her opponents charge pulled her over, into the shallow part of the river.
This hadn't exactly been what Shenzi had had in mind: in stead of getting a hold of Nala's neck, she had bitten into her paw. Unable to stop her charge in the slippery mud, she had subsequently slid past Nala while still holding her paw, causing them both to tumble into the river. And in what appeared to be a stroke of luck on Nala's behalf, the hyena had been unable to find grip in the bone of Nala's paw, in stead just ripping through the soft tissue, tearing of skin and flesh in stead of breaking the paw. That of course also hurt – hurS" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: Arial;">

“Wait, aunt!” shouted Dakly, as he scrambled to his feet trying to keep up with Shenzi. And 't was a good thing he did, because as soon as Shenzi started running down, she got a lioness on her tail. With half a portion of luck and half a portion of skill, Dakly was able to bite her back paw, tripping the lioness over and ruining her chase. That gave Shenzi pretty much a clear path to the river, although it also meant Dakly would be in for yet another painful beating dealt by one of Nala's lionesses.
As Shenzi ran down the hill, avoiding the various skirmishes happening all over, she observed how Vitani became enraged at what she perceived as a betrayal on Umeme's part and attacked her without any restraint, forcing the other lioness to respond in kind. She could only imagine the bitter swears and reproaches such confrontation would produce. What she also noticed, however, was that Nala had gotten up again without either Vitani or Umeme noticing. Strangely enough, the old queen seemed relatively unhurt, and was obviously preparing to rejoin the fight at the most opportune moment – namely, the moment where she'd get a shot at Vitani's neck. Yet Shenzi reasoned the fight Nala had just crawled out of would have left at least some marks, making Nala a more suitable match to take on.
What Shenzi forgot to take into account, however, was that Nala's spirit had dramatically risen as soon as she had seen Umeme taking on Vitani – there seemed to be some hope after all that Nala's original plan would ultimately still work out as she had intended, even though the confrontation had, at first, turned out a disaster.

“It's time I end this madness once and for all,” whispered Nala, as she prepared to intervene in the fight unfolding between Vitani and Umeme, “Tough luck, Vitani: it seems as if my daughter did come forth to save me after all – even though it wasn't the kind daughter you were expecting.”

Nala readied her muscles, and picked her target: Umeme and Vitani were so occupied with each other, that they hadn't noticed Nala. The old queen now needed but to jump fort, onto Vitani's back, pull back her head and...
Suddenly, her stream of thoughts was interrupted as she noticed, from the corners of her eye, appearing next to her an row after row of enormous yellowish fangs. In an fast and unconscious reflex, Nala was just able to lift up her forepaw, preventing the unnamed yaws from clapping shut around her throat.
Immediately, a searing pain shot through her paw as she felt her tissue being ripped apart. In the blink of an eye, however, the pain moved up through her shoulder as her paw was suddenly and forcefully jerked backwards. The rest of her body soon followed suit, as the force of her opponents charge pulled her over, into the shallow part of the river.
This hadn't exactly been what Shenzi had had in mind: in stead of getting a hold of Nala's neck, she had bitten into her paw. Unable to stop her charge in the slippery mud, she had subsequently slid past Nala while still holding her paw, causing them both to tumble into the t a lot! – not to mention it somehow crippled the former queen. Yet it wouldn't exactly be the death-sentence a severed paw would have been.
Nala struggled to get up from the water. She quickly noticed she couldn't rely on her wounded paw anymore, because as soon as she did, pain racked her body and she just fell down again. But even though her agony was crippling, she was still conscious enough to try and figure out who had foiled her plan this time around and get back at her

“You!” she roared as soon she noticed a soaked Shenzi standing up near her, a few feet further into the river.

“What, you didn't think I had just disappeared, did ya? It's time I made you bleed for what you did to us for bringing back that fool of a Simba out whatever cesspool you dug him up from...”

“We should have killed you all when we first chance,” hissed Nala as she stumbled closer, hindered by her wounds and the cold water, “But that's a mistake I won't make twice...”

“My thoughts exactly...”

