Well hello again!
I see a lot of you really do have concern of the being of SImba. I don't want to give away anything, but the death of Simba will be satisfying enough for you. In the meantime, let's get answering on the comments.
Tanabi and LionKingFactsGuy2: Keep calm! It's not going to be that bad… at least later on. Just relax and trust me!
Reldor: You got that right. He should have finished that, it would have things way easier in the later part of the story.
Starzinmyeyez: Stay relaxed. For now, Koch and Kiara are in charge. Let's see how that turns out.
Chapter 11: one shall stand, one shall fall
As soon as he got down onto the place where his pride had settled down, Simba ordered everyone to get to their paws and ready themselves. Kicho right at once spread his wings and set flight to find out how many lions were coming towards them. Simba eyed his pride as he began to speak. "We should get ready at once. Nuru, Mto!" He said and directed his gaze towards the orange female and the dark ochre male. "I want you to take care of Shani and Chaka. Bring them somewhere where they can be safe."
Tama's daughter glanced at him with a face mixed with disappointment and doubt. "But sire… we can fight and defend the kingdom as well." She called out but cut off from the golden male as he waived his paws in front of her.
"Not in your condition." He simply said and caught the orange female completely by surprise. Nuru threw back a glare that almost asked how he could have possibly found out. Yet Simba returned the gesture with a nod to the queen who stared completely innocent. "Mto, you are responsible for her. Make sure that she doesn't get hurt." He ordered and the dark ochre male bowed acknowledging. "Alright, then let's…"
"Aren't you forgetting something?" He then heard the voice of his mate calling out to him and putting her paw on his. The king turned around and faced the eyes of Nala as they spoke out every single thing that she had to say to the male.
Simba glared at her frustrated before rolling his eyes and facing the pride again. "Not now Nala, there's no time."
But the queen quickly cut him off and addressed the pride himself. "Alright, Tama and Vitani will lead the lionesses to attack the strangers." She called out glancing over to the pride. "Niyani, Subira, Nafsi… you will go and aid Malka and the others." The queen continued and the three older lionesses and once darted off into the distance. "Zazu!" Nala called and the blue hornbill came landing directly beside her. "I want you to find Mbio and Kivuli, we're going to need them too."
Simba was completely taken aback as he watched his wife taking full control of the situation and setting up a plan to defend their home. It didn't take long and the greater part of the lionesses including the sister of Kovu marched off into the distance towards the foreign pride. The king and the queen watched their pride getting into a motion in a well organized way.
It was then that the queen laid her head on his shoulder and smiled up to him. "Sorry to steal your thunder but… I had to do something before you were going out there yourself and gat flattened with the condition you are in." She said with a gentle tone and took a few steps forward. The only ones left at pride rock were she and Simba alongside Kiara and Kovu as well as Nuru, Mto, Shani and Chaka.
The two cubs had snuggled up to their mother as she tried to calm the two down. The golden furred female began to cry as she realized that she was about to be separated from her mother. "Don't cry Shani! Auntie Nuru and uncle Mto will make sure that you two will be fine." She said and licked her daughter numerous times over the head.
Kovu himself came up and nuzzled both his children with a gentle smile on his face. He then turned towards Mto and eyed him deeply. "Make sure they're fine… or else I'm going to come after you." He said with his teeth bared and Mto stumbled back a few steps.
"Sure… no problem!" Tojo's son replied with a unsure and unsafe smile while directing his gazes towards the king and queen and back. But the dark brown male laughed a little and clapped the ochre male on the back as if to say… Just kidding!
With a few last gestures of love from their parents and their grandparents, the two cubs followed Nuru and Mto to the backside of pride rock. The whole time the adults were in sight, the two cubs never kept their eyes off them before they had completely vanished. Kiara and Kovu relaxed their faces from the forced smiles they had put on and exhaled deeply.
With the four members of the royal family being the only ones left, Simba turned to the cream female being right at his side and asked out loud. "So… with that been taken care of, what are we supposed to do?" He asked and gave his mate a worried glance as he waited for Zazu or Kicho to report.
Simba's old friends Tojo and Malka couldn't believe it, they were being chased through their own home by a bunch of foreign lionesses. Never in his life since he came would he have dreamed about it. But here they were. With heavy breaths, the trio managed to dodge or deflect any jumping attack that came from the lionesses jumping at them. Tojo was in front of the group as they crossed a small creek which was not far away from the Zuberi-river.
In the back, Meethu gave a brown lionesses jumping at him a few strikes with his paws which made her tumble backwards and leave the cream male standing over her and giving a final kick to the head.
