An' yeah. This chap's pretty... cruddy. At least I think so... when I get to the next chapter, it'll hopefully be better...
They ran on until they could run no more. They had run into the night, and across the desert, switching directions a few times, just in case they were being followed.
"K-Kri," Tumba panted as he called to her. "Please... let's stop... and rest a little... while."
At first, she didn't listen. Then at last, sheslowed, gasping for air. She heard the thump of Tumba's body hitting the sand as he collapsed, and she soon did the same.
Tumba was stocky and "big-boned", making it a little more difficult to keep up with his much more slender and lean sister.
Kri's head was spinning with all that had happened when she finally collapsed, sand flying up behind her as unconsciousness grabbed hold of her mind. 'How could this be...?' was the last thought before a strange sleep took her.
Tumba did much the same. He wasn't sure what his sister had gotten them into now, but they couldn't go back, and he couldn't abandon Kri.
Tumba was the first to shift fromhis uneasy sleep. The eastern horizon was painted a golden color, while the rest of the sky was still a shade of blue from the night. At first, Tumba thought their run through the desert had been a nightmare. He took in a deep breath, however, and realized he was wrong. The desert! "I-it wasn't a dream!" he said aloud, fear grasping his words tightly. 'Where's Kri!' with a start, Tumba realized his twin was not with him.
"Kri? Kri! Where are you?" did she leave him? Was he alone in the desert?
Kri had risen some hours earlier, nightmarish dreams of the hyena's death haunting her in an uneasy sleep. So, she had decided to scout out their surroundings. She tried not to go too far; for once, she was afraid of getting lost. Or rather, losing her brother.
As she padded over one sandy dune, she glimpsed a distant bit of green. What was that? 'A jungle? ...near the desert...?' bewildered, the lioness stared, and started to move toward it, a light glint in her eyes before, suddenly, she realized it wasn't there at all. She was seeing things. ...there was no life-saving oasis or jungle.
She should wake Tumba, Kri realized. They should probably move while the desert was still cold.
Just as she turned to go to her brother, she heard him calling.
Kri smiled faintly to herself before trotting over the dune. Her paws still ached from their run, but she was glad that her brother was there. Just seeing his rusty eyes made her feel better.
"Yes, Tumba?"
Tumba jerked lightly in suprise when he finally did see Kri. "Oh! Kri, I was so scared you'd left me here!"
"What!" Kri asked, startled. "I'd never do that. Well, most of the time, anyway." she grinned.
Tumba was glad to see her being herself, but at the same time wished she wouldn't be so... adventurous.
"Tumba, we should probably start moving, before the sun rises. Y'know it'll get really hot out here later..." she sighed, "And let's face it. We're hopelessly lost. I don't know what direction we came from!"
As Tumba heard her words, he panicked. "No! We can't be lost! Mom! Dad! We've got to go back home, Kri!"
Kri just bowed her head slightly, then shrugged. "Then where do you suggest we start?"
Tumba instantly became silent. "Well, I... uh. I dunno..." he frowned. Finally, he huffed lightly and gave in, "Fine, lead the way..." Then a thought struck him. 'What if we die out here!' "Kri, we're gonna die out here!" he said suddenly, eyes wide with fear.
Kri seemed to tense, her eyes narrowing. "We are not gonna die! We're gonna find an oasis or go home to mom an' dad, and we're gonna go on living! Then we'll go home when we're rested up." 'I hope. Argh! What am I thinking! We'll be fine!'
Tumba shivered, but he nodded nonetheless.
Kri saw her brother's fear and silently walked up to him. She gently nuzzled her brother, then affectionately licked his ear. "Don't worry Tumba. I'll get us through," her aqua eyes twinkled, "I always do."
Her words were mostly true, Tumba realized before a small smile formed.
"Now, c'mon!"
And with that, the twins padded over the sandy dune and out across the desert...
Back at Pride Rock...
What had taken them so long, Situ would never know. What he did know, was that his best friend and her brother hadn't returned after the stampede. Nothing should have stopped them, even with Kri on her crazy adventures. Why hadn't they returned?
After returning the previous night, Kovu and Kiara had noted their childrens' absence and sent out a search party... and they still hadn't returned.
Situ sat silently on Pride Rock's pinnacle, his eyes sweeping the savannah before him sadly. He hadn't given away his part in their adventure. He probably wouldn't have to.
Hearing a sound behind him, the white lion turned to meet Kovu's green eyes. Situ tensed and bowed his head. "Your majesty."
"You don't normally use formalities, Situ. Is something wrong?" Kovu asked, an almost knowing look in his green eyes. The king walked over to Situ and seated himself beside the young lion. Even Situ seemed dwarfed next to Kovu, King of the Pridelands. "You know something, don't you? About Tumba and Kri."
Situ quickly averted his gaze, his head bowed now in shame. Should he tell Kovu? His fur prickled under the king's prodding gaze, and finally, the young lion forced himself to be calm and sit up straight. He probably wasn't going to make his stay in this pride much longer if he just sat there like that.
"I think I might." he said finally, refusing to meet Kovu's gaze.
He practically felt the king stiffen beside him.
