Greetings friends. Here you have it chapter 6. We finally get to see some Kovu action. I don’t often write all that much about Kovu so I hope he is in character enough for all you Kovu fans. Thank you to all those who reviewed and a few of you who have recently put this of story alert :D Thanks also to the silent readers. Don’t be afraid to put a review I don’t bite even if you make some suggestions or tips that’s OK so long as it is constructive and not mean lol.

Dawn broke onto the Pridelands.

Nobody had had a very good sleep. Rafiki’s tree was overcrowded and worry kept many awake, Kiara slept poorly because of the ghostly look of her surroundings while Vitani on the other hand felt like she was being haunted by the ghosts of her past. Zazu had a great deal of trouble sleeping as for one he was lost and secondly, due to not being able to fly he had to sleep underground in a rough tunnel Timon dug for them for protection. Birds just weren’t meant to sleep underground the dirt got into his feathers and agitated him. Timon had trouble sleeping because despite proclaiming himself as ‘Mr Hakuna Matata’ he was actually really worried about Pumbaa and Simba, plus he hated sleeping underground too. Despite being a meerkat he had an unnatural mild case of claustrophobia.

Kovu was probably in the most comfortable situation of all. He was in Pride Rock where he usually slept, but he also found sleep near impossible as he was, unlike the others, alone. He was of course surrounded by older Pride members and a few cubs but he didn’t really know these lionesses all too well. In the months he had been part of Simba’s Pride he had been focusing on creating positive relationships with Kiara’s close family and friends and hadn’t really had much time to form the same bonds with the others. He felt a tinge of guilt, as he probably should have made more effort to get to know the members of the pride outside the royal family. It was them who, after all, made up the pride, as the rulers of a pride cannot function without a pride to rule. He also felt bad that some of the lions here were clearly ex outlanders but he didn’t know them either. Zira’s strict training program had not allowed him to socialise.

It was eerily still too, which made what noises there were magnified by one hundred. He could hear cubs sobbing, elders sighing, and the not too distant crackling of fire from outside.

When sleep did finally reach him he an unsettling dream.

He and Kiara were running through the grasslands together being chased by a huge beast made of flame. The breast was about the size of Pride Rock, ran on all fours, had horns and left a trail of fire in it’s wake. The sound of it coming towards them sounded like a stampede of trumpeting elephants were on their tail. Suddenly Kiara screamed as a flaming tongue, which suddenly came out of the beast’s mouth, grabbed her. It shook her in it’s mouth as an eagle shakes a mouse it has just captured, burning her screaming form, and then threw her back into the burning path behind it. “Noooooooo!” yelled Kovu.

He then woke up sweat covering his whole body. The lionesses and cubs around him were just staring at him in shock. Had he said the last part out loud? He stood up still shaking from his nightmare and made his way to the mouth of the cave. Dawn had broken. The fire still raved on and by looking back into the cave it was clear that neither Kiara nor any of those he was close with had made their way back in the night. He could tell that at least four lionesses from the Pride he was unfamiliar with but knew by sight had made their way back. One looked a little worse for wear but she wasn’t in a life threatening condition.

“I’m going to find the others,” stated Kovu firmly to those who were inside and still staring his way. He left quickly not wanting to leave any room for questioning. He bounded down the side of Pride Rock and looked at his surroundings. The ground here was ash. Luckily the few trees and greenery on the actual rock itself had not caught flame. He had not known the fire had come so close; the rock had truly acted as a safe haven for those inside. How he could have slept through that he did not know, but it may have explained why the heat in his dream seemed so real.

He could see three active blazes. One in the distance behind the rock. He guessed this was the one the must have swept past them during the night. The creatures of the Sunland’s would not be happy as it was heading right towards their territory. Kovu longed for Zazu at this time as Simba’s Pride were friendly with the Sun Pride lead by King Makalo and Queen Jellina and he wanted to warn them of the oncoming danger, but for now he had to worry about his own family.

