finally gave Nala, whom had obviously executed the attack, the upper hand in her now resumed fight with Vitani, if only for a short wile. But that short moment was all Nala needed.
As soon as Nala had pounded on Vitani, both of them had tripped backwards onto the unfortunate Umeme. It would have been comical if it hadn't been dead serious. With Umeme below her, forcing her back in an awkward and ht. Quite a turnaround, literally. In a desperate effort to survive, Vitani tried everything she could to shield her neck and face from Nala vicious fangs and claws. But through all the effort she made to defend herself, she failed to notice a sudden, searing pain that shot up below one of her front paws. Suddenly seeing an opening, she was able to place a crushing strike on Nala's jaw that momentarily threw the former Queen back.
However, as Vitani tried getting up, she became aware of the warm, throbbing pain at the base of one of her forepaws again. She found it harder getting up from her awkward position, suddenly starting to feel tired, out of nowhere, without warning. Her sudden fatigue was even that bad she was still lying down as Nala's now scarred face appeared above her again. Vitani could see the former Queen opening her mouth, revealing her teeth. Because of her surprisingly blurred vision all of a sudden, Vitani couldn't, quite make out whether Nala intended to gnaw at her or shout at her. But it seemed she wouldn't get the chance to do either. Like lightning from a cloudless sky, two enormous paws appeared out of the blue, violently dragging Nala away from Vitani in the mere blink of an eye.

*

All the air suddenly pushed out of her lungs by the unknown assailant's pounding on her, Nala found herself gasping for oxygen, lying down on the ground, oblivious to what the hell had just happened. All the unexpected turns of events, combined with too much adrenaline and a dangerous level of fatigue, and now being without air, Nala almost felt as if she was passing into a seizure. Of course, that wasn't about to happen, but she still needed a second to recover before she could even begin to piece together what had just happened.

“T-Tanabi?” Nala eventually gasped as she looked up into the single, burning eye above her.
The entire battle had by now come to a screeching halt, everyone's eyes now fixed upon the imposing Tanabi standing over the downed Nala. Despite his days-long coma, Tanabi's gritted posture was still terribly imposing, even awe-inspiring in the current setting. A deafening silence set in, and a cold wind suddenly gushed along the river, catching Tanabi's manes in a small updraft.
After a deep, long sigh, accompanied with the fitting disappointed smirk, Tanaibi turned away from his mother without a word, allowing her to timidly get up again. The stares of an entire kingdom seemed to make that a whole lot harder, to do – not to mention the crippling pain she began experiencing again all over her weary body.
Meanwhile, Vitani, now free of Nala's incessant attacks, had gotten up again already as well. But for some reason, she started feeling awfully light headed the moment she got up. She found herself staggering the moment she tried walking forward.

“T-Tanabi?” murmured Vitani awfully weakly, to her own surprise. She saw Tanabi carefully striding towards her, which off course filled her with indescribable joy. But that all faded away the moment she saw the look on his face, as he tried opening his mouth to speak. But his words seem to die halfway his throat. Vitani got the impression he was looking at something to the right of her. Wiggling hence and forth a bit, blinking to keep her eyes open, Vitani turned her head to the right. She didn't see anything at first, so she moved a bit further around. Then she saw Umeme, who was still having a hard time getting up, tri she failed to notice a sudden, searing pain that shot up below one of her front paws. Suddenly seeing an opening, she was able to place a crushing strike on Nala's jaw that momentarily threw the former Queen back.
However, as Vitani tried getting up, she became aware of the warm, throbbing pain at the base of one of her forepaws again. She found it harder getting up from her awkward position, suddenly starting to feel tired, out of nowhere, without warning. Her sudden fatigue was even that bad she was still lying down as Nala's now scarred face appeared above her again. Vitani could see the former Queen opening her mouth, revealing her teeth. Because of her surprisingly blurred vision all of a sudden, Vitani couldn't, quite make out whether Nala intended to gnaw at her or shout at her. But it seemed she wouldn't get the chance to do either. Like lightning from a cloudless sky, two enormous paws appeared out of the blue, violently dragging Nala away from Vitani in the mere blink of an eye.

