_______By the time she had finished Scar was sleeping soundly and Immue, her evening's work done, allowed herself to doze with him. She, despite what she had said to Akase earlier that evening, had eaten well and had no need to hunt that night....
_______The pride settled down over the next few weeks; Immue kept her distance from the rest of the lionesses and for the most part kept the growing Scar with her. There was no repeat of the incident with Akase. Ahadi tried as best he might to spend time with both of his sons, Scar included, but Immue never let him see Scar for as long as he felt he needed to be a real father. They slowly grew more and more apart between each meeting and Mufasa and Scar rarely played or even saw much of one another. In time it got to be that when they did meet it was not as brothers nor even as friends but as distant relations who had a common blood bond but little else in common, they were like cousins who had only ever seen each other at family occasions where there was little chance to get to know each other. Yet Mufasa was always told that Scar was his only and true brother.
_______"But Dad, when can he come and play?" He often used to ask, Ahadi had no easy response, other than a vague; and to Mufasa, perplexing:
_______"One day. He'll come one day when he's ready."
_______To Scar Ahadi seemed to be more like an uncle than a father, he and his mother lived alone in the draughty cavern. All the time she told him that he would grow up to be her special lion: he would be a king, indeed he would be king of the pride when his father died. Scar liked his father but had never grown to love him. Ahadi was a distant figure of respect to Scar, a lion to keep a safe distance from rather than to snuggle up to, Scar could barely even remember his scent. Yet still Ahadi, the king of Priderock, was his father and Scar knew that one day he would follow in his father's great paw prints.
_______"One day," Ahadi told Scar on one of the rare occasions they had been allowed to be alone together, "You may be the king of a pride you know." Later, when Scar told his mother about the visit, she smiled broadly when she heard those words but said nothing further on the subject, hustling Scar, protesting loudly that he wasn't tired, off to curl up to sleep in the depths of the cavern.
_______It was just ten days later and Immue was restless, wondering whether to hunt that coming night or to leave it until the next day. She kept on getting up and lying down, trying to find something to do to relax her. Scar lay idly to one side teasing one of the mice that lived in the darker cracks in the cavern walls. His mother lay a little way off trying to wash herself fastidiously. Zazu alighted on the rock platform and, after a hurried check on his primaries, hopped cautiously into the mouth of the cavern. Immue saw him at once and looked towards him, noticing Scar's inattention.
_______"Scar dear, come on, we have company." Then she spotted the tail poking out from under his left forepaw. "Well dear, If you going to eat it then get on with it and don't play with it. There's a good cub."
_______Zazu gulped nervously.
_______"Yes, well Madam, I have come with something from the King."
_______Scar's ears pricked up and he jumped to his paws in anticipation; the mouse scurried away to a safe crack.
_______"Hey Zazu, is it lunch?" Said Scar hopefully.
_______"No, young master, it isn't. It's important."
_______"Nothing's as important as lunch? Yes mother?"
_______"Scar, now let's hear what Zazu has to say. Yes, yes... yes."
_______"Ahem, yes..." said Zazu retreating slightly, he was afraid that he might find himself unintentionally staying for lunch. "...The king has a very important..." he flapped and flew back to the ledge, talking mid-flight, "...announcement to make at sunset. It concerns the master here." With that he flew off altogether, leaving Immue and Scar to ponder on exactly what this announcement might be. Immue did not ponder long. She knew that this was the time when her son, Scar, would be proclaimed the future king over that overgrown plushie Mufasa. It was clear that Scar would make a much better king than any cub of Akase's, after all Scar had much more of the ruthless determination and refined cunning that would sustain him as ruler of the Pridelands for a very long time indeed.
_______Sunset drew close, hot and humid, and Immue; with Scar walking proudly close by her side, threaded her way through the waiting pride passing by the young, taut and lithe figure of Sarabi as she stood, alert and graceful, waiting for Ahadi to emerge from the cave. It was not common for all the pride to be together in such close proximity and the tension was beginning to create friction between some of the lionesses: a swatted paw here, a tail swished there, yet the seven month old Sarabi rose above it all and stood calm and self-assured in the red glow of the late sun. She was as serene a lioness as her father had once been a great king. Even in her cub coat, all spots and down-soft fur, it was evident that she was to grow into a unique and very special lioness, though as yet she had shown little inclination to hunt and precious little skill on the few occasions she had tried. But like her coat, there was to be plenty of time for all that to change. Scar however, hardly gave her a second glance and passed by silently as Sarabi's eyes followed him from an unmoving head.
