Chronicles of the Pride Lands cotpl-1

by John H. Burkitt

  He’s running from his shadow in the night.

  I hate to say it friend, but Taka’s ‘round the bend,

  In short, our King is not quite right.

  BANZAI: I think I see your point. His brain is so disjointed,

  And though sometimes he’s very meek and pert,

  He weighs five hundred pounds, and brethren it sounds

  Like he could cause a world of hurt!

  CHORUS: He’s twitterpated, pixilated, nutty as a fruitcake,

  A badly-addled, muddled, batty cuss!

  A truly royal pain, a major hulking heartbreak,

  In short, he’s not a thing like us!

  BREE: What's a fruitcake?

  SKULK: It's all mixed up, like Scar.

  BREE: This is treason!

  SKULK: You bet your whiskers! And remember you heard it here first!

  BANZAI: He promised us a feast, instead he gives us famine,

  And now on top of that he’s gone berserk!

  Now even when he sleeps, he still gives me the creeps,

  I think it’s time we can the jerk!

  SHENZI: We’ve been a patient lot, so downright sentimental,

  And overlooked his lapse of sanity.

  Enough is now enough, the King is playing rough,

  It’s time to cast your lot with me!

  CHORUS: He’s twitterpated, pixilated, nutty as a fruitcake,

  A badly-addled, muddled, batty cuss!

  A truly royal pain, a major hulking heartbreak,

  In short, he’s not a thing like us!

  Skulk said, “You know his mind is falling apart. He thinks his dream it is a sign--I think maybe it is.”

  “You must not do this evil thing, ” Fabana cried. “There is good in him.”

  “Who is that old fool?” Sarabi said. “Someone shut her up.” She did not recognize that it was her mother.

  “We won’t be without help, ” Shenzi shouted above the commotion. The room grew suddenly quiet. “There are some lionesses that would go along with us in our plan.”

  Fabana makes a remark that seems quite reasonable to the others, though she is not too strong those days. “If Taka must die, let me kill him.”

  Shenzi smiled broadly. “See, Mom is as anxious as the rest of us to be rid of this dandelion. And it was her idea for this union to form.”

  “That was not my idea, ” Fabana said. “He’s suffered much in life. Please don’t drive him to take his own life in despair. If Taka must die, first I will make him happy. I will tell him all the things he wants to hear, and when his heart rejoices, I will give him a little something from Rafiki to make him sleep. When he’s quiet, I will choke off his wind. It will be quick and merciful. He deserves that much.”

  Shenzi looks at her mother with a little bit of respect. “It might work.” She thinks for a moment. “But Elanna will find him. She’s always with him when he sleeps. I’m sorry, but that’s out.”

  “You don’t understand. He’s a tormented little pup, a fizh’lo that the gods would have been wise to take as an innocent youth in his milk.”

  “You advise the gods?”

  “No, I advise my daughter. I adopted Taka—he is my son, and a true believer in our faith. You will give him the same rights you would give one of your own. Rights under our law. We cannot torment him. If he dies, it must be honorably. We must fight him one at a time.”

  “You mean that vain, overstuffed excuse for a king is my brother?” She shuddered. “I don’t agree. I didn’t swear to it. That little boy of yours is dangerous. He’ll turn on you. You’d better not try and warn him if you know what’s good for you.”

  “You’re right. He’s not your brother, for that would make you my daughter.” She turned her back on Shenzi and scratched some dirt up with her hind legs. “By Roh’kash, I renounce you.”

  The hyenas took in a collective gasp.

  Her look of horror soon turned to rage. “Being my mother is all that’s kept you here, you meddling old fool. Maybe you can adopt Rafiki too. You’ll spend the rest of your life in that baobab tree.” Shenzi turned her back on her mother and scratched dirt at her. “By Roh’kash, I renounce you.”

  Banzai and Ed were afraid and they went along with their sister, turning their backs on Fabana, though they said nothing.

