Chapter 6
The jungle that surrounded them was becoming increasingly strange to Kiava. Earlier in their travels the jungle had seemed dark, dismal, even depressing. Maybe it was nothing, or maybe it was just his brooding thoughts, but it was as if the life and vibrancy of the jungle had slowly been leached out. Especially around the Tree of Life, where the Shai'tan's horrible attack on his Uncle's Kingdom had left the Night Pride devastated. Once upon a time it must have been beautiful, because Kiava found that as they pulled further away the Night Pride and further and further into the unknown, the jungle had seemed to once more dance with life to his young eyes. Overflowing with flowers and blossoms of every colour and hue with crystal clear pools of water and streams to drink from. It left him feeling increasingly out of place, however. The dark gold of his pelt was making him stick out like a sore thumb. At least there was cover from the foliage, that made hunting challenging, but not impossible.
Which was excellent news. Despite their earlier attempts ending in disappointment and fear after falling into that trap, they had persevered and the two young lions had managed to achieve something at long last. Now, both he and Zuri chewed from the flank of the animal he had killed, and honestly nothing had ever quite tasted so good to either of them. After moons and moons of insects and bugs with only the occasional arachnid for variety, the sweet umami taste of fresh meat was like ambrosia to them. Zuri swallowed and turned to him, a grin plastered to her face.
"Okay. When we get back to our families, I'm never taking our parents hunting for granted ever again." She declared. "I would do terrible things right now, if it meant I could have a piece of zebra to eat, whenever I wanted, for the rest of my life." She said. Kiava nodded in agreement, licking the last of the meat juices from his maw.
Zuri opened her mouth to say something more, but she was interrupted by the arrival of Ookai, who had returned from their own lunch. He cast a dark look at the bleeding remains of their meat. Ookai ate insects, but that was the limit of his carnivorous nature. He preferred fruit and especially nuts. Blood gave him a stomach ache.
"You two ready to leave?" He asked them. The two lion cubs nodded and stood up. As Kiava did he pushed some twigs and leaves out of his mane, and was surprised at what he saw.
"Huh? Hey, Zuri Ookai have you seen this?" He asked. Ookai looked.
"Seen what? It's just some fluff." he said. Kiava shook his head.
"It's not just fluff Ookai – it's my mane. It's finally starting to fill out!" He said, seemingly pleased. Ookai shook his head. The golden monkey was chuckling.
"Yikes." He said grinning. "Puberty. Now that is not something I signed up for. I thought you already had your mane." He pointed to Kiava's black tuft. When Zuri saw what Ookai was pointing at, she burst out laughing. She couldn't help it.
"That? That's just his tuft, Ookai. Even some Lionesses get it, that's not his mane. His mane's the bit on his neck and around there, it won't finish growing for a few years." She told him. In Kiava's case, it was little more than a long tuft at this point. Even Danyal didn't have a full mane yet, at least not that she remembered. Kiava was being rather generous in her opinion. But, she supposed it was definitely longer than when they had first fled Pride Rock. Or maybe it only looked that way because it had been so long since they'd had a proper grooming. She didn't say that aloud though, not when Kiava looked so pleased. At her ridicule however, Ookai looked a little offended.
"Hey do I look like I am an expert on lions? I knew that tiny little thing was small for a lion's mane, but I didn't want to say anything, in case that was rude. For all I knew, Kiava was one of those occasional male lions you see who stay maneless their entire lives." He said. Kiava froze and stared at him, digesting that mental image.
"Excuse me? Ookai, what do you mean there are lions who don't grow manes? Boy Lions?" he said. Ookai nodded.
"Sure. I've travelled far and wide, there are plenty of stranger things." He said. Zuri laughed.
"Do you hear that, Kiava? This might be all you're getting – don't get too excited just yet!" She said, chuckling at Kiava's obvious discomfort at the possibility. Zuri didn't know why he was bothered. She had known both Simba and Kovu. There was little chance of Kiava ending up with anything other than a rather impressive mane in the long term. But that didn't mean she didn't find the idea amusing, or that she couldn't tease him in the meantime.
