Chapter Five
The Outlands were draped in an eerie cape of shadows and low light from the sun. The rugged cliffs stood tall against the slowly darkening sky, barely concealed behind a thick veil of fog. Patches of dead, yellowing grass surrounding the small cave seemed to glow orange in the sinking light source. Shattered bones and skeletal remains of long gone animals littered the ground, displaying the lack of life-sustainability the environment offered.
The dark-furred meerkat yawned quietly, opening her bright green eyes, expecting to be bathed in the warmth of the morning African sun. She was puzzled as she discovered that the sun had almost set; reds, oranges, yellows and even deep purple colors surrounded the sun and bathed the sapphire blue sky in a blanket of iridescent color. It would usually be a beautiful sight to be enjoyed by the female meerkat, but instead, she was overcome with a sense of urgency. They had overslept.
Adia's eyes snapped wide open in alarm. She knew they had all been exhausted from the great ordeal they had suffered yesterday, but they had lost so much time to return to her colony. Her brows furrowed in agitation as she leapt to her feet. "Get up!" Adia slid off of Pumbaa's back and nearly landed on Timon, who was curled up against the wall of the cave. She stumbled, tripping and landing on top of him. Timon let out a yell of surprise, his dark eyes snapping open, then narrowing into slits.
"Ya know, next time you want me to wake up, all ya have to do is ask!" he said irritably. Adia rolled her eyes and rolled off of the male meerkat, getting to her feet. Pumbaa had already woken up at the sound of the female meerkat's voice and stood groggily, blinking sleep from his dark eyes.
"We have to leave now," Adia said quickly, narrowing her eyes, her dark green irises becoming bright, glowing slits in the slowly darkening sky. She began walking toward the entrance of the cave, fingers clenched into fists at her sides, until she was stopped abruptly at the cave entrance.
Timon had caught her shoulder with his paw. "I'm sorry, do you wanna die?" Timon exclaimed. "Sunset is the prime time for guys like them," he pointed outside of the cave, "to eat guys like us!" As he finished his sentence, he gestured to himself, then to Adia, then returned his pointed finger to himself once more.
"Yes," Adia quipped, exasperated, "and there are more 'guys like us' where I live, thinking the same thing, but they're more vulnerable than we are!"
"They are stuck in the ground," Timon argued, pointing outside of the cave and getting up in Adia's face, trying to make his point, "while we are stuck in the open!"
"You only care about yourself," the female meerkat hissed. She kept her green-eyed glare level as Timon's dark eyes bore into hers. Pumbaa sat close beside the quarreling meerkats, opening his mouth to speak after each accusation that they threw at each other, but one or the other always got a word in edgewise before he could speak instead. The sky continued to darken behind them, the cave slowly slipping into the shadows.
"I do not!" Timon argued, pointing a finger directly at her face. Adia narrowed her eyes, her fury rising by the second, her thoughts and fears colliding into each other inside her mind, causing new worries to arise in her head. For several moments, Adia's expression softened with concern for her colony's well-being. Timon felt a pang of guilt in his chest upon seeing this change in her, until Adia came back at him with another fierce response, her fury quickly returning.
"I don't know what I was thinking," Adia whispered, her voice barely audible, but still fueled with the flame of acrimony. She broke her icy stare from Timon's dark eyes, turning away and heading for the cave entrance. "I don't need you."
"What?" Timon's eyes widened in pure disbelief. After they had come all this way, she now decided that she was better off by herself?
"I said I don't need you," Adia hissed, her brows furrowing in determination. "I know my own way home; I'm better off alone. That's how I've lived my entire life." Her eyes lingered on the male meerkat for several more moments. His eyes were wide with pure skepticism, as if he believed her whole rant to be a joke. Beside him, Pumbaa watched Adia with round, doleful eyes. If Adia felt regret, she did not show it as she turned her back on the duo and promptly left the cave, venturing into the treacherous Outland territory.
"We have to stop her, Timon!" Pumbaa exclaimed, eyes searching for the female meerkat after she disappeared into the thick fog.
"What? Why?" The male meerkat crossed his arms over his chest. "She said she's better off alone, and so are we! We're goin' back to the Pride Lands!"
"But how will we get out of here?" Pumbaa questioned, his gaze continuing the rake the paling veil of fog before the cave entrance, searching for any sign of the female meerkat. "We don't know our way around the Outlands like she does," he added, concern for Adia's safety evident in his tone as it softened in uncertainty.
"Stop your sniveling," Timon snapped. Pumbaa's ears flattened against the back of his head in reaction to his accomplice's scolding words. "We'll find our own way outta here." The smart-mouthed meerkat spoke with confidence, but uneasiness soon consumed him as his dark eyes scanned the darkening expanse of unknown territory. "Well, we'll wait until morning," he said, mustering a half-hearted laugh in attempt to lighten the mood. "Heh... heh..." Pumbaa watched him with unwavering disapproval in his eyes, and Timon finally kept quiet. Pumbaa sighed quietly, as he knew it would be hard to change Timon's mind. The meerkat's pride was his biggest downfall in situations like these.