"Wow, these lionesses are way tougher and I would have expected them to be." Malka said between his breaths while shoving away another female attacking him. Soon, they found themselves surrounded by the northlanders again before flashes of tarnish and pale gold came running passed them and getting straight into the rumble.
One single glare at them made the trio of lions realize that they had just been aided by Subira and Nafsi as well as Niyani. Tojo's face lit up as he saw the pale caramel female running off and sinking her claws into the back of another female and wrestling her to the ground. "Glad you can join us honey!" He called out to his mate while Subira and Nafsi had teamed up to bring another female to the ground finishing her.
Soon, the group had won the upper hand just in time for Kicho to land in the middle of them with flapping wings. Subira right away moved up to a lioness that tried to crawl away from them and at once pressed one claw onto the female's throat. "Now, it's time for some answers." She said and growled down on her. "What is going on here?" She asked and Kicho as well as the others listened carefully.
"They say, they are coming from the north lands. King Ingelozi…" Malka started but didn't get to finish his statement.
Because at that point, Tama's mother brought her head up and just continued to stare at the foreigner. "That means that king Isitha is dead. What happened to prince Ingozi?" She asked stern and with another growl.
But the lioness just turned her head into a nasty smile and responded as she chuckled to herself. "Prince Ingozi is dead, we stay loyal to king Ingelozi and consultant Isitha. We all serve to see the demise of the pride lands and their inhabitants." Subira let her go and struck her claws over the lionesses face.
"Get to Simba, tell him that this is an northlander attack and that we should be really careful." She wanted to warn the males as the white and black pied spread his wings again and flew into the direction of prides rock. "Now…" Subira started again but didn't get far as she got tackled by the lioness that she had interrogated before and the two rolled over the ground.
Growls and roars filled the sky as the two females on the ground started to roll towards the edge that led directly towards the gorge of the Zuburi-river. "WATCH OUT SUBIRA!" Nafsi and Niyani yelled out at the same time. But it was too late, with wide eyes of shock, they were forced to watch both of them tumble over the ground and immediately rushed after them. Niyani was the first one to arrive at the edge and stared down hoping to catch a glimpse of Tama's mother.
But there was no sight of anybody. With horror, the group stared straight down into the river where they had seen their longtime friend and aunt vanish into the blue and cold water. "No!" Was the only thing that Malka said as he saw no sign of his mother in law. With hanging heads, the group turned away from the cliff except for Malka.
"Come on Malka!" Nafsi called to her son as she saw how sad he looked. "We have to keep moving." She added with a sad voice as she saw the pale orange male walking along her way. It was one of the first times; she had ever seen her son completely lost of words. "I know that this is disturbing, but if we have to be on guard. The northlanders are still in our home and we have to get them out of here."
The male just nodded and the two followed the rest of the pridelanders back to where the fight was going on.
At another place in the pride lands, Ingelozi and a few of his followers had caught on to a female and pressed her to the ground. It was one of the lionesses that had returned alongside Vitani and the other outlanders. She tried to resist the merciless grasps of the king as he spoke out to them. "Now! I think it is time for someone to finally bring a light to the situation we have here." He said with a nasty smirk with the lioness still struggling. "Tell me, what are the members of the royal family? And how well are they trained?"
The female gulped before she spoke out and told the king everything he needed to know. "Simba is our king, but over the last months, a strange illness has taken the better of him. He doesn't look good at all, but neither one of us knows exactly what is going on with him." She stopped as she saw the smug faces of the king.
"His mate Nala is currently ruling most of the kingdom and his daughter Kiara is married to the lion called Kovu." That sentence made Ingelozi shook back and let a surprised laughter escape his muzzle. "And then there are the two cubs of Kiara, Shani and Chaka."
Cubs! That changes a lot. The brown furred, green eyed male turned his head and glared at two other males in his back. "Usizo, there are two royal cubs out there waiting to be found." He said and without any other word coming from the male in his back, he vanished along with four females and two other males.
Ingelozi turned his head back around and face the lioness at his mercy. "See! That wasn't so hard." He said before twisting the lioness's neck around and leaving her lifeless body back in the grass. He got together with Itshe and Umnikozi before turning his face yet into another grin. "If the king is really this bad in shape, I bet they are holding him back at pride rock. Well protected." The three faced the pride rock and the king called out with a smirk. "This should be fun."
"Are you sure?" Simba asked as the major-domo in training had just come back and gave away his report.
Simba and Nala stared at each other until their daughter and their son in law couldn't take it anymore and glared up to the royals before the golden/cream female began asking out loud. "What is the matter with the king of the north lands?" She asked and her voice demanding and even a bit scared as she saw the worried faces of her parents.
