from the start, not to mention obvious; Nala was just too old for this kind of thing. Not to mention that Vitani simply was the better fighter, trained from infancy for these kind of encounters. Nala put up a decent fight, but she weakened with any hit she was able to aim at Vitani, whilst the former Outlander only seemed to be gaining strength through the ecstasy of battle. As a testament to Vitani's superiority, there was the fact that only Nala was covered in mud from the riverbank; she was the one spending most her time getting knocked over and pushed about. The former queen even started to get the impression Vitani was playing with her as if she had been a mere hapless prey in her bloody game.
She wasn't too far off. After yet another painful blow to her head, Nala saw no other option to try and crawl away towards her pride to try and get some help if she wanted to survive. Vitani wasn't about to let that happen, however; there was no getting out of this one. She quickly beat down and grabbed the escaping Nala. The former queen tried to avert fate by putting her last strength into kicking Vitani's face with her hind-legs, but it seemed in vain: except for a bloody scratch mark all over Vitani's face, the only thing Nala did was make the enemy more determined. As blood dripped out of her fresh wound onto the mud, Vitani towered out above Nala, and a determined, contemptuous grin seemed carved on her face as she looked down on the nearly defeated lioness.

“Your pretty daughter ain't gonna save you this time, Nala...” Vitani's grin seemed to grow ever wider, and more vicious. For a moment there, Nala saw no longer Vitani, but instead Zira, grinning with scorn on her, the hated Pridelander, just before dealing the finishing blow.

 

X Winds of Twilight

The thick, damp jungle atmosphere quickly made almost all breathing difficult. Yet even so, the prides still pushed on, although it did take some effort: the almost intolerable heat, coupled with the humidity heavily weighing down on them made the lions exhaust far more quickly than usual. After all, the savannah-lingering lions weren't exactly adapted at the extreme jungle condition. But the fact they pressed on forward even then went a long way to explain their determination.
Yakta and Kwini walked out in front of the other lions, probably because they were more used to living in the jungle. Of course, it's not because they walked in the lead that they led the lions pride travelling with them; that task fell on Jino and Spotty who walked some feet behind them, followed closely by their pride.
It had actually been a stroke of luck that Jino, Spotty and their pride had been around at all; they had just completed a short visit to Yakta's realm, the Mighty Jungle. And that whilst Tiko, flying towards the jungle moments earlier, had already given up on the idea of trying to find Jino's Green Pride because they would have to travel too large a distance too reach the Pridelands in time. In stead, he had decided to just call upon Yakta and Kwini to try and help out. However, upon arriving in the jungle, he had quickly spotted the Green Pride. If not for that chance meeting, Tiko's intervention would have been pretty much in vain.

Not that the decision of both prides to join Tiko as he returned to the Pridelands had come without any complications. Spotty's joining them had been a close call, as she was already in a pretty advanced stage of her pregnancy. Jino had firs opposed Spotty's decision to follow him towards the Pridelands, strongly opposed it actually. Not unlike Yakta, who hadn't been too happy about Kwini putting herself in potential danger for a fight that wasn't her. But it seemed that in the Pridelands and it's surroundings, male dominance was somehow what in decline, as both queens decided to follow their partners either way, whether those partners liked it or not.

“Are you still sure you want to go on with this? You can turn back any time you want, you know...”

“Yeah, right, any time youwant,” grinned Spotty, not exactly staying in line with protocol, “I'm not turning back when it's my friend and my former queen who needs me, no matter what. If anyone should turn back, it would be you. This isn't your fight.”

“If it's your fight, it's my fight as well. Besides, as King, it's my duty to support my colleagues whenever I can – its a scary world out there, so we monarchs better stick together. Especially now that I married into the family, so to speak.”

