Prologue

Great, clouds gathering. A nice, bone chilling storm is about the last thing we need now. But then again, nothing has gone our way today (or any day for that matter) it seems. Hey, that ought to teach me: if you want to waste your time chasing myths, rumors and phantoms all you can hope to get is hungry, and a wet fur if you are stupid enough to pick the rainy season to go adventuring (and indeed, we are)…

Right, like I had any choice to begin with. Vitani this, Vitani that...  Well, guess a little rain won’t (and can’t) stop me from doing what I have to do; following orders. That’s how hierarchy works, like it or not: Zira says, I obey. I can’t escape that just because of some insignificant orbs of water falling from the sky.

Nonetheless, the sooner we get this over with, the better: spending the day with my o-so-adorable brothers, who have been arguing and irritating each other from dusk till dawn it seems, is about as fun as beating your head into a rock for hours on end, and it yields similar amounts of headache, no doubt. If we were to fail our assignment, and we will, chances are it’s because those bloated egos of theirs crowded out anyone we could have ever come across, that and their incessant bickering. Not to mention the risk of an ambush, since we are walking through a canyon, the perfect place to waste any lion-trio that draws far too much attention to themselves. Maybe it’s time I tried getting that through their thick lion-sculls.

“I don’t suppose you’ve ever come across the term ‘discretion’ in your limited vocabularies?”

Nuka interrupted his discussion with Kovu, glaring at Vitani with the most arrogant grin he could muster.

“Oh my, looks like my baby sister has learned a new word, now isn’t that nice?”

“Besides, what could a bunch scruffy, emaciated scavengers ever do to us, sis?” Kovu yawned, trying to behave relaxed. His eyes, however, betrayed him: he was feeling just as uncomfortable as Vitani was. Who could blame them: their surroundings, consisting of sand, rocks, sharp cliffs and the sorry excuse for vegetation you could usually only find in a grade-A wasteland, combined with a dark and unsettling pack of clouds above their heads, could only be described as overly depressing at best. Vitani figured even the elephant graveyard was to be preferred over this place. The mere thought of having to spend one more second out in these grim surroundings sent a shiver down her spine.

“Haha, everyone‘s a comedian. Do me a favor and do at least try to keep up the appearances. This isn’t a damn field trip; some of us are still actually trying to execute their orders in a serious manner. Besides…” Vitani paused, “I’m getting the feeling there are worse things out here than just hyenas…”

The party paused, Nuka being ahead of the other two. With an unnerving smile, he turned around and slowly strode towards his younger companions. Feeling uneasy and unnerved, Kovu chose to break the unnatural silence that had descended upon them.

“Vitani, drop the gloomy mood already. Nothing here but sand and rocks, I mean, what could possibly be out here?”

Nuka’s smile darkened even further, as he was really amused at the fear displayed by both his brother and sister. He approached Kovu, who backed up a little.

“That’s the question, isn’t it? What could possibly be out here for us to fear?” he whispered.

Kovu inched further towards Vitani, shivering barely noticeable. Nuka continued.

“Some say that way back, there indeed used to be hyenas out here. After their crushing defeat at the pride rock, four years back, they ran, ran as the pridelanders hunted them down, fled until there was nowhere else to flee but here, since we, pitiful outlanders, had taken what they used to call their homelands. But they found nothing here but sand, rocks and death. And so they perished, one by one, starving to death, even turning on eachother in the end…” Nuka uttered in the most ghastly manner, glaring at Kovu, “But though their bodies have long since disappeared, their spirits live on, angry, full of vengeance. The Kings of old only know what they might do to three lonely lions venturing into their realm, unaware of what lurks in the shadows…”

And as if Nuka had planned it so, heavy thunder echoed down through the canyon just after he had finished his tale. As one could have come to expect, both Vitani and Kovu yelled out in fear, be only for a short time. Once they had come back to their senses, Nuka broke out in the most annoying laughter, utmost amused at his own sense of humor. But before Vitani or Kovu even had the time to get back at him, it seemed like Nuka’s laughter echoed back at them, only louder and more shrill, with a grim touch to it. In one word: terrifying. In a rush of panic, they all turnrd to star into the dark canyon ahead of them, as Vitani mumbled with a voice that sounded like it was stuck somewhere in between anger and fear:

“Oh right, why bother being cautious for but one second, there’s nothing here but sand, rocks and death…”

Kovu figured it would be best if he didn’t say anything, while Nuka limited his response to an offensive gesture, as they ventured forward to locate the source of their terror. As the laughter faded away, an unsettling silence set in, seeming even scarier than the shrill laugh hat had startled them.

The lions suddenly froze, as they heard a deep, slightly deformed and coarse voice behind them.

“Boo…”

Great. We’ve had it.  Yeah, no doubt about it, we’re goners. Or aren’t we? Like hell that is a ghost, those aren’t real…Well, just standing here being paralyzed with fear probably won’t do me any good, so I might as well try turning around. And keep my cool, yeah, got to keep my cool. I know them brothers of mine won’t. Right, just calm down and turn around, nothing to see here… I need a vacation, I need a drink, I need something to eat, I need to get some sleep… but first, I’ve got to turn around…

As Vitani turned around to have a look behind her, she couldn’t notice any changes, except for the lonely, gray figure that had appeared. At least, he looked gray: everything started looking gray at dusk, especially with a thick pack of dark clouds above your head. As she had expected, it was a hyena. At least, that she presumed since she had never actually seen one: they had already fled their lands by the time Vitani was born. But it looked more or less like what her mother had described: scruffy, paled spots, long forelegs, big jaws, big ears, black muzzle, short manes… But there was something missing: his right eye. As a matter of fact, the right side of his head looked like one big scar, his ear being torn apart as well. A lion’s claw, definitely. Furthermore, the right side of his thin body and head were covered in… burns? Considering how the hyena looked, she wasn’t so sure anymore about him not being a ghost. By now, Vitani’s brothers turned around as well. For seconds on end, they just stared. Suddenly, the ghostlike figure spoke again, giggling.

“Obviously you haven’t ever seen a ghost before…” he grinned, though his single, pale-green eye spoke not of amusement, but only of cold hate (for the time being). While all three lions were at first indeed confident of him being a ghost, Vitani quickly regained her calm and was the first to speak out.

“Like I said, everyone’s a comedian. You just plan on sitting there for a while, or are you willing to make yourself useful for a change?”

Surprisingly, the hyena kept on giggling, while it wasn’t really obvious why: being outnumbered three to one, he was actually the one in trouble. By now, Kovu’s annoyance over being mocked by an inferior life form had overcome his fear.

“Hey, comrade one-eyes, how ‘bout letting us in on the joke before we mash you to a pulp?”

The hyena didn’t seem to mind the mockery concerning his appearance, although his tone changed from amused to grim, even mean.

“Just a déjà vu, two-eyes, déjà vu. Curious lions that stray from the pride always seem to bump into me… I just hope this time, it’s gona be a happier ending.”

“Gee wiz, it can count too… two-eyes, what a pun. I wonder whether he bothered to count us too, ‘cause he’d notice he’s alone, and there are three of us. How ‘bout tuning it down a bit?” Nuka growled as he approached the hyena, halting only inches from him. The hyena didn’t move, and that was when Vitani realized he hadn’t come alone, although she should have figured that one out way sooner. She also remembered that instead of pissing the hyena off to the best of their abilities, it might be wise to be a bit more polite as they still had an assignment to fulfill: seeking an alliance with the hyenas. But as things were looking now, she feared getting out alive would already be a real stunt to pull, let alone engage in some friendly diplomacy. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a sound she’d been expecting all along: the ticking of claws on the canyon rocks behind her. They were surrounded. As they tried to suppress their panic, Vitani and Kovu turned around to face the new threat. Meanwhile, Nuka was still staring at the hyena who sat only a few inches in front of him. If it hadn’t been for his dark fur, Nuka would have turned pale, as he was not at ease, to say the least, staring at the hyena’s yellowish fangs.

Vitani saw him as she turned around: another lonely, gray shade, casually striding towards them. She didn’t know what annoyed her the most: their own incompetence, or the talent these hyenas had developed in the field of stealth and secrecy. Both presented a threat. But now, she had to focus on the figure approaching her. He actually looked quite different than the hyena behind her. He was just as skinny, but his face, for one, looked unharmed, and his nozzle was a bit darker, and pointier. He had a darker tan altogether, so he probably was younger than his mutilated counterpart, Vitani realized. But the thing which truly put him apart were his manes: thick and way darker, and his fuzzy ears. That, and his eyes. She only noticed those as he came closer. Not pale and green, but a deep, dark brown. She couldn’t help but stare, and he stared back, into her unusually blue eyes. None said a word. The silence was so unbearable, she actually felt relieved when the ticking of small rocks falling down the canyon reached her ears. Kovu looked up, and as he had come to expect, about a dozen big, though also skinny, hyena’s stared back. Vitani could see them too, and judging by their size, they were all females, bigger and more threatening than the two who were in the gorge with the lions, all of whom were scared shitless by now. Fearing this day to be their last, the lions rallied into a defensive triangle. The hyenas on the other hand, didn’t move.

“Right boss, what do we do now?” the one eyed hyena asked his younger counterpart.

The ‘boss’, the younger, dark hyena didn’t say a word, but instead signaled two of the females above him, who immediately sought their way down and took position alongside the ‘boss’. He then approached the lions, keeping his gaze fixed upon Vitani, who started growling as he got to close, as not to reward his arrogance. Strangely though, his look wasn’t threatening, for a moment, Vitani even thought he looked rather… charming? For a hyena, be it. The ‘boss’ suddenly spoke out with a slow, deep but still very hyenaish voice.

“You know, Banzaï, you really shouldn’t be calling me boss…”

“Sorry b… Vinnie, nasty habit, ‘s all. But what are we gonna do with them? From the looks of it, I’d say they’re outlanders, not fat enough to be pridelanders.”

Vitani wasn’t sure whether that was an insult or a compliment.

“So?” 'Vinnie' asked.

“Well, you know the saying. Or maybe you don’t, not the point… ‘The enemy of my enemy…’ and so on. They’re in a cold war with the pridelanders, maybe we ought to listen to whatever it is they have to say, if anything.”

Vitani felt an opportunity, and before the other hyena could reply she had already started talking, as quick, self assured and confident as she could in the given situation.

“Indeed you should! Because it just so happens that we’re here not to spy or sneak around, but to have a civilized meeting, a polite chat even between potential allies…”

But Vinnie ignored her, at first.

“I know they’re outlanders. But outlanders are still lions. We have our orders, whether we like ‘em or not,” he replied to Banzaï, after which he addressed Vitani.

“You say you came here to forge an alliance? That’s why you’re here right?”

Vitani nodded, now again fearful because she could about guess what Vinnie’s orders were. His gaze hardened as he spoke to her again.

“For one, it’s not within my authority to conclude an alliance. Even if it were, I would be inclined to decline your proposal. I suggest you go find your cannon fodder elsewhere; we’re through doing someone else’s, and especially lions’, dirty work. And then there are my orders still, stating I am to kill any lion that crosses our borders.”

That being said, everyone braced for combat, but no-one seemed willing to commence the seemingly inevitable slaughter, Banzaï least of all.

“Wow, hold it, lets not rush things here… We shouldn’t interpret orders to the letter, you know, they’re more like guidelines anyway. The way I see it, there are three of you lions, and about a dozen of us… If we fight it out, you’re all goners, and we win, though we’d have to go home telling a handful of kido's their mom ain’t commin home no more.”

Kovu wanted to comment it was to be expected of hyenas they’d prefer running off in stead of standing their ground, but since he preferred going home in one piece too, he kept his mouth shut. Luckily, Nuka had come to the same conclusion. Banzaï continued.

“Besides, the border is like what, a mile, half a mile from here? Maybe it’d be best if we… misplaced it for the time being.”

What? Only half a mile? I knew it, I knew it! But did those blockheads bother to listen? Nooo... “Females can’t cope with directions”, yeah right. No wonder we didn’t find them, we were going in damn circles… Well, guess that’s the last time I’m letting Nuka’s lead the way, that’s for sure…

Vinnie seemed to think about it for a while, then he suddenly addressed Vitani.

“Well, Sunshine, you’re awfully silent and gloomy all of a sudden. What do you suggest I do?”

“Huh? Eh… Well I… we,” Vitani stuttered, “I say you get us to that border of yours, we all go home and pretend this never happened… no?”

Vinnie grinned, and as he was a hyena it was hard to tell whether he meant it to be friendly or menacing: it just looked… mean, to oversimplify the matter, and even slightly vicious. Even when he tried to grin in a rather friendly manner.

He then looked up at his clanmates who were still positioned above them.

“No-one got a moral issue with that? You’re all fine with it?”

The biggest, though not the oldest, female replied.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think Banzaï’s right; I promised my Keavy I’d take her out hunting tomorrow, so she’d be real disappointed if I didn’t come home tonight. But we'll follow your lead, sir, to whatever end.”

“Right. That settles it?” Vincent asked Vitani, “We‘ll… escort you to the border, make sure you don’t get hurt: this is a nasty place after all. Accidents will happen, especially when one of you wanders off.”

“How nice of you,” Vitani replied as she tried to sound amused in stead of cynical.

“Right then, we haven’t got all day. We’ll take the lead, Banzaï and two of you close the group, and you cover the flanks. Needles to say the lions take the middle position.”

The odd group set off. Everyone felt uneasy at best, especially Kovu, who whispered to Vitani: “I don’t trust these guys… I think they’re up to something…”

“Loosen up, at least were still alive. And we’re going the right way for a change, ain’t we? Beides, the guy in charge looks ok.”

“He looks like a hyena to me.”

“Oh my, you noticed?” Vitani giggled, “That reminds me, I still have to find out if we can’t pull of an alliance.”

“Ain’t happening. He’s already said no.”

“He already said he’d whack us too, but here we are. Besides, it won’t hurt to try…”

She tried moving up the group, which didn’t go unnoticed.

“Sunshine, if you wana talk, just talk. And try smiling for a change,” Vinnie grumbled without even looking back.

“You too aren’t exactly looking like a bundle of joy, you know…”

“Yeah, but I just disobeyed direct orders, whilst you on the other hand had your life spared.”

“True. Thanks by the way, it’s not exactly every day my eternal enemy decides to pardon my.”

“The pleasure’s all mine Sunshine.”

“The name’s Vitani.”

