Lion King - Lost Heir

See the future

Kuua

Kuishi scowls as Mummy licks him clean, good job I didn't fall into the lake with him, or I'd be next in line for a nice long bath. Instead, I run back to the waterhole to meet back up with my other friends Mazora and Nyota.

They're both boys, unlike Swala's only friend Aina, who plays with us sometimes, but we have to agree to let Swala play too if we want her to play with us.

As I reach the water hole, I see another cub talking to Mazora, it's a girl with beige fur, tan underside and a light brown tail tuft, I can't quite make out her face, so I saunter over to see who Mazora really is talking to.

"Hey Mazora, who's the new girl in town then?"

Mazora rolls his eyes at me and the girl cub turns to look too, and is she beautiful!

She has beautiful amber eyes, and a raspberry coloured pridelander nose, her muzzle is tan like her underside, and her whiskers are a  perfect white. She smiles at me and, though I still think love is disgusting, I think that smile is to die for!

"I do have a name you know," she raises her eyebrows at me.

"Which is?"  I question

"Nyuki."

"Annnnnnd," interrupts Mazora, we found out today-"

Nyuki finishes the sentence for him. "We're betrothed."

"You're what what?"

I furrow my brow, that word rings a bell, yet I can't put my paw on it.

"It means that when we're older, we're going to get married and have cubs together." I'm surprised that Mazora is so into this stuff, it makes me cringe, why would you even want to think about that when you're six?

I roll my eyes, walking down the remainder of the path where, surprisingly, Nyota, Swala and Aina are all playing tag with each other. Swala is clearly the fastest, and Nyota (who's it) is having trouble catching up with her. Aina runs slowly in lopsided circles, waiting for Nyota to chase after her too.

I pounce on Aina, sending us rolling towards where Nyota and Swala are in the middle of a high-intensity chase. We knock into Nyota, pushing him straight towards Swala, who's mere metres ahead. Luckily, Nyota falls just short of Swala, who scampers desperately up a spindly tree nearby. We all collapse in a heap, and Swala bursts out laughing from above.

"Cuu-uubs!" an unfamiliar voice calls from the long grasses nearby, followed by an unearthly cackle.

Swala gasps, then a word we've never heard before exits her lips.

"Hyenas!" she gasps, before beckoning for us to come up the tree.

Then she goes blank. Her eyes glaze over, and she becomes completely still.

Aina reaches her first, waving a paw desperately in her face.

After a few moments, she snaps out of it, looking more tired than I've ever seen her, she then stares at all of us, her eyes wide.

"The hyenas will circle," she starts. "There are three of them, no back-up will come. We need to split up, they will most likely follow Kuua, then we all meet up again, Kuua will not be caught, and once we get close to Pride Rock, the hyenas will retreat on sight of....."

"Daddy?" I say, trying to let what Swala has said sink in, how is she doing this? Is she making it all up? There's no time to think.

"Askari."

Everyone looks around confused, who's Askari. Regarding lions in our pride, we only know our parents and a few other lionesses who babysit and do other stuff.

Immediately, we all split up and set off running, and Swala's plan plays out exactly.

I run fast as I can, trying to ignore the horrifying beasts clipping my heels. As we reach pride rock, we see a muscular male standing growling a few hundred metres from the rock form. The hyenas set about running away when they see him, whimpering with their tails wedged between their legs.