Kiara's Fan Fiction |
 Kiara's Sahifa
 Fan Fiction Main
 Kiara's Discovery, Part 5
|
Kiara's Fan Fiction |
Kiara's Sahifa
Fan Fiction Main
Kiara's Discovery, Part 5
|
Kiara turned over in her sleep, and her body shifted into a patch of light that shone brightly through the royal cave. The warmth and burning red light forced Kiara's eyes open. She yawned drowsily and tried to snuggle against her father's warm mane and go back to sleep. There was only one problem. Simba wasn't there. Kiara's eyes shot wide open. Both her parents were gone. She stood up and glanced over the edge of the royal resting stone....her entire pride was gone!
A feeling of urgent panic swept over the cub, and she dashed outside to the promontory. "Daddy?! Mom!? Grandma Sarabi?!" she cried out frantically. She tried other lioness names: "Sauda? Tawny? Jade? Nyota?" She called, running to the back of Pride Rock, under the promontory, and even to the summit. It was entirely vacant. She sat down at the summit, her back to the glorious veiw, with a puzzled look on her face.
A million questions ran through her mind. Could they be hunting? No, the entire pride wouldn't go. Could they be feeding on a large kill too big to drag home? Maybe, but how on earth could they forget her? She thought hard...where could the Pride Landers be that was dangerous enough to leave her behind? Then she heard footsteps, and a familiar figure padded up to her.
It was Nefertiti, the oldest lioness in the Pride. She was panting heavily from the long climb to the summit. "There you are, upendi! You know, Simba should install one of those fancy elevator systems up here. Think I'm old fasioned? It's he who needs to get with the times!" Nefertiti said, out of breath. Kiara was too scared to chuckle at Nefertiti's jokes. She dashed over to the old lioness, a frantic look on her face. "Where is everybody?" she cried.
"Don't you worry, asali. They've gone off to fight the fisi, so the land can be safe for little simba kigoli and mchanga like you." she said calmly in her rich swahili accent. Kiara knew little swahili, and she had no time to search her mind for answers. She knew what "simba kigoli and mchanga" meant. It meant "lion boys and girls", and "asali" was a pet name she heard often, and it meant "honey". But the word "fisi" was unfamiliar to her. What had her pride gone off to fight?
"Nefertiti, what are 'fisi'?" she asked frantically. Nefertiti looked puzzled. "I do not know the word in leonine english." she said. "They are those nippy scavengers, the color of mud with little gray spots. They make a call that sounds like laughter." she said, trying desperatly to help. Nefertiti's English was not good. She often used swahili words in her sentences, which the older lions understood, but cubs had difficulty with.
"HYENA! Is that what 'fisi' is?!" Kiara suddenly cried out. "Yes, that's it, asali-kigoli. What's the matter?" Nefertiti said, puzzled by Kiara's frightened face. Kiara gasped. The battle had started early! She and Furahi's plans were ruined! Kiara raced to the summit and peered over the edge, her heart racing. In the distance, she could see the swift, dusty battle site. The faint cries of hyenas and lions could be heard when she cocked her ears forward to funnel in the sound.
Before old Nefertiti could stop her, Kiara swiftly darted past her and raced over the sloped rocks towards the dusty savanna ground. Her head was spinning, her heart pounding in her chest, tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks. The thought of losing another pride sister, or worse, her own parents, made her her heart sink into her stomach. It was a mix of urgency, greif, guilt, and anger. Amidst the emotion and the wind whirring around her body, Kiara could hear Nefertiti's urgent swahili cries behind her: "Basi! Basi! Basi, Kiara! Tafadhali, miye-sihi we, basi!"
Furahi was sound asleep. His back rose and fell in his heavy, deep-sleep breathing. He was inside the braincase of the huge ancient mammoth skull. "FURAHI! FURAHI! WAKE UP!!!" came a loud, startling cry. Suddenly, Kiara peeked in from the eye socket of the towering cranium. "Thank the skies!" she said. Furahi's head popped up. He wasn't easily startled, but this time was an exception. "Yikes! Geez, Kiara, what happened to the nudge, the friendly 'good morning'?" Furahi said, annoyed.