“Nice meeting ya, Vitani. I’m Vincent.”

“Talking ‘bout awkward…”

“What, my name?”

“No… though it does sound unusual… It’s just awkward we’re having this chat. Being eternal enemies and all. For one, aren’t we supposed to hate each other?”

“What makes you think I don’t?”

“Huh? Us talking, maybe!”

“Well, let me put it this way: Vincent might like Vitani, but that doesn’t stop the hyena Vincent from hating the lion Vitani. Liking you as a person doesn’t mean I can’t hate you for what you are: a lion.”

“That’s comforting…” Vitani frowned,  “Still, I don’t hate you for what you are, I mean, I hadn’t even seen a hyena in my life before we stumbled upon you guys.”

“And that’s where we differ, I’m afraid. I’ve seen lions one too many times, and I’ve seen what they do, what they do to us.”

Suddenly, Vincent paused.

“And here’s where our ways part,” he said, pointing at a small river at the end of the gorge: the border, “I appreciated your company, as a person. But now, I must ask you and your cronies to bugger off, and, if you favor your lives, never set foot in our realms again.”

“I’m more of a “bye-bye”-person myself…” Vitani replied.

Vincent grinned, and again it made him look mean at best.

“Bye, Vitani.”

Without further hesitation, the three lions crossed the shallow stream, back into their homeland. Of course, as to display their superiority, none of them looked back or said a word, not until they were out of hearing distance anyway. As soon as they were, Kovu addressed his sister.

“That didn’t exactly sound as if you were negotiating an alliance, you know…”

Nuka, who had remained silent for an unusually long (to Nuka’s standards anyway) amount of time, engaged in the conversation as well.

“It sounded more like she was planning on promoting intermamalian breeding efforts.”

“With hyenas? Ah Nuka, you’re just sick, you know that?”

“Pity they didn’t join us…” Vitani said a bit confused.

“Yeah, I bet it is…” Nuka grinned.

“They sure changed a lot… Not quite like mom described them.”

“A couple of years in the wastelands‘ll do that to you, we ought to know. I got the feeling we had more in common with them than with those decadent pridelanders…” Vitani grumbled.

“Illustrating how bad things are on us,” Kovu added in a rare stroke of cynicism.

“Touché!” Nuka exclaimed.

Vitani just smiled, silently.

I hate Mondays

Sunrise. Day after day, each and every day, the sun rises. And day after day, each and every day it has the same effect as it still tender, warm rays hit the earth’s surface: half of all life got up, the other half sought shelter for a good days rest. After a few minutes, the sun would become a huge, reddish circle slowly creeping up over the horizon, followed by the warmth of a morning sun. A nice and tender warmth, not like the scorching heat past noon, or the ever chilling feel of dusk. Just a pleasant warmth, sustainable almost till noon. And thus the best time to chill out in the sun, Vitani concluded.

Ever since she had left the barren outlands, after the death of her mother, to join the pride, it had become somehow what of a routine. A comfortable nap after a hard nights work. Not. Quite to the contrary. Ever since life had stopped to be a day-to-day struggle, after she joined the king’s pride that is, her life, not unlike most of the outlanders’, had become… well, empty, forcing her to fill her days by taking naps in the morning sun. Indeed, lacking both the harsh surroundings of the outlands that would always ensure a night of toil and hunger, as well as an aim in life (think overthrowing a king and putting her brother on the throne), life had become boring at best. Empty and boring. The only one who really enjoyed himself was Kovu, getting to play king over the outlanders in their newly appointed domain, right next to their old one.

You see, the all-knowing (more or less) king Simba had noticed (or concluded, or even made op as an excuse) the pridelands could not support a pride too dense, so the outlanders were rebased to the north-east corner of the pridelands, right next to and even slightly overlapping their former residence, the outlands (though no-one bothered to venture there ever again). Although it was considered the lesser part of the pridelands, it was infinitely better than the outlands themselves, so no-one complained. To the contrary: the pridelanders were rid of them smelly outlanders, the outlanders were rid of those smug pridelanders (save for a few reinforcements, whose main duty was to keep tabs on Kovu), and Kovu got some practice at being a king (at which he fared reasonably well). Everyone was a winner it seemed. Except for Vitani, as she was bored out of her mind either way. Looking at it that way, it’s not hard to understand she actually enjoyed the worried look on Kovu’s face as he approached the rock Vitani had claimed for her daily sun-bathing. Maybe something bad and thus exiting had (finally) happened. To annoy him a bit, she pretended she hadn’t noticed him at first. Then she spotted a lioness trailing him. The more, the merrier. Vitani rolled over to address them both.

“Why good morning baby brother (Vitani was about thirty seconds older than Kovu)! Looking all grim ‘n gloomy, I see?”

Kovu apparently wasn’t in the mood for irony, or any humor for that matter. Neither was the lioness, but then again, she never was.

Enyi never smiled, let alone laughed. She never cried either. It was her one true merit, being neither particularly bright nor strong: she seemed to have been born with a distinct lack of emotions, making her perfect for obeying orders, a quality seldom openly but nonetheless often appreciated. Vitani could guess she was the source of her brother’s worrisome gaze.

“Morning sis… sorry to bother you like this, but I presume you’ve already guessed trouble’s brewing.”

“You’ve got a real talent for making things sound way too serious, you know.”

“That’s because it is serious. Real serious. Concerning you-me-and-who-knows-who-else serious.”

“Sounds good,” Vitani yawned as she leapt of her rock, next to Kovu, “You sure it‘s not just the nerves? You know, the usual panic you seem to descend into each time Simba comes over to visit his daughter, and spy on you while he does.”

“Hey, judge it for yourself for all I care, Enyi’ll gladly fill you in on the details.”

“Goody, story time.”

As always, Enyi couldn’t even muster the faintest of smiles.

“Where do I start, sir? The hunt?”

Kovu nodded, and Enyi started explaining to Vitani what had happened earlier that night.

It all happened while I was on hunting-duty. As usual, I led a hunting party of six, myself included. However, we didn’t seem to have any luck that night as we found almost no prey, and took down even less: nothing. But after a couple of hours spent on failures and screw-ups, we caught the scent of a leopard. Since everyone had become tired of hunting to no avail, I suggested we stalk the leopard a bit and see what he catches: nothing like a free meal. And indeed, as we followed the leopard into some of that annoying tall grass that seems to be poppin’ up everywhere, we soon heard a dying groan: jackpot. Relying manly on sound, we then moved in to confiscate the kill. It didn’t take us long to find the leopard, who (wisely) took off when he realized his meal was goners. But then, as we were just about to grab the food, competition appeared.

“I can feel were this is going at…”

“Please, Vitani, let her finish her story, will ya?”

As I said, we weren’t the only ones who wanted to claim the leopards snack. Some hyenas appeared, three of ‘em. I ordered them to back-off and leave, but they chose to instead grab the prey. Then, as I was about to warn them they’d better reconsider before I would feel obliged to use lethal force, my overly rash companions decided to attack without orders nor warning, much to my annoyance. Two of them had already encircled the hyenas to that end. But the hyenas attempted a breakout. It was quite amazing really; they acted surprisingly effective and disciplined: all three of them threw themselves at one of our lionesses. Two of ‘em grinded her forepaw, and when she tried to bite the third one (this I found particularly amazing), the hyena snapped at the lioness’ mouth as she opened it, actually biting of her part of her lip, and more importantly, fending off the bite intended at her. Needles to say the lioness wouldn’t be doing a lot of biting after that. Anyway, by then, the others, including me, had intervened. A close friend of the mangled lioness I spoke of managed to pin one of the hyena’s down, alive, while the rest of us overwhelmed the second hyena, killing it instantly. Meanwhile the third one was getting away, so me and two others tried to chase it down, but it outran us, probably because a night of hunting had exhausted us more than it had them. After a minute or so, we gave up the chase and returned to the others.

“Right, that ought to do,” Kovu interrupted, “I’d prefer not hearing the other part again, ever.”

“Why?” Vitani wondered, still unnerved a bit because of Enyi’s cold, seemingly uncaring manner.

“Trust me on this one… Thank you, Enyi, that’s all for now. Go take a nap or something.”

“Sir, ma’am,” Enyi saluted as she took off.

“Why did you interrupt her all of a sudden?” Vitani asked when Enyi was out off hearing distance.

“Because her way of saying things is a bit too… graphic to my tastes. For one, she was just about to describe how they had to drag their wounded friend out here, only to have to drag her away again so she wouldn’t upset the pride, screams of pain included…”

Vitani stared at Kovu for a while.

“What? But… that’s awful!” she finally exclaimed, shocked.

“Bah, you’re just not getting the full picture here. Besides, it’s not like I’m leaving her to die: her friend is with her, and with a bit of luck she’ll live. No, I just needed to get her away from the pride till I got her story straight, ‘s all.”

“Why would you want to… Oh, I get it… You want to look good in front of the big man, and having to admit you’ve got hyenas creeping over the border wouldn’t really have him think highly of his ambitious son-in-law, now would it?”

Kovu couldn’t help but look like he had been caught red-handed as Vitani grinned at him.

“Well, I guess you could persuade the wounded lioness if you talk nice to her, you know, a bit of comforting here and there and she’ll definitely fold to a big ‘n cuddly guy like you, ‘cause if she’s helpless, she’ll surely do just that. Who is she anyway?”

“Uh…” Kovu sighed, “Damn, I forgot again… One of them pridelanders... Hey, what do you expect, Enyi never calls anyone by their names…”

“Yeah, I noticed too. Quite frankly, she freaks me out… But how are you going to convince the others to keep their yaws shut?”

“Well, luckily, Enyi came straight to me before even letting her party near the rest of the pride. And as she told that her story of hers, she also noted some of her companions had admitted to have displayed… disturbing behavior while she tried to chase down the hyena that got away.”

“Huh?”

“You know how I said Enyi could get a bit graphic at times? Well, one of her companions had described to her, down to the nasty details, how they… torture, yep, that’s the word I was looking for, tortured the hyena they had gotten alive, and Enyi passed on that disturbing report to me. Trust me; you wouldn’t want to hear any of it. “To make her pay for their wounded friend”, the offenders had explained. But Enyi got the impression they had actually enjoyed what they had done, and were proud of it as well. You can say a lot about Enyi, but at least she isn’t very tolerant of cruelty (probably because she considers it a as just another distorted display of emotions). Anyhow, needless to say such crude behavior is unsuitable of any lion, which I thoroughly and brutally explained to the offenders, and the only way I would let ‘em off without some persuasive punishment would be if they kept their mouths shut, now and forever.”

“No wonder we’re always gnawing at one another,” Vitani sighed in disgust, “If idiots like them keeping pulling hideous stunts like that, we’ll still be fighting one another when hell freezes over… But where do I enter the picture?”

“Quite simple really: I’m confident everyone had already guessed hyenas were entering our lands from time to time, even without any of us openly admitting it. However, up until today, thanks to their apparently newly developed knack for secrecy, we never sighted one ever since I took charge around here, or at least no-one bothered to report it. But I figured it was becoming obvious they were crossing the border on a regular basis, so I concluded it might not be a bad idea to… well, broker some kind of deal with ‘em, agree on some guidelines, to avoid situations like we had tonight, things like that could escalate. But since we never actually got to see one of those sneaky bastards, and because the subject is rather touchy, I figured it not to be that imminent…”

“You damn right it’s touchy,” Vitani interrupted him, “Simba‘ll probably eat you alive if he finds out you, of all lions, are doing dealings with hyenas. Should bring back a nice pile of nasty memories.”

“Well, yeah, if you want to put it that way…” Kovu grumbled, faintly annoyed, “Anyhow, I think it ought to be better if from now on, I gave those negotiations a somehow what higher priority… If Simba finds out hyenas are trespassing on our land, he’d probably be a bit grumpy, but if he were to run into one, he’d be furious.”

“And you want to make sure an agreement is reached before Simba visits us, right? I don’t know… If he came here and encountered a hyena, he’d probably scold you and beat the hyena to a pulp. But if he found out you’re doing deals with the hyenas, you’ll be the one getting the beating.”

“The old man, beating me up? Not likely!” Kovu grinned, “But you are right about me preferring him not hearing about those planned negotiations. That’s why I’m sending you to the hyenas as my personal emissary.”

“What?” Vitani gasped.

“Well, it’s obvious I need someone I can trust, sis. And someone who can keep things under wraps, if necessary. Besides, from what I recall, last time we met some hyenas, you and them got along fine…”

“You mean you’re sending me into enemy territory, alone, after we iced two of their clan mates? You think I’m stupid?”

“No, I think you’re a loyal and trustworthy sister who I would trust with my life. And I also think you’re bored to death and in need of some suspense, before you were to vegetate” Kovu suggested.

“You got me there…” Vitani admitted. She was actually starting to like the idea. It had been an awful long time since she had done something exiting… and the thought of going against the will of ‘her’ king brought back some of her good old rebellious spirit.

“Right then,” she finally agreed, “Where do I go, what do I tell ‘em and when do I leave?”

Subtle diplomacy

“Hey? Anyone in here? Yow Seko, you in here?”

Seko leapt up, startled, panicking. Darkness all around him. For a second, he feared he was out on the plains again, but the damp darkness of the cave around him brought him back to his senses. He was still in his cave. It must have been hours by now since he sought refuge here, angry, scared, and dead tired. But he hadn’t slept, not even for one second. He’d been living it over and over again, hours on end. The hunt, the encounter, the fight, the chase and the seemingly endless struggle, after which death must’ve felt as a release.

“Hey Seko? Come on, spineless bastard, I know you’re in here. The boss needs a word with you.”

With all the strength he could muster, Seko got up and dragged himself to the entrance of the cave. Once he reached the exit, he had to avert his eyes because of what seemed like blinding sunlight. That, and Banzaï’s hideously scarred face. Once his eyes had adjusted to the light however, he noticed the sun was already setting. Dusk would kick in soon. Banzaï looked at Seko with disgust as he appeared.

“Jeez, you look like you been eaten alive by a lion and puked out again… Then again, it was pretty close now wasn’t it?”

Seko suddenly felt a new burst of energy, anger. How dared he ridicule that what had happened earlier? Weren’t even the dead spared from being the tools of Banzaï’s ever ongoing effort to humiliate Seko?

“At least I’ll get over it in a day or to. You’re stuck with that ugly face of yours for the rest of your days,” he gnawed at Banzaï.

