muttered Nala, “What do you think he expected a lion to look like?”

“Something lying down, I reckon.” replied Simba.

“Shh!” Kiara interjected.

The springhare approached and cheerily said, “Hello, Kovu!” he put his paw on the elephant shrew’s shoulder, “This is my friend. He knows a lot about wolves.”

The elephant shrew seemed nervous but straightened his back and said, “These particular wolves have grey fur and silver, amber or green eyes. Some of them are brown or black, of course; that’s a standard for these types of wolves. I hear you’re looking for them too.  Look out for scores in the ground where they’ve dug to mark their territory…”

The elephant shrew truly was an expert in wolves, he knew all about them; how they ate, how they lived. He told them that the alpha was the leader; the second-in-command was called a Beta and then the Gamma who was far below the Beta but above the lowest rank which was an Omega.

The information was valuable but the cubs were disappointed when he told them that he didn’t know where to find them.

The cubs had wandered away from the river further up to the base of Kilimanjaro.

They began walking around the base of the huge mountain, they had been going for a long time before realised that they were lost.

Kovu clawed the rocky ground in annoyance, “I never get how this happens, we walked all the way here without any problem, how are we lost?”

“Because Stupid Simba suggested we walk around the mountain.” said Nala, “Walking around in a huge circle like that is disorientating. Plus the sun has gone, it’s night-time now, how can we find our way back without the sun?”

“Stupid Simba?!” he took an angry step forward and opened his mouth as if he was about to give Nala a piece of his mind but was cut off when Kiara said, “Is it darker tonight or is that just me?”

The cubs looked up; the stars and moon looked hazy and Kovu explained that clouds were rolling in fast. Since it was probably a storm they should find shelter.

Then began making their way around in a rough circle hoping to reach the river again, but as they left they didn’t notice the scratch marks in the earth and the creature that watched them from the rough undergrowth.

The cub’s paws made padding noises on the rock. Suddenly Nala stopped as she picked up the sound of clicking nearby.

“What…” she began then she screamed as something big landed on her back.

The creature flipped her around and snarled in her face, “Who are you?!” it roared in a deep voice that seemed to make the very mountain shiver.

Nala just screamed again in response. The creature was huge with pointed ears and long fur around his neck. His eyes glowed an angry amber; his grey fur was fluffed up in rage.

“Hey!” cried Kovu leaping forward and sinking his claws into the creatures face.

The animal howled in pain and snapped blindly at the young cub. Kovu let out a cracked roar and helped Nala out from underneath him.

“Wait!” said Simba, taking a step forwards. The creature and Kovu turned to face him. “Are you… a wolf?” said Simba.

The creature stood up tall and shook out his ruffled fur, “Yes, I am. I am the Kibo, Beta of the Uhuru Pack.”

“The second in command.” whispered Kiara, remembering what the elephant shrew had told her.

“That hardly matters.” growled Kibo, “You are on our territory. This is a very serious offence in a wolf’s world.”

“I’m sorry.” said Nala, “We didn’t mean to enter your territory we really had no idea. We’re lost.”

Kibo considered the fours cubs and finally said, “Nevertheless, you’d better come with me.”

Chapter 4

Kibo lead the four cubs high up a mountain trail to the camp of the Uhuru Pack.

As they neared the camp the clouds had thickened considerably overhead, it was clearly going to rain very soon.

The cubs had a hard time seeing what was going on since it was so dark and even Kibo began to trip and stumble over the large rocks on the ground.

Kovu tapped Simba on the shoulder who looked around a few times before he was sure he was looking at Kovu, “Listen, Simba, he can’t see any better than we can in this light. Maybe we could make a run for it.”

Before Simba could reply Kibo boomed, “Don’t even think about it. Maybe I can’t see in the dark, but we wolves can hear and smell better than any animal.”

Simba and Kovu exchanged a silent but rather blind glance and continued walking.

The ground began evening out and the cubs could smell other creatures like Kibo. They sensed the rocks that had previously been towering around them melt away so there was a large clearing.

They had arrived at the camp.

