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                              Chapter Three
                       Savanna Heat, Savanna Flame
                        ************************

     Oppressive heat choked the Pridelands, and the lioness's
parched throat cried out to her for something to slake its
thirst. Her hunger had retreated to a dull ache in the back of
her mind.

     The sight of her wasted, wounded body alone told the story
of her ordeal. Revealed in the light, despite her weakness, she
was a beautiful lioness. Her hide, once a light creamy gold, was
now mangy and dull. Flesh had melted from her bones, causing her
ribs to stick out, but her body still remained muscular and
beautifully proportioned. Her yellow eyes gleamed with
intelligence and the fierce determination of one who wishes to
survive, no matter what the cost. No one could know of the
turmoiled events of her last two days, of her constant running,
of her fearful hiding, of her brief troubled moments of restless
sleep, or the twenty terrible miles of wasteland that she had
dragged herself across.

     Her name was Nala of Pride Rock.

     She glanced around despondently. Each area of the Pridelands
seemed to be a mirror of the one before it; dead and empty,
unnaturally glowing in all the sickening shades of grey and
black. There was so little of everything anymore, Nala thought as
she glanced around despondently, there was no meat, no water, and
therefore, no hope.

     She closed her eyes, sighing in exhaustion. The heat was
unbelievable! Despite the iron sky that hid the sun, the ball of
flame nevertheless made its presence felt, for everything from
the grasslands, to the forests, to the living animals themselves,
seemed to shrivel, sweat and melt under the onslaught of the heat
wave. Nala knew this time well, for she had lived through three
such dry seasons. But this was the worst one in recent memory,
and its unforgiving intensity showed its effects on the land and
its creatures. The worried lioness ruminated over the absence of
water and prey that the pride depended on for survival. 

     The usual prey that the lions depended on, the wildebeest,
antelope, and zebra, had completely vanished, perhaps migrated
out insearch of more fertile lands. Waterholes all across the
land were drying up quickly from the intense heat, forcing the
few animals to congregate around the few remaining water spots.
In time, if this heat didn't abate, even those would disappear as
well. 

     And, as for Scar, he wasn't doing anything. He always
remained in his cave, dreaming his evil dreams, seemingly
oblivious to the crumbling affairs of a kingdom that was falling
down around his ears. His hyena allies were equally neglectful,
carelessly fouling the waterholes with their indecent and
disgusting activities, and ruthlessly hunting what little prey
remained to extinction. The Pride had to have meat and water, and
soon, for if they remained here as Scar commanded, they would
surely perish.

     "But we *will* live, Scar," Nala whispered at the sky, her
teeth gritted in silent rage. "Because I'll find someone that
will take from you that which you do not deserve, no matter what
the cost! I will *not* let you be the doom of us all!"

     She suddenly gasped, falling to her belly, a wave of
dizziness washing over her. She was reaching the very limits of
her strength, but she would rather die, rather starve to death,
than go back to that life with Scar that she had once known. But
the unbearable heat, the lack of food and water, the fear of
being discovered, had all taken their toll on the weary lioness. 

     Nala licked her lips. She had to find prey soon, and she had
to find it before she lost the strength to hunt. But where? In
the distance, thunder rumbled, and Nala glanced curiously toward
it, then rose and began to move again. 

               *     *     *     *     *     *

     Many miles to the east, at the periphery of the Pridelands,
a similar scene was unfolding as a tiger crested a hilltop.

     Kublia suddenly halted, gazing sadly at what he was seeing. 
A long time had passed since his last visit to the Pridelands,
and time had a way of changing things. Of the green pastures,
yellow grasses, flowing streams, gushing waterholes, gentle
sunlight, rows of tall mighty trees, summoned from the memories
of his earliest days, there was absolutely nothing left but
devastation. The yellow grass had been destroyed, replaced by
a lifeless topsoil of brown sand and dirt. The huge river that
crossed this land, the one so deep that even he dared not attempt
to cross, had vanished, leaving only the cracked dry earth of the
riverbed behind. 

     But the one thing that stunned him was the disappearance of
the trees. Every single one had been broken down, perhaps by
starving animals desperate for any scrap of food, and silent rows
upon rows of stumps bore testimony to the fact that a forest had
once stood here. The few trees that remained were stripped of

leaves, bark blackened under the heat of the sun, with withered
branches sticking like fingers into the cloudy grey sky. The land
of his youthful memory was gone, destroyed by a relentless and
heartless King, one that he could not understand. 

