Chapter 5: Through Theluji Mountains

A clear but cold spruce forest stretched on both sides of a frozen stream. The snowfall had covered the trees with a white layer of frost and they seemed to lean on each other; In addition, they had raised mounds and hills in many places, with a variety of different plants and shrubs that are capable of surviving the low temperatures that are scattered around. Snow-covered rocks were also hidden around the area. Some cliffs were completely covered in frozen ice. The air blew and made perfect accompaniment for anyone who passed through it and, in this case, it was Simba, Nala, Dan and the two fawns who did it.

"Are you feeling okay, Dan?" Geno asked him as they walked through the snow.

"Brrr," Dan commented as he felt the cold with every step he took, "Well... it's cold, don't you feel it?"

"Last winter our forest was just as cold," Gurri clarified, "I think you're the one who's not used to it."

"Maybe..."

"If you want, I can take you, Dan," said Simba, who did not seem at all bothered by the cold, "Crossing the Theluji mountains will take us a few hours."

"Um... no, Grandpa Simba. Don't worry so much about me."

"I don't think Kiara wants to see you with a cold, Dan…" Nala interjected, picking up Dan and putting him on her back, "Are you better?"

"Thank you... Grandma Nala," he responded, feeling much better.

"Excuse me your majesty, Simba," Geno asked, "What did you say this place was called?"

"Ah, the Theluji mountains," Simba explained, "That's what we call these snowy mountains. They are somewhat far from the Pride lands and only my son Kion and his friends have come for a long time. We have a peace agreement with…"

"Watch out!" Nala shouted, just dodging a snowball.

This first launch was followed by several more, becoming a field of fire... or, rather, of snow. Simba immediately pointed to a rock for Nala, Dan, Geno, and Gurri to take cover. As they did so, Simba roared.

No sooner had he done that than someone shouted:

"Stop! Stop!"

The snowballs stopped, and a group of three gorillas emerged from behind the rocks. One was big and had a big head. At first, it seemed like he was going to go head-to-head with Simba. However, Simba grabbed some snow and threw it at him.

Dan thought he was crazy when he saw the gorilla with snow on his head, great was his surprise when he returned the snow to Simba.

"Nice to see you finally, your majesty Simba," said the gorilla, bowing slightly, causing the snow to fall on his head.

"The pleasure is mine, Sokwe," he responded, also shaking off the snow, "By this reception, I suppose our peace agreement still stands."

"Yeah, it's just that I didn't expect to see your majesties here" Sokwe told them as Nala emerged from behind the rocks, "It's a pleasure to see you again... since Kion's coronation. Also, I heard that your daughter Kiara is queen now."

"That's right," Nala explained, "Kiara is queen along with Kovu, and we are very proud of them."

"I am also proud of my children Hafifu and Majinuni," he pointed out to the other two gorillas, "I think they will soon succeed me too."

"Nice to see you again, your Majesty Simba," said Hafifu.

"Thank you very much for last time, your majesty," Majinuni continued.

"By the way," his father interrupted. Noticing Dan and the two fawns, "Who's with you?"

"The two fawns are Geno and Gurri, and they are new friends who arrived to the Pride lands the day before," Nala explained, "They are the future princes of the forest."

"What a surprise!" Hafifu exclaimed. Then, he turned to his father, "Can they be our friends too, dad?"

Sokwe wasn't too interested in his son's question as he glanced from him to Dan.

"And this is... your third cub?"

"No, not exactly," Nala laughed, "he's our grandson, Dan. Kiara's oldest son."

"Is he the future prince of the Pride lands?" Majinuni asked, shaking hands with Dan. When he gave him his paw, he shook it very wildly, making the cub dizzy, "It's a pleasure to meet you! I hope one day we can have a snowball competition."

"And speaking of snow, I suppose this is your welcome, isn't it?" Simba asked.

"Not exactly," said Sokwe, "We have been at war since yesterday with a very strange species of wolves."