"No time for gags, Furahi, we need to go!" Kiara yelled. Furahi yawned and streached. "What's the hurry?" he asked. Kiara looked at him angrily. "How the heck did you think I got past your freakin' clan? BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT HERE!" she yelled frantically. "What do you mean, my clan's not here?" Furahi asked angrily. "The Great Battle's already started! Who knows how many casualties our families have suffered while we've slept in! You could lose your grandma, I could lose my parents!" Kiara said anxiously.
"IT STARTED!?! Oh, no! I'm so sorry, Kiara. I didn't know," Furahi said. Kiara had no time for politeness. "Well, C'mon, lets move!" she said firmly. Without a second thought, the two children bolted out the eye sockets of the skull and raced toward the battle site.
"SIMBA!" Nala cried as she desperatly tried to fight off four hyenas growling and lunging at her throat. "Simba, look out!" she yelled again, desperatly. Simba glanced at the small overhang above him just in time. Two hyenas had dragged a palm leaf filled with gravel to the edge of the overhang, and now dumped it over the edge. It poured over another hyena, burying her alive. With an anguished yelp, one of her clan sisters raced over to dig her out. At that point, Sarabi burst from the rising, choking dust and snapped the neck of the hyena desperatly trying to unearth her friend. It was a merciless battle.
Tawny, a dark-colored lioness, fought bravely with her twin sister Jade, only to be overwhelmed by a rush of knashing jaws. The sisters fought blindly in the dust, and when their attackers retreated, only Tawny was left standing. "NO! JADE!" Tawny cried as she desperatly tried to revive her beloved sibling. Algeria, a deeply scarred warrior, raced to Tawny's side. "Enough of this! If you stay to grieve you'll lose your life! Keep fighting!" Algeria hissed. The two lionesses then raced off in different directions to continue the slaughter.
Nyota had to maneuver over bodies to continue fighting. Sauda lay crumpled in the sand, injured. She was filled with terror, praying in her mind that a hyena would not discover she was alive and kill her. Namna was fighting ten hyenas on her own when she discovered her younger brother Tahayari was laying dead at her feet. Sarafina and Sarabi continued to run into each other, and at one point Sarafina discovered Sarabi sobbing uncontrollably. When Sarafina gave her a questioning look, Sarabi wailed: "My mother is dead!"
Shetani, the matriarch of the hyena clan, felt as if her heart was being ripped apart. Two of her warriors had abandoned the battle in grief over loss. The casualties were very high in her small clan of thirty-eight hyenas. Shujaa, Shetani's eldest daughter, was attacking two lionesses with her son Zuri and seven of her sisters. When the attack was over and they had triumphantly killed one of the lionesses, Shujaa saw her beloved son dying in the dust. She desperately tried to drag Zuri away from the battle, only to have him rushed and killed by two young lions. Devastated, she deserted the battle.
Itikadi, Shetani's twin sister, had been fearlessly battling King Simba when two misfits accidentally dumped a load of gravel on her which was intended to knock out Simba. The accident was not fatal, so Imani, Itikadi and Shetani's younger sister, raced over to help. As she did so, a lioness had murdered her in cold blood. Tumai, the last of the sisters, had raced after the lioness, enraged. She attacked her elder sisters' killer, only to die when another lioness came to her aid. Tamai's daughters Aki and Ahi were unbeknownst to this and continued fighting bravely. A young male lion attacked and killed Aki, and Ahi avenged her sister's death by killing the lion.
Shetani had lost all three of her sisters, one of her neices, three of her children, and one of her grandchildren. Ahi had also abandoned the battle after Shujaa had. Shetani feared that more would follow, and she raced through the battle, yelling at the top of her lungs: "Be brave! Avenge those you have lost! Destroy the lions! Believe in yourselves!"