Banzaï sighed in nonchalance and turned around. Seko presumed he had to follow him to wherever it was they were going. But as every hyena they passed turned around to stare at him, he realized his older clan mate might have had a point: apart from his usual spot ensemble, he still had splats of dried blood all over his fur, not to mention the terrible state of his otherwise quite fashionable manes. Then again, it made him blend in nicely with his surroundings: the wastelands weren’t exactly eyecandy to start with, and late Shenzi’s husband (by now as dead as she was) hadn’t really picked the least of all evils as founding site for the new capital den. “Least we not dilute our anger nor forget the pain,” was how the old man had put it. Damn psycho, Seko couldn’t help but think as he watched the grim rocks they called home.

After a minutes walk, they reached a clearing in the scarce vegetation surrounding the desolate den. Two hyenas had been waiting for them, locked in a tense silence. They looked a lot like one another, both dark off fur, with thick manes and large, fuzzy ears. The taller female however, had longer manes and a face both sly and suspicious, looking more like her mother. Her notorious (not to mention rare) gray eyes followed Seko in a worried and compassionate stare as he approached her.

“Right, ‘ere he is. I guess you want me to bugger off now,” Banzaï grumbled as he presented Seko.

“No please, stay ‘round,” the darker male quickly said before Banzaï got the chance to leave, “I’m sure we’ll need your experience on this one.”

“Besides, we wouldn’t want to keep a good friend like you in the dark. If anyone got the right to know what’s going on, it’s you,” the female added.

“Thanks Vinnie, Shenya. What’s all this fuss about anyway? And what’s up with him?” Banzaï asked, pointing at Seko.

“Sis, you wanna tell ‘em? Or wait, maybe best we leave that to the person in question…” Vincent proposes, gazing at Seko.

“What, me?”

They nodded.

“Frankly… I’d rather not…”

“You’re not helping me here, you know…” Vincent sighed.

“Hey, give him a break, will ya?” Shenya snapped, moving closer towards Seko, “It’s hard enough for him as it is…”

“Apparently,” Vincent noted scornful, “Right then, I’ll try summarizing it. Last night, our sensitive friend over here was out on a hunting trip, beyond the border, with two companions…”

“Keavy and Nya,” Shenya interrupted.

“Yeah, them. Anyway, it seems like they didn’t follow foreign hunting protocol, ‘cause they got spotted.”

“Hey, it had nothing to do with that, it was the tall grass! We were as careful as one could be!” Seko exclaimed to his defense.

“I bet you were. And now stop interrupting me, will ya? To make a long story short: two of ours, Keavy and Nya, didn’t make it. But fortunately, Seko here was able to flee the field and save the day,” Vincent concluded, suggesting rather bluntly that cowardice was at the base of the tragedy. This, of course, enraged both Seko and his life partner, Shenya, who responded immediately and fiercely.

“For Spirits' sake, Vincent, shove it! Try showing some damn respect for a change! They were outnumbered two to one, what did you expect him to do? He even returned after the lions had left to try and help out, I’d like to see you do the same.”

“I’d prefer he’d have stayed around when the lions hadn’t left yet…” Banzaï whispered.

It all came back, again. He found himself sneaking through the grass again, tense, scared shitless, shaking like a leaf. He looked around, listened, tried to catch their smell, but they were gone. He crept forward. Why hadn’t they known? Why did she take the pray, why didn’t they just ran? Too late now. He could still hear the screams. The sound of them was long gone, but those shrill screams of pain, agony and fear still echoed in his head. Whose were they? One thing he knew for sure, it weren’t lions’. Then suddenly, he found them. Nya he saw first, her once mighty posture now reduced to a grayish pile of dirty fur, casting no shadows in the pale moonlight. With dead, empty eyes she stared out into the darkness in front of her, her mouth slightly opened and her back lodged in an unnatural twist. But even her broken figure looked peaceful when compared to Keavy.

Seko didn’t see her at first, and he’d long wish he hadn’t: she was laying on her side, eyes closed, and paws lying limply at her side. Gutted. At first, Seko wanted to run away, but then he imagined seeing her chest slowly moving up and down. As he approached to investigate, he saw her head was covered in scars. But she was still alive, he could tell because she was crying softly, breathing irregularly. He sat down next to her, whispered in her ear. She could just barely open her eyes, doing her utmost best to get a glimpse of Seko. He could tell she knew she wouldn’t last long just by the look she gave him. Fortunately, she wasn’t in pain anymore; there’s only so much one can take before your body shuts down your perception of physical pain, Seko had seen it countless times with prey he caught.

Now it was just the knowledge of dying, of never seeing her family and friends again that tormented her. So Seko tried comforting her, keeping her head close to him, softly licking her muzzle and gently caressing her manes to let her know she wasn’t alone. He couldn’t think of anything more fearsome than the thought of having to die alone. And for what seemed like an eternity, he just sat there, as she cried, asking about her mother from time to time, recounting in bits and pieces what the lions had done to her. Only moments ago a strong, proud and optimist hyena trying to keep everyone’s spirits up by making up puns involving mainly cheetahs, now beaten, her paws broken one by one and her belly torn open, only to be left to die. Seko continued talking to her and stroking her, until finally, after what seemed to have been the better part of a lifetime, she closed her eyes and stopped breathing.

“I fail to see how that makes any difference,” Vincent sneered, “But enough of this. We didn’t call this meeting to discuss the past. I’d rather hear your thoughts on what ought to be done now.”

“First thing of all, we ought to cut this ridiculous secrecy. The clan doesn’t even know what happened to their friends yet, and I don’t find it appropriate to keep them ignorant any longer. We ought to announce what happened,” Shenya suggested, provocatively staring at Vincent.

“In time, we will, sis.”

“Why not now?”

“Please, don’t play stupid. I get where this is going at, you know. We just have to make sure our ‘announcement’ doesn’t spark too much tension.”

“I knew it!” Shenya exclaimed angrily.

“Knew what?” Banzaï asked, attempting to figure out why the two hyenas he considered closest to him in the whole-wide world were about to enter a fierce argument.

“Come on, Banzaï, don’t you see it? He wants to cower out, again! Three times our clan members don’t return home, and three times he wants us to sit and do nothing!”

“It’s called caution. Not that you would know, dear sister, as isn’t exactly a virtue common to femmes. You prefer to rush in, leaving me to clean the mess.”

Instead of responding to her brother’s sexist comment, Shenya just sat there and glared at him. Seko stepped in to her defense, his temper fueled by his recollection of that one fatal night.

“Caution? You call that caution? Letting those savages pick us off one by one? Nya left one orphan already, how many more before you finally get it through your thick skull? We’ve waited long enough, now’s the time to stop your fancy talk and act.”

“What do you suggest then? We storm ‘em, head on? You talk about one orphan; the best we can hope for is twenty more if we were to do things your way. Thanks, but no. I prefer we sustain some marginal losses over obliteration.”

If it wouldn’t have been for his dark fur, Seko would’ve turned pale as the moon. ‘Marginal losses’. In a single sentence he reduced Keavy’s suffering to mere marginal losses. Seko just couldn’t grasp it; it felt as if something snapped. The creature sitting in front of him was no hyena; it wasn’t even a living creature. In front of him sat the embodiment of indifference, cold and power hungry indifference. He couldn’t care less about his clan’s suffering; they were just tools to further his ambitions. And like all tools, they were susceptible of marginal loss in efficiency. From what Seko could tell, Shenya seemed to think likewise.

“How… how dare you even say that? And those who gave their lives at the Rock all those years ago, those were marginal losses as well?” she yelled out in anger. Banzaï tried to defuse the situation, but Vincent brutally interrupted him.

“Please, Banzaï, don’t bother. Femmes are immune to reason. That’s why dad had to take over in the first place, because female dominance failed us. What happened at the Rock weren’t marginal losses; it was just the result of plain old stupidity.”

Insulting females was one thing. Mocking the clan, she could handle. Even a lack of respect for the dead she might have forgiven him. But in desecrating their mother’s heritage, Vincent crossed the line. Rage enflamed within her, she couldn’t control it anymore nor would she have wanted to do so. Without a seconds notice, Shenya pounced Vincent, her otherwise sympathetic eyes now burning with anger. Whilst uttering various screams and profanities the likes of which I shall not describe here, the two of them engaged in a bitter twist. Banzaï couldn’t bring himself to pick side for either of them, as he felt deeply for both. But when Seko appeared to come to the aid of Shenya, Banzaï was quick to slam him onto the ground. Then, while Seko was still somehow what stunned and unable get up, Banzaï intervened to the aid of Vincent, trying to calm down the much larger and more powerful female. When they finally had her more or les pinned down, she seemed to come back to her senses.

“Get off me already! I said get off!” she yelled, as she kicked back Vincent. After she got up, she cast one last grim glare at both Vincent and Banzaï, before taking off with a final angry whoop.

Seko now knew. He had felt it before, but now he was sure of it. Vincent’s existence couldn’t be tolerated anymore. His mere presence was a threat to him, Shenya and even to the clan as a whole. If he ever was to do anything for Shenya, this was it: eliminating Vincent. And it had to happen fast, before he led the whole clan to ruin.

Vincent, beat up and still in his adrenaline-rush, was just about to turn his attention to the still present Seko, when another hyena, seemingly exhausted, suddenly appeared. As one could have come to expect, she was quite surprised when she saw Vincent in his present state: panting, his fur full of dirt, and blood sipping down from his nose.

“And what do you want?”

Seeing as she had just run her paws down to the bone to find him, he could have been a little nicer. However, since she was utterly exhausted, she limited her speech to a minimum, for the moment.

‘I-eh…I’ve… I got a message for you,” the messenger gasped, “Real urgent.”

“Yeah, I guessed as much… This better be good news, Sunshine.”

For a moment, it looked as if she would start talking again, in her very distinguishably hurried and twitchy manner, but she paused to take a breather first.

“It’s a message from one off Kali’s girls. She said, you’re not going to believe this, they’ve captured a lioness! No kidding, they say they’ve got a lioness! So I was all like, no way, so I went over to check it out and, dig this, there really was a lioness! And the funny thing is, I mean, what are the chances; she actually asked to see you, Vincent! Said she was like, an envoy or something, but I don’t know what the hell that is so I thought like, no way, buzz off. But then she said like, tell him it’s me then he’ll come over, and I was still like, yeah right. But I was kinda curious too and then Kali suggested I’d come get you so I did and…”

“And here you are, right, I get the picture,” Vincent kindly interrupted her, “Calm down, will ya, or you’ll drawn in your own verbal flood.”

“Hehe, that’s for a fact. Anyway, sure sounds like one arrogant furball… Considrin’ what they did to us we ought to eat that lioness alive…” Banzaï grinned, “By the way, you mentioned she said you ought to ‘like’, tell us who she is. I kinda seem to have not heard that part.”

“Oh right, gosh I like, forgot ‘cause I had to tell a lot and I was like hurried and… oh, right… whoops… eh, I think she said her name was Vitani or something.”

Vincent and Banzaï paused and looked at each other for a while, partly to annoy the messenger. Nothing more irritating than you having to hurry so others can loaf around. After a while, Banzaï finally addressed Vincent.

“What are you looking at me for, who were you expecting? ‘s Not like you know that much lionesses you know.”

“Yeah… still, it’s been a while… Didn’t really think she’d remember us…”

“You remembered her, didn’t ya?”

“Yeah, sure did… damn, this blows… I mean, I wouldn’t like to see her get ‘eaten alive’, you know?”

“No? Anyway; you’d better step on it then: if Shenya decides to make those killings earlier public, I don’t think your lioness will last long.”

“Yeah, especially with that creep Kali ’round… Figures she had to be the one to bump into her. Better get this over with quick. Meanwhile, do me a favor and try talking some sense into that blockhead Shenya, would you please?”

“You really shouldn’t be calling her names like that, you know. She’s the only sister you’ve got, and besides, she was kinda right.”

“I know… that’s what bugs me the most... It’s not like I enjoy having to act all sociopath, but someone’s got to voice reason ‘round here. Well, gota go… tell her I’m sorry, will ya?”

“I’ll tell her you want to talk things out tonight and you’re prepared to admit you were wrong.”

Vincent had the urge to correct that last one a bit, by adding his errors lay mostly in the way he voiced his opinions, but the messenger, all annoyed and worked up by now, practically dragged him from the scene. As Vincent disappeared, Banzaï looked around: talking about Shenya made him remember Seko. But where the hell did that pussy sneak off to? Must’ve buggered out when that messenger was all talkative, Banzaï considered.

***

“So eh… what’s up, boss?”

“Don’t call me boss, I ain’t no-one’s boss.”

“Right… but what’s going on? I mean, with the lioness and all.”

Vincent sighed. Seeing as the story of him meeting Vitani involved a lot of not-following-orders, he wasn’t really inclined to share too much information. But the messenger was quite persistent.

“We eh… we met at the border… on patrol. And in stead off trying to kill each other, we decided a chat would be more desirable. Things like that were still possible, back when them outlanders weren’t just another flavor of pridelanders.”

And when Vitani was still just a lioness and not a relative of him.

“That’s nice… We ought to do that more often, just having a chat instead of like, killing each other.”

“Indeed…”

Suddenly, out of the dense vegetation, Seko appeared. He seemed a bit shocked to bump into Vincent, but made his way back to the den without even bothering to acknowledge the other’s existence.

“Nice day to you too, creep…” Vincent grumbled, “What the hell was he doing here?”

“I’m sure he went to check out the lioness, ‘cause if like, someone told me ‘hey we’ve captured a real life lioness’ I’d sure love to go see it.”

“Yeah, probably…”

Vincent didn’t pay any further notice to it, and they continued towards where the lion was kept. Vincent noticed they were nearing the White-pass cliff. The scenery of the river and the White Passes across the stream you got there was about the only sightseeing one could do around hyena territory. When you do, always watch your step though. After about half an hour they suddenly spotted a tall, broad hyena blocking their path. Judging by both her size and light fur, it had to be Kali, former heir to the Westclan. As they approached, Vincent also noticed Kiuma and Umwa, the ever present acolytes of Kali. Her other four cronies were nowhere to be seen though, probably guarding Vitani. As usual, Kali seemed a bit disgusted at the sight off him. Them not getting along at all wasn’t a big secret. And who could blame her, seeing as Vincent’s dad was responsible for the death of Kali’s mother, the first and last Westclan matriarch.

