“Don’t you dare befoul the name of my father again!” Simba thundered, in the midst of Vitani’s sentence, and already his front-paws had swung up to hammer down on Vitani in an unfortunate and untimely outburst of impulsive violence.

*

“Beat-up? Mangled? You have no idea! I’m still hurting all over; that fight at Priderock took it’s toll. I don’t think I could stand another one, not for some months at least. Unless my leg-wound gets any worse, then my fighting days are over…”

“Let’s just hope…” Enyi had wanted too reply, when she was suddenly startled by Simba’s booming roar echoing behind her. As if it were synchronized, she and all other lionesses turned their heads towards the origin of the sound. Enyi spotted Simba in the Golden River just in time to see his paws come down on Vitani, one on her head, one on her shoulder. Enyi gasped as Vitani crashed down in the hot sands, she felt her mouth go dry, and her heart seemed to skip a beat. But she hadn’t seen the worst of it yet. For the blink of an eye, it looked as if Simba was going to leave it at that, doubting whether he should stay put or just get away from Vitani. In any case, he wasn’t going to hit Vitani again; he hadn’t even wanted to hit her in the first place. But the hyena alongside Vitani didn’t know that, and after his initial shock and paralysis, his head lunged at Simba and he caught one of the lion’s forepaws between his bone-crushing yaws, in an attempt to protect Vitani from further harm. The king cried out in agony as he felt his bones being grinded into splinters, and mauled his opponent with his free paw on instinct. His paw hit the hyena’s chest with the force of a sledgehammer. Enyi imagined hearing the sound of the hyena’s ribcage being crushed all the way to where she was sitting and turned pale behind her tanned fur: this was what Kovu had been talking about, no doubt. Although she should have acted immediately to comply with the rest of her orders, something seemed to force her to stay and stare at the fight unfolding in the Golden River just that tiny bit longer, as if mesmerized by its violent cruelty.

As the hyena still held Simba’s paw (and the only way he seemed to be willing to let go was if the paw came off), Simba snapped at the enemy’s broad neck and buried his fang inches above the shoulder, somehow hindered by the hyena’s thick manes. But before Simba got the chance to finish him off, Vitani had gotten back on her feet. Still a bit stunned, she sprung up and launched herself at Simba in a desperate attempt to free Vincent. Her force and weight, however, made Simba fall over, and as he still held Vincent’s neck tight in between his yaws, the hyena turned ‘round as well, neck first. Seeing as he felt Vitani was more of a threat than the hyena, Simba tossed Vincent aside as soon as he had come to a halt as if he were but a mere gazelle. The hyena rolled over once and then came to a stop on his side, his head tilted outward, completely motionless.

Meanwhile, the world around them hadn’t just paused to look at the fight unfold, however, and both the lion pride and hyena clan had sprung into action.

As soon as Enyi had seen the hyena take a bite at Simba’s paw, the orders she had just distributed among her fellow Outlanders at Kovu’s request immediately came to mind.

“I need you to tell all Outlanders this… tell them that they will not move, not even as much as raise a paw unless they are told so by me. Unless I tell them otherwise, they will stay here, no matter what happens or what anyone else tells them. They will listen at my commands and my commands alone, regardless of any circumstances, whether they seem plausible at this time or not. If they do that, and just that, they will live to see the next sunrise. If not, they are already dead. No matter who or what it is they would be able to save by ignoring this directive (with strong emphasis on the who), those things are futile when compared to what they would stand to lose: our pride and family, our legacy and even our very existence…”

Now she realized what Kovu had exactly meant: if Simba’s descent into the Golden River could somehow endanger his life, the Outlanders were barred from intervening; they would not come to his aid, in spite of his dreadful cries of pain and desperate calls for help. But it didn’t just stop there, for Enyi had also received a set of personal guidelines: she was to protect Kiara, the love and life partner of Kovu, from any danger whatsoever, but especially from herself. Enyi had been told to keep Kiara at this side of the Golden River no matter what. If possible, she should also prevent other Pridelanders from endangering their own lives, but Kiara’s safety was her top-priority.

*

Kovu almost felt his pupils widening when Simba hit his sister, and he imagined hearing his claws burry themselves in the dry savannah-floor when he saw the hyena attacking. No exit. How much as he had hoped for it not to have happened, it had. The red button had been pushed, the bombers launched with no return. But even now, there was still one lion who stood between the lion-pride and it’s apparent fate. That lion was Kovu himself; he still had the power to change destiny. But to do that, he’d have to do the unthinkable, the unspeakable even. If there had been any food in his stomach, he’d have regurgitated it at the mere thought of what he was about to do, of what he was about to do onto Kiara and all other remaining Pridelanders, especially Simba. But his staunch determination to save his pride (the Outlanders) and as much Pridelanders as possible left him with no other choice.

“Outlanders, lions, stay put!” Kovu roared as he turned his back to the Golden River and faced his pride, “I order you not to interfere!”

All lion eyes turned away from the fight, towards Kovu. What did he say? Most Outlanders quickly remembered the strange orders they had received only moments before, and they were quick to place those in the right context; the current context. And whether it be because they too realized the dilemma Kovu was facing and voluntarily sided with him on the subject, or because they blindly followed the orders of him whom they had come to consider their de facto king, the Outlanders obeyed. None moved, although each and every single one of them braced just in case Kovu would still decide to order the charge. But in stark contrast to the Outlanders who were able to interpret Kovu’s command and obeyed it, stood the Pridelanders, to whom Kovu’s call for inertia sounded nothing less than surreal, and thus the first thing they did was stare at Kovu in utter disbelief. The first lioness to vocalize that feeling was Kiara.

“Kovu?” she cried, hovering somhis dreadful cries of pain and desperate calls for help. But it didn’t just stop there, for Enyi had also received a set of personal guidelines: she was to protect Kiara, the love and life partner of Kovu, from any danger whatsoever, but especially from herself. Enyi had been told to keep Kiara at this side of the Golden River no matter what. If possible, she should also prevent other Pridelanders from endangering their own lives, but Kiara’s safety was her top-priority.

*

Kovu almost felt his pupils widening when Simba hit his sister, and he imagined hearing his claws burry themselves in the dry savannah-floor when he saw the hyena attacking. No exit. How much as he had hoped for it not to have happened, it had. The red button had been pushed, the bombers launched with no return. But even now, there was still one lion who stood between the lion-pride and it’s apparent fate. That lion was Kovu himself; he still had the power to change destiny. But to do that, he’d have to do the unthinkable, the unspeakable even. If there had been any food in his stomach, he’d have regurgitated it at the mere thought of what he was about to do, of what he was about to do onto Kiara and all other remaining Pridelanders, especially Simba. But his staunch determination to save his pride (the Outlanders) and as much Pridelanders as possible left him with no other choice.

The hyena clan had reacted considerably more predictable to the events that had unfolded in the sands of the Golden River than the lion pride had. This was of course somehow what a result of the purge to have taken place prior too the meeting with the lions; there was no internal division comparable to the Pridelander-Outlander rivalry within the lion pride. Not anymore, that is. Anyway, their reaction to the unfolding events had been, as stated, perfectly by