Third person view
DJ stood silently at the peak of Priderock looking over the lands as the moonlight danced along the ground and trees while he also heard the calls of nocturnal animals as they went about their night lives.
Underneath the peak was the glow of a fire as the two African natives slept soundly. Well the old man slept soundly while the younger man was waking up every now and then to scan the area with his rifle close to his side.
DJ took a deep breath in and remembered all he had learned over the last few hours.
Flashback
Everyone stared at the old man with questioning stares until he spoke up again.
"When I was just a boy, my father told me that his grandfather used to tell him stories about back before the white man ever came to Africa. About how our ancestors used to battle large hyenas, doubled the size of the ones who roam the lands now, who would come in and take village animals and people and leave no trace of their being there" he said.
"No trace. How's that possible?" The grandson of the man questioned.
"Some say they were smart, never walking on loose dirt, only on stone and hard clay. Others say they were blessed with magic from dark shamans that made them float above the ground, never allowing them to leave a track" he said before looking over the Pridelands as the sun was approaching the land to sink into it.
"But why? If it was before any white man came to Africa, then there shouldn't have been any shortage on food due to poaching" DJ questioned.
"And there wasn't...He said they seemed to kill just to kill. Sometimes they'd find the bodies of our people uneaten. Other times it would be just their head and nothing else. Never any partly eaten bodies" he explained before he became silent and looked over the lands.
"My father told me that we had killed them off. It seems he was wrong, for now they have returned" he said.
"Then we must act at once, make sure we wipe them out this time grandfather" the younger man said coming to stand beside the older man.
"It is not that easy, Basuli. Tribes had larger in numbers back then, and it took all of us and our allies and even then our people lost a good number of warriors" the man said.
"Yes, but you didn't have lions and myself back then" DJ said cracking his knuckles as the two men turned to face him.
"You and your... friends will fight beside us?" The older man questioned. DJ looked at Simba and Nala who nodded before looking at the Night Pride members who nodded as well.
"We all have revenge we wish to take against the Kaftar. We may as well work together and make sure we wipe them out this time. For good" DJ said. The old man thought deeply about it rubbing beard for a few seconds before he extended his hand.
"Then we will be allies, man who lives with lions" he said as DJ grasp and shook his hand while nodding.
"We shall spend the night here before heading home to our tribe in the morning. After we talk there, we will send word out to our tribes and to yourself for a meeting. After that, we will make our plans" the old man added as DJ nodded.
"There's a fire pit down underneath the rock formation you may use. It's been mine for the last few years so there's no brush around it" DJ said as the old man nodded.
Him and the younger man then went down the trail that led down to the fire pit. As they did that, Simba came up to the man he trusted.
"Are you sure we can trust them?" He questioned. At that, DJ paused for a few seconds.
"Maybe, it's too early to tell for sure. One thing is for sure though. Those... 'Kaftar' are strong, so our only chance may be to work with them to rid the lands of them" DJ said.
"However, maybe we could call in some reinforcements" DJ said as Simba, after thinking about it for a few seconds, smiled.
"It would be nice to see them again, see how their lives are. I'll talk to Zazu tomorrow" Simba said as DJ nodded before noticing the sky was becoming orange.
"It's getting late. Let's get everyone inside for the night, I'll take some meat down to our guests" he said going over to the dead zebras and began cutting some of the tenderloins off.
End of flashback
DJ took another deep breath of air before he sat down at the point looking out over the lands. Ever since the conversation, he hasn't been able to sleep. He hadn't even been able to think about sleep.
All he can do is rack his brain about everything that had happened recently, trying to figure out which was hyenas and which was the Kaftar.
"Hey" a voice called from behind him snapping DJ out of his trance. Turning his head he seen his mate walking towards the ledge.
He raised his arm and let her slide her head into his lap after laying down next to him.
"The way you wait up for me, it's like I'm your cub" DJ said with a smile as Sarafina smiled back.