“Evening, Vincent. I presume you’ve come to check out our lion-friend over there?” Kali asked. Vincent couldn’t help but notice she was trying to act way nicer than he had come to expect of her, but didn’t pay further attention to it.

“I’ll take it from here, Kim,” Kali suggested, looking at the messenger. She nodded, and took off, leaving Vincent alone with Kali’s group. Kali apparently wanted to keep the lioness hush-hush too, or so Vincent presumed.

“Right, now where is this mysterious lioness of yours?” Vincent asked, attempting to avoid conversation with Kali, who seemed inclined to do the same and lead the way. After a few meters, they reached a small clearing. There was Vitani, casually stretched out on the ground, trying to look all at ease. Vincent recognized her instantly, as she seemingly hadn’t changed one bit. Apart from the fact she had gotten fatter, that was: an abundance of food undoubtedly was one of the many positive effects to the reunion of the prides. Vincent still remembered when they heard about the reunion, about one year ago.To the hyenas, there had been nothing positive about it, quite to the contrary: it had seemed like a nightmare come true.

As Vincent looked behind him, he noticed Kali had disappeared. Come to think of it, neither her nor her cronies, ‘the last ones loyal to the Westclan’, were anywhere to be seen. Then again the foliage was as dense as it gets in the wastelands, so they were probably keeping a low profile: being stuck in the past didn’t stop them from displaying some much appreciated professionalism. Vincent turned to look at Vitani again, and suddenly realized he had just turned his back to a lion and lived to tell about it…It at least proved she wasn’t out to get him.

 Not sure what to say, they just stared at each other for a while, until finally Vincent decided to take the initiative and break the eerie silence.

“Awkward?”

“Kind of.”

“Well, seeing as you came looking for me, I’m guessing there’s something you want me to know or something you plan on doing to me…”

Vitani sighed. This was harder than she had expected, maybe Kovu ought to have sent someone who was a bit more eloquent. She’d better cut the small talk.

“Yep… Eh, I’ll be brief, I’m no good at speeches: Kovu wants to cut a deal with you.”

“And who’s Kovu?” Vincent lied. He knew who Kovu was, who didn’t, but he decided to play dumb for a while.

“Hey, come on, I’m cutting the formalities here, you should too. ‘The boss’ not knowing who Kovu is? Go fool the other one.”

“What makes you think I’m some kind of ‘boss’?” Vincent frowned, “I’m just a humble male, ’s all.”

“You ought to know lying only works if everyone is in on the deal,” Vitani smiled, “Out of three hyenas I’ve spoken today, two called you ‘the boss’, and you’re the third one. Busted. What’s up with that anyway? You don’t have a ‘matriarch’, or whadaya call her?”

Busted indeed. Vincents spirits dampened further, as this was turning out to be a really tiring day. He figured he’d better stop lying, only to start avoiding. And insulting, as he had been using some of his spare time to find out about the ‘mystery lioness named Vitani’ he met about a two or three years ago. He hadn't liked what he had come to find out.

“It’s a long story, and I ain’t in the mood for talking. Yeah, I know who Kovu is. He’s your brother. And I know who his father is too. What do you call him again, nowadays? Taka? Hey, I guess even the lowest of all beings to ever stalk the plains needs a name. I should’ve known when I first lay eyes upon Kovu, and your other scruffy, now stone dead brother. I should’ve known when I first looked at you,” Vincent grinned viciously, and this time he actually meant it to be vicious. Vitani tried to remain stoic: losing her temper would be unfit to a lion. Yeah right, unfit to a pridelander maybe. She glared back, just as vicious.

“What, you expecting apologies or something? I ain’t blaming myself from being born, and besides, last time I remembered, it wasn’t me who was stupid enough to follow late Taka to a certain doom,” Vitani noted. Vincent grumbled, barely noticeable, but decided he’d better cut the ‘niceties’.

“What do you want? I’m sure Kovu didn’t just send you here to piss me off, so spit it out and leave.”

Vitani sighed profoundly. She had envisioned this meeting to be a bit more… a bit more what actually? They were enemies, after all, and Vitani’s pride had only just killed two of their friends. She decided it be better if she gave in a bit, reluctantly.

‘Ok, ok, I’m sorry, let’s… Let’s try starting over. Kovu sent me over here to negotiate,” Vitani explained.

“Negotiate what? Getting more of us killed?”

“Try dropping that negative attitude, I like you much better when you’re only mildly gloomy. He has a proposal to avoid certain… unpleasant situations, like what happened tonight.”

“Keavy and Nya.”

“What?”

“You’re unpleasant situations, they got names, you know. And Nya’s cub growing up without a mom, if she grows up at all… real unpleasant situation indeed.”

“Hey, drop the pathos already, will ya? Look, I’m sorry for you loss, but I had got nothing to do with it; I’m just trying to make sure it don’t happen again. Just try being a bit constructive, if you please? Jeez, you weren’t even half the jerk you are now the first time we met.”

Vincent considered responding first time they met, they hadn’t butchered two of their clanmates, but he changed his mind. He knew he was acting like a jerk a little too often nowadays. He tried to smile without looking mean, or sad.

“I know, I’m sorry… It’s just… everything... the clan, tonight, you’re lineage. It’s kinda hard to talk to you as if I nothing were wrong, you know. It would have been a whole lot easier if you weren’t a lion…”

“Eh, Vincent…” Vitani suddenly asked, a bit confused. She was looking at something behind him. Vincent turned around. Three hyenas had appeared out of nowhere, Vincent immediately recognized Kiuma, one of Kali’s subordinate’s. He turned to Vitani again. Four other hyenas had appeared behind her, Kali being one of them. Vitani turned around, saw Kali, then turned to Vincent again.

“What’s going on?” she hissed, suspicious. Vincent couldn’t answer; his mouth had turned dry all of a sudden. He feared he already knew what was going on.

“Kali, what in the Spirits' name do you think you’re doing?” he uttered, at the verge of panic. Kali grinned.

“I don’t do the thinking, from now on I’m leaving that to our sly friend Seko. Turns out he’s good at something after all…” Kali growled, “Don’t worry, Vinnie, Seko explained it to me: it’s a win-win. I take my payback, and your girlfriend here takes the blame. That ought to give old Shenya something to get worked up about, and if we're lucky, she’ll even smash her own skull on a lions’ paw in her fury, good riddance. But first things first…”

Vitani didn’t need Vincent’s explanation on this one: she had engaged in enough plots to know one when she saw one. It didn’t take a genius to see they were about to get rid off Vincent, and she was to get the blame. Needles to say that involved both of them getting killed, Vitani considered.

“Turn around, and just run like hell…” she whispered, and before Vincent understood what she said, Vitani already leapt forward whilst uttering an incredible roar, landing on one of the hyenas in front off her. But in stead of finishing the job, she jumped forward and took a run for it, closely followed by Vincent. As they ran, neither knowing nor caring where they were going, Vitani noticed Vincent was gaining on her, he even passed her. That could only mean his clanmates were gaining on her as well. But as they ran forth through all sorts of sharp grass and thorny bushes, Vincent suddenly came to a clumsy, hasty halt. Vitani didn’t react fast enough and slammed right into him. But in stead of feeling the sharp fangs of Kali and her gang gnawing into her flesh, she tumbled down a steep, rock-ridden slope, pushing Vincent out in front of her. She tried to get a hold, to no avail: she kept sliding faster and faster. Then, suddenly Vincent disappeared, and only moments later, so did Vitani as she fell down from the white-pass cliff, into the roaring stream below.

You did what – act one

“You did what?”

Kovu smiled casually, or at least that was what he tried. Anyone who‘d have been carefully watching him could have told he was nervous. But Simba didn’t watch him carefully; he didn’t even bother to look in his general direction. He just kept staring north. Then, suddenly, he turned to Kovu, who further reinforced his smile. The aging but still very intimidating lion seemed to pierce Kovu with his bright eyes.

“Well, I have to say I didn’t really expect that much initiative from you, but I like it nonetheless. It’s about time we had some eyes at the border again, we’ve heard way too little for way too long about that area…”

“Indeed, I couldn’t agree more. And Vitani was more than eager to do her duty for the pride,” Kovu added, smiling still.

“Yes, I have to admit her services to the pride have been admirable, she fitted in better than I expected. And now she even scouts the border, on the lookout for our enemy… Quite frankly, I thought those scruffy mongrels had long since disappeared…”

“One can only hope,” Kovu interrupted.

“… but we have to keep our vigilance, and I’m glad you did,” Simba continued, “A king could not wish for a better son, and a pride could not ask for a better king.”

By now, Kovu’s jaws began to hurt from his deliberate smiling all the time; time for a serious remark so he could give his facial muscles some rest.

“Please, father, do not talk as if time had already caught up with us, the only king our pride needs, the only one it has, is you. I just do your bidding to the best of my abilities.”

Simba stared at Kovu again, and for a moment, he thought he had overdone it. But Simba averted his gaze again, this time to Kiara who was sitting nearby. He then addressed Kovu again.

“Well, anyhow, you did a good job and if you keep this up, I’ll die a happy lion. But now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m taking some time alone with my daughter: I’m still not used to the idea of having to miss her for weeks on end.”

Kovu nodded, and Simba strode towards Kiara, who, before she acknowledged her father, turned to Kovu and silently formed the word ‘liar’ with her mouth. Kovu grinned, winked and took off, out of hearing distance.

When Enyi and her gang had given the rest of the pride their pathetic story about a leopard attacking their friend, absolutely no-one believed it, but only Kiara had been bold enough to confront Kovu. As always, it didn’t take long for her to squeeze the truth out of him, after which she had agreed to join the little ‘conspiracy’. After all, since she had helped reunite the prides Kiara was convinced a little bit of subtle diplomacy could about settle about anything, unless her father joined in on the party that is, as diplomacy wasn’t his strong point (though he had certainly been making progress).

Kovu spotted Enyi, who looked around suspiciously first, after which she addressed Kovu, her face locked in a seemingly everlasting expressionless stare.

“I’m glad you’re a better liar than I am.”

“Yeah, but you’re still the best eavesdropper of ‘em all. Private conversations are supposed to be private, if I’m not mistaken,” Kovu grumbled.

“You’re not mistaken, sir, but I was overly curious.”

“Now that’s something new, Enyi actually caring about something…”

Of course, Enyi didn’t move a muscle or emitted a single sound that could indicate the slightest form of amusement.

“I just like to keep track of things. The game you’re making me play here is not at all without risk, especially now that you’ve been lying to Simba square in the face.”

“Talking about risk,” Kovu sighed, “Vitani didn’t return yet, did she?”

“No not yet. But it’s only been a night, maybe she got delayed.”

“Delayed how? The hyenas asking her out for lunch? Or brunch maybe?”

“Maybe she is lunch,” Enyi suggested without the faintest sign of humorous intent.

“Not funny,” Kovu frowned, fearing she was probably right. How long could it take to give the hyenas limited hunting rights to parts of the pridelands without asking anything (or very little) in return? They didn’t even have to agree, she only had to inform them they got the day-shift all to themselves, without lions coming over to confiscate their kills. Only thing they had to do was steer clear of pridelanders, which they undoubtedly already did.

“I didn’t intend it to be funny,”

***

Strange. Stranger than usual anyhow. I mean, it’s not unusual for something to wash up on the riverbank every now and then, but why oh why does it always have to happen at my drinking spot? Every time I need a drink some dead body turns up, two in this case. Yuk. Maybe I ought to migrate to a place without carcasses lying around everywhere; I just can’t drink with that god-awful smell around. Not that these particular ones are that smelly, yet… Some scavengers better get rid of ‘em soon or I’m outa here.

A small family of vultures slowly circled above their meal, not intent on munching in too fast for any meal could also be a trap. But there seemed to be nothing around but a bored cheetah, which yawningly looked at the vultures as they smoothly soared down, carefully manoeuvring their huge wings for a soft landing. Personally, the cheetah rather disliked vultures, and all other scavengers for that matter. Rough, nasty crowd. But he kept watching them nonetheless, knowing that seeing a lioness getting torn open by the birds would give him some satisfaction at least. If there had been hyenas as well to join in on the feast however, he would’ve long since left: they could, from time to time, act rather inappropriate, even when unprovoked. But now, it seemed as if the hyenas themselves were on the menu.

The first vulture landed only inches away from his meal, and then carefully made his way onto the body. Before pinching away the hyena’s eyes, the bird decided it’d be best if he double-checked one last time however, as those hyena’s yaws could easily rip the huge bird in half. The vulture pecked the hyena’s side, but before it got the chance to tear off a piece of flesh, the animal below him emitted a loud whoop, and jumped up below him. The vulture quickly flapped his wings and took flight, only missing the hyena’s teeth by an inch. The vultures that had amassed around the bodies simultaneously flew up as well, rising up in a chaotic flapping of wings.

The cheetah, shocked at the sudden revival of the presumed corpse, decided he’d stay and watch the show anyhow, even though the vultures hadn’t had a chance to dig in on the lion. But now the hyena could, and that would mean the show would become a bite more crunchy. The awoken seemed to need some time to get back to his senses however, as he almost immediately collapsed after having jumped up. The cheetah continued observing him. After about one minute, the hyena got up again, though still a bit wobbly. As it looked around, seemingly confused, his eyes caught the sight of the cheetah, who tried keeping his cool as not to attract too much attention. But the hyena quickly lost interest in the bystander when he noticed the lion next to him. He then trotted towards her, falling down and getting up again halfway. For a moment he seemed to study the body in front of him, but then, in stead of the eating and bone-grinding the cheetah had expected, he just sat down next to her and laid down his head on her chest, after which he closed his eyes again as if he fell asleep.