They stared over at her and they started to explain. "There has been an ongoing rivalry between the north kinds and the pride lands. It is the kingdom that lays north ours. The border is small and is located right between the outlands and the shadowlands." He said and Kiara as well as Kovu listened carefully.
"We were told by your grandmother that the northlanders had always been jealous of our kingdom and how we were living in this rich landscape." Her mother answered and she already started to twist her head nervously once in a while. "With the northlanders invading our kingdom, we have to be careful and keep ourselves on guard all the time." She turned her head and glance over at her mate. "And you can guess who the first one is, Ingelozi will go after!"
But Simba didn't have to think to know that he was the one that was the target of this attack. His heart made a drop down into his back legs. One second, he was ready to step down as king and leave it to the next generation. And in the next second, he found himself fighting for his life and the lives of his family. But in this shape, he was unable to face the king of the north lands.
In that moment, Zazu came back and landed right in front of them with pointing his beak towards Mbio and Kivuli padding over to them. "What's going on, how can we help?" Was the first thing the queen's nephew said before he and his tarnish friend stopped right in front of the four royals.
Simba was about to answer as Kiara right away cut him off and called back on her friends. "First of all… you can help my parents to get out of here."
Both the former king and the former queen went dead silent as they turned completely still with their muzzles hanging white open. With a mix of disbelieve and astonishment, he stared at his daughter before questioning out at once. "Come again!"
[Miles away]
The pride lands had turned into a battle ground. The northlanders and the pridelanders had met in the middle of the kingdom and right away engaged in battle. Vitani and Tama were at the front as both lioness extracted their claws and threw the first punches at the invading pride of lions. Who would have thought that the tan female that once tried to conquer the pride lands herself, was now trying to prevent even that from happening. Quickly maneuvered her body out of the way and scratched her front claws over the back of the northlander.
Across the field, the group being led by Nafsi moved their way right over into the mess that was going on in the plains. The pale golden female jumped onto a lioness that was about to bring her teeth down on Spotty before she threw her around and rammed her into the ground. A male coming from behind himself wanted to sank his teeth into Nafsi as Malka came around and hammered his head into the male's side.
In the middle of the battle, Tama circled around with another lioness as both of them threw their mad eyes at each other and smirked viciously. The tarnish/ orange lioness with the orange eyes observed every single move of a muscle which her opponent did and every inch of her body was tensed and on alert.
The other female that stared over at her was a light brown one with blue eyes. She stared at the queen's best friend with arrogance and thirst for her blood before she smirked and mocked Tama as she spoke. "So this is what I have to put up with. I am supposed to become the queen of the greatest kingdom which ever existed. And they put me up against a simple subject." Ikhaya said with her high pitched and an arrogant voice.
"Be careful your highness… this subject can fight even better when she's angered." Malka's mate answered with a smirk of her own. At once, the two females charged at each other as Tama quickly let the supposed queen roll over her back while kicking her with her back leg into the Ikhaya's side. The light brown female landed on her paws and slid slowly over the ground.
Again, they ran at each other before the northlander got hold of Tama's shoulders with her claws and swinging her around. Tama landed on her side before rolling to the side avoiding Ikhaya landing on her stomach and pressing her to the ground. For a short while, the two exchanged various strikes and blows slowly giving them scratches all over their bodies.
It was then that the brown furred female shoved Tama to the ground and jumping straight onto her as the tarnish/orange lioness smirked to herself. Let's see if you know this one. She thought and shifted her body around before she landed on top of Ikhaya and had her pinned to the ground. "Pinned ya!" She called as she smirked down on the queen of the north lands with her claws high up.
"Tama WATCH OUT!" She could hear Malka call and quickly twirled around and was barely able to avoid king Ingelozi coming from the side and trying to smack her across the head. But before she could react the second time, Ingelozi's mate got the better of her and she sailed through the air landing hard on the grassy field.
With shock in his eyes, he yelled out to the tarnish female and right away stormed over to his mate and growled viciously coming to halt beside her. Ingelozi in the meantime helped his mate back on her feet as the duo quickly moved away from the pridelanders back into the mess surrounding them.
Malka had completely lost sight of the duo and turned his attention back onto Tama. "Hey!" He called urging her. "Are you alright?" The pale orange male added .
Just a short second later, Tama got right back up and stared around to find Ikhaya as she was seeking with her eyes for revenge. "Yeah!" She answered rubbing her head quickly. "Yeah I'm fine, I just lost focus for a short moment." With that she was standing back on her paws as she and her mate tried to get a grip on how the battle between them and the northlanders was going. She almost couldn't believe it. They were slowly getting pushed backwards as it seemed like the invading pride was gaining the upper paw. But she had to be careful and search the area for the foreign king and queen.
