by Margaret 'Kese' Petrie

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Table of Contents

Foreword
Chapter 1: No Rest for the Wicked
Chapter 2: Fear
Chapter 3: Visiting Some Old Friends
Chapter 4: Waking
Chapter 5: The Cape Hunting Dogs Meet the Spirit Lion
Chapter 6: An Unlikely Ally
Chapter 7: Lessons
Chapter 8: The Lonely Path
Chapter 9: Truce and Tension
Chapter 10: The King of the River
Chapter 11: The Sweet Summer Scent
Chapter 12: Strange Friends in Strange Places
Chapter 13: Bad Omens
Chapter 14: There and Back Again
Chapter 15: Destiny Presented
Chapter 16: Plans
Chapter 17: Kiruu
Chapter 18: Plans in Action
Chapter 19: The Summer Storm
Chapter 20: Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 21: Walking Alone

    A lot of people will probably wonder why I wrote a huge saga about Scar from The Lion King.  A story about the Pride Lands, yes, but an epic about a villain and supposedly the worst villain in Disney history at that, no. Well for me, Scar’s story in The Lion King seemed and still does, incomplete. Every character in the film progresses and grows, except Scar. Scar starts and ends the story the same. There is no growth in his character nor any expansion of his past. This story is an attempt to do just that. Hopefully, it worked.
    -- Margaret

Chapter 1
No Rest for the Wicked

    All at once they were on him, large shaggy bodies heaving themselves  upon his bruised and battered flesh.  The smooth and silken voice with which he had used to persuade his attackers to be his allies had abandoned him. All that came from his throat was a breathless silent scream.
    A chance glance upwards revealed to him the young face of his enemy, now staring down into the sea of gray-brown bodies which surrounded Scar. A lightening bolt of anger shot through Scar’s spine as he looked into those triumphant eyes. He was going to stand there silently and watch him die!  A sudden rush of energy fueled by rage surged through him and he lashed out with his hind paws.
    His long claws found the face of one of his attackers; tearing the beasts nose and knocking it backward into the fire scorched rocks surrounding the fray. Rolling onto it’s back it gave an agonized yelp of pain as the hot rocks burned blisters into the it’s flesh. It’s yowls cutting through the growling hum of the crowd.
    In concert the clan looked toward their injured brother who was now yelping and wildly rolling on his back trying to find relief from the pain. The momentary distraction was all that was needed. In a breath of time Scar was up and away, running blindly over the darkened Savannah. Running for his life and never looking back.
    He couldn’t recall how long he kept running. His mind was a blur of  fear and confusion. When he finally trotted to a stop and collapsed onto the yellow grass, the first pink rays of dawn where beginning to creep across the land. He raised his shuddering head and looked about him. He had come to a small waterhole; little more than a deep puddle in the ground really. But the tall grasses surrounding it beckoned him to skulk into their midst and drink from the pool.
    He raised himself on shaky legs and staggered to the pool. Lying prone next to the pond he caught a glimpse of his reflection. His face was now covered by small cuts and abrasions. The fire  that he and Simba had fought beside has singed his coat and burned the whiskers on the left side of his face. The lone scar over his eye now had many companions.
    It was all gone now. Everything was gone. The kingship, his familiar home territory, his allies; even his dignity had taken it’s leave. The thought of how he had cowered and mewled before  his nephew came to him and he burned with shame. Like a cub in its milk he had cried and begged for his life. Embarrassed he turned away from his reflection. He couldn’t bear to look at his face, the face of a coward. Of a murderer and right now, he thought, a hunted beast.
    He hadn’t looked back when he had left the hyenas in their confusion. He ran quickly, finding the strength to pump his legs from some unknown wellspring inside himself.  The terror of those moments when the clan had closed around him was beyond any telling. The way they had looked at him; their eyes seemed to be picking out just the right place to bite. They would have torn him into still living pieces. Tearing and eating as he screamed for mercy. He had seen what they did to those that were unfortunate enough to find themselves in the hyenas way when the dinner bell rang. They fed in a frenzy. Ripping the prey into the tiniest bits; swallowing the still hot flesh whole. This time he had been the prey and they would have taken special delight in rending him.
    He returned to the pool and lowered his head into the lukewarm water. He began lapping up the muddy liquid. It coursed a path through his rough, dry throat. He drank until he felt he was going to be ill; then lay down in the muddy ground by the pool. Laying his head on his foreleg he looked up at the bright blue sky.  The clan would be coming for him. Of this he was sure. They would never allow him to live. He had committed treason; justice would be swift and painful. The hyenas may forgive there own, but he was a lion. They wouldn’t show him the same consideration. Death was coming and no amount of crying would change it or avert its course. A tight knot of dread formed in his groin. He curled up into himself, tucking his head into his belly, as if curling into the smallest ball possible might make him disappear.  While he shut his eyes and thought about his upcoming punishment he drifted off into a deep sleep.
    It is said that those who sleep like the dead sleep dreamless, perhaps. But Scar’s sleep was fraught with the demons of the past days events. He was back in the Pride Lands standing on the promontory and watching the clan pick a small wildebeest from a vast herd. They took great pleasure in harassing the small animal. Cornering it they nipped at its flanks pecking away small bits of hide. The calf’s eyes rolled its eyes in terror; foam dripped from its mouth. It bawled; shrieking for its fellows to come to it’s aid.
    Scar was watching the scene below dispassionately, until a feeling of misgiving came over him. The calf’s screech sounded less like a wildebeest than it did like a lions scream. He leapt into the midst of the clan and the carrion eaters scattered before him.  “Stop this! I am king and I command it!” He looked toward the calf which was no longer a calf but the shredded remains of a dark skinned lion with a shaggy black mane. It’s bright green and yellow eyes staring lifelessly into his own. He staggered back, his voice a breathy whisper. “Oh dear, gods....” He spun around to find himself muzzle to muzzle with Shenzi. At least it should have been Shenzi, except her face has now contorted to house a muzzle of scythe like teeth, which spilled from her mouth. Her eyes floated in deep recesses in her skull; piercing him with their sharp yellow color.  Runnels of saliva dripped from her chin.
    The monstrosity laughed. “King? Oh no my friend, you are carrion. Dead Meat!” Looking around him he now saw that the hyenas had not only shrunk to the size of meerkats; but they had also multiplied. They covered the land like ticks on a rhinos back. He was surrounded, a small tawny island in a sea of gray bodies. “Dead Meat! Dead Meat!” The tiny beasts began chanting. The Shenzi monster looked at him and smiled. “Now my friend, we eat!”  In unison they rose up and crashed into him like a wave hitting the shore. Tiny, tearing teeth buried themselves into his body. They ripped, chewed and tore again. They where devouring him alive. He tried to scream but his voice was gone. A wordless shriek filled his mind. “Oh, Gods, they’re eating meeeeeeeee!”
    He woke with a start the only sound that filled his ears the thrumming of his heart in his bony chest. It was a  dream, a  premonition. He looked about himself. The sky held the color of deepest purple. He had slept the entire day and now found himself cradled in the tall grasses covered by the velvet sky and bone white moon.
 