The second fire he saw was to the east sweeping near the border of the grasslands and the elephant graveyard. The third fire was the largest and most central. It had left a path of destruction thought-out the middle of the lands. While it was still central he could see it came in from the west and swept along the edge of the gorge and around Rafiki’s tree. It was still close to the tree but didn’t appear to be burning it. In fact it looked like a ring of fire surrounded the tree and couldn’t for some reason reach it. Kovu didn’t know Rafiki could do such feats, he thought he was just a medical Sharman.

Vultures swarmed in the areas where the fire had passed through, picking through the corpses of those who either did not see the flames coming or were not quick enough to get away. They were the only ones who could enjoy such devastation.

He headed towards Rafiki’s tree in the distance, as he knew that at least Rafiki and Sasa would be there. It was a fairly long walk so he just hoped the fire would have left that area once he arrived. The young lion had to watch his step as he walked as the ground was covered in still smoking sticks and branches and the odd dead animal.

After a long walk ,he soon realised he couldn’t get any closer to the tree as if the winds were heading in his direction and the fire although now past the tree was still between it and him and if he headed that way he would be burnt to a crisp.

He tried to think of places where Kiara and the others may have gone and on top of that somewhere safe he could go as it looked like he may have started to walk into a death trap.

‘I’ll head towards the waterhole’ he thought and headed in that direction

In Rafiki’s overcrowded tree the gang had noticed the fire was no longer surrounding them but heading away towards the middle of the lands. It had been surrounding them all night, which seemed strange as fire naturally moves with the wind and is not in one place for so long. Sasa explained to them that the spell she and Rafiki had cast used a lot of energy. That energy managed to keep the fire away from the tree yet the energy coming off this force field also fed it at the same time. It was only now that the excess energy coming off the force field the fire was feeding on had weakened that the flames moved on. In truth the lions and warthog had trouble understanding all this but they just accepted it and nodded. Nobody was willing to admit their lack of understanding in front of the others.

Rafiki had not come back to the lower branches of the tree since the previous day. The spell had taken a great deal out of him and he was still sleeping. Sasa said it was best not to disturb him and all agreed.

“It’s time,” said Simba to Nala. Nala nodded in reply.

“Time for what?” asked Sarafina.

“Time to get out of here and do something,” replied the King.

“Simba this is suicide,” reasoned Sarabi, “It may have past us by but a great deal of the lands are still burning..”

“And if we don’t do anything, there wont be anything left to save!” exclaimed Simba.

“I agree with Simba,” said Nala seeing that her mother was looking very nervous at what was about to happen. “We have done nothing long enough, these are our lands and if we just sit here and do nothing we will loose everything.”

“Nala I know your heart is in the right place but what can you do?” argued Sarafina. “It’s not like you can just go out there and ask it to stop now is it?!”

“No….,”replied the younger lioness thoughtfully, “but there has to be something we can do. We could at least look for the other members of the Pride.”

They could all hear the desperation in Nala’s voice.

The two elder lions silently stared at their offspring. Pumbaa frowned, he considered Simba a son and also wasn’t fond of the idea of him going out there if there was a possibility he may not come back. So far as he knew he had already lost Timon.

“Simba….Nala,” began Pumbaa, obviously about to put in another ‘stay here’ argument but he never got it out as Simba cut in.

“Look you can’t talk, you ran out and did the same thing,” Simba, accused the warthog. “You would have been safe in Pride Rock but you choose to try and find Timon and I, so I don’t see how you can be against this.”

“Look where it got me Simba!” grunted Pumbaa, in reply, “I’m burnt, I nearly suffocated, I found you and then risked Nala’s life because she had to come out of the tree to help me up and now it hurts to even move. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you so I have every right to tell you not to go out there!”

Simba hesitated not knowing how to respond. It was unlike Pumbaa to get angry and defensive. He was thinking of a reply but one wasn’t coming to him.

“It won’t happen to him” came Rafiki’s voice from above. Everyone looked up and saw him stumbling down the tree. Sasa instantly came up to assist him so he wouldn’t fall. He looked physically older than he had the day before and extremely fragile.

“It wont happen to Simba or Nala,” continued the mandrill, “because I’m coming with dem.”

Finished. It’s cliffhangerish I know but I like to end like that :P Hope you liked it. It will be better when Kovu meets up with someone, as currently he has nobody to talk to. Hope you all liked this instalment. Cheers.