  “Guards, take this female to the baobab—see that she does not escape.” Her face set hard against any feelings that may remain. “Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, I called you here to share news of great importance. Scar is about to make his exit. Yes, we are on the threshold of a power and independence that will make us the envy of all peoples. We have a plan that will make a great song for our children and our children’s children. If we stick with it as one body, there can be no chance of failure. The matter is closed.”

  SCENE: TIDINGS ON THE WIND

  “The strange lion will tell his name to no one but the King, ’ his brother said. And King Amalkozi wondered if he was being challenged, and he went out to greet the stranger with kind words while judging his strength as an enemy.

  “But when the strange lion came before the King, M’hetu, the childhood friend of the lost prince humbled himself and cried, ‘Behold it is Zara who once was lost but now is found. Look, my King, the cub has returned a lion.’ And the King looked closely and saw that it was his son, he wept.”

  -- LEONID SAGA, “M” SECTION, VARIATION 5

  Rafiki looked carefully at Krull’s eye and smiled. “That is that. No more treatments.”

  “No, you must not say that.” Krull pawed his cheek. “Tell no one I am cured, for I am happiest when we have these little chats. You treat me like your brother, not your slave.”

  “I have no slave—only a servant. Aiheu owns every living thing. But I have enjoyed these times too. Your company is all that keeps me sane. I thought I liked living alone, but now I feel like a gopher who cannot reach the surface. I am suffocating underground. You are my only light.”

  “I am honored.”

  Rafiki showed him a picture of a hyena on the wall. “This is you.”

  “But that is your prayer wall.”

  “Yes. It is a prayer for you. When I think how I hurt your arm, it pains me.”

  “I’m glad you did. It was, as you call it, the blood of mercy, so think of it no more.” Krull glanced at the painting once more, then excused himself. It was important that the others did not suspect his friendship. Word could get back to Scar and death would follow swiftly for both of them.

  Far from the Pride Lands, Simba eyed a rare treasure, a bongo. These antelopes are very wary, and well they should be for their meat is the favorite of most lions. Because they haunt the forests, they mainly fear the leopard who brings death from above. This bongo saw Pumbaa and thought, with good reason, that the rustling behind him must be another warthog. It was not.

  In three quick strides, Simba was on the bongo and found a fatal hold on its throat. Pumbaa and Timon watched the spectacle of death with horror. “Aren’t you glad he’s on our side, ” the meerkat said. “Sheesh! Carnivores! ”

  Of course his whole outlook changed when Simba offered to share his meal. Pumbaa would only take a little meat, for he was mainly a vegetarian. But this was fresher than the carrion he was used to. Timon, on the other hand, thought nothing of eating unwisely and well.

  They spent hours on the meal, and still they saw there was plenty for other days ahead. And fully satisfied, they became a little drowsy, especially Simba. He cleaned off his face, and lay in a small clearing with his friends. Simba smiled with satisfaction, then rather indelicately belched. Timon said, “Whoa! Nice one, Simba.”

  “Thanks.... Man, I'm stuffed.

  “Me too, ” Pumbaa said. I ate like a pig! ”

  “Pumbaa, you are a pig.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  Pumbaa surveyed the night sky. Often when he was young, he’d try to count the stars, but not being very educated, he didn’t get far. “Timon?”

&nb
sp; “Yeah?”

  “Ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?”

  “Pumbaa; I don't wonder, I know.”

  “Oh! ... What are they?”

  “They're fireflies. Fireflies that uh.. got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.”

  “Oh. Gee. I always thought that they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.”

  “Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas.”

  The warthog was left wanting a deeper answer. “Simba, what do you think?”

  “Well, I don't know.”

  “Aw come on. Give, give give give ... come on we told you ours. Please?”

  Simba looked disturbed. “Well, somebody once told me that the great kings of the past are up there; watching over us.”

  Pumbaa sighed. “Really?”

  Timon was amused by the answer, as Simba feared he would be. “You mean a bunch of royal dead-guys are watching us?” He laughed, and Simba had to chuckle, but only for a moment.

  “Who told you something like that? What muke made that up?”

  “Yeah, ” Simba said, his face falling. “Pretty dumb, huh?”

  “Ah, you're killing me, Simba.”