But in the distance, Ikhaya and Ingelozi slowly moved themselves away from the battling lions, which wasn't easy with all the bodies and lioness sailing and sliding over the ground with their claws extracted and getting ready and sank them into anything that was not on their side. The brown furred northlander royal moved along with his mate as they vanished behind a small boulder. He surveyed the battle going on before turning to his mate. "Get Inhloli, Umnikozi and Umfula… we're going after the king!" He said and Ikhaya right away called the three males standing in the back.
They quickly moved their way through the fighting lions as they smashed their claws into the faces of several lioness that have been outlanders once before. With all the other ones being occupied, the group marched nearly unnoticed inot the direction of pride rock with no one standing between them and the sick and weak king.
That meant… nearly unnoticed. Kicha sat on a tree branch staring down on the battle going on. The eyes of the black/white pied set themselves on the group of five northlanders marching forward as panic reached his mind and he quickly searched forward to find someone to help.
It took him a while before his eyes locked on a cream furred male far away from the fight as he wrestled a foreign female to the ground and knocked her out completely. As quick as possible, he flew over to Meethu as he called out to him. "Meethu!" He landed right on the lions shoulder and called into his ear. "We need your help! They have set their course towards pride rock. They… they're going after Simba."
Quickly, the queen's brother widened his eyes as he went into a sprint without thinking twice. "I'm on my way!" He said as he turned around the boulder. But he had to stop immediately as he found himself coming face to face with yet another two females who growled at him with anger. "As soon as I am done with this."
"Say what!" The king said out perplex as he couldn't believe what the young adult had been saying towards them for a short moment. Just a few seconds, his daughter had told him that she intended for him to leave the pride lands at once. But he right away stared into the stern brownish/red eyes of Kiara and saw that she was dead serious. "Kiara, you can't be serious! I'm not running away from my pride and my kingdom… especially my friends and family." He demanded with an angry and authorial voice.
But his daughter quickly met her eyes with the ones of her mother as Nala seemed to understand it herself. "Daddy, please!" She almost started to plead. "In your condition, you're in no way able to defend yourself. Please… you have done enough. Let us handle this fight." She looked up to the golden furred king with her eyes being wet full of tears.
Simba glanced around the group as he himself met the eyes of his mate as she herself was urging him with the same look on her face. Yet he shook his head slowly and stared back towards Kiara. "I… I can't. I am the king and…"
He didn't get very far before the golden/cream female interrupted him again and she gave him this look of slyness which she often gave him over the last years. "Sorry daddy! But don't you remember, you are no longer the king. You wanted me to become the queen with you being out of shape." She caught Mbio and Kivuli staring at them with the biggest confusion in their eyes she had ever seen before. "So please… just this once… listen to me."
The former king could feel Nala brushing up to his side and felt that she agreed on what the young adult in front of them was saying. He eyed everyone in the group and then nodded his head in defeat. "I don't like the idea but… If it makes you feel save, I'm doing it for you."
The next ones coming over to the group were the long time friends of Simba which brought him through the time of his cubhood. Timon and Pumbaa had listened in on the group of lions for quite a while no2w and were well informed about what was going on. "Hey Simba, what's goin on here?" The meerkat asked nonetheless as he extracted his arms to the side of his body.
"You better get going as well Timon." Simba answered quickly knowing that there was no chance for them to live here if they were unable to stop this invasion in this day. "It's not safe for you to stay here with all these hostile lions around.
But the king could already see the disagreeing gazes of his friends before Timon answered jumping on top of his warthog friend. "Are you kidding me? We're not going to leave you back here all on your own. We would never abandon you ever again." He said with some panic gesturing wildly with his hands.
Yet the two were stopped when Simba brought his head to their level and smiled at them gently. "I know you wouldn't Timon. But see it this way, if one of those lions catches you, you're doomed. With you two being around, there's no way I could sleep safe." The three stared at each there for a few moments before Timon and Pumbaa locked eyes on each other and shrugged their shoulders.
"Alright Simba! If you say so, we will follow."
Even before Kiara and Simba s well as the rest could respond, the lions were interrupted by Kicho flying towards them with panic still in his eyes. "SIMBA! NALA!" He called out at once to the king and queen with his wings still flapping wildly. "They're coming!" He was completely out of breath and ignored the pleadings of Kovu and Kiara for him to calm down. "They are five, and they are coming this way." At once, Simba and Nala stared up as a little despair reached their minds.
"You have to go now!" The princess called right away before she turned her eyes on Kovu. "Do me a favor; escort my parents till they reach a pace safe." She said with the dark brown male shaking his head right away.
