Dry seasons were always difficult times for the residents of the Pride Lands. Animals became testy as resources became scarce, and to that end, it was law that peace between all animals was to be strictly maintained at the water hole. Any animal that violated the water hole truce was subject to banishment.
This year's dry season wasn't as terrible as some of those that had come before. Most notable in recent memory was the dry season in the final year of Scar's reign. As conditions in the Pride Lands deteriorated, Scar had made no effort to preserve the land, the water or the herds. Every creature, great and small, had suffered immensely.
Every creature, that is, except certain reptiles.
Ushari and his fellow cobras had seen the signs of terrible seasons under Scar. They had retreated underground before the start of the dry season, seeking out a den to share with skinks and turtles, where they settled in for months of brumation. When they re-emerged five months later, Scar was gone, and a new king, Simba, had taken his place. Ushari watched as the Pride Lands began to flourish and the herds began to return. The two dry seasons that had passed under Simba thus far had been incredibly easy to endure by comparison, to the point that Ushari felt no need to brumate. Even this year, with the current water hole at its lowest point since Simba's ascension, the animals of the Pride Lands were prepared, confident that the season would be more than survivable.
The dry season also brought other advantages. Under Scar, female cobras had not come into season, understanding that they would have nothing to sustain their eggs and subsequent offspring. But now, under Simba's considerate leadership, the female cobras were ready to lay again. And it was about now that they sought mates.
Ushari had been on the pheromone trail of a particularly eager female for the last hour, and believed he was finally approaching its end. He flicked his tongue in the air, trying to pick up more distinct scents from the female. She couldn't be far; probably down near what remained of the water hole. Ushari picked up his pace when he very nearly ran right into an obstacle; a long, living obstacle.
Startled, Ushari backed up and extended his hood. The other animal did the same. Ushari sighed and relaxed his hood when he noted the other cobra, a male. The stranger followed suit.
“My apologies, friend,” Ushari said. “I was a bit too focused to see you there right away.”
The other cobra chuckled. “I was going to say the same to you. I suppose we were both a bit too intent on scoring a date with a pretty girl tonight.”
Ushari gave the other cobra a wry grin. “Perhaps we were. My name is Ushari. I don't believe I've seen you around the Pride Lands before.”
The other cobra ducked his head in acknowledgment. “I'm a newcomer here. My name's Mpinzani. I left my homeland looking for a place more tolerable during the dry season. Back home, we cobras have been driven from our dens, and the dry season has not been kind. I thought I might try my luck elsewhere.”
“The journey must have been difficult.”
“Nothing I can't survive. I'm hardy.”
“I don't doubt it,” Ushari said, looking Mpinzani up and down. Mpinzani was bigger, but still clearly a bit out of shape from his long journey. “But how hardy are you? We can't both be on the trail of the same female; she would never allow it. According to cobra code, you can either bow to a resident cobra, or issue a challenge to mapambano ya ngoma. It's up to you.”
Mpinzani studied Ushari for a moment, then smiled. “If I'm not mistaken, I am younger than you. I think I could have a good chance against you, even if I am a bit worn from the trip. Very well, I would like to challenge you to mapambano.”
Ushari returned his smile. “Excellent. It's been entirely too long since I've engaged in a good combat dance. I look forward to seeing the strength you can bring to the Pride Lands.”
The younger cobra ducked his head again and said, “Then may the best cobra win.”
The two cobras ceremoniously circled one another for a few moments before intertwining their bodies, heads held high, hoods folded. Then, on some unspoken cue, the struggle began. Ushari found himself slammed to the ground almost immediately. He grunted, then picked himself up and returned the blow, managing to bring Mpinzani's chin all the way to the ground. Each snake tried to pin the other's head for a count of five, which would win him the match, but his opponent would always wriggle free at the last moment. Ushari's better health and experience kept him evenly matched to the younger cobra's size and strength. The two snakes happily resigned themselves to the fact that this match could go on for hours.
…..............................
Nearby, the Lion Guard was on patrol. Kion had his paws full now that his first dry season was in full swing. As leader of the Lion Guard, it fell to him to try and maintain peace between all creatures, especially at the water hole. The main source of water in the Pride Lands had shrunk too much to sustain the herds of pachyderms, and the hippo runs were both too depleted and too dangerous for any creature other than hippos to use. The elephants, led by Ma Tembo, had been patrolling the foothills north of the Pride Lands for water for the last few days. Kion had to resist the urge to tie up his guard by doing all the searching for Ma Tembo, who had only last year become herd matriarch.
Kion was not a very young cub anymore, and stood on the cusp of adolescence. He felt the weight of his responsibilities quite heavily. Just a few months before, he had been a carefree child, romping through the Pride Lands with Bunga, kicking around a baobab fruit. Now he held the second most important job in all of the Pride Lands, and at present enjoyed greater authority than did his sister, the future queen.
