“For Spirits’ sake, Seko, don’t make me do this! Tell me the truth!” Vincent commanded with a mixture of sincerity and anger.

“Please, stop this,” Seko sobbed, scared and desperate, “Let me go, I’m begging you!”

“Who betrayed me, Seko? Tell me!” Vincent growled, moving closer to Seko’s ear, as to be able to whisper.

“You’re not protecting anyone here… I know Shenya was in on it too…”

“No!” Seko suddenly shouted out loud.

“Come on, Seko, it’s just too obvious! She wanted to get rid of me so she could fulfill her life-long dream of attacking the lions. That’s why you were in on it too, weren’t you? You just followed her orders?.”

“No! Leave her out of this! She’s got nothing to do with it. Please, leave her alone!”

“Fool the other one. She was behind all this, wasn’t she? She thought it all up.”

“No! Please, don’t hurt her!”

 “She’ll suffer a traitor’s fate,” Vincent noted distinctly cold.

“You monster!” Seko yelled, “Don’t you hurt my Shenya! Don’t you dare hurt me Shenya!”

This ‘chat’ went beyond his personal well-being now, Seko figured,  it became a question of saving not himself but in stead his loved ones. The only thing he could try was tell the truth, even if that would turn out very harmful to himself.

“Please, Vincent, leave her out off it! She's got nothing to with it, I set you up. Me and Kali tried to kill you, and blame the lioness. But Shenya knew nothing of it! She’s even out trying to avenge you as we speak, attacking the lions I blamed!”

“What?” Vincent gasped, though he had certainly expected Shenya would try something stupid as soon as he were gone.

“Shenya was really, really upset after we told her you had died. She was hysterical, and enraged! Furious, even to such an extent that, before I came looking for you to make sure you were dead, Shenya told me she’d attack the Priderock in three sunrises time to avenge you!”

“Three sunrises? But that’s…”

That was today, hours ago.

“Sprits give me strength… What have you done…” Vincent gasped, “But you’re not telling me Shenya had nothing to do with this… No, she used me… She used me as an excuse to go to war. That’s just sick… Clever, but still sick.”

“But She’s got nothing…”

“Shove it, traitor! Liar! Backstabbing murderer! Do you realize what you have done? Do you? You’ve lead our clan to the slaughter, cast them into a war! But don’t you think you’ll get off this easily…” Vincent shouted, but then he suddenly made an effort to sound reasonable, “Look; Seko, it doesn’t have to be this way. I know you were just following orders from ‘someone’ else; you shouldn’t heave to pay in ‘their’ stead. Just give me some names…”

“But I’ve told you all I know…”

“Damn it, you stupid idiot! You want to die? Well, do you? I’ll only ask this one more time: was this all Shenya’s doing?”

“No!”

“Fine!” Vincent shouted in frustration, “You’re just asking for it! Enyi, finish him. Now!”

Fearing Enyi would indeed comply with Vincent’s order, Seko tried appealing to Vincent’s emotions one last time, as in an act of despair.

“No wait, please, don’t! Vincent, I’m begging you, just let me see my Shenya one last time!”

“You’ll meet in the Spirit-world soon enough,” Vincent grumbled, though he wasn’t really sure whether he meant that: Shenya was still his own sister, after all. He actually meant the remark to be more of a psychological abuse than an actual threat. But to Seko, Vincent’s remark sounded dead-serious, a threat not to be misunderstood: Vincent was out to eradicate the only thing which still meant anything to Seko, namely Shenya. The only one alive whose well-being ranked above that of himself. And even if it were the last thing he’d ever do, he wasn’t about to let Vincent get away with that. In a sudden rush of strengthening anger, he let loose an incredible cry and tried releasing himself from Enyi, whose bite force had somehow what decreased over time. To accommodate his escape, he successfully tried clawing Enyi in the face (almost dislodging his own paw in the process). The startled (and hurt because of the clawing) Enyi, who hadn’t ever seen a hyena fight with that kind of vigor, threw her captive against the rock next to her in panic, releasing him in the process as she leaped back in shock. Seko got smashed against the rock even harder than the two previous times, but this time at least, he was out of the lioness’ grasp. He got up to attack Vincent, who was still oblivious to what was happening. But Seko soon noticed his last encounter with the rock had seriously hurt him, criticaly incapacitating him: he almost fell over when he felt one of his forelegs had been rendered useless. That didn’t stop him, however, from attacking the still flabbergasted Vincent, even though in his current state Seko’s resistance couldn’t ever hope to be anything but symbolic.