"Wolves?"

"I think so, but they were strange... red fur and had something on their necks..."

"They chased us for hours and Shujaa managed to get rid of several of them," Hafifu said.

"And we bury the rest of them in snow" he continued.

"No... they weren't wolves..."

Everyone turned to look at Geno, who seemed to have taken an interest in the topic.

"They were the dogs that chased us to the river in the forest," he told them, "They looked a little dark at night, but they had reddish fur"

On top of that, Dan was also almost sure they were dogs when the gorilla said, 'something on their necks.' As far as he knew (from his previous life), hunters who handled hunting dogs made them wear collars to identify them. As a detail, Dan didn't know whether to feel good or bad because he didn't have one when he was a child: his uncle preferred his 'tools' instead of a canine helper.

"Dogs?" Sokwe asked, breaking Dan out of his thoughts, "I've never heard of them..."

But he stopped when another gorilla, a female, approached the scene, looking desperate for help:

"Majesty Sowke," she pleaded, "My little one was lost during the attack of the wolves in a grotto. I told him to hide in it until the danger passed and then... he was gone."

"Calm down, Talulha," the gorilla king reassured her, "We will rescue him in a moment, right, children?"

"Of course, father!" declared the two gorilla princes.

(But, a couple of minutes later...)

Majinuni was trying to get his head out of the entrance of a small cave, where the little gorilla had supposedly entered. When they finally managed to get it out, Sowke commented out loud:

"Well, it will take a while to get it out... the cave is very small"

"But..." Dan reasoned as he saw the size again, "I think I can fit in there."

"Dan, I agree that you fit in there..." Simba warned them, "But it could be quite dangerous."

"Um..." Nala interrupted, "If I remember correctly... at his age, you and I used to get into trouble. Besides, Dan's just going to go in and dig up the missing gorilla, right?"

"Yes, I won't waste much time," said Dan.

"I'll go in too..." Gurri proposed, "If I bend down enough..."

"Sorry Dan, but I can't just let my sister go with you," Geno apologized, "It's not that I trust you, but my father always says that I should be with my sister. So, I'm joining in too."

Knowing that Geno was determined, Simba allowed the younger ones to enter. While Dan didn't need to bend down to enter, Geno and Gurri only had to bend down slightly. Inside, a long cave was displayed in front of them. Its walls were mostly frozen (except for a few sides) while a low snow floor covered a slightly slippery surface.

As they walked deeper into the cave, they tried to find the footprints of the baby gorilla that was supposed to be there, but apparently the footprints had been erased.

"Well, this place is quite..." Geno said as he saw his reflection in an ice wall, "Labyrinthine."

"Helloooooo!" Gurri shouted, causing an echo through the cave, "is anyone here? Hey, I think they answered me!"

"It's called echo," Dan explained (apparently, they didn't know about that phenomenon), "It's... a sound that reflects off the walls."

"Does that exist on the Pride lands?" Geno asked, "Or who taught you?"

Dan felt trapped: he didn't want to lie, because he had read this in a book. However, saying that he was previously a human to Geno and Gurri, who had been hunted by them and their dogs, would not be pleasant.

"Well..." Dan muttered.

"Guys!" Gurri interrupted them, who had gone ahead, pointing to the snow under his paws, "I think I found the footprints."

Thanks to Gurri's intervention, Geno and Dan got back to business and followed the tracks she had indicated. At one point, they came across a wall that divided into many other small caves, approximately 10 or 15.

"Helloooooooo?" Gurri asked again, if he got the biggest answer.

"How about you use your sense of smell to search?" Geno asked Dan, "I understand that predators can use it very well."

"The smell... Um yeah, I can try" Dan said.

While Vitani had taught him everything about his sense of smell, Dan still wasn't quite skilled at it. However, he was able to detect 5 scents: his own, Geno's, Gurri's, and two unknown scents. Of these two smells, one was very similar to that of gorillas, and came from a small cave on the right side.

