[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano reached the gorge after what felt like forever, and immediately began to search for his brother. Scanning the bottom, he saw what looked like to lions down below, but to his dismay, there was no way down that he was able to see. And to top things off, a large cloud of dust rose from one end of the gorge, accompanied by the low rumble that could only mean that there was a landslide.

Peering over the edge, Delano hoped that if he would shout loudly enough, he would be heard. "Muroki! You need to get out of there!" He waited, hoping that down below, Muroki would hear him. But even as he waited, he knew that he was simply too far away for his voice to reach the bottom and still be loud enough to be understood.

Giving up trying to shout, Delano turned and ran along the gorge, looking for a way down, hoping that he won't reach Muroki after it's too late.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki frowned and began to carefully scan the area around him. Surely this very large gorge had another pathway he and Kato could use to ascend from. Again, there was no guaranteeing that they were in danger, but there was no guaranteeing that they weren't either. He managed to recognize his brother's voice and hoped that Umeme had told Delano that Hatari was helping them, becauese the lion in question was probably still somewhere around the area.

He was about to utter a response to try to communicate with his brother but another loud noise cut him short. His initial though was that it was another avalanche, but he soon reqkized that the racket was being caused by falling logs and that it was coming from another part of the gorge. "Now what?..." he asked with annoyance, not being able to recall ever hearing about an avalache of wood.

"The dam..." said Kato, causing Muroki's gaze to shift onto him in the blink of an eye. The prince didn't look very relaxed, to say the least.

"What dam?" asked Muroki. "You mean as in a river dam??"

"This dam has been here for generations..." said the younger lion. "This shouldn't be happening!" Muroki, already with a pretty good suggestion as to what was wrong with the dam, gave Kato a strong nudge in the direction opposite of the noise. "Where are we going?" asked Kato, following the young adult without asking any questions.

"To the far side of the gorge."

"Why?" asked the prince.

"Because the other side gets flooded first." said Muroki, "Think it through." He began to run with Kato close behind. He began to worry more and more as time went on but without them coming accross another pathway. Luckily one soon caught his eyes. It was rather steep, but they didn't have time to look for another one. "Go!" The sound of rushing water drew nearer, so Muroki urged the younger male forward and followed after him. "Hurry up! I'm right behind you!"

[DGFone]

Delano was still busy finding a way down to the gorge when he heard the sound of wood being snapped and crushed. He looked towards the source and saw to his horror the wooden dam as it began to break up. "No..." As water began to pout through holes in the dam, he already turned and ran towards the other end, knowing that that would be where Muroki would run to.

But already, in the gorge below, the water over took him. Delano had no idea where Muroki was, having lost sight of his brother when he ran to find a way down, but the chances of Muroki surviving were low. Delano roared in frustration and grief as he ran, forcing himself to keep going on the slight chance that Muroki would make it through.

Seeing where the cliff began to shrink, Delano put on more speed, refusing to believe that Muroki is dead. He won't be able to handle the loss of his brother as well, and so he kept telling himself that that Muroki is already safe on solid ground, waiting for him.

[TheWhistlerify]

By the time Lina and Umeme arrived at the gorge, Delano was already making his way away from them again, this time following the gorge from above. "Delano, wait up!" And to think that, when the two of them had chased each other around earlier, she'd been able to outrun him easily. Now it had taken her and Umeme so long to catch up to him. She and her sister still didn't know what was going on, but it couldn't be good given the way Delano was running again. It seemed like they had no choice but to follow him.

~~~~~~

It was a very close call, but Muroki and Kato managed to climb high enough just in time before the water would have otherwise overtaken them. Muroki let out a sigh of relief once the two of them had made it up to safety, leaving the gorge completely. However, to his dismay, what he saw in front of him was not the view he'd expected. "Where are we?" he asked, confused. What he was looking at was not the open plains he'd come from but an area filled with mountains and small caves.

"We must have climbed up the other side of the gorge..." said Kato, who was still trying to catch his breath. This could only mean that they were no longer inside the territory of their pride, which, in this particular case, was a very, very bad thing.

"How can we go back?" asked Muroki, knowing that they probably didn't have any time to lose. There was no telling whether Sanders and his goons were aware of the fact that Kato had escaped.

"Since the gorge is flooded we have to walk around it." Muroki knew that, since the gorge was quite huge, that could take them a very long time.