“Don’t you dare touch my Shenya!” he screamed as he hurled himself at the other hyena.

*

“Damn it!” Vitani cursed as she heard yet another scream arise from the direction of the riverbank, “That’s it, I’ve had it!”

Without giving her companions or captives another look, she leapt in the direction of the riverbank, much to Kiruhu and Tiko’s shock: with all lions out of sight, who was to restrain the remaining hyenas? The hyenas themselves seemed to think likewise, but Rafiki soon stripped them of their illusions.

“Going somewhere?” he grinned when he heard one of them moving. The hyenas only needed one look at their still knocked-out companion at Rafiki’s feet to convince themselves they were indeed not going anywhere.

“You’ll meet in the Spirit-world soon enough,” Vincent grumbled, though he wasn’t really sure whether he meant that: Shenya was still his own sister, after all. He actually meant the remark to be lang="EN-US">Meanwhile, Viatni sprinted towards Enyi and Vincent. She crossed the small ridge that had kept them out of sight. First thing she saw was Enyi, with a nasty scratch on her nose. She sat next to a big, solid rock. The rock had blood splatters all over it, and Vitani thought she could already guess whose it was. Then finally, a bit closer to the river, she saw the two hyenas. It was obvious they had been in a struggle, and it was just as obvious who won: the one with blood dripping from his fangs, who was still sitting upright.

“In the Kings’ name…” Vitani gasped, “What the hell happened here?”

Enyi was the first one to respond. And for what seemed the first time in her entire life, she actually looked moved, even righteously angry, and slightly panicking.

“Vitani! I swear, I had nothing to do with this! It was him,” she shouted, pointing at the blood-stained hyena who sat looking at them, seemingly pleased with himself, “He made me do this! I couldn’t help it, I didn’t want to! He made me, I don’t know how, but he made me bang the other guy against that rock!”

I’ve never seen her this upset ever… I’ve never seen her upset altogether.

“All right, calm down, Please, Enyi, calm down. It’s okay,” Vitani tried reassuring her friend, “Vincent? Is that you?”

The surviving hyena nodded, defiantly slow. He looked surprisingly calm, and strangely at balance.

“What in the Kings’ name did you do here?”

“I questioned him…”

“What? Like this?” Vitani shouted angrily, pointing at the blood stained rock, “What the hell has gotten into you, are you out off you’re mind?”

“No, I never saw things clearer…”

Whilst uttering a frustrated sigh, Vitani walked over to Vincent and Seko, who lay motionless at his feat. She first looked at the body, and winced at the sight of it . It’s face was still locked in a painful grimace. She then looked at Vincent. He was still panting as a result of the previous fight, but looked surprisingly (to a rather scary extent) at ease.

“Please tell me you didn’t…” Vitani glowered.

“Obviously I did, Sunshine.”

“Vincent, in the Kings’ name!”

“It was the only right thing to do, period.”

Suddenly, Vitani struck out with her paw and Hit Vincent in the face, albeit not very hard. Still, two thin red lines appeared right below his eye. Vincent looked shocked.

“What…”

“Stop! Can’t you hear yourself talk?” Viatni shouted. Now, Vincent looked genuinely upset.

“You think I wanted this, do you?” he hissed, “I had no other choice. Who is it you think we’re dealing with