The First King of the Pride Lands

A/N: Oyoy. This one. Words. So Many. Also, new character. Enjoy!

bookwatchertox: Thanks, I think so too! Also, I'm pretty sure the word count in this official first chapter puts the prologue to shame. As for details... I've been known to get carried away with describing things in the past - I have a really bad "information dumping" habit.

Reldor: Ironically, I didn't even know what kind of accent I had given Morris when I began writing... It just seemed to fit.

Chapter One: Maz the Meerkat

Maz the meerkat had been lounging against a tree lazily in the midday sun when it happened. One second he had been thinking about how he was going to spend his day of relaxation away from the hassles of his family, but the next, he was jolted into alertness by the sound of someone dashing through the nearby field of tall grass towards him.

A hyena? He thought to himself, getting to his feet as quickly and quietly as possible. No, there would be more than one, not to mention the noise they'd make... He glanced towards the ready-made hole in the ground he had made for such an escape. A cheetah? He mentally shook his head. No, they'd be a lot quieter than this...He continued to list off the possible predators that could be coming for him as he crept quietly towards his "escape hole". Meanwhile, the sound of rustling got closer and closer.

Well, he concluded, after realizing that he had no idea of what the supposed predator might be, It could just be a zebra or gazelle going out for a run... He shook his head angrily. What am I thinking? Of course it's some sort of hyena or other carnivore coming to eat me! All the same, he couldn't resist looking wistfully at the comfy spot at the tree where he had been lounging. But I finally got away from my crazily busy family...Besides, I doubt they'd even realize I'm gone!

He absent-mindedly placed his paw on his chin as he usually did when he was deep in thought, and stopped where he was. The "escape hole" was forgotten as Maz continued to delve deeper into his own thoughts. The rustling continued to grow louder and louder.

Yeah... Maz frowned. They probably wouldn't notice I was gone, seeing as our burrow is so crowded nowadays... So many newcomers, thanks to the compromise... He shook his head agitatedly. Why had his father agreed to the merging of two different families? Hardly any of them got along, having been competitors for the same foraging ground in the past.

Maybe... he snapped his fingers in realization, Maybe father realized that he couldn't fight those guys off, so he agreed to share the land with them by letting them into our burrow! The only problem is, the other group don't see it as a agreement, they see it as a surrender... Maz frowned.

"...and even though we technically live under the same rules, relations will continue to get worse until it turns into an all-out war!" He finished his thoughts aloud. He was now sitting on the ground, tapping the dirt agitatedly. "What a mess..." He looked back at the tree, vaguely wondering why he had moved in the first place.

Rustle, rustle.

"Wha-" The sound didn't register to him at first. Oh no, I completely forgot about the-! But even as he scrambled towards the tunnel to make his escape, he saw a flash of tawny fur appear out of the corner of his eye.

Maz squeezed his eyes shut and threw himself to the ground, hoping that the dirt would be good enough to camouflage him.

It's gonna eat me! He lay on the ground, waiting for the inevitable. It'sgonnaeatmeit'sgonnaeatmeit'sgonnaeatme!

Seconds passed, then minutes. Finally, he cracked open an eye just enough to see to see if the shadow of his assailant was standing over him.

But there was nothing there.

"What...?" he pushed himself off of the dirt, brushing off the dust in his fur. "It didn't- It didn't eat me!" Listening closely, he could hear the faint rustling of the grass, indicating that the creature was now moving away from him. There was also another sound - he hadn't noticed his heart was beating furiously against his chest.

"Okay, calm down," he muttered to himself, "It's gone. I can relax." He was about to flop down on the ground again when a sudden thought stopped him cold.

Could he really afford to relax? He knew from experience that wherever there was one predator, there were usually more.

Careful not to cause too much noise, he crept the remaining distance to his hole. Once he was far enough into the tunnel where he could only see the light of the sun, only then did he dare to breath a sigh of relief. Then he began thinking again.

What was that thing? He asked himself. His brow furrowed as he tried to remember more details about what he had seen of his assailant before throwing himself to the ground. He distinctly remembered tawny colored fur, and...

"Red!" he said aloud, "It wasn't just one color, it was red, too!" He thought for a moment. "But that would mean..." He stopped. He knew what it meant, he just didn't want to say it. He didn't even want to think about it.

"No, no, no!" he shouted, into the darkness of his tunnel, "Not lions! Not now! Not with everything else going on! We already have the hyenas, we don't need any lions!" He began to bang his fist against the rock wall in frustration, but quickly stopped for two reasons.

One, the action hurt his fist. And two...

Stomp, stomp, stomp. Large vibrations sounded throughout the tunnel - there was something outside.

Maz almost scrambled down the tunnel in fear, but he stopped himself before the impulse got the best of him.

Wait, he thought, I need to see who this is. If it's another lion, I can get a better assessment of what our family is up against. He sighed. I am a scout, after all... With that determined - although not particularly happy - thought in mind, he slowly climbed back up the tunnel to the surface.

Morris the warthog sighed as he waded through the grass. He was completely lost in this new environment, his lion companion having left him behind out of excitement of exploration. While he assumed that the big cat had run off in the direction of the so-called "big rock", his bad eyesight prevented him from seeing such a monument that far off in the distance. In the end, the elderly warthog had taken to following telltale indents in the tall grass where his companion had presumably bounded through.

