[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme was very confused when she found herself and Muroki just being herded away from the waterhole by Hatari, who looked very scared about them being here, which was very confusing. She thought that Hatari would have rather wanted them to come back, well, at least maybe not Muroki though. But the last thing she expected was for Hatari to freak out like this over them appearing by the waterhole.

Eventually, they stopped, and Hatari looked noticeably calmer now that they were away from his home. Umeme looked at him curiously, wondering what that was all about. "Okay Hatari, now that we are... wherever we are, why were you so eager to move us? Anything wrong with the den?"

Of course, she had no idea what was the real problem, so there was no way that Umeme could have prepared herself for what Hatari was about to tell them.

[TheWhistlerify]

While Muroki already knew that Hatari was a former member of the underworld, he never suspected that the lion was also suffering from some sort of mental sickness. The way Hatari had them move away from his home was just plain weird. There wasn't any other way to describe it. "If you're uncomfortable with me being here I'll completely understand." he said, still feeling quite ashamed by his behavior yesterday. After all he did make the impression that he was about to tear into Hatari's throat. "I can leave if you want me to..."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with one more thing, Muroki..." said Hatari after a short silence. He took in a deep breath, realizing he might as well get straight to the point. He already knew what Muroki's reaction would be. "What do you know of Sanders, the former leader of the underworld?" he asked, getting an expression of shock in return.

"He-" Muroki paused for a short moment. "I mean... the two of you killed my parents..." another silence followed before Muroki finally realized what Hatari was getting at. "No..."

"I'm sorry..."

"I knew..." said Muroki with a shaky sigh. "I always knew it wasn't over..." Now there was no denying it. He had to tell Delano.

"He came here to force me to help him. He wants me to help him mainly with getting rid your brother."

Muroki froze. Since Delano was the one who'd blown Sanders's cover, there was no doubt that Delano was the one being targeted. "I never told you Delano was my brother!" he said, defensively. He looked at Umeme beiefly and she shook his head, silently telling him that she hasn't told Hatari either.

"Sanders did. He..." Hatari seemed to hesitate. "He wants your brother to lose everything first, and... That includes you too..." he fell silent, giving Muroki time to process what he was hearing.

[DGFone]

Umeme froze when Hatari blurted out the revelation. "Delano..." What was even worse was what Hatari said then. Not only was Delano being targeted, but now Muroki was in danger as well. "What are we supposed to do?" She didn't even try to hide the fear in her voice. For all she could know, the reason why Hatari had dragged them here was to prevent them from being spotted and attacked.

Or he could also have brought them here specifically for that to happen. She hoped that she was completely wrong about that.

"What else do you know?" She asked Hatari. She unconsciously grabbed onto Muroki's paw to tell herself that he was still right there next to her. In her confusion, her fear also turned into rage, and she was almost unabel to stop herself from shouting at the top of her lungs at Hatari. "What did Muroki do to be marked for murder? Why him?"

[TheWhistlerify]

"Because he's Delano's brother." said Hatari with a sigh. He knew just how unfair that sounded.

"Hatari... Why did you bring us here?" asked Muroki, looking around them in suspicion and placing his other paw on the paw Umeme was using to grab onto him. As ashamed as he was because of his outburst yesterday, he was willing to do anything in order to keep Umeme safe.

"Relax..." said Hatari. "I didn't want to take the risk of Sanders showing up at my place all of a sudden and seeing you there. I want to help. If I pretend to be on his side we can lure him into the kingdom. But for that to work I need you to spread the information. You have to make sure that whoever you talk to about this will keep a low profile or else Sanders will become suspicious."

Spoiler: show

Not my longest / most descriptive post, but I really want to hit the sack already...

[DGFone]

Umeme didn't know who to talk to at this moment. He head was swimming in circles as she tried to figure out just exactly what was going on. "But we have to tell Delano. He needs to know he's in danger..." She frowned, deep in thought. "Is there anyone else? Who else were you told to kill?"

While she was saying this, she knew there were two major problems on top of this all. First of all, Delano needed to be told of what was going on. That would mean that Lina will know as well. Umeme wasn't sure how well her sister was going to take the news. Hopefully well enough.

But then there was Delano again. How would he react when they will tell him that he is in danger again, and that now his sworn enemy wants to work with him to get rid of the problem?

Umeme looked at Muroki, letting him know just with her expression that she did not know what to do. She needed his help right now to help her realize what they needed to do in order to avoid having something terrible happen.

Spoiler: show

Okay. Good night!

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki hated seeing Umeme look so frightened but he knew she had every right to be scared. After all they'd just discovered that his life was in danger as well as his brother's and maybe even Lina's and they had no idea how to deal with the threat. "You heard her. said Muroki after a short silence. If he were to warn everybody then he needed all the information Hatari had. "Who else is in danger?"

"There's one more main target..." said Hatari with a sigh, finding it harder to tell them the next part. The idea of Sanders going after a child who's done nothing to him made him feel sick. "Sanders tried to get rid of your brother before by causing him to go through a trial for supposedly helping the underwold. However his plan failed because the king let your brother go."

Muroki looked confused. "Surely the king and his family aren't easy to get to." It only seemed to make sense.

"Sanders told me that the kng's son likes to hang out out in the gorge that is part of the border."

The thought of Kato getting murderd for nothing was more than enough to make Muroki angry. "Wait... how does Sanders know that?" he asked, once again looking confused.

"Well I suppose that he and the 2 lions that go anywhere with him saw the prince there. Or maybe somebody gave them this information.