Chapter 2
Fear
 

    The sleep had done him good. He could stand now without his knees shaking; but his paws burned with pain as he got to his feet. Laying back down he examined them. The pads of his paws where cracked and covered with dried blood. All of the fighting and running had worn them raw. He tried to lick them clean but the skin was still tender to the touch; his rough tongue only succeeded in causing him pain. “Serve me right if I caught an infection and died.” He sighed and stopped grooming his feet. It would be sometime before he would be able to travel. Even as the thought came to him he wondered where he would travel to.
    A lion in his position was almost certainly doomed. He was weak and injured. Never very strong or good at hunting, mostly due to his own laziness, he wasn’t sure he could provide himself with the food he needed to grow strong again. Even if he did try to move on, he could very well find himself in the territory of another male. In his condition he could never challenge for a pride, not that he wanted to. He had already proved to himself and everyone else that he could not lead. He was unfit to rule and a challenge would kill him.
    He also knew that the clan would be sending scouting parties out in search of him.  Sooner or later his waterhole would be found. He had to admit, he could see no way out of his current predicament. If only he could take the past back into himself, breath life into Mufasa and go back to his lone cave. He would be happy this time, content to be last in line. He would welcome Simba with open arms and obey the laws that nature and the gods had put forth.
    “I’m a fool an arrogant idiot, he said to no one, a cowardly murder.” He bit his lower lip feeling the skin break and tasting blood as he held back the torrent of emotions that threatened to burst from his chest.  “Why did I do all this? I’m going to die alone; what’s anything worth when in the end you die alone?”
    As an adolescent Scar knew that all eyes had rested on his larger, more handsome brother. They respected him, asked his advice on matters; even more they had loved him. Their eyes never met his. To them he was useless, not the future king. He was just an annoyance who ate hard hunted food and made them uncomfortable with his strange ways.
    The pride had always seemed wary of him. They kept their distance from him, never initiating conversation and only giving him curt answers to his questions. In this way he had felt himself marked as “different” and “other than”. He had never quite understood this difference, although he had an inkling of it.
    It had always seemed to him that the other lions were content to live their lives as their forebears had. Letting one day bleed into the next, an endless chain of eating, sleeping, birthing and dying. One’s place in life was never questioned. You were what you were and if you happened to be at the bottom, you stayed there. The “Great Circle of Life” they reverently called it. He was expected to swallow his pride and stand behind his brother; never striving for more than was freely given.
    It was something he could not bear. As soon as he had learned of the succession of his brother a hatred of his circumstances and those he felt caused it grew inside him. He hated his father who had chosen Mufasa over him, he hated Mufasa who knew he was the chosen one, he hated the lionesses who avoided him and loved his brother, and when he was finally born, he hated Simba who was going to grow up secure in the knowledge of his importance in the scheme of things.
    Looking back at it now, miles from the Pride Lands; Scar could see that Mufasa had tried to be kind. Where another male may have driven his brother (and rival) off, Mufasa allowed him to stay under his protection. While he didn’t eat well, Mufasa had seen to it that he always got a portion of the prides food. Scar had plotted and planned his death, while Mufasa lived believing while his brother was bitter, he would never harm him. Scar felt the biting shame rise up over him again. His brother had been so surprised by his treachery. The look in his eyes as hung in desperation on the rock face over the stampede had told all. He never dreamed that his brother would kill him and when it finally dawned on him the shock, horror and the hurt at his betrayal was evident.
    Simba had taken his father’s lead and was fond of his uncle; coming to his cave and reporting to him excitedly of all the things he saw and learned. Of all the pride Simba’s love for him was the most evident and unabashedly given. And Scar had wished him dead. Unable to contain the feelings of guilt and shame any longer as he thought of his young nephew looking up at him with bright, unafraid eyes, he put a large paw over his nose and felt the first few tears of regret come to his eyes.
    Regret was something new to Scar and the feeling settled uneasily over him like a sticky spider’s web. In past once he had made his resolve he never looked back or thought twice. When Mufasa had become king he had vowed in his heart to see the death of him. When Simba was born his resolve became stronger. He had steeled himself with the knowledge that what he was doing was just. When the hyenas presented themselves as allies in his campaign he had courted their favor without hesitation. Bringing them food and giving them a measure of protection. He never stopped to think that what he had been doing might have been wrong or evil. It was necessary to gain him a place on high. This above all else was paramount. Loyalty and friendship was tossed aside as unthinkingly as one sheds an old coat of hair.
    Scar smiled ruefully as he thought back on all the choices he had made and the opportunities he had shunted aside. “What was the use if one is to gain a kingdom at the cost of ones soul?”  He laughed, “Indeed, what is the use?”
    Scar’s reign over the Pride Lands had been a hard and joyless one. The pride had greeted him and his hyena mercenaries with scorn and distrust. Far from being the respected leader he had always envisioned, he was a pariah. The lionesses gave him the respect born of fear, but no true love, no true loyalty.  They whispered behind his back when they thought he couldn’t hear them. Made faces of disgust as he walked by them. He pretended not to notice their derision. Going along as if all was well and that he was as respected and beloved a leader as Mufasa. But it was impossible not to know where they stood on his kingship. Impossible not to know where anyone stood on it. The herds left the lands when the hunting pressure had become too great. Even the weather itself seemed to show it’s displeasure at his rule as the rain ceased to fall and the ground became cracked and parched. They wanted him out, everyone wanted him out and when Simba showed up on that stifling stormy evening; the absolute relief and joy on their faces made him want to run away with his tail between his legs.
     “No,” Scar heaved a sigh and lifted his head toward the brilliant stars shining fiercely from their blue/black blanket, it’s over. “There will be no more running, no more trying to change what am I or what will happen.” For one last time he made a resolve he meant to keep. Here, at this muddy puddle in the ground he would meet his fate without struggle. His crimes were great and his body was tired.  Here was the place of punishment, where all past transgressions would be met and answered for in full.
    He settled his aching head back on his forepaws. His ears swiveled on his head picking up the nighttime sounds of the Savannah. The winds whispered across the darkened grasses, the constant whir of crickets and..something else. Scar’s head snapped up and he strained to pick up the faint rustling. He leapt to his feet, ignoring the pain which shot up his limbs. Something was moving toward him in the grass, faintly, trying very hard to stay concealed. He swallowed hard; he was found! In a panic he scanned the surrounding grasses for the figure approaching him.
    So this was it, he thought to himself, it was coming on quicker than he imagined but he knew they would come. He tried to steady himself for the attack that was unavoidable. He lowered his head and bared his teeth. The rustling was almost on top of him. He splayed his claws and made small furrows in the muddy earth. Closer. A soft growl escaped from him. The tall fronds in front of him parted and then he saw a garishly colored face push it’s way into view. The face broke into a wide smile showing large and somewhat crooked teeth.
    Scar stood for a few confused moments in his defensive position. How could this creature of all be here?  The terrifying dream, the darkness, his own nagging fears and now this; the night was becoming more and more surreal as it dragged on. Then he understood what the figure before him must mean. Simba had sent him to root him out; Scar was surprised, he didn’t realize his nephew had that much bloodlust in him. He pulled his claws in and relaxed a little.
    “So old fellow,” he smiled at Rafiki, “my young nephew sent you to find me. Go on, run back and fetch him now. I’ll be waiting for you when you get back. This is my home now you see.” Scar laughed again, a feeble cracked sound.
    Rafiki looked around the dirty muddy waterhole and raised an eyebrow. “Nice place you got here Scar.”  Scar came out as “Skaa” in the baboons voice.
    “Yes, yes it is. Plenty of water...dry grass, misquotes. Quite a treasure really, I would invite you for a drink, however I don’t know if you have a bacterial tolerance high enough for what I have to offer.” He dipped his paw in muddy water and splashed some of it onto the ground.
    Rafiki found himself a dry spot on the ground and sat down; cradling his staff between his shaggy knees he regarded the lion from under his brows. A few uncomfortable moments passed between them and then he spoke.
    “Your deeds have caught up to you Scar.”
    Scar sighed and looked at Rafiki coyly. “Now my old fellow, whatever makes you say a thing like that? I’m here of my own volition. Look around you, what lion in his right mind would pass up the chance to vacation in such a locale as this? Where I shall be going soon is ten times better. This is just a minor stop off you see. But soon the big vacation is coming.”
    Rafiki nodded. “You’re not even a little scared?”
    Scar raised a paw. “Not a bit, I would do it myself if I had the means. Scared? Well, truthfully I am a bit wary. I mean a murdering coward has no chance of sitting with the Great Kings of the Past does he?”
    “So where do you think you will sit Scar?”
    “Me? Most likely in the very place I have been all along. Although I suspect it won’t be nearly as comfortable this time around.”
    “You have caused much heartache and great pain to many creatures Scar.”
    “I have caused more pain than you know, old fellow. I know what you’re doing and don’t bother. I have trotted down that path already and I know what I must do. Now please, if I may ask one small favor, go now. Let me meet my destiny alone.”
Scar raised himself on his pained feet and walked out onto the silent grasses surrounding the waterhole. He stumbled. Damn these paws, he grumbled inwardly. He came to a stop and flopped down on the ground. He looked at one of his forepaws. The skin had broken again and fresh blood pattered onto the ground. He licked at it gently and winced.
    “Scar, why are you running away?”
    Scar stopped washing his foot and for a moment looked as if he had heard the best joke of his life. He let out a gale of snickers and giggles. Rafiki approached him and sat beside him.
    He looked at the colorful ape. “Why am I running away? Have you been paying attention? Do you remember the last few nights events? And for your information I’m not running, I’m waiting.”
    “You’re running from me.” Rafiki took a small pouch from the many hanging on his staff. He reached for one of Scar’s paws. The lion hissed with pain and pulled away at his touch. Rafiki insisted and took the huge paw and laid it across his lap. He studied it carefully for a moment and then opened the pouch. Dipping his fingers into it he pulled out a greenish white moss and pressed it to Scar’s bleeding pad. “You’re running from me as you ran from those hyenas the other night. I saw that you know. Simba, he was afraid to watch, he left and thought you died by their teeth.”
    Scar’s foot stopped throbbing. The moss was deliciously cool and soothing. He looked at Rafiki, who was now pulling another pouch from his staff.
    “So they all think I died then?”
    The ape nodded. “Yes, all think you’re dead. All have a party because they think you’re dead.,” Rafiki gave a raucous laugh, “A -big- party because they think you’re dead.”
    “Hmp! No need to rub it in you know.” Rafiki was now applying a paste of some kind to his injured foot. Scar fairly sighed with relief as the soothing potion was smeared on his pad.
    “You made a big mess, Scar. It will take a long time to clean it up. Don’t be surprised you being dead makes a lot of creatures happy.”
    Scar lowered his head. All of a sudden he felt very uncomfortable around Rafiki and just wished to go back to the mud hole and hide. He pulled his paw away from the ape and stood. He couldn’t bear to look at him anymore.
    “I know that my death has brought joy and maybe it’ll bring some measure to me as well. I was a fool my entire life. But all things will be answered for. Thank you for trying to heal my foot, but friend,” he turned to Rafiki his eyes now glistening, “my foot is but a small part of me which is cracked and bleeding. This disease that I’ve been carrying around and passing on to everyone I meet has only one cure. You and I both know what it is. So please, go on back to Pride Rock. Tell Simba nothing. Let him believe that the disease is gone.”
    The lion retreated further from the ape. He could feel the lump in his throat growing bigger and he had no intention of letting his brother’s friend see him in such a way.  He swallowed hard against the emotions.
    “Scar.”
    He heard Rafiki’s voice, which had now taken on a softer tone. He didn’t stop or look around. He just wished the ape would leave.
    “Taka?”
    At the sound of this name he stopped. It had been a long time since he had heard it. It brought with it long forgotten memories; memories of home.  Quietly he said. “You remember?”
    “Remember when you were still Taka? Yes, I remember many things about you.”
    Scar sat down his back still to Rafiki. He still didn’t have the courage to face the shaman. A breakdown threatened at the corners of his mouth and around his eyes.
    “You were a good friend to my brother, why are you here Rafiki? I killed him. I tried to kill his son. I made his mate a widow and decimated the lands we all had to live on. Why are you here? I don’t deserve your company. Please Rafiki, go home. I just want all this to come to it’s rightful conclusion here.”
    Rafiki walked to Scar’s side and took the lions face in one hand. Scar averted his eyes from Rafiki’s.

    “I stay, Scar, because sometimes we don’t have a lot of choice about how our lives end up and in the things we do.”

    “I had choices Rafiki, I just made the wrong ones.”

    “I’m not absolving you, I just know things sometimes tear into the soul and make some choices too easy. How many turns of the season have you seen since your mother birthed you Scar?”
    Scar thought for a moment. “Nearly seven, now.”
    “Did you ever love your brother Scar?”
    Scar lowered his head again. Remembering Mufasa’s broad and trusting face. ”I did for a time. Yes.”
    “Then why did you kill him?”

    “I...I killed him, because..because, I never thought...”

    “You never thought what Scar?”

    Scars shoulders folded in on themselves. He seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible. All of the feelings of the past nights welled up in him and formed a ball at the end of his throat. The awful truth of his actions, what he really did and why he did it came pouring out of him in a torrent.
    “I killed him, because it wasn’t fair! I should have been king! I should have had a beautiful mate and cub! I should have been respected! He...he...”
    His voice came in a small whine at the last. He turned and began trotting away from Rafiki. “I killed him, because the moon was full, because the grass was green, the sky was blue.” He blurted out “ What in the name of the gods does it matter why I did it? I did it! He’s dead and I enjoyed it at the time. I smiled in his face when I killed him. I danced a jig when I saw him fall. I loved it I tell you it was better than having a lioness! What does it matter!”
    Rafiki shook his head sadly. “Stop this Scar.”
    Scar turned on him, running at full speed and knocked Rafiki to the ground. Snarling he shoved his face into the ape’s.

    “And you know what I said when he fell into the herd and was crushed? I lifted my head to the sky and yelled. Look Ahadi! Look at what your meek and weakling son has done. Mufasa is dead! Lying in the dust with blood pouring from his mouth and wildebeest prints on his back! And I laughed...I laughed so hard I nearly wet the ground! I couldn’t wait to see his mangled body. So proud! I ran to see it and found his son, so like him, lying next to the body....,” Scar’s voice cracked “, and I wanted him to be dead too. Mangled and ripped, like his father.”
    Rafiki pushed Scar off of him and stood brushing the dirt from his fur. He looked at the panting lion; anger playing across his vivid features. He took a deep breath and tried to brush the rage he felt toward the capering beast off.
    “I know what you’re doing Scar and it’s not going to work. You think you’ll scare me off with your mad talk and larger size. But I see what you truly are. A cub, a child whose never learned what it means to be responsible, no I’m not afraid of you no matter what you try to make me think.”
    He looked at Scar who had now seemed to deflate. The madness which danced in his eyes had abated and all that remained was a creature who was tired, scared and sorry. The lion sighed and settled back onto the grass.
    “I’m sorry Rafiki, I did mean to scare you and send you on your way. But I still don’t understand what you’re doing here. You were a friend to my brother and when he died, when I killed him, you disappeared. I never thought of you or sought your council and yet here you are.”
    Rafiki sat down on the grass next to him. He reached out and fingered Scar’s long black mane. “I’m here because I believe in your own way you are coming to a place of understanding. Of realizing what it was that you did and what things you may still have to do.”
    “But Rafiki, I am damned now. I killed my brother and broke the Circle. There can be no forgiveness for those crimes. Anyway, even as we speak a posse of hyenas are most surely on their way to take care of me. Simba and the pride may think I’m dead, but they know the truth.”
    “Damned, you say? And what does this mean, this damned? Does this mean you will never see the sun shine, never eat again, roll on the grass? There is no soul who’s past redemption Taka. None. The Circle grants all creatures chances to regain themselves, you included.”
    Scar smiled. “Now Rafiki, there does come a time when crimes become too great to be redeemed. You can’t understand how I feel. I killed my brother! I don’t want forgiveness for that. I can’t take forgiveness for it.”
    “You can and you will.” Rafiki patted the lion on the head,” Look up at the stars Taka. The Great Wheel of the Sky spins over our heads. It’s vast and changeless, do you think that your crimes have changed how the wheel moves or stopped it on it’s course in any way?”
    Scar tilted his head up and stared into the black expanse above. The stars blinked coldly from their distant beds. The sky was indeed vast and changeless. Looking up into the blackness made him feel small and insignificant. He shuddered feeling suddenly cold and lost in their endless paths.
    “You call me by my given name, the one my mother gave me, why?”

