The War of the Pride
By Steve Conley


Background

The War of the Pride is based from when Mufasa and Scar were cubs up
to early adulthood.  The Pride had been broken up into two factions:
one, led by Ahadi and the other led by Hidzabi.  Ahadi, Mufasa and
Scar's father, was the rightful king where Hidzabi was a wandering
lion who managed to steal some lionesses and form a pride on the edge
of the Pride Lands.


Prologue:  A look at things to come

It was very dark that night.  So dark, in fact, that the only light
came from the lightning playing in the sky.

"Mufasa?"  called Sanafia, Mufasa's mother.

The Pride was searching for Mufasa, who was missing.  They wished for
more light, yet their keen eyes told them that it would not help.
No-one noticed that Taka was missing.  No-one ever did, even after all
those times.  No-one saw the evil grin on Taka's face as he watched
the Pride search for his brother.


Chapter 1:  The calm before the storm

It was a peaceful, sunny day in the Pride Lands.  The antelope and
gezzel romped in the tall savanna grass without a care in the world.
One might not have thought that hyenas have ever poached here, or that
a lion with a braided mane had ever passed through here, lionesses in
tow.  Or at least that is what Ahadi thought while he was walking with
his son Mufasa through the grass.  He was teaching Mufasa of the
Circle of Life as Ahadi's father had taught him so long ago.  In the
back of his mind, Ahadi knew that he would have to have this talk with
Taka.  He dreaded it.  Taka was such a strange cub and Ahadi could not
understand him.  Taka, Ahadi knew, would not understand the purpose of
the Circle of Life.  He never understood moderation in any form.
Realizing that his thoughts were drifting, he forced himself to
concentrate.  Teaching his some of the Circle was very important, and
if he messed up, the consequences would be terrible.  Little did Ahadi
know that Taka was watching him.

"What insignificant rubbish," muttered Taka, "Someone as smart as me
could keep anything in balance."  He smiled to himself.  He always
thought of himself as the smartest lion in the Pride.  He was
constantly devising schemes to make himself look good in front of the
Pride, but, alas, they all ended in disaster.  He hated just about
everyone in the Pride; Ahadi for liking Mufasa the most, Sanafia for
giving birth to Mufasa first, Sarabi for flirting with Mufasa, and
Mufasa himself for being everything Taka was not.  Brave, strong and
quick minded, Mufasa was the most loved lion in the Pride and his
father's joy.  Sarafina was the only person in the Pride who ever was
nice to him.  Making room for him during feeding time when the Pride
was eating some animal, helping Taka clean his fur right where he had
trouble cleaning himself on the back of his head.  However, she was by
no means friends with him.  She preferred playing with Mufasa or
Sarabi.  Taka never got to play.

"Little do they know," mummered Taka with a grin.  Soon, daddy's
special boy was going to die.

"Hey, Taka," shouted Mufasa as he walked past Taka on the way to the
summit of Pride Rock.

"Hello, dear brother," said Taka with little more sarcasm than he
wanted to put in his voice.  Mufasa didn't even noticed.  Probably
hurrying off to visit daddy.  Good, thought Taka, the more time he
spends with daddy, the more time he will have to make arrangements.
He had been planing this for awhile now.  His brother won't suspect
him, and neither will his father or the rest of the Pride.  After all,
how could a cub have done all that?  He and Mufasa had already begun
to grow manes, almost unnoticeable but still existent, so they weren't
exactly newborns.  He remembered when he had made the arrangement.  He
grinned and laughed as he thought of how fiendishly clever his plan
was.


Chapter 2:  Taka's setup

It was a nice Spring morning.  Mufasa was with his father, playing or
learning or some such rubbish.  Taka had been thinking of a way to
elevate himself in the eyes of the Pride.  But Mufasa always bested
him!  So, thought Taka, the only way to win is to get rid of the
opposition.  He thought long and hard, pondering how to get rid of
Mufasa.  He had finally came up with a solution:  let the enemy
capture Mufasa.  Tension had risen between Ahadi and Hidzabi.  All
Taka had to do was let Hidzabi capture and kill Mufasa, or at least
make it look like Hidzabi had killed Mufasa.  That way, Taka would not
be suspected of murder and will be free to take the place of his
brother.  It sounded so simple, yet it was more difficult than he
could have immagined.  Taka told everyone that he was going to the
waterhole.  Not that anyone would miss him.  On his way out of Pride
Rock, Sarabi came up to him and said, "I know you're up to
something..."

"Me?  Up to something?"  said Taka, sounding quite hurt.  "What would
I be up to?"

"I don't know, but when I find out, I'll tell everyone."  And, with
that, Sarabi walked away.

Taka started out walking to the waterhole, just so that Sarabi would
turn back and go home.  Glancing over his shoulder, Taka was satisfyed
that Sarabi had left.  He made a U-turn and walked off to the Pride
Land's border.  He passed a strange tree with a strange monkey in it.

"Where ae you going?"  asked the monkey.

"It is none of your business!  I don't speak with strangers!"  stated
Taka.

"Oh, I think you are going to talk to the largest group of strangers
around here.  My name is Rafaki.  What is your name, young one?"  said
Rafaki.

"I shant tell.  I must be going now..."

Rafaki jumped down in front of Taka and said, "I know who you are."

"That's nice," said Taka blandly as he pushed the baboon aside.

Rafaki would not budge.  He pushed Taka into a sitting position and
asked, "Now, wehere are you going?  I'm not going to let you go
anywhere until you tell me."

Taka quickly attempted to strike at Rafaki with is claw, but, in a
flash of an eye, Rafaki had moved out of the way and had bonked Taka
on the head.  "Now that is quite rude," stated Rafaki thoughtfully.