_______Immue wove her silent way to the foot of pride rock thinking that, if nothing else, Ahadi had a good eye for theatre.
_______"Why all this? Hmmm?" She thought as she sat and then lay heavily on a relatively flat topped boulder, "My son deserves the best but this is, well, a little over the top. Yes, yes." She lay and waited, barely turning her ears to the tense growls and snarls of a skirmish in the making some way behind her. The growls suddenly stopped as a shadow passed over the setting sun and flew down to the flat of Priderock. Zazu's voice was heard, but none could quite catch the distant words or see their speaker. The voice stopped to be followed by an almost audible:
_______"What do you mean they can't hear me?". The lionesses keen hearing picked up the scuffling of folding wings and the skitter of avine feet on the hard rock. Zazu's beak appeared over the parapet. "Is this better?" He asked behind him before turning once more to face the pride below. "Ahem... I have to announce King Ahadi wishes to speak to you on a matter of great importance to you all: The future of the Pride. Pray silence for the King." He bowed slowly, turned and walked off slowly, his voice being heard one last time: "There, and I hope that was good enough for you, sire!" Even Sarabi and Narala couldn't help but giggle just a little.
_______Ahadi stood a little in front of the cave entrance, his shadow blackening the rock face behind him. He had been taking lessons from Rafiki and now felt confident enough to face his pride as a true king might. He had carefully prepared a speech, nothing fancy or long, just a few sentences of carefully chosen words; carefully chosen that is, by Rafiki. In the intensity of the rehearsals Ahadi had not taken the time to examine exactly what those words meant. There was no time for any last minute examination now. Zazu turned from the peak of the rock and hopped back as gracefully as he could, he paused for a moment in front of the king, asking with raised eyes:
_______"There, and I hope that was good enough for you, sire!"
_______Ahadi looked sternly at him for a moment before the sternness turned to a sudden emptiness in the pit of his stomach accompanied by the rapidly rising pounding of his heart. He felt he needed to rush off Priderock for a moment but forced himself to remember that he had already been three times that afternoon. He forced his ribcage forward and breathed in deeply, counting to three as slowly as he dared before letting the breath go again. Rafiki had said that it would help but Ahadi was beginning to think that Rafiki was occasionally economical with the truth. Rafiki's voice echoed through his mind:
_______"It is time."
_______"Yeah, but is it my time?" Ahadi asked the ephemeral mandrill in his thoughts. "Come on Ahadi, this is it. Time to tell it like it is!" He stepped forward, his foreleg felt soft and rubbery and he wobbled slightly. He looked down at it, it looked just the same as it had always been. He swung his tail round smartly. It's tip caught his side sharply, making both tail and flank sting. "Oww! That's another of Rafiki's tips I'll try to forget." He considered giving up until he turned his head back to see Akase with Mufasa standing in front of her looking proudly back to his father. Time seemed to stand still as he turned to the parapet of the promontory of Priderock and stepped forwards. When he reached it and looked over there was no sound of greeting, no tumultuous cacophony of rejoicing animals; nothing but the sunset, the grass and himself, he felt almost as if he were alone and he could pretend to himself that he was standing in front of his pride announcing his son's succession. He felt he could say anything as there was no one there to listen:
_______"Ah, my friends - my pride. I have called you here this evening to tell you that one day; when I am no longer able to lead you all; I will give the honour, privilege and duties of King of the Pridelands to my son." Ahadi paused to let this sink into his audience. He thought he heard a lioness purr somewhere close by and his foreleg buckled again. Then he remembered he was on his own. "He will however not be alone. He will have someone to be with him and support him, to hunt for him and I hope to love him. He will have..." again Ahadi paused for effect, this time he heard nothing but the silence of the breeze over the grass below, "...a lioness of rare beauty. Indeed if I were five years younger I might... Ahem, well enough of me. She, who will one day be the queen of Priderock, is Sarabi." A murmur of low voices flowed and rippled through the lionesses below. Ahadi could make no sense of the hushed tones and whispers yet he knew with unwavering certainty that he had said something very seriously wrong. The murmur grew and formed into a short phrase: "But she's his daughter too!". Rafiki had said that the news would be warmly received, Ahadi felt as if the plain was on fire below him, the tongues of the rising flames licking at his fur. Suddenly Sarabi was at his side, there on Priderock, staring at him in disbelief:
_______"Tell me it's not true?"
_______Ahadi looked at her, and saw at once that she was indeed so much more than a cub. She left him as quickly as she had come. He was looking once more at Akase and his very own Mufasa.