    “Because, we have some work to do and this name will suit you more where you’re going.”

    “Where am I going? I’m tired and I need time to recuperate. I won’t be fit to travel for many days yet and I..”

    Rafiki cut him off, putting a long finger up to Scar’s face. “This journey won’t require your body. You may rest still. Here I want to show you something.”
    As he turned to pull yet another pouch from his staff they both heard a noisy rustling in the grass. Two or three creatures, not bothering to stay concealed were blundering up to them. Scar’s heart leapt in his chest as the smell of the oncoming creatures hit him. He reached out and patted Rafiki on the back.
    “Seems as if we’ve hit endgame old boy,” he pushed Rafiki’s back with his nose, “go on, get yourself out of here. No need for you to suffer for my mistakes.  Go back to Simba and tell him to be a good king, watch over him.”
    Before Rafiki could answer Scar had trotted toward the rustling. From the grasses burst three gray figures. Scar recognized them at once. They where the original three with whom he had made his pact. “How fitting,” he thought. “that these three should be the end of me.”
    All three hyenas broke into wide and toothy grins at the sight of their once ally. Shenzi stepped forward, swaggering with confidence. “Well, well, well Banns lookee at what we found.”
    Banns walked abreast of his sister, slavering. “Yeah, looks like we found him. Our dearly departed dinner. What do you think Ed? Is he good enough to eat.”
    Ed merely laughed and joined his bigger siblings. He looked at Scar and winked. Scar made a face as the three hyenas came up beside him, they circled him like vultures over a dead body.
    “My, I’m surprised to see you so quickly.  Very surprised. You three are usually much more disorganized than this. That knocking around you got seems to have done you good.”
    “I wouldn’t be so cocky lion, you ain’t getting away this time.” She advanced on Scar slowly. Letting him get a good look at the many sharp teeth in her mouth. ”Come on you big coward, beg me to not kill you. Come on, I want to see you cry, come on show me.”
    The other hyenas made bawling noises, mocking sorrowful moans, cowering with their stumpy tails between their legs. Scar stood tall in their midst. “I’ll not beg you for anything you stinking flea banquet. You came to kill so do it. Don’t waste my time with your stupidity.”
    Shenzi stopped circling him, a look of incredulous rage on her face. “Time is the last thing you’re going to have to worry about you mewling bag of bones. Banns! Ed! Come here, on my word we plow into this big pansy. We’ll see who’s the stupid one!”
    “You tell him Shenzi,” Banns piped in, he grinning at Scar, “you’re in for it now lion,” he spat the word out,” we’re going to rip you like a little rabbit.”
    From behind the circling hyenas and defiant lion came a voice. “No, I don’t think you will.”
    The hyenas snapped around to see Rafiki coming toward them. Shenzi growled.
    “Oh really? Who’s going to stop us? You? Why would you, this scarred freak killed your buddy. Step aside monkey and let us get on with our work.”
    Rafiki walked into the midst of the hyenas. “We were in the middle of a lesson here, now if you like you can stay and I’ll teach you one as well.” He swung the staff in Shenzi's direction.
    She immediately jumped back and her two fellows ran to cower behind her.  Scar shook his head. “Rafiki let them be done with me already, we’ve already been through this.”
    “Shs!,” he hissed at Scar and the turned to the three hyenas who now looked considerably less bold. “Why exactly do you want to kill this creature?”
    “He sold us out!” Shenzi barked. “he told Simba it was our fault the lands got ruined. He was a horrible king and didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. Never go hungry again., yeah right.”
    “And for this he deserves to die?”
    “He’s a traitor, yes he deserves to die and he’s going to.” Shenzi stared hard at Scar who only reciprocated with a brush of his paw and a disdainful look.
    Rafiki leaned casually on his staff. “Now tell me, has your people ever killed one of their own over such a crime?”
    “Never,” Shenzi nuzzled Banns who was standing next to her. “we’re all brothers and sisters. We never hurt each other. But he’s not one of us he’s a lion, for that alone he should die.”
    “Oh, but has a lion ever brought hyenas food?”

    “No, well at least not willingly.” Shenzi winked at her two siblings who began snickering.

    Rafiki rolled his eyes. “Has a lion ever had free access to your territories?”

    “No way,” Banns yelped,” we drive those ugly things out if they ever trespass. Hyenas have rights too you know.”
    “Undoubtedly. Well from what you say, Scar here isn’t a lion after all. In fact from what you tell me he must be a hyena.”
    Shenzi, Banns and Ed looked at Rafiki as if he just said the sky was green and the grass was purple. Shenzi began laughing.
    “Now you either have some serious eye problems or you’ve been eating some of those funny herbs you keep on you. Take a good long look, he is a lion.”
    “But you treated him like a hyena. I guess your people only follow your own rules when it’s convenient to you. All those things the other animals say about your kind must true then, eh?”
    Shenzi’s  laughing ceased and Rafiki could see that she had stopped to think. It was true that during their friendship with Scar, the hyenas had afforded him all the privileges of the clan. They shared food with him, gave him access to their lands and even just enjoyed his company from time to time. True, they had used him for their own gain, but in time they became more like friends than allies of convenience.  Shenzi canted her ears back. As infuriating as it was she couldn’t find an honorable way out of Rafiki’s logic. And the hyenas honor was at stake, if only in her own mind. She was well aware of what the rest of animals said about the hyena clan. Dishonest, untrustworthy thieves and liars. Rafiki’s comment burned her. She knew the truth about her people and did not want to add to their bad reputation. Shenzi might be an opportunist at heart, but she loved the clan and wanted others to look up to them. To break the most sacred of the hyenas laws would hurt her in a way no physical injury ever could.
    “I could let him go, but..”
    Banns turned to his older sister, he couldn’t believe his own ears. “Let him go! But on the way here you said you were going to kill him yourself. You said..”
    “Shut up!” Banns quieted himself and sat down pouting. “Like I said I could let him go, but what do I tell my people? They want his blood and it could very well mean the end of my leadership if I don’t deliver. Gotta keep the natives happy you know.”
    Rafiki put an long shaggy arm across the hyenas back. “Very good decision, you are keeping the laws of your clan as true as ever. Go back to your people and tell them the deed is done. Scar will never come near your lands again, that I guarantee. Now if only you could be sure those two over there don’t talk.”
    Rafiki gestured at her two siblings that were sitting looking confused and angry. They had been looking forward to this moment and now the party had been abruptly canceled.
    “Don’t worry about them, they’ll keep their muzzles shut. Won’t you Banns.”

    Banns waved a paw at her. “Yeah sure, whatever you say.” He was disgusted but deferred to his sister out of habit.

    “You swear he will never set foot in our lands again?”

    Rafiki held up his hand. “I swear he will never trouble you again, except in your dreams.”

    Shenzi nodded. ”Okay then, he can have his miserable life. But I do this only in the good name of my people and to uphold the law. Don’t think that we take pity on you Scar. We don’t. We wish you nothing but unhappiness all the rest of your days. Goodbye Scar, I won’t say good luck, I don’t wish you any.”
    “Good, good, “Rafiki clapped Shenzi on the back, “thank you for doing the right and honorable thing. The gods will smile on you. Go on back to your people and don’t worry Scar will get what’s coming to him.”
    Shenzi motioned for Ed and Banns to follow her. “Come on guys our work is done here. Banns, stop pouting, I promise we’ll kill something on the way home.”
    At this Banns seemed to noticeably cheer up and he once began telling his sister what exactly he wanted to kill and how much of it wanted to eat. Rafiki shook his head as he watched the three move off into the distance.
    “Ah, hyenas, you can say many things about them, but they are loyal to each other like no other creature. Lucky for you Taka, I don’t think I could have fought them off by myself.”
    With a sigh Scar flopped down on the grass. “I guess I should thank you, but I won’t. You just let my one chance at getting out of this miserable world walk away.”
    “Stop this self-pitying talk, “Rafiki sat in the grass next to Scar, “ I told you already there will be none of that. You have some things to do, but being dead is not one of them, at least no right now.”
    “Rafiki. why couldn’t I be happy with what I had? Life in the pride wasn’t all bad. I never had a mate or any close friends, but I never went hungry or needed shelter. Why couldn’t I be like every other animal and be happy with that?”
    “For some, for you, Taka the Circle of Life causes pain not contentment. You think too far ahead and behind at the same time, but never now. You can see way off into the distance, but you’re blind to the things before your own nose.”
    “You can’t change something like that.”
    Rafiki pulled one of the small gourds from his staff, he broke it in two. From between the two hollow shells rolled a small brown object; he held it in one hand..
    “This,” he said holding the small bit on front of Scar’s nose, “ may change quite a few things.”

    Scar sniffed the small, shriveled object. It was pungent and earthy and it tickled something at the back of his mind.

    “What is it, a piece of fruit?”

    “Something like that.” Rafiki put his hand on Scar’s neck. “Taka, you’re going to have to be very strong and very brave. You’re going somewhere very few creatures go, at least while they’re still awake. But you must go.”
    Scar got to his feet. “I’m not sure I want to do this.”
    “Taka you must do this if you are to live and be right with the world. Please do not turn your back on another opportunity.”
    Scar looked from Rafiki to the small bit he held in his hand. Raising an eyebrow he asked “It won’t kill me will it?”
    “No, but even if it did, why should you worry, you’ve been asking for death since I came here.”
    Scar rolled his eyes and snorted. “Right you are.,” He said, suddenly feeling a bit foolish, “ Very well then, what do I need to do?”
    Rafiki held the small, brown object out to Scar, who took it in his paw. He then took Scar’s face in his hands and looked into the lions green eyes.
    “Taka, keep in mind that everything that you are about to see and hear and do is real, in one way. It may not change anything in the true world, but your world will be changed. You may see and hear things that hurt or scare you. But don’t run from any of them, confront them. Now take the fruit and put it in your mouth. Hold it there until it starts to melt. Don’t chew it, it tastes terrible, just let it melt. I will wait for you here. Good journeying.”
    Rafiki let go of Scar and walked a few paces away. He sat down facing the lion. Scar looked at the bit again and sniffed it. Strange, it smelled like nothing else he had encountered before. He looked up at Rafiki who made a gesture for him to put the object in his mouth. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Away we go, he thought, and popped the bit into his mouth.
 