"I'm not going to leave you, not right now." He answered before he felt the head of his mate rubbing against the side of his own.
In the back, Kivuli felt really sorry for the two. Even though, he still wouldn't consider him one of his friends. But he still had a soft spot and would never do something anymore which would upset Kiara. Right then, Vitani's brother slowly shook his head as he agreed on her idea and walked right away to the side of Nala and Simba.
To say that Simba hated the idea of him fleeing the pride lands would be an understatement. But when he thought about it, he had no choice but to agree on it. With the way shape he was in, he was no match for Ingelozi. What hurt him even more was the fact that he could not allow himself touching his daughter and risking the fact that she could get infected herself.
But right then, Nala walked up to her and she wrapped both her front legs around Kiara before she whispered something into her ear. "Be careful!" She said and followed Simba and Kovu down a side path of pride rock. But not without turning her head around and facing the two other young males standing beside her daughter. "Make sure she's safe… or I come back and make you feel sorry." Both Kivuli and Mbio gulped heavy fearing that the queen would come back for them in reality.
As long as he could, Kovu kept his eyes locked on Kiara before they vanished and noises could be heard from the distance. The two males joined the princess and stared to where they expected the king of the north lands and his followers to pop up every minute. And indeed, it only took a few seconds until the brown furred male along with his mate and three strong looking lions jumped up onto the ledge as they growled at the group of lions waiting for them. "Where is he?" Ingelozi called out staring directly at the golden/cream female in the middle.
"You won't find him, for now, you have to put up with us." Mbio right away called with a mocking grin. Yet he wasn't sure if this threat was really working on the king and his subjects.
Ingelozi narrowed his eyes as he observed the two males and the female in front of them. Suddenly, he started to laugh maniacally with a tendency to become lunatic. "Oh this is a classic. I am going to enjoy this." His eyes set on the princess in the middle and he stared over to her with bloodthirsty eyes. "Especially when I see the king's face when his daughter murdered at my paws." He didn't waste any more time and the group of five lions right at once attacked the pridelanders and Kiara bared her teeth.
The group collided right in front of the den with Ingelozi quickly swinging his right paw into the princess face before quickly marching through the pridelanders and continuing on his way towards Simba and Nala. He was followed by Ikhaya as the two left Umnikozi, Inhloli and Umfula back with Mbio, Kivuli and Kiara.
Mbio avoided two swings from Inhloli before ramming his right front paw into the northlanders chest before slapping him with his left. Yet the foreign male didn't pull his head back that much before he gave him a left and then a right sending the pridelander tumbling back at once. Inhloli then jumped at Mbio with the northlander pressing Meethu's son to the ground.
Just a few inches to the side, Tama's son Kivuli was fast enough to bring his body underneath Umfula before throwing him over his back directly into Inhloli. The northlanders collided with each other and rolled away from Mbio as they didn't waste any time before getting to Kiara. For an elegant looking lioness Kiara, it was difficult to hold herself up against a full grown male as her attacker Umnikozi was, yet the training session with her mate and her mother did their tribute and she managed to buy some time. She was losing focus as the northlander pressed her head to the ground before Mbio and Kivuli came and pulled him away from her.
The three found themselves now face to face with Ingelozi's followers growling over to them.
Nala and Simba were moving as quickly as possible with the queen trying her best to support her mate with every part of strength she had. Kovu for his part kept turning his head and his body as he searched for any northlander activity coming their way and trying to harm them. Never in his life had he been so tensed and never did he try to keep his senses this sharp. In his back, Nala kept her head straight as she supported Simba with her shoulders keeping him straight in line.
Already, the former king felt exhausted and beaten. And that feeling got even stronger as he could hear noises behind them and he as well as his mate turned around. Their eyes locked on Kovu and the young adult was able to turn around before he got hammered in the back by a lioness coming from behind and bringing Zira's son to the ground instantly. Nala gasped up in shock as they two found themselves confronted bay Ingelozi and his mate. Instantly, her eyes wandered off onto Kovu as she saw the dark brown male shaking his head as he was still dizzy from the previous hit on his head.
"Finally, I get to meet the almighty Simba… the king of the pride lands." His eyes locked on the golden male as he leaned against the queen to not sink down onto the ground. "Nut I feel disappointed, what do I find here? A weak and exhausted wrack of a king." He walked closer as Nala went forth standing now between her mate and the attacking king.
The sudden loss of the support of the former queen caused Simba to nearly fall to the ground as nala continued to snarl at Ingelozi. "If you only touch him once… you'll feel really sorry about it." She warned him but only forced the northlander king to smile down on her.