_______"It isn't true. I have lied to you. I have lied to you all." The tumult died. "I have kept something from you, even from my Akase. Sarabi is..." no one said a word. Even Rafiki, sitting on a rock ledge some way off to the south, sat perfectly still with fixed eyes and ears on Ahadi. "...not my daughter. She, and her sisters, are daughters of a once great king of a pride far from here. I did not conceive her, he did." Akase smiled at her mate in a heady mixture of relief and pride. She had often wondered, secretly when everybody else was asleep, just why Sarabi looked like she did. She also saw the pain on Ahadi's face that said more to Akase than his words could ever do; they said that he could not take Narala because she was Akase's older sister. Sarabi stared at her father high above her on Priderock with wide staring eyes she could not take in the simple fact that she was not the lioness she thought she was, that she was not the daughter of the king, but that she was just the daughter of a mere lion. She turned and for a moment seemed to Narala to be very likely to cry, but with Narala's steadying shoulder to lean into she managed to hold herself up with just a dampening of her eye that only she, and perhaps her mother, could have known about. Sarabi felt nothing for Mufasa, he was all very well to play with, chase and pounce on, but he was, well, he was a lion not a lioness, they were as different as zebra and crocodile.
_______"Mom," she said quietly, "do I have to be Mufasa's queen?"
_______"No, dear, not if you don't want to. It's all right. You forget that now, there's too much to think about all in one day." But, try as she might Sarabi could not forget about Mufasa and what she might have to do for him. She looked at Narala and thought about what this other lion had done to her and she could not understand any of it. She vowed never to grow up, never to be a lioness and certainly never to hunt as that way Mufasa would never want her as his queen.
_______Closer to the foot of the rock Immue lay seemingly unmoved by Ahadi's performance. She watched intently as Ahadi went on, his tone less formal and his manner less that of a king and more of a father.
_______"It's true, Sarabi is not mine and so she can be the mate of my son, Mufasa, who I intend shall be the next King of Priderock. He will be presented to all the animals in a few days when all the arrangements have been made." He paused again, the assembled pride, the whole strength of the Pridelands lion lay, sat and stood before him and all looked to him as their king and, in time they, or their cubs would look to Mufasa as King. The sun finally set on Ahadi as he stood there on the rock, it was as important a moment as any since the pride's arrival. It sealed an unsettled time, after the long hard and dangerous journey from the marsh lands the pride could not be totally sure they were on the Pridelands to stay. Now they knew that this was to be their home for as long as there were cubs to grow into lions. The Pridelands were now home.
_______After Ahadi had bid them all good hunting and retreated back to his family the pride dispersed. The last to go was the silent Immue, still lying outwardly calmly. Scar nuzzled her and called her to get up but for some time she did not and ignored all her son's attempts to rouse her, she just lay looking at the rock where Ahadi had just crushed her hopes and dreams. Eventually she got up sharply and with little more than a:
_______"Come on Scar dear, we have to get home. Yes, yes.", she was gone into the night, leaving only four sets of three inch long deep parallel scratch marks in the earth, some stained by a few drops of crimson.
_______Ahadi felt that, all things considered, the announcement of Mufasa's betrothal and succession had gone smoothly. With regard to the betrothal it was really a matter of there being little choice. Sarabi, or indeed one of her sisters, was the only possible choice as all the rest of the cubs of Mufasa's age had been sired by Ahadi. It had of course required the truth of Sarabi's parentage to be brought out into the open but there was really no alternative. So far at least Immue had remained silent regarding the details, however Ahadi had considered that probability and had told Akase all about it. Indeed it mattered little now his pride leadership was assured. In the early days, when a challenge had been more likely, though no challenger had even set paw upon the Pridelands, such a revelation would have severely undermined his position as King, now it was no more just a piece of colour in his youthful past. It was the matter of succession that troubled Ahadi now, Rafiki had warned him that trouble might lie ahead but could not be precise on how this trouble might manifest itself. Yet Mufasa's presentation lay just a couple of days ahead and nothing could be allowed to spoil this special moment for his son.
_______"So Rafiki, why is this so difficult to organise? For me it was all just there at dawn. What's there to do?"
_______"You think this is easy? Do you? Well I'll tell you this. You think I did nothing for your presentation eh? It took days and days, and all done while you slept. I had to call in quite a few favours for that you know. I have less friends now than I used to. I hope it was worth it! You, you don't know the half of what I do for you. You think this place runs itself? Eh?"
