Secrets Long Buried [PRIVATE: AC & PK091]

[AustralianChaos]

Plot: When Mufasa is called away from showing Simba the Pridelands to investigate a hyena group in his land, he stumbles across a lot more than he would have expected...something that may change the fate of the Pridelands irreversibly.

Characters:
Simba: AustralianChaos
Nala: PrincessKiara091
Mufasa: AustralianChaos
Sarabi: PrincessKiara091
Sarafina: PrincessKiara091
Scar: AustralianChaos
Zazu: AustralianChaos
Rafiki: PrincessKiara091

Tanga: AustralianChaos

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Mufasa glared after the small group of hyenas as they ran off, shouting to their retreating backs. “And I don't ever want to see you in my lands again...understand!” He emphasised his words with an angry roar, making sure that the hyena should, hopefully, stay away from his land, and his pride, for some time to come.

With that irritating menace dealt with, Mufasa turned his attention to the reason the hyenas had come into his lands, and the reason he had not turned and headed back towards Pride Rock yet...the small lion cub at his feet.

The cub was small, but showed no traces of any infant spots, leaving Mufasa with no way of accurately guessing his age, although he suspected he was no older than his own young son, Simba. The King of the Pridelands was curious about the cub's fur colouration, with the golden yellow coat, silver-gray belly, muzzle and toes, and black tail tuft, which gave him a strange look that gave Mufasa a clear indication that his home pride was far from the Pridelands.

But Mufasa was currently focused on the marks the cub had. A series of scratches marred his face and chest, and a large portion of those areas was stained red with blood. The hyenas had managed to do some damage to the cub, but from what Mufasa could tell, the damage was not permanent. The cub was currently unconscious, but that was most likely due to shock rather than his injuries, and Mufasa hoped the little guy would be awake in a short time.

“Sire...what are you going to do?” Mufasa looked up as his majordomo, Zazu, spoke up, the hornbill pointing a wing at the cub to show exactly where his question was directed.

Mufasa sighed, before replying. “I'm not going to leave the cub to die, Zazu...I'll take him back. Hopefully Sarafina or one of the other lionesses will take him in for a time.” He then turned to his loyal messenger, his tone becoming more authoritative and serious. “Zazu, go fetch Rafiki, and have him meet me at the sunbathing plateau in the east...Sarabi and Sarafina said they were going to spend the day there, so that's where I'll be taking the cub. Make sure Rafiki bring the healing tools necessarry for the cub's injuries.”

Zazu bowed hurriedly. “Of course, sire, at once!” he said quickly, before taking off and flapping away towards the massive tree Rafiki housed himself in.

As Zazu left, Mufasa looked back down at the cub. Where was his family? Why was he alone? He was curious to learn more about the mysterious cub, but knew it would have to wait, as he carefully picked the unconscious cub up in his jaws, before trotting briskly away towards the eastern regions of his land.

Simba's going to go nuts when he sees this little guy, he thought with the barest hint of amusement as he continued on his way.

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It did not take long for Zazu to reach Rafiki's home, where the blue bird quickly zipped in amongst the branches of the tree, soon finding the mandrill Mufasa hired as his pride's shaman and healer.

“Greetings, Rafiki,” Zazu said politely but rapidly, before droning on, not wanting to keep Mufasa delayed. “Mufasa has need of your services. A cub was found on the edges of our lands, wounded by hyenas. Mufasa is taking him to the lioness' sunbathing area in the east to figure out what to do with him, but the cub has some nasty wounds from the hyenas that he would like you to tend to as soon as you can.”

As Zazu spoke, he perched himself on a branch, waiting for Rafiki to respond to his request. He had no idea exactly how the mandrill did his healing work...only that it seemed to work most of the time, and that was what mattered in the long run.

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Simba waited by his mother impatiently, waiting for Zazu to show up so that he could head off towards the waterhole with Nala, where they could lose the bird, and he could show her the Elephant Graveyard Scar had mentioned. After escorting the young prince back to Pride Rock, Zazu had taken off to find Mufasa again, and his mother, Sarabi, would not let him leave her presence without the hornbill to watch over them.

A couple of times, Simba had harboured the thought of trying to sneak away from the lionesses sunbathing around him, but every time he looked up, either Sarabi or Sarafina, the mother of his best friend, Nala, was watching, obviously aware that he was up to something, even if he thought he had done a good job hiding his true intentions from the adults.

Sighing, he turned to his friend, Nala, who was resting beside him, looking as bored as he was. He was just about to say something to her when he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking up, he saw his father wandering into the sunbathing area, which caused simba to turn to Nala and give her a confused look. Mufasa never came to the sunbathing area, at least not as far as Simba was aware.

Still he turned back to his father. “Hey, dad!” he called. “How did it go with the...hyenas...?” his question trailed off as he saw the small cub in Mufasa's jaws, his features morphing into a curious frown as a thousand questions raced through his cubbish mind. He did not voice any of them, though, instead turning to his friend. “Nala, who's that my dad's got...you ever seen him before?” he asked, his curiosity obvious in his voice. He had seen a few other cubs around, even if he only really played with Nala, but had never seen one like the cub Mufasa had just brought in before.