"So this is the queen of the pride lands!? I must say, the rumors are true. The queen is really a beautiful lioness; let's see if the other half of the stories are true as well." His face still held a mocking smile while he gave a short wink to Ikhaya as she moved forward.
At once, Nala was tensed even more as she could see the light brown female came closer to her snarling in a mocking way. The cream furred female could tell that the male still standing was looking forward to see Nala getting hammered by the female northlander. Simba's mate had to decide if she would give in to this challenge or if she would stay guard to her mate. She knew that once she and Ikhaya were going at each other. The field for Ingelozi to get towards Simba was widely open.
But there was no time for her to choose. At once, Ikhaya tried to swing her paw at him as Nala ducked down underneath and brought her own right paw into her face. The north lands queen was surprised to see that the cream female had actually struck her across the cheek. She tried again and again missed her before the former pride lands queen smacked her across the face once again. Again and again, Ikhaya missed and received smacks from Nala time after time.
For another time, Ingelozi's mate want for her as she tried to grab her with both her paws and claws extracted at once. But for another time, she slid to the side and pressed her face first into the ground pressing both her paws on the back of Ikhaya.'s head. The light brown lioness spit dirt onto the ground as she was barely to see with dirt covering parts of her face.
Even Ingelozi was surprised as he saw how well skilled the creamy lioness was and how she basically dominated his mate. But then again, he knew that he was now able to get to Simba any time he wanted. The golden furred king stared in shock as he once more was forced to watch other ones fighting the battles he thought he had to fight himself. Ikhaya now got more and more angry as she charged for Nala again rammed her head into the former queen's shoulder before wrapping her front leg around her and sink her claws into her fur.
Yet Nala quickly managed to shift the weight of her body and threw her half way over her body while biting down on the light brown female's left shoulder. As the foreign lioness now lied a few feet away from her, Nala charged forward and tackled the northlander on the head bringing her down for good. At once she stopped over and growled down on Ingelozi's mate with her teeth bared and lusting for flesh. But her newfound joy didn't last long as she felt the fangs of Ingelozi clawing down on her left back leg as she got tossed around and flew a little bit over the ground before sliding over it. She had to shake her head before looking up and seeing the duo coming down on her.
"NALA!" She could hear Simba yell as he came to rush to his mate's aid. Yet he was so weak and slow that the brown furred male had it rather easy to slap Simba himself and he slid right to the side to the cream furred female. Ingelozi obviously had enough and raised his paw to bring it down on the king.
"NO YOU DON'T!"
In that moment, the attacking king was surprised as Kovu got back from his spot and bit down on the paw of the king. Simba stared up relieved before he could feel Nala getting back to her paws again and engaging yet in another battle with Ikhaya. Even though it was even more difficult to bring the foreign queen to the ground, she managed it as they now watched the battle between Nala's son in law and Ingelozi.
Kovu was trained to be a fighting machine with the fact that he was supposed to bring the reign of Simba to an end. And with his muscles growing even more, he got even stronger and he had become even faster. Ingelozi was completely unprepared for this fierce attack with Kovu smashing his paws into his face and his back clawing and biting at everything that was colored brown. With loud gasps, the northlander stumbled backwards unable to fight back the harsh and angry attacks.
With a loud scream, the dark brown male gave Ingelozi the final blow and he landed on his back his front legs extracted looking like he was begging to not get hit any more. Zira's son stared down on him with the most anger he had ever felt before. "You come here and destroy the live that we have built up here. You dare to threaten my family and my pride. And… you dare to come here and kill the ones that gave me the only family I ever had." He growled viciously and walked in even closer on the older brown lion.
It was the first time that Ingelozi got a close look on the younger lion that had just brought him down onto the ground. This… this is definitely the one! He thought and he brought the edged of his muzzle upwards and smirked upwards towards Kovu and got slowly into a sitting position. "Kovu I presume!?" He questioned him.
"Kovu, be careful!" It came from Nala and the dark brown lion kept staring at the northlander with great tension. She still had her paw pressed on the northlander queen.
Ingeozi eyed the queen with the corner of his orbs before staring back up on Kovu. "I must admit… when I came here to take what is rightfully mine, I never expected to come here and fight you." The smirk on his muzzle grew a bit wider which unsettled the queen and the king. "Even if your muscles are bigger and bulkier, you have the slick moves of your mother."
The young adult was so not prepared for that statement and his eyebrows moved upwards with his head snapping back. However, he suddenly got curious about what was going on. "What do you mean by that?" He asked and formed a growling expression on his face. "How do you know my m… Zira?" He continued to say but stopped himself from calling Zira mother, just like Vitani.
