A Crocodile's Journey

Chapter 9

The inhabitants of the Pride Lands panicked when they heard some elephants had been not only attacked, but also killed. Elephants were large and very hard to bring down, if it was even possible, so naturally the idea that there was one animal that could do so scared them. Simba had immediately rushed to the scene, and though it wasn't really his business, Makuu tagged along, curious about the power of this new predators.

Of course, it took him a while to catch up to the lion king, due to this shorter legs. But when he did, he noted there were lots of herds gathered around the 'crime scene', Ma Tembo's herd among them. The vultures were circling around in the sky, and other minor scavengers were walking around, waiting for Simba's signal to let them feast. He managed to pass through the taller animals and emerged just in time to see the scene.

Two elephants were lying on the ground, unmoving. There were no visible wounds on the body, but there was a small trail of long-dried blood that rolled down their heads, from a tiny hole embedded in their foreheads. Said river had formed a pool on the ground, which had also dried.

But the biggest shock was that the two males' tusks were gone: they hadn't been broken off, rather it looked as if they had been cut off somehow.

Currently, Simba was speaking with Ma Tembo, who was still shaken by the sight.

"They came out of nowhere." She explained visibly upset. "Those two males were looking forward to mate when the two-legs attacked. They tried to fight them while the rest of us ran away, but those beasts were too fast. Then we heard it; a brief but loud sound. I came back to see what had happened, and I found the two-legged creatures cutting off those males' tusks."

"How did they look like?" Simba asked.

"That's the strange thing. At first I thought the beasts we saw first were the predators, but when I came to see I noted there were smaller creatures around the bodies. They stood on their hind legs, their coats were brownish, and they were smaller than an elephant."

"Well, since they only took the tusks and left the rest of the body, they clearly did not hunt to feed."

Meanwhile, Kion and the rest of the Lion Guard were taking a look at the predator's trail. They were the strangest paw prints they had ever seen. The ones closer to the body were tiny, about the size of Rafiki's feet, but slightly bigger, and with the impression the creature had no fingers.

Then there were the bigger pawprints. They almost looked like the trail of a slithering snake, but thicker and going mostly straight lines, except at the parts where they assumed they had made turns.

"This guy's certainly heavy." Bunga pointed out as he stepped on one of the long trails.

"He might be heavy, but he looks like he's pretty fast too." Fuli added, examining the parts where the creature had turned. "Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to make this turns without slipping."

Beshte thought. "Speaking of which, where do you think he came from? Nobody's ever seen anything like it, at least not anyone that's still alive."

Ono flew down to the group after following the pawprints for a few meters ahead. "Did you manage to find its den?" Kion asked.

Ono shook his head. "The trail heads out of the Pride Lands, I couldn't see anything farther. Sorry."

"That's okay, Ono. At least now we know these animals are outsiders, just like my dad said."

Meanwhile, the rest of the herds were whispering amongst themselves about what just transpired. They were afraid they would be next, and the threat these new predators posed. Some thought the hyenas were behind this, but others dismissed it; these attacks were too well-coordinated for Janja and his cronies to be behind it. Then the blame was pinned on the Outsiders, but those pawprints didn't belong to a lion, so the idea was quickly discarded.