Strange morning indeed. Why doesn’t that miserable hyena eat her, god knows he needs a decent meal. Or why doesn’t he just walk away, or why doesn’t he do anything, except for what he’s doing now? Guess I missed something here… It’s safe to presume they washed up together, so they probably fell into the water together as well, but that still doesn’t explain what I’m seeing here, now does it? Relationships between the two of their kinds are usually a bit chiller. Strange, strange. I wonder…

Pain. Darkness. Emptiness. No memories, no name, no hunger, no consciousness, only dark, empty pain. And a deep, everlasting silence. Or maybe not? For a moment it seemed like she could here a distant, muted whoop, nothing more than a vague sensation somewhere beyond darkness. Then another one, but no sound, more like a faint touch. Then more pain again. As time passed by, time she could hardly come to grasp, her empty universe started filling up bit by bit. More sensations: a faint breeze, a touch of the warm morning sun, the soft caress of water. In time, even the darkness faded to make room for a succession of colours: first brown, then red, orange, yellow and finally a hellishly bright light. Her body came back again too, though only hair by hair and bone by bone it seemed. The pain remained however. Then suddenly, like thunder from a cloudless sky, it all came back: all memories, all recollections, all names, all faces, everything. Especially the chase and the ensuing fall. She tried to react to this sudden shock, but was unable to: although she had regained feeling in all of her body, her muscles didn’t obey her yet. She felt her mouth was open, not to mention dry, but she could hardly move her jaw. The best she could manage was lifting her eyelids. It took her an unusually long time to adjust her eyes to the light, but after a while, her vision was back again too. First thing she saw were two dark, fuzzy paws. She tried closing her mouth again, which was a success, but when she tried to utter a simple sentence, her abilities appeared confined to a silent groaning. That, however, sufficed to turn the two fuzzy paws into one fuzzy head.

After having taken a rest upon Vitani’s chest, partly to check whether she was still alive and partially because he couldn’t manage to stand upright, Vincent got up again, hindered by a nagging pain in his left-front paw. He seemed to have cut it open somewhere, and the cut was shallow enough not to be serious, but deep enough to be annoying. For a moment he considered his options: waiting, and waiting. Vitani was alive, but she still seemed to be incapacitated for a little while, so best he could do was wait: he wasn’t going anywhere anyhow, not after what had happened earlier. Not on his own. For the time being he tried not to think about it, but the obvious plot against him kept clouding his mind. Who was in on it? Or who wasn’t in? The only one he could trust was the one who had been targeted with him. The only one he could trust was a lioness. Thinking about Vitani suddenly made Vincent realise she was producing some faint sounds. He bent over to have a look. Her eyes seemed to be open, though the sunlight seemed to hinder her.

“Hey Sunshine, you all right?

More groaning.

“Well, I guess that’s something already. Yell when you’re about ready to to begin forming actual words.”

Vincent walked around the lioness, sitting down against her back, resting his paws on her shoulder and his head on his paws.

“I do hope you don’t mind.”

“Jerk…” Vitani uttered slowly.

“Ah, you still remember me I see. Maybe it’d be best if I, while you are still unable to break my neck in a blind rage, stress the fact that I had nothing to do with whatever happened earlier.”

“Yeah, I guessed as much…”

Vincent giggled, although he realised his present situation was far from desirable, let alone humorous.

“By the way, thanks for getting me out of the water earlier, I’m not a great swimmer,” he added.

“My pleasure…”

“Where are we anyway? I kinda lost track about when my head banged into a rock.”

“Dunno, I just grabbed you and tried to get us ashore. But I’m pretty sure we’re on the wrong side of the river... Exciting, no?”

“I’ve had my share of excitement for this year…” Vincent mumbled.

Vitani started laughing, as her pain started making way for relief.

“You wouldn’t know how much I’ve missed this…” she smiled happily.

“Missed what?”

“This! Excitement, running for your life and talking it over while feeling absolutely mangled. Life! I’ve missed life!”

“Once you’re born an outlander you’ll die an outlander, I guess…”

“You bet. This is your life too, isn’t it? The hyenas’ I mean. Don’t you guys have to fight for it too? Really fight for a living?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Hey, you’d be surprised how quickly you’re tired of the easy life.”

“At least you had ‘em both…” Vincent replied, meaner than he intended, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you’re probably right.”

For a moment, both animals just stared out in front of ‘em, tired and confused, until Vincent took the trouble of really looking around for once. He quickly noticed they were stranded on a small depression between three steep hills and the river, flowing by slowly as it was now deep and broad, as opposed to the thin rock-ridden wild waters they had been flushed through after they had plunged into the river. As he gazed south, he found himself looking upwards to be able to see the whole of the white passes, whose cloud-covered flanks seemed only a few kilometres away. That could only mean they were indeed on the wrong side of the river where he had never been there before.

He suddenly noticed one of the hills surrounding them had some grass and trees on them, much more comfortable than the rock bed they were in now.

“Wouldn’t you fancy lying down somewhere else? The sun is killing me, and having to sit on these nasty rocks ain’t helping either.”

“Sure… but first, I got to try getting up…” Vitani mumbled. With a tired groan, she got up, and both her and Vincent dragged themselves up the hill, to a spec of shade below a couple of low, thorny trees. Lying down again, they didn’t notice the cheetah that had been discreetly following them. Vincent did see him, but didn’t actually notice him as his thoughts were elsewhere: what had actually happened the previous evening?

Kali had tried to ice him, that he already knew, and if she had been the only one in on it, her motives would have been crystal clear: avenging her mother by killing the descendants of her murderer, a plain old blood feud. But she had mentioned Seko. And Shenya. Were they in on it too? But why? Shenya had beaten him up pretty nasty, yeah. But that’s what she does: she beats you up, then leaves you be, and if you’re lucky she’ll apologize for it later. But Shenya, his own sister for crying out loud, a murderer? And he could hardly believe Seko had the stomach (let alone the authority) to order a hit. But Kali mentioned them, and it was neither her style nor fitting of her intelligence to blame someone else. Plus, she had also mentioned Shenya would break her neck on a lion’s paw or something, what the hell did she mean by that? Suddenly, it hit Vincent. He knew why Shenya would have wanted him dead, and why Vitani taking the blame would have been so important. No… she wouldn’t… Would she? She couldn’t possibly try to… Suddenly, Vincents thoughts were interrupted by Vitani.

“So… what do we do now?”

“Huh? Stay here and chill out a bit longer for all I care…”

“Yeah, but after that?”

“I‘ll try getting home, and you’ll probably do the same.”

“You’re kidding me right? You’re not seriously considering going back to the same guys that tried to kill ya?” Vitani frowned.

“What other options do you think I have? It’s not like you’re relatives would be any less murderous if they met me. And I don’t fancy wandering around in the wilderness all by my self, so that only leaves a trip back to the clan.”

“Probably… So here’s where our roads part?”

As he could tell from the look on her face, she wasn’t really looking forward to that, and neither was Vincent.

“Well, not at once, I mean, we still need to find a crossing and stuff…” Vincent argued.

“Then one of us will be making a detour.”

“I doubt it…”

“Why, you plan on moving?”

No, but Shenya might, and she‘d be taking the whole clan with her, Vincent had come to realise. And he already guessed what their new home would be. Better not to tell Vitani, as not to make her panicky… or hostile.

“No, eh, nothing… I’ll tell you on the way to the crossing, hyena stuff, long story. Boring too,” Vincent lied. As Vitani was still feeling like shed been thrown of a cliff, which happened to be the case, she didn’t notice this time around.

“Besides, we ought to get moving, I don’t think there’s a lot to eat around here, and It’d really suck starving, or having to eat one another…”

“Yuk,” Vitani growled with mild disgust.

The cheetah, which was still watching them, suddenly had a hard time suppressing a loud yawn, and Vincent spotted him again. He turned to Vitani.

“You noticed that guy? I think he’s been watching us all morning already. Come on, get up, let’s remind him who’s boss ‘round here…”

“Why not,” Vitani yawned, “Nothing like ventilating some anger upon an unsuspecting bystander.”

That was, of course, easier said than done, as Vincent still limped a bit, and Vitani’s muscles still felt as supple as limestone. Vincent reached the cheetah first, but to his amazement, the skinny predator didn’t flee in panic, which it ought to have been doing.

“Ain’t it about time you buggered off, you’re looking awfully tired.”

No response. Vincent positioned himself right in front of the big cat, and then exhaled his intolerably foul breath into the cheetah’s face, which turned his head in disgust.

“Having problems with my dental hygiene, are we?”

“Not at all,” the cheetah noted stoical, “I just couldn’t help notice your breath stinks of death even more than your fur does.”

His brutality and lack of being intimidated started annoying Vincent. Vitani sat down next to him.

“If you like what his mouth smells like, you’ll really love the interior of my stomach. And from what I’m guessing, someone’s haggling for a one way trip,” Vitani smiled, so polite it became vicious. By now, the cheetah already seemed a bit more reluctant to defy then he had been earlier, cowering back a little bit. But the way he spoke still tasted a bit offensive.

“Comrades, I’d be the last one to criticize a bit of diversity. We’ve all got to do with the genes our parents gave us, now don’t we? Even when it comes to very pronounced personal odours,”

“Look here, comrade, how ‘bout telling us why you’ve been spying on us the whole morning, and you might even live to see a next dawn,” Vitani suggested.

The cheetah seemed to be the longer the less at ease.

“Now now, let’s try leaving threats behind us for the time being, I was just being a bit curious: it’s not every day you see a hyena and a lion having a polite chat…”

Though the cheetah had a point, Vincent felt he was a bit too much of a know-it-all.

“Are you going to tell us, the uncontested rulers of the plains, what we can and can’t do?” Vincent grumbled.

Vitani wanted to make a vicious addition to that, but suddenly realized they were making a mistake trying to chase the cheetah off, so she tried to calm it down a little.

“Us having a chat only comes to show we’re actually nice guys, now don’t it Vincent? You’re from around here, cheetah?”

“Judging by the way he’s talking to us I’d say he’s way off…” Vincent mumbled, not aware Vitani was trying to pacify the conversation.

“Well, do you or don’t you know the area?” Vitani asked again, ignoring Vincent, who suddenly realized where she was going at. He didn’t like it, but lacked a decent alternative and felt a bit rushed, so decided to go with it.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m from around here. I’m a man of many places; I go where my paws take me. But I know my way ‘round in these parts, if that’s what you mean.”

As she looked at him, Vitani could tell Vincent was still not fond of the idea, but as he didn’t protest openly, she went ahead anyway, trying to enlist the cheetah.

“Look, it’s just we’re in a bit of a situation here… We washed up here by accident and we have to find a crossing. Problem is, we don’t know our way around. So if you’d be nice enough to take us to a crossing…”

“And why would I do that, might I ask?”

“It’ll benefit your life expectancy greatly,” Vincent suggested, now smiling overly polite.

“So does running real fast. And I’m quite adept at that.”

“Hey, I ain’t stopping ya. Yet.”

The cheetah grinned, and then nodded politely.

“Of course, leaving you two out here would be unfit to a gentleman. Plus, I’m always ready to help a fellow predator in need.”

For a moment there, Vincent thought he noticed something strange in the cheetah’s otherwise uncaring eyes, a sudden glimpse of cold and dark thoughts, immediately swept away by his ever present arrogance. Vincent hadn’t liked the idea of him guiding them in the first place, and now found it even less appealing.

“I happen to know a crossing not too far from here. Only one problem though. It’s on the other side of the passes.”

“I do hope we can go round?” Vitani complained, as she couldn’t begin to imagine what a hike over the white passes could be like. But Vincent had realised they didn’t have time for that. Not if he wanted to try and stop Shenya, which he still thought possible. The thought of what would happen if he wouldn’t was enough to both make him forget about his initial distrust for the cheetah and his gut-feeling he had about crossing the passes.

“We ain’t got time to go ‘round. Can you get us over them passes?” Vincent quickly asked.

The cheetah smiled, for the first time that day, and before Vitani could ask why Vincent was in a hurry all of a sudden, the cheetah answered Vincent, his eyes again showing a faint touch of frost and gloom.

“Why yes, that was what I had in mind from the start.”

You did what – act two

“You did what?”

“Hey, don’t look at me. It’s not like I pushed them off personally you know; they were tumbling down before I knew it!” Kali reacted defensively.

“So they both just ran off the cliff?” Seko asked, still a bit confused.

“Well, not exactly… I mean, Vincent stopped just in time, but the lioness bumped into him. A long fall ensued.”

“Hehe, guess she’s the one who killed him after all,” Seko giggled, “Talking about playing her part nicely. Saved you a lot of mess, and me a lot of lying… That reminds me; keep the story straight when Shenya gets here, got it? We might have done the right thing, but if it gets out, it won’t exactly make our day.”

“Don’t worry; my girls won’t slip a word. And I’ll keep to the explanation you gave me. Let’s just hope it sticks.”

Yeah, let’s hope it does… Only thinking about what would happen if it didn’t made his stomach turn to stone. He wanted to tell her, he should tell her, he just had to tell her! After all, he had taken the bold move of eliminating Vincent only for her, for Shenya. From all his days spent with her, each one more brilliant than the one preceding it, he had learnt one thing: the clan belonged to her, and only her. She had it all: charm, compassion, intelligence, charisma, determination… If anyone could ever lead the hyenas to greatness once more, it would have been her, if not for her cold hearted, power hungry brother who was prepared to do almost anything to follow in his father’s footsteps. But since Shenya just couldn’t bring herself to stop loving her only brother, or see his through his manipulative schemes, Seko had had no other option than to bide his time and plot with Kali, until the opportunity presented itself. Seko had been reluctant to see his plan through to the end though, as he knew how much it would hurt Shenya if he did, but after this day’s events he had realized he was out of options. So he did what he had to do, to save the clan, and to save his one true love who could now finally step out of her brother’s shadow and arise to become the greatest matriarch as of yet.

But first, he had to break the news to her. He quickly silenced Kali as he saw Kim, the messenger, approaching.

Poor Kim, who had hoped to finally get a good nights rest after half a day of running everywhere and nowhere, hadn’t really been to enthusiast when she had seen Seko and Kali rushing her way, and even less so as they ordered her to assemble Shenya and Shetani. Shenya, accompanied by Banzaï, hadn’t strayed too far off, and in a stroke of fortune, it appeared Shetani had been around the capital den as well. For the better: otherwise Kim had had to search for her far north, where Shetani had been the Northlander’s matriarch for a while, or down south, where she might have been spying on the lions again.

Shenya was the first one to appear on the rocky plaza at the edge of the rocks and caves that compromised the den, where Seko and Kali had called the meeting, away from possible listeners. She looked a bit confused when she saw Seko and Kali. Meanwhile, both Banzaï and Shetani had approached as well. Kim halted at the edge of the plaza.

“Now can I like, get some sleep, please?” she complained, even before Shenya had had the chance to ask what was going on. Seko nodded, and Kim took off with a big yawn. Shenya addressed Seko.

“Seko? Kali? What’s this about? I heard Banzaï saying something about a lioness and Vincent, but I didn’t really get it. Where’s Vincent anyway?”

