Kion's Tale Ch. 15

Zira furrowed her brow as she watched her Hench-Lions settle into the passage to the Pridelands. The Crocodiles may not have been as bright as her kind, but they were as fierce as she was cunning. As strong as she was deadly. She had to give them credit for that. And then there were the Jackals. Wait, where was their leader anyway?

Her attention was grabbed by said Jackal and her mate, who had a few unknown animals in their possession.

"Look what we found." Reirei announced to her allies. "A gaggle of goodies listening in."

Ushari slithered forward, glaring at the young Mandrill and her siblings. "How long have they been lissssstening?"

"Long enough, you cheating little garter." Rogo glared right back at the vengeful Snake. Before more insults could be given, the dark brown cub stepped forward, growling at the Monkeys.

"We heard about your plan to attack the Lion Guard." Makini bravely stepped forward. "We won't let you hurt them!"

Kovu just gave a chuckle as he smirked at her. "Oh really? You think the three of you can stop all of us?"

"Oh it's not three anymore, my little friend."

The Army of Scar all looked up to see a small Grey bird with an orange beak flying down to them. The bird seemed to only address Kovu, clearly knowing him. "Remember me, young man?" He puffed up with pride as he hoped the cub would be afraid of him.

"No." Came the cubs only reply, his eyebrows slanted into an annoyed fashion.

Gunge seemed a little disappointed at this. "Wow, I wasn't prepared for that...." He sighed before regaining his courage. "Never mind. You're out of gas now, my friends. Wait until the great Scar Snout hears... about.... this..." He did not expect Kovu to not remember him after pecking him in the nose, that's a fact, but that did not dissuade him at the moment. What did, however, was the large Monitor Lizard approaching him, his teeth bared and his eyes a burning glow. Above them, one of the Outlanders Vultures, the leader no doubt, had a Stick with fire on the end, ready to drop it.

'Hears about what, little bird?" Kenge growled with a sickening grin on his face. "About how a certain little pigeon got a little over his head, and in dong so, got himself stuck in a Giant Lizards fangs for so long he couldn't even keep count anymore?" He then gave a hearty laugh and pressed the Cuckoo into the ground. "I would love to hear that story."

Gunge's eyes darted wildly as he struggled in vain to get out of the Monitors grasp. "U-um, wait, c-can't we talk about this?"

"You best leave him alone, handbag." Rogo threatened, stepping forward and lowering his eyebrows, clenching his fists together. "Or I will give you a pounding into the ground you will never forget."

"Hey, that's my line!" Ugo seemed rather offended at his older brothers statement.

"Not the time, Ugo." Makini said through her teeth desperately before stepping towards the lead Lioness. "Listen, Zira, you have two choices: Either you go back to the Outlands now, or a monster from the clouds will descend from on high and make you sorry. Which will it be?"

As far as threats went, Zira did not seem to take it so seriously. She gave a glance down to her Cobra companion, who looked up to her and gave her a small nod. She then looked up at Mzingo, giving him a nod as well. Seeing this, the Vulture dropped the stick he was holding to the ground, at the center of the gathering. "Release their friend, Kenge." She told the reptilian brute, not taking her eyes off of the young Mandrill. "I have my own methods of dropping her kind in line."

Kenge glanced at the Lioness, gave a disappointed grunt, and released Gunge from his grasp. The bird stood up and glared a seething glare at Zira. "You think you can do this to us? I'll show you a thing or-"

"Oh, will you?"

The demonic voice rung through the clearing, gaining everyone's attention. The only ones who did not seem to scared by this were Zira and Ushari. The flames on the stick Mzingo had just dropped began to grow before exploding in a blast of light. As the flames dyed down, the true horror behind the phenomenon made himself known. The flaming head of the ghost Lion laughed as his followers and their captives were scared by his arrival. "I think not, my little friends." He said in his villainous tone to Makini and her group.

Rogo could not hide the fact that he was scared stiff. "No-"

"Way." Ugo's mouth was agape as he finished his brothers sentence.

"S-Scar!" Kovu exclaimed, gazing up at his successor. "What're you doing here?"

"How do you think Reirei had the idea to look for those little Monkeys?" Scar looked down to his heir. "The Skinks told me all about them coming to warn the Lion Guard."

Makini held onto her staff tightly. This was the second time she had come into contact with the evil ghost of the kings deceased uncle. She was so scare she could barely move. And the fact that Scar had just turned his attention to her specifically did not help the situation.

Eyeing her, Scar spoke to his entire Army. "No one is to bring harm to any of them, not even the bird, understood?"

"You got it, Scar." Kovu said before his sister spoke up.

"But why not?" Vitani asked, earning a silent, annoyed growl from her golden-child brother.

"If you must know, Vitani." Scar answered with a frown. "Simba is now on his way to the Backlands with the Mandrills parents. So if we are to have them stay out of our way, we will use the Monkeys as leverage. As for the bird, the Backlanders already seem to care about him... and be more than a match for all of you..." He glowered at them all at the last sentence before going on with his explanation. "We will use him as leverage against the likes of them. That way, things will be between us, and the Lion Guard." The demon let out one more laugh before fading out of sight.

The one thing he left was a mark in the dirt. A large eye with a Scar over, signaling that evil had just been here.

Once the ghost had disappeared, Kovu turned to his siblings. "Stupid, Useless, show our friends where they'll be staying."

The only reply he got from Nuka and Vitani were low grunts that were silenced by their mothers piercing gaze. They then glared at Makini and her brothers as they led them past the crowds of Outlanders, prompting Gunge to silently follow them. Rogo and Ugo were so petrified by what they had just seen that they did not even fight back. Makini looked up to the sky as she was led on by the older Lion.

"Come on, Tuca..."

--

"Everyone! Please, listen!" Norok called to the gathering of Leopards and Hyenas before him and his mate. After the Prideland protectors had left, the Backlanders had been left in array. Makucha was the first to voice his concerns above all the chattering.

"Listen, all of you!" The adult Leopard said aloud. "The last thing anyone needs to do here is panic. You hear me?"

"Yeah, that's right, everyone. The important thing to remember is not to panic." Rookus nodded her head. "Just 'cause there's a giant lion ghost in a Volcano that orchestrated an attack on us a while ago, not to mention he has an army of Outlanders, and of course the Lion Guard is totally not on our side so this kingdom is completely done for."

The rest of the meeting all raised their eyebrows at her, causing her to stutter. "U-uhh, that's my perspective, of course."

"What I wanna know is: how'd the Outlanders know where to attack?" Mapigano asked, stepping to the center of the crowd. "I mean, they've never been around here, before. So how could they have known how to get around?"

"Mapigano has a point." Katali nodded. "When they attacked, the Outlanders seemed to know exactly where to go, as if they had no problem navigating at all."

"Excuse me, but I would like to know what you are implying." Nabii stepped forward.

"Implying?" Katali craned her neck forward. "I'm not implying anything, Nabii."

"But there is something to imply, indeed."

From the shadows of the cave behind The Leopard Queen and her Striped mate, the giant Komodo made his presence known to his subjects. "There is but one way those Outlands Interlopers could have known the inside of our Kingdom so well: They have been given information about all there is to know, here."

"An informant?" Django raised his eyebrows (If any) at his kings confirmed explanation. 'Are you sayin-"

"I am indeed." Scar Snout closed his eyes, apparently dissapointed with what the outcome was going to be.

"We have a traitor in our midst."