~~~~~~

Hatari also kept looking around helplessly for any sign of either Muroki or the prince but could see none. This little 'accident' with the dam had Sanders's name all over it. Hatari knew that the dam would have never collapsed on its own, and after all the underworld did have a history of making its work look like unfortunate accidents. He finally caught a glimpse of the two on the other side of the gorge, and was so relieved that he didn't notice Delano running towards him.

[DGFone]

Delano spotted a lion climbing out of the gorge and sped up, hoping that it was Muroki. But as he neared this lion, he could already see that it wasn't his brother. He slowed down, confused. Where was Muroki? And why was this lion so familiar? He squinted, trying to get a better look, as well as searching his mind for any clues as to who was this lion. He felt like he had seen this lion before, but where...?

It hit him like a rampaging rhino. "You!" Without thinking, he charged at the lion, roaring with fury. Crashing into the lion, he jumped on and immediately pressed his paws on the lion's throat. Hard. Delano felt weird, like it was all a dream. Of course it has to be this lion. He had set up this ambush in order to get Muroki, and perhaps him as well. It was the only rational thing he could come up with.

Not that he was thinking very clearly at the moment, his mind completely clouded by rage and fear. "What are you doing here?" He demanded. "Why did you come back? Why?" From behind, he could hear Lina and Umeme as they finally caught up to him, but he wasn't in any condition to listen to them. He always feared that his past would come back to haunt him, but never like this.

---

Umeme and Lina chased after Delano, and Umeme saw too late that he had spotted someone else, and to make things worse, it was the one lion she hoped that he won't run into. "Lina, we have to stop him! He doesn't know yet that he's helping us!"

Knowing that Delano will reach Hatari before them, she shouted just in case, "Delano, no! He's with us!" Even if he did hear her, he didn't listen, and Umeme nudged Lina to so that they can rush forward and help Hatari before Delano maimed him or worse.

[TheWhistlerify]

Hatari was just about to call out to Muroki in order to warn him that Sanders might be around when Delano tackled him, sending them both to the ground. His attacker had his paws on his throat before he realized what was going. He recognized Delano quite quickly, and realized that Umeme must have forgotten to tell him that he was on their side. Or maybe Delano didn't believe her. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to explain himself like that, he kicked Delano in the stomach with his hind legs and rolled from underneath him.

"If you'd give me a moment to explain-" Hatari started, but was interrupted when Delano pounced at him again. This time, since he saw it coming, Hatari got out of the way. "Just listen to me for a moment!" Once again Delano ignored him. "I'm trying to help!" This time Hatari shouted. "Your brother's okay!" he tried to turn the enraged lion's attention towards the othet side of the gorge, hoping that him seeing Muroki would get him to calm down.

~~~~~~

Muroki was about to tell Kato that they might as well start making he way back, but the sound of paws running in their direction and of lions arguing caught his attention. "Quickly! This way! Before Kato even got a chance to ask what was going on or who did the voices belong to Muroki was already pulling him in the direction of the mountains. He literally forced the prince to enter the nearest nook and then went inside as well. Once again Kato was about to ask what was going on but Muroki signalled him to be quiet. They should be okay as long as they didn't make a sound.

[DGFone]

Despite Hatari's intentions to get Delano to look at the other side of the gorge, getting kicked in the stomach did not help Delano in getting him to listen. Instead, it only solidified his fears that Hatari, Garkuru as Delano knew him, was still out to get him. So when Hatari tried to point to the other side to where Muroki was, Delano thought it was a bluff to try and distract him and leave him vulnerable to attack.

"You think I'm going to listen to you?" He spat, venom emanating from his voice. He couldn't afford to let his guard down, because Hatari was still a very capable fighter, while Delano had lost a lot of his skill. He needed all of whatever of his concentration wasn't taken away by his rage just to keep at the same level as Hatari. "You killed our parents! Now you're trying to kill me, isn't that it? Luring Muroki down there to kill him and then kill me!"

Nearby, Umeme could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Delano, no! That't not it! Listen to him, he's helping us!" It didn't look like Delano was listening, so she tried to approach him and force him to calm down if needed be, only to find herself tossed away rather painfully.

"You stay out of this, Umeme!" Delano shouted right after shoving her away. He couldn't afford to have her interfere. "Or he might get you too." Glaring at Hatari, he charged again with the full intention of killing the lion if he can get his jaws around the other lion's neck.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina gasped in shock when Delano shoved Umeme away. This wasn't the first time she was seeing him angry, but he's never been this angry before. She rushed over to her sister, wanting to make sure that she was okay. "Delano! Stop!" she yelled, hoping that he'd listen to her.

Hatari was also taken aback by Delano's reaction to Umeme, but he knew he couldn't let that distract him as Delano charged at him with full speed. Once again jumping out of the lion's path, Hatari understood there would be no getting Delano to calm down with just words. As he cast a quick glance towards where he'd last seen Muroki he was shocked to see that he was gone. What horrified him even more was the fac that Sanders's 2 bodyguards were now at the exact same area, probably in search of Kato.

"Look over there!" he yelled, trying to get Delano to look. "We have to find your brother and the prince before they do!"

