Chapter 17

"Come on! Keep going! Push harder!" Sarafina shouted at the two cubs. Kiava was pinned under Zuri's body. He struggled as Zuri tightened her grip. She was on his back, and trying to force him to the ground. Kiava kept himself steady, but the ground was slipping beneath he feet and he couldn't seem to dislodge her, no matter how hard he tried. She wriggled again and her forearm closed around his neck, cutting off his air. He choked, and gasped and thrashed, trying to dislodge her once again, but she had the upper claw now. He could hear his pulse in his ears, and ahead of him, he was beginning to see black spots in his vision.

He didn't give in. He struggled some more, but he could feel himself slipping away. If he lost consciousness again, Sarafina would not be impressed.

"Enough!" Sarafina barked, and Zuri released him. He coughed and spluttered, as Zuri turned around apologetically. Sarafina sighed.

"Kiava! Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" Her eyes were wide with panic and guilt but her concern was not shared by Sarafina who tutted in annoyance.

"Well, that was better that time. At least you didn't seem too close to passing out this time." She said. Kiava shook his head in annoyance.

"It's an unfair test anyway!" He protested as he tried to pull himself to his feet. The reason for his loss was obvious. Vines, each half an inch thick, were tied around the ends of his forearms, and the ends of his rear paws, forcing him to hobble like some form of mutated two-legged elephant. It made balancing difficult, and made fighting Zuri almost impossible. It severely limited his movement.

"Life isn't fair, Kiava, and the Shai'tan won't fight fair either. What do you expect to do if you've lost movement in your limbs thanks to a serpent bite? Or a nasty wound?" She reminded him. Kiava groaned, his muscles howling in protest at such treatment.

"I hardly think they'll stop to have a monkey tie me up with vines before trying to kill me. It's an incredibly stupid thing to do." Kiava retorted. Sarafina rolled her eyes. Some distance way, Ookai and Buzz sat with their backs to the tree. Ookai winced sheepishly. Perhaps he shouldn't have been quite so through. Still, it was a better outcome than he had anticipated when Sarafina had requested, he 'help' with the cubs training. Ordered would have been more accurate. He had had visions of being chased around the forest as practice prey.

"Never underestimate the stupidity of others. We all do things that, in hindsight, seem like madness. She said, strolling over, and picking the Kiava's binds with the tip of one claw. They sprang off in an instance as they snapped, and he crawled to his feet.

"You almost threw me off though." Zuri reminded him. Kiava smiled. She was right, he was improving. He looked to the sky, were the sun was beginning to set, dimming the world in a dark gold. They had been training all day again, and he could feel his stomach growling. He hadn't eaten properly in days. But Sarafina wasn't done yet. She drew herself to her full height and began lecturing him on the positions of various choke points in the body , where to hold to immobilize, and where to pierce to kill. Precision, she reiterated, was the key to any fight. A wilddog or a hyena could bring down a mighty lion, even the fastest lion alive, if they could land a hit on the right point.

If a cub could strike precisely, at a single point, with enough force to puncture to the windpipe, then even a cub could bring down a fully grown lion. Although, getting close enough to do such a thing was much harder than it appeared. He was only half listening though. He was too exhausted to give her his full attention, until when she had finished, she produced from behind a rock a half-eaten carcass.

Kiava could feel his mouth salivating. There wasn't much meat on the bones. Barely enough for one of them. Zuri had noticed too and her own mouth was watering.

"Now." Sarafina told them. "Do it again. This time on even footing. The winner gets the meat. The loser can go without for tonight." Sarafina said casually causally, before sitting down on the centre rock that stood in the middle of clearing, they fought in. The two cubs glanced at each other. "Begin." She said.

Zuri and Kiava each blinked. Neither made any move to attack the other. They were still too busy processing what they had heard.

"Huh?!"

"Wha –" They shared their incredulity. This seemed barbaric!

"You want us to…"

"Fight. Yes. Let's call it a little incentive." She said, peering at them with barely restrained curiously. "The same rules as last time, just keep going until one of you gives up. I am waiting." Sarafina said.