"Over there!" Dan pointed out.

It was a very small cave clear of snow and ice, with some leaves and ferns covering the floor. This time, only Dan could enter standing, nor could the fawns do so by crouching. In any case, there was no need: right there, among that sparse vegetation, was a small gorilla who was very scared when he saw them.

"Hello friend," Gurri approached him, speaking as affectionately as females were supposed to do, "Are you okay? Your mother is waiting for you..."

Dan also wanted to try to help, but... there was something strange, because that fifth smell was mixing with something else, and it felt close... With a growl, everything became clear: a red dog, at least twice his size was showing his jaws and had just jumped straight at Geno.

With little time to think, Dan shoved Geno, making the dog miss. When Gurri noticed this animal, he panicked and started backing away. Luckily for him, when the dog looked at him, Dan jumped on it, biting its ear. The animal howled in pain and began to struggle to remove it. When he got it, Dan had to start running because now the dog's attention was only focused on the lion cub.

The ice reflections in the cave and the fact that he couldn't see the footprints they had previously left worked against him, but he finally saw it: daylight through the small mouth of the cave. However, when he managed to get out, he tripped and fell rolling in the snow. By the time he turned around, the dog was lunging at him...

A loud roar echoed through the mountain, and Dan could see Simba pinning the dog with his paws, while the other had his paws ready in case it got up. Fortunately, one hard hit to the ground was enough to knock him out immediately.

"Dan? Dan!" Nala exclaimed, helping him up, "Are you okay?"

"Yes..." he answered, already up. He turned to Simba and added, "Thank you."

"He's one of them!" Hafifu shouted, "One of those...uh, what were they called?"

"They were...ah! wolves!" Majinuni tried to answer, but his answer didn't seem concrete, "Or not? They were..."

"They are dogs, hunting dogs," clarified Geno, who was leaving the cave with Gurri (she was carrying the baby gorilla on her back). Then, he turned to Dan, "Hey, thanks for the help. I should have reacted faster."

"You're welcome," Dan replied.

Simba released the dog, apparently fainted. And then, he met up with Dan.

"I told you this could be dangerous," he told him, making the cub feel bad. But then he added: "But it seems like you know how to handle it better than I could when I was your age. Well done."

Once he returned the baby gorilla to its mother, Sowke and Simba had a light conversation.

"These intruders are not like hyenas: they dedicate themselves to trapping animals for humans without respecting the cycle of life," Simba told him, "Our pride will be willing to help you if you need it. Just send someone with the lion guard and they will come right away"

"Thank you very much for your help, Simba," he replied, "Don't worry, I'll send my children in case something like this happens... and don't worry, this time I hope they do receive the message..."

(Meanwhile...)

Talulha was thanking Geno, Gurri and Dam for saving the baby from him.

"Thank you very much to you three," said the mother, "Thank you for saving my child."

"No problem, ma'am," Dan told her.

"Father!" Hafifu and Majinuni shouted in unison.

Both gorillas arrived very alert.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the dog?" Sowke asked, "What happened to him?

"He ran away when he wasn't looking," said Majinuni, "I thought Hafifu would watch him."

"And I thought Majinuni was watching him," said Hafifu.

They were going to start arguing, but Sowke stopped them. When they were finally able to calm down, Simba and the others said goodbye to the gorillas, after they pointed the way to the entrance of the forest.

"Dan," Simba told him at a moment before the terrain of the Theluji Mountains will give way to a forest with some fog around it, "If you are still doubtful of what you should do, I can take you back to the Pride lands"

"Umm..." he muttered, still distrusting himself, "No, Grandpa Simba. I won't be afraid anymore, I promise: just... let me go with you"

"Do you have a goal for coming on this trip?"

Dan hesitated if he should tell him about his vision, but instead, he nodded his head.

"Well," Simba told him, "From here on, we have to be more cautious... who knows how many hunting dogs there are."