Sarabi stealthily stepped through the tall grass of the Savannah and barely made a sound within her hunting mode. The lioness Queen had sprung into action as soon as Scar alerted her to hyena sightings in the area and promised to catch up after getting her husband. She wasn't about to wait and let those beasts try making a meal out of her son again. As headstrong as it was, the wife of Mufasa headed out to shred the Outlanders all by herself and get even with them.

However, Sarabi couldn't pick up a trace of a hyena from their rancid stench to their obnoxious laughter. It wasn't like them to be anything close to subtle. She considered that they saw her coming and scrammed but they're scent would still be fresh. Something... was off. As if to confirm her suspicions, a soft yet sharp hissing hit her ears and immediately set off her nerves. The Queen still kept her wit about her as she looked to her left and slowly turned in awaiting her guest.

From the tall grass before Sarabi, a large python slithered out into her view and came within mere feet of her face. She stepped back with her eyes wide and mouth agape, shocked by the size of the reptile. The head alone was just about the same size as her own unlike any other snake in the Pride Land. A searing scowl on the serpent's face combined with his flickering tongue communicated one crystal clear message to the Queen: she was snake food. His food precisely.

Sarabi quickly scowled right back and bared her teeth, giving a growl to the brown python. Her hair stood up at all ends while all her claws unsheathed. She was still freaked out on the inside but urged herself to never show it. The lioness wasn't just a predator but Queen of the Pride Lands. If some overgrown worm fancied her as his lunch, then he was about to pay hard for such an insult to royalty. One swipe to his left eye would be suitable punishment for the idea.

However, Sarabi was about to poise herself for a pounce when the python's eyes widened and looked directly into her's. His pupils suddenly produced multi-colored rings pouring out with a radiant glow, creating a rhythmic pattern. The Queen's desire to attack gave way to confusion over this peculiar phenomenon before it was followed by a growing sense of relaxation. The serpent's shimmering stare slowly doused her fired up spirit for battle much to her growing horror.

Sarabi found her vision becoming colored over by those very radiant rainbow rings as they poured out of her pupils and flooded her eyes. Her mouth was agape while her brow knit fearfully. The Queen knew that she needed to attack the python and yet... she couldn't. All the fight in her was whittling away to near nothingness. Her eyes were locked onto the snake's sinister stare even as she struggled to pull her head away. Part of her... was even starting to like it.

However, enough of Sarabi's willpower still clung to her mind and urged herself to break free. Yet every time the Queen tried to close her eyes, her lids couldn't even make a single blink. Suddenly, the python slowly slithered forward to move his smoldering glare within a foot of her helpless expression. The lioness managed to step back slowly but found that she couldn't built speed for a getaway. If anything, the serpent was commanding her body to move without a hiss.

Sarabi wanted to beg for the python's mercy and be spared of his hunger but she couldn't speak unless he freed her from his thrall. All she could let out was short breaths that communicated all the fear she could. The Queen felt humiliated as a predator and royalty for being reduced to such a helpless state like common prey. The salt was rubbed into her wounded pride further when the serpent lifted his head up and cast his hypnotic glare down upon his coming meal.

Sarabi found herself craning her head upward at the python towering above her, her eyes hooked on those radiant rainbow rings. Without a verbal ordering, she even lowered her backside down to the ground and straighten out her posture in sitting. Despite pleading with herself, the Queen could only obey the silent serpent searing stare powerlessly and beg with her pitiful expression. This just... couldn't be happening. Not to her. Not to a Queen of the Pride Lands.

All the python gave in response was his perpetual glare of contempt before diving down upon Sarabi. His maw widened within the second and engulfed her entire head. The colorful rings in the Queen's vision slowly dimmed down to reveal the near pitch blackness of the snake's gullet. Saliva soaked her fur as she felt the serpent swallowing past her shoulders and pinning her fore-arms to her chest. The lioness felt the dread grow in her soul as her hind paws were lifted.

Sarabi could barely move her hind legs in the air with the python's hypnosis lingering inside of her but desperately tried. She could feel her waistline being slowly swallowed up without any struggle and closing in on her hind. The Queen begged for a miracle while staring directly into the unending tunnel she was sucked ever closer into. Surely, Mufasa was on his way and poised to sink his teeth into the scaly scoundrel. Her husband would never allow this tragedy, right?

The very fantasy bought Sarabi a few seconds of hope before the python gave a greater swallow that consumed her buttocks and calves in one go. All she could feel of the outside world were her hind paws that wriggled about, pleading for the universe to spare her this horrifying fate. Please. Mufasa, Simba, all of her subjects. They flashed before her eyes as her hind paws were finally sucked into the serpent's throat. His maw soon shut and closed her off from the world.

---

"I take it she was little trouble for you."

Scar sauntered into the lonely cave all too casually with his eyes seeing through the dark. In the corner, he found the python curled up with his stomach on display and smirked maliciously at the bulge it presented. The serpent allowed him to come as close as her wanted to as if they were old friends. All the while, the bulge in his guts seemed to squirm ever so slightly with a mournful moan muffled to all but a feline's sharp hearing. It was all music to the King-In-Waiting.

"Such a tragedy to lose such beauty in a unforgiving world," Scar pretended to mournful, stroking the bulge in preserve admiration. "Alas this is the price a lioness pays for getting in over her head." He smirked upon hearing Sarabi's muffled crying, wondering if she was putting it together in her final moments. "I always told my brother that his wife was too headstrong on a hunt." The villain even clicked his tongue condescendingly. "Now we know where Simba get it."

Scar looked back up to the python's perpetual glowering with a maniacal snigger. "You've exceeded my expectation," he complimented the reptile. "I always admired how cleanly your kind consume your prey with such cleanliness." The python raised an eyebrow at the King-In-Waiting's flattery. "Just the method I require for such perfect assassinations." He soon noticed the rising sunlight illuminating more of the cave and realized the time with delightfully devilish smile.

"Your services may be required in due time," Scar promised while turning away from the python. "A regime change is on the horizon for the Pride Lands, one some may express... discontent for." He went over the plan in his head as he headed to the cave's exit, reminding himself to go to the Wildebeests first. "Should they overstep their boundaries, I'll arrange them a... meeting with you." The villain glanced back for one last look at Sarabi wriggling within the bulge.

"Pleasure doing business with you..."