Kiava gulped. The two cubs began to circle each other dutifully. Kiava eyed Zuri, watching each muscle tense, trying to judge where she would come at him. They were not particularly old cubs, but over the last moons since the fall of their home, they had fought, ran, and trained for what seemed like an age. Gone was the pudge and fat that was so characteristic of young cubs. Even without Sarafina's guidance, they would have been as athletic and lean as any of the Outsiders.

Despite it all, their different physiology was beginning to show. Kiava's front muscles were slightly more powerful and she knew it. The gap would only widen in age. She was keeping her distance.

With a start, he realized that Zuri was analysing Kiava in the same way. He would have to try –

His train of thought was violently interrupted when Zuri charged at him without any warning. Kiava gave a cry and then darted to the side just in time trying to supress his panic. Even unhobbled she was faster than he was and relied on her agility and speed to win. It was how she had gotten on his back the last time. She smashed into his side with huge force and Kiava crashed to ground, dazed. Zuri immediately leapt at him, and landed on his paws, pinning him to the ground.

"Pinn'd ya!" Zuri shouted jubilantly and looked up at Sarafina expectantly. "Do I win?" She asked. Sarafina scowled at the levity with which she treated it.

"Has he given up?" She asked. Kiava squirmed beneath her.

"Don't count on it!" He snarled, and kicked upwards with both his feet. They crashed into her stomach forcing the air out of her lungs. She gave an extremely undignified 'Ooof' and was sent sprawling. Then she flew through the air, her limbs flailing, and she crashed to the ground with a grunt.

"Ugh…" She crawled to her feet and shook her head as Kiava charged her. She moved out of the way, but Kiava diverted his charge, and they collided again. He slashed at her with his claws only partially unsheathed and she responded in kind, trying to batter his paws out of the way so she could grapple his neck and repeat her choke from earlier. This time though Kiava was not restrained, and he weaved under her blows and smacked at her side with both paws. Zuri fell to the ground with a yelp of pain.

Kiava turned to Sarafina, questioningly.

"Well, don't stop now – you have the upper paw!" She berated him, scowling.

When Kiava turned back to Zuri she was not where he had left her. He turned and saw her a little way away, climbing atop the rock that marked the centre of the little circle in which they trained. Her purpose became clear moments later when she jumped down towards him, using gravity as a weapon. He attempted to dodge but she was fast, and she slammed both paws onto his back as he turned, forcing him to the ground.

Kiava rolled into the dust, smarting. That was going to bruise, he just knew it. In desperation, he bit upwards towards her neck trying to get a grip. Fortunately, he did not bite with anywhere near enough force to draw blood, let alone cause serious injury. Merely grappling with her with his jaws. They were locked together, stuck on their hind legs, scrabbling around with their forelegs, trying to get a grip.

Zuri was tiring now and she tried to finish the fight quickly. She pushed Kiava to the side, trying to get atop him, to pin him to the ground as before and from there force a submission, but Kiava's bulk and greater mass gave him an advantage and slowly but surely, he began to push her to the ground.

She squirmed, but his paws were suddenly under hers, and he swept them to the side. She tumbled to the ground and he landed atop her.

"Give up!" He told her, as she thrashed around. Kiava felt a surge of elation.

"Not a chance!" She hit back quickly, as she tried to release herself.

"Do I win yet?!" Kiava asked Sarafina, who was carving a small piece of meat from the carcass with her front claws and eating small morsels with a bored expression. She glanced at Zuri, trapped under his paws. Without Kiava's bulk, there was little she could do to release herself.

"She's still moving around…" Sarafina pointed out, nonchalantly. She swallowed a piece, and licked her lips. Kiava scowled at her.

"What do you want me to do? Hit her head against the ground until she stops writhing and moaning?" He protested.

Sarafina shrugged.

"If you like. I set no rules, one of you just needs to make the other surrender…" She said. Zuri growled at her, her muscles were on fire now, but there was no way she was going to let herself get beaten so easily.

"That's wildebeest dung!" She shouted, as Kiava glanced down at her.

"There is no way I am beating you senseless over some meat…" He said, irritated. Zuri still thrashed.