Now, Taka was mad!  He said, "Leave me alone!  Go away and let me
pass!  I'm just going off to play with--er--Mufasa!  Yeah, that's it,
Mufasa..."

Thoughtfully, the baboon said, "Run along now, then."  When I am king
after I rid myself of Mufasa and my father dies, I will trash that
monkey!  thought Taka as he continued on his way.

As Taka walked away, Rafaki knew that trouble was brewing.  Not that
there was anything Rafaki could do.  Trouble was in Taka's destiny,
and Rafaki could not stop it.  He only hopped that he could prevent
disaster in time.

About an hour after meeting Rafaki, Taka was beyond the Pride's
borders.  He did not know exactly where Hidzabi's pride was since it
would look suspicious if he asked.  However, he did know the general
direction of the other pride.  Then the location hit him.  Literally.


Chapter 3:  Remenising with Taka

When Taka regain consiousness, he found himself lying in the presence
of Hidzabi.  Hidzabi was a large lion with brownish-gold fur and a
braided mane.  It must take hours for the lionesses of his pride to
braid that mane!  It was said that he took great pride in the fact
taht he was the only lion in the world with braided hair.  The king of
the pride leaned close and breathed in Taka's face.

"What are you doing here?"  said a deep, bass voice that seemed to
eminate from deeply within his chest.

"I have come with a proposition," mumbled Taka, his head ringing from
the myserious blow to the head.

"You are in no position to bargan.  You are a fool for coming here, so
you will get a fool's death!" shouted Hidzabi.

Taka curled in fear.  "You wouldn't do that to me!  I'm Ahadi's son!"
stated a paniced Taka.

"All the more reason to finish you off!  One less obstical in the
way!"  cackled the lion with the braided mane.

"I'm only the second son!  Wouldn't you rather kill the first son?  If
I was king, I would instantly let you run the pride!"  shouted Taka in
desperation.

Hidzabi's head looked a little to the side of Taka as he considered
the option.

As Hidzabi was thinking, Taka glanced around.  Hidzabi's pride lived
in a hole in the ground.  Or, more precisly, a crator.  Here and
there, there were small caves in the slopes of the crator where the
pride slept.  In the center of the crater, down at the bottom,
Hidzabi's Joy shone.  Hidzabi's Joy is a strange, shiny stone that
Hidzabi loves.  To his knowledge, no other lion had such an object.
Lionesses wandered around, glancing curiously at Taka.  Taka noted
that Hidzabi's pride was slightly larger than Ahadi.

"What is your proposal?"  asked Hidzabi, looking down at Taka.  Just
then, Taka relized how strange it must be for Hidzabi to be plotting
with a cub!  "If you will allow me to take a few of your lionesses..."

"Aren't you a little young for that?"  chuckled Hidzabi.

"May I continue?  I take a group of lionesses across the border.  They
wait over by the Elephant Graveyard and I lure Mufasa towards them.
The lioness capture, or kill, Mufasa and Ahadi's Pride will be in
ruins."  explaned Taka.

"Bwahahahaha!"  laughed Hidzabi as he bopped Taka on the head.  "I
like it!  When do we do it?"

Taka, while rubbing his head with is paw, replied, "Tomarow, maybe?"

"You will not leave here, then.  After all, it could be a trick."

"It is not a trick.  I will be missed if I do not go now."

"Then we do it tonight!"

"We can't.  Mufasa will be asleep."

Hidzabi growed.  "You will stay here, cub, or die."

Taka gulped.  "Well, I guess I have no choice."

That night, Taka stayed with Hidzabi's pride.  No-one in Ahadi's Pride
had missed him.  The next day, Taka had managed to postpone the plan
for awhile.  He promised that he would come as often as possible.


Chapter 4:  Taka's homecomming

The next morning, after convincing Hidzabi to let him go, Taka went
home.  He carefully avoided Rafaki this time, worried that he might
arrouse the baboon's suspicion.  Upon ariving home, he was approched
by Sarabi.

"You werren't here last night," stated Sarabi evenly.

"What do you meen?"  asked Taka, pretending to be innocent.

"I did not see you, and I'm going to tell Ahadi and Sanafia," stated
Sarabi with a taunting voice.

"I was -uh- sleeping in this cave I found!  Yeah, that's it.  I'm
living in my own cave now."

With a loud hrumf, Sarabi left.  From then on, Taka slept in his own
private cave.


Chapter 5:  The Temptest

Taka was about to set off to Hidzabi's crator when he was stopped by
Sarafina.  She had begun to flirt with Taka, but she did so mostly
because her sister, Sarabi, was flirting with the other prince.  In
reality, she probably did not want to mate with Taka.

"Hey, Taka.  Wanna play?"  she asked with a tinkle in her eye.

Taka was surprised!  No-one ever invited Taka to play!  Maybe she does
like me, thought Taka.  For this, she shall be my queen, when I am
king.  "I'm sorry, but I can't," said Taka with a touch of regret.

"Oh," muttered Sarafina, who seemed quite hurt.  After all, if Taka
did not like her, who would?

With that, Taka left Pride Rock and headed off to Hidzabi.  Once Taka
arived at the crator, he set up the plan.  Taking a group of Hudzabi's
best hunters, he went off.  Taka found Mufasa speaking with Rafaki.
"Listen; once he gets through talking with the monkey, we grab him.
If the monkey interfers, kill him," whispered Taka.  Soon, Mufasa
walked away and into the lioness's and Taka's trap.  WHAM!  One
lioness jumped up and pinned Mufasa while another knocked him on the
head, causing Mufasa to lose consiousness.  Together, the lionesses
dragged Mufasa to Hidzabi while Taka walked home.  The dirty dead was
done.  Taka would rule the pride.