The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 19: Scheme

 The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 19: Scheme

The canyons of the Outlands were getting on sight for the pridelanders and the ferezans, the cheetahs tried not to run too fast as they would have easily left the lions behind. The afternoon's sunlight was dim as the sky was covered with dark gray clouds. The warriors of two nations had only one objective, to defeat the hyenas once and for all.

A hyena was hiding behind a set of rocks, nearby the Outland's limits, barely seeing the hordes of cheetahs and lions from the distance, he then hurried into the Outlands, towards the lines of hyenas that were already receiving words from Juzare in the great defile.

"Brothers..!" Juzare exclaimed solemnly, standing with his paws firm over a rocky mound before his legions. "...sisters! Children of the Pride Lands! Today, we'll bring down our oppressors!" Laughs of battle were heard. "The Pride Lands will be ours! And their rulers shall fall!"

"Captain!" The hyena that had spotted the Pride Land's army arrived in a hurry, going up the mound to get next to Juzare. "They're coming!"

Juzare nodded at him with determination, same glare he then gave to the legions. "Honor the captain's strategy! Hide and ambush!" He commanded. "This goes for Jazanu!"

"For Jazanu!" All of the hyenas exclaimed.

"At your positions...now!" Juzare ordered, the hyenas split in several groups, running into the cracks, getting in the gorges, hiding as their new captain told them. Juzare was now alone. "Where in the world is my second in command?" He spoke to himself and let out an angry sigh. "Jinobe!" He exclaimed.

Jinobe gasped, his ear twitched when hearing his name, he was hiding in a gorge, so he took a few steps to the front and poked his head out the less he could, seeing Juzare at the distance. He lowered his head and shook it. He thought that maybe he could manage to deceive Juzare by making up an excuse for the bodies, it was risky, but he liked the idea of being the king's second in command, so he just took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Alright." He murmured to himself and walked out the gorge.

"Jinobe!" Juzare started to get more impatient. "Jinobe where are you?!" He turned and saw his second in command walking towards him.

Jinobe was glancing down while slowly approaching his king. He finally reached the mound and walked up towards him. "My king..." He bowed down his head, looking into his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Juzare grunted. "Of course you are, where were you?" He gasped when remembering the task he had given to him. "Oh....Jazanu's heir, did you...take care of that?"

Jinobe tried to make up the answer Juzare wanted to hear. "It's done, my king. Jakir is dead, so his mother and Jenuk."

Juzare looked at him with a straight face. "I want to see them." He smirked very subtly.

Jinobe lowered his head a bit, looking away from his king. "I'm sorry, my king, but I couldn't retrieve the bodies."

Juzare growled. "Why?" He got closer to him with menacing eyes.

Jinobe thought for a moment, a long moment, even more from his perception. "They fell off a cliff." He responded. "Near the border."

Juzare switched his gaze from him to the future battlefield, walking by him and sitting down, glaring at the canyons, the gorges and the cracks, as well as the dark gray sky. "I see." He said with a serious tone, Jinobe was backing away, expecting the worst. Juzare let out a brief, subtle chuckle. "Well done, Jinobe." He walked down the mound. Jinobe felt a great relief, then he followed Juzare. "Now that you've proven your loyalty, and effectiveness, I'll leave half of the legions to you. I'm leading the rest for this battle, the pride landers are coming and we must have all of our forces ready."

"Sure, my king." Jinobe replied.

Juzare stopped walking right in front of a crack that led to the west canyon. "I'll take care of this side, you do with the other. The two groups will meet when the pridelanders arrive."

Jinobe nodded then bowed his head. "They don't know what awaits them."

Juzare chuckled and nodded at him. "Go, and ready your warriors."

The lions and cheetahs were rapidly approaching the first canyons of the Outlands, the cheetahs were slowing down their speed purposely to stay in line with the lions. "Till the Pride Lands end!" Kion roared strongly along with his sister, followed by the rest of the lions. Several chirrups of battle were heard after so. Kion looked at Kiara, they nodded at each other with eyes of determination.

"Remember the plan!" Kiara looked back at their army then at the front again. "Alright...now!" She started to separate from Kion and the legions that followed him, her own followed her and they headed to a great crack that led to the inside of the west canyon.

Juzare and his legions were gathered in one of the main tunnels of the west canyon. His nose twitched, he raised an eyebrow and backed away a bit. "Cheetahs..." Juzare said with a frown.

"They're coming this way! We sh..!" A hyena said but was interrupted.

"Stay!" Juzare commanded. "We can deal with them."

"But the defile will get weakened, Jinobe's legions won't make it!" The same hyena approached him.

"Well who's your captain?!" Juzare threw a blow at the hyena, who laughed by the pain while rubbing his snout with his paw. "Anyone else?!" Juzare stared at his group with a daring frown, getting no response. He growled. "That's what I thought." Juzare turned back at the tunnel's dark bottom, adopting a defensive position, followed by the rest, frowning and waiting for their enemies.

Jinobe and his group of warriors were on the inside of the east canyon looking at the defile through a wide aperture. The ear of a hyena that was by him twitched. "They are here."

Jinobe nodded, with his gaze locked at the defile. "Wait. We'll ambush them just like we did the last t..." His eyes widened when spotting Kiara, the other lions and lionesses and the cheetahs running inside the caves of the opposite canyon, thanks to a couple of wide cracks that gave them away. "What the..?" He turned rapidly to look at his legions. "Group one and two, go to the other canyon to reinforce Juzare. The rest, stay with me." The two groups nodded with acceptance and hurried out of the cave.

Kion entered the defile along with his groups, all of them looking cautiously at their sides. "They'll fall over us in brief!" He gasped when seeing Jinobe's warriors heading to the west canton. "There they are! Attack!" He hurried his rush just as his fellows, the cheetahs ran normally, easily outrunning the lions.

Jinobe's hyenas spotted them, so they ran faster towards the west canyon and got in there. Some of them chose to run towards Kion and confront him and his warriors. The cheetahs were the first ones to encounter with them, the hyenas tried to evade them but as they were much faster than them, the cheetahs didn't let them pass and started to throw bites at them instead. The lions arrived a few moments later and joined the cheetahs on their battle. The hyenas attacked each lion by two, but as they were much stronger they dealt with them easily with violent shakes, fatal blows and deadly bites. The cheetahs used their speed advantage and easily avoided the hyenas' tackles and jaws, replying with quick, continuous bites and blows that didn't stop until they got killed. The skirmish was brief as it was a reduced number of hyenas. "They went this way, my king!" A lioness told Kion while gesturing at the gorge that led to the canyon.

Kion threw a final bite at the neck of a hyena that was still moving on the ground, killing her instantly. "Follow them! But only a few. We still need to get the defile covered." He looked at the lions and cheetahs who were closer to him and gestured at the ones who were nearer to the canyon. The lioness nodded and ran towards the gorge, followed by some others of her kind and cheetahs. Kion started to walk by the group that stayed with him, studying the cracks, apertures and gorges around them. "They'll appear in any moment." He growled while puncturing the ground with his claws. "Stay alert."