_______"Well, no, I know it doesn't and I know you do a lot and..." Ahadi tried frantically to guess what Rafiki might do but couldn't think of anything before the pause became obvious.
_______"See, you have no idea do you?"
_______"I do, I do! It's just that I can't remember it all right now."
_______"Eh? Come on, you can't hide from Rafiki. You know I know everything that goes on here."
_______"Really, I thought Zazu knows everything that goes on?"
_______"What? That little... He doesn't know anything. I'm the one. Me! He is just a pompous little feathered gossip. Eh? What does he know that I don't? Well, come on, tell Rafiki!"
_______Ahadi thought for a moment then said hopefully: "He says the average age of the seventeen male elephants on the Pridelands is twenty seven years."
_______"What? What use is that? And what is the average of the females eh?"
_______"He didn't say." Said Ahadi with a shake of his head, sending a few insects flying from his mane. One landed on Rafiki's arm. He nimbly picked it between finger and thumb and, with a peer and a smile, ate it.
_______"Mmmm. Not so bad. And why did he not tell you? Answer me that?"
_______"I guess he didn't know."
_______"Guess, what are you? King or cub? No, I tell you he didn't tell you because you never ask a female elephant her age, and if you do they always say twenty seven."
_______"You mean they've forgotten how old they are?"
_______Rafiki lifted his stick slowly as if preparing to use it.
_______"No, NO! See how little you know, female elephants don't grow old... they just smell that way!"
_______"Rafiki! Why you..." Ahadi got up quickly but the mandrill was already away and running between the boulders and towards the distant tree-topped ridge that lay between Priderock and his home, the baobab tree. Ahadi ran after him for a few metres before realising that pursuit was pointless so he sat down and regained his breath and waited for Rafiki to return as Ahadi was sure he would. "Kings," he mused to himself, "should not chase after their subjects, their subjects should chase after them. It's a good thing no lionesses chase after me, I don't think I could cope with that. Mufasa on the other paw..." he thought on, "...he may grow up to be worth chasing."
_______"What are you thinking now? Don't hold with all that thinking, not for kings anyway." Ahadi was startled out of thought by Rafiki's breath and voice on his cheek. "I tell you that Immue's got to be watched."
_______"What? Immue? No, she won't tell about Narala and me, not now anyways."
_______"Oh yes? And what is all this about Narala and you eh? Come on Tell Rafiki."
_______Ahadi lifted a forepaw and pushed his head over theatrically with it.
_______"Dohhh! Stupid kitty...!" He knew that Rafiki would not let him go until he had spilled the whole colourful truth. A few moments later any passers by would have been puzzled by the strange and inexplicable sight of a great lion sitting sternly while a seemingly deranged gibbering ape fell about the lion's forepaws in laughter.
_______The hours passed and Ahadi forgot Rafiki's warning, for the while at least. Any doubts as to Immue's changed nature were dispelled when she brought Scar over to the cave to play with a delighted Mufasa. She was all lightness and would do simply anything to help Akase. Indeed after a pleasant hour or so she offered to look after Mufasa while Akase took a nap, or went hunting or just wandered round to her old haunts and whiled away a few hours with her old friends, or even her sister, Narala. At first Akase was suspicious but there seemed to be no real reason for Immue to be suspected of anything and so, after many "You simply must have a break my dear, yes, yes, yes."'s, Akase gave in and left Mufasa and Scar playing together as Immue looked on, smiling.
_______Akase walked off quickly at first, glad to be able to spend a little time just for herself. She normally spent all her time with Mufasa or hunting or on some pride matter or other. There was little time for her to stop being Akase, mate to the King of Priderock and mother of the next King, and to be just Akase, the lioness. There were times when, tired and frayed, she would wander back to the cave long after Ahadi had gone to sleep only to wake before he did the next day. Now she was free, free to roam the plains, free to do anything she wanted. Now that she was free she found it difficult to know what she wanted to do. She wandered aimlessly for a while as she tried to remember what it was like to be able to do things on impulse and the moment, but somehow she just could not remember. She kept looking back to the rock, for a time she thought she couldn't see Immue, Scar and most importantly, Mufasa. She sat back and watched and waited... still she could not see her son. She was just beginning to wonder where they might be and whether she had already strayed too far from home when she spotted the trio. But they were not on the flat of the promontory, they were high up on the rock ledge that led to the top of the rock. Scar was leading Mufasa with Immue behind.
