ground.

Another flash lit up Mawenzi as he threw himself through the air towards the cubs.

Kovu turned and let out a roar, very similar to an adult, and claws his face. Simba, Kiara and Nala all skidded to a halt as Mbwa and two more Gammas blocked their path to freedom.

Simba growled and pounced at one while Kiara and Nala took the other two.

If someone had have been watching from higher up from the clearing they would have seen how the lightening lit up the occasional fight scene in the clearing.

During one strike, Kovu leaped at Mawenzi and seemed to have been frozen in mid air with Mawenzi below him, mouth open and teeth bared.

Another time, Simba and Nala were back-to-back in battle against Mbwa and his fellow Gamma. They swiped and snapped until Mbwa and the other wolf were covered in scars.

Kiara leaped from different wolves forcing them down to the ground in an effort to make them back away from her friends.

As soon as Kovu saw an opening he called the others and ran. They stopped again as Kibo jumped down in front of them.

“Outta my way…” began Kovu but Kibo stopped him and said, “Run! I’ll buy you some time.”

The cubs didn’t have time to tell whether he was telling the truth or not but ran past him anyway.

The cubs charged down the path and Kovu glimpsed Kibo leading the Pack down a different path on the other side.

He sighed in relief and followed the other three cubs down to the bottom.

The cubs ran for as long as they could, and soon they were forced to stop. They found an old den of some kind that was underneath and slightly underground from an overhanging slab of rock.

The four cubs collapsed there and slept until dawn.

Chapter 5

Kovu was awoken by paws padding on the rock above them and voices. He nudged Simba and the others awake and gestured for them to be quiet. Everyone soon heard the paw steps and voices. Suddenly Simba stood up despite Nala’s protests and said, “Dad!”

He ran out and met his father; Mufasa had brought nearly the entire pride. He looked relieved to see him but angry as well.

“Simba, where have you been?” he demanded.

“We were…” Simba trailed off.

Nala poked her head out, “We were looking for the wolves.”

Sarafina, Nala’s mother, gasped, “Where did you hear about them?”

“From you,” said Simba, turning to his own mother, “I overheard you talking to the other lioness about them. So we went to find them.”

Mufasa’s mouth dropped open, “You went looking for the wolves?”

“And he found us.” said a voice.

Everyone turned to see Mawenzi and his pack behind Simba and his friends.

Simba gasped and spun around to face them.

“Lions,” growled Mawenzi, “I can’t believe it’s you.”

The wolves and lions growled at each other and Mawenzi continued, “I didn’t realise you were low enough to send your children to spy on us.”

“We didn’t send anyone.” replied Mufasa calmly.

The grey Omega the cubs had seen earlier talking to Mbwa shouted out, “You come to steal what little food we have!”

“Quiet, Udhaifu!” snapped Mawenzi.

Beside him Mbwa gave him a hard shove, “That makes us look weak, you fool!”

“No, Udhaifu’s comment says a lot of things but it does not spell weakness.” said Mufasa.

“What does it say to you?” snarled Mawenzi.

“It explains why you tried to kill our cubs last night. It explains why your fear told you that that was right.”

Mawenzi’s eyes widened, “How did you know they were sentenced to death?”

“A friend of mine.” explained Mufasa. He took a step back to reveal the springhare, the same one that had helped the cubs earlier.

“This is Kuruka.” said Mufasa, “A very good and old friend of mine.”

“Friend?” gasped Kiara.

“As soon as I heard you were trying to find the wolves,” said Kuruka, “I brought you my friend the elephant shrew then I went to find Mufasa; I knew there would be trouble.”

Mawenzi gave a growling laugh; “Look here, the lion brings his little rodent friend!” he showed his teeth. “What else do Udhaifu’s words tell you?”

“That you have the same problem as us.” replied Mufasa, “You have little food, as do we. I presume it’s because of the…”

“Wildebeest!” cried Udhaifu suddenly.

Mawenzi turned around and gave a sharp and angry bark at him, “Quiet you little fool, what did I say earlier?”

“No! Wildebeest look!” Everyone turned to follow Udhaifu’s terrified stare.

Quite close by was a cloud of rocky dust rising from the ground, Mufasa’s eyes widened along with Mawenzi’s. They both knew what it was.

“Stampede!” they both yelled in unison.

Mufasa pointed with his head to the base of the mountain, “Run!” he cried to his pride.

Mawenzi’s pack ran with them but Mawenzi froze in fear.

The stampede came closer and closer, Kovu peeked out from underneath the rock where he’d been hiding to avoid Mufasa who wouldn’t be happy to see an Outlander with his own cub.

He saw the stampede that was now practically on top of the two of them, Kovu took in the scene quickly and analysed it just as fast.

Mawenzi was frozen in fear; he would be killed if he didn’t move. Kovu cried out, “Mawenzi run!”

Mawenzi didn’t respond, Kovu ran forward and gave him a sharp nip in his leg. The pain was enough to snap Mawenzi out of his shock, “Ow!” he barked. Kovu put both his forepaws on his shoulder, “Run! If you don’t move now, you’ll die!”

Mawenzi gave a quick nod and ran alongside Kovu. They weren’t a second out of the path when the wildebeest came running past. The thunder of hooves and the sound of panting along with other noises filled the air for seemingly an age.

As suddenly as it began, the stampede had passed. Sarabi stood up, “It’s over.” she said as everyone began rising up and coughing because of the dust.

Mawenzi lay in a heap panting with his eyes wide open. He turned to Kovu and said shakily, “I… I… Thank you, lion cub.”

Mbwa ran over, “You saved his life!”

Kovu smiled, “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”

Kibo stepped forward, “This is why I let them get away.”

“You… Let them get away?” Mawenzi looked up.

Kibo nodded, “I could see that your actions were all made under the heat of your fear.”

Mawenzi nodded, “I did… And I was a fool to do that.” he stood up and walked over to Mufasa. Mufasa looked surprised and tensed up in case Mawenzi wanted to put actions before words.

Mawenzi bowed down before Mufasa, “I’m sorry, Lion King. I was wrong to sentence your cubs to death. And I was wrong to provoke a war with the lion prides.”

Mufasa gave a small nod, “It wasn’t your fault, we are all low on food because of the larger numbers of wildebeest making it hard to hunt. It can be very scary to face starvation but we must master our fear and use it.”

Mawenzi nodded but didn’t look up. Mufasa put his paw underneath his chin and raised his head, “You know, if we work together- your pack and my pride- we can get the food we need very easily.”

Mawenzi gave a small smile which soon turned into a broad grin, it was the first time in months that he had had a good reason to smile, “I would like that a lot.”

Both the wolf pack and the lion pride gave roars and howls of happiness. They would soon be enough food for everyone, because both pack and pride had set aside their differences and teamed up to work together!

Later the Lion King led the cubs home, and the wolves came too so the two could work together to solve the problem that had bothered both groups. The wolves would leave again after the problem was fixed.

The End.