The witty meerkat's eyelids drooped as he watched the veil of fog slowly disappear, only to be replaced by a cloak of dark shadows as the sun continued to set behind the jagged cliffs. Adia was no where to be seen. Timon had expected that she had left the cave in order to seek solitude and space to breathe; he hadn't anticipated that she would completely leave them behind in search of her family. He supposed it was only right to expect the unexpected from the female meerkat; she made split decisions and was often unshakable.
"I've got a bad feeling about this, Timon." Pumbaa's gaze was trained on the scene before them, his eyelids drooping morosely as the remorseless landscape infiltrated his line of vision. Jagged mountains and cliffs, dead trees, tangled roots and patches of yellowing grasses littered the landscape lying before the duo. The sight of it filled Timon with a silent disgust for the wretched, unforgiving place.
"You and me both," Timon muttered. Guilt was beginning to settle on the meerkat's shoulders, seeming to weigh him down and strike fear into his heart, not that he would ever admit it to his trusted companion. He had upset Adia to the point that she left the safety of the shelter to return to her family, not offering even a simple farewell. Timon knew that it would be more dangerous to travel during the night, but Adia had made several good points. Her colony was isolated in a single spot, while they had the freedom to move... with several restrictions, of course, such as the relentless carnivores roaming the shadowed landscape. At this thought, Timon nearly cringed at the very probable possibility of Adia fending for herself against the ravenous carnivores.
Adia's dark fur clung to the shadows, allowing her to easily blend in with the rocky cliffs and shaded caves she passed. Her sharp green eyes seemed to glow as darkness settled over the vast land. The meerkat's dark auburn fur atop her head was mussed and tousled, tangled limply with the sweat on her forehead. Her breaths were quick and shallow as fear and exhaustion consumed her.
She knew the area like the back of her paw, especially at night, when she would usually be foraging for her colony without being seen in direct light by predators. The female meerkat flinched and abruptly turned her head side to side as a twig snapped loudly underneath her foot. Her shoulders relaxed after a few minutes had passed without a rouge lion's growl to signal her predestination with death.
After briefly collecting her thoughts and continuing down the rocky path, Adia's mind drifted back to the duo she had left behind. Any regret she had previously felt had completely vanished at the thought of Timon's inconsideration and blunt neglect to her colony's situation. Her eyes narrowed into slits at the very thought of the witty meerkat. In her anger-fueled argument with him, Adia still couldn't decide if Timon had been speaking rationally, or if he was simply concerned with his own safety. She suppressed a sigh. She had made a tough call by leaving them behind; they had lost an entire day's sunlight to travel by, and Adia intended to make up all time lost.
She froze once again as a dead shrub in her path quivered. She knew it was irrational to fear a lion hiding behind its branches, as the shrub was barely taller than her. It stirred once again, and this time, Adia noted the quiet breeze tugging at her fur, rousing the disheveled strands of deep auburn hair atop her head. She smoothed the fur out of her bright, keen eyes and continued forward. She clenched her teeth in pain as one of the plant's prickly tendrils snagged her fur, capturing several strands within its thorny branches. Making a distinct swerve around the shrub, she avoided further contact with its thorns.
The meerkat stopped for a moment to survey her surroundings, raking the landscape with her observant green eyes. She was startled to see two familiar shapes slinking through the shadows, their faces obscured by the dark cloak of night. Although their facial features were hidden in the blanket of night, their scruffy, misplaced fur and thin frames were easily recognizable.
Erevu and Ajabu continued slinking through the shadows, stopping every once and a while to take a look around. They were far enough away that they wouldn't be able to hear Adia walking through the dry, crinkly undergrowth and sneaking down the craggy path... or so she hoped. Erevu was walking with a slight limp in his step, but his focus and cruel nature had clearly not been corrupted by this setback.
After several moments of consideration, eyes locked on the two rouge lions, part of Adia began to feel the urge to return to Timon and Pumbaa and apologize. On the other hand, she knew she would never hear the end of it from Timon. She nearly groaned. She hated swallowing her pride, but she knew she couldn't leave the two alone in the Outlands. If either of them got hurt... I would never be able to forgive myself, Adia thought bitterly. Similar to Timon, though she was more aware of it than he was, Adia knew that her pride was her biggest downfall. Hmmph. Something we actually have in common, she thought with a roll of her eyes.
Adia suddenly found herself thinking about the smart-mouthed meerkat. He was different from her in many more ways than one. He lived a different life style than her, which gave him an almost mysterious edge. She had never met anyone that seemed so... carefree. Until, of course, they set foot into the Outlands. She had learned that Timon feared the unknown, even if he wouldn't admit it. She nearly laughed, but knew better. He would never admit to such a thing. Then her harsh, criticizing thoughts disappeared.
