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.

ut over a small portion of the hill next to the river she noticed all the sandy, golden and brown blurbs standing in what seemed to be a pretty random pattern. It took her a moment to realize what it exactly was she was staring at. She quickly realized that the sandy and golden figurers were lionesses, some seemingly wounded, most of them opposed to the much more numerous brown figures, although some also stood face to face with other lionesses. Kwini couldn't exactly place the brown animals, at least not in the current context. From what she could tell, they were hyenas.

“Two things: one, what on earth is going on, and two: what on earth are the hyenas doing here? Tiko didn't mention those...”

Meanwhile, the other pride had arrived as well, them also staring at the pandemonium in the valley. Jino quickly rushed forward towards Yakta.

“All right Ya, what are we seeing here?”

“Honestly?” shrugged Yakta, not so much because of indifference but rather because he really didn't have a clue, “I have no idea whatsoever. There are lionesses, there are hyenas, some lionesses stand opposed to lionesses, some stand opposed to hyenas. The only thing I can somehow relate to is Tanaibi, right there...”

Yakta pointed to the only male lion in the valley.

“And yet even that doesn't seem to make sense,” smirked Jino, “Wasn't he like, near death?”

Suddenly, from above, Tiko shouted out again.

“Sires, with all due respect, but in stead of just standing here contemplating, shouldn't we intervene? I mean, that was the whole idea, wasn't it?”

“As much as I dislike that insolent bird's tone, I have to agree with him,” grumbled Spotty, “Ya, Jino, what do we do?”

“All right, all right, be cool. We'll do it like this: we storm down, form a defensive line near Tanabi, but we don't actually intervene until we know who's who and who's on who's side. Besides for as far as I can tell, any fight that might have happened is already over,” suggested Yakta, “You okay with that Jino?”

“One hundred percent, nodded the King, “All right, pride, you heard the lion! Move it!. Yakta, would yostaring at. She quickly realized that the sandy and golden figurers were lionesses, some seemingly wounded, most of them opposed to the much more numerous brown figures, although some also stood face to face with other lionesses. Kwini couldn't exactly place the brown animals, at least not in the current context. From what she could tell, they were hyenas.

“Two things: one, what on earth is going on, and two: what on earth are the hyenas doing here? Tiko didn't mention those...”

Meanwhile, the other pride had arrived as well, them also staring at the pandemonium in the valley. Jino quickly rushed forward towards Yakta.

“All right Ya, what are we seeing here?”

“Honestly?” shrugged Yakta, not so much because of indifference but rather because he really didn't have a clue, “I have no idea whatsoever. There are lionesses, there are hyenas, some lionesses stand opposed to lionesses, some stand opposed to hyenas. The only thing I can somehow relate to is Tanaibi, right there...”

Yakta pointed to the only male lion in the valley.

“And yet even that doesn't seem to make sense,” smirked Jino, “Wasn't he like, near death?”

Suddenly, from above, Tiko shouted out again.

“Sires, with all due respect, but in stead of just standing here contemplating, shouldn't we intervene? I mean, that was the whole idea, wasn't it?”

“As much as I dislike that insolent bird's tone, I have to agree with him,” grumbled Spotty, “Ya, Jino, what do we do?”

“All right, all right, be cool. We'll do it like this: we storm down, form a defensive line near Tanabi, but we don't actually intervene until we know who's who and who's on who's side. Besides for as far as I can tell, any fight that might have happened is already over,” suggested Yakta, “You okay with that Jino?”

u be as kind as to signal our arrival?”

“It'll be my pleasure,” grinned Yakta as he prepared for the loudest roar in pretty much his entire career.

*

After having shaken off what had seemed to be an entire horde of lionesses, Dakly was finally able to reach the river. However, maybe because of the constant delay the lionesses on the way there had given him, tooth and claw, it seemed like he had gotten there just too late.
What had made him make the run for the river was seeing both his aunt and the opposing lionesses' leader hitting the water. Immediately concerned the elderly matriarch wouldn't be able to pull it against an experienced lioness, Dakly had tried to put together some kind of intervention. However, both his team mates had gotten stuck somewhere along the way, and Dakly himself had only just escaped a lioness' yaws, so now he found himself alone at the water's edge, not to mention tardy. The last thing he had seen was, after a fierce struggle, both Shenzi and Nala going under, coming up again and then going under once more. From the looks of it, Shenzi had been in a tight spot, barely able to catch her breath. It was thus no surprise Dakly panicked the moment he saw Nala surfacing without his aunt. What made him even more scared was that Nala just made a break for the shore, which signaled she was apparently done with the business she had to take care of in the river.

“Aunt!” Dakly immediately screamed, after which he rushed into the water. The mud that sucked his paws in made that a surprisingly hard thing to do, frustrating him to no end, since he was still convinced that now every second mattered. Meanwhile, Nala had already gotten out of the water a few yards away from Dakly, but the two didn't seem to notice each other, nor the fact that the battle was starting to subside because of an unknown figure's appearance over the hilltop.
Before long, Dakly was finally in the deeper end of the river, and since Shenzi still hadn't surfaced, he immediately dove down around where he estimated the fight between his aunt and Nala had occurred. Because of all the stirred up mud, it was nearly impossible too see anything underwater – Dakly saw nor found anything at first. But pushed forth by fear, anger and the love for his aunt, he persisted and went down for a second time after drawing breath again. And then a third time. And in some macabre way, the third time was the charm: as Dakly was blindly scouring the bottom of the river, he suddenly hit a heavy, still somehow what warm object. Then he felt the paws, the tail and the head. This was definitely a hyena, which somehow what reassured Dakly. But she wasn't moving. The cold river's water now seemed to chill even Dakly's heart, as the horrible truth began to sink in, against all the fading hopes he still held.
With the tiny ounce of strength he had left after all the endeavors of the day, Dakly managed to grab his aunt by the scruff with his teeth, to try and pull her out of the water. That wasn't exactly easy pie, yet Dakly did still somehow manage to keep his head above water as he pulled forth Shenzi. The most frustrating thing about the trip, apart from the fact he was sick with worry about his aunt, was that he couldn't take in any serious amounts of air, having had to breathe in through his nose if he didn't want to risk letting go of Shenzi. Obviously, that arduous task consumed all of his energy and attention, so he didn't nott-size: small;">“It'll be my pleasure,” grinned Yakta as he prepared for the loudest roar in pretty much his entire career.

*

After having shaken off what had seemed to be an entire horde of lionesses, Dakly was finally able to reach the river. However, maybe because of the constant delay the lionesses on the way there had given him, tooth and claw, it seemed like he had gotten there just too late.
What had made him make the run for the river was seeing both his aunt and the opposing lionesses' leader hitting the water. Immediately concerned the elderly matriarch wouldn't be able to pull it against an experienced lioness, Dakly had tried to put together some kind of intervention. However, both his team mates had gotten stuck somewhere along the way, and Dakly himself had only just escaped a lioness' yaws, so now he found himself alone at the water's edge, not to mention tardy. The

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