Hago slowly followed King Mufasa as he carefully patrolled the Pride Lands. The King was excellent at detecting any intruders, so Hago had to be as quiet as he possibly could, which was easier said than done.

Everything he did made some kind of noise. To Hago, breathing and walking were the noisiest things in the world right now. He even thought he heard himself blinking a couple of times, but maybe that was just his mind thinking silly things.

The mind does that when you're nervous.

Hago just had to get in front of the King without him noticing. How was he going to do this? If the King caught even the slightest glimpse of him then he was done for. This was one of the trickiest things he'd ever had to do.

Hago wasn't an expert on stealth, and that was something anyone would pick up on. He was almost constantly angry, and was always shouting at everyone and everything in plain sight. Staying quiet was practically impossible for him.

But Hago knew he would have to if he stood any chance of achieving his goal. The ultimate goal that he had strived for almost all his life. The kingdom would be his if his plan was executed in the correct way.

Hago heard quite a loud snapping sound, and looked down to see that he had snapped a lone twig on the ground.

Quickly looking up, he saw Mufasa turn his head in Hago's direction. Everything seemed to go in slow motion for Hago then. He quickly ducked behind a nearby dead tree, preventing Mufasa from seeing him, but only just.

Hago stared at the tree, and then at the ground. That twig he stepped on had obviously fallen from this decaying tree.

Stupid tree, he thought, hating the tree instantly. How dare it try to reveal my position to the King. I'll make a mental note to b urn it to the ground when I take over the Pride Lands.

Hago peeked his head out from behind the tree, and saw Mufasa was getting further away from him. Luckily for Hago, the King hadn't noticed him.

Hago breathed a deep sigh of relief. Well, that was lucky. If I was still there one second later he would have spotted me.

Hago continued to follow Mufasa, walking away from the tree he was hiding behind – the tree he now despised for almost blowing his cover.

Hago quickened his pace a little, lightly running through the field he was in. He could see himself getting closer and closer to Mufasa. The King still hadn't seen Hago, meaning that Hago had a good opportunity to jump in front of Mufasa and confront him. Well, Hago of course wouldn't jump in front of him, because he couldn't. His crooked back affected his agility significantly, and the pain seemed to worsen with each passing day.

Now's my chance, Hago thought as he got closer and closer. The King – well, the former King, soon enough – is mine!

Mufasa thought he heard someone approaching him from behind, and turned around to see…

Nothing. Just the grass that was swaying lightly in the breeze. Nobody was there. Nobody was following him. Nobody.

He assumed he was just hearing things, which was odd, because normally Mufasa could pick up an intruder from quite a far distance away. His hearing was always perfect. Most people often thought that everything about him was perfect.

Dismaying the idea that somebody was following him, Mufasa turned his head back to its original position, and found himself face-to-face with a lion holding a rather peculiar staff. His body was bent to the right slightly, telling Mufasa that there was something wrong with his back, and he was using the staff as some sort of walking aid.

The lion had an evil grin on his face. A victorious evil grin, like he had accomplished something. Something that Mufasa didn't know about yet.

The lion sighed at the sight of King Mufasa, like it was an honour to see him at last. "King Mufasa," he said after he sighed. "I would say it's an honour to meet you, but it isn't."

"Who are you?" Mufasa demanded, already disliking this lion. There was an evil aura surrounding him, and Mufasa wasn't a fan of evil.

"Who am I?" said the lion, pointing to himself with the top of his odd staff. "You can call me Hago, but in about… ooh, a minute or so you'll address me as 'master'. I quite like it when people call me that. It makes me feel better than the commoners."

Mufasa narrowed his eyes in anger at Hago. Something in him reminded Mufasa of his brother, Scar, who had been secretly plotting and scheming to take over the kingdom for years. Scar had a heart filled with hate and anger, and

Mufasa thought that Hago was just as evil as his brother was.

"You are not welcome here," Mufasa told Hago. "I want you out of the Pride Lands."

"Well, naturally you would say that," replied Hago. "Of course, I have ways of making you changing your mind. You'll find that I can be a very controlling person. Entrancing, even."

With that, Hago pointed the eyes of his cobra staff directly at Mufasa's, and chuckled evilly as the staff's eyes began to glow an entrancing red, and did its hypnotic work.

Mufasa's gaze was fixed firmly on the glowing red eyes of the staff. He couldn't look away, because he just didn't want to.

Looking away was now forbidden to him. Nothing else mattered.

He didn't even care now that his thoughts felt like they were slipping away. He didn't care that he felt like he was losing control of his body.

An evil grin spread across Hago's face when he saw Mufasa blink, and his eyes began to glow red. The great King

Mufasa was now completely under his control.

Hago laughed evilly, victorious. "Yes!" he exclaimed, staring at the hypnotised Mufasa. "At last, victory is mine! How does it feel now, Mufasa? How does it feel to not be in control for once?" He laughed maniacally again, feeling totally in control.

He'd never felt like this before. He just felt so powerful having the King under his control. It felt good.

And now, he was going to exact his greatest plan yet. A sneaky, clever plan, which would ensure the Pride Lands were going to be his… forever.