As Simba, Nala and Haiba cowered together in fear, it didn't take very long for them to realise that their fears were irrational. In other words, they were just being silly.
"Oh," said Haiba, relieved. "They're not monsters."
Three new cubs had stepped out from the darkness, looks of curiosity splayed across their own faces. The one on the right was a male—he had brown fur with eyes that were so bright that they looked yellow. Stood in the middle was another male—he had strangely grey fur and blue eyes. The cub on the right was female—she had golden-brown fur and hard brown eyes. Simba and Nala didn't recognise any of them.
Haiba, however, was a different story.
"Oh, no." He looked particularly concerned. "Oh, no, no, no."
"What?" Nala asked, noticing how worried he looked. It had to be some kind of villainous cub from the war days of his pride. Who else could it be? This cub was mean! She was out for blood! She wanted to rip them apart!
"I don't believe it," spat the female cub in disgust. "It's you."
"It's you," Haiba retorted, taking a step forward in bewilderment, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Binamu?"
"Banana-what?" Simba and Nala exclaimed.
Haiba scratched his head, looking like he would rather be someplace else—preferably a million miles away. "Uh, guys—this is Binamu. She's my, uh… cousin."
"Your cousin?" Nala said. "As in, the one that doesn't speak to you anymore?"
Haiba nodded sheepishly. "The very same."
"Are you his girlfriend?" Binamu asked, poking a claw in Nala's chest. "Because if he is, then I suggest that you watch where you put your mouth."
"For your information, I'm not his girlfriend," Nala informed her, "and believe me, I have no intention of putting my mouth anywhere near his."
"Good," Binamu said, satisfied. "Nice to know that my cousin knows his place from now on."
"Oh, come on, Binamu, it was just a misunderstanding," Haiba said, rolling his eyes.
"Three weeks!" Binamu exclaimed in anger. "For three weeks we were together! And then, it turned out we were…" she gagged, "cousins!"
Nala was suddenly struck with two emotions—both disgust and humour. Strangely, she wasn't that surprised that Haiba had done such a thing. It certainly wasn't out of the ordinary—he dated twigs, for crying out loud! A part of it was actually quite funny… Nala was concerned that Haiba was rubbing off on her…
"But I didn't know!" Haiba insisted. "My mother never said anything until after the three weeks!"
Binamu slapped him across the face. "Don't you lie to me! You knew very well what you were up to, you sleaze! We kissed, cuddled and…" she shuddered, "ugh… it makes me feel so sick!"
"You were together with your cousin?" Simba exclaimed, eyes wide with shock. "That's just weird—even for your standards."
Simba had to admit that he had mixed feelings about Haiba's innocence. He was known to lie before—but surely not about something like that? This Binamu cub—who they hadn't even met before—was just pulling their legs, right? Either that or… she could be telling the truth, and Haiba really was something of a romantic monster, preying on all females—males, too—and their weaknesses. Maybe there was no stopping him, and he could be the greatest villain they'd ever, ever encountered!
Nah. That was just stupid.
"It wasn't my fault!" Haiba protested, rubbing his burning cheek. "We hadn't even met each other! And ever since, she's hated me!"
"Well, I wonder why that is," Binamu said sarcastically. "Probably because you're the sickest cub who ever lived!"
"True," Haiba agreed, "but even the sickest of cubs have their limits. Getting together with my cousins is out of the question!"
Binamu scoffed. "Yeah, right. And I'm a snake. I bet you've been having secret relationships with your brothers and sisters too!"
"Now that's just ridiculous," Haiba said. "The worst I ever made out with was… well, you, actually."
Binamu rolled her eyes. "I can't even believe cubs like you hang around with this sicko!" she said to Simba and Nala. "Do you have any idea how much of a monster he is?"
"Um, well, we have been known to experience some of Haiba's… personality," Simba told her, "but he's always been polite about it."
"Oh, so it's okay if he makes out with his cousin as long as he asks nicely first," Binamu retorted.
"I didn't mean it like that," Simba said.
He noticed that the two male cubs by Binamu were being strangely quiet. She was obviously the leader, and Simba pitied them. Having a cub that did nothing but shout, shout, shout all the time had to be something of an earache… His own ears were ringing just thinking about her! Couldn't she just shut up for two seconds?
Binamu turned to the two male cubs. "Aibu, Wafu—let's get out of here. I'm sick of hanging around with my… sick cousin!"
"But don't they know the way out of here?" the cub with greyish fur—called Aibu—whispered. He looked rather shy.
Clearly he wasn't much of a talker—Binamu did plenty of that…
"Who cares if they know the way out?" Binamu yelled. "I'm not taking any advice from that weirdo!"
"But we've been stuck here for days," the other cub, Wafu, protested. He looked desperate. "And you know it's because of the curse—"
"Shh!" Binamu hissed, clamping a paw over his mouth. "We're not supposed to talk about that, you dummy!"
"Curse?" said Simba, intrigued. "What curse?"
Binamu sighed. "You mean to tell me that sneaky, good-for-nothing cubs like yourselves don't know anything about the curse that haunts this part of the jungle?"
"No," Nala replied, stepping forward, "but we'd love to find out."
"Um, Binamu, I'm not really sure you should—" Aibu said, before being cut off by her.
"Shut up, Aibu! I know what I'm doing!" Binamu proclaimed, a sly smile spreading across her face. "If these idiots want to know about the curse, then they might as well hear it!" She turned to Simba, Nala and Haiba. "The curse you're looking for is the Mabaya Curse. Rumour has it that some stupid wizard put a curse on this section of the jungle because he fell through a hole around here. Ever since, horrible monsters have stalked the place, killing anyone dumb enough to pass through."
"Explains why you're here," Haiba mumbled.
"Okay, so how do you get out?" Simba inquired.
"You don't," said Binamu. "You can't. Anyone who walks in will just keep going around in a circle if they try to escape. We've been stuck here for four days."
"Come to think of it, everything's looked the same for the past few hours we've been walking around," Nala suddenly noticed. "I guess that means—"
"—we're trapped too," Simba finished for her. "And there's no way to get out?"
"Not unless you walk the Path of Death," Wafu informed him. "But it's impossible. No one's ever survived—that's why we've been sticking to this part of the jungle."
"Oh, come on," Haiba said. "It can't be that bad."
"It's where the monsters are," Wafu told him. "Go in there and we'd be dead in seconds. To get through, we would have to clear the Pit of Despair, traverse the Weeds of Wrath and climb the Mountain of Utter Evil and Nasty Things. It's suicide!"
"Suicide is our speciality," Nala said. "And things like that are mostly rumours. It could be harmless."
"It's not harmless," whispered Aibu.
"Not harmless?" Haiba laughed. "And why's that?"
"Because the monsters have already killed one of our friends."