 
 

Chapter 3
Visiting Some Old Friends
 
 

    As soon as Scar pushed the small, dried bit of fruit into his muzzle, the taste of it flooded his mouth. It was like eating dried elephant dung. “No, make that dried elephant dung with dead worms on top”, he thought. It took every bit of his restraint to keep from spitting it to the ground and running to the muddy pool for a drink. Fixing his gaze one Rafiki he let the horrible taste grow larger as the bit dissolved in his mouth. Rafiki must’ve been able to read Scar’s thoughts or at least was able to read the expression on his face, for he covered his mouth to avoid laughing and nodded his head in recognition. “ Apparently, Scar thought, he’s done this before himself.”
    At first Scar thought that hunger and exhaustion must have overtaken him, because suddenly the quality of the light had become different. It was more intense and everything seemed to be standing out in sharp contrast. Rafiki now looked as if he were sitting half a mile away instead of a few paces. But, that wasn’t the only thing. Rafiki had no taken on the appearance of thousand of fireflies. He was tiny points of light huddled together in one spot. Twinkling on and off. Scar smiled. “He’s very, very pretty that way.” The thought seemed to be coming from somewhere other than his head. “My head is talking to my head.”
    The fireflies that had been Rafiki began taking their leave. Each point of light twinkling out and becoming a blank space. The air around him had changed as well. It now seemed an unbearably hot night. There was not a breeze or a whisper of sound. Just hot, thick air. Rafiki was gone, all that was left was darkness in his place. In fact it was all dark. Dark and the sound of humming cicadas. Droning and hot. Thick and pulsing. A plague of cicadas screaming in the high summer. “Oh Gods,” Scar thought,” what is this place.” The thick air became close, crushing. He felt the air being squeezed from his lungs. It was as if the world had become a small hole the size of his own body and nothing more. He struggled, trying desperately to draw air into his lungs. He felt as if his entire body was being pushed down, made smaller. The sound of the cicadas was deeper, the sound of a single heart pulsing it’s soupy blood through it veins. And then......
    Light,
    White, hot, blinding light that pushed all other thoughts from his brain. He felt himself covered in something wet and lying on something hard. He was terribly cold. Something rough passed over his body and the shock made him take in a sudden breath of air. It hit him like a keen slap. Looking about himself he could only make out the faintest shadows of two huge creatures moving nearby. One of the creatures was a monstrous beast, it loomed over him. The second was slightly smaller and it’s body lay close by. The smell from this second made him feel warm and comfortable. A large booming voice filled his ears.
    “He is very small. Oh Gods, how I had hoped there would only be one, hunting is poor and another mouth will be a strain.”
    A second voice came to him. This one lighter. The sound of it made him desperately want to move to the place the sound came from; to nuzzle it and seek warmth from it.
    “He is small, Ahadi. But he will live. He’s beautiful.” The roughness went across his trembling body again.
    “Hmph, he may live, but he will never be very large or strong. Please Akase, think. How long can you make enough milk for both? If both cubs live, both will be weaklings like this little one. I know this must hurt you terribly; but let me take him. I promise you it will be over quickly and he will feel no pain.”
    The lighter voice now became strained and seemed on the edge of tears. He struggled again to reach it’s source. But his legs wouldn’t work. He tried to answer the two voices, but all that came from him was a soft squeaking.
    “Ahadi! No! He is my cub! I have known him for many months now, I cannot leave him for the hyenas. Please, if you love me you will let him be. I promise no harm will come to the other cub because of his presence. I swear it.”
    The large voice came again, this time resigned.
    “Very well, because you are my mate and I don’t want you to suffer he may stay. But he must not interfere with the other cub. I sense great things from this first, as if the Gods themselves made him, not we. This little one will have to find his own place in the world.”
    “Yes husband, I too have sensed the power you have. The first will grow to be strong and prosperous. But this little cub, he too should have the chance to grow and find his way. With my help he will.” He felt himself being nudged by something warm and wet and soon found himself pushed up against the softest and warmest place he had ever known, “Little cub,” the gentle voice whispered to him, “I promise you, you will find your way.”
    His mother and father lay together in their stone cave looking down at their two new cubs. Scar felt a deep pain in his chest as he realized what he had just heard. Ahadi had not meant for him to live! Mufasa was not only the one chosen for succession, but he was the one chosen for life itself. Had it not been for his mother he would have been left on some dark rock somewhere. To die in his milk as was the custom with cubs born too sick or small to survive. Anger overtook his hurt as he thought about this.  He will have to find his own place in the world. “Oh father,” Scar thought, “did you even have an inkling of how true those words you said at my birth were?” He buried his face in the warm softness that surrounded him but still felt deeply and profoundly cold.
    However the softness was no longer there. In fact the cave and his parents were no longer there.  He saw that he was facing the northern border of the Pride Lands, a place he would become well acquainted with when he got older. Looking at the his feet he realized something strange. They were no longer the huge, heavy clawed paws that he had as an adult; but the lightly dappled paws of a cub. He was a cub! Behind him he heard the unmistakable patter of a cub romping. Turning, half expecting to see little Simba, he found himself looking into the face of his brother. “He looks so much like Simba at that age” ,Scar was struck by the similarities.
    Mufasa, hopped to a stop and hit Scar on the shoulder. “Come on you old sourpuss, lets wrestle.” Mufasa chimed. He lowered his body and wagged his tail in a gesture for Scar to pounce on him.
    Scar spoke and the words seemed to fall from his mouth without thought. “No, Mufasa, not right now. I’m just looking at the land. See how pretty it is at this time of day.”
    Mufasa stopped wriggling and looked at his brother puzzled. “Why do you always want to just sit, Taka? It’s more fun to play.” Mufasa jumped on Scar and began tugging at his ear. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
    Scar began to fight back against Mufasa. Nipping him on the face and trying to wrestle him the ground. He had almost forgotten that it could be fun to wrestle. Until, from the rocks below came the familiar booming voice again. “Mufasa, are you up there son?”
    Mufasa stopped struggling with Scar and called back. “Yeah, Dad I’m up here.”
    Scar saw Ahadi come leaping up the rocks to where the two cubs sat. His eyes widened when he saw Mufasa and then narrowed again when they fixed on him. Regaining his composure he said, “What are you doing Mufasa?”
    Mufasa cheerfully answered him. “Me and Taka was wrestling. He almost got me but I pinned him.”
    Ahadi smiled. “Of course you did Mufasa, you’re a pretty big cub.”
    Mufasa apparently wasn’t done teasing. “I’m lots bigger than him,” He turned and stuck his tongue out at Scar, “I could whip him anytime.”
    Scar suddenly got the urge to give the little show off a lesson on who could whip who and without thinking he ran and pounced at Mufasa. At least he would’ve pounced on him if he had not found himself knocked backward by something hard and sharp. “No!” He heard Ahadi yell as he flew backward and slammed into one of the stone walls that surrounded the lookout spot that would later become his hideout as an adult.
    He felt the blood running down one side of his face and was panicked. He couldn’t see, he was blind! “Someone help me,” he shrieked, “I can’t see!”
    “Oh, what have I done,” he heard Ahadi say, “quick Mufasa run and get your mother. Oh gods it wasn’t my fault I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry. Mufasa stop staring at him and go get your mother now!”
    Mufasa ran away crying, as if he had just witnessed the most horrible act in the world. Scar could hear him calling for their mother in a small and scared voice. He remained crumpled on the ground. The blood from the large gash across his eye coating his face. He must not interfere with the other cub. He had interfered .  He lay on the ground bleeding for many minutes while his father stood a few steps away breathing heavily and shaking his head.
    Scar squinted, trying to see past the blood flooding his vision and was surprised to find that his vision was just fine. In fact he was no longer lying on the ground near his father; but standing by the waterhole. The relief was like a cold splash of water on his face.
    He had very nearly forgotten about the incident with his father so many years ago. He had wanted to forget. That day gave him the clear understanding of what his place in the world was.  When Mufasa had come back with their mother, she had scooped the cub up in her mouth and whisked him away to the sleeping caves. There she washed the blood from his fur and tried to explain to him how his father never meant to hurt him and that it was an accident that would never happen again. Scar could remember her not sounding so convinced of this herself. Her voice had been shaking and she had been on the verge of tears.
    Ahadi had come to the cave soon afterward. He didn’t enter but stood by the entrance and spoke to him and his mother through the door. He had apologized for everything that had happened, to both Scar and his mother. Afterwards Ahadi had always made an effort to be gentle with the cub and include him in the outings he took with Mufasa. But the relationship and his father’s kind words to him always seemed forced and unnatural. An extremely generous soul could call their relationship strained at best.
    As Scar grew older he was content to let the relationship with his father slip away; much to the relief of both parties. The memories of those uncomfortable years came back to him and he shook his head sadly. “Father, I don’t think I’ll ever understand what happened between us. I don’t think you understood it either.”
    “I did understand it Taka, but like you I wanted to forget.”
    Scar felt his heart leap to his throat. The voice that came to his ears was so familiar, so like his father. But Ahadi had been dead for over four season turns. The unmistakable feeling of another’s presence came to his senses. He could feel the large lion behind him. But still didn’t turn to see if his senses were right.
    “Father? Is it really you I feel behind me?”
    There was a long pause until the voice answered. “Yes, it’s me. Taka turn around, look at me.”
    “I’m afraid to.” He spoke truthfully. He didn’t want to turn around to see Ahadi standing there. He feared what he might do.
    “Don’t be afraid of me Taka. I can’t...I won’t hurt you anymore. Please, turn and face me.”
    The voice was pleading, so unlike the stern and commanding voice he remembered. Scar sighed inwardly, bracing himself for whatever might happen. He turned his head slowly, raising his eyes slightly to the figure standing before him.
    It was Ahadi. Ahadi as he had been in his prime. A large, fit lion with golden brown fur and steady golden eyes. Scar couldn’t help but turn fully; taking in the image of his father. Then incredibly Ahadi fell to the ground before him. Bowing as his subjects had bowed to him during his reign.
    “Taka, please forgive me. I did you great evil during my life. I thought I was a great king, but I was not . How can a king call himself great when he drives his son to madness. Please Taka forgive me.”
    Scar felt the anger at his father melt away as he looked at the trembling figure laying at his feet. He backed away. To see Ahadi in such a state made him uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to say and so blurted out the first words that came to mind.
    “That’s all right father. I know you didn’t mean it.”
    Ahadi stood and looked him square in the eye. “But son the great evil is that I did mean it.”
    Scar felt a knot form in his stomach. “You, you mean you did mean all those horrible things that you did to me?” He grew flush with anger. “But why? What did it to you? I was a cub father, I didn’t do anything to you! You loved Mufasa and treated him as if he was a star fallen from the sky. Why did you not have the same feelings for me? Even half of the same feelings for me!” Scar was shaking now and could feel his claws digging in to the dirt. Oh Gods how I want to hurt you, he thought.