     He shook his head, eyes staring about in disbelief, amazed
by the scope of damage that had occurred. Why had Scar allowed
this to happen? 

     Then as he turned his head, his flagging hopes rose suddenly
when he spied fertile yellow and blue in the distance. There was
hope yet for the Pridelands, he knew, for the blight had only
affected its broken heart, where Pride Rock stood. Around the
edges, skirting the huge blotch of darkness that sat in its
center, the land was still healthy, still alive. But the blight
was spreading its fingers into even this, and in time, a time
that was fast approaching, the Pridelands would slip beyond all
hope of healing.

     He forced himself to clear his mind, and closing his eyes,
he concentrated. There, surely enough, was the familiar pull of
something that he sought. It was a strong pull, indicating that
it was nearby. Opening his eyes, he spied a collection of hills
in the distance. Perhaps, what he was Seeking was there? He began
to move in that direction, travelling down the section of the
hillside that still bore grass. At the bottom, where the grass
turned into lifeless earth, he halted, seemingly unwilling to
step on the desecrated land. 

     "Spirits of the land, hear me now!" he whispered to the
unseen spirits that he believed in, gritting his teeth as he
placed his paws upon the lifeless soil. He glanced toward Pride
Rock one final time, then turned his eyes away, muttering to
himself, "Know this: the day when you will have your vengeance is
at hand! Scar shall pay for this! And he shall pay, and pay, and
pay---"

     Thunder rumbled in the distance, seeming to agree with him,
and Kublia's ears twitched in response. 

     "Spirits of the land;" he continued, speaking quietly to
those that where unseen, but a part of everything around him. "Do
not call to *me*, for *I* am not the one destined to challenge
the King! That is for another, for when he finally seizes his
Destiny, it will be his own salvation that he will discover, and
yours!"

     Kublia then stared upwards toward the iron-grey sky. The
overhead view was all the color and texture of fouled water, and
as he watched, it threw occasional flashes of lightning, rumbling
and boiling threateningly above his head. A storm was coming,
Kublia realized, and it would be a dark and terrible storm. As
the storm clouds rolled ever closer toward the unsuspecting
Pridelands, always growing and building in intensity, the
watching tiger also realized that it would be a storm that would
change the Pridelands forever.

     He only hoped that it would change it for the better.

                *     *     *     *     *     *                  

     Hyenas were waiting in ambush along the sides of the valley,
and Kublia thought that there were fourteen of them. They were
hiding among bushes, trees, and even in holes that had been
hastily scraped out of the earth by frantic paws along a beaten
path that ran through the valley.

     He sighed as he shifted his form for the hundredth time,
easing the pressure on his tired legs. He was not as young as he
used to be, and the screams of protest from his exhausted muscles
seemed to agree with this statement. But, with an iron will, he
ignored and continued to make himself scarce. His back was to the
wall of the cliff-face, just above the concealed hyenas, and with
great difficulty, he had managed to make his immense bulk
disappear in eight inches of dried, yellow grass.

     He was waiting, for she that he knew must come.

     "This is stupid!" a hyena suddenly exclaimed, raising his
head from concealment.

     Kublia's ears pricked, and he raised his head slightly and
glanced over to the hyena who had come out of concealment.
Fifteen. There were fifteen hyenas. He had missed that one. 

     "Aw, shut your mouth, Banzai!" a second hyena, a spotted
female, snapped as she too rose beside the first hyena. 

     "But we've been here all day, Shenzi, sitting out in this
hot sun! And how d'ya know if that lioness is going to show up
here at all?"

     "Oh, she'll show up, alright! You just wait and see."

     "But I'm bored, Shenzi!" Banzai whined.

     "Why don't you sing us a song, Banzai!" Giggled a third
hyena, much farther away than the two.

     "What, are ya kidding me?" Shenzi snorted as she pointed a
paw at her companion. "He couldn't carry a tune if you strapped
it to his back!"

     Whooping laughter and insane giggling broke up and down the
cliff, and Kublia had to grit his teeth as the noise rolled over
him. No matter how many times he heard it, he still had to fight
the impulse to run whenever he heard hyena laughter.