As the battle continued, more losses occured. The Pride Landers lost two more warriors, the valued Algeria and incredibly driven Nyota. However, the hyenas suffered greater losses. The four females unrelated to Shetani, whom were close friends of Shujaa, had all been slain. This totaled to twelve losses for Shetani, and nine losses for Simba. Athough Shetani's casualties were higher, her clan was still twenty-six hyenas strong, minus the two warriors whom abandoned the fight. Simba's pride was vastly outnumbered at a mere twelve lions and lionesses left living, minus Sauda who still lied helpless and injured in the dust. Twenty-four hyenas against eleven lions? Victory was slim for Simba, but he was a stubborn lion and would fight until his last warrior fell. Unfortunately, Shetani shared his same determination.
As the battle grew less frantic as a result of high casualties, the inner fear of the survivors turned to terror. Vision became impossible in the thick rising dust, and no one knew who was watching them or when they would strike. So both sides divided and waited in terror as the dust settled. The wait was agonizing, and many warriors began hyperventilating or sobbing uncontrollably. One of Shetani's sons kept crying out "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, great skies, I'm gonna die any moment!" Both sides were on the brink of insanity as the dust slowly cleared and visibility became possible again. For several moments, the lions on the left glared angrily at the hyenas on the right. After the dust had entirely settled and the battle site was as clear as day, Simba stood and broke the silence. "Shetani, surrender now and no more hyenas will die." he said calmly. Shetani stood and growled back: "Never! We will fight until the last warrior perishes! You are the fool who should surrender and beg for mercy!" There were whimpers from both sides, as if they wished and hoped the other side would surrender to save their lives.
Their hope was short-lived. "Enough of this! ATTACK!" Simba roared. "ATTACK!" Shetani barked. The two sides reluctantly charged towards each other, leaping over the bodies that littered the battle site. The dust already began to rise once more. But before the two sides could intersect, a loud call echoed across the land. "STOP!!!" yelled two young voices. The two sides obeyed, startled and confused at this. "STOP!!!" the two voices called again, closer this time. There were gasps among the opposing sides as a young lioness cub and a little hyena puppy came racing up to the overhang. "We're too late," the puppy said softly to the cub as the two stared out horrorfied at the carnage below them. "Furahi!" Shetani cried out suddenly, recognizing her grandson. "Kiara!" Simba and Nala said in unison as they noticed their daughter.
The young, unusual pair leapt off the overhang and ran between the two sides, jumping bravely over the scattered bodies they recognized. Furahi accidentally landed atop a dead lioness, only to have her cry out in pain. Furahi startled for a moment, then inched closer. It was Sauda. "I'm sorry." he said gently, placing a paw on the injured lioness's face. He then helped her to her feet, coaxing her with kind words and a gentle smile. Simba couldn't beleive his eyes as Sauda rose weakly and grinned softly at the little hyena pup. "Asante Sana," Sauda said quietly. Kiara noticed a pile of gravel beneath the overhang shifting slightly. She dashed over and began to dig hastily as the hyena warriors stared on in stunned silence. Out of the gravel emerged Shetani's twin, Itikadi, injured but alive. "It'll be alright now." Kiara said gently to an exhasperated Itikadi. Shetani gasped at the young lioness's kindness. Kiara had just saved Itikadi's life, and Furahi had saved Sauda's.
Kiara and Furahi then stood side by side. "Look at this! See where the path of hatred has brought us? Our loved ones lie dead in the dust! Because of your stubborness and rage!" Kiara said, pacing between the hyenas and lions. "Can't you see what hatred can do? It angers, it saddens, it kills us and our families! But friendship and love? It brings us happiness and warmth and joy and loyalty!" Furahi chimed in, speaking firmly and wisely to both sides. Heads of both hyenas and lions began to fall in shame, ears and tails began to droop, and tears began to fall. Kiara and Furahi joined together once more and nuzzled one another. "Can't you see it is possible to put aside our differences and see how mutch we are alike?" Kiara said to the lions. "Can't you see that friendship and love is stronger than anger and hate?" Furahi said to the hyenas. Both Kiara and Furahi's cheeks were stained with tears, their eyes angry and hopeful at the same time.