Further to the front, Yakta and Kwini had a similar discussion, although they had to interrupt every now and then to check up on Tiko. The hornbill had taken it upon himself to, in stead of flying back home to report a mission accomplished, guide the Green Pride through the jungle to the best of his abilities, pointing out obstacles in the jungle where he could. Of course, his abilities in that area were somehow what limited because of all the foliage blocking his line of sight, but he was helpful nonetheless. Thanks to him, the lions crossed into the more open savanna before long, quickly nearing the Border River just of the Mighty waterfall.
Arriving at the border, the prides halted. Chanua quickly hooked up with the leaders of the pride. The Queen-Mother, queen to the late King Horen, had stepped down as a queen shortly after the fight in which her husband had lost his life to rogues, and the same fight where the prince had proven what he was capable of. She now spent most her time enjoying some well deserved rest, and assisting her son as much she could by bestowing as much wisdom and advice upon him as she could.

“It's just around the bend now, I suppose?” she asked Spotty.

“Yep, we're almost there.”

“I think we should let the bird scout on ahead, to be sure – we can't be too careful...”

“Good point,” nodded Jino.

“Well then – why don't you send him out?” yawned the Queen-Mother.

“I would... but I cant actually command him to do anything. He's not under my jurisdiction, thus no subject,” smirked the king, only half serious, “Yakta, how 'bout you do the honors?”

“Gee, I'd love to...” chuckled Yakta, “But I'm afraid he isn't my subject either – Tiko falls under Vitani's authority...”

“Hey, here's an idea,” shouted Tiko from up high, following the conversation with a mix of annoyance and amusement, “How 'bout I do some freelance work? Good? Great! Later!”

With that, the green bird soared on towards the Pridelands, leaving the lions to stare at him as he flew off.

“That bird's brazen arrogance is really out of bounds,” grumbled Yakta, “Vitani should really put him in his place more often...”

“Maybe if she put her entire pride in place more often, we wouldn't be needing to cover her back right now,” mumbled Spotty under her breath. She respected her former queen with all her heart, but she couldn't help but feel like Vitani had somehow brought this mess upon herself. But that wouldn't stop Spotty helping her former leader; after all, that's what friends are for. They help you out, regardless of whether the trouble you're in is caused by yourself or someone else. And as for respecting Vitani as a queen, Spotty was well aware that even queens are, all things considered, just lions – she could know, now being one herself.

“Hey!” Kwini suddenly shouted, “Look, up there... what's the Stars is happening up there?”

Spotty, drawn from her thoughts, as well as the rest of both prides quickly turned their stares up to the skies. At first, they saw little worthy of their attention: some vultures in the distance, the odd cloud every now and then... but then it became obvious what Kwini had been so excited about: in the distance, a small blue spot could be seen racing in the lions' direction, at fairly low altitude. However, as soon as the lions caught on with the blue spot, they noticed a similar green figure, hovering a lot higher than the blue one. Then, suddenly, the green spot turned around, picked up speed, and started soaring down. In a matter of seconds, it seemed to be catching up to the before mentioned blue spot. Before being intercepted, however, the blue spot shifted it's course slightly, making it's pursuer fly by with maybe an inch' margin. But the green dot wasn't about to give up just yet, turning around and going at the blue dot again. But the blue dot was agile enough to avoid attack after attack, continuing towards the lions.

“Wait a minute...” grumbled Yakta, “Aren't those... Tiko and Zazu! What's up with them?”

“If I didn't know better, I'd say they were fighting – seems to have become somehow what of an eerie tradition in these lands nowadays, family fighting family,” frowned Spotty. As the fight between Tiko and Zazu went on, both birds kept on nearing the lions. As they did, the lions could start hearing fragments of some sort of a shouting argument over who held the absolute truth. As always, that discussion was waged with ample violence to boot.
For most of the flight towards the lions, the birds seemed to be able to fly on without taking each other down. However, just before Zazu seemed to attempt a landing near Yakta, Tiko slammed into him, causing Zazu to crash down onto the ground hard, in stead of making a gracious landing as he used to.
His feathers now ruffled and full of mud and dirt, Zazu still seemed to have the spirit to rise out of the moist grass to try and address the lions, even though his hoarse voice was strained by fatigue and anxiety. Tiko wasn't about the let off already, however.

“How dare you even still come here, traitor! You disgrace our family, our office and our loyalty, yet you still dare show your face?”

“Please, Tiko!” shouted Spotty as she reached out to hold him back before the hornbill

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