     "Anyways, Banzai," Shenzi said with a smile, after the other
hyenas had quieted down enough. "He told us to stay here and
keep watch, and that's what we're gonna do! She's bound to come
through here soon enough. The antelope are on the other side of
this valley, and there's no way around that we haven't covered!"

     "What's with Scarface, anyways?" Banzai said excitedly,
gesturing back in a direction toward Pride Rock. "He came
roaring out of his cave that morning, and I tell you: I've
*never* seen a lion so angry! I mean, he was actually *foaming*
at the mouth!"

     "Not a pretty sight!" Shenzi agreed, snickering.
     
     "I tell you," Banzai was also giggling. "I *ran* when I saw
that!"

     "You're not the only one that ran!"

     Giggling rose into the air, and Kublia cringed again,
forcing himself to listen.

     "Then he started ordering us around, like usual." Banzai
muttered in frustration. "It's not easy, waiting on that one paw
and foot."

     "But we got it easy, Banzai!" Shenzi replied. "All we have
to do is sit and wait. The others, you don't even wanna know what
they are doin'!" 

     "I don't even know what we're doin' here! She's probably
miles from here by now, anyway," Banzai said. "And I don't really
see any point in us wasting any more time around here. Besides,
I'm starving!"

     There were sounds of agreement all around him, and he saw
tongues rolling out of mouths as the other hyenas salivated at
the thought of eating.

     "Welcome to the club!" Shenzi muttered, glancing toward the
mouth of the valley again.

     "Well," Banzai paused, glancing at the slobbering hyenas.   
"How about some zebra? Zebra sure sounds good now---"

     "Have you looked, you lazy bag of fleas?!" Shenzi
interrupted in irritation, gesturing around her with an upraised
paw. "See a zebra around here somewhere that I've missed?"

     "What about wildebeest? I heard that the lionesses brought
some in---"

     "The lionesses?" Shenzi chuckled, then snorted in disgust,
shaking her head. "That's funny! Those are the laziest bunch of
lions that I've ever seen, and that's saying somethin'!" 

     "What'd you mean, there's no food?! Aw, man!" Banzai
exclaimed in dismayal, then he snarled. "That's it! I'm sick of
being hungry all the time!" 

     "Yeah, well, you're not the only one!"

     "Man," Banzai muttered, scratching himself with a hind leg.
"My stomach is hollow!" 

     "Funny," Shenzi snickered. "I thought that your head was
hollow!"

     "I'm talking to Scar about the food as soon as we get back!"

     "Well, that's where we'll be going in a little bit," Shenzi
replied. "And just remember: let me do the talking, alright?" 

     "It's been three days since my last meal, and it wasn't a
very filling one, either. I'm starved!" Banzai snapped peevishly.
"Why I ought to give Scarface a piece of my mind---"

     "Just let me do the talking, ok!"

     "Why? You're always talking!"

     "Shhh!" Shenzi had glanced up to the mouth of the valley,
and she had spotted movement. Turning to the others she growled.
"Put a cork in it, y'all! Someone's coming!"

     Around her, the hyenas quieted instantly, lowering
themselves eagerly to the ground. Kublia also tensed himself,
unsure of what exactly he was going to do if Nala came down into
the valley. 

     "Here she comes---" Shenzi was whispering in excitement,
then halted, rising as she growled in frustration. "Never mind,
everyone! It's only Ed."

     The spotted hyena emerged from the brush, and a collective
groan rolled from his clan-mates. Ed stared about with his
vacuous eyes, giggling as he saw the dismayal in everyone's eyes.

     "Eh-huh-huh-ha-ha-ha-ha!" He began to laugh, rolling in the 
dust, seeing the consternation that his arrival had caused. The
curses and threats that his disgruntled fellow hyenas tossed down
on him only served to make him laugh even harder.

     "So, what is it, Ed?" The irritated Shenzi finally demanded
when the insane hyena paused for breath.

     Ed grunted, rolling onto his stomach, and pointed back up
the way  that he had come, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

     "What? She's coming, ya mean?" Shenzi suddenly brightened.
"Then what are ya doing, bonehead, standing in the middle of the
trap?!
Get your flea-bitten tail up here!"

     Ed complied, slobbering and giggling all the way up to his
companions, before hunkering down with them.