"I wouldn't either, but whatever you do, you better do something quickly!" Zuri said, as she freed her left forearm and punched into towards his stomach, her claws fully extended. They poked his tender stomach flab in five places at once and Kiava withdrew quickly, drawing breath between his teeth, as Sarafina rolled her eyes.

"Come on! I don't want to eat this all by myself!" She said, but Zuri had pressed her advantaged, and had freed herself again. Kiava ground his teeth in frustration.

"Stay still!" He muttered as Zuri grinned despite herself. When Sarafina wasn't encouraging them to cause each other pain, it was almost fun when they were sparring. Like the pinning game with extra moves. She darted to the right again and ran once more towards the centre rock. She was exhausted now, but somehow, she still had the stamina to run. It was a trait Kiava admired, her ability to keep going. Unfortunately, it also was also something that caused her role in Kiava's sparring sessions to be relegated to that of a fleshy punch bag. Zuri ran towards a tree at the edge of the clearing and leapt upwards. As she jumped, her claws unsheathed yet again, and Kiava saw how sharp they had become. He cursed.

He had seen her sharpening them every night. He hadn't always done so. Sometimes after Sarafina's intense lessons he had allowed himself to collapse into a tired heap at the end of the day. Zuri 's persistence was paying off. She sailed through the air and her claws punctured the trunk of the tree. And then she hung there, like a leopard.

Then, she pulled one claw free, and began to climb.

"Are you running away?" Kiava shouted in annoyance. Zuri laughed and shook her head.

"Nope! Strategizing!"

"No, wait a second… Come on! That's running away!" He protested, as she pulled herself to one of the topmost branches, and lay there, panting. She was exhausted, but completely out of reach. If she needed to, she could sit and rest there for over half an hour, and continue her fight on equal footing with Kiava. Or, he could attempt to follow her up – and in doing so exhaust himself, revoking his one advantage so far. He scowled.

She grinned down at him.

"It doesn't matter that you're so strong now, does it? Hmm?" She taunted, whilst Kiava scowled up at her. He turned to Sarafina.

"Damn, she's good…" he muttered. Sarafina frowned but said nothing, whilst Zuri sat up there, tail swishing like a panther. It was not a tactic which would work very well as they aged and gained weight for now it seemed perfect.

She wasn't stupid, she kept her eye on him every time he moved, but she was having trouble containing her amusement as Kiava prowled around the base of the tree, eyeing her like a wildcat stalking a hornbill who was totally comfortable in their nest.

"Zuri! Come on! Fight me like a lion!" He growled, though the corners of his mouth were twitching at the undeniable amusement at the situation.

"I am not a lion though, am I? I am a lioness!" She almost sang and Kiava almost screamed.

"ZURI!"

"Tsk tsk tsk. Maybe you should do something constructive rather than shout at me? Try knocking down the tree… or perhaps you could wait for lightning to strike a branch and put the flames at the base of the trunk?" She suggested with a certain amount of glee. Kiava glanced at the cloudless dusk sky.

"You're not funny. I don't know why you think you are funny." He muttered. He briefly made a dart at the trunk of the tree. On his third attempt, he managed to hook his claws into the trunk, and began to force his way, up. His upper strength helping him haul his body up but his weight dragged it back down in equal measure and his claws struggled to find grip or purchase. It was undignified. But eventually began to move up, inch by inch, whilst Zuri watched him.

When he came within a few inches of her and could smell her, and he struggled for another foothold, she leaned down to him and met his eyes. Then Kiava realised his error.

With a smirk, she leaned down, took hold of his chin with her paw. Her claw tip tickling his neck.

"Ah…" He managed. "Wait, Zuri, don't!" He struggled but without losing her smirk she shoved him free the trunk of the tree.

Kiava yelled as he fell and landed on the ground with a loud "THWACK!" He tumbled into a heap, before raising a claw.

"I cave. You win." He groaned. His head was pounding and he kept his eyes screwed close. More in frustration and humiliation then in pain. Ookai clapped as Zuri descended in one graceful leap.

"Bravo." He said, as Zuri stalked over to Sarafina, who wasn't smiling.