"There's things I do with you that I'd never do with a cub though" she said nuzzling his stomach as DJ laughed.
"True" he said as the area drifted into silence for a minute.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" She then asked.
"About what?" DJ questioned.
"Whatever is bothering you" she answered as DJ sighed.
"Just trying to figure out everything that happened to us recently. Trying to separate what was regular hyenas and which was the Kaftar" he said.
"And..." Sarafina said knowing that wasn't all that was on his mind. DJ then sighed.
"Everything I have ever fought while I've been out here. Poachers, hyenas, crocodiles, lions, leopards. I have always known a lot about these creatures. These things though, these Kaftar, I don't. And that scares the shit outta me" he admitted.
"What if not having that knowledge causes us to loose this fight. It could not only wipe out three prides and my family but a whole tribe of people. Their deaths will be on my head, even in whatever the afterlife is" DJ said putting his head down.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine. The kings of the past have a plan for us all and I don't believe it's to die in this battle" she said nuzzling her mate's chin while he just sighed.
"I wanna believe that, Sara, I do" he said as the area drifted into silence with the two just looking at the stars.
"Do you know what your problem is?" Sarafina said breaking the silence.
"No but as my mate, I'll bet you're gonna tell me" he said. She didn't immediately respond but DJ then felt her tail smack him in the back of his head.
"You always think you're the only one who's fighting, that all the responsibility is on your shoulders. But it's not, you have your family and pride who will fight with you by your side. We will kill for you just as you would kill for us" she said nuzzling him.
He just smiled before he bent down and nuzzled the top of her head with his chin while she purred and the two continued looking over the moonlit lands.
In the Outlands
"Ah! I can't believe that stupid human! First he kills my mother and runs our clan out of the Pridelands, then he continuously humiliated me in front of my clan and then he gets us exiled from the clan!" Janja said angrily pacing back and forth.
They were now held up in old hollowed out termite mounds to the east of the volcano.
"Well maybe we shouldn't have threatened his grandcubs. I mean Banzai did tell the whole clan not to" Cheezi said.
"We didn't threaten his grandcubs, we threatened two unrelated lions! And I'm not leaving every kill or potential kill just because someone that human knows shows up!" Janja said. Suddenly they all heard chuckling.
Immediately they all looked at the entrance of the mound, their bodies tense with fear. Was their former clan launching an attack to ensure that they wouldn't be a problem in the future?
"You don't like running away from a fight. Bold. Yet you lack the courage to face the human among the lions. Pathetic" a mysterious voice said from outside.
"I lack nothing" Janja snarled taking a few steps forwards.
"We won't go into all that right now. Right now, we're going to discuss a common enemy. The human who lives among the lions. I believe we can help each other" the voice said.
"Why should we team up with you?" Janja asked.
"Because we all want one thing. Vengeance but like you, I lack something. Knowledge. What we know about humans is old. You help us with the knowledge of this human and we'll give you the numbers you need to be stronger than not only him but your former clan as well. Though, it could easily become your clan" the voice said.
Janja looked back at his clan members who were all nervous but none were shaking their heads. They knew they were now a smaller clan, meaning they can't bring down large prey in the Pridelands and keep an eye out for lions at the same time. And becoming leader of the clan that had exiled him would be good justice.
"Alright. We accept" Janja said. The voice didn't answer but instead a figure came into view.
It was a large hyena who outweighed Janja by at least a hundred pounds. It had pure white fur and blood red eyes that seemed to glow in the night.
It was covered in old battle scars and in the moonlight there was something glinting on it's left shoulder.
"Then we have a deal" it said, his voice matching that of the mysterious one.
"Now tell me, what do you know of this human?"
Sorry it's kinda short guys, it's fall and you know what that means. I'm out in the woods wearing camo with a rifle. Plus there's another things going on, not just in my life but just life in general. I'm sure you guys know as well. But I do kinda have an idea on where this story goes and I already have an ending that'll tug at the heart strings.