Nala, inspired by her daughter's wisdom, stepped forward and joined the two youngsters. "I have underestimated you, Kiara." she said kindly to her daughter. She then lifted her head to adress everyone. "My daughter has shamed us all. She comes here with wisdom and hope in her heart, and we come with anger and hate. I will never judge another creature based on his species, color, or reputation ever again. If there is to be anymore fighting, I will not join." She said firmly. Mwenzio, Furahi's elder brother, stepped forward as well. "My brother speaks with wisdom beyond his years. If he says we should not fight, I am behind him one- hundred percent." Mwenzio said. Sauda limped forward and joined them as well. "This extraordinary boy has saved my life. I, too, am with him." she said, refering to Furahi. Itikadi joined them as well. "If Furahi and the little lioness can be friends, all hyenas and lions can be friends." she said firmly.
At that moment, there was a rush of lions and hyenas as they raced forward to join Furahi and Kiara, talking all at the same time and nuzzling one another. Kiara hugged Furahi. "We did it! We did it!" she cried joyously. When the apologies and forgivings died down to a hush, everyone realized only Simba and Shetani remained on opposite sides of the large group of lions and hyenas between them. All eyes were focused on their two leaders whom had failed to join them.
Shetani smiled feebly at Simba. "My grandson speaks the truth. I am sorry for any pain I may have caused you," she said gently. Simba grinned back at her. "My daughter speaks the truth, and I am the one responsible for interrigating this battle. The losses were great and unneccessary, and they shall stop now. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me." Simba said guiltily. Although the pain was great for them both, they raced toward one another jubilantly. The crowd between the parted as Simba and Shetani intersected and embraced. "I forgive you." Shetani said, sobbing. "I forgive you." Simba responded as he held his once-hated enemy tight. Kiara began to cheer, then Furahi. Soon the entire crowd was cheering and clapping them on, including Timon, Pumbaa, and Zazu. Nefertiti had also managed to join them in her attemp to warn Simba that Kiara had run off.
Friendship felt so good! Little by little, all hate and bitterness left the lions and hyenas. This made their grief easier, which made them want support and tenderness even more. When the cheering died down, Simba and Shetani climbed the overhang together, side by side. "The law of my great-grandfater is hereby lifted! From now on, all hyenas are welcome to live in the Pride Lands and do as nature intended them!" Simba declared joyously. "From now on, we shall not fear lions! We shall welcome them as our friends and neighbors! I hereby ban the killing of lion cubs! Our children will now play side by side beneath the warm African sun!" Shetani declared happily.
The Lion King and the Hyena Matriarch were cheered on. Kiara and Furahi joined their elders on the overhang and the cheering grew louder. Soon all the Pride Land animals learned of the new laws and welcomed the hyenas happily. Scavengers were desperatly needed to help control the waste in the Pride Lands, and hyenas were just what was needed. Soon the lions and hyenas went their separate ways, but not before a fond good-bye. The next day, Simba held a memorial service in front of all his subjects for those lost in the Great Battle. He even asked for a moment of silence. Following the service was a great feast for the hyenas and lions, a final confirmation of the friendship between them.
After awhile, wounds of greif were healed and memories of the Great Battle were long forgotten. Everthing settled down and went back to normal. Seeing the hyenas in the Pride Lands took some time to get used to, but now they felt as welcomed in their new home as if they had lived there for always. Furahi and Kiara became best friends, and as it was promised, played side by side beneath the warm African sun. Their were no more battles, no more hate, and no more fear. Love had triumphed, and its victory brought a wonderful age of peace and happiness to Pride Lands which lasted forever.
THE END
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