Redwall Stories: The Lynx King

[Mara the Wolf]

A/N: Alright, I've put this off long enough, and I apologize. Just note we aren't starting with Simba's birth, but chronologically a long time ago. Don't worry, there aren't too many stories prior to Simba, but considering this is basically my own Lion King fanfic, just with Redwall species, and I'm big on making expanded universes fit, there'll be way more than just the two movies and TLG. There'll be another author's note at the end explaining the characters and events appearing in each chapter, but for now, let's get started with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Lion King or its characters, nor Redwall.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Prologue
The First King and the Formation of the Lynx Guard

For many, many seasons, heck, generations, the Northlands have been ruled by a royal family of lynxes. These lynxes have ruled a long, long time, and while the Northlands are still very much a war-torn place, the beasts live in relative peace. However, it wasn't always this way.
Once, many, many generations ago, a large number of lynxes, led by the prince of the Lands of Ice and Snow, Brond, his mate Sheena, her younger sister Weena, their cousin Lisaba, and Brond's brother Jabari and their cousin Moto crossed the sea to the Northlands. The Northlands were already inhabited by many powerful beasts, including packs of wolves, badgers, wildcats, and the fiercest of all, the wolverines. The Northlands never had a ruler before, but now, these lynxes had started to build a massive fortress and were claiming themselves the new rulers of the land.
The beasts were uncomfortable with this, but the wildcats and wolverines especially believed that these new beasts had no right to claim themselves as rulers of a land they'd just arrived to, and both the wolverines and the wildcats believed if anybeast should rule, they should. This lead to a long and bloody war between the three, with Jabari and Moto killed in battle with the wolverines. Enraged by the deaths of his brother and cousin, Brond chased the wolverines to a place littered with the bones of badgers. Brond picked up a bone and brandished it like a club. The battle was long and bloody, and it probably would've gone on longer if the land was not suddenly struck by a great earthquake, which caused a massive gorge to form. With many causalities on all sides, the three species called an uneasy truce. The wolverines, along with the red foxes, who had supported them, agreed to take the newly formed lands caused by earthquake as their own, while the wildcats took a forested land to the northeast.
Brond and Sheena had three sons, Rego, Askari, and Kondo, and three daughters, Adah, Lateefa, and Neema, while Weena, Sheena's younger sister and the widow of Jabari, gave birth to a daughter, Adana, by her late mate, while Lisaba had given birth to three boys, Mruki, Kamau, and Mensah by her late mate Moto. Neema, Adana, Mruki, Kamau, and Mensah had been born after the war, but Brond and Sheena's other five children had been born well before and lived through the war. And war was something well known to this family, for they'd made enemies back in the Lands of Ice and Snow, for one day, eight males, a father, his three sons, his brother and three nephews, came and attacked, intending to destroy the royal family and claim their new lands for themselves. With so many lynxes attacking, the Northlands were nearly destroyed. Askari would not stand for it and gathered his brother Kondo and their cousins Mruki, Kamau, and Mensah, and together they fought a fierce and vicious battle and drove the eight away. Brond was impressed. Askari and his brothers and cousins had managed to fight off an enemy that outnumbered them. Brond decided that while Rego would rule, as he was firstborn, Askari, Kondo, Mruki, Kamau, and Mensah should protect the lands, and had the first Lynx Guard formed. And with every king, the second-born (who had always been a son, oddly enough) would lead the Lynx Guard, and while there was no rule against females joining the Guard, the Guard was always made of male lynxes of the royal family.
All this warring had not gone unnoticed by the other beasts, and it put many on edge, especially the badgers. They felt that ever since these lynxes came, they'd brought nothing but war, and prepared to drive the family away for good. Askari heard of this and asked for a council with the mighty beasts.
"Greetings, wise badgers. My name is Askari. I am first leader of the of Pridelands' Lynx Guard. You have nothing to fear from us."
"And you, wise lynxes, have nothing to fear from us," the lead badger said. For now. The leader of the badgers wished for nothing more than to destroy the lynxes, but she was not willing to attack them during a peace conference. The other beasts looked to them as the protectors of the lands, not the lynxes. To attack an enemy during a peace conference was dishonest, and was a level only wolverines and foxes would stoop too.
"I know that there's been much bloodshed ever since we arrived, but my family genuinely does wish to live in peace with the others beasts. I know it'll take time for you to trust us, but I ask you not to go war with us. I wish to protect these lands, and all the beasts living in them. Please, give us a chance. Can't badgers and lynxes live together in peace?"
The lead badger thought long on Askari's impassioned plea. Finally, "Of course we can. We're both noble animals who believe in peace."
The badgers held a ceremony, which they called "Ukumbusho", for all the Northlanders to see for themselves. The lead badger presented to Askari a branch.
"What is this?"
"It represents peace," the old female said. "When we badgers make peace conferences, we give this branch to our new allies."
Askari bowed his head. "Thank you, for this chance to prove ourselves." Askari then passed the branch to his brother Kondo.
"Wh-why are giving to this to me?"
"We all shall be protecting this land with the badgers. So we should all take the branch."
Kondo bowed his head. "With this branch, let us hasten the day of peace." He then passed the branch to Kamau.
"It takes great strength to support peace between us." Kamau passed the branch to Mruki.
"We bravest can do anything."
"We bravest can even find peace when things are most frightening," one badger, who was considered the bravest of his kind, spoke up.
Working together, the lynxes and the badgers made the Northlands a safe home for everybeast who respects the Circle of Life.
Brond was considered one of the greatest kings the Northlands would ever have, though he was far from the last...
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
A/N: Right, story references/inspirations/whatever. First off, Brond, Sheena, Weena, Mruki, Lisaba, and Rego. All of these are names from the very first TLK script, "King of the Kalahari". Brond is the mate of Sheena and father of Rego, while Weena is Sheena's younger sister and has a daughter. Mruki is a young male lion who thinks it's unfair that Brond's family eats first, and he is scolded by Lisaba to be patient. He doesn't and is attacked by Weena and mocked by her daughter.