_______"What are they up to? Why are they going up there?" Akase suddenly felt a cold shiver of fear run down her back. "They could fall off up there!" She felt the shiver grow to a rush of panic which forced her up and back at a full run as the thought of her Mufasa falling to his death from the top of Priderock flashed through her. He could almost see his small body drop the first 20 metres of the eastern face of forbidding rock. He tumbled and screamed helplessly as Immue sat at the top and laughed. His body hit a protrusion and Akase could hear his back break with an agonising crack before his lifeless body thudded to the rock protrusion below. "NO! Mufasa! NO!" She forced herself violently up the rocks to where the body of her son had fallen but he was not there. She heard him cry out as he began to fall again. She looked up to where he had hit the stone edge high above her but she could not see it. All she saw was Mufasa's head poking over the edge of the top. She could barely hear a few faint words.
_______"Mufasa my dear, come away from there. We don't want you to fall now, do we? Hmmm? Yes, yes, yes, that's better. Let's all be going down now. Come on my dears, it's best we all went down now. I know this has been simply too much fun but all good things must come to an end."
_______Akase heard a few moans of protest from Mufasa and Scar:
_______"Aww, Immue, but Dad says I'm gonna rule it all."
_______"Oh goody..."
_______Akase forced herself to wait at the bottom, close to the entrance to the cave where the rock ledge that led up to the top of the Priderock began. She knew that if she followed them up it would only cause trouble as the ledge was too narrow in all expect a couple of places for a fully grown lioness to turn round. She heard the distant laughing, happy voices growing stronger, echoing off the rock faces, only to fade again. She wanted only to feel her Mufasa's fur on hers, to feel his heart beat close to hers but she could do little but wait as nearer and nearer came the shtick-tick of cubs claws on hard rock as he grew closer. Immue made no sound as she followed the cubs down the ledge.
_______"Hi Mom! It was great, I showed them everything."
_______"Come here at once Mufasa, you're not to go up there alone again! Do you hear?" Said Akase sharply, Mufasa was taken aback.
_______"But I wasn't alone, Scar and his mom were there too!" He protested as he ran to his mother and thrust his head against her forelegs. She bent her head down against his and drew in his scent.
_______"Yes, well, that doesn't change anything, you could have been killed."
_______"Aw come on mom, do ya think I would fall off?"
_______"No Mufasa, I didn't think you would fall."
_______"You don't think, my dear, that I would push him do you?" Asked Immue smoothly. Akase knew that that is exactly what she had thought but also felt that it had been an irrational idea, born out of what Akase knew was her tendency to overprotect Mufasa. If he was to grow up into an independent and self-confident lion she knew she had to let go a little and let him experience life for himself. Mufasa had to learn about life as it was, not as Akase would like to present it to him.
_______"No Immue, I just got worried - you know, as mothers do. I'm just glad you all got back ok. That's all." She nuzzled her son, just to make sure he was really back after all.
_______"Yes, yes, yes. I see. It's simply too easy for an accident to happen is it not. Don't worry, Mufasa is safe with me, I'll make sure he is treated just as he deserves. Yes, yes, yes. Now, if you're back we had better go. You know - things to do, Wildebeest to chase and all that."
_______"Oh, that's all right Immue, you go off if you like. Scar, you can come and play again soon if you like. How about tomorrow?"
_______"Yeah? Yeah, I'd like that. Mufasa? We could play 'King of the rock'."
_______"Oh, I'm sorry my dear, we can't make it tomorrow I'm afraid, but how about the day after? Hmmmm?"
_______"Yeah Scar - bags I'm first." Mufasa held his head as high as he could manage and tried to look down on Scar. "You can be the commoners."
_______"Hmmm....." said Scar, "as long as I can be king next."
_______"Enough of that you two. Now Scar dear, we'll come and see Mufasa again in a couple of days. Yes, yes, yes."
_______Later that night in the cavern Scar reflected on the afternoon as Immue lay, as usual, washing herself.
_______"Mother? Is Mufasa really going to be king?"
_______"Who?"
_______"Mufasa, my brother. You know he's great to play with. He does really awesome things with his tail."
_______"Oh, Mufasa. Oh, I wouldn't get too friendly with him, Scar dear. After all he won't ever be king. Yes, yes, yes."