     Golden movement flickered at the corner of Kublia's eye, and
old tiger turned his head instantly. His keen eyes picked out the
form of a lioness with a hide of creamy gold moving around at the
mouth of the valley, and he could see her eyes glance down
cautiously into the valley. 

     Nala! It had to be Nala.

     She had to be stopped before she came down into the valley,
or the hyenas would spring the trap. He moved himself into
action, and none of the hyenas beneath him, their attention
riveted on the valley floor beneath them, paid any attention to
the sudden quick movement along the side of the valley.

                *     *     *     *     *     * 
     
     Nala stared hopefully into the distance, beyond the valley
beneath her. 

     In the shimmer of heat, she thought she could see water, and
she knew that where there was water there must also be prey as
well. But, even if it were a trick of a the eyes, a mirage, there
had to be some water or food in that direction. Nala glanced down
uncertainly into the valley, unsure if she wanted to go into it
or not. It was the only quick way through this part of the
Pridelands; there were alternative ways, but those were desolate
and would require many days travel. She had to have food and
water now.

     Nala was also convinced that she had heard voices rolling
out of the valley, but now it was quiet. Utterly quiet.

     Too quiet, she realized instinctively. 

     She sighed. She will have to deal with whatever danger
happened as best as she could. There was no other quicker way to
the water on the far side, except through the valley, and that's
what she must do. She gathered her legs beneath her, ready to
outrun anything that tried to stop her from going where she
wished to go---

     "STOP!"

     The lioness skidded to a halt, her eyes widening as she saw
an old tiger suddenly appear on a rock ledge above her. He was
slightly out of breath, and appeared to have run a distance to
reach her. "Stay---" he paused, and catching his breath, wheezed
out the words. "Stay right where you are!"

     "W---who are you?" she gasped, pulling back instinctively.
She had heard of tigers, but she had never expected to see one in
her lifetime. She knew that, on occasion, they came into the
Pridelands, but the Pride hadn't seen a representative of theirs
in many, many years. What was this one doing here now?

     "I am merely a friend." Kublia answered, staring calmly down
at the anxious lioness.

     "Well, it's nice to meet you," Nala muttered, glancing back
to the tiger, barely slowly down on her trip down the path. "But,
really, I must be going---"

     "I wouldn't go that way!" He said warningly, his tail
twitching.

     "You wouldn't?" Nala halted, glaring back at the tiger,
thinking that he was challenging her. "Why not?!"

     "If I recall correctly hyenas and lions do not exactly get
along on best terms with each other." The tiger said, then
gestured with a tail to the tree-covered valley beneath. "There
is an entire company of them down there, my dear, and if you go
there you will almost certainly be killed."

     "I can take care of myself---" she began, moving to pass the
tiger.

     Kublia growled, and leapt down from his vantage point,
landing nimbly in front of the lioness. She reared back, ready to
defend herself, but there was something in the bright yellow eyes
that soothed her, that told her that he was just an old cat, and
one that meant her no harm.

     "Get out of my way, old tiger!" she demanded, a scowl on her
face.

     Kublia shook his head, then said in a soft voice. "I've been
sent to stop you, Nala, by whatever means possible."

     "You know my name!" her wide eyes plainly revealed her
surprise, but then they narrowed in suspicion. "But...but how?
Who sent you?"

     "This is Rafiki's doing." the tiger answered.

     "You know Rafiki?" she said in some astonishment, resting
back on her haunches as she considered the old tiger in a new
light. "But... how do I know I can trust you?"

     The tiger's eyes narrowed. "Rafiki knew that you would ask
that question. Look, then!" 

     Lowering his head to the ground, he scratched something in
the dirt with his paw. The curious Nala came over, and recognized
the curves and lines of a symbol that Rafiki had shown her a long
time ago. It was her Name-Rune that he had given to her at 
birth; only she and Rafiki knew it. 

     "So," Nala nodded thoughtfully, wiping out the rune with a
paw stroke. "He did send you. But why?"

     "He knows what has happened."

     Nala flushed in embarrassment, her mind going back to the
incident with Scar, unsure of what to say.  

     "Even as we speak, the King searches the land for you with
his hyenas, and I do not think he will stop until you are back in
his grasp, or dead. You are in terrible danger, and the longer
you remain here, the greater your danger will grow."

