier with his best friend.
Slowly and tired, the dark brown male sat down. "There was no chance of winning that fight. Didn't you see the looks of the lionesses? They were tired! They had been out there hunting for the whole day. Sarafina, Meethu and Nala were already injured. And the number of hyenas was countless times higher than ours. Even if we would have stand our ground and the lionesses had sided with us, the result would have been the same." As he said the last sentence, he stood up and walked up to Tojo his bigger figure standing over him.
Yet, Tojo was not able to be calmed down. "OH… so I see! The feeling of our friends and families suffering is more satisfying then giving up a huge chance for us to get rid of Scar and the hyenas. I must say, that was a really wise decision." The ochre lion mocked Chumvi and waived his paws through the air giving and grimaced over to him.
"And you think DYING is the better option. I wonder what Nala would have thought about you driving the whole pride into perish." Chumvi countered as the two were almost pressing their foreheads at each other.
"She wouldn't have thought of me as a coward, unlike Kula does with you." At once, the two lions were all over each other as they bit and clawed at each other. But Malka immediately went in between to separate them.
"Come on guys calm down. We need to stick together."
But then a paw hit Tojo across the left cheek and he fell to the ground yelling in pain. He countered with kicking Chumvi on the jaw with his left hind leg. Both lions were now on the ground and growled at each other while the pale orange male stood in between them preventing for them to attack again. They both realized now what was going on here, that their friendship was about to take a sinister turn.
"Do you really want it to end it like this Chumvi?" Tojo remarked facing the ground. "Chummy… we have been friends for over two years now. I know you even longer than Simba. Do you really want to have all this be destroyed in one night?" He asked as he sighed out all the frustration he felt.
Chumvi glanced at him with his warm brown eyes showing that he was sorry right away. "No! We'll always be friends, no matter what." He remarked and got to his feet in the same time as Tojo. Yet Malka immediately realized what his two buddies were getting at. He himself could never understand why such a small fight would have caused two live long friends to part immediately. "What is next?" The dark brown male then asked at his ochre companion.
Tojo thought for a moment before saying. "I just can't leave them back there knowing how they suffer every day. Yet I don't know what to do. I can't do that alone."
In that moment, Malka shook up as he spotted a figure in the distance running directly at them. "Guys! What is that?" He asked signing with his paw into the distance.
Chumvi turned around immediately not needing to think twice who was coming at them "KULA!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he started running at the caramel female. The two met halfway as Kula jumped directly at her friend and knocking him over. Both lions landed on the ground as Kula nuzzled Chumvi all over his head.
"I just can't be without you." She said pulling him closer to her. Chumvi didn't respond and just enjoyed her being with him again. It took them quite a while before they got back to their feet and padded over to Malka and Tojo. Both males smiled as they saw the young couple laughing and smiling in contrast to the horror from earlier.
"So you decided to leave." Malka remarked as he greeted Kula with a hug.
My mom told me that I would regret it for the rest of my life. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow… but one day I would regret it." She answered yet couldn't hide a little sadness thinking back to her family at pride rock. Again Malka and Tojo exchanged glances with Chumvi who just nodded in agreement. Kula caught it and her eyes widened in confusion. "What's going on?"
Chumvi put his front leg around her and started explaining. "We uhm… we decided to go separate ways." He said which made all the joy and hope Kula felt for a second disappear.
"But why? Why aren't we going together?" She nearly pleaded at the other two males in the round.
"You know! It probably is the best for you and Chumvi to start a life somewhere else. Your mom already said it. One day you would have regret staying. And I and Jo-jo still have something to take care of. We just need… time." Malka answered. He didn't have a better explanation himself but it seemed like a plausible choice.
Of course the caramel lioness didn't approve of that but seeing as the courses were already set, she didn't want to be the one in their way. "Then… that's it?" She sobbed almost crying again.
Tojo nuzzled her gently and smiled. "Just for now!"And just like a few hours ago at pride rock, the adolescent lions gave their farewell as Chumvi and Kula set for one and Malka and Tojo or the other way. That is, they would have done that if it wouldn't have been for another distraction coming their way…
"I hate these cuddly goodbye scenes!"
All of their head twisted around as they found Mwehu coming into view from a small eruption. The pale cream lion was still covered in dried out blood and the wound on his body were still shining red. His walk was weak and uneasy. Since Tojo, Chumvi and Malka had no idea what had happened to the scarred lion over the day. They looked surprised and stunned at the sight they saw.
"What happened to you?" Malka asked a bit concerned.
Kula was about to say something when she caught the lions expression which basically said. 'Don't you dare' Still that same proud and arrogant prick! She thought but didn't feel any kind of rejection to him.
Mwehu had reached the group and glanced through his half swelled eyes. "Well I got officially kicked out from this place." He said as if it was no big deal.
"Join the club!" Malka retorted offering him a paw which the pale cream lion rejected immediately.
"I don't like clubs. So… anyway! Moving out?"
Tojo glanced at him and couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah, I think Malka and I will go north. We got some unfinished business that needs to be taken care of." He said and slapped his paw in Malkas shoulder. "What about you?" He then faced Chumvi and Kula.
The two lovers glanced at each other before Kula answered. "I think we'll go west, my mom always told me about that small path between the shadow- and the outlands where you get to a huge rich and grassy kingdom. I think that might be a good idea?" He indirectly asked Kula while licking her on her forehead. Mwehu gave no reaction to their answers than a simple nod with his head before he started walk away.
"And what about you?" Kula called after the scarred lion that stopped in his tracks.
"Actually! I don't know! I just have to find out by following this small creek here." Mwehu answered without facing them. He pointed to what used to be a river bed and jumped right in it. He wasted no time and continued walking.
"HEY SCARFACE!" Tojo yelled and that made him turn around. "TAKE CARE!"
For the first time in his life, Mwehu gave the group of lions, which he teased and got in trouble with all the time, a real and honest smile. "STAY OUT OF TROUBLE… BIRD-BOY!" The others turned their faces away from him as they suddenly heard the scarred lion singing.
"I'm forever blowing bubbles- Pretty bubbles in the fly so high, they reach the sky- And like my dreams they fade and die. Fortunes always hiding- I've looked everywhere. I'm forever blowing bubbles- pretty bubbles in the air."
The lions all frowned and raised their eyebrows as Mwehu vanished in the distance.
Author's note: The song Mwehu was singing is from the movie "Green street hooligans" with Elijah Wood, really good movie. Also there is a quick note from "Casablanca" in this.
