Timira thought of each other as friends, even though they had just found out they were betrothed.

 “Well, if you say so…” said Afua. “But don’t talk to your sister like that!”

“Oh, Kiara wouldn’t understand much. She can talk alright, but she’s not that bright yet. She’ll believe anything I tell her!”

“Ha, like you were any different at her age! Wait a second; you haven’t changed a bit since then!”

“Oh yeah…?” Kopa leapt on his friend and the two tumbled along, trying to pin each other down.

Soon they went a little further than the border Kopa’s father had set him, and Afua began to feel uneasy.

“Kopa, we’re far from the hollow tree…” muttered Afua, feeling weary at every sound.

“Come on, we’re still in the Pridelands!” replied his friend, though Kopa was feeling quite uneasy too. They trudged on, Afua looking around to assure himself that no one was watching them, Kopa searching for the cubs he had seen.

Suddenly, swiftly but silently, a large lioness with bright red eyes and a stripe down her head and neck jumped out from the bushes. Kopa and Afua shrieked in surprise, and were half in mind to run away when the lioness spoke.

“Hello, you two youngsters… Who may you be?”

It took a while for the cubs to understand what she was saying, and Zira had to reassure them that she wasn’t going to bite before Kopa stepped up boldly and answered.

“I’m Kopa, prince of the Pridelands!”

For a moment Zira’s eyes flashed, and she silently extracted her claws.

“Well then, your majesty... I know your father; we used to be…close…” She smiled and licked her lips. “And who is your friend?”

“I’m Afua!” He said, trying to stand as proud as Kopa.

“Very well, but I think the prince’s blood will do...Much closer to Simba. He’d be very devastated when he finds out that his son isn’t there anymore!”

Both cubs cried out and stared in horror; was she joking? Pulling their tails? Had they heard right?

Stupid cubs, thought Zira. Can’t even believe someone wants to kill them.

But the stunned cubs didn’t have much more time to think, as just before they thought of bolting and running home, the vengeful lioness leapt forwards, straight for Kopa, hunger for revenge in her eyes. Kopa yelped, jumped out of the way, and sprinted away from her. Zira followed, and she was quickly gaining on him. Kopa’s heart was hammering so loudly he thought she could hear it.

Suddenly, he struck a dead end, and Zira cornered him against a rock.

“Please, no…” He whispered.

Then at that moment, Afua exploded out from the bushes and launched himself at Zira, biting a chunk out of her ear. This brought her away from Kopa, and he scrambled away from the rocks.

“Afua let go!! Get out of here!!!!”  He screamed, but he didn’t need to tell him. Finally, Zira let out a blow and slashed at Afua, whacking him off of her and into a rock. He was bleeding badly from her claws, and his head was spinning.

“NO!” shrieked Kopa, dashing to his friend’s side. He was unconscious, but Kopa didn’t know that.

“What’s the matter boy? Sad that your friend died trying to save you?” taunted Zira, approaching the sobbing cub. “You’ll meet him soon, trust me. I can make it go by faster if you want!”

 Kopa choked back tears and looked at his friend. What had he done? Why didn’t he stay where his father had told him to?

“Wish someone was here to save you? Sorry to say this prince Kopa, but your dear daddy can’t hear you, no matter how hard you scream!”

Terrified, Kopa jumped and teared towards Pride Rock, the only place he could think of that housed the help he needed, both for Afua and himself. If he wasn’t dead, but Kopa tried to fight off that thought between tears. Unfortunately, Zira blocked him off, and he was forced to run the other way. Dodging Zira as much as he could, Kopa neared the edge of the gorge. However, he was looking behind him so often, cringing at the lioness’s mockery, that he never realised it was there.

But then it was too late.

For a fraction of a second Kopa didn’t know what was going on. The ground beneath him vanished and instead he felt that souring feeling rising from his stomach to his head as he plunged down towards to raging river. Within a couple of seconds he crashed straight into the water, narrowly missing a floating log. Though he still hadn’t recovered from the shock, Kopa instinctively starting kicking his legs at once, trying to stay afloat. Rafiki had given him swimming lessons, but only now did Kopa truly try to remember everything he had told him.

He kept going under, almost getting trapped between logs, all the time kicking fiercely. However, Zira, who had rushed to the edge and stared down, couldn’t see him. If a tiny pridelander cub like him had survived the fall without many injuries, he’d never survive the rapids or the waterfall that waited for him ahead. Chances were that he hadn’t fallen down unscathed either. She was almost sure that he was doomed.

Suddenly, Zira remembered the other cub she had knocked out. She didn’t know if she had killed him, but it was best to check. The evil lioness didn’t want the wretched cub running back to the pride. Paws covered in blood, Zira glanced one last time down the gorge before turning and making for the area where she vaguely remembered attacking Afua.

The lioness couldn’t recall the exact place, as her mind was filled with nothing but an insane lust for the death of the royal cub at the time, and her eyes were almost blind to everything else. She came to the spot where she thought she had attacked him, but there was nothing there but some blood on the ground. Irritated, Zira searched more in the open, but there was her mistake. There was a gasp of surprise from higher up, and the lioness raised her head to see Zazu zooming above towards Pride Rock.

Damn, thought Zira. They’re probably looking for them by now. Zazu had seen her, she was sure of it, and he had probably seen the blood too. With one last look around, Zira turned swiftly and headed towards her lionesses, to warn them of what might happen. Some were a bit shocked at what Zira had done, but soon approved. They weren’t having the easiest of times, being restricted upon their hunting lands, and Zira had made Simba seem even worse than he actually was. They thought this form of revenge was the right thing to do.

Afua had infact woken up just after Zira chased Kopa to the gorge, and he had dragged himself after them, still bleeding. He got to the gorge in time to see his friend falling down, and stayed hidden in a bush when Zira went back. Once she was out of sight, he raced frantically to the edge, trying to spot Kopa. But just like Zira, he never saw him, and Kopa was swept away from the gorge.

With one last hope of finding his friend, Afua dashed as fast as he could along the gorge until he could get down to the river. He searched the shore, stared at the water, tried to find a sign of Kopa, but never found one. By the time he gave up hope, and with a heavy heart and tears in his eyes lay down near the river, he was just outside of the Pridelands. The troubled cub had no idea what to do, he didn’t know his way back, his friend was dead…what was he supposed to tell the pride? Would they blame him? He began to think that he could have done something more to save Kopa. Filled with guilt, fear and misery, Afua followed the river and ran away.                                                                                    

Meanwhile, Spotti and Izani, two outlanders, reported to Zira that Simba and his lionesses were spotted nearby. For a moment Zira frowned, thought it over, then smiled evilly.

"Get the cubs. Hide them in the caves and leave one or two lionesses with them. Once you've done that, come and join me here with the rest of the lionesses. We'll be meeting Simba here."

Both lionesses nodded and rushed off. They didn't know how this would turn out, but followed Zira's orders.

Soon Simba and his lionesses came to the area where Zira was waiting for them. Zazu flew up above and directed them over to each other. As soon as both "prides" met, growls and snarls were shot at each other. Simba stepped forward first, but not as proudly as he could have, for they had noticed the cub's disappearance, and Zazu's discovery wasn't a good one. The parents were worried sick.

"Good afternoon, your majesty!" smiled Zira, almost mockingly. "What do you want on our lands?"

"These are not your lands, they still belong to us!" snarled a lioness on Simba's side, which made Zira's eyes narrow and her jaws clench.

"These lands belong to Scar, and always will! If these lands belong to Scar, they belong to his faithful subjects too!" This increased the level of growling amongst the two groups of lions.

"Enough of this!"