Hearing that, the king of the north lands got delighted trying to get to his paws while the dark brown male continued to growl now even angrier and vicious. "I see… You don't know anything." A slight laugh escaped his face and he stared right into the green eyes of Simba's son in law. "Well in that case…" He ignored the calls of Nala and Simba to warn Kovu to stay focused as he spoke out to him again.
"Let me tell you a story! There were once these two kings. One was called Isitha my father, former king of the north lands. And then there was Scar, the king of the pride lands." Right away, Kovu sank down one of his paws and he and stared with a strange feeling of knowing what was coming. "These two kings once made a deal. Scar would help my father bring the rebellious prides of his kingdom to their knees while the other one would agree on merging down the two kingdoms into a giant one called the grand lands."
In the back, Simba and Nala stared in shock as they heard yet another story of how Scar was constantly coming back to ruin the lives of the lions living in the pride lands. "Living with Scar, there was a lioness that was full of lust to become a queen, I guess you know her." Ingelozi smirked even wider once again and Kovu's muzzle dropped open even more. "Seeing as how she was never going to become queen, she decided to make a plan of her own in order to become queen once the pride lands and the north lands had become one. However, the one she was seeking for had no idea that she was not doing it because of him, but because she wanted to carry on the legacy of Scar."
Underneath the cream female in the back, Ikhaya herself was surprised to hear this. She observed her mate carefully and once in a while faced Nala with the corner of her eyes. The former queen of the pride lands had her eyes locked on the two males in the distance and didn't pay that more attention to the light brown lioness. Away from them, Ingelozi kept talking to Kovu.
"If the lioness would have stuck to the plan, the only thing the king of the north lands had to do was to come hre and just receive the surrender of the cubs. But as we can see now… that is not going to happen isn't it… Kovu?" He made a pause before he spoke out the young ones name and smirked up again.
Right in that moment, Nala got her voice back and yelled out to Kovu at once. "KOVU! Don't listen to him anymore, we have to go." She urged him and panic reached her eyes once more. She was sure that the brown furred foreign lion was up to for a trick, but it was too late. The dark brown male was standing dead still and had all his attention directed on Ingelozi.
"Yes what about it Kovu?" For a short moment, the two looked into each other's eyes and the king began to smirk viciously again. "But you won't do that won't you, you wouldn't strike down your own father now, would you?" All the three pridelanders had an idea that this was coming. But yet they were all unable to hold back the shock that was going through their veins and minds.
Kovu let his paw sink down to the ground and he slowly backed away from his 'father'. He could hear an urging call coming from Simba and Nala to warn him. But he didn't listen to them at all with his eyes locked on Ingelozi again. After he let th words sunk into his mind, he narrowed his eyes down and spoke up. "You're lying!"
But the foreign lion just kept his arrogant an relaxed grin. "Do I? Can 't you see the family resemblance? Your mother bonded with me to give Scar the heir he deserved since her fist born seemed to be a complete failure." Images of Nuka's death immediately ran through Kovu's head as he recalled what happened that day. "But now that you are here and know the truth. We can rule these two kingdoms together. You and me could form a dynasty that could last forever."
Another growl escaped Kovu's muzzle and he brought his teeth close to Ingelozi's muzzle. But that was when he heard a loud gasp and was forced to glance back over his shoulder. Ikhaya had turned the tables around and was now pinning Nala to the ground with a triumphant and nasty smirk on her face. He quickly turned his head back around and found the northlander king standing in front of him with a triumphant and evil expression as he growled over to him. "You are not the son I expected to meet here. But we can change that forever." He said and charged forward to get at the dark brown male in front of him.
Yet what he didn't calculate in were two males getting into this fight as well. It all happened incredible fast. At the same time, Ikhaya was pulled away from the cream female while Ingelozi found himself tackled by a cream furred male forcing both northlander tumbling over the floor and nearly land directly at the paws of the pridelanders staring down on them. "What?" The brown furred king asked at once as he stared up in the aqua eyes of the former queen's brother Meethu.
"I think it might be the best for you to get out of here while I keep these two busy for a while." Meethu said out at once to his sister and his brother in law. Simba got back to his paws as well after he intervened and brought the queen of the north land to the ground with a loud gasp. But all three of them had no time as they heard noises and growls in the distance which were definitely coming their way. These must be the ones getting past Kiara and her friends. Meethu thought and turned around towards nala as he gave her an understanding look.
"AHHH!" he suddenly screamed out as he felt something sharp closing in on his right hind leg. With his face filled with pain, Meethu glanced back and saw Ingelozi having bitten down on it as the cream male sank together to the ground.
Nala's ears fell flat to the side of her head as she stormed over to her brother and laid down beside him trying to help him get to his paws again. As quickly as possible, Meethu tried to put some pressure on the hurt leg but collapsed as it gave in on him. The brown furred foreigner must have bitten right through the bone braking it.
