...Deep, threatening roar, how dare this rogue hunt in their lands!
The rogue looked up when he heard Mufasa roar. For just a moment he cringed slightly and thought of running, but then realised that the roar, though loud, was a fraction high to be a mature lion, so this was likely a young one, or perhaps a male who was slighter than usual, neither of which would be overmuch trouble to deal with.
Mufasa's ire only rose as he approached the rogue, the male was just standing there instead of running, which he considered unforgivable, rogues were cowards after all weren't they? So full of self-importance was the prince that he wasn't thinking straight, and thus he didn't realise until for too late that the rogue was in fact a little larger than he, and quite mature, perhaps half way between Mufasa and his father Ahadi is terms of age. Even then, this didn't stop him from saying, "who are you, rogue, what are you doing here?"
"My name's Jaali, youngster," the rogue replied coolly, "and as for what I'm doing here, that should be obvious, even to you."
"Well your meal ends right now, understood," Mufasa replied, "if you haven't started running by the time-"
"Youngster, if I was you I wouldn't be trying to make demands right now," Jaali cut in, "I'm bigger than you, I'm stronger than you, and I'm a more experienced fighter than you, so buzz off and let me finish my meal, and I might just let you live."
Mufasa was silent a moment as he realised that the rogue, Jaali did indeed have the advantage, "a-and if I were to leave you be?"
"Fine by me," Jaali replied, then paused, "except you're not another rogue are you?"
"W-why does that matter," Mufasa asked nervously.
"Because the last thing I want is to be run out by the local king," Jaali replied, "and if I let you go now then you'll run straight back to him and tell him exactly where I am, and that's something I'm not about to let-hey, come back here!"
Mufasa ran as fast as he could, terrified of what the rogue might have planned for him. Unfortunately for the young prince, his relatively sheltered life mean that he hadn't yet developed the taut, hard musculature needed to run down prey on a regular basis, and so despite the head start it wasn't long before he found himself on the ground, with Jaali atop him. Though he was fearful of his fate, the young lion was too busy gasping for breath to speak.
"Now normally I'd do something nasty, possibly even lethal at this point," Jaali said, "and indeed I'm going to leave you with something permanent today, but you're lucky, because you've caught be when I'm not in a killing mood."
-------
Mufasa felt queasy as he stumbled home, not only was his shoulder throbbing from the deep gashes, but his rear was not much better, the rogue really had been rough with him. Not that he was keen for anyone to know that had happened, losing to a rogue who was larger and older than he was hardly shameful, but the 'punishment' he'd been dealt was shameful in the extreme.
"Great Kings of the past, Mufasa, what happened," Ahadi said, when he saw his son's condition, "are you okay?"
"Apart from this shoulder, fairly much," Mufasa replied, "as to the 'what', I met a rogue who was bigger than I was."
"Is this rogue still around," Ahadi asked, concerned.
"Well I didn't manage to kill him, so I suppose so," Mufasa replied, "I'm not going to be up to much for a while though."
"Understood," Ahadi said, "will you need to get Rafiki to look at that shoulder?"
"I-I think it would be best," Mufasa replied.
-------
"I heard what happened," Sarabi said, coming forward immediately after Rafiki left, "I'm sorry-"
"Don't be," Mufasa replied, "it was my own stupid fault I got into that fight, not yours or anyone else's."
Sarabi was silent a moment, then said, "well, you know I'll always be here for you."
"And for that I'm eternally grateful," Mufasa replied, wondering if perhaps he could reveal the other outcome of the encounter to her, he didn't want to carry the knowledge alone - apart from Rafiki, and the mandrill didn't really count on that score - and he didn't dare tell his family, but just maybe she was trustworthy enough?
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