As Kion and the guard patrolled a hill overlooking the trail to the water hole, Ono spied Ushari and Mpinzani wrestling in the grass. He swooped down and alighted in front of the guard.
“Kion! I just saw Ushari tangled with a strange cobra that I've never seen before. They seemed to be locked in a pretty fierce battle.”
“A strange cobra?” Kion said. “As in, not from the Pride Lands?”
“I don't think it is. I'm not too sure, but it looked like it might have come from the desert. It was all dusty and kind of thin for an Egyptian cobra.”
“Wait, some random cobra is attacking one of our cobras?” Bunga said, jumping to the front of the group. “We gotta help him!”
“I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Bunga,” Fuli said. “You may be immune to cobra venom, but the rest of us aren't.”
“We should at least check and see if Ushari is okay,” Beshte pointed out.
“I think you're right, Beshte,” Kion said. “We've had a lot of strangers causing trouble in the Pride Lands lately. And that's something we can't afford with the dry season. Let's go see if we can help Ushari.” He turned and began to run down the hill, the rest of the guard following close behind.
“Till the Pride Lands end...”
“Lion Guard defend!”
….................
Mpinzani landed hard on the ground with a grunt, Ushari's full weight on his head. Ushari was starting to show signs of tiring, having been at this for over an hour now. The two snakes mentally counted to five as Mpinzani struggled to get back up. At the count of four, Mpinzani managed to loop his tail around and push Ushari's body to one side, throwing off the other snake's balance and giving Mpinzani the chance to free himself and turn the tide. Ushari now found himself belly up, with Mpinzani pressing on his chin, keeping his head in the dirt.
One, two, three...
Suddenly the two snakes heard a shout. Ushari barely had enough time to grimace and let slip an “Oh, not them,” before a gray and white blur slammed into Mpinzani, knocking him completely free of Ushari.
As Ushari got up, he looked up to see Bunga struggling to keep a writhing Mpinzani in his grip. The other cobra was fully hooded and in a clear panic.
“Let me go! Please! I'll never set scale in the Pride Lands again, I promise! Just don't eat me!”
Bunga gaped at the cobra in his paws for a moment. “Eat you? Why would I eat you? I just didn't want you attacking one of our Pride Land snakes, that's all.”
“Bunga!” Ushari snapped, extending his hood and rising up to be eye level with the honey badger. “Let Mpinzani go this instant!”
“Wait, you do know him?” Bunga asked, one eyebrow raised. “But he was attacking you! Ono saw him!”
The rest of the guard joined them, and Kion carefully approached Ushari.
“Are you alright, Ushari? Ono said he saw a strange cobra attacking you.”
Mpinzani gave Ushari an incredulous look. “Wha...what's going on? Don't tell me these mammals are your friends!”
Ushari hissed. “They are not my friends! They're the Lion Guard. Prince Kion here is their leader. And clearly they know nothing about cobra combat!”
“You might wanna let the other guy go now, Little B,” Beshte told Bunga. The honey badger complied.
Once free, Mpinzani turned and hissed at Bunga, then turned angrily to Ushari. “You mean to tell me that you can't even engage in a proper mapambano ya ngoma without getting help from mammalian friends? And a prince and a honey badger, no less! You may as well have just bitten me! I should hope this behavior is not indicative of all cobras here in the Pride Lands, because if it is, I want nothing to do with you or any of the females here, no matter how beautiful they may be! Now, if you'll excuse me, I will take my leave!”
Mpinzani slithered into the grass, leaving a distraught and ashamed Ushari alone with the young animals.
“What exactly was all that about, Ushari?” Kion asked.
Ushari rounded angrily on the lion cub. “What was that about? I'll tell you what that was about! I was engaged in a ritual combat with another cobra to welcome him to the cobra community here in the Pride Lands, and you and your playmates came in with your make believe little games and completely dishonored me! You've ruined any chance I had of building a friendship with him and helping him settle in, you've ruined any chance I had of impressing a female this season, and you've shamed me in front of my fellow snakes! When word of what's happened here spreads to the other cobras, I'll be a laughing stock! I'll lose all respect I had with them, because they'll only see me as a cheater, a coward, and a snake who could not honor the strict code of the mapanbano ya ngoma!”
“You mean you weren't in trouble?” Bunga asked.
“No, I was not in trouble!” Ushari shouted. “At least not until you all showed up and impugned my honor! Every single time I'm within a few feet of you, all I ever get is trampled, treated like a toy, and disresssspected at every turn! But thisssss! Thissss is the final ssssstraw! Disrespecting me by crushing me with your filthy limbs is one thing, but painting me as one who breaks the ssssssacred code of the cobra is another entirely!”
“What's with the hissing on all of your ssss sounds all of a sudden?” Bunga asked. The rest of the guard had backed down, but Bunga, seemingly oblivious to Ushari's rage, was unfazed as the cobra got into his face.