_______"He won't be king? But Dad said..."
_______"He was severely mistaken. You will be king. You are the only choice."
_______"But what about Mufasa?" Scar insisted, not yet grasping what his mother really meant.
_______"What about him? He'll not live to be presented as the next king."
_______"Why? Is he sick?"
_______"NO! No, no. We're going to kill him."
_______"But what's he done?"
_______"My dear Scar, he didn't do anything." Said Immue mildly. Then her voice hardened and she became a little menacing, "His mistake was being born."
_______Mufasa lay impatiently swishing his tail. Akase had tried to get him to lie with her but he had refused as he was waiting for Scar to arrive. Ahadi wandered out of the cave, in the afternoon heat it was getting unbearably hot and the sun had long since passed leaving the flat of the promontory in deep shadow. He flopped down on the heated rock by Akase and leaned over and licked her cheek.
_______"Now don't start that." She protested, only half seriously, "Immue is bringing Scar over to see Mufasa."
_______"Oh good." Said Ahadi brightly, "She can take Mufasa out for a while. Then we can be alone together."
_______"Ahadi! Whatever is the king thinking? And what would we do together?"
_______"Anything you want. Anything at all." Ahadi smiled and then licked her again.
_______"Really Ahadi! Anyone would think I was in season or something."
_______"Akase, you're always 'or something' to me."
_______Akase drew her head back suddenly and looked at her mate through half closed eyes. She lifted a fore paw and batted it gently towards Ahadi who lunged his head forwards and caught it between his teeth gently and licked it before releasing it to Akase who stared hard at him. It had not hurt at all...
_______"Hey Mufasa, I'm here!" It was Scar's voice, shortly followed by a bouncy cub with a springing tail with the bulk of a lioness walking behind.
_______"Well, here we are. Yes, yes, yes. Oh you two do look good together. I know how pleased you must be to have a lion like that all to yourself my dear."
_______"Immue, now don't get any ideas."
_______"Ideas? Me Akase? No, no, no, it's King Ahadi there who's getting the ideas. Isn't that right my dear?"
_______"Well, Immue I'd like a chance to get more ideas, you know." said Ahadi hopefully.
_______"Scar? D'ya wanna go down the water hole? It's just so hot!"
_______"Hey you two, I'll take you if your Mum and Dad think it's Ok."
_______"Aww, come on Immue! Hey Scar, come on let's go!" Before anyone could say anything Mufasa ran off down the rocks closely followed by Scar. The pair bounded away full of youthful energy.
_______"Is it all right if they go? I'll bring them back safe and sound. I promise."
_______"I guess we don't have much choice, do we Ahadi." But Ahadi was not really listening as he started to rub his mane up against Akase's shoulders. Akase smiled in a way that said "I guess he doesn't mind." and Immue smiled and turned to leave, pausing only to call back as she dropped down from the expanse of the rock,
_______"I'll bring Mufasa back well before sunset. Yes, yes, yes."
_______"Has she gone?" Ahadi said close into Akase's ear as he licked it's rim.
_______"Yes dear, she's gone and she taken Mufasa with her. We're all alone."
_______"Are you tired?" Ahadi asked.
_______"No?" replied Akase puzzledly.
_______"Good, let's go in the cave then."
_______"Ahadi! What are you suggesting?" But Ahadi had already got up and was close to the cave mouth, he looked back and smiled mischievously at Akase who smiled in return. She knew exactly what he was suggesting and she didn't need to be asked again.
_______The afternoon cooled slowly but the cave on Priderock cooled even more slowly. Ahadi decided that his son's idea about cooling off in the water hole sounded very attractive. Akase, who lay contentedly on the cave floor was not too sure, but when she saw her mate bouncing around as if he were their son she decided to stay at his side and join him in an afternoon splash in the muddy water.
_______"What are we? We're just a pair of cubs."
_______"Cubs? Akase, we're not cubs any more. But just for now I'll pretend I am, just for you. Come on, let's go and show Mufasa what playing's really about." Ahadi looked towards Akase as she got up awkwardly as if to make out that she was a great-grandmother rather than a new mother. She shook her legs saying:
_______"Look what you did to me."
_______"Come on Akase, let's go!"
_______"Oh Ahadi, wait for me!" But he was gone, Akase ran off after him and caught him just below Priderock. Together they sprang and ran, looking at each other and laughing together. It was just a few short, breathless and beautiful minutes before they arrived at the water hole.
_______Scar stood nervously at the edge of the water, looking intently at his mother who was wading in the shallows. Mufasa was nowhere to be seen. Ahadi slowed and stopped as he looked around. Akase sprang up to his side, she had not yet realised Mufasa was missing.