    Ahadi sat in the grass. He looked at Scar, his eyes bright with tears. He motioned for the younger lion to sit beside him. Scar took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself. He moved to where his father sat and stood over him.
    “Taka,” said Ahadi, “there is much that needs telling and very little time. Listen closely and try to understand.”
    Scar looked at his father appraisingly. ”I will hear you father, but know this, I’m still very angry at you.” Scar sat in the grass facing his father. He could not bear to get any closer to him.
    “I understand and would expect it to remain so for a while, maybe even forever.” Ahadi let out a large breath and began speaking. “When you were born, oh how my heart sank. You stirred in me feelings that I hadn’t felt in a long while,” Scar opened his mouth to speak, but Ahadi held up a paw, “You see I was not an only cub. I had a brother, Mwali. So like you he was. Small and dark. My mother loved him so, as did I. We often spent the days together, he was very clever and made up stories to tell and would sit for hours under the acacia trees telling them to me. He was my best friend.” Ahadi stopped and drew a deep breath, “I even miss him now as I tell you of him. Such a smart and gentle cub. So beautiful, but also very weak. He was often sick. My mother and father fussed over him, always giving him the best of the kills and keeping him warm in an effort to make him strong, like I was. I fussed over him too. I would stay in the caves with him when he wasn’t feeling well and talk with him and play. It was always just enough to be with him, it didn’t matter, as long as Mwali was there I was happy.”
    Scar had relaxed a bit as Ahadi told his story, falling into the gentle rhythms of his father voice.
    “One day, though, Mwali hurt his paw. He had torn the skin of his pad on a sharp rock by the waterhole. The cut wasn’t very big but....”Ahadi trailed off and hitched in another deep breath. “Mother cleaned him up right away and he seemed to be fine. We played right afterward, even though Mwali had to be careful because of the wound. Over the next few days  mother noticed the cut hadn’t healed right. It smelled badly and Mwali’s entire paw swelled up. She made him stay in the cave , I stayed with him to keep him company. He was in a lot of pain. He kept licking the wound but it didn’t help. It hurt him terribly, he didn’t complain, he never did, but I could tell. The next day, he, he just...lay there. He said he was too tired to get up and that he felt hot. My mother told me to leave the cave, that whatever Mwali was suffering from I might get too. I’ll never forget her face Taka. She was so frightened.”
    Ahadi’s eyes were now full of tears, his voice coming in pained spurts. Scar put a paw over his father’s, he noticed how cold it felt.
    “For days Mwali lay in the cave. Crying out in pain. I wasn’t allowed to see him, but I could hear him. The flesh of his paw had begun to rot and the rot had spread to the rest of him. For many days he lay there, my mother never emerged from the cave. She was heartbroken and thought she could save him. All the pride knew what was happening, but my mother held on, trying to fix him, to make him well. Finally my father instructed the rest of the pride to take my mother out of the cave by force. She cried and begged as they pulled her out. Then my father went inside and soon........Mwali stopped crying. I will never forget the sound of him dying. My mother was never the same after he died. She had always been a happy lioness and enjoyed the life of a hunter. But after she lost her son, she became withdrawn. It killed me to see her suffer every day after he died.”
    Scar’s mind held the image of the long dead cub. Like him, but dead. Lying in a cave suffering for days while he brother heard his death moans. He felt a chill run up his back. A cub like me, he thought.
    “When your mother pushed you out,” Ahadi continued after regaining some composure, “and I saw you. So small and weak. Dark furred. I thought, it’s Mwali all over again. I prayed you wouldn’t live to take you first breath. But you did live. But still the memory of my brother’s horrible death and the pain it caused my mother hardened me to the fact that you would most likely die. Every day I expected you to die. Every day I waited to see that terrible fear on your mother’s face. I lived like this throughout your cubhood, always waiting for that day when you would leave and tear Akase apart. Over time I began to hate you. Yes, Taka hate. I hated you for putting that fear into me. For reminding me of the brother I loved and who died a agonizing death. I felt how dare this cub live when my brother died! How dare he make me feel so helpless and afraid. Oh Taka, please forgive me. I shouldn’t have blamed you for the feelings I had. I should have loved you as I loved Mwali. Maybe then all this mess would have never happened. You would have grown up strong and right. Instead I abandoned you and planted the first seeds of hate in your heart. Forgive me Taka.”
    Scar looked at his father and could now see the cub he had once been. How Ahadi had been weak and vulnerable as he had been. His father who had always been the vision of strength and righteousness had his pains too. Scar touched his father’s mane.
    “We are very much alike you and I, father. We both made others suffer for our weaknesses. I forgive you father, because I’ve been and still am where you where.”
    Hi father rose to his feet and nuzzled Scar on the side of the head. The eerie coldness of his father’s touch startled him. Ahadi smiled at him.
    “Thank you son. I will walk the stars path with a lighter tread now. Son, you must rise up as well, there is much that needs to be done. Please, do not continue to do as I did. Clear your heart of the things that tear at it. I must go now. You have many paths to walk before you end your journey.”
    “Thank you father.” Scar watched as the lion who was his father disappeared into the grass. “My journey is well underway.”
    Scar stood for many moments after the apparition of his father had disappeared. He could imagine how Ahadi could resent him and try to erase his smaller son from his mind. In doing so he was erasing the memories of his brother Mwali. Hatred for his father was now replaced by pity and understanding.
    Scar had rarely felt pity for any creature other than himself before. While living under Mufasa’s reign he had felt as if all the world were plotting and scheming for his downfall. It made the act of killing his brother seem right, almost sacred in his mind.
    “Mufasa!,” he called out to the sky above, “brother, I know you’re here. Please come to me.” He looked about but could not see Mufasa materializing from anywhere. His head began to feel very heavy and buzzed as if it were full of angry hornets. “The fruit must be doing this to me,” he thought, suddenly remembering that all that had happened wasn’t truly real. He chuckled to himself. “I surely hope Rafiki doesn’t do this sort of thing very often.”
    He caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye and whipped around to face who he thought must be his dead brother. However, when he got a full look at the vision before him he felt his legs turn to water.
    The beast before him moved with a slimy, liquid grace. It skulked out from the shadows and stared at him, it’s jaws slavering. Scar shook his head, “How can this be? You’re...” He trailed off.
    “You.” The beast smiled. “Ah, yes. I am what you think I am Scar.” It reeked of old flesh left to rot in the blazing noontime sun. “I’m you, I’m everything you were, are now and will ever be. Quite handsome aren’t I?” It ran a paw over it’s greasy mane.
    Scar swallowed. The thing that was now sidling up to him, did indeed look like him. A huge twisted parody of himself that was grinning at him. He backed a step away from it.
    “Why Scar, I’m offended. How can you back away from your old friend. Very well, have it your way I won’t take offense.” It’s voice was the sound of water over gravel.
    Scar was disgusted by the creature before him. Is this how the world saw him? He forced himself to raise his body to it’s full height and moved closer to the beast.
    “You’re not an old friend and you’re certainly not me anymore. Call me Taka, it’s my true name. Scar is what you are.”
    The beast’s smile widened, then it grimaced. “Call me Taka.” He mocked. “Oh Scar you big fool. Have you been listening to what that monkey has been telling you? I thought you were smarter than that.”
    “I have been listening because it’s true, every word of it. I followed you and look where it got me. I have no home, no friends, nothing. I killed my own brother because of you.”
    The beast sighed. “Of course you did and you should thank me for giving you the resolve. Do you really think Mufasa wanted you around?  A weak and shiftless lion? That’s what he thought of you, you know.”
    Scar snarled, “If he thought that it’s because that’s what I had become. Because of you.”
    The beast bared teeth as black as obsian and circled Scar. The stench of it’s flesh was overpowering, decay and rot played on it’s skin. It’s claws were shot and it’s tail lashed to and fro like an angry python.
    “Because of me you lived! Because of me you didn’t wander out into the fields to die. You know this Scar.” Scar began to speak but the beast cut him off. “No, no don’t bother to deny it. You welcomed me into you like a lioness in heat my friend. You loved me and what I made you. Come on, tell me this isn’t so.”
    Scar hung his head as the beast nodded at him gravely. It was true, he had reveled in his insolence and delighted in the pain he caused.  When the pride had gone hungry all those months he gloated in the gaunt faces of the lionesses. He wished to see them suffer, to watch them beg for him to move to pride to better hunting grounds. Each time he had refused; drinking in the expressions of frustration and grief the pride wore. It was his meat during those hungry months.
    “I can’t tell you I did not enjoy your company for a time.” Scar mumbled to the reeking apparition pacing around him. “But that’s over, I don’t want you to be part of me anymore.”
    “Tsk, tsk, don’t say anything you’ll regret. The first time you come up against some obstacle, the first time another lion beats you, a lioness turns you down or you miss your prey you’ll want me back. I know you Scar, you’re weak.”
    Scar’s lips drew back from his teeth, he now began moving in an opposite circle from the beast. His claws were out and he lowered his head.
    “Not anymore “friend”,” he spat in the hulking creatures direction, “Weakness is what brought me here. I’m done with it. My life with you as my guide is finished.”
    He felt a sudden stinging pain on the side of his head and found himself sprawled out on the ground, He could feel the first warm trickles of blood course through the fur on his face.
    “You think you’ll be rid of me?” The beast advanced on his prone form. It’s eyes burned with murderous rage. Scar saw red flecks on the tips of it’s extended claws. The breath of the enraged animal hit his face. Hot and rancid. It was breathing in short puffs. “I should kill you for that, you ungrateful son of a hyena.”
    It stopped and stood over him. The twisted mask of anger on it’s face melted in an equally twisted mask of pity.
    “But, I won’t.” It drew it’s claws in. “Killing you would do me no good, would it?”
    Scar righted himself and sneered at the beast.
    “No, a lowly belly worm does itself no favors by killing it host.”
    The beasts eyes crinkled with delight. It widened it jaws in a capering grin, giving Scar a good look at it’s blackened gums and yellow fangs.
    “Names, names. There you go old fellow. Just like old times. Feel good does it?”
    Scar tensed the muscles in his shoulders, feeling them leap to attention. His claws splayed, he stood and approached the beast.  A strangely calm smile crossed his face.
    “But you know,” he said, “the host does itself a world of good by killing the lowly worm.”
    Without a warning growl to announce his intention, Scar hurled himself at the leering vision before him. Caught by surprise, beast fell heavily onto it’s back. It flailed frantically with it’s front paws. One large, hooked claw caught Scar across the nose, coating the front of his muzzle with blood. Scar paid it no mind.
    “Yes,” he snarled, “you are a part of me, a part that I’m taking back, Right..Now!”
    He clamped his jaws down on the beasts right foreleg which had been trying desperately to find purchase. Much to Scar’s surprise his teeth broke through the rotten flesh and it fell apart with a distinct puff.
    The writhing beast shrieked as the leg fell away and blew into the night. Panic played on it’s features and it’s voice took on a decidedly pleading tone.
    “Please, Scar! Don’t do this!”
    Scar plowed his teeth into the belly of the screaming creature, the flesh once so solid and heavy looking smashed under his snapping fangs.
    “Scar, You’ll regret this! You need me! Think of the lionesses! They hated you, I protected you!”
    Scar said nothing, he just continued working his grinding teeth into the stinking form.