Timon, despite his often hard-headed and rather obstinate personality, cared for the ones around him. She knew that he sought safety living with Simba and his pride, but he also enjoyed the lion's friendship more than the protection he offered. The same went to his companion Pumbaa, who often contrasted in comparison to the male meerkat. Pumbaa's trust was easily gained and he easily formed bonds, which, in a way, made him slightly naïve. Despite this, Pumbaa would personally go out of his own way to assist someone in need. Adia sighed. She couldn't say the same about Timon, who was so uneasily swayed from his decisions.
There was one thing she simply could not place. Why did she care? Why did her thoughts keep returning to Timon?
Her thoughts were suddenly broken as she found herself careening down the rock face, landing heavily on her left shoulder. Her right paw immediately found its way to her injury, pressing against it as she bared her teeth in pain, struggling to withhold a gasp of pain. Too late, she realized, her blunder had already called the attention of the rouge lions. Erevu and Ajabu's eyes were locked on the small meerkat, and almost immediately, Ajabu was on top of her, Erevu limping close behind, his dull eyes full of hatred.
Adia let out a groan of pain as Ajabu's curved claws pricked her injured shoulders, relentlessly baring into her flesh. Her green eyes snapped shut, waiting for her life to be finished. Slowly, hesitantly, she opened her eyes once more. Ajabu's hot, foul breath wafted into her face as he exhaled, causing Adia to gag in disgust. Erevu was soon shoulder-to-shoulder with his counterpart, eyes narrowed at the female meerkat.
"You two bore me," Adia said matter-of-factly, putting on a rather brave face, considering her situation. "If you two are going to finish me off, get it over with already," she said flatly.
"Now, why would we do that?" sneered Ajabu, his tone bitterly sarcastic. His claws dug deeper into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain. This earned a chuckle from Erevu, despite his pain. "We need you alive."
The dark-furred meerkat raised a brow in inquiry. "What, for target practice?" she hissed sarcastically.
"Not exactly," Erevu murmured.
"Although, we would absolutely love watching you writhe in pain," Ajabu said with a maniacal grin, his eyes becoming dull with boredom, which disgusted Adia, "we have other orders."
Orders? Adia pondered. She knew these two followed Jela, a rather infamous Outsider, only unknown to those who dwelled in the Pridelands. He had a rather strange mind and was able to twist together rather devious plots. "What do you want?" she finally asked, hesitantly.
"Tell us where your little friends are hiding, and we'll be glad to let you go," Erevu taunted dauntlessly, his tone rather deceiving. After saying this, Ajabu retracted his claws ever so slightly, as if giving the female meerkat a brief taste of freedom.
Adia's mind became a whirl of confusion. What would Jela want with Timon and Pumbaa? They didn't have any affiliation with anyone important...
Then she remembered.
Timon and Pumbaa were escorts provided by King Simba. Jela wanted to get to Simba and those of royal blood. Of course, Adia thought. Jela has always been plotting the downfall of the Pridelanders. What better way to cut Simba down than through his two greatest companions?
She was snapped back into reality as Ajabu's claws dug back into her flesh. She clenched her teeth, her fingers curling into fists, as if this simple action would subside the pain. "Okay," she hissed, "I'll tell you where they are."
Immediately, Ajabu released his grip on the meerkat, and she let out a cry of pain as she fell back on her injured shoulder. She panted heavily in fear and as the pain continued to overtake her. Her eyes squeezed shut as she clutched her injury, clenching her teeth.
"Well?" Erevu said.
"Get on with it," Ajabu said. "Tell us."
Adia thought quickly. "They're... they're headed back to the Pridelands," she said, "towards the gorge." This wasn't exactly a lie, but not really the truth, either. She figured the two would return to the Pridelands by morning, and they would head toward the gorge to get back home. Considering they hadn't left yet, the lions would be nearly a day ahead of them, and Adia could give Timon and Pumbaa a warning and an alternate route.
"Liar!"
"What?!"
Soon Ajabu was on top of her again. "Those two were with you earlier, since you left the Pridelands. Why would they take you halfway home and go back?" He laughed. "They're escorts. They're around. Tell us the truth."
"I am!" Adia exclaimed. "We got into an argument, and they-"
She was swatted over by a single swipe of Ajabu's mighty paw. She landed at Erevu's feet; the injured lion looked down at her pitilessly, his eyes boring in hers.
"We'll take her to Jela," Ajabu said, "and keep her prisoner until she gives us the information we require." His eyes sparkled with disgusting pleasure. "She will tell us what we need to know. Jela can get information out of anyone," he hissed, striking her with her claws, "including you, Scrap."
Adia huddled underneath Erevu, who merely kicked her forward. He bent down and grasped her carelessly by the scruff of her neck so she couldn't escape. The female meerkat's green eyes widened in pain and fear as Ajabu led his accomplice toward Jela's hideout. Erevu followed him with a slight limp, which jerked Adia every once and a while. Her eyes slowly closed as she slipped into painful and fitful unconsciousness.