_______"Hey serious, what's up?" She asked as she noticed Ahadi's concerned gaze. He did not answer, instead he shouted to Immue.
_______"Immue, where's Mufasa? I can't see him here?"
_______Immue turned her head sharply as if she had been interrupted.
_______"Oh, hello Ahadi. He was here just a moment ago, wasn't he Scar?"
_______Scar did not answer, he drew back in fear but said nothing.
_______"Where is my son Immue?" Ahadi asked again with more strength.
_______"He must have just wandered off for a bit. I'm sure he'll be back soon enough. Yes, yes, yes,"
_______Ahadi and Akase looked at each other and at Immue. They saw that a few tiny bubbles popped up around Immue's immersed forepaws. They wondered why Immue stood so awkwardly and did not move to greet them. It was as if she were standing on something in the water. The terrible truth hit Ahadi as if Immue had struck him a powerful blow. Now nothing on the Pridelands could hold his rage and strength, he roared shatteringly, sending every bird to the sky and every animal dashing for cover. He shot forwards towards Immue who jumped back and turned, just too late to avoid Ahadi's first blow that he had ever delivered in true anger. His fully unsheathed claws raked down her shoulder, opening it over a length of more than ten inches. She was knocked sideways and onto her back by the force of the blow, she landed on the water's edge and splashed out furiously at Ahadi who pounded through the water towards her. Spray flew up over them, covering the little cub Scar who cowered at the edge for a few moments before running over to Akase. But before he could reach the safety of his aunt, she lunged out across the water after Immue who had succeeded in filling Ahadi's eyes with enough mud to enable her to scramble from him as he thrashed out wildly in his rage and fury at anything that moved, even Akase who was caught on the left flank by a set of rear claws.
_______In all the confusion Immue managed to slip away from the water hole. Ahadi jumped out, water running off every part of his coat, and chased her as far as the borders of the Pridelands, over every rock, ridge, log, track, gully and valley but try as he might he never caught up with her. When she finally leapt the six foot deep narrow gully that marked the Pridelands north-eastern border Ahadi realised that he had lost her and resigned himself to never seeing her nor his son again. After a few moments to catch his breath he sadly followed the trial of Immue's fresh blood back to the water hole, which he finally reached close to sunset. The water had long since settled and Akase had gone, so had Scar. There was no sign of Mufasa's drowned body. For the first time Ahadi lay down by the water's edge and cried. He had lost his dearest son, and on the eve of his presentation. No one: no lion nor any other animal went close to the water hole that night until moonset. It was King Ahadi's private place and all the Pridelands mourned with him.
_______All except Akase, who once Immue and Ahadi had run off, had had the presence of mind to feel around in the mud where Immue had been standing. She felt a soft, still warm furry body and reached down into the water and lifted it out by what she though must be the scruff. For a few moments it lay lifeless in her gentle mouth. Then the body gasped and spluttered as Mufasa gulped in life giving air. Akase immediately forgot about Immue and Ahadi and carried the barely living cub back to Priderock. Scar followed a length or two behind, keeping just out of sight, he feared he might never see his mother again.
_______When Ahadi returned to Priderock a little before dawn the first few of the herds, who had grazed their way across the Pridelands over several days, were beginning to gather for the new king's presentation. Ahadi avoided all of them, he could not bring himself to tell anyone that his son Mufasa was dead, he hoped that they would all simply disappear and leave him alone as a lion and not a king. He kept to the shadows as he climbed up to the cave entrance. For a moment he felt that he could not enter and that all he deserved to do was to slip away and die unseen. His world, and with it the future of the Pridelands, had died there in the shallows of the water hole and Ahadi wished that he could die with it. There was only one reason for him to return, and she was probably inside the cave. He sniffed the still air that filtered from the cave mouth. On it he scented Akase: strong and, even now, inviting, and Mufasa and even Scar. Clearly their scent had lingered to haunt him.
_______"...and what of Scar. If he's still alive I suppose he will be..." but he could not think of that now. He remembered Scar's terrified look by the water's edge and thought that he could not have known what his mother was going to do. Indeed how could she have used Ahadi's own son against Mufasa? "Scar didn't know what she was going to do. How could he? He was just as frightened to see what she was doing." Mufasa's scent became stronger. For a second Ahadi thought that he must be alive after all. He had not seen the body. "No, what if he had just run off? What if he's lying asleep in the cave? No, what have I done? Help me!" He thought desperately. He rushed into the cave and there, lying fast asleep where he always slept was Mufasa, at his side, with his head over Mufasa's back lay Scar as fast asleep as his brother. It was a picture of contentment and peace but it hid a tale so dreadful that no one ever spoke of it again. Akase woke, if indeed she had been sleeping, as Ahadi rushed in.