In The Lion Guard, Fuli is stated to be the first female member of the Lion Guard.
It is also said at some point in season 2 that the reason hyenas and leopards are not allowed in the Pridelands is that too many apex predators in one area would put a strain on the prey populations, so previous lions, leopards, and hyenas agreed to take their own separate territories to prevent this. Additionally, jackals also live in the Outlands, and Kion and the Guard are hesitant to let Dogo and his family into the Pridelands.

Askari was the leader of the first Lion Guard in The Lion Guard. According to wikis, the leader of the Lion Guard is the second-born of the King, but I don't know if that's ever actually stated anywhere. The first Lion Guard was formed when evil lions (the number in cave paintings keeps shrinking. Pause when you first see the first painting of Askari, the first Lion Guard, and the evil lions, and you can count eight evil lions. The very next shot (of the exact same painting) shows seven. The painting of Askari's Guard shows six evil lions attacking...¬_¬) tried to take over the Pridelands. Additionally, in one episode of The Lion Guard, "The Ukumbusho Tradition", Kion and the Guard celebrate with the elephants an anniversary where Askari made peace with the elephants, with lines being:
1.) "Can't elephants and lions live together in peace?" "Of course. We're both brave and noble animals who believe in peace."
2.) "We bravest can do anything." "We bravest can even find peace when things are most frightening."
3.) "With this branch, we will hasten the day of peace." "It takes great strength to support peace between us."
4.) "Many dry seasons ago, Askari, leader of the first Lion Guard, made peace with elephants. Working together, the lions and elephants made the Pridelands a safe home for everyone who respects the Circle of Life."
5.) "Greetings, wise elephants. My name is Askari. I am first leader of the Pridelands' Lion Guard. You have nothing to fear from us." "And you, wise lions, have nothing to fear from us."

Finally, some facts about the "First King":
"The First King" is never stated to be the first king; rather he's the first we know anything about. He is brought up in the German comic, A Gift from the Heavens, which has a Swedish version, A False Ancestor. Things differ between the versions, but the gist is Mufasa just told Simba about the Great Kings becoming stars. A starving rogue lion travels through the next day, and gets hit by a meteor. Simba goes to check it out, and sees the rogue climbing out of the crater and believes him to be an ancestor. The rogue starts pretending to be a previous king and make up stories, hoping Simba will bring him food. After a couple days, Mufasa and Zazu get suspicious and find out about the rogue. Zazu sends two parrots to disprove the rogue.

In the German version:
The rogue claims to be Simba's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
The parrots say that the king the rogue's claiming to be fought off hyenas with tusks (literally translated, "fought off hyenas with the bones of elephants") and had three daughters.
In the Swedish version:
The rogue claims to be Mufasa's great-great-great-grandfather.
The parrots say the king the rogue's claiming to be discovered the Elephant Graveyard sometime around a great earthquake and had three sons.

Character Name Meanings:
Jabari: Brave, Fearless
Moto: Fire
Adah: First-born daughter
Lateefa: Gentle, Kind
Kondo: War
Neema: Born in prosperity
Adana: Her father's daughter
Kamau: Quiet warrior
Mensah: Third-born son