“Lioness?” Shetani frowned, looking at Banzaï, who was still trying forming a coherent sentence when Seko interrupted him.

“I think it is best we talk this over from the start… Kali, can you tell ‘em what happened this afternoon?”

To make sure she gave them the ‘official’ version, Seko cast one last glare at her, and she nodded compliantly. She started telling them about the hunting incident first, as Shetani hadn’t been informed yet, followed by a detailed account of how they had encountered the lioness, up until the point where Kali claimed that Vincent had ‘inexplicably’ asked Kali and her girls to get out of hearing distance. It was about the only weak point in their whole make-believe story, and Shetani didn’t fail to notice.

“He asked you to back away? That’s dangerous, why would he do that?” she asked Kali suspiciously. Kali hesitated for one second, but was then saved by Banzaï who, without knowing it, filled the only gap in the conspirators’ story. Nervously, he told them about the border-meeting with Vitani and her brothers way back, and how he had gotten the impression Vincent had gotten along quite well with the lioness.

“He probably trusted her, and I can imagine that when she would have asked him for a bit of privacy, he’d have been trustingly enough to allow it…” Banzaï concluded.

“What? Is he out of his mind? Alone with a lioness, talking about taking a risk…” Shetani sighed. Meanwhile, Shenya hadn’t said a word since Kali had started recounting. Then suddenly, with a slight hint of panic, she addressed Kali.

“But if you are all here... where is Vincent then? Why isn’t he…”

She looked Kali in the eyes, who almost immediately averted her head away from Shenya’s grey, steel gaze. She then turned to Seko, moving towards him.

“Seko, where’s Vincent? What…”

Seko forced himself to look her straight in the eyes, knowing that the only thing which would hurt her more than his lies was the truth. He even tried to put some sincerity in his voice.

“He must have known he was taking a risk when he was alone with the lioness, but still… I’m afraid he misjudged her. He’s gone, Shenya.”

Both Shetani and Banzaï growled in disbelief, then anger. Shenya on the other hand, just remained motionless, paralyzed it seemed. Shetani demanded an explanation from Kali.

“He’s gone? What do you mean? How? What happened?”

Kali sighed, hoping she had remembered the ‘official’ account of what had happened.

“Well… as soon as we had left Vincent and the lioness, or maybe a minute later, I’m not really sure, we heard this terrifying roar. Of course, it didn’t take long before we knew what was going on, so we rushed to Vincent’s aid. But we couldn’t intervene as he tried to run of towards the cliffs, the wrong way. Then, when he stopped only inches away from the edge of the cliff, the lioness caught up with him. But before we got a chance to help Vincent, his struggle with the lioness had already pushed them too far… before we knew it they plunged down into the river… We then immediately ran here to tell you what happened…”

As Kali finished her story, Seko suddenly realised something he hadn’t noticed before, not even when Kali had told him what had really happened.

“Wait, you didn’t check if they were…”

“What’s the use, nothing can survive a fall from there, not into that rock-ridden river…” Shetani interrupted. But Seko didn’t listen: he panicked. Genuine panic.

“He’s not dead!” he exclaimed.

“If he fell, he’s dead Seko. I know it’s hard to accept…” Shetani continued.

“He’s really dead, isn’t he?” Banzaï stuttered, alternating between anger and sadness while Shenya remained motionless and silent still.
But Seko on the other hand was neither angry nor sad, he was frightened. Kali hadn’t seen the bodies, she had explicitly told him she had rushed back to him immediately. What if Vincent was still alive? Impossible… but it was a risk he couldn’t afford. The only question was what he could do about it, and he had to figure out real quick. Working in overdrive, his brains quickly produced the second improvisatory scheme of the day, the first being the hastily organised (and possibly failed) assassination of Vincent. But to make it work, he had to work swift, before the initial confusion and anger that had taken possession of the others had faded away.

“He’s not dead! I won’t believe it! Not when there is still any chance he’s alive,” Seko shouted out again, now back in control. But then, suddenly, Shenya erupted, her voice filled with anger and her eyes full of tears.

“He’s dead! He’s dead! Don’t you see, he’s gone, Seko! They killed him! Those rotten backstabbers murdered him! They butchered him in cold blood. He trusted them, he gave the lions his trust, and they slaughtered him in return. He’s…”

Before she could end her sentence she burst out in tears. But Seko kept on playing his game.

“I tell you he’s not dead! I won’t have it. And I’ll get him back, even if I have to swim down the river myself,” Seko uttered with the necessary pathos to fit the act. He then walked over to Shenya, and whispered in her ear while lovingly stroking her manes.

“He’s alive, I know it. And I’ll get him back, I promise.”

But Shenya turned away, continuously mentioning whilst crying “No! He’s gone, they murdered him…”

“Face it Seko, he’s gone…” Shetaini tried to calm him. But Seko didn’t calm down, as he had everyone right where he wanted them.

“He’s alive and I’m going to try and find him, whether you like it or not. Kali, get your pack together, I’ll need all the help I can get if I were to run into a lioness myself…”

“Stop it!” Shenya suddenly commanded. All of a sudden, she sounded calm and confident, although still a bit shaken, “Stop it! No-one is going anywhere. We’ll need every hyena we can get…”

“Ma’am?” Shetani asked confused.

“We’ll need everyone who still has the strength to grind a bone, if we ever want to make them bastards pay for what they did…” Shenya spoke determined. Seko on the other hand was on the verge of panic again, as his plan seemed to have been thwarted. But he had no choice to try and push it through either way.

“Shenya, I’m going through with this whether you like it or not. Vincent is alive, and I’m going to find him. If you want me to do that on my own, that’s your choice.”

“Ridiculous… Vincent is dead. You going out searching for him, alone or with a group, is just a waste of good yaws. And we’ll be needing those if we’re going to do what I think we’re going to do… get back at the lions on their own ground,” Shetani frowned.

“I can’t believe you’re all just giving up on him!” Seko shouted out again, as he knew how important it would be for him to find Vincent, if he were still alive. After all, if Vincent would just show up all of a sudden, Seko’s days were numbered. So if there was even the slightest chance of Vincent still being alive, Seko had to find him to and do something about that. Problem was he could use some extra jaws to take the load off of him, and securing those was only possible with Shenya’s permission.

“Come on, Shenya, don’t you at least hope he’s ok?” Seko whispered in Shenya’s ear.

“I do… but I know he’s not… they killed him, and I’m going to make ‘em pay. No false hope can get in the way of that,” she whispered back, “But I can't let you go on your own either. I wouldn’t want to lose you as well… Certainly not now, not now you’re going to be a dad…”

Overflow. Too much information to cope with. Seko needed a couple of seconds to realize what Shenya had said: for one, she was allowing him to search for Vincent, and she was lending him some protection as well. That alone was enough to rejoice him. But that gratification was instantly shoved aside by a deeper, more intense and more sincere feeling of absolute joy. Finally she knew for sure! Finally he knew for sure! He absolutely forgot all about the incidents with Vincent, lost his calm and lost control, but still kept on whispering, probably to the annoyance of Shetani and Banzaï.

“A-are you sure? You-you’re absolutely sure? It’s happening? When?”

“Soon, not overnight, but soon.”

By now, Banzaï was fed up enough about the whispering to declare his annoyance.

“Hey? How ‘bout letting us in on the news too? Is he going to search for Vincent or isn’t he?”

“Huh? Eh… yeah… yes… I’m… going any minute now… no time to waste,” Seko grumbled as he fell back into reality, “And I’m taking some of Kali’s packmate’s with me…”

“I suggest we keep Kali here. We can use a set of yaws like hers…” Shetani suggested.

Kali, who had been feeling very uncomfortable throughout the entire meeting, felt relieved as she was offered both the chance to quit the meeting and not go along with Seko on his search (or rather hunt). Taking her vengeance she could handle, but the scheming to cover it up afterwards she wanted to get away from as soon as possible, not to mention the fact that Seko’s swift and effective response to the possibility of Vincent being alive pretty much scared her. She got the feeling Seko was a bit to dangerous to hang around with.

“Well, that’s for a fact. But no time to waste: Seko, I’ll introduce you to your new companions, so you can begin searching for Vincent immediately. And I’ll stick around while you’re gone,” Kali quickly replied.

Seko, still a bit confused, nodded and turned to Shenya.

“She’s right, I gotta go, no time to waste… Just watch yourself, ok? I can’t imagine going on without you, not now that you’re gonna be a mom,” Seko quietly told Shenya as he licked her muzzle as a manner of saying goodbye.

“Stay safe. And… and if you find him…”

She hesitated.

“No, why bother… you won’t find him, he’s dead…” Senya uttered, and for a moment there, her sadness overcame her calm. But while looking in Seko’s large, yellowish-green eyes, she regained her confident tone again. She quietly whispered in his ear again.

“Don’t turn this into a farewell, ‘cause it isn’t. See you at the rock, in three sunrises time… dad.”

So she was going through with it. She was bent on taking the priderock, and if they would ever meet again, it would be under its shadow. If. And even though she told him it wasn’t a farewell, Seko couldn’t help but lick her muzzle one last time, stare into her compassionate gray eyes one last time, and tell her something he actually really meant one last time.

“Love you,” he quietly whispered, after which he and Kali took off without further ado. To Shenya it felt like a farewell after all, at least until she could convince herself they would indeed meet in three sunrise’s time, at the rock. She was sure of it. And she was equally sure her brother was dead. And she would make his alleged murders pay, starting now, or at least when Seko would have ventured out of sight. Seko looked back however, and for a moment it seemed as if he wanted to turn around and head back to Shenya, but Kali, who accompanied him, applied some mild pressure, pushing him out in front of her.

“Watch yourself!” Shetani shouted as Seko took of.

“See ya…” Banzaï grumbled as well, even though he couldn’t stand the sight of Seko. But he meant a lot to Shenya, and that’s what mattered to Banzaï. When both Seko and Kali had disappeared, Shetani addressed Shenya.

“Ma’am, maybe now's a good time to decide how to react to the lions’ aggression.”

“Not a whole lot to decide there I’d say…” Banzaï mumbled, “We make ‘em bleed.”

“Indeed. And it’s happening in three sunrises time, when we take the rock” Shenya replied, calm and confident again.

Shetani seemed a bit disturbed at the idea.

“Isn’t that a bit… well, ambitious? In such a short time?”

“We’ve trained five years for this, we can take ‘em,” Shenya noted, “And the sooner we do it the better: I’m confident that with their murder, they were hoping to disorganize and confuse us, so we wouldn’t retaliate after what happened on the hunting trip. But we’ll prove them wrong… dead wrong.”

“But going after the rock? The outlanders’ pride is in between us and the rock; we ought to take them out first.”

“No, that’s what they’d expect, if anything. And besides, they’d just pull back and amass at the rock: the outlanders’ den isn’t worth a rat’s ass to them. But if we get the rock first, the residents there‘ll defend it to the end, they’ll never give up their precious home. And then, in stead of facing one big pride, we can crush them one at a time.”

“We’ll need the whole clan to pull that stunt… It’ll be hard getting them there undetected.”

Shenya smiled.

“And that’s where you come in, you and your gang.”

“Yeah, that’s the perfect job for you Graymanes,” Banzaï grinned at Shetani. Shetani was the leader of the so called Graymanes, who were by the way named after her (or to be more precise after the abundance of gray hairs woven all through her otherwise dark manes). They compromised the best the clan had to offer: big, tough and intelligent, not to mention that most of them, like Shetani, were Northlanders. Right after the clan’s unification, Shenya’s father had formed a small band of the best and brightest of the three former clans with the explicit task of reconnaissance and infiltration deep into the pridelands. After a year of constant travel and sneaking, without one single detection by the lions, it’s needless to say they now knew the angle of every leaf on every bush by hard, and they had the stealth to put that knowledge to good use. Shetani, along with three companions, had even managed to study the pride rock (from a distance be it) and word had it they now knew their way around better than Simba himself (that, of course, would be giving them too much credit, but the assessment came pretty close nonetheless).

“You think you could handle that?”

“Probably,” Shetani nodded, “But we’d have to take one big detour, and it’ll be hard keeping eighty of us out of sight for the duration of a twenty-four hours march, not to mention we’ll have to take a rest in enemy territory if we want everyone combat-ready.”

“Right then. That settles it. Banzaï, you assemble the clan at the den, as quick as you can manage. Don’t tell them why; leave that to me, I’ll address the clan myself. Just get everyone at the den. Go!” Shenya commanded. Banzaï, who had been sitting down for the better part of the meeting, got up compliantly and took of towards the main den. As he left, Shetani addressed Shenya again.

“I couldn’t help but notice… you’re handling Vincent’s death pretty… well, calm. You feeling ok?”

“No, I’m not. I’m feeling like someone butchered my brother and spat in my face afterwards. And I didn’t even get the chance to say I was sorry for the fight we had this afternoon…”

She suddenly started laughing, though she could have been crying as well. Shetani guessed it was a combination of both.

“And to think we got into a fight because he wanted to let ‘em off… They killed the one hyena who believed it didn’t have to come to this… So no, I’m not feeling ok… But there are eight hyenas out there depending on me, and I can’t let them down. Not now. We’ll have time to grieve once we’re sitting atop the rock.”

***

“Hey…”

“Hey, Kim! But girl, you’re looking awful… what happened?”

“Thanks… What happened? I’ll tell you what happened: at sunset I had been up like all night so I wanted to get some sleep, but then all of sudden that arrogant Kali shows up and tells me I gotta go tell Vincent he has to come over, so I was all like ‘go find him yourself, lazy tart’, but then she tells me all this stuff about some lioness, so I’m all like ‘yeah right and...”

Kim paused to yawn, then looked around. Judging by the enormous crowd, the whole clan must have already assembled. Kim had to shout to get over the noise all around her.

“But I’m tired of yelling this… bottom line is I had to run around all day and when I was finally able to get some sleep, one-eyed Banzaï shows up and makes me get the whole clan to come over here… and now everyone’s here… and I still haven’t got no sleep at all…”

“Poor thing… they probably didn’t even tell you why they had you runnin’ around all day, did they?”

“Like, what were you expecting? They never tell us anything, we just have to like, sit, roll over, play dead and then shut up…”

“Ah darling, don’t let it get to ya. We can’t all be matriarchs, and for the better: we’d just mess up if we were, we’re not cut out for all them politics.”

“I wonder… but you don’t know either why like, everyone is here? Or why I had to go and get everyone?”