    “Think! Think of Mufasa!”

    Scar stopped and looked at the beast. His eyes narrowed and focused on the muddy, pleading eyes before him. He smiled.
    “I am.”
    And then drove his teeth into the lifeless pleading eyes, puncturing the dull light that came from them. His mouth flooded with the taste of the beast. The taste of corruption and bitterness. He raised his head and black sand poured from his mouth. Shuddering, he turned and vomited onto the grass.
    Looked back to where the horrible vision of himself had lain. Nothing remained.  Scar was dead, long live Scar. He laughed to himself.
    “Well, done brother. But you know, if you had listened when I tried to teach you how to fight that would have gone much smoother.”
    The voice, so deep and commanding. Scar lowered his head in shame as the soothing sound of his long dead littermate came to him.
    “Mufasa....” He began and then fell silent. He felt fixed in  place, as if he turned and looked into the eyes of his brother he may die.
    “Face me, brother.” Mufasa sounded calm as the grass on a windless day. Willing his body with all his strength Scar turned. He kept his head lowered, fixed on the grass.” Face me.”
    Raising his eyes from his paws, his gaze crept slowly over the form before him. Crawled over the tawny, golden shape of the creature with whom he had shared birth and then brought to death.  Meeting the calm, commanding eyes that rested in the broad and open face, Scar felt his knees collapse under him.
    “Great king, my littermate, my brother. Please forgive my evil and betrayal of you. And...the evil I did to your son.  Everything that happened was my fault, my ignorance. I bow to you Mufasa and beg your forgiveness.”
    Scar lay at the huge feet of his older brother, shaking with both fear and sadness. He braced himself for whatever vengeful punishment might come from the figure before him. Instead he felt a warm, gentle, weight rest on the back of his mane.
    “Stand Taka, do not cower before me. I am not the enemy and never have been. Part of the enemy has been challenged and conquered. Now stand before me and face me as an equal.”  Scar hesitated, still a bit afraid. “Rise!” Mufasa roared and Scar found himself yanked up roughly by the mane. His legs were able to find the ground and prevent him sprawling over when Mufasa let him go.
    Breathing heavily with the force with which he was brought to his feet, he steadied himself and looked squarely at Mufasa. The huge lion looked at him sternly. Pity had no place on the lion’s countenance.
    “Brother, you have done some horrible things during your lifetime. None of which I or anyone else can redeem you of.”
    Scar began to speak. “But...” Mufasa cut him off with a growl.
    “Silence!”  Mufasa showed his teeth as he spoke. “For years you’ve been making excuses for your behavior. Always blaming others for when you come up short.” Mufasa began to pace back and forth in front of Scar. “Maybe I should have cuffed you around a bit when you were younger and began to act like a fool. But I didn’t. No one did.”
    Scar started looking at his paws again and his tail began to twitch uncomfortably. Mufasa’s face pushed roughly into his.
    “Look at me damn you!”  A paw lashed out and Scar found himself knocked back to the ground with stunning force. His brother stood over him growling.
    “It’s over, no more cowering, no more whining and making excuses. Today you stand as a lion. A grown male with responsibilities. When you miss you prey, it’s your responsibility. When you make an enemy, they are yours. When you hurt someone else, that hurt is yours. From now on everything you do belongs to you. No more Scar, Taka. You must kill him. Or else you’ll have lived in vain.”
    A grown lion, Scar thought, have I really been so cub like and foolish that I haven’t become an adult yet?
    “Yes, you have.” Mufasa answered his unspoken thoughts. “You’ve been a overgrown and very dangerous cub up until now. But unlike a youngling that can be excused it’s stupid behavior, you can’t. Your stupidity cost me my life, almost cost my son his life and brought misery to the pride.”
    “But, how can I go on?” Scar asked. “I’ve done such evil, your son was right I don’t deserve to live.”
    “Maybe, maybe not. But live you will, because there are some things that need doing. Things you need to do.” Mufasa sidled up to his brother and gestured his head toward the distance. “Out there, is where you must go. To the place where the sun meets the earth.”
    Scar turned to his brother, a questioning look on his face. “What must I do there.”
    Mufasa shook his head. “That you cannot know until the time comes. Taka, do not fail me, don’t make my death good for nothing.” He put his paw to his brothers face. “Taka, you must fulfill your destiny and take -your- place in the circle of life.”
    “But why? I killed you, damn it! Why are you doing this, why don’t  you haunt me, send me to my death! I can’t take this.” Scar’s body twitched in agitation. Mufasa remained nonplused.
    “Guilt and self pity are indulgences you can take part in no more. Why don’t I kill you? Well I can’t for one thing and even if I could why would I? It would solve nothing. No Taka, the tasks that lie ahead of you are much harder to accomplish than dying. And you must meet them with strength and courage. No more crying like a cub, Taka. Today is a new day.” Mufasa’s expression softened. “And more, do you think I’ve forgotten what you once were?”
    Scar nodded, “I know you were my friend once.”
    “We shared our mother’s breast and learned together. I remember how you came to me when father was...hard on you. You were my friend and equal then. When did we grow so far apart?”
    “I grew apart, Mufasa you did nothing to earn my hatred. Of all the creatures you and mother were my world. I was the one who pushed you aside. I’m so very sorry Mufasa. Would that I could take it back....”
    Mufasa smiled and back away. “You can’t. But you can fulfill your destiny.” He turned and began to melt away into the blackness. “Find your destiny Taka and put things right. Don’t fail me or yourself again.”
    His brother’s form breaking up into the darkness, Scar called after it. “I won’t fail you, I swear it. Be well Mufasa and look over Simba.”
    Whether or not the ghostly figure heard him Scar couldn’t tell, for Mufasa was gone.  He stood on the darkened plain, the wind caressing the long dark mane which hung about his face. The place where the sun meets the earth, he thought, what lay there? He felt a small jump of anticipation in his belly as he thought of traveling to the land Mufasa had said his destiny, his very redemption lay.
    He stood very tall, facing the wind. A small smile, a genuine smile, not the conniving grin he used to wear crossed his face. Taking a deep breath of the cool night air and held it momentarily and then.....
    A deep booming roar came from deep inside his gut. It echoed across the rippling sea of grass. It hit his ears like a cry of freedom. Freedom.
                   then,
  slipping

Chapter 4
Waking
 
 

    It was hot and the air was thick and heavy. Scar’s eyes snapped open. He was laying in the grass. The night was still around him. He looked about for whatever new terror or phantom might be awaiting him. A few paces away he saw a familiar shaggy gray form.
    Rafiki still sat where Scar had left him, cradling his staff between his knees, singing quietly to himself. He had heard the lion begin to twitch and moan as he came back to the land of the living. but he sat quietly waiting for Scar to fully come to. A cleansing could sometimes to a tiring and terrifying experience and Rafiki had no desire to scare the poor beast.
    The lion moaned in pain as the first few thumps of what would be a massive headache began.  His paws still ached and they reached up to touch the place where he had been wounded during the battle with his demon. He touched nothing but whole flesh. The long gash had never happened. He turned his head from side to side trying to work some of the stiffness from it and audibly winced as a sharp pain ran from the nape of his neck to his forehead. He forced himself to his feet and began to stagger toward the waterhole. He was horribly thirsty.
    Rafiki rose and pulled a large gourd made of buffalo hide from his staff. He walked up to Scar and put an arm over his neck.
    “Shh,” he whispered, “lie down again.” He gently pushed the lion down. Scar hadn’t the strength to resist and lay heavily back down to the grass.
    “Water,” he rasped, “I have to have a drink.”
    Rafiki uncapped the gourd, which was actually a waterskin, and poured some of the cool liquid into his cupped palm. He held the water under Scar’s nose.
    “Here, drink this,” the lion began to lap up the water greedily from his hand, “slowly, you’ll sick it up if you drink too fast.”
    Scar licked Rafiki’s palm dry and then said to him. “More, please.”
    Rafiki put the waterskin down and took the lions face into his hands. He looked carefully into Scar’s yellow and green eyes. He nodded. “How does your head feel? Does it pain you?”
    Scar snorted, “It feels like an elephant has been doing a mating dance on it. Can I have some more water, please.”
    “In a moment,” Rafiki took another gourd, broke it and a yellowish powder, like sand poured out of it. He took the waterskin again and mixed the powder together with the water in his palm. He held it out to Scar. The lion sniffed his palm. The water smelled bitter and nasty. “Just drink it.” Rafiki said. Scar lapped it up, a bit less greedily this time. The taste was awful. Afterward he belched at the nasty bitter taste caught in his throat.
    Rafiki made an exaggerated face of disgust at the sound. “Phaugh! What an ugly sound to accompany such a momentous occasion.” He ruffled the top knot on the lion’s head. “That will help your headache. May not taste good, but it is good.”
    “Sure doesn’t,” Scar rolled onto his back and let out a large sigh, “Gods, but I’m tired.”
    Rafiki laughed, “I’m not surprised, you’ve done a lot today.”
    “Rafiki, where did I go?”
    “You’ve been to a place few have been Taka. You’ve been given the chance to cleanse yourself and start anew. Where do you feel you’ve been.”
    Scar rolled onto his side and lay his still throbbing head on his paws. “I’m not sure really. I feel like I’ve been inside myself. It’s very strange, I feel very different.”
    Rafiki sat down next to Scar. Taking the waterskin he offered him more water. Very quickly the lion emptied the it. Tossing the skin aside Rafiki put an arm over Scar’s shoulder. “What do you plan to do now, Taka.?”
    “Mufasa said to go to the place where the sun and earth meet. So that’s where I’m going.”
    Rafiki’s eyes widened. “Mufasa said? Well, you better go there. Not very good to disobey your dead brother.”
    Scar’s head dropped and the mention of “dead brother.” Rafiki chided himself for bringing it up. “I’m sorry Taka. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
    Scar looked at Rafiki and watery brightness shone in his eyes. “No, it’s okay. This is the first time in many years that I’ve been able to think of my brother with anything but hate.” He put a large paw on Rafiki’s face. “And I have you to thank for it.”
    Rafiki smiled at the lion. He looked different now. The corners of his mouth no longer pulled downward in a derisive scowl. The old skulking posture was replaced with a more relaxed and comfortable air. He now looked his seven years instead of the twelve or twenty he used to look.
    “Not just me, you played a hand in this Taka and it sounds as if you have more work to do. No matter ,time enough to think about it tomorrow, sleep now. You need some rest.” He smoothed back Scar’s black mane. Looking down he noticed no instruction was necessary for Scar had already slipped into a deep and comfortable sleep.
    Rafiki stayed through most of the night. Watching over his ward as he stirred gently with dreams of forgotten times. As the sun began to creep over the plains, banishing the tricky shadows of the night; Rafiki stood and gathered up his staff. He walked over to where Scar lay on his side, still snoring soundly, even though tick birds and swallows had begun to sing loudly in the scattered trees. Bending he touched the lions mane. “Farewell, Taka and good hunting.” Then left the  plains without a look back.