~~~~~~

Muroki and Kato remained silent. The older male knew that the prince was most likely quite eager to get an explanation about what was going on, since it was quite obvious that Muroki wasn't telling him something. Muroki's eyes went wide when he spotted 2 lions walking about outside by the gorge. Something was telling him that the 2 hadn't been sent by the king to bring Kato back home safely.

A few moments passed. Muroki had a feeling that the two were about to move on and search in another area, but just as they turned to leave he heard a yelp of pain and surprise escape Kato's mouth. He immediately coverd the prince's muzzle with a paw, a sense of terror taking over him as he saw a snake slowly crawl its way away from them. While he recognized what sort of snake it was, seeing how his parents knew how to deal with snakes, doing what was needed to help Kato now was going to be difficult considering how the young lion had unintentionally revealed their location.

[DGFone]

Somehow, despite his blinding anger, something made Delano hesitate when Lina yelled at him. Something in her tone, a combination of pleading and demanding, told him that continuing to ignore her was a bad idea. He still believed that Hatari was to blame, but now that he was distracted, he did look and saw two more lions on the other side of the gorge. They didn't look very friendly, and they were definitely looking for someone or something.

Umeme noticed Delano's rage lift a little, and hoped that he was paying enough attention now to at least listen to her if not Hatari. "Delano, Muroki's over there..."

Delano didn't trust Hatari at all. But when Umeme spoke, this time he did listen. When she mentioned his brother's name, the wave of fear of losing his brother overtook him again. "Muroki..." He scanned the other side of the gorge desperately, but didn't see his brother. "MUROKI!" He broke into a run, completely forgetting about Hatari as he had only one thing on his mind: he had to find his brother.

---

The two lions who were sent by Sanders to make sure that the brother and the prince were finished off searched where they saw their prey escape the raging river. While it was slightly disappointing to know that their initial plan failed, the thrill of the hunt was much greater than sitting on the sidelines. Plus. they knew that their prey was very close. Muroki and Kato's scent was in the air. The two of them could not have gotten far.

"Come out come out wherever you are," one of them teased, "we're just here to take you home." There were many hiding places in the area, and the two lions would search every one until they found their pray, and dealt with it.

[TheWhistlerify]

Hatari was more than relieved to see that Delano was finally listening to reason (to a certain extent). The only problem was that, in his rush, Delano did not stop to consider what the fastest route to Muroki might be and ended up takng the longer route. "Wait! yelled Hatari, trying to get his attention. Getting to Muroki was going to take them long enough as it was. "I know a faster way!" But it was no use. Cursing quietly, Hatari turned and ran in the opposite direction. At least one of them would get there faster.

~~~~~~

Muoki allowed a very weak growl to escape his throat when one of the two lions began to tease them. He knew that, now that the two were aware of the fact that he and Kato nearby, it would only be a matter of time until they were discovered. And on top of that, he had to hurry and take care of the fact that that snake had bitten Kato before it became too late. "What are we going to do?" asked Kato quietly, sounding quite horrified.

"Let me see..." said Muroki quietly with as reassuring a smile as he could manage.

Kato hesitated for a moment but then held one of