     "But..." Nala shook her head. "The Pridelands need a new
King! Surely, if you know my problem, you must also know that we
can't endure Scar much longer! And, where else am I going to find
one, but here in the Pridelands?"

     "If you are speaking of the transients, the prideless males
that wander the land, there are none to be found here anymore,
Nala. Scar got rid of them all, so none of them could do what you
are trying to do now; replace him."

     "Then," Nala bowed her head brokenly. "What am I going to
do?"

     "You must go away." Kublia replied softly, tilting his head
in sympathy. "You must leave the Pridelands, and find someone
that can aid you in your cause."

     "But, where could I go?"


     "Do know the sun?" the tiger gestured to the sky, and Nala
nodded. "Where it sets on the horizon, follow it, and keep true
to its path. It will carry you away from the Pridelands, across
the burning sands, and into a jungle on the other side. There you
will find help, if you're willing to make the journey."

     Nala paused. "It doesn't seem that I have much of a choice,
do I?"

     "Every one has a choice in every situation;" The tiger
answered. "It is just some choices are more attractive than
others." 

     "I can't stay here---" Nala muttered to herself, then looked
back towards Kublia. "Okay, fine then. If you were me, what would
you do?"

     "If I were you," The old tiger chuckled at his own remark,
then indicated the edge of the path with a shake of his head. "I
would leave the path here. I know that the cliff-face at this
point is merely packed dirt, and it would be simplicity itself
for one of your strength and youth to reach the bottom.

     "But what about the hyenas?"

     "Ah, yes," The tiger turned and glanced down into the
valley. "The question of the hyenas still remains." He paused for
a moment, thinking, then finally said to the waiting Nala, "Do
not worry about any hyenas following you, for I shall take care
of them. Just remember that, once you reach the bottom of the
cliff, align yourself to the sun, and don't look back." 

     The tiger turned away from the view of the valley beneath
him and strode up to the seated Nala. He noticed that she was
watching him attentively with renewed hope in her eyes. "Do you
understand?" he said.

     "Yes---" she nodded, then hesitated. "Except for one thing:
I'm hungry."

     Kublia shook his head resolutely. "You must leave now, right
this very minute. The hyenas are watching the prey and the
waterholes. If you try to drink or eat now, they will find you,
and you will be destroyed."

     Nala opened her mouth to complain, then quieted as saw she
the tiger's unyielding face.

     "I've been to the jungle already," he continued, as a way of
easing her concerns. " And I've seen that it is a veritable
Garden of Eden, overflowing with prey of all kinds. Eat and drink
your fill when you reach it, but not a moment before. " the tiger
paused, then asked. "Are you ready, then?" 
     
     Nala nodded.

     "Go, then." the tiger replied, and closed his eyes. "And may
Jungle-Favor go with you!"

     "Thank you for your help...uh..." Nala spoke as she turned,
her eyes sweeping over the land up to the horizon, judging the
distance that she would have to travel. She hesitated for a
moment, then turned back. "I'm sorry, what was your name---"

     Nala halted in mid-sentence, staring sharply around her in
surprise. The old tiger had completely vanished into thin air!
Turning her eyes to the sky, she sighed in frustration, realizing
that it would be a long journey. But she had no choice since, as
a lioness of the Pridelands, she knew she bore a responsibility
toward ensuring and protecting its future. As she began her
journey, her jaw tightened in resolution; no force could move her
from the path that she had chosen.

     She would find the new King, and she would bring him home.
    
                  *     *     *     *     *     *

     Fifty feet above the lioness, hidden in the shadows of the
rocks, an old tiger glanced down.

     He grunted in satisfaction as he watched her figure shrink
in size as she travelled away from the Pridelands. Briefly, he
wondered what would become of her, then disregarded his own
concern. She could take care of herself. It had been her choice
to listen to him, Kublia knew, and there was nothing more that he
could do for her. But he was secretly glad that she had taken his
advice.

     "Goodbye, Nala, and good luck!" Kublia said, then shook his
head ruefully as he whispered. "You are going to need it."

     A wind suddenly blew up, ruffling his whitened fur, and his
soft words were stolen away. In the distance, with the wind at
her back, Nala continued to move forward toward a fateful meeting
with Destiny.