The Lion King III: Hidden Prophecy Part III

10

It was still the middle of the day back at the Pride Lands. This time of day in this particular tropical climate always brought the maximum heat, which had risen to 87 degrees Fahrenheit. There were very few clouds left in the sky, which would allow the sun to keep the landscape alight.

Near the den entrance at Pride Rock, Nala had just come back around from behind the rock, where an important meeting had just been held earlier. At the same time, Vitani was just taking Kiara out into the northern open heart of the savannah to teach her how to hunt and fight. They had just walked about 300 metres away; when Kiara finally decided to speak.

“Whereabouts is the best location for this?” She asked Vitani.

“We will need somewhere with high grass and some bare ground.” Vitani replied, searching the landscape with her eyes for the perfect spot. “As the attacker, you will need somewhere to hide so that you can surprise the prey when you jump out. The bare ground is for who you will be attacking; which will be me.” Kiara understood and nodded in affirmation as they continued walking.   

But Vitani wasn’t concentrating very hard on this, because something familiar caught her mind and she was staring to feel unwell inside because of it. She still could not let go of the last words that her mother said to her; let alone the fact that, like her brother, she had been raised in hate with evil intentions because of her. She was feeling extremely uneasy about this new life that was to come around, and it seemed to make her suffer; because after all that she had been through, she wasn’t sure whether she would handle the good life or if she deserved it.

Why should I worry about this? She thought. A fresh start is exactly what I need to recover from everything that I never truly understood back then. I know now that killing, vengeance and evil intentions is wrong; and now I am on my way to doing the right. But I don’t know how. Then something else caught her mind. I also think that I need more than just a good life to enjoy, but I just don’t know what. There is something missing, whatever it may be.

“Are you okay, Vitani?” Asked Kiara; noticing Vitani drifting off into another world once again.

Vitani snapped out of her thoughts and noticed that she and Kiara were still walking in the middle of the savannah. She immediately continued to scan the landscape for the perfect training spot.

“Oh, yeah; just thinking about the best place to practice.” She replied, not entirely telling the truth. She thought that it might be an idea to tell Kiara about her situation, but she just wanted to wait for the right time. She then decided to bring something else up.

“By the way, I just wanted to say sorry about everything that happened to your father and the pride. I know that I was partly involved in this entire ‘takeover’ scheme; and because of what you said, I know now how terribly wrong it was to even attempt it. If we had known before, this would never have happened. I just hope that you can forgive me.”

“It’s okay, Vitani.” Kiara replied understandably, “You were not the one behind it all: It was your mother.”

“Yes,” Vitani remarked, quivering at the thought of her mother, “it was mother who wanted nothing more than to kill Simba and take over the Pride Lands for good. As of now I cannot believe that she wanted to fight among our own kind.”

“That is what I cannot understand;” Kiara replied, “whether she wanted more than to get my father out of the way, if anything. If she had known that we were the same, then why would we fight amongst ourselves? It’s a real mystery.”

“Tell me about it.”

Suddenly Vitani turned her head east and she spotted a patch of bare ground near a large savannah tree with a small boulder. The patch was about 8 metres squared and it was surrounded by thick long grass; and 60 metres north-west laid a waterhole, which Vitani thought could come in handy when quenching for thirst after hard training. This is definitely the perfect spot.

“Right over there.” Vitani gestured towards the patch of bare ground. “This is where we shall train.”

Kiara looked at it, and she approved almost immediately as they both made their way towards the patch with the surrounding long grass to begin Kiara’s lesson.

11

Over at Pride Rock, Nala had just entered into the den; where the other lionesses were still sleeping or resting their wounds from the battle. She could see that the numbers in the pride had certainly increased greatly since the former outsiders; whom she now called the “New Breed”; had joined Simba’s original pride; whom she called the “Originals”. Not only that, but she had been told that the New Breed had had extensive training in hunting and fighting by Zira. It was certainly no surprise to her considering that during the previous day’s battle, the New Breed had gained sufficient advantage over the Originals; and if the fight had not been stopped, the New Breed would have definitely become victorious. Since we have the New Breed at our helm, their training to us may increase our chances at winning in war. Nala thought.

Keeping this in mind, she went over to the pride to speak to them. A few lionesses who were awake kept their eyes fixed on her in case she needed to speak to them about something. The rest of them either didn’t notice her or ignored her presence: Not in a rude way, but as just to mind their own business.

“May I have your attention please, everyone?” Nala said with her voice slightly raised as if to make the pride hear her loud and clear. Everyone wasted no time as they all woke up from their rest or snapped out of their resting states to fix their eyes upon the second-in-command of the Pride Lands. They all went silent to listen to what was going to be said.

“I would like to apologise for the interruption of your resting, but this is quite important. It will only take a moment.” Nala began, as everyone continued to listen carefully without minding the interruption. “I have just arrived back from a meeting with the family, and there are suspicions that the dark evil leader Zira is still at large somewhere out there.” Some of the lionesses looked at each other and started to grow expressions of shock and surprise at what they had just heard; some of it even disbelief; but they continued to listen in to the rest of the message.

“We are not sure whether she might have survived her fall into the flowing river, but if she did it is be possible that she might return and wreak more havoc on us if she is able to find a new revenge plot. We are not entirely sure what is possible for her, but it could be something bad. This is very unlikely to happen, but I do not think that it is worth taking a chance. Even if that is not the case, there still might be other such threats out there that are willing to take us on into further battle, and it will be important for us to be prepared at all costs to defend our land and ourselves. Therefore, as Queen of the Pride Lands, I must insist that we prepare ourselves; so I will have all of us to start training to hunt and fight.” Some lionesses were a bit speechless at what they heard about Zira’s possible return, and they started talking amongst each other with concern in their voices; even the New Breed; because as former alliances, they knew Zira very well and what she was capable of.

“I beg your pardon for my interruption, Your Majesty,” a New Breed lioness said to Nala, “But as the former Outsiders and protégés of Zira, we have already had years of training, and we…”

“I am aware of that.” Nala interrupted with a soft voice as if not to make it sound too rude. “I could tell from the battle yesterday that your training really gave us a tough ride, and I have to admit that you have learned well: Which is why I want you, the New Breed, to train the Originals to fight.”

Some of the Originals looked at the New Breed for a moment, wondering whether they would be capable of teaching them. Others seemed reluctant to accept due to the fact that the New Breed had been trained to kill with nothing but black hearts; and they did not want to become like them in any way.

“But sire,” another Original began, “They have been trained with evil intentions.”

“Yes! Their hearts are purely black and they have only been intended to kill!” yelled another.

Several other Originals yelled more complaints about the New Breed; while the New Breed just held back and took it. They wanted to oppose, but what the Originals had said was true: They had been trained to become killers with evil intentions; and they did not want to corrupt the Originals into doing what they had done, because as they were all united as “one”, there would be no more wars between their own species.

“Silence!” Nala yelled at the top of her voice to cease the noise of conflict. Everyone went quiet and they stopped to look at her once again. “…please.” she added politely with a softer voice this time. She was always the kind to be gentle and show good manners; plus she was never