“It'sss a habit I have when I'm angry at obnoxiousssss, disresssspectful little beasssssstssss like YOU!” Ushari was nearly nose to nose with Bunga now. He kept his fangs behind his lips, but poured all the contempt and venom he could into his glower. “I have half a mind to bite you and pour all my venom into you for that little sssstunt you pulled. You'll be out cold for three days sssstraight, and then maybe I could finally have some peace!”
At this point, Kion decided it was time to step in, venomous snake or no. “Calm down, Ushari. We're sorry we interrupted your wrestling match, but that's no reason to threaten Bunga.”
“No reason?!” Ushari cried, whirling on Kion. “You think that just because you're the son of the king—just because you're a mammal—that you can get away with forcing me to forfeit a match in a sacred ritual, and treat it as if it were some game that neonates play? You consider yourself above all other creatures, and believe that they are not entitled to honor and respect just because you're royalty?”
“What? N-no, I don't believe that at all! I'm sorry, Ushari! We didn't know!”
“Because you don't make an effort to know! All I am is a sssstick to be kicked asssside as far as you're concerned! King Ssssimba's biggest misssstake in his reign so far has been letting a cub play these ridiculoussss little games at the detriment of ussss reptiles! My job in the Pride Lands has always been pest control, but it seems I can't do that job anymore because the pesssssts now hold privileged positionsssss in the kingdom! Clearly I am not welcome here anymore!”
With that, Ushari turned and bolted into the grass, leaving the Lion Guard, sans Bunga, feeling thoroughly ashamed. Bunga merely stared after the snake with a puzzled expression.
“Wow. Someone got up on the wrong side of the den today,” Bunga mused.
“I'm pretty sure that we're the ones who caused his problems,” Ono said. “I should've known that they were engaging in a combat dance. It's how cobras compete for the right to court a female. That was my fault.”
“It was all our fault, Ono,” Kion said. “But mine especially. I jumped to conclusions again. I wasn't careful. And with cobras, you've always gotta be careful.”
“Not me,” Bunga boasted. “I'm immune!”
“Yeah, even you, Bunga,” Fuli snapped. “Ushari was madder at you than he was at the rest of us. And now he's threatening to leave for good.”
“Oh,” Bunga said, realization dawning on his face. “I didn't want Ushari to feel like we don't want him here. We were just trying to help.”
“Well, there's nothing we can do about it for the moment,” Kion said. “Why don't you four go back to the lair? I'll catch up later.”
The rest of the guard exchanged knowing glances. “Right. See you at the lair, Kion,” Beshte said.
….....................
Kion made his way to a favorite hill overlooking the Pride Lands. This seemed to generally be the best place to meet with his mentor. He looked up at the sky and called out, “Grandfather Mufasa?”
Clouds churned, and Mufasa's visage appeared. “I'm here, Kion.”
“Grandfather, I think we made a big mistake today,” Kion began. “We thought we were protecting Ushari the cobra from another cobra who's not from the Pride Lands, but all we ended up doing was driving both of them away. And now Ushari's threatening to leave the Pride Lands because he says we dishonored him.”
“Honor is the most important thing to a cobra.”
“Yeah, he kind of made that clear to us. I don't know if he'll ever forgive us, or if we can ever make it up to him.”
“Ushari may simply need some time. Cobras do not forgive easily, and it will be difficult to convince Ushari of the sincerity of your apology. This is just the sort of mistake leaders often make, and re-establishing good relations with those we've hurt can be a long and difficult process. But you should always make an attempt to correct your mistakes.”
“Do you think Ushari will ever forgive us?”
“I can't say that he will. But for your part, you should do whatever is in your power to mend the rift torn between you. Ushari is, after all, an important resident of the Pride Lands, being the oldest and most respected among the cobras.”
“Thanks, Grandfather. I'll do my best to let Ushari know that I'm truly sorry, and that from now on, I'll make sure he's treated with the respect he deserves.”
As Kion finished his conversation with Mufasa, he was unaware of two pairs of eyes watching him. It wasn't long before the creature belonging to one of those pairs introduced herself with gusto, but the other set retreated into the tall grass.
….....................
Ushari slithered away, digesting what he had just seen and heard. He couldn't help but appreciate that Kion was remorseful, but he certainly didn't feel like forgiving the cub just yet. Having only heard one side of Kion's conversation, he couldn't be certain the lion wasn't straight up insane. But if Kion genuinely was able to summon the ghost of Mufasa, as the young mandrill had excitedly announced that he could, Ushari might be able to use that to shame Kion into upholding the promise he'd made to the clouds to make sure cobras were treated with respect. But he wondered if it was really worth the effort.
Ushari's brooding carried him away from the Pride Lands into the outlands. As his anger stewed, he forgot about Kion's promise to do better and focused more and more on a rising desire to get revenge on the Lion Guard for dishonoring him. He became so intent on his growing hatred for the youths who made up the Lion Guard that he did something very uncharacteristic of any snake: he stopped paying attention to the vibrations in the ground around him.
And that left him completely oblivious to the fact that he was being stalked.