"Tell me what you know."
Situ nodded. The white lion proceeded to carefully explain the events of the little adventure, up until his time of departure.
"I-I came home after that!"
Kovu was practically glaring at the boy now. Kovu would've been harsher, were it not for his worry for his own children gnawing and biting at his mind like a tick. "You're certain you don't know anything else?"
Situ nodded again.
Kovu sighed, "Thank you for telling me, Situ. I want you to come with me and repeat this information to Kiara."
Queen Kiara was pacing back and forth in the cavern as she waited for the patrol to return. She was desperate to hear anything about her missing children, anything at all. Though she had tried to be optimistic, she kept on hearing a dark voice in her mind telling her that it was too late for them. Her children were dead. The hyenas had their revenge. ...would the war stop then?
The golden lioness started when she heard the sound of approaching pawsteps. Hoping it was the returning search party, she quickly moved to greet... oh. It was just Kovu and Situ.
Disappointed, Kiara bowed her head and started to turn away even as Kovu spoke.
"Situ has something important to tell you."
Kiara looked up, her eyes turning from Kovu, who was prodding Situ to speak, then moving to the young boy. "Yes?"
Situ shifted uneasily under the queen's gaze. "Well, Tumba and Kri... we all decided to have some 'fun.'" Explained Situ, "And then, we saw some hyenas. Three of them. There was a herd of wildebeest, and Kri suggested we could scare off the hyenas by scaring the herd. So we..." he gently shrugged his shoulder, "...we did. After that, I came home. I thought they'd be right back. Kri just wanted to see what damage had been caused, and Tumba went with her. I-I thought they'd be right back!"
Kiara's expression had turned into one of pure terror as she pictured what could've happened, and the thought of hyenas in the Pridelands -- hyenas they hadn't even known were there. Could the pride really be so weak so as not to sense the danger?
Having seen her expression, Situ had started to panick. He would've broken down completely, were it not for Kovu, who gave him a careful nudge before telling him to go back to Maika.
The King and Queen looked at each other silently. "Do you think?" started Kiara, "Do you think the hyenas...?"
Kovu bowed his head lightly. "I hope not. We need to think that they're out there somewhere. We'll find them, Kiara!" he sighed, "We'll find them..." Unfortunately, he was much less hopeful than he sounded, and he didn't sound very hopeful.
It wasn't until later that afternoon that the patrol finally returned to the Pride. The lionesses in it looked worn and unusually weary.
The first to greet them was Kovu with his mate right at his side.
A greyish lioness silently looked up at the king, her blue grey eyes sad as she slowly shook her head. "We've found nothing, m'lord. Nothing. No evidence they are alive. ...but no evidence that they are dead, either."
Kovu bowed his head.
The lioness continued, "We did, however, find the body of the hyena. The stench of hyenas and the children were all over there. There was a lot of blood. We tracked it all the way to the desert, but we didn't go any further."
Kiara's eyes went wide. "But, if they did go in the desert..." she looked ready to break, "...what I mean is, if they went into the desert, what are the chances of them returning?"
The lioness leading the patrol merely bowed her head in sorrow.
Kiara broke. Tears started falling down her face and she stumbled. The grief was like a painful blow. Kovu was no better. He fought hard to keep his emotions at bay as he pulled his mate closer and held her in a gentle embrace. "...no." she whispered, "We can't let them die in the desert!"
Kovu sighed, swallowing his emotions down with the lump in his throat. "Hasana," he addressed the greyish brown lioness, "Tomorrow... we will try again. I will accompany you. Show me the path you and the patrol took. I'll tell Zaru to prepare some travelling herbs; we're going to go into the desert."
"In the midday, m'lord?" said Hasana, shocked.
"No." he looked like he was irritated with her. "That would be foolish. When the sun starts setting."
Kiara hadn't managed to regain her composure, so as Kovu turned to go back up Pride Rock, he gently supported her, nuzzling her comfortingly, though knowing that she, much like himself, would not be comforted by these motions...
Travelling Across the Desert...
Kri panted heavily as the sun shone down almost painfully upon her back. Since they had started moving in a pretty much random direction, they hadn't seen one spot of shade, water, or plantlife. In fact, neither she or Tumba had seen one spot of anything except for golden sand and blue sky stretching on endlessly.
It looked just as endless as it did hopeless.
"Kri," Tumba started suddenly, his voice cracking from his parched throat, "I don't think I can go on without water!"
"Stop complaining, Tumba," said Kri as she glanced over her shoulder at the stocky lion. In truth, she felt much the same. "We have to keep going. Maybe we'll find some shade somewhere..." she whispered softly.
But they didn't find the water. The sun was high in the sky when Tumba stumbled. He was too weak to rise. Instead, he closed his eyes and panted...
Kri glanced back when she heard him lose his footing. She knew he wouldn't get up without rest. "Yeah. G-good idea, Tumba..." she whispered, a wave of dizziness causing her to waver as she turned to go back to her brother. After standing over him a moment, she literally fell into a laying posture, then closed her eyes...
Oh, the poor cubs. That was, after all, what they really were. Oversized children. And it seemed as if time had run out for the both of them...