  Simba’s eyes searched the skies. He could almost smell the familiar presence of his father next to him. It was almost like sitting on Pride Rock watching the sunrise. Then abruptly he could see the battered body from whose lifeless arm he stole one last embrace. The ugliness of the memory took his breath away, and he had to leave before he roared with the depth of his grief.

  Simba walked out on a nearby ledge. Looking into the stars for some sign of hope, he found none. “I thought you’d be there for me, but you’re not. You’re not! ” He collapsed in despair. A cloud of milkweed floss was stirred up by the impact, rising slowly around him. Caught by the air currents, it drifted away on the breeze.

  Rafiki was ready to eat his meager evening meal when a cool wind swept over him. It was from the wrong direction for that time of day. What’s more, there was milkweed floss on the breeze, and no milkweed grew in that area. He collected it. Something in it makes his fingers tingle. He put it in a bowl and sifted it sunwise. It came out in a shape that only had meaning to an astrologer like him. The constellation Amalkosi, where Mufasa’s star burned brightly. He turned it again sunwise and it came out again Amalkosi. Then he wanted its meaning so he turned it counter-sunwise. It fell into a constellation he recognized very clearly. M’hetu.

  Reverently he whispered the words of an old tale: “Look, my King, the cub has returned a lion.” He turned and looked at the painting of Simba. He reached out and put his fingertips on it and they began to tingle. His hand started shaking. “Simba?? He's--he’s alive? He he- He's alive!! ” He laughed loud and wonderfully. “It is time! ” Trying to control his shaking hands, he picked up some red ochre and hastily daubed a mane on the painting. “Krull, come quickly! ”

  The hyena arrived seconds later. He saw the radiant face of Rafiki and smiled, genuinely pleased. “Yes??”

  “I need an escort.” He drew close and gave Krull an affectionate pat. “Listen carefully, ” he whispered. “The time has come when you will see the power of Aiheu strike like a mighty thunderclap. You will be blessed for your acts, even if they are against your will.”

  “Against my will?” Krull said. “The old vow by Roh’kash means nothing to me. Through you I have come to know Aiheu, and I have given my life to him. I am his servant now.”

  Rafiki beamed with joy. “Today is twice blessed. They call you Krull, which in your tongue means flint, but I call you Uhuru, which means peace.” Rafiki took his staff and said, “There is a long journey ahead, my friend. We will not return alone.”

  “Where do we head, my Lord?”

  “Into the wind, Uhuru. We go to the King! ”

  SCENE: SHENZI’S PLAN

  A couple of days later, all the hyena guard knew of Rafiki’s escape. But afraid for their own safety, they said nothing to the others. All visitors were turned away, even the very ill, and suspicion began to build that someone had murdered the mandrill secretly and eaten him. Indeed, with the scarcity of food, it was not a foolish notion. Uzuri’s son Kombi was lost, and for the longest two hours of her life, she expected to find the remains of her dead child as she searched the Pride Lands. When she found Kombi digging in a termite mound, she cuffed him, then kissed him, and cried. “You must never wander off again. It is not safe anymore.” Indeed, most lionesses felt that way, and had taken to sleeping lightly with a paw across their children.

  A couple of hyenas came privately to Elanna.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Hsssh! ” Bot’la came to her side and whispered in her ear. “My lady, this is urgent. But you must not tell the King.”

  “What is this coming and going that you don’t tell the King?”

  “I have a mate, ” Bot’la of the hyenas said. “I’ll level with you—we love our mates and pups as much as you. We have feelings too.”

  “So?”

  “So…” He whispered even more lowly. “You are the one that loves Scar.”

  “Taka, ” she said indignantly.

  “Keep it down, please! ” The sound of his voice startled him, and the Bot’la winced. “You love him. You know in your heart no one else does.”

  “This is treason.”

  “OK, so it’s treason. Fine. But even though we don’t care a whit for Taka, it so happens my friend and I feel differently about you. Your care for him is—well—almost hyena-like. I think you deserve a break, so I’m going to let you have it straight. If you want to help your husband, you’ll listen to me.”