"What on earth, was that?" She asked her. Zuri's smile disappeared.

"Umm… What was what?" She asked. Sarafina growled.

"When I say to fight until one of you gives up, I expect you to do so until then, or until one of passes out! I do not expect to see you running around like a pair of newborns playing chase for the first time! Didn't you hear me?" She said. Zuri frowned.

"But… but you didn't say… you just said…"

"Is Kiava going to have to drag the Shai'tan out of trees? Is Kiava going to be pushed from tall places? Granted, in our family, that could be a tactic, but next time, push him into a gorge of stampeding wildebeest, or a flowing river! Not out of a small tree!" She barked.

"Hey! I thought she did fine! She thought outside the box –" Ookai began before Sarafina roared at him and the golden monkey almost fell over.

"No one asked for your opinion, fingers! Go eat a banana or something!" She snarled.

Ookai threw his hand in the air.

"What is it with people and the whole monkey's and bananas!" He asked. Sarafina wasn't amused.

"Could it possibly be because the people who meet you imagine peeling the skin from your flesh?" Sarafina suggested.

"Hey!" Kiava protested at the implicit threat, but Ookai had already turned away in disgust.

"Stuff you." He said. "If you need us, kid, Bruce, and I will be out by the water pool. There are grubs waiting to be snatched." He said. He glanced at Buzz. "Coming Tunnels?" He said, with a nod at the meerkat, who was hanging from a vine a short way away, and was glaring at Sarafina with intense disapproval.

"Ya know what? I'll be right behind ya…" He said, still frowning, before following.

Sarafina turned back to Zuri, fires still blazing in her eyes.

"Do not forget precisely why it is you are here. I thought you wanted to help Kiava. That you would take this seriously. The only reason I am teaching you anything is because of how it might help Kiava in the long run. So, stop playing games. Start taking this seriously. Oh, and you can forget about the food." She glanced at the space the food carcass had previously occupied. Now it was filled with nothing but a few grease-covered bones. Even the blood had been licked clean, the marrow sucked out.

"I finished eating that a few moments ago. At about the same time my patience with you completely wore out." He said. Zuri's face fell even more, and Kiava could almost hear his own stomach rumbling in protest. They had lived off bugs for months. He could take a night without meat. Or at least that is what he told himself.

"Now. I want you to run back to the water pools where that idiot monkey friends of yours is. Then, I want you to run around the edge of the largest pool a hundred times, or until you collapse, without resting or stopping between now and then. One hundred complete circuits.

And then, if the notion of helping to one day save Prince Kiava's life still fills you with the slightest interest be here an hour before sunrise tomorrow morning and ready to work all the harder! Am I clear?" Sarafina barked.

Zuri looked almost in tears, and one look at her could see her shaking, not in anger – but in pure, unadulterated despair.

"Yes." She said, and her voice came out in barley a whisper, but it was ragged. Her throat on fire and her eyes stinging, she turned and shot away running as fast as her short legs could carry her, even though she was utterly exhausted. Sarafina turned to Kiava, who was staring at her with pure anger etched into his face.
"Wait, Zuri!" He called after her, but she didn't seem to hear him. He rounded on Sarafina. "That wasn't fair! She won that fair and square!" He seethed at her. Sarafina shrugged.

"That way of fighting won't help you retake the Pridelands. I thought that was what you wanted?" She said with faint annoyance. Kiava shook with anger.

"Right now, I don't care about any of that! That was a cruel and mean thing to do." He said. Sarafina shrugged.

"Cruel? Probably. Mean? Without a doubt. And she learnt a valuable lesson from it. The kind of harsh lesson's I learned, long ago." She said, her eyes narrowing, and Kiava was reminded of Ookai's words. Sarafina had survived this long for a reason. As if reading his thoughts, Sarafina nodded. "You might want to think on that before you go accusing me of anything. It might one day save your life. Tomorrow, she will return, angry, but dedicated to helping you retake the Pridelands in any way she can. I took no pleasure in that." She said.

"I don't think I believe you." Kiava retorted. "Tomorrow? You made her feel like rotten thrown away meat. That is how she feels today! Do you think she cares about tomorrow!" He seethed. Sarafina sat back.