"Stop it!" Kiava protested. "My mane will be magnificent when it's grown." He said confidently. Then he hesitated. "How common is this manelessness-thingy?" He asked, nervously which caused Zuri to collapse into a fit of giggles. Ookai grinned sensing the opportunity to tease Zuri as well. He didn't take sides, after all.
"Come to think of it Zuri, I did meet a lioness once who had managed to grow a mane! Oh, it's rare, don't get me wrong, you hardly ever see it. But it isn't impossible." He said, grinning. "Is that a fleck of dark brown fur I spy on your chin?" He asked. Zuri paled.
"What!? Where? I don't want a mane! That's disgusting!" She exclaimed, and began to almost claw at her face as the two other males fell about laughing. She rolled her eyes at them both, whilst Bruce looked between them, looking a little confused. Ookai patted Bruce on the shoulder. Zuri paused and stared at Ookai as he was giggling.
"You're mocking me, aren't you?" She asked.
"Hey, you started it." Kiava retorted, grinning cheekily as he did so. Zuri's opened her mouth to protest, then closed it slowly, trying to think of something clever to say in reply. Her mind came up blank.
"Oh. Well. Okay then. Fair enough." She said, preserving dignity as best she could, rolling her eyes in defeat as Kiava looked delighted to get one up on her from once.
"I was only half joking." Ookai said, after a moment. "You travel far enough and you get to see all sorts of people. Some of them are very different to what you're used to." Ookai said for a moment. Kiava paused, sensing there was more to be heard from the strange monkey when he was in a talkative mood. He was no Mjuzi, that much was all too painfully obvious, but what he lacked in ancient wisdom he made for in… well… gritty experience, he supposed.
"Go on. What was the strangest group of animals you ever met?" He asked him.
"I know this pair of crazy lion cubs with delusions of grandeur who turned out to secretly be royalty, after a zombie attacked us." Ookai said flatly. Zuri burst out laughing as Kiava flushed.
"Apart from us, I mean." He said, firmly. Ookai smirked.
"Hmm. I met a herd's Wisdom who only spoke in rhymes, except when she was very annoyed with me. She was sort of like a cross between a Mjuzi and a Chieftainess. Although she did chase me out of the region after an unfortunate incident with certain… aheh… herbs."
"Herbs?"
"Medicinal ones." Ookai clarified, and Zuri nodded slowly. She knew the kind of ones. The rare ones that she was forbidden to touch except when her mother was closely supervising, and even cubs knew not to pick or play around.
"Like Tuliza. Or Fuhara." She said knowledgably, and Kiava was startled before remembering that Zuri's mother, Damu, had been the most knowledgeable when it came to such things. And good thing too, whenever Rafiki wasn't around.
"Yeah. Or they were supposed to be at any rate." Ookai said.
"Oh."
"Yeah. Like I said. Different ways." He said. "They used to use them to help them communicate with their ancestors. Or so they claimed. Even get visions."
"Speaking of odd folks, how did you two meet?" Zuri asked, before Kiava could ask further about that. She could see that that had gained his interest, but she knew enough of her lessons from her mother not to mess with such things. "You never did tell us. You do make quite a pair." She said after a moment.
"Ah, Bruce and I? We go way back. It's not too interesting a story to be perfectly honest. Picture, if you can, a young slightly less wise, slightly scrawnier iteration of me. One who has yet to learn the ways of the world, and whom possibly, it could be said, made a few poor decisions in his youth that may have ran him afoul of a rather disagreeable batch of baboons." He said, carefully.
"I'm picturing it." Kiava said flatly. Ookai smiled.
"In such times, I was known for getting into scrapes and possibly biting off more than I could handle. I had relied on my speed up till then, as quick as a golden flash, and never once received my comeuppance for such behaviour."
"What behaviour?" Zuri asked.
"Young Zuri, I am afraid to tell you this, but I was not always the moral upstanding citizen of Africa that stands before you now. Once upon a time, I was a reckless, abrasive, devilishly handsome young monkey who was known for being slick, quick, and a bit of a prick. Pardon my hyena." He said.
"Unbelievable." Kiava said, his tone unchanging.
"As hard as it is to believe, I assure you it the truth, though I was less than an honest monkey back then. I was the very model of a dashing rogue." Ookai said, leaping up on Bruce's back and posing dramatically. Zuri felt the edges of her mouth twitch into a smirk as he winked at her.