The tow siblings locked eyes and the former cream furred queen brought her ears back once again as she spoke out seeing the expression of her brother. "No!" She simply said as Simba and Kovu watched from behind. Nala kept lying beside him as she urged him to get back up. "Meethu please, don't do this!" Even more panic then before was in her voice as she understood what Mbio's father was about to do. "You can come with us!"
But he quickly cut her off as he gave away a slight laughter of sarcasm. "Are you kidding me? You want to drag two full grown males along with you? You won't get far with me still hanging on. At least I can buy you some time." His voice was determined as he spoke up and narrowed his eyes staring at the self-satisfied grin on Ingelozi's face. "Go! It won't take long before they'll be here."
Tears reached Nala's eyes. Meethu was the last member of her family that wasn't a blood relative with Simba as well. Her mother was dead, her father died even before she was born. Her step-father had passed away and she was now facing the last moments she would ever be together with her brother as well. As gently and passionate as she could , she rubbed her head against Meethu's closing her eyes and wetting his fur with her tears. "Umoja ni nguvu, utengano ni udhaifu!" She cried into his fur with him rubbing his cheek against the back of her neck.
"Don't cry Nala. This is something I owe you! Meethu said gently as he referenced back when the hyena clan tried to kill him and his sister and his mother jumped in to defend him. "Kipya kinyemi, kigawa kionda!" Meethu answered as he battled himself back onto his paws before Nala, Simba and Kovu moved their bodies towards a tree line close by.
"No you don't!" It came from Ingelozi as he tried to run after them but received a kick from the cream furred male with his injured right hind leg knocking him out at once. Meethu could have defeated the king of the north lands with ease by now. But he had no time as three males appeared behind him and growled angrily.
Meethu growled back without giving the attackers the slightest clue what just happened and what the real intentions of his behavior were. "Alright gentlemen, let's get going!" With those words, the injured pridelander rushed forward and engaged every one of them knowing that this was going to be the end.
If she could have, Nala would have dropped to the ground crying, yelling and shouting out all the pain she was feeling in that moment. Yet she couldn't. She may have not been a queen anymore, but she still was responsible for the well beings of her pride. And that included the well being of her mate. She and Simba were still in the pride lands and that meant that they were still in danger being caught by the northlanders running around the kingdom.
Once again, the cream female supported the golden male with her shoulder while Kovu marched around them surveying the area around the duo with great caution and alert. For most of the time, Simba led the way knowing very well where he was going. All three lions marched through a small forest that was placed in the eastern area of the kingdom. Just a few moments later, they got out of the forest and stared at the area they were about to enter. Both Kovu and Nala were glancing around with a slight doubt in their minds seeing what the escape route of them was going to be.
"Are you sure about this?" Nala asked the golden male at their side narrowing her eyebrows.
Simba turned his head around and gave her a doubting yet knowing glare. "No, but this is the only place that I know we can go and are going to be safe." Both turned around and finally faced the dark brown male that was accompanying the royal couple for the whole way. "Kovu!" Simba called and his voice forced Vitani's brother to shake around and stare at the former king and queen with an empty glare. His green eyes had turned slightly red and indicated that he had been also close to crying.
The young male slowly directed his head to the ground giving both of them a look of regret and guilt. "I-I… I failed!" He said out of the sudden and Nala as well as Simba understood what he meant.
Short after, Kovu felt a paw on his shoulder to turn around and glare into the aqua eyes of his mother in law. She tried to smile but even she could not deny the pain in her heart considering the losses she had sustained over the last hours. "You didn't fail, nobody could have been prepared for what Ingelozi was about to tell you." Though he nodded slowly, he still felt remorse that he in a way allowed the northlander king to get a grasp on the former queen's brother. "Listen, Simba and I are going to be fine, you go back and help my daughter. They all are going to need you, with what happened today… more than ever."
Though, he still felt guilty and had a trouble to focus. He nodded and bowed to both older lions moving back into the pride lands and back to the pride that was going to face the most difficult times they had ever seen. Nala for her part sighed heavy as she moved back to the side of Simba with both of them staring down towards the desert they were about to cross. As if the irony wasn't strong enough. For the second time in his life, the golden furred lion had to leave his home towards this sheer endless sandy landscape.
Author's note: At the end, I'm going to give you the translations of the two sayings which Meethu and Nala said to each other.
Umoja ni nguvu, utengano ni udhaifu! = United we are strong. Divided, we are weak.
Kipya kinyemi, kigawa kionda! = A new thing is good, even if it is an injury (wound)