Chapter 5
The Cape Hunting Dogs Meet the Spirit Lion

    Around the time of the high sun, Scar finally began to awake from the long night’s rest.  After a bone cracking yawn and long stretch of the front legs he began to look for Rafiki. He was no where to be found. Scar was a little disappointed. He had begun to enjoy Rafiki’s company and was looking forward to having a companion for a little while. It had been a long time since he had someone to talk to. Longer than he could remember. He had to swallow back the tinniest bit of anger that came to him. “Apparently, I still have some work to do,” he thought to himself.
    Suddenly a rumble came from his stomach, along with a feeling a nausea. It had been more than half a week since his last substantial meal. He automatically scanned the horizon looking for a sign of a small antelope or zebra yearling he could take down. There was none and then he laughed to himself. Who was he trying to fool in thinking he could do any hunting of his own. Scar had always been very lazy when it came to learning new skills, he had always thought of himself as above the concerns of ordinary animals. Now with the sharp pain and dizziness he felt he realized his folly.
    He looked toward the western horizon and decided that his journey should begin. Trotting with all the briskness he could muster he left the plain where his life began.
    As he moved through the seemingly endless grassland, Scar kept his nose to the wind for the slightest sign of carrion or a kill made by a smaller animal. It wasn’t exactly noble, but food was food.  As he passed a small stand of short, stubby trees he lifted his nose and inhaled deeply.
    He caught the faint scent of fresh blood. His stomach rumbled in anticipation. There was another scent under the blood. Something familiar. Somewhat like a hyena, but different. It was a sharp, cunning smell. The scent of a predator. There would be no free meal today, unless he could be crafty enough to snatch it. He knew he was in shape to fight for dinner.
    But what was it? Scar racked his brain trying to recall where he had smelled that scent before. It was always best to know your enemy before rushing in. Then from a distance came four short barks, interrupting his thoughts and bringing forth a clear memory.
    The cape hunting dogs! Now he remembered.  He had only seen the shaggy
    predators twice during his tenure in the Pride Lands. The first time had been when Mufasa
    had just become king. They had been a small pack out scouting new hunting grounds. With his
    typical bravado and zeal Mufasa had gone out to expel the dogs by force. It was not a wise move. Mufasa had never encountered the dogs before and he was unprepared for the strength of the pack. Pound for pound the dogs were the most formidable hunters in the veldt. Mufasa had returned quickly looking somewhat chagrined and instructed the pride to stay out of the dog’s way. It was not a luxury that he had afforded many creatures.
    The second time the dogs passed through unmolested. Mufasa had a clear memory of his earlier encounter with them and was not eager to repeat the experience.  They left without incident, but not without first killing an impressive number of the herd living in the Pride Lands. Their hunting skills were unquestioned. They were efficient, organized and deadly. They did, however, have one weakness.  He had learned from the hyenas, who hated the dogs more than the lions, that they had a strange religion. An almost fanatical one. The dogs were firm believers in spirit animals, creatures from the Other World who took true form and roamed the earth.
    These spirits could be beneficial or malevolent. They often encountered animals on their unknown journeys through the world and could bestow favor on those deemed worthy.  To the dogs to meet one of these travelers was a great honor and bode well for the dog’s pack. It seemed strange to him at the time. Still did. But, it also gave him a good idea.

    “If I play this right, he chuckled to himself, I shall have a full belly, a bit of rest and a little revenge in the bargain.” A feeling of cub-like mischief filled him as he crept through the grass trying to locate the origin of the scent.   He moved slowly, careful to stay downwind. To reveal himself too soon would wreck the plan now formulating in his mind. He would put his cunning and slyness to good use.  He found the dogs by a small stand of trees. It was a small pack, probably a hunting party. They were standing over the fresh carcass of a zebra. Involuntarily he licked his chops at the sight. Quietly he lay in the grass, listening to the dogs.  “Good kill, Nabuk”, said one of the dogs to what seemed to be the leader.  The larger dog nodded to him, “Yes this one went down easy, it’ll bring much meat to the pack.”
    Nabuk, that must be the leader. Scar readied himself. “O.k., he thought, better make this good, or I’ll have these fellows snapping at my heels.” With that he burst from his hiding place and ran into the midst of the dogs. He panted as if he had run many miles. “Oh, great hunting dogs, he blurted out, at last I’ve found you. I bring news...grave danger.” He stopped, catching his breath.
    The lead dog stepped forward and spoke, “You have trespassed on the territory of the pack ,lion. Leave at this moment and we will spare you.” The large dog flattened his ears and bared his teeth.
    Scar turned his head to look at the dog. “You must be Nabuk, your hunting prowess has not gone unnoticed to the Great Dog.” He smiled at the now bewildered looking dog.
    Nabuk stepped back from the strange lion. “How do you know my name? I’ve never seen you before and where did you come from?” The other dogs now stepped forward to take a good look at the creature before them.
    “We in the Other World know many things Nabuk,” Scar intoned in a dramatic voice, “we have watched you many times from above.”
    Nabuk looked suspicious, this animal claimed to be a spirit lion, but he could also be an ordinary thief out to steal the pack’s kill. “You look and smell like an  ordinary lion to me stranger, perhaps you are nothing more than a common thief.” The other dogs nodded in agreement.
    A look of great offense crossed Scar’s face. “Common thief eh? Very well, I will inform the Great Dog that you have no need of our help. Good day and good luck.” He turned and began to trot away.
    The dogs looked to their leader. They were at a loss. What if they just turned away a messenger from the Other World, great misfortune would befall the pack if so. To offend a spirit offering guidance was the greatest sin a dog could commit, generations of dogs would pay for their insolence. The lion had indeed looked strange, unlike any other they had ever seen. Nabuk watched the figure retreating in the distance. His chieftain would tear him apart if he had indeed offended a spirit. Against his better judgment he called out to the strange lion. “Wait, great lion, please come back!”
    Scar looked over his shoulder at the dogs. They seemed panicked now. Coolly he replied, “No, I have been offended, I bring news of a great disaster and you bare your teeth to me. No I must leave.” He turned as if to go once again.
    Nabuk ran to Scar’s side, “Please, I meant no offense, I was just protecting my pack. You must understand.” He was clearly frightened now. Scar did not reply but seemed to be considering the dog’s apology carefully. Then he turned away again. The other dogs had now joined them. They held their tails and head low, trying desperately not to further offend the great spirit.
    Nabuk felt his suspicion fall away. If this lion meant the pack harm he would be at the kill right now, they had given him plenty of opportunity. No, this indeed must be a spirit lion. He must make amends to the great spirit, for the good of the pack. He bowed low before Scar. “Great lion, please accept the offering of this zebra to make up for any offense I caused you.” The other dogs bowed in kind.
    Scar looked at the carcass lying in the grass. He squelched the urge to leap on it and begin feasting. Instead he nodded at the dogs. “I most humbly accept your offer, all offense is forgotten.” He smiled benevolently at the dogs, trying his hardest not to laugh as he did so.
    Nabuk approached him. “Great lion,” he spoke reverently, “you mentioned something about a danger to the pack. Please what is it I must warn the chief.” Scar lay himself on the grass, the dogs did the same. Scar wondered if he jumped up and down would the dogs follow suit. It would be interesting to see, but he was hungry he would have his fun later.
    “I wish that I could my friend,” he replied wearily, “but I’m exhausted from my long journey. The secret remains locked inside. When this form I am in is replenished all will be told.” Nabuk nodded, the Other World must be far away, their guest must be fed. He instructed the hunting party to tear up the carcass and feed the lion. It would not do to have a great spirit dirty himself. Scar smiled inwardly, this was turning out better than he thought, as the dogs lay the choicest pieces of meat at his feet, first class service and everything!
    Scar ate as he never had before. Rich liver, kidneys, all the best pieces of the zebra found it’s way down his throat. Life in a  pride had never allowed him such luxury.  Finally when his belly had reached the point of bursting he licked his paws clean and called the dogs to gather around him.
    “Now what I am about to tell you comes from the Great Dog himself, so you all must listen carefully.”  He spoke gravely, looking at all of the dogs in turn.
     “You have our full attention, great lion, we will hear your news.” Nabuk said. All ears turned toward the lion, not one of them stirred.
    “There is a great disaster coming for the dog pack. A terrible horde of creatures are coming to destroy you. They hate the great hunting dogs, they are determined to see an end of you.”
    All ears canted back, startled. “Who is it?” Nabuk pleaded, Who wants the pack destroyed?”
    “They are the most vile spirit animals in the Other World, filthy beasts.” Scar intoned

    The dogs began whispering among themselves. Who could it be? Nabuk persisted, “Please tell us, great spirit, the chief must know!”
    Scar looked at gathered pack. They looked utterly terrified. He almost felt bad for frightening them. But then again, it was too good to resist. Finally he said, “It is the hyena spirits, they envy the dogs and want to rid the world of them.” The dogs gasped, the hyenas! The dogs despised the hyenas, felt them to be lazy scavengers unworthy of breath.
    “Those disgusting beasts, so they are filthy in both body and spirit.” Nabuk said, “I should have known.”
    “You will find these craven spirits to the east, north of a large jutting rock. They haunt an elephant graveyard.” Scar went on, “They are gathering to send a war party to destroy the pack. They will kill all the males and mate with your females, they will corrupt everything the pack stands for. They are ruthless, they must be stopped!” All the dogs jumped to their feet at once. The growled fiercely. They would stop the hyenas, let them try to destroy the pack! “I will inform my chief at once,” said Nabuk, “ we will send many dogs to the east. We will kill the hyena spirits, they will trouble no one again!”
    “No!,” Taka said, “you must not try to kill the hyena spirits. They will only come back more powerful, seeking revenge.” He wanted to play a bit of a prank  he didn’t want the hyenas dead.
      Nabuk looked distressed. “What shall we do then great lion? How can we rid ourselves of this danger?” The dogs were upset, all seemed lost.
    “There is one way, listen closely now.” All the dogs looked at the lion in anticipation. They were ready to do anything it took to save the pack.” You must....bite their tails!” The dogs looked puzzled, this was a strange remedy indeed.  Scar smiled, “A hyena spirit carries all his magic in his tail, you know. That is why they carry their rumps so close to the ground, to protect it. One good hard bite to the tail will disable them, I know it sounds strange, but it is so.”
    “We do not question the wisdom of the spirits great lion, I will tell my chief at once.” Nabuk bowed at Scar. “We must go, great spirit, thank you for your service.”
    Scar nodded, “Yes you must go at once, time grows short. Remember, east to the jutting rock, then north to the elephant graveyard. And no killing!”
     “Yes great spirit, and thank you again.”
    At once the pack turned and began running toward their den site. In a moment they were out of sight. Taka began to laugh, he wished for all the world he could be their. The vision of dozens of confused hyenas running from dozens of cape hunting dogs snapping at their rumps came into his mind. He laughed harder. “Good hunting to you faithful dogs!” he called into the distance. He himself would resume his own journey to the West, that is as soon as the bulge in his belly subsided.