"And Bruce helped you out of a bit of a scrap?" Kiava guessed.
"Sort of. This band of baboons had been using him as… well… muscle. For a bit. Throwing his weight around rather than their own as it were. Getting the others in the troop to do what they said. They… weren't… particularly kind, were they Bruce?" He asked. Bruce shrugged for the first time, and took a bite out of a fruit that Kiava hadn't seem pick up. The juice ran down his mouth.
"Uh uh." He shook his head. "Bad times."
"How on earth did they get him to do that?" He asked him.
"Well, mainly by the fact that Bruce didn't know he was doing it. Not really. They'd always frame it asking for a favour. Bruce wanted to be helpful. They'd found him, separated from his own troop as a young mite and Bruce had somehow got it into his head that he was their 'Big Bro'. That's what they called him. Among other things. Bruce would never hurt a fly but they didn't know that. Anywho, I'd ended up there for other reasons. Their leader owed me a favour. After long and complicated adventure I won't go into, but I needed to hide out there after being grossly and unjustly and cruelly accused of some other misadventure involving an extremely attractive lemur who I later learned was a chieftain's daughter and as it happened wasn't a great fan of mine as a result of an unfortunate miscommunication previously. When I saw how they were treating Bruce I voiced my objections and found myself without allies or friends. Right about the time that chieftain and his goons arrived demanding either my presence or my head." He said. He paused, noticing that he had Zuri and Kiava's complete attention.
"And then?" Kiava urged him.
"Well, I hoped that the two groups would fight each other, and in the chaos and confusion I could abscond. Which they did. I ended up taking Bruce with me, and we decided to see the world." Zuri grinned.
"Why did you leave, if the two groups fought each other?" Kiava asked them.
"Oh, they did fight, but not for long. The chieftain's daughter was a fiercely violent female on the best of days even before she somehow got it into her head that I had agreed to be mated with her. But then she took a liking to Bruce's former boss. Apparently, she liked a 'bad guy'." He finished. Zuri frowned.
"So they didn't fight each other the way you intended?"
"Oh, no, I'm given to understand that that the two merged their troops and proceeded to dominate the entire region for a few miles either side of the river. A regular power couple. I find that the best couples are formed when the pair of them have some common interest to build upon, don't you agree?" Ookai said, conversationally.
Kiava stared at him for what felt like a full minute, trying to decide if Ookai was joking or not. When he eventually decided he wasn't he burst out laughing, especially at Zuri's rather put out expression.
"Seriously?! That's not how it is supposed to work out!" Zuri argued, sounding frustrated, but her indignation at the abrupt turn, only caused Kiava to laugh the harder. Ookai smirked, and even Bruce grinned.
"It worked out though. For everyone." Bruce said softly.
"You betcha!" Ookai said. "Bruce and I have been stuck together ever since. Worked out pretty great as far as I am concerned." He told them. Kiava continued to chuckle to himself, even as Zuri shook her head. That wasn't how stories were supposed to go! It was meant to be the good guys who got married and lived happily ever after! Not a pair of crooks and brutes!
"Oh, I daresay it wouldn't have worked in the long term. Neither of them was overly keen on sharing power. And even if they managed to make it work past the literal honeymoon, I rather suspect they would have ran afoul of the Shai'tan sooner or later. They lived quite far from here, but so far that they can avoid isolated from the rest of the world forever…" Ookai said ponderously. That dealt a blow to the mood, and group continued to walk in silence for a short length of time, until Bruce let out a cry of alarm.
"Guys!?" He shouted, lurching to the side. He wobbled as the ground vanished beneath him, and for a moment, Zuri thought they were experiencing a groundquake. She didn't feel the relief she should have felt when she realised it wasn't one, because the sensation was hauntingly familiar.
"Zuri!" Kiava shouted in alarm at the same time Bruce did. The two cubs yelled before they began to fall. Kiava shouted, and tried to grab the side of a newly forming pit as he fell, his claws digging into the soft earth as his weight pulled him down. Zuri tried to take the side the pit, but her own arms were but an inch shorter than Kiava's, and with a final creak, the earth gave way beneath her paws. She shouted again as she fell.
