First successes

Finally. Slow and calculating he began to circle his opponent. The other lion, a rogue, slightly younger than him, but of a similar build, followed his movement.

More than two weeks had passed without him finding even a single trace of another male lion. The sheer number of stories the elder lionesses of their former pride had told had led Askari to believe, the Outlands, the unclaimed territories between the kingdoms, would be filled with wandering lions. Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth. Tekelea had been the one who had led him into the right direction.

"Well, imagine you would be a young rogue like, let's say… Ushindi. Where would you go?" She had grinned at the said rogue, who had been shocked about her knowledge of his plans. If he thought about it now, it had been stupid of his friend to believe he could hide his intentions from the girls. After all, everyone knew what kind of adventure it was that most lions who left their prides were seeking. After a short discussion, the lions had agreed to change their route to visit the kingdom closest to them. And there, right at the border they had met him. Just as Tekelea had said, the rogue had the same intentions as Ushindi, so it was no big deal for Askari to provoke him. A few nasty words about the size of his mane later, the rogue was angry enough to accept the black lion's offer to solve their conflict in a little fight.

"Go get him, Askari!", one of the lionesses shouted, as he finally pounced on his opponent.

With an angry roar the rogue dodged and tried to counter the attack. His claws hit Askari on the neck, but his mane weakened the impact and he shook it off like it was nothing. "That everything you got?", Askari mocked him and lashed out with his paw. This time the rogue wasn't quick enough to dodge and got hit right in the face. Now the fight truly had begun. What followed was an intense exchange of blows, that was only interrupted by some attempts of dodging an attack or biting the other. Suddenly, the rogue rose on his hind legs, ferociously striking at Askari with both forelegs, covering him with scratches. He tried to overwhelm the black lion, but instead of drawing back, Askari pushed forward and threw his full bodyweight against him. Falling to the ground, both lions struggled to win the upper hand. Being the first back on his legs, Askari swooped down on the rogue. Trying to get his teeth around his opponent's neck, he received heavy kicks against his belly. He felt how claws dug into his chest, as the rogue tried to stop him lower his jaws any further. Nearly numb for the pain Askari roared in euphoria, as he felt, how his opponent's resistance began to break.

"All right! ALL RIGHT!", the rogue shouted only a blink before Askari's teeth reached their destination. "I give up!"

Finally, Askari stopped pushing down. "Get lost", he quietly said to him, after closing his jaws right in front of his nose, and released the rogue, who jumped up and immediately moved away from him.

"Damn it…", the defeated mumbled, as he stumblingly set off to lick his wounds, while Askari turned to his cheering spectator.

"What a fight!" Grinning, Ushindi gave him a friendly headbutt. "I knew he stood no chance against you, buddy!"

"That was a lesson he won't forget", Chagina laughed.

"Yeah! And even if, I'm sure you gave him one or two scars to remind him", Shindana joined her friend.

"Does… Does it hurt?"

Panting, Askari turned towards the voice. It was Heba, who looked at him with wide eyes. Or, better to say, at the several wounds he had received during the fight. Now, that the fight's tension slowly lost its effect on him, he had to admit, that the young lioness was right. He nodded.

"And I hope so." Ruya stepped between Heba and him. Other than the rest of the lions, her face wasn't very cheerful. "I knew you weren't the friendliest of guys, but not that you could be that nasty! Insulting him like that only to get him to fight you."

"Oh, don't worry, it does", Askari assured her with an unimpressed grin. "And you're right. I wasn't very friendly to him. But that was necessary. You see, if I wanted some sparring, I could have asked Ushindi or even one of you guys, but that's not what I am looking for. I already know that I'm quite decent in that. But what about a real fight?"

"You did that not only to make him fight you, but to ensure he would really want to hurt you, am I right?", Ruya concluded.

"Exactly. How else could I test my true potential?"

Shaking her head, the lioness turned away from him. It was clear, that his argument hadn't convinced her. "Come Heba", she said and began walking away from the others. "Let's check if there is any prey nearby that hasn't been scared away by the noises these hot-heads were making."

Insecure about how to react, the younger lioness stood there, then she also turned around and followed her friend.

"Well, I don't care if it was mean or not", Chagina clarified. "He wasn't one of us, so who cares? Ruya needs to calm down."

"I agree." Ushindi looked after the two lionesses. "But we should stop talking about this. There are other things that we should turn to."

"And what would that be?", Askari asked.

"Well, for today, you have got what you want." Suggestively, Ushindi winked at him. "Time to focus on my needs, don't you think?"

Later that day, Askari walked back to where he and Ushindi and the girls had split up. From there he followed their tracks, until he finally found them. Just as he had hoped, they all were laying around the body of a dead antelope.

"Look who is back." Tekelea rose her head, munching on a piece of meat. "Or better to say, look who is back, alone."

"He, who apparently didn't scare off all the prey in the area", he said with a side glance at Ruya.

"I guess that means our beloved prince won't dine with us today?"

"I don't think we can expect him to be back before sunrise." He sat down next to her and hungrily bend over the food. "Anyone mind, if I take his share as well?"

"Well, actually we agreed in sharing the rest equally if you two wouldn't show up."

Pulling his teeth back out of the antelope, Askari looked up only to see Ruya staring at him. "She's still mad at me, right?", he whispered to Tekelea.

"Nah, she's fine. Just don't overdo it. But I'm with her this time." She stopped chewing and swallowed the morsel. "I'm still hungry."

"If that's so, I won't dare taking more than what's righteously mine." With that being said, he began eating.

"And? How was the pride?", Chagina asked, after Askari was done eating.

"Well, they are fewer than we were back home", he answered. "We scouted them out a little, before Ushindi approached them. The king is the only male around and looked a bit nervous, as he walked towards them. But the lionesses seemed to appreciate his appearance."

"And, how is she?"

"Who?", he mumbled, trying to get rid of a small piece of meat between his teeth.

"The girl he hooked up with. He would be here if he didn't."

"Hm… She's one of the huntresses, I think", he said and returned to his dental hygiene.

"Oh, come on!" Chagina moved closer to him. "I don't want to worm everything out of you. We want details."

"Details?"

"Yeah!", Shindana entered the conversation. "Like, what does she look like? A pretty girl, am I right?"

"Well… eh… I just looked from afar, but guess so, yes. Light brown pelt…"

"I bet she has blue eyes", Tekelea interrupted him and grinned at Shauri. "He likes blue eyes, am I right, Shauri?"

"Ha, ha, Teke", the reddish lioness replied. "We dated for less than three weeks. That barely counts. And it's more than a year ago." She reached out for the antelope and gnawed a little at its rips. But then suddenly… "I don't really care, but… are her eyes blue?", she quietly asked.

"You don't really care?", Shindana laughed. "You don't believe that yourself, do you?"

Sighing, Askari lay down, as one lioness after the other entered the argument. Even Ruya left her grumpiness aside and joined in. He licked one of his paws and began to clean his face, trying to ignore the gossiping girls. This night would probably be harder for him than his fight with the rogue.

AN: Askari doesn't hesitate to put his plans into action and isn't squeamish about it... but neither is Ushindi.