"I suspect it is all she will be thinking about tonight. That means the lesson will sink in." She said. She reached behind her, and pulled out a flank of meat, still attached to the bone. It wasn't the whole carcass, but it was a good portion of it. She held it out.

"You had her pinned to the ground and unlike you, she couldn't escape from it. If you'd pressed your advantage, you would have won." She said. Kiava stared at the meat in her paws. Meat that Zuri was convinced had already been devoured, meat that by rights, should have been Zuri's. Anger was replaced by indignation.

"Pressed my advantage? By caving her head in with rock!?" Kiava almost shouted at her. Sarafina shrugged.

"Don't be ridiculous, I wouldn't have had you go that far. But, if the idea of her getting hurt bothers you, you might not be cut out for this. She's going to get hurt eventually. Preferably instead of you. She's just another lioness. When you are king, you will have to be prepared to –"

Fury became ice cold rage. He swiped the meat of her paw and gave a snarl.

"She is not –" He seethed. " – just another lioness! She is my friend!" He growled at her. He exhaled deeply. And then became aware of how much larger Sarafina was than him, and how close she was. And how she was staring at him intently. "I am not hungry." He said sourly. Then he turned his back on Sarafina, who simply shrugged, and padded to where she slept. Kiava paced away, seething in fury.

When he returned to the place where he and Zuri slept, he discovered Zuri sprinting around the edge of the pool as she had been told to do so.

"Zuri! There you are." He called out to her. "Stop that nonsense and come over here." He told her, more sharply than he had desired. She shook her head as she ran past him.

"Can't. Have. To. Keep. Running." She said. Kiava stared at her.

"Zuri. Please. Please stop it." He tried again. Again, she shook her head.

"No. If I can't do what Sarafina wants of me, then I can't help you train. And if you got hurt and I didn't help –"

"Zuri! She wants you to fail! Do you get it? She doesn't want you to help and she'll make it impossible for you to!" He told her angrily. Zuri continued anyway, as if she hadn't heard. This time, He stepped in front of her.

"Please get out of the way, Kiava." She asked him, quietly. She was still running on the spot, so as not to 'rest' as she had been ordered too. Kiava stood firm.

"Zuri. Please. That's enough." He said, calmly. And finally, she stopped. She stood there for a moment, panting. Then she sank to her knees and Kiava could see tears in her eyes.

"She'll find out…" She began, but two voices interrupted.

"Not from us she won't." Ookai said. Buzz sat next to him. Kiava blinked in surprise.

"I thought you were friends with Sarafina?" He asked the meerkat. Buzz shrugged.

"That was before I watched her humiliate a child for no clear purpose. I'll tell her you finished her stupid circuits. You need some rest and some real food. Believe me, I know. Lions get through a lot of food." He said. He and Ookai left to get some more grubs, having given the two cubs what they had gathered, leaving Kiava alone with Zuri.

Kiava stared at her for a moment.

"I don't 'know what the Kings were thinking." He eventually admitted to her.

"What do you mean?" She said.

"I thought… I don't know. That they had a plan. But I don't see what I'm supposed to learn from her. Aunt Vitani could be cold and distant. But she wasn't mean. And compared to Damu…" He trailed off, thinking about Zuri's mother. She shivered next to him. "I'm sorry Zuri. I really am. For bringing you here." He muttered. "You should have headed back when you had the chance."

"And leave you alone? With her?" Zuri protested. "No. I would never." She told him. Kiava let out a sigh.

"I wonder why she is like this?" He asked her.

"Sarafina? I don't know. I think she has just been alone for a long, long time." Zuri told him. She lay down next to him. She's just another lioness. Sarafina had told him, so casually as if it were self-evident. She'll get hurt eventually: preferably instead of you. The words rang in his ears. No. He would never let that happen.

When Kiava opened his eyes, he was standing in a world of grey and cast in twilight. The moon above him was murky, hidden. The sky was filled with more stars than he had ever seen but he didn't pay any attention to them. Instead, he rounded on the first lion he saw.