But it hadn't. In fact, it was as if it were beginning anew.
His pelt was chocolate and bright rust, his eyes were lovely green. And he was, contrary to what you may think now, a young lion. He couldn't be too much older than either of the cubs. In fact, his mane hadn't even sprouted, except for a small tuft of chocolate-colored mane on his head. That was it though.
Trailing behind the strange chocolate lion was another. He was sandy gold with spots. He wasn't a lion, but rather, a leopard. He was about the same size as the lion, and clearly an adult. It was strange that he followed the lion as though he were a friend, not stalking him.
Kamisu, the lion, smiled lightly to himself. "Hey, I think there are some strays out here!" he called over his shoulder to the leopard.
"Really?" the leopard padded up to Kamisu, who had stopped by now. "Wait... I smell them, Kami."
"If I'm not mistaken, they smell like lions, from across the desert..." said Kamisu smartly, his tail flicking with excitement. "I'll bet they'll need help. I know the desert like the back of my paw!"
"Don't get cocky, kid. I saved your butt when you were out here and I brought you to the jungle." the leopard chuckled.
"Whatever you say, Qiswa."
Qiswa shook his head as he watched Kamisu pad over a dune in silence. Right where he was, the leopard sat on his haunches. He would wait patiently for his young charge to return with the lost ones, if they came, then they'd go back to the jungle. After the lost ones were better, they'd let them wander the jungle on their own, like they always did for those who needed help. They had made it their "job" after Kamisu had been found. Qiswa had been born in the jungle, and had taken pity on Kamisu when he found the lost cub. It was unusual for a leopard to help a lion cub rather than kill it, but... Qiswa always had been different.
Moving over the dune, Kamisu stopped when he saw two leonines. They were both a little younger than himself; at eight months, Kamisu would be about two months older than the twins.
Kamisu frowned. They were collapsed in the sand. But they couldn't be dead! Kamisu flicked his tail and glanced back at Qiswa, nodding his head to let the leopard know that he had found something, and that he needed Qiswa's help.
Qiswa watched as Kamisu disappeared over the dune, then sighed almost sadly as he got to his paws and began to half-trot half-run in Kamisu's direction.
Kamisu was looking down silently at a pair of leonines, one a male and the other female when Qiswa came up over the dune, then down by the chocolate and rust lion's side.
"Well, what have we here?"
Kamisu looked at the leopard quietly, a peculiar sparkle in his lime green eyes before he looked back down at the young prince and princess. "Two lions...?"
Qiswa blinked. "Well, I already knew that! Come on, let's wake them up." With that, the leopard carefully nudged Kri in the shoulder with a forepaw, while Kam proceeded to do the same to Tumba.
After some minutes of poking and prodding, Tumba slowly came about. Groggily, he opened his eyes... only to panic when they came into focus and found the face of the chocolate-colored lion directly above him. "Aaaaaiiiiiieeeeee!" In a flash, Tumba was on his paws, only to sway as he became dizzy from rising much too quickly. "K-Kri! Kri! Get up Kri!"
Kri soon opened her eyes to find herself looking into the eyes of a leopard. The young lioness started, jerking up just as quickly as Tumba. "Hey! What's going on here! Who are you two?" questions flowed from the princess's mouth almost the moment she was on her paws. She stumbled a little, but was fine otherwise.
"Woah, woah, woah! Slow down, you two!" said Qiswa gently, an amused twinkle in his eyes. "We're here to help you, not hurt you."
"H-how do we know that?" Tumba countered defensively.
Kri, however, was more accepting and gave her brother a brief look to silence him. "I believe you. Sorry, my brother's a little... jumpy." she snickered softly as she shook her head. "My name's Kri, and my brother is Tumba."
Kamisu grinned lightly. "Well, nice to meet you the both of you. I'm Kamisu, but you can call me Kam or Kami for short. The leopard is Qiswa. ...don't worry, he's a friend." he laughed softly as he looked over at his guardian.
Qiswa just smiled, slowly shaking his head at the three leonines. "Since you're this far into the desert, I'm assuming the two of you are lost?"
Reluctantly, Kri nodded her head. "Yeah," she murmured, "We came from the Pridelands..."
Tumba nodded as Kri spoke, "Yes. ...we were afraid we were being chased. We didn't mean to get lost out here!" He glanced at Kri, his rusty eyes wide, "Kri... we're gonna die..."
Kri snorted. "Don't be silly, Tumba!"
"Listen to your sister," said Qiswa, smiling.
"Yeah. As long as me and Qiswa are around, you're perfectly all right! If you want to come with us, we can take you to the jungle. There's plenty of food to go around... and water." Kamisu smiled as he saw the twins' eyes go wide.
"Water sounds nice..." Kri said, a grin slowly spreading onto her maw.
"Thought so." Kam grinned broadly. "Just follow us!" With that, Kamisu turned around and started off at a brisk trot.
Qiswa, however, was a little more considerate and merely walked, a deep chuckle escaping him. "That boy's a bit too enthusiastic for his own good sometimes. But don't worry," he said as he glimpsed an almost frightened expression on Tumba's face, "He only does it when he meets someone new."