_______"Where in the marsh lands have you been?"
_______"But... But Mufasa's alive, so Immue didn't drown him! He's alive!"
_______Ahadi wanted to wake and play and have his son climb all over him, but Akase stopped him.
_______"Leave him to sleep. He's had the worst day of his life. Immue nearly succeeded, Mufasa almost died. I fished him out and I..." she stopped and closed her eyes, holding, no, fighting back a flood or tears. "He was dead in my mouth. I held my own dead cub... and he fought back death and lives. He is a very special cub. He is our cub Ahadi; he is ours and he's alive."
_______Ahadi could say nothing and do even less. He no longer wanted to die, he wanted to live, he wanted to roar, he wanted to feel close to Akase, he wanted to live a whole life in just a few minutes but he could not. He lay down at Akase's side and, feeling her very softly purring, fell asleep with his head on her stretched out fore paws. It had been a very long night.
_______He was not allowed to sleep long. He was woken by Rafiki an hour later wanting to know if Mufasa was well enough to cope with the presentation ceremony. Panic broke out in the cave as Akase woke Mufasa, waking Scar who panicked thinking he was back in his cavern and shouted out for Immue. It was left to Ahadi to tell him that his mother would never return to the Pridelands....

Epilogue.

_______Scar sat smiling on a rock below the promontory of Priderock as his lionesses dispersed in dismay whilst all around cane the baying hordes of Hyena. The moon shone down unwarmingly and Scar looked up to it and remembered. He was at long last the King of Priderock. He had finally triumphed over Mufasa and Ahadi and what had so long been denied him was now all his. Power, pure power to do anything he wanted, just so long as the hyenas agreed of course. More and more poured over the rocks behind him, voice after voice lifted up to the moon until one voice in particular caught Scar's ear.
_______"Yeah, we were prepared all right. Prepared for all this!"
_______Scar turned and pushed forwards with a flourish.
_______"Ah, my friends. I'm so glad you could come to my little party tonight."
_______"What? You call this a party? Scar, come on? Where's the food?"
_______Ed laughed beside his brother.
_______"Food? Oh well, if you really must eat at a time like this I'll see what Sarabi's got 'lion' around." Scar looked up away from Banzai, "That really is an awfully bad pun you know." He brought his head down menacingly. "You'll have to do better than that next time!"
_______"Whoa, now, that was Shenzi's, wasn't it Ed?"
_______Ed sniggered, nodding his head, sending droplets of saliva flying towards Scar.
_______"Oh, how revolting. Now you two, there's a little 'something' I want you to do. Oh it's so simple, you'll do it in no time. No time at all."
_______"Oh yeah, like what?"
_______"Oh, nothing, it's just that I would so much like to see someone special again."
_______"Hey, what? Like Mufasa? Ha-ha-haaa..." Ed joined Banzai in laughing in the way in which only hyenas can.
_______"No, fools." Said Scar roughly as he clouted Banzai with the back of his forepaw. "You're going to find my mother and bring her back to the Pridelands."
_______"Your mother? Immue? 'Oh little Scarie, do eat your greens, yes, yes, yes!'"
_______"You'll not need a description then. So you'll be starting off right away."
_______"Immue, now there's a real lioness, eh Scar? One of us, just like you."
_______"I said you'll be starting off..." he loomed down in front of Banzai, "right now..."
_______"Yeah, you know you look kinda like her close up?"
_______"Get out! And take your 'friend' here with you!" Scar roared. Banzai pulled back sharply, yelped in terror and ran off with Ed at his heels....
_______Some long tedious days later, and after a search of most of the lands surrounding the Pridelands, excepting the desert beyond the river which everyone knew was uncrossable, Banzai and Ed led a cautious and fearsome lioness back to the place which, for a few short months, she had almost called home. As she walked past the water hole she stopped for a moment and wondered what might have happened had that fateful afternoon not been quite so hot. She walked the few hundred metres to Priderock slowly, taking in the sights she had remembered for the long years alone, but she was used to being alone, it was living in a pride that was unknown to her. Though she was returning to her son, the King of Priderock, she was returning to uncertainty. She was to find the next few years with her son very difficult indeed....

Text Version of A Shining New Era.
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