[b]"So, theoretically speaking, if they happen to see him there now..." Muroki stopped, too hesitant to continue. Hatari's expression indicated that he realized what Muroki was gettng at. [/b]"Kato might be in trouble! I have to get to the gorge now!"[/b]

[DGFone]

Umeme saw that Muroki was about to run off to the gorge. "Wait, What about me?" She wasn't sure if it was a good idea of her to go running of with Muroki or not, and at the same time, shouldn't someone warn Delano and Lina? So much was happening all at once, that she suddenly felt lost.

She looked desperately between Hatari and Muroki, hoping that one of them would tell where what she is supposed to do. However, if they told her to simply go and hide somewhere, she would refuse. Someone needs to go warn Delano and Lina, but at the same time, Muroki could need all the help he could get.

...Too many things were going on at the same time!

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki, having almost forgotten that Umeme was there, walked over to her and gave her a quick nuzzle. "I need you to tell Delano what's going on." There was no way in hell he was going to let Umeme come with him. "After that I want you to stay there, okay?" he asked, not knowing what he'd do if she ended up getting hurt. "Do not come after me. Promise me that you won't..." he gave her another nuzzle, hoping that she'd listen. It's not like he could send Hatari to talk to Delano.

Hatari wasn't surprised at what he was hearing. Muroki did seem like the type of lion who would protect the ones he cared about at all cost. "Listen, Muroki," he said, "I can go to the gorge and warn the prince myself if he's there." He didn't see a reason for Muroki to take any unnecessary risks.

"And what if he's not there alone?" Muroki shook his head. "Look, Kato's my friend and I'm going." He began to walk in the direction of the gorge, a look of determination on his face. "You can come too if you want."

Spoiler: show

My turn to guard so that's the last post from me until you wake up... 3:

[DGFone]

Umeme stood there in shock and silence. Muroki had the nerve to tell her that she won't go and help him? Knowing that he won't leave her alone until she would promise him that she will stay safe, she finally relented. "Alright, I promise." She knew that while should at least try to keep this promise to him, what she wouldn't do is try to argue to much if either Delano or Lina would run off to help.

And Muroki didn't mention anything about Umeme helping them.

So when Muroki left in the direction of the gorge, she took off running to the old den, hoping that Delano and Lina were still either there or at least very close. Knowing that she has to find them, and then most likely, run to the gorge (or send either Delano or Lina) there, she will need all the time she can get. So once again she found herself running as fast as she could, although this time in the other direction.

---

Delano and Lina had no idea that anything was wrong, and were busy chasing each other around the area of the den. After discovering to his dismay at how quickly Lina can run away from him, Delano had resolved to get his speed and endurance back, and this was one way of doing it, while at the same time getting Lina in on the action as well.

Currently, he was running away from her when he noticed a lioness running towards them as well, so he stopped to get a better look. He recognized the lioness instantly as Umeme, but Muroki was not with her. His heart plummeted in his chest. Was something wrong with his brother?

Making his fears worse, Umeme stopped next to him, her eyes as big as a zebra's head, and she was clearly very worried and scared about something. "Umeme, what's wrong? Where's Muroki?"

Umeme stood panting as Lina also joined them. She knew that she couldn't wait to give the answer, no matter how tired she was. "Muroki... gone to help Kato... in danger... in the gorge." Before she could even say anything else, Delano was already up and running to the gorge as well. "Delano, you don't even know...!"

She looked at Lina, now really worried. Delano didn't know that he was in danger too, nor did he know the more important fact, which was that Hatari, who he would most likely treat as an enemy, was now helping them. "Lina, come on, we have to catch him!" Together, they too bolted off, chasing after Delano who had somehow already put on a considerable lead.

[TheWhistlerify]

As he and Hatari ran towards the gorge, which wasn't too far from Hatari's home seeing how Hatari lived by the border, Muroki kept praying that they wouldn't find Kato there. Him being there would not necessarily mean that Sanders or anybody who was working for him was also there, but the best thing would be to find out Kato wasn't there at the moment and then go warn to king.

"Right, then..." said Hatari as they arrived outside the gorge, which was rather deep. It did not go in a straight line so it was impossible to see everything that might be in it from where they were standing. "This might get dangerous from here, so how about I go down and you stay here and keep an eye out?" He looked at Muroki, only to see that the pale coated lion was already making his way to the bottom of the gorge. "Or the other way around..." he added with annoyance, realizing it could not be helped now as he began walking alongside the gorge and looking for anything that might seem suspicious.

Muroki meanwhile carefully made his way down the pathway, hoping to find nothing amiss. Upon reaching the bottom he began to explore the area, making sure to remain as quiet as he could as if he was in the middle of a hunt. He found Kato, much to his dismay, after about a minute, but at least the prince wasn't hurt in any way. "Kato!" he said with a sigh of relief, running over to the younger male.

"Hi!" replied the younger lion wth a smile. "I didn't expect to see you here! What's up?"

"Your father's looking for you." Muroki knew that causing Kato to panic might result in them delaying in leaving the gorge, so he figured that the first step would be to get the prince to safety and then tell him what was happning. Kato looked like he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by what sounded like boulders falling.

Instinctively Muroki looked up, but he couldn't see any rocks falling towards them. When he looked back in the direction he'd come from he was shocked to see that the pathway he'd used in his descent was ruined.

"Muroki!" Muroki recognized the voice as Hatari's, but he could not see the lion anywhere.. "There's been an avalanche! You need to find another way out! Great.

Spoiler: show

The others can find Hatari, but they can't go down. They can't see well from outside the gorge either.