"Kivuli!" He didn't quite manage to keep his voice level. The shadowy lion smiled when he met his gaze.

"Hello Kiava." He said. "You're back." Back in the twilight realm.

"Don't hello me." Kiava snapped. "What is going on! I did what you asked me to. You said it shouldn't be me. You admitted it to my face. You told me that you wouldn't ask anything of me if you had any other choice so what is the big idea?" He scowled at him. Kivuli stared at him, and suddenly Kiava was aware of what he was doing. Shouting. At a Great King of the Past. Kiava sank on his haunches. "Respectfully." He added, lamely. Kivuli didn't chide him.

"Kiava. What's wrong?" He asked him. And his expression was full of concern, of compassion and Kiava could have sobbed.

"Its Sarafina!" He admitted. "She… She's horrible. She keeps… I don't know why she's is the way she is doing but you have the wrong lioness. I don't think she actually wants to help me." He eventually said. Kivuli looked down at the small cub at his feet, and reached out a gentle paw. In the face of Sarafina's cold detachment, it was all Kiava could do not to shake.

"Kiava. It's okay." He told him.
"It isn't! How can this be, okay? I'm doing something wrong. I must be. This can't be what you wanted!" He asked, almost beseechingly. Kivuli didn't meet his eyes, and Kiava nearly gasped. "You mean this is what you wanted? Why?" He asked. Kivuli let out a sigh.

"Oh Kiava. You're young. Right now, to your eyes, everyone is as bright and shining as your mother and father, or as dark and twisted as the Shai'tan's Emperor. But as you grow older, you'll learn that people are more complicated than that. Right and wrong? That the easy part. People are complicated. And they don't journey through life unchanged by the path they walk." He told him. Kiava swallowed. This wasn't exactly what he had been wanting to hear.

"I'm not sure I even know what's right and wrong anymore. That was something she was trying to teach me too, but…" He trailed off. Kivuli nodded.

"Then you have some sense as to how much harder it is for people to neatly fit in."

"Why did you want me to come here? Please tell me it was for more than this?" He asked him. Kivuli paused.

"Sarafina's story isn't mine to tell you. But She has seen more than almost any lioness alive. Live through more, suffered more, survived more. She lived through the reigns of five kings. Saw the return of the Lion Guard to the Pridelands, and I don't mean Kion's. Whatever it is she wants you to learn, I have to believe that its for some greater purpose." He told him.

"You don't know?" Kiava asked him, accusingly.

"It was my father's idea." Kivuli admitted. "I never met Sarafina. I thought it was a bit of a gamble. But he assured me that underneath that outer shell, there is a lioness who would give everything she had to protect her family and friends. She has regrets, like anyone. My father thought that in you she might see a chance to right some old wrongs. Find some absolution for a crime that nobody but her blames her for." He eventually said. Kiava's head hurt.

"She made Zuri cry." He said. "I… Please. You're supposed to be the Kings of the Past! The stars in the sky! Watching down." He said, defeated. He swallowed. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now.

"We are. And we are proud of you. And the lion you're becoming. But we are as we were; mortals. With all their flaws." He said.

"Then where is he? Your father. Taka. Why isn't he here? If Sarafina is his friend, maybe –"

"No. I'm sorry. My father is… otherwise occupied. There are rules to how much we can interfere, Kiava. And in any case, Sarafina would not care to hear what he had to say to her."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Kivuli shook his head. "I know it feels terrible, Kiava. But you just need to hold on." Kivuli tried to assure him.

"Do you know? Or is that another thing for which you are just hoping?" Kiava asked him. Kivuli didn't answer. "That's what I thought…" Kiava told him.

In the dark of the jungle, Kiava woke up slowly, and glanced up at the stars. It was cloudy. He couldn't make them out. He sighed, and turned where he lay to face Zuri. She was fast asleep, apparently undisturbed. Nearby Bruce lay, snoring something terrible. Ookai lay asleep nearby, not far from them. He let out a sigh, and tried to get back to sleep. He wasn't having those horrible vicious nightmares. Visions of flame and shadow and blood. But that didn't mean his sleep was any less restless or fitful.