The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 8: Fury

 The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 8: Fury

Corpses of lions and hyenas began to cover the ground rapidly, the laughs of battle and pain mixed with the roars of fierceness and death, the hyenas let some of the lions to chase them, taking them to secret passages they only knew as outlanders, cornering them and rapidly jumping at them with their open jaws, throwing quick but strong bites, munching together to kill their enemies.

"Stay together!" Kiara noticed the hyenas' strategy, a pair of hyenas jumped at her, she growled at them both and threw a powerful blow at the first one, then she grasped the neck of the other with her jaws and brought her down, raising her head and roaring at her before biting her neck a couple of times to kill her.

Rani told another group of lions to form a circle around a horde of hyenas, the lions obeyed their queen and surrounded several enemies, the hyenas laughed with anger and fear, rushing at the lions nonetheless. Rani roared as a command, the lions mimicked her roar and ran fast towards the hyenas. Before the outlanders could even try to give a slight jump, Rani and the other lions brought them down with their claws aiming at their faces and their bite going for their sides and their necks. Their laughs of struggle and desperation vanished rapidly.

Some lions fought in group, others on their own, expecting the rivals or going after them. Kiara tried to remain confident on the strength of her pride, but more and more hyenas started to come from the cracks of the mountains, she looked around her, spotting more hidden eyes and hostile shapes lurking in the shadows, expecting orders. She rapidly looked at her sides and spotted Rani, running towards her.

Three hyenas laughed at Rani menacingly, walking around her cautiously to keep her trapped between them, she looked at their eyes with warning, frowning and growling constantly. All of a sudden, Kiara arrived and instantly killed one of the hyenas with a deadly bite, Rani took the chance to jump at a hyena and kill him with several rapid blows. Kiara dealt with the last one the same way.

Rani sighed with tiredness along with Kiara, she approached her and gestured at the battlefield. "There are far more outlanders than we thought." She opined, shaking her head. "We are not enough."

Kiara looked at the different scenes, some lions were successfully defeating the hyenas but the most young and inexpert members of the pride fell rapidly under the cynic bite of the laughing enemy. "We have to resist a bit more, Rani." She responded. "This is a message they must understand."

Meanwhile at Ferezan, Emba was running desperately under the green and dense vegetation of the place, looking over his back recurrently, gasping and turning several times to deceive his chasers, thing that worked only for a couple of minutes as the cheetahs were abysmally faster than him. He felt a quick but firm bite on his hind leg and let out a groan before falling over the ground with his paws pointing at the sky. He instantly tried to roll over his back to get into his paws but was suddenly stopped by the spotted paws that rested over his chest.

"Going somewhere?" The cheetah got his snout closer to his face. "Pridelander?" He was a cub as him.

Emba couldn't get free from the cheetah's hold, moving over the dirty ground. "I...I was just passing by...th...that's all." The other three cheetahs, who were also cubs, watched over him from the branches of a tree, thing that made Emba even more scared and nervous.

The cheetah growled at him. "This is our territory, you know?" He gestured at his comrades who rapidly went down the tree and got at his sides. "The Karu-Karu legion won't tolerate any intruders!" His comrades chirruped menacingly after his bold statement.

"Karu-Karu?" Emba inquired, still feeling in danger.

"The penalty for such behavior is..." The cheetah waited a bit to complete his phrase. "...death!"

Emba gasped and struggled to move. "Please, don't!" Emba's voice started to break. "I...I swear! I was j..."

The cheetah laughed. "You should've thought twice before invading my territory." His comrades glared at him with a subtle upset, the cheetah rolled up his eyes and glared at Emba again. "Alright...our territory." He emphasized on the second word, then gestured at his friends who began to chirrup at Emba again, approaching him menacingly.

"Let me go!" Emba yelled suddenly. "Please...let me go!" He struggled.

"Emba!" Kion's fierce, strong voice made the four cheetahs to look at him, terrified, rapidly taking a few steps away from his son.

"Dad..." Emba said with a mix of happiness and worry, getting into his paws and running towards his father, who roared at him forcefully, which stopped his rush. Emba gasped and sat down before his father, lowering his head with shame.

"What were you thinking?! Emba?!" Kion scolded. "Going here on your own! You could've gotten yourself killed, don't you understand that?!"

"Not by the paws of these, that's for sure." Fuli walked by them and approached the four cheetahs with a glare of authority.

Three of them lowered their glares when seeing Fuli's eyes of scold. "Sorry, my queen." They said at the same time then gave a final look at their friend, who had also his gaze on the ground. The three cheetahs then left in a moderated hurry.

"Faeze." Fuli said with a straight tone.

"Sorry, mom." Faeze looked at her slowly. "I was...playing."

"And what have I told you about those games of yours?" Fuli inquired, maintaining her face straight.

Faeze sighed, glaring at his side. "They're not good."

Fuli kept looking at him for a moment, then she gestured backwards. "We'll talk in the cave, son."

Faeze lowered his head. "Yes, mom." He began to walk towards the lions, stopping briefly next to Emba. "Sorry." He subtly smirked at him as a sign of apologize then lowered his gaze again and kept walking, getting lost on Ferezan's vegetation.

Kion was still looking at his son, upset and disappointed. "What were you thinking, Emba?"

"I...I didn't want anything bad to happen to you." Emba looked at his father's eyes. "I didn't want to loose you." Tears were forming on the corners of his eyes.

Kion's glance instantly went more calm and compassionate. "Emba, what made you fear such thing?"

"Unc..." Emba looked at Kovu, reflecting on his upcoming reply for a moment. He glanced back at his father. "Uncle Kovu told me you were going to war."

Kion frowned subtly. "Oh, did he?" He looked at Kovu.

"Emba, I didn't say that. It just escaped from my mouth, that's all." Kovu tried to approach them both but Kion warned him with a menacing glare, accompanied by an unfriendly growl. When Kovu returned to his previous spot, Kion looked back at his son. "Your uncle and I will discuss this later." He looked at Kovu then at the rest of the lions, gesturing frontwards, making them to move and follow him.

"Kion." Fuli said.

Kion stopped walking and glanced at her over his back, she nodded at him with confidence, gesture he returned with determination, turning his glance back to the front and resuming his steps. His son was at his side, glancing down.