XI A Circle Broken

It had all seemed just a dream. A true fairytale. How else to describe her life's story?

Rising up out of a childhood in tatters, only to be put down under a tyrants heel. Fleeing her homeland, leaving behind the friends and the land she loved, having few hopes to survive on her own. But then, she stumbles upon her savior, way out in the wilderness, the knight in shining armor of whom she had already given up only dreaming about. But she found him, against all odds. She found not only her personal savior, but discovered in him the liberator of her entire people.
Of course, it had taken some prodding in the right direction, but it happened nonetheless: she had found the hero everyone had been craving for, and brought him back home with her. Things only got better from there on: they got rid of the bad guys, took over the kingdom and cuddled up to found their own little family.
But as the song goes, “Good times, bad times”. Here's where Nala's fairytale ended, and most of life turned sour. Sharing her home with the the enemy. Losing friends in struggle and betrayal... even her own son turning over to a treacherous coup. And then the humiliation of simply being replaced, and banished. Being replaced by a green, backstabbing and incompetent Outlander who had even ensnared Nala's own son. Vitani had stolen Nala's son, Nala's kingdom, Nala's pride and Nala's self esteem.
For a long time, the former Queen had no response to it. She did nothing but grovel in her own bitterness, lashing out at everyone regardless of their intent. She was especially disappointed by her former pride, all of whom had seemed to have turned away for her. What an ungrateful lot they were.
But here's where the dream had picked rely on her wounded paw anymore, because as soon as she did, pain racked her body and she just fell down again. But even though her agony was crippling, she was still conscious enough to try and figure out who had foiled her plan this time around and get back at her

“You!” she roared as soon she noticed a soaked Shenzi standing up near her, a few feet further into the river.

“What, you didn't think I had just disappeared, did ya? It's time I made you bleed for what you did to us for bringing back that fool of a Simba out whatever cesspool you dug him up from...”

“We should have killed you all when we first chance,” hissed Nala as she stumbled closer, hindered by her wounds and the cold water, “But that's a mistake I won't make twice...”

“My thoughts exactly...”

XI A Circle Broken

It had all seemed just a dream. A true fairytale. How else to describe her life's story?

Rising up out of a childhood in tatters, only to be put down under a tyrants heel. Fleeing her homeland, leaving behind the friends and the land she loved, having few hopes to survive on her own. But then, she stumbles upon her savior, way out in the wilderness, the knight in shining armor of whom she had already given up only dreaming about. But she found him, against all odds. She found not only her personal savior, but discovered in him the liberator of her entire people.
Of course, it had taken some prodding in the right direction, but it happened nonetheless: she had found the hero everyone had been craving for, and brought him back home with her. Things only got better from there on: they got rid of the bad guys, took over the kingdom and cuddled up to found their own little family.
But as the song goes, “Good times, bad times”. Here's where Nala's fairytale ended, and most of life turned sour. Sharing her home with the the enemy. Losing friends in struggle and betrayal... even her own son turning over to a treacherous coup. And then the humiliation of simply being replaced, and banished. Being replaced by a green, backstabbing and incompetent Outlander who had even ensnared Nala's own son. Vitani had stolen Nala's son, Nala's kingdom, Nala's pride and Nala's self esteem.
For a long time, the former Queen had no response to it. She did nothing up again: her pride had suddenly rose up to her defense when the first opportunity arose! What a comeback, what a finale to her dramatic life!

In a way, Umeme's turnarounds in the last few days had kind of been modeled after the pride's behavior over the years: Supporting Nala, even when suffering under illegitimate ruler, then seemingly turning around to the enemy only to, in the end, when push comes to shove, still stand up for the only true Queen in the lands...
However, now was not the time to revel in that feel-good experience, or to just even stop to think about it. Now, 't was all about keeping her head above water and momentarily refrain from drowning outright, literally: by some unlikely chain of events, Nala found herself fighting for her life with a hyena she'd already supposed dead whilst up to her neck in the Border River's murky water.
She hadn't counted on that; this definitely wasn't what she had had in mind when trying to re-establish Pridelander rule to the Pridelands. She hadn't counted on Vitani having the