“Well, word has it there’s gona be a big announcement. No-one knows what it’ll be about though, and the big femmes ain’t talking.”

“It better be good or I’ll like, pass out. I’m so tired…”

“Probably, seeing as they’re making all this fuzz…”

Meanwhile, the noise around them continued to increase, and Kim’s friend tried to peek over everyone else’s heads, when the crowd in front of them suddenly split open, allowing Banzaï to get through.

“Right, here you are,” he told Kim, who had just lain down, “Hey, great job at getting everyone here on such a short notice, Shenya’s real pleased of you.”

“You’re welcome,” she yawned back, “What’s all this about, I’ve like never seen everyone in one place before, ever…”

“Yeah… I’m guessing you’ve already guessed Shenya’ll be giving a speech real soon… and she kinda asked me to come get you so you could come sit on the front row, if you want to.”

“Me? O-ok…” Kim stuttered.

“Well well, someone’s climbing the social ladder today…” Kim’s friend grinned.

“That’d be the day…” Kim commented cynically as she followed Banzaï through the crowd. Everyone had gathered in front of a mildly sloped, half-open cave which had a low boulder near the entrance, round which the clan had formed a semicircle. Kim quickly spotted Shetani and Shenya. When Shenya saw her, she blinked.

“There you are! Thanks again for getting everyone out here,” She smiled a bit nervously, “Whish me luck.”

“Huh?”

But in stead of replying, Shenya strode towards the flat boulder.

“Shhhsss…” Shetani hissed at Kim, who realised Shenya was gonna give that speech Banzaï had been talking ‘bout. Shetani then signalled all the other graymanes scattered throughout the crowd, who in turn urged everyone around them to keep quiet. Eventually, all background noise subsided and everyone’s eyes turned towards Shenya who was now sitting atop the boulder. As hyenas were gathered in front and beside her, it looked from a distance as if she was standing amidst the crowd, and judging by her ever increasing nervousness, Kim guessed she felt like that too. An uncomfortable silence set in. Shenya, eyes filled with mild panic, stared at Banzaï first, then at Shetani, and then at Kim, who tried to smile back as a means of encouragment. Finaly, she spoke up, hesitating, stuttering and not loud enough at first.

“Hi… I-eh, I appreciate you all being here… Sure are a lot of hyenas out here…”

She paused.

“You-eh… you’re probably wondering why I wanted you all here tonight… It’s been a while since we last gathered… I’ll try cutting to the chase here, I’ve brought you all here ‘cause I’ve got some bad news… Hell, no, not bad news… bad doesn’t even begin to describe it… It’s tragic, terrible even… Where do I begin...? I-I guess it all started yesterday evening, or no, it didn’t start yesterday evening, it all started five years ago. But I’ll get back on that.

I’d better start telling you a story, a story ‘bout three of our sisters ‘n brothers. Their names were Nya, Keavy and Seko, but it could’ve been anyone of us, and yesterday, they had to go out hunting. Hunting out into the pridelands, not because they were decadent, lazy or thieves. They had to because they were hungry. Hungry, as we all are ever since those lions, consumed by their burning and never ceasing greed, forced us to live our lives in exile, out in these barren wastelands, of which they knew could not support us, thus forcing us to organize raids on their lands simply to be able to continue existing. But are we to expect any compassion, understanding even?

No, for us they have nothing in store but hate and blind, murderous rage. So we do the only thing we can do: we hide, we creep, stalk and hunt in the shadows. Alas, it appeared we could not hide forever, because yesterday, one of our hunting party’s got caught: they ran into a bunch of lions. What happened then, you probably already figured out. The lions did not leave them be. They did not warn them, nor did they chase them off. They attacted, not as to chase them away, but for one purpose only: to kill them, relentlessly butcher them. Only one hyena escaped, Keavy and Nya however… They did not make it back.”

The crowd became noisy again, as everyone was shocked at the news. Especially the closer relatives of both deceased became quite emotional. Not that hard to understand really, as their deaths hadn’t been mentioned before, even Kim had been left in the dark, and as she herself had known Nya personally, she to was quite upset. And to think only one week earlier she had been babysitting Nya’s daughter… thank heavens she was already old enough for the communal den. The noise ensued, and some began to openly question why they’d been left in the dark for almost two nights. But Shenya spoke up again, now loud and confident as she had finally found the right tone.

“I know we should have brought you this awful news sooner, and I wish apologize personally, especially to the relatives, Nya’s daughter in particular. But we had to wait until everyone was gathered here, for an even worse tragedy has unfolded since the brutal murder of our dear sisters Keavy and Nya…

You see, immediately after the butchering, the lions sent an agent or an ‘emissary’ as she called herself. Indeed, they sent someone who pretended she wanted to ‘discus’ the tragedy they had caused… You now probably ask yourself who might, seeing as how previous experiences have made it painfully clear no lion is to be trusted, even bother to acknowledge the emissary’s plea in stead of just making her pay for what her pride did to our sisters, not to mention the years of misery they condemned us to?

But there was one hyena, one who still had faith that somewhere in their black and tiny hearts the lions would still have one speck of decency left. One who believed in a future where we might one day coexist… a future where there is place for both lion and hyena, a future we could only reach if we ended the bloodshed here and now. One who was compassionate enough to even be willing to forgive our worst enemies, and for the better of both our species was willing to reach out. You all know of whom I speak. The only son of great-matriarch Shenzi, my brother Vincent… Some of you might be surprised to hear me praise my brother, it is common knowledge we didn’t always get along…”

Why all those past tenses? Where is Vincent anyways? A worse tragedy… she couldn’t possibly mean…

“But even though we had our differences, I do know one thing about my brother: he was good at hearth, in ways a better hyena than I am. But… in all his kindness and understanding, Vincent made one mistake: he reached out to the lions. He reached out to the emissary, even trusted her enough to lose his guard… and facing that much trust and compliance, the lioness they had sent did what lions do best. She attacked. She murdered Vincent.”

Silence. The entire clan descended into a collective muteness. Maybe it was because Vincent had few relatives – only Shenya remained. Or maybe it was the fact the clan had to cope with three grave losses in succession. But the real reason they all kept silent was because they had lost their actual leader. Sure, he had never been proclaimed matriarch (or patriarch), his sister wore the title. But even though he never got to eat first, Vincent had always held the power: he had been the one to, as his father had done before him, keep in touch with all the leading families, befriend anyone regardless of their social stature, clear out all arguments that arose between clanmembers, organize hunting trips, welcome or decline any newcomers and most importantly, keep the clan in fighting shape and train them to defend themselves against the lions. And now gone? Dead overnight without warning? Shenya continued, although now that she had mentioned her brother, she sounded a bit more emotional.

“I-I can hardly believe it myself really… Vincent gone… I have to admit, it’s hard to bear… But as heartless as it may sound now, after the loss of so many lives, we cannot afford to grieve now. We cannot afford to stop and mourn about the losses we suffered, for now we have to act. Because let us not forget what has happened: Vincent offered the lions a paw, but they shamelessly gnawded it off. Vincent died believing there was still something good in lions, that we might one day live without having to fear them. But in their vicious, murderous bloodlust, they have once again proven him wrong. There is nothing good in lions, there is nothing reasonable in them, save their cunning. We’ll never live peacefully side by side. Not now, not now that they’ve once again showing their ugly, disgusting nature. No sisters, it pains me to say it, but my brother was wrong: we can never live in peace with the lions. We will never live in peace with the lions, we will never coexist, I even fear that the lions’ mere existence is an ever ongoing threat to ours. As long as the lions keep these lands in their chokehold, we shall never live at ease. Twisted and perverted in nature these lions are, and as such we can not and will not surrender our future generations over to their mercy, to live at their whims. No, the time has come, sisters, now that the lions’ behaviour has reached a new low, to finally, after all these years of living in fear and oppression, to take matters in our own paws. Now is the time, after yet another provocation, to finally claim our rightful place by force. Now is the time for vengeance!”

Silence.

“Vengeance!” she shouted out again.

“Vengeance!” a part of the clan angrily replied. Again, and again and again, until finally everyone shouted out as one, their voices full of anger and bitter hate, their eyes filled with a dark fury.

The circle of rotten fruit

“Come on, it’d be hilarious...”

“No, it’d be a waste of time.”

“Imagine the look on his face…”

“… when he dumps us halfway the passes? Yeah, that’d be real killer.”

“Jeez, you’re boring, you knew that? I thought hyenas did nothing but laugh all day long…” Vitani sighed.

“Just because our rallying-cries sound a bit peculiar doesn’t make us comedians, you know. I mean, you guys always roaring all the time doesn’t have to mean you’re all crazed out brutes…I think.”

“Apparently… Ow, I think I might have overdone it on that gazelle… Damn, my stomach…”

“Hey, don’t look at me, I told you it’d be better to save some for later,” Vincent commented whilst patting on the remains of a gazelle carcass.

“Apparently… Urp!” Vitani burped out in a surprising loud volume. The Impala they had been looking at from their resting place startled at the sound and tried to make a run for it.

“Oops…”

Immediately after the impala began sprinting away, Kiruhu leapt up out of the bushes he’d been using for cover and began his high speed chase. Normally, he’d have no trouble outrunning the prey, but this time he had his cover pre-emptively blown, so he was in for a long chase. He absolutely blew at long chases, but this time, with a bit of luck he might just make it. Meanwhile, Vitani and Vincent, still plucking their dinner from out from between their teeth, had deemed it necessary to start shouting a bit to encourage him, or to bug him, he wasn’t sure, nor did he care. He was entirely focussing on the prey running out in front off him, trying to avoid anything that might trip him. Suddenly, just before running in what appeared to be a thorn bush, the impala made a sharp turn, forcing Kiruhu to do the same. As his felt his paws sliding over the dry savannah floor, he just barely managed to avoid a fall, but he felt the bush tear his skin as he ran by. But he was still gaining on his prey, that’s what mattered, not some puny scratch. As he got closer still, the prey became desperate and tried to make another turn, but this time, it made a slight miscalculation and lost its balance. For a split second, it slowed down to try and regain its balance, and that’s when Kiruhu jumped in. While still running at high speed, he knocked the prey’s back with his paws, which then fell down. A short struggle ensued, in which the impala desperately tried to get up while the cheetah tried equally hard at gnawing his prey’s throat.

“Come on, gut him!” Vincent shouted.

“No, break him!” Vitani cheered.

Kirahu just did what he always did, being none of the above: biting the prey’s windpipe shut until it choked, which took a comparatively long time.

“Now that’s entertainment,” Vitani yawned, “And if I hadn’t disturbed him, he’d have caught his prey in half that time, and that’d been only half as fun. Told you it’d be hilarious…”

“I just hope he doesn’t get pissed at us for almost messing up his hunt…”

“Hey, that’s what he gets for being so smug. ‘Thank you but no, I prefer warm flesh… blah blah blah’. Talking ‘bout arrogant,” Vitani noted a bit scornful.

“I guess some cats just don’t appreciate the convenience of just having to pick up your food from the ground… not even when it hasn’t even been touched yet. Not that I wouldn’t prefer a fresh ‘n bloody kill of course,” Vincent mumbled as he started crunching down a few ribs, “Bah, I’ve had enough…”

“I bet he just doesn’t want to eat with us around… Phew, I’m busted. Eating’s hard work,” Vitani yawned.

“Don’t worry, we’ve walked far enough today, it’s about time we had some rest. Maybe then, we’ll be able to cross the passes in under a day tomorrow,” Vincent suggested.

“Why the hurry?”

“Why not hurry?” Vincent replied quickly, as he wouldn’t want to upset Vitani with the news his sister was probably on route to pick a fight with Vitani’s pride. It would only slow them down if she panicked (or got angry for that matter).

“Because we’ll be going our separate ways once we get back. Or are you that much in a hurry to get rid of me?” Vitani frowned.

“No, no, not at all… No, I like being around you… It’s just I don’t like to leave the clan all by itself, ‘s all.”

“You really like me?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, you saved my life twice by now, and you’ve been as nice as any lion could be. Not to mention you’re fun to hang out with. Quite frankly, I though you were the one getting sick of me…”

“If I were sick of you, I wouldn’t have saved your life twice by now, wouldn’t I?”

“You’re right; sorry, stupid remark from my part.”

“Stupidity forgiven, you’re a man after all,” Vitani smiled, “Hey, you smell that?”

Vincent snuffed around a bit, then discreetly snuffed his own fur.

“Smell what? Whatever it was, it wasn’t me. I think.”

“No, dumbass! Rotting fruit! Can’t you smell it? Mhhm, it’s just right… and it can’t be far! I’m amazed the grazers didn’t eat it already.”

“What for? It’s just stupid fruit… I doubt it being overdue makes it any less yuk.” Vincent grumbled. Vitani looked at Vincent with amazement.

“You’re not telling me you’ve never had any rotten fruit?”

“Why in the Spirits’ name would I ever have wanted to have eaten rotten fruit?”

“Come on, you’re kidding me, right? The big ’n bad hyena hasn’t ever eaten some rotten fruit? Fool the other one.”

“I’m telling you I haven’t…” Vincent replied, starting to get a bit annoyed, “Why, what’s the big deal?”

“You’ll find out soon enough!” Vitani grinned as she got up, “Come on; help me find out where it is. You’ll be thanking me later!”

With a fair amount of scepticism, Vincent reluctantly got up. Though he trusted it wouldn’t be anything harmful, Vincent was quite sure she’d be trying some prank on him. Bah, for the better, he thought, I can use some good laughs… After a couple of minutes spent looking around, they found the fruit lying at the base of a couple of trees. It appeared a fair amount, although a lone antelope was munching up some of it. Wanting the fruit for herself, Vitani shooed the herbivore. To Vincent’s surprise, however, the antelope did not speed away in terror, but instead clumsily tottered off, losing its balance a couple of times.

“What’s up with him?” Vincent wondered.

“Hehe, that’d have made a much easier prey for Kiruhu. Too bad he neglected the magic of the fruit…” Vitani giggled, “Come on, dig in!”

“What? Like hell I am, you go first.”

“Your loss,” Vitani mumbled as she worked down a mouthful of the now gooey fruit. Seeing as it didn’t immediately affect Vitani, Vincent argued it seemed ok and ate some of it. At first, he didn’t taste anything, until after a while he noticed a bitter aftertaste.