*

All the air suddenly pushed out of her lungs by the unknown assailant's pounding on her, Nala found herself gasping for oxygen, lying down on the ground, oblivious to what the hell had just happened. All the unexpected turns of events, combined with too much adrenaline and a dangerous level of fatigue, and now being without air, Nala almost felt as if she was passing into a seizure. Of course, that wasn't about to happen, but she still needed a second to recover before she could even begin to piece together what had just happened.

“T-Tanabi?” Nala eventually gasped as she looked up into the single, burning eye above her.
The entire battle had by now come to a screeching halt, everyone's eyes now fixed upon the imposing Tanabi standing over the downed Nala. Despite his days-long coma, Tanabi's gritted posture was still terribly imposing, even awe-inspiring in the current setting. A deafening silence set in, and a cold wind suddenly gushed along the river, catching Tanabi's manes in a small updraft.
After a deep, long sigh, accompanied with the fitting disappointed smirk, Tanaibi turned away from his mother without a word, allowing her to timidly get up again. The stares of an entire kingdom seemed to make that a whole lot harder, to do – not to mention the crippling pain she began experiencing again all over her weary body.
Meanwhile, Vitani, now free of Nala's incessant attacks, had gotten up again already as well. But for some reason, she started feeling awfully light headed the moment she got up. She found herself staggering the moment she tried walking forward.

“T-Tanabi?” murmured Vitani awfully weakly, to her own surprise. She saw Tanabi carefully striding towards her, which off course filled her with indescribable joy. But that all faded away the moment she saw the look on his face, as he tried opening his mouth to speak. But his words seem to die halfway his throat. Vitani got the impression he was looking at something to pping down again the moment Vitani lay eyes on her. The Queen's attention was immediately drawn by the large, reddishly-brown blotches on the other lioness' flank. That sure was a lot of blood, Vitani couldn't help but think. Yet she couldn't discover any wound sizable enough to have caused such a mess, at least not on Umeme. She then looked at the ground. Between the trampled, muddy dirt was still more blood. It almost looked like a short trail, leading all the way to Vitani's own back paws. Then she suddenly noticed her own flank: all red and sticky, simply drenched. As she was looked on, she could witness a stream of fresh blood now making it's way down her right forepaw, adding to the small puddle that had already formed below her.

“W-What?” murmured the queen as she stared in disbelief, after which she turned her head towards the approaching Tanabi again. She started shaking slightly. “Tanabi...”

With those last words, Vitani stumbled forward, but tripped and started falling down. Almost immediately Tanabi rushed forwarded, surprising agile in his weakened state.

“Vitani!” Tanabi arrived just in time to support Vitani with one of his paws, quickly sitting down and carefully laying his Queen next to him as the entire pride watched their every move.

*

“Come on, hurry it up! We're almost there! It's just over...”

“All right already, we're here. Now where's the party going on?” huffed Yakta as he got up the hill. The other pride's stamina had proven to be a pleasant surprise, as they had been able to keep up with Tiko's fast flying with relative ease. Some good news at least, thought Yakta.

“Hey, Tiko, what's the matter, lost your tongue?” panted Kwini as soon as sh e too had braved what would prove to be the last hill on their way. She stared at Tiko, who was simply hovering in the sky staring forward. The lioness was wondering why the hornbill had suddenly interrupted his sentence, so she turned to her partner.

“Yakta, what-”

The lion, however, was just as deaf to her questions, simply staring in the same direction as Tiko was, his face inert as if carved out of stone. By now, Kwini had about gotten the hint, and she too looked out for whatever it was Yakta and Tiko where so intrigued by.

To the west of them, in the Border River's valley, Kwini immediately saw she had gotten a front row seat to the chaos down below, at the river's edge. Spread ohink. Yet she couldn't discover any wound sizable enough to have caused such a mess, at least not on Umeme. She then looked at the ground. Between the trampled, muddy dirt was still more blood. It almost looked like a short trail, leading all the way to Vitani's own back paws. Then she suddenly noticed her own flank: all red and sticky, simply drenched. As she was looked on, she could witness a stream of fresh blood now making it's way down her right forepaw, adding to the small puddle that had already formed below her.

“W-What?” murmured the queen as

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