  Elanna nodded. “Speak freely.”

  “It is not mine to say. But that Rafiki, the ape that Taka hates so much, has shown me things. Awful things. He’s sworn to protect the rightful King, the son of Ahadi--he will not break a vow to his God. And he’s almost foaming at the mouth with fear, for disaster waits for the Pride Lands and no one listens to him. Such awful things, but so easy to avoid if only someone who bends the King’s ear will act quickly.”

  “What things?”

  “I have sworn not to repeat what I saw, ” Bot’la said. “Such words even in speaking can cause mischief. Rafiki has made a good faith effort to undo the evil he has loosed. You must be the voice of reason. You must influence your husband.”

  “Do you realize what you are saying?”

  “Yes. If things meet their appointed course, all of us will die. The land is sick. The water is gone. And there is worse—madness and despair. I don’t want to die, Elanna. I don’t want my family to die. And I feel I don’t want you to die, either.”

  Elanna was silent for a moment. “How will I get out of here?”

  “We have arranged that. Follow us and we will take you to him.”

  She nodded. “You’re right.” She began to cry. “I thought we had no friends, but you are good, Bot’la. I can see God’s mercy in you, so I know now there must be a God.”

  Bot’la winced as if a sharp thorn had been driven through his heart, but he quickly hid it. He led her out of the cave and down the side with utmost silence and care. And by skirting the cistern and euphorbias, they made it away from Pride Rock and into the tall grass.

  She was unaware that Rafiki was long gone to search for Simba. All she knew is that some kind souls are cloaked in different hides. Somewhere, somehow, they will sit with the great kings of the past.

  She was not worried when her small body guard of two became four. But she didn’t know whether to feel flattered or frightened when two more joined ranks and suddenly there were six. She didn’t have that many friends, much less Taka.

  Behind the south kopje, four more hyenas fell in line. It was then her heart sank. She was headed away from the baobab, and not to hide her from her husband’s watchful eyes. They had turned toward the desolate lands, the appropriate place where poor Ahadi and Akase went to meet their God together. Now she would die without family or frie
nds.

  “Forgive me, Aiheu. Forgive me that I have loved him, but o gods, how I loved him. Bless my poor husband and comfort him in his hour of grief.”

  One of the hyenas went “Hssssh! At least try to die with dignity.”

  “My dignity before the gods is intact. Worry about your own—you bring ten hunters to kill one lioness.”

  “Silence! ” Bot’la commanded. He added with some regret. “I don’t enjoy this. We’re just trying to save ourselves and our families. You can understand that.”

  Then back at Pride Rock there was a tremendous shout. Bot’la looked back. There was a fire at the rock. Lions roared, and hyenas screamed with rage and pain.

  “The war is on! ” He looked at Elanna and thought for a moment. Finally Bot’la said, “This is our land now. Get out.”

  Elanna hurried away from the hyenas. The guard headed back to Pride Rock to fight the last battle. “Death or glory, lads! Out with the lions! ”

  SCENE: IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN

  At the climax of the battle for Pride Rock, Taka was struck such a blow from Simba that he tumbled from the lower promontory. He fell injured at the base, but still alive.

  Waiting for him were Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. They looked very displeased. Taka tried to move, but one of his legs was broken and his ribs were cracked.

  “Ahh, my friends.”

  “Friends?” Shenzi sneered. “I thought he said we were the enemy! ”

  “Yeah, that's what I heard, ” Banzai said. “Ed?”

  Ed laughed.

  Taka trembled. “No. Le-Le-Let me explain. No. You don't understand. No! I didn't mean for... No, No! Look, I’m sorry I called you... No! No! ” They closed in on him.

  “Oh gods! Oh my gods, it’s the dream! Wake me, Elanna! It’s happening again! ”

  “Wake me, Elanna! ” sneered Shenzi. “It’s happening again! ” Scar was frozen, unable to resist. She closed her powerful jaws on his throat and crushed his windpipe. He struggled for only a second, then shuddered and fell limp, nearly crushing her underneath.