“Yuk! It don’t taste good at all…”

“You don’t eat it ‘cause it tastes good, silly! Come on, keep at it,” Vitani encouraged him with her mouth full. Reluctantly, Vincent continued eating. After a minute or so, Vitani halted him.

“Ok, that ought to do it. Come on; let’s find some place to lie down.”

What, this is it, Vincent thought a bit disappointed as they sat down on a soft patch of grass on the hill, giving them a great view of the amazing sunset at the other side of the river.

Huh? Am I already sitting down? Man, this is some soft grass… 

“Now what?” Vincent mumbled. He sounded a bit tired.

“Oh, if you haven’t ever had rotten fruit, you’ll begin feeling it real soon…” Vitani smiled.

“Nothing yet…”

Vincent turned his head towards the sunset.

Is it me or can’t I turn my head any faster than this? Hmm, Nice sunset…

“Beautiful sunset…”

It don’t usually say that…

“Magnificent,” Vitani grumbled with satisfaction, “Ever notice how it’s always there, it’s always pretty and we just never notice it?”

“Yeah…”

Vincent turned his head again, this time towards Vitani.

She’s looking different… Ever notice how she’s always there and always cute and I never notice it… Huh? I hope I didn’t say that one out loud… Oops, I’m staring at her… Is she staring at me?

They were indeed staring at one another, Vincent seemingly mesmerized by Vitani’s magnificent blue eyes.

“Sorry, I’m staring… you’ve got special eyes…” Vincent mumbled.

And I definitely usually never say that!

“Stare to your hearts content, silly” Vitani grumbled, “You’re ‘the boss’, I can’t stop the boss from staring…”

“I’m no boss. Oh wait… Well, not now, maybe sometimes…”

“What’s up with that anyways? Last time I asked you got all angry at me…” Vitani sobbed.

“Hey, I wasn’t angry at you.”

“Yes you were, you were angry and mean…”

“Hey,” Vincent whispered as he got closer to Vitani. She looked a bit sad. Was she playing it? “I didn’t mean that… It’s just… It’s my dad, he always insisted they call him ‘the boss’, so now that he’s gone everyone calls me the boss…”

“Aren’t the women usually ‘boss’ with hyenas?”

“That’s a long story… a long hyena story, you’d get bored…”

“No, I won’t, I like your stories… you and your stories,” Vitani smiled. She suddenly noticed Vincent was looking rather sad, genuinely sad as opposed to Vitani’s pose earlier on.

“What’s the matter?” Vitani asked concerned whilst putting her paw on Vincent’s shoulder. Contrary to his nature, he didn’t startle when he felt the lion’s paw.

“I don’t like to think about dad… he died only a couple of months ago… Now, I’ve got no parents left at all…”

“Neither do I…” Vitani added with a sad smile, “Come on, tell me about him. It’ll make you feel better, I’m sure.”

“No it won’t…”

“Why not?”

“Because he wasn’t a nice hyena… He was bad, scary…”

“He wasn’t a good father?”

“He was the best father you could ever dream of,” Vincent replied with sudden vigour, “But he was a scary hyena… he was different, not like hyenas… and he changed us, he made us different as well, more like him. You know how you said hyenas are supposed to laugh all the time? Well, I remember we did, once, but dad never did. He smiled, yeah, but never laughed. And when he came to power we all started becoming like him and less like hyenas…”

Vitani figured she hadn’t been the only one with rather unconventional parents…

“What, he made you all stop laughing?” Vitani asked.

“Yes… No… he didn’t force us… but he always led by example, so we became more and more like him. We’re not the clan we were all those years ago at the Rock anymore. Not just the laughing, other stuff too, like leadership: it used to be the women, but once he got the power, men were suddenly eligible as well. Me being the proof of that…”

“But if he was such a scary guy, how did he get to power in the first place?” Vitani wondered. Why do the scary ones always take over, she had asked it herself countless times.

Vincent smiled.

“The way scary guys always get power, we hand it to them. You probably don’t know, but my dad was a hero, yeah, a real hero they said. He supposedly stopped the lions that tried to chase us till we were all goners. But we got them, thanks to dad. Why? Because he changed us, he made us fight differently; he always said it was our own fault we lost the Rock, and not the lions’. So when everyone saw what miracles a bit of change brought, they thought ‘Why not? Why no man to lead now, maybe that’s a useful change as well…’ Of course, not everyone agreed on that… No, not at all, the clan split: tradition vs. change… and tradition made itself an entirely new clan, the Westclan. You remember that nasty hyena who chased us into the river yesterday? Her mother was the Westclan matriarch…”

Vitani yawned.

“But I’d better cut the storytelling; I bet you’re getting tired of me rambling…”

“No, no, keep it up, I’m not tired enough to sleep yet,” Vitani purred, and suddenly, on an act of impulse, she put her paw around Vincent and dragged him closer to her, until she could touch his manes with her nose. Vincent didn’t mind one bit, as a matter of fact, he probably hardly noticed, and if he did, he probably liked it, as the sun had already set and it was getting a bit chill.

“Mhhm, nice ’n warm…” Vincent mumbled with heavy tongue, “Where was I…”

“The nasty hyena that had chased us in the water…”

“Oh yeah… that was Kali, she doesn’t like me,” Vincent giggled, “But you probably figured that one out for yourself by now… No, she definitely hates me. And I haven’t done her any harm, ever! Just because my dad had her mom murdered, jeez… Like I had anything to do with that, but no, she just goin’ ‘round blaming it on me…”

“I know the feeling… why did your dad kill her mom anyways?”

“Because of you, duh! You gave us quite a scare with that reunion of yours, suddenly we had to face one huge pride: if they ever wanted to tie up loose ends…”

“So you did some reuniting of your own?” Vitani guessed.

“Yep,” Vincent replied amused, “We had wanted to do that for some time but lacked the spirit, but when you guys came together, we got something way better than spirit: fear. Yeah, now it all became clear: united we’d stand against a lion attack, divided we’d fall. ‘Strength through unity,’ was one of those catchphrases my dad used to use, became very ‘on the spot’ all of a sudden… Where was I… Oh yeah, first thing we did was talk to the Northlanders. They weren’t part of the clan, never had been, but they had once allied themselves with us when we were on the pridelands with your old man… and withdrawn just before Simba showed up: all gain, no pain. But their leader‘s a good gal. Honourable ‘n stuff, the good kind off an old fashioned leader: wanted to make up for the pain we had endured for their gain. They joined without any fuss, blended in perfectly, good hyenas, real nice…”

“And the Westclanners weren’t?”

“Stubborn, too stubborn… bad kind of old fashioned. So dad did what he does best: plotting. Genius plot, can’t remember any of it, but genius… drove the Westclan right into his paws.”

Vitani started giggling all of a sudden.

“Guess he changed the hyenas into plotters as well, judging by what happened yesterday…”

Vincent joined in on the giggling, although he was naturally more skilled at it. After some time, both calmed down, and for a moment they just lay there, cuddled against each other. Vitani’s warm, soft fur started making Vincent sleepy. Suddenly, Vitani talked again.

“Vincent?”

“Hhm?”

“The stuff you said about dad… Taka, did you really mean that?”

Vincent groaned profoundly. She was going to hear him out about that too? Maybe that was what the rotten fruit was for, making others talk? No, they didn’t eat it for an interrogation, maybe for the cuddling then? It sure seemed to make Vitani cuddlier.

“You do remember anything I say, don’t ya… Taka… What of him, sunshine?”

Vitani didn’t respond, so Vincent tried turning around to face her, her paw weighing down heavily on his waist. She was crying, silently: Vincent could see tears gently sweeping down from her eyes.

“Sunshine, you’re all right?”

In stead of verbally replying, she slid her free paw under his neck and firmly pressed the now slightly unnerved Vincent to her body, tucking her nose in the thick manes on his neck, allowing him to feel the sensation of her breath every time she exhaled. Normally, the thought of being hugged by a lion would petrify him, but for this one time he made an exception and actually liked it.

“It’s not fair…” Vitani wept.

“What is?”

“It’s not fair, why does everybody hate them? Why do you all hate me for them? What did I do? What did they do?”

Life’s not fair, is it?

Vincent gently pushed Vitani’s head from his neck, looking her directly in the face. On impulse, he licked away the tears on the right side of her face, then those on the left side.

“I don’t hate you, got that?”

“You do… you hate me for what I am, I’m just his daughter to you…”

“Don’t talk such rot. So you are his daughter, so what? I didn’t know him; I know you, and you’re not him.”

“But you do hate dad… Taka…”

Vincent sighed. She was upset, and who wouldn’t be: been born daughter to the most despised lion of an entire generation, been forced to betray her lineage and even her own parents.

“I’m gonna say something I might regret saying afterwards, but I don’t genuinely hate you father, Vitani. After my dad passed away, and after I found out who you really were, I did some thinking. And now I’m pretty sure of it: Taka couldn’t possibly be the monster everybody makes of him.”

“Liar…”

“No, it’s true. Think about it: I happen to know for a fact hyenas just hate him because we needed a scapegoat. Whatever happened was never our fault, but always his. I mean, he shared the pridelands with us, but Spirits know he didn’t have to, doesn’t seem like the kinda thing a monster would do, would it? And I’m sure all you outlanders wouldn’t just follow a monsters legacy all the way into exile…”

“…but no-one dares to admit that; they all feel more comfortable with the easy truth, a winner’s truth,” Vitani sobbed cynically. Then she suddenly licked Vincent’s nozzle, after which she one again lost herself in his fuzzy manes on the back and sides of his neck. Listening to each others regular breathing, they finally both dosed off, not noticing Kiruhu who had been discretely observing them for a distance. He looked up at the moon.

“Full moon… figures…”

***

“What do you think he’s staring at all the time?”

Kiara smiled faintly.

“They are the Kings of old. They watch over him, and he looks up to them…”

“Dead kings huh? Sounds creepy…” Kovu replied a bit absent, whilst staring at Simba, who was in turn staring at the star-spangled night sky.

“You don’t ever listen when Rafiki tries to explain the ways of the world to you, do you?” she replied with faked indignation. Kovu sighed, apparently not noticing Kiara was only pulling his leg.

“I wonder how anyone could. Fruit-sipping fruitcake… Can’t ever bother to just say whatever it is he wants to say. Where is he anyways? He hasn’t bothered me for quite some time now...”

“He probably already gave up on you…” she grinned.

“His loss, I suppose…” Kovu mumbled. Suddenly, he tried to grab Kiara, but she anticipated his move, tripping Kovu on the ground. He looked a bit pathetic laying on his back, Kiara standing over him.

“And what was that all about?”

“Moonlight makes you look too cute for me to just leave you be…” Kovu smiled, “By the way, how’s my heir coming along? Or maybe it’ll take some more…”

Kovu tried kissing Kiara, but she gently pushed him back onto the ground.

“Easy there Romeo,” She whispered as she bowed down and kissed him in stead, “I’m still the princess ‘round here. But don’t you worry; it’s going to happen soon…”

“ ‘t Was 'bout bloody time…”

Kiara sat down next to her partner, then turned her head towards Simba again. Sitting there, lonely gazing at the stars… it was in ways a sad image, perfectly illustrating how lonely it could get at the top, especially as one becomes older.

“Dad’s been anxious too…” she noted, “He can’t wait to get to see his first grandchildren.”

“I know, he’s been mentioning it to me too… noticed how he’s been kind of off lately?”

“Yeah, thanks for handling him so well. He’s been going through a tough time lately ever since Zazu died… then grandma… he must be feeling pretty lonely, all he’s got now is mom…”

“Alas, so are the ways of the circle of life,” Kovu grumbled ironically. Kiara seemed a bit shocked at his cold remark.

“Kovu! That’s not funny!”

“I don’t hear no-one laughing…” he grumbled still a bit frosty. Kiara angrily got up.

“What’s the matter with you? This has been going on for weeks now, what’s up with all that cynicism all of a sudden?”

“Just my bad genes kicking in dear…” Kovu grinned darkly, “Not funny? I’ll tell you what’s not funny either: last month, when Sarabi died, the whole damn pridelands went through three days of collective depression. When on the other hand the first anniversary of the reunion came up a couple of months ago Simba threw a bloody party! In the name of the Kings of old, he ‘mourned’ the passing of my mom with a damn banquet! That’s what’s the matter…”

Kiara gasped. He was right. Simba had provided a huge meat pile at priderock to celebrate. And celebrated they had…

“Now ain’t that a joke? My offspring conceived exactly one year after my mom passed away…”

“Kovu… I… I‘d forgotten… Sorry, I didn’t…”

“I bet you did. But hey, the past is all behind us, right? No need to remember lions, no need to remember parents, no need to remember names…” Kovu sighed bitter.

“Kovu… Stop this, stop talking like this…” Kiara urged with a slight hint of panic.

 “No, the faster we forget about Taka and Zira, the better, those are just evil memories, now aren’t they?”

“Kovu, stop this!”

“What? Their names hurt your ears? Zira and Taka, or maybe I better named him Scar… Two deviants from the almighty circle of life, a deviance only fitting the capital punishment…” Kovu laughed ghastly. When he mentioned the ‘circle of life’ he spat it out the same way others would spit out ‘Taka’.

“Kovu!” Kiara cried out loud. Simba suddenly tuned his head towards them, interrupting his monologue with the stars. He looked a bit disturbed; apparently he expected some kind of explanation. Kovu, however, got up without further ado and took of in exactly the opposite direction, leaving behind a shocked Kiara and a confused Simba.

To hell with their circle of life, to hell with all this! Simba’s feeling lonely? At least he’s entitled to his memories still.

Contemplating as he walked away from Kiara, Kovu realized he had gravely overdone it this time. He had had sporadic outbursts of cynicism and anger, sure, but never this ‘to the point’. But it was all getting to much, now wasn’t it? His first kid somewhere in the near future, Simba staying over again, his family history, but worst of all: Vitani still hadn’t come back. It couldn’t possibly have taken that long… But with his father-in-law around, he couldn’t afford to panic, let alone send out a search party. But he had to do something.

Where the hell is Enyi? Oh yeah, out hunting…

He decided to stop looking for Enyi. No use in panicking, not while Simba was around. He’d give it another day or so, but if she hadn’t returned the next sunset, he’d send Enyi looking for Vitani.

Kovu had never really gotten what the circle of life was all about; to him it was just another sorry excuse for explaining the inevitability of death parents made up to comfort their cubs. And as such, he’d always felt a strong resentment against it. Now he just hoped it hadn’t consumed his sister as well.