But then she halted. Kiava had managed to reach down with his left paw, whilst holding himself at the edge of the pit with his right. It was not a natural position to be in, and every muscle strained and burnt in protest at being abused in such a way. Zuri glanced down, and saw that, as before the pit, was spiked with branches carved into spears. Kiava didn't say a word. His entire being was concentrated on holding the two of them at the side of the pit. To stop them from falling – yet again onto potentially deadly spikes. His eyes were screwed shut and his breath was short and fast. Sweat trickled down his legs…
"Kiava!" She shouted up in alarm.
"Don't let go! Just hang on!" Kiava managed to gasp through gritted teeth. But even as he spoke, his paws began to slide down the edge, dust and earth crumbling away.
Damn…
He managed to think.
Then, suddenly, Bruce was there. The great silver-backed gorilla, staying close to the edge of the pit, leaned down and picked up Zuri with one great hand by the scruff of her neck, and Kiava sighed with relief. He didn't have the strength to pull himself up, and after a moment, Bruce lifted him out of the hole as well. He stared up at this primate friends thankfully.
"Thanks…" He said. Bruce smiled. Ookai scowled.
"You two need to watch where you are going! We already knew these traps were here, you're supposed to be at the top of the food chain!" He said, looking down the pit and shuddering. Kiava nodded. Despite his harsh words, his expression was worried, eyes alight with concern. "Are you okay?" He asked them.
Zuri nodded and gave a nervous laugh.
"Wow… Thanks Kiava. That could have been nasty." She said. Kiava smiled.
"Don't mention it." He took a closer look at the pit. Ookai looked unamused.
"Whoever is building these traps, is going to have a very nasty surprise when I find whoever is doing this. Because when I do I am going to take one of those stakes, and ram it so far up –" He caught himself. Kiava also looked angry, now he wasn't scared. Twice now, this cowardly presence, whoever or whatever they were, had nearly killed him or his friends. It was beginning to get on his nerves.
"Language. Not in front of the cubs." A voice called out of the undergrowth towards them. Kiava jumped. Zuri didn't. She whirled around swiped at the undergrowth quicker than Kiava had known she could move.
"Who is there?!" She shouted. "What do you want? And how long have you been lurking there?!"
"You're a sharp one, lioness. Yes, before you ask the traps were my doing. Though I assure you were never intended to be triggered by anyone other than the ones they were set for. Which wasn't you. Speaking of which, whoever you, you can get out of my jungle!" The voice came back, but no source revealed themself. Just the green wilds in the jungle. Ookai took a step forward, trying to seem conciliatory.
"Come now. You can't go around yelling at guests without having the manners to show your face. Who are you and what do you want of us poor, weary travellers?" He asked, putting on a convincing display of nonchalance, even though Kiava could see the ape was nervous. He was no feline, but his tail flicked back and forth nevertheless. He peered forwards as the undergrowth shook, and out of the leafy foliage below them emerged a greying and grizzled meerkat. Kiava blinked in surprise. Of all the creatures he had suspected of digging the dangerous pitfalls, a meerkat had not been the top of his suspects. Notable diggers they might have been, but there had been a predatory hunting instinct behind them that he had not thought to find in the tiny insectivore. In a jungle no less. The meerkat was short-ish, for a meerkat, and he gazed up at them with angry, intense eyes. There was a sternness to him, and unusually for a meerkat he met their gaze without hesitation or fear. On the top of his head was a grey tuft of hair which was streaked by a few old flecks of red, and the rest of his fur was sand yellow, though it was brazened with scars and old wounds. Kiava stared at the being before him.
"You?" He asked in surprise. "You set those pitfalls?" He asked. The meerkat nodded and scowled at him.
"Why the surprise? What else to you know who can dig in such a way? Did you think a Shai'tan had dug that pit? With those paws? Please. If they want someone dead, they just kill them. No fuss. I was terrible at digging stable tunnels, but I'm quite good at building something that is supposed to collapse. That's easy." He said. Then pointed a spindly finger straight at Kiava. "What I am less clear on, is who you are or what a lion cub is doing in my Jungle, hmm? What to explain that to me?" He asked. Kiava stared. Zuri cleared her throat.