"Lad never thinks these things through," he said to himself absentmindedly as he walked, "Someday, he's gonna get himself in serious trouble if he keeps runnin' off like tha' on his own..." He sighed. That was his responsibility, however difficult it became at times, to teach the young lion about the ways of the world. It wasn't that the lion was dumb - quite the opposite. In all the time Morris had known his young companion, he had always seen an incredibly bright individual, and the contraption holding all of their supplies to his back was proof enough of that.

No, the real cause was something else.

He was about to become completely absorbed in his thoughts, when-

"Hey!" A sudden shout jerked Morris back down to earth. He stopped and looked around in the tall grass surrounding him, but couldn't see who had called out to him.

"Down here, warthog," said the voice again, sounding both agitated and amused. Morris looked right down in front of him to see a meerkat whose body was sticking half out of the hole in the ground where it had been tunneling. The little creature had brown fur with a cream colored underbelly, and black stripes stretching horizontally across its back. It looked up at him with an accusing look on its face.

"Who are you?" inquired the warthog. He had seen many meerkats in his life, but usually in groups, burrowing inside their tunnels beneath the earth and keeping mostly to themselves. Seeing one apart from the others was a rarity, especially when communicating to someone outside of their species.

"The better question is, who are you?" countered the meerkat, eyeing Morris suspiciously, "I've never seen you around these parts."

"I'm jus' here with my friend."

"Friend? I don't see any friend with you." The meerkat made a motion of scanning the general vicinity.

Morris sighed. "Ah, well, tha's because he's run off."

"Run off, huh?" The meerkat suddenly looked a little worried. "Hopefully that crazy lion hasn't got him..." He muttered, presumably to himself.

The side comment wasn't lost on Morris. Crazy lion! "Did you see which way the lion went?" Morris asked sharply.

"I think he went- Wait... Why do you want to know? Are you admitting to being in cahoots with him?"

"If bein' in cahoots means that he's my friend," replied the warthog defiantly, "Then yes, I s'pose I am." When the little creature still refused to drop his accusatory stare, he added, " An' if ya don' stop makin' that face, it'll freeze like that someday!"

The meerkat's expression quickly changed to one of terror. "R-really?" he squeaked. He began feeling his face frantically, as if his features had already begun to harden. "You're just making that up!"

Morris regarded his former accuser's sudden change of emotions with a look of both amazement and amusement.

"Calm down, lad!" he said. He tried to sound soothing, but he gave a slight chuckle nonetheless. "Don' worry, I was jus' joking about that!" Rather than looking reassured, the meerkat somehow managed to look even more suspicious towards him. "Yer face won' freeze!" Morris tried valiantly to keep a straight face. "Honest."

At last, the meerkat began to relax. He even gave a small laugh. Then he seemed to remember how their discussion had come about in the first place, and his accusatory look reappeared.

"So why do you want to know where this crazy lion is?" he asked, "Last I checked, warthogs and lions weren't exactly on the same level in the food chain!"

Morris thought about this for a second before replying. "Yer right," he admitted, "I guess to others, it'd be more than a wee strange that we're friends." He paused. When the meerkat didn't say anything, he continued. "But I've known 'im since he was a cub, and he wouldn' hurt a fly!"

The little creature scoffed. "Psh, yeah, right. Don't think I don't know the way predators behave, big guy! They sucker you in, with false security-" He made a mocking gesture of welcoming accompanied by an almost sickeningly sweet smile. "And before you know it-" He suddenly clapped his hands together. The sharp sound made Morris jump slightly. "BLAM! They're chomping away at your dead carcass."

Morris listened to the explanation of the obviously experienced young meerkat, all the while thinking of a response carefully. Everything that this native said was true - most predators simply lay in wait for their prey to drop their guard before snapping them up as their next meal, it was the way they were. It was the way they had to be!

While that all made sense, however, it was very clear that his lion companion would not be welcome, despite his best intentions. Sure, the local he was talking to may be more than just a little skeptical of any possible motives, but if word ever got beyond him... Things would become much more difficult.

"Listen," he said finally, "If you can tell me where he ran off to, I'm sure I can convince 'im to leave with me. Tha' way, there won't be any panic."

From the way the meerkat reacted, opening his mouth for split moment, then shutting it with a look of annoyance several times indicated to Morris that what he said had done the trick. The scout would have to help him now!

"Fine," said the little creature grudgingly, "I know where this is going." He climbed the rest of the way out of his tunnel, gathered some nearby leaves to cover up the entrance, and began stomping off in the direction of the grass. When Morris didn't follow, he turned with an agitated look. "Now what? I thought you wanted to find the crazy- your friend?"

Morris looked at him with an innocent expression of politeness - and amusement. "Aren't you going to at least tell me your name before leading me into a place I've never been before?"

The meerkat stared at him a full minute before stuttering, "M-My name's...Maz."

"That's a nice name."

Maz the meerkat whirled on his heel and stomped into the tall grass before without a response, save for angry mutterings about "crazy outsiders".

If the chapters still seem too short, don't be afraid to say something! That being said, I hope you'll not forget to review? Criticism is appreciated!