Chapter 6
An Unlikely Ally

    Scar stayed by the zebra carcass for two days. Gorging himself until he felt ill and then sleeping lightly in case he needed to shoo away a vulture or jackal who got too bold.  He felt his strength returning to him slowly.
    He thought little of the days leading up to his wandering. He still felt profoundly uncomfortable with his role in bringing the Pride Lands to ruin and even though he knew his guilt was useless he couldn’t help it. Laying in the sun and eating all day afforded him a lot of time to think.
    After the second day, he got up, stretched the sleep out of his limbs and left the glade. The zebra had gotten too ripe for his taste, and he was eager to move on. As he left he heard many pairs of wings descending behind him.
     “Finally!,” one of the vultures shrieked, “I thought that damn lion would never leave.”
    Scar stifled the urge to leap suddenly and scare the pin feathers off the scavenger. It was something he wouldn’t have hesitated to do back in the Pride Lands. Instead he just flicked his tail up in the direction of the scavengers. The bird that had been watching his departure caught the gesture and grumbled something about “nasty, minded lions” before he went back to his meal.
    As he traveled he noticed that the land here was much different than the land of his birth. It consisted of pastures, dotted with tree lined glades and small rocky formations. Back home Pride Rock had been the only outstanding feature in the land.  He walked on silently until the sun set and then sought out one of the formations for a place to sleep. He leapt on a rather large formation and began searching for a place to lie down.
    He began to paw at a small pile of loose stones when a sharp hissing came from the other side of the formation. He instinctively jumped back at the sound. It was the sound an enraged animal made right before it attacked. When he was able to regain his composure he realized that whatever it was lay on the other side of the formation. With a cat’s natural curiosity he made his way slowly to the other side, careful to look around before he rounded the corner.
    “Stop right there!,” A sharp female voice hissed.  Scar moved closer despite the command. Then he saw the owner of the angry voice.
    A female cheetah lay wedged in a pile of fallen rocks and boulders. Her head and front paws were visible, but her hind quarters seemed stuck. When she saw him she hissed again, louder this time, and scrabbled her claws on the rocks in front of her. Scar could smell the terror of the cheetah. He stopped a respectful distance from her.
    “Go away lion,” she snarled through bared teeth, “if you think you have an easy kill, think again, I’ll give you a wound to match the one you already have on your face.”
    Scar lowered his posture, trying to make himself as unthreatening as possible. “Relax, madam, I’m not going to kill you. What happened to you?”
    The cheetah growled again, she tried to pull herself free, scoring the rock before her with her claws. Scar waited until she tired herself out and then spoke again.
    “I think I see how you’re trapped. Are you injured?”
    “Not at all lion,” She spat, “Come closer and I’ll show you how much fight I have left in me.” She bared her teeth again.
    Scar sighed and then moved closer to the cheetah. “Look,” He said, “You’re not impressing anyone. Now tell me, are you hurt, yes or no?”
    The cheetah looked taken aback, but there was something in the lions manner that demanded a polite response. “No, I’m not hurt, just caught.”
    “Okay then, let me take a look here,” He jumped up to where the cheetah was trapped, she recoiled as he came near. “Quiet, relax. I’m not going to hurt you. I already ate.” He winked at the cheetah, who returned an alarmed stare. He decided there should be more jokes about eating right now. He looked carefully at the boulders that pinned the cheetahs hindquarters. They were heavy, but laid  so that they didn’t crush her, just kept her in place. They were far too heavy for a cheetah to move, but perhaps if he pushed some away...
    He braced his two front paws on the uppermost rock in the pile. Extending his hind claws into the rock in which he stood he pushed the boulder forward. It rocked slightly, but remained in place. The cheetah let out a small bleat of fright as the rock moved. “Careful,” she pleaded, her earlier defiance had left her. Scar bunched the muscles in his shoulders and braced the right one against the boulder. Then turn to the cheetah and said to the . “Okay, lady keep your paws crossed.” He strained forward, with his left shoulder pushing the large rock, he grunted as the boulder first moved slowly forward and then toppled over. The rock fell off the formation and hit the ground with a dull thud. The cheetah began to try to break free. “Hold it,” Scar snapped, “I still have to get these smaller rocks off here. Be patient.”
    The cheetah stopped struggling and looked at the lion with fearful eyes.  “I’m sorry, it’s just I’ve been trapped here all day and...”
    “You’re frightened, I know.” Scar said, “But wait just a bit longer and I’ll have you free, safe and sound.”
    It took a while longer for Scar to paw the smaller rocks slowly and carefully from around the frightened animal. Several times he had to stop and consider what was the next rock to be pushed off. The cheetah stayed silent, watching him work. But from the corner of his eye he could see her trembling.
    When the last rock was pushed away Scar jumped off the formation onto the ground. He was careful to give the cheetah enough space to get away with having to get too close to him. The bad blood between cheetah and lion ran deep. Scar was well aware of that and didn’t want to cause the poor thing anymore stress.
    The cheetah female stood up slowly. Her limbs shook from the energy pent up by long hours trapped in the rock prison. In turn she stretched each leg trying to rid herself of the cramped numbness collected in them. Scar just watched her silently, waiting for the cheetah to speak. He was fairly sure she would bolt and he couldn’t really say why he was interested in speaking to her, or even why he had bothered to save her for that matter. When she finally seemed satisfied that she was in condition to run, she sighed and spoke.
    “Well, that was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.”
    Scar raised an eyebrow, when not helpless and frightened the cheetah had a confident, world weary air, the attitude of one who was well used to taking care of herself.  He cleared his throat
    She smiled. “Oh, are you still here? Well, lets get on with it shall we? Now on the count of three I’ll start running and we’ll see if you can catch me ,eh?”
     She switched her long tail back and forth in a playful manner. Scar could tell she was no longer frightened of him and looked as if she almost welcomed a confrontation. He set his ears back and began licking his front paws in a nonchalant way. Seeing that the lion had no intention of trying to catch her she sat down on the rock and regarded him carefully.
    “Why did you rescue me?” She asked. Scar smiled, she was certainly blunt and to the point.
    “I don’t know really,” he said truthfully, “it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”
    The cheetah narrowed her eyes. “The right thing to do? Hmph, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a lion doing the “right” thing by a cheetah.”
    “You’re welcome.” Scar said and then went back to grooming his paws.
    The cheetah looked chagrined, after all the lion had saved her life and now was laying quietly in the grass while she insulted him. She leapt down from the formation and approached Scar, still a bit leery.
    “Look, I’m sorry. You did save my life and I thank you. It’s just, well it was really unexpected is all. I mean your kind and my kind rarely get along.”
    Scar grimaced, “Oh and we two are getting along absolutely swimmingly.”
    The cheetah looked at him and then broke out into a huge grin and began laughing. She trotted up to where Scar lay and sat down.
    “My name is Nduli.* Pleased to meet you....”

    “Scar, so named for..” Scar tapped the long healed wound above his eye.  “Nduli, eh? But that means...”

             The cheetah smiled broadly again, “Yes, yes it does. It was given to me during my formal naming. It’s something I do quite well, at least when I’m not trapped by blasted rocks that is.”
    “How did that happen? The rocks I mean?”
    “Well, I have been climbing the face of the formation to have a good look at the plain, when I climbed onto a loose bunch of rocks. I slipped and fell. The rocks I slipped on fell as well and a whole lot of others came down with them. I must’ve loosed them when I slipped. Lucky for me you came along and not a hungry hyena. All that bluster and puff I gave you would have held them off a short time. But..” She visibly shuddered at the thought.
    Scar rose to his feet. “Well, I’m glad you’re not injured. I guess I’ll be going now.” He nodded at the cheetah, who continued to look at him with an appraising air. He turned to walk away.
    “You’re a very thin lion, you know.” She said.
    Scar turned and gave her an icy look. He was surprised and a bit embarrassed that she would mention his physical condition.
    “Have you been away from your pride long?” She asked.
    He sat down again. “Not for too long, why?”
    “Come now, I know that males of lion society eat well. You must come from a very poor band of hunters for you to be so small. No offense.”
    *Nduli= Swahili for killer or bringer of death.*

    Scar swallowed the angry remark that was about to come from his mouth, instead he said, “Well, I’m not a very good hunter but I don’t think that gives you the right to...” The Nduli cut him off.
    “Say no more then. One paw scratches the other. You saved my life and now Scar I’m going to help you along with yours.  I’m named Nduli because at 6 months I killed my first gazelle. A very small and young one yes, but large prey just the same.  Hunting and breathing are one to me, I do one as easily as the other.  Come with me and I’ll give you a few lessons.”
    Nduli began to walk away, motioning with her tail for Scar to follow. He paused for a moment. Then thought to himself. “A lion taking killing lessons from a cheetah?” He looked an saw that Nduli was making away and rushed to catch up with her.

Chapter 7
Lessons

    Scar spent that first day dozing and waking underneath a large acacia tree. Nduli had a den nearby and promptly crawled down into it when they reached her home. Popping her head from the opening she told Scar he could stay nearby if he was willing to take her up on her offer and if not, “then good luck to you my friend and please don’t hang around too long you’ll frighten off my game.” Having said that she pulled back into her den site(which was an abandoned honey badger burrow  that had been dug into a small incline) and Scar could soon hear her quiet raspy snoring.
    Still not sure why he chose to hang around he settled back onto the grass under the tree. His stomach growled softly. He was beginning to get hungry again. Funny how often you got that way when you had to hunt for yourself.  He scanned around instinctively from something that might present itself as an opportunity, but there was nothing to be found.  It was the time of the high sun and most sensible animals were resting in the shade. Thinking this would be good advice to follow ,Scar lay his head on his paws.
    He found his mind wandering back to the Pride Lands. He wondered how Simba and the lionesses were fairing. When he left, there hadn’t been much worth staying for. The herd animals had left long ago, their numbers decimated from the lionesses efforts to feed both themselves and the hyenas.  It was his arrogance in his own abilities which led him to believe he could control and manage both the hyena clan and the lion pride. In his own inflated ego both tribes were in need of his superior guidance. He had failed miserably. The constant fighting between both groups, the insatiable greed of the hyenas, the indiganance of the lionesses, even the very weather confounded his efforts. Not that he really made much of one. He had been very content to live off the kills of the lionesses and let things take their course. He sighed heavily. It was useless to dwell on such things. So thinking he drifted off into a light and fitful sleep.
    A few hours before the dawn, Nduli had roused Scar and led him across the grass. Walking silently behind her he could see why she was a successful hunter. She was all liquid grace and confidence as she moved. Smooth muscles rippled beneath her glossy spotted coat, the coat of a creature who ate well and often. Occasionally she would halt and raise her head, small ears swiveling  as she tried to pick out signs of any enemy or prey from the air.
    They traveled for what seemed like a long time and Scar was just about to ask her where they were head when Nduli crouched low and stopped. She glanced back over her shoulder and when she saw that Scar was still standing she hissed.  Reading her message correctly Scar followed suit and lay down next to her.
    “Look there, lion straight ahead.” She whispered.
    Peering through the tall yellow grass he could make out faint shapes moving slowly in front of him. Whatever they were they were well camouflaged by the high grass.
    “They’re gazelles and we’re downwind. Follow me, move like I move okay.” Nduli crept forward slowly walking on her haunches.
    Scar tried to move forward, but the uncomfortable position cramped his legs and he jerkily made his way behind her. Hearing the loud rustling he made as he inched forward, Nduli spun her head around and gave him an angry scowl.
    “Stay there,” She crept back to where he crouched, “Now it’s time for your first lesson.” She whispered into his ear. “Look at the herd, take your time and pick your prey. I won’t interfere.”
    Scar wasn’t sure what she wanted. He swept his eyes over the herd. He had remembered from somewhere in the teachings of his mother and the other lionesses that he should be looking for an animal that stood out from the rest.
    But all of them looked the same to Scar, there was nothing to distinguish one animal from the next. They all blended together in a sea of horns and tan hides. He looked to Nduli hoping to be able to read her expression and perhaps pick out a clue as to which animal was the right one. She merely shrugged and then looked at the grass between her paws..
    “Okay then,” he thought, “I’ll just pick any one.”  He looked back to herd and then saw him. The gazelle moved slowly around the parameters of the herd, pausing every once in a while to sniff the air about him. He was a handsome animal, with a glossy coat and a body filled out with fat. Scar involuntarily licked his chops in anticipation of tearing into the animal’s flesh. This is was the meal he was going to have.
    The large male gazelle moved closer to the pair laying in the grass. “Good, good,” he thought, “just a little closer and....”
    Breaking his train of thought when the gazelle came close enough that he could see it’s nostrils twitch he charged at the startled animal. Fangs bared and claws shot he leapt toward the gazelle meaning to grab hold of the animals hindquarters and pull it down.
    Instead he felt a sharp pain in his chin and tongue as his teeth snapped together violently. He fell backward onto the grass, yelping with surprise. He regained himself in enough time to watch his intended quarry bounce away, tail flashing and showing a white rump toward the rest of the herd.
    “Come ladies,” he heard the gazelle say, “lets go. This lion is very stupid, but there may be others around.” In a great surge the gazelle herd bounded away following their sire to a safe distance.
    From behind him he could hear Nduli first chuckling and then breaking into rollicking gales of laughter. He flattened his ears and turned to her with all the dignity he could muster.
    “O