"Please, excuse my friend, Mister Meerkat. And sorry for reacting badly just now." She said, glancing at where her tiny but ever so sharp claws had decapitated an innocent bed of blossoming flowers. "We aren't used to being spoken to by meerkats in such a direct manner." She explained. She nudged Kiava who once more shook himself.
"You mean most meerkats run away at the sight of ya? As you can see I am not the average meerkat. You can call me Buzz, thank you very much. Who are you? Lions, that I can see. But traveling alone in the company of a gorilla and a monkey, crashing through a jungle with all the subtly of a hunchbacked rhino, and ruining perfectly well made traps? You have some explaining to do." He said.
Zuri and Kiava looked at each other, neither sure how to respond to that. Kiava took a breath to speak but found his words caught in his mouth. Meerkats were as a whole a rather cowardly, nervous, agitated and (it had to be said), weak species at pretty much the lowest end of the food chain. They were a light snack for most form of carnivore and given that the Shai'tan's lackeys had no respect for the hunting laws of the old regime, most of the reavers who had joined the Shai'tan would happily hunt them for sport, if not a meal. They also didn't tend to live in jungles. This particular specimen of meerkat was blunt, rude, invasive, aggressive, and generally un-meerkat in almost every respect. The two cubs found it very startling to say the least and didn't know what to make of him. Ookai, for all his previous talk at having met a wide array of peoples from all across the world and his praise for the virtue of adaptability likewise seemed at a loss.
"Sorry for barging in." Kiava said after a moment. He could imagine the conversation. We are just passing through on our way to an abandoned part of the jungle to find an ally – name unknown – because some of the dead kings in my head told me it was a good idea. Don't mind us. Oh, and incidentally, I am the missing heir to the throne, and this is my best friend, and a rogue monkey, and his best friend. They are helping me out because I saved their behinds from a delinquent leopard and then a homicidal undead wilddog. The truth, seemed likely to cause more problems than it would solve. If he even believed him to begin with. "We're just passing through." He said. "Not sticking around, we promise. Although we've been delayed by two of your traps so far." He said. The meerkat frowned.
"Damn. Two? Those take weeks to set up properly." He jumped down from the log and paced over towards him.
"What's your name, kid? It's not every day a Lion walks through this jungle." he said. Kiava paused.
"Kiava. My Name is Kiava. This is Zuri, Ookai, and Bruce." He said. He could afford to be honest about his name if not his identity. The meerkat was staring at them, suspiciously. He looked at Zuri, then to Ookai and Bruce. Bruce waved. He turned back to Kiava.
"Kiava…" He said after a moment. "That's not a very common name. Where is your Pride, Kiava? Your parents?" He asked. Kiava's eyes narrowed.
"My parents are dead, and my Pride is scattered. I am from the Pridelands, but things aren't going so well there at the moment, believe it or not." He said icily. Again, he could afford to tell that much of the truth. Zuri glanced at him nervously, wondering how much more he'd tell him. The meerkat nodded though and seemed satisfied with that answer.
"I suspected as much… Kiava from the Pridelands. You'll have to excuse me, but we don't host royalty much around here." He said as he turned around and began to walk away. Kiava's eyes widened, and Ookai leapt onto Bruce shoulder. Zuri crouched and began to growl. Too far. She knew that was too far.
"What do you mean Royalty?" Kiava asked, quietly unsheathing his claws. Wishing he could have taken his words back. He should have picked a name at random. Kings, even saying Simba or Kovu would have caused less interest in a cub his age.
"I mean royalty; as defined by being of royal blood, and descended from a royal family. In this case the word also means 'presently wanted by the Shai'tan' which is presumably why you and your friends reacted so violently and why you are gearing up to defend yourself as we speak. You are wondering if I am working for the Shai'tan, and wondering whether or not you are going to need to try to kill me. Or wondering if I might be a friend who can help you out. You can drop the act, I don't have the time or the patience to deal with that. I'm too old for games." He said, without looking back at him.
Kiava growled.
"Are you working for the Shai'tan?" He asked Buzz, cautiously. The meerkat sighed.
"Do you really think I'd just tell you if I was? As it happens, no, who do you think the traps were for? Butterflies?" He asked scornfully. Kiava began to growl at the meerkat.
"Whose side are you on then?" He asked. The meerkat shrugged, still pacing away.
"Side? I am not on anyone's side. I'm an old meerkat who just wants to kill as many Shai'tan as he can before he rolls over to die. I suppose you being here might make that simpler… I'm not looking forward to the Shai'tan coming here in force, but they'll doubtlessly get wind of you passing through here in a few weeks or moons at any rate. When they do, they'll find some nasty surprises for them. That much is certain." He said, folding his arms. "What's less certain, is what you are doing here and where you are going, young Kiava? Trying to make a break for it and get out of the Pridelands would be my guess. But if you're by yourself and all that's left of your Pride, I'll admit, I am very surprised you have made it this far. I thought you and your family had been killed along with every other member of your Pride a long, long time ago." He said. "Is that what you're doing? Escaping the Pridelands?" Kiava growled again. An enemy of the Shai'tan he might well be, but I was really unsure if he trusted this meerkat at all.
"I'll keep that to myself." He said sharply. Buzz grinned.
"Very wise. But I would rather know, just to be safe." He said.
Kiava began to growl.
"I don't think so." Zuri said. "Get out of our way." The meerkat winced.
"I wouldn't threaten me, cub. There is more to me then you can see, as my pitfalls should have proven. I still have a few friends in high places." He said. Kiava growled again.
"Or what? You've already nearly got me and my friends killed twice now. I don't need to explain where I am going or why to you – and I think it would be best if you got out of our way." He said.
He growled again.
In response to his growl a roar penetrated the entire jungle. It was loud. Far louder than anything Kiava could have produced. And nearby. Extremely nearby.
"Ah. Impeccable timing. You may remember I mentioned friends in high places? Allow me to introduce the lioness of Valon's Brook." He said, as a fully grown lioness jumped through the foliage and into the clearing. Zuri and Kiava instantly moved closer together, and Ookai shrieked with terror as she appeared, growling at the four of them.
She was a circled them once and Kiava recoiled from what he saw. She was an old lioness, very old. Ancient even. Her fur might once have been a pale gold, but now it was practically grey. Her eyes were a deep sapphire blue and they blazed with an intensity that was undimmed by age. Her teeth were old and yellow, though still sharp, nevertheless. There were notches in her ears, tears in her fur. Her tail was bent and crooked where is may have been broken and reset, but the wounds were old. Not recent. She rippled with muscle. Not a trace of fat or wasted flesh. Ferociously fast and practically bleeding viciousness.
"King's Blood!" Ookai shouted in terror. "Run for it!" He called, but the lionesses growled in warning and Bruce almost tripped as he flinched, frozen in place by her imperious gaze.
"You stay where you are or you won't get three paces!" She ordered them. Zuri believed her. She pulled in close, pressing herself against Kiava. A meerkat they could deal with. A fully grown lioness was another thing entirely.
"Kiava!" She hissed. "What do we do?!" But Kiava was staring at the lioness and at the meerkat. His mind was racing.
"Did you say this was Valon's Brook?" he asked in confusion. The lioness growled softly.
"More or less. The stream itself is half a mile west. Stay where you are. I want to have a look at you." She said, softly. Kiava groaned and thought the urge to smack a paw to his head. A lioness in Valon's brook. But it couldn't be. She didn't look too pleased to see them and moreover, he didn't recognize her at all. The spirit had claimed they would find a survivor of Pride Rock but he had never met her before in his life. Ookai shuddered, and tried to hide behind Zuri.
"Who the hell is she?!" he muttered. The lioness stared at them intently, then sniffed.
"Valon's brook. I hate that name." The meerkat nodded, seemingly far more confident now that his friend at arrived. "Down girl. I don't think they're enemies. They're from the Pridelands after all." He said, teasing her. The lionesses flicked her ears in irritation.
"You're the one who said that it was pretty pointless calling Hakuna Matata, since there's nothing but worries these days." She said, her mouth twisting somewhat as she spoke it, clearly finding the irony distasteful. "I see you have already met Buzz. He does love to be dramatic." She looked at the meerkat, who was smiling at the expression of shock and awe on the cubs faces.
"My name is Sarafina." She said at last.