Simba, who was in front, fell into Kibo as he stopped suddenly. Simba looked around, “Kibo, are we here?” there was no answer. Cautiously Simba repeated his name, “Kibo…?”

Another voice, lighter than Kibo’s but with more authority just the same said, “Stay here, cubs. You’ll be put on trial soon.”

“Trial?” said Kiara. There was no answer.

After a while the cubs picked up the conversation of two female wolves somewhere to their left.

“This is all we need, with those wildebeest running amok…”

“I know. My cubs are hungry, but the wildebeest herd has become so big in numbers that there’s no chance of our hunters to get to them. Even the weaker ones seem to be protected.”

The wolf the mother was talking to was younger but evidently not related to her. “Mwitu,” said the younger wolf, “I’m scared. The wolf pack has always seemed to be on terrible terms with the lion pride.”

Mwitu gave the young wolf a friendly nudge, “It is okay. We’re all afraid, but Mawenzi will take care of it. I just hope he doesn’t make any rash decisions because of his fear.”

Simba’s mind flashed back to when he overheard his mother and the other lioness talking. He was beginning to realise there wasn’t much difference between lions and wolves after all.

He remembered that his mother and father were both referred to as “the alpha lions” as well as “the king and queen”. And the younger members of the Pride were called cubs as well.

Rain started spitting down and the cubs were quite wet by the time a large black wolf with orangey-yellow eyes stepped forwards and said, “I am Mawenzi, the Alpha wolf. My mate, Shira, and I will be judging your trial.”

Behind them a brown Gamma wolf shoved them forwards as Mawenzi jumped up on to a podium made of rock. His mate, Shira, a beautiful silver wolf with blue eyes sat beside him.

“Cubs,” said Mawenzi loud enough for everyone to hear, “who speaks for you?”

Kovu took a step back and made a welcoming gesture to Simba. Simba turned to see Nala and Kiara staring at him. Simba frowned, “Okay…” he took a step forward and said, “Me, I speak for the four of us.”

“What Pride do you come from?” asked Mawenzi.

“Me, Nala and Kiara,” Simba pointed at each cub in turn as he said their names, “Come from the Pride Landers Pride. Kovu,” he gestured to the brown cub behind him, “comes from the Outlanders Pride.”

“And how do the two of you, two from different Prides, come to be together, is it not a bad thing between two lion prides?”

“It’s a seriously tough friendship to maintain.” muttered Kovu.

“Well,” Mawenzi curled his lip slightly, clearly trying to maintain his temper, “What business do you have on our territory?”

“We were lost.” said Simba, “I swear it was an accident.”

The rain began to pick up to a heavy downpour as Mawenzi leaned down to the ground where Kibo whispered something in his ear. Then he stood up again and said, “My Beta informs me you walked straight past the border marker and didn’t even acknowledge it.”

“It was dark, we didn’t see it.” replied Simba.

Mawenzi jumped down and roared, “Lies!”

Mawenzi’s sudden outburst caused the other wolves to jump into an uproar.

The brown Gamma who had pushed them forward earlier cried out, “They were probably sent to spy on us!”

Beside him, a light grey Omega said, “Mbwa’s right! The lions have always wanted us off their land.”

The calling out continued until Mawenzi cried out in a voice louder than everyone’s, “They must be sentenced to death!”

A series of agreeing howls followed.

The cubs crouched closer together.

Mawenzi turned to Mbwa and Shira and growled, “Mbwa, Shira, with me.” slowly they advanced on the cubs with the surrounding wolves creating a heavy beat with their paws on the rocks. The beat slowly began rising in tempo as Mawenzi and his two partners came closer.

Suddenly lightning struck making the cubs jump. The flash lit up every detail of the clearing, every sharp tooth and claw and glowing eye.

Another flash followed and Kovu yelled, “RUN!” just as the three wolves leapt.

The cubs managed to avoid them and they heard “Oof!” as the three landed on solid rock.

The cubs began charging to where they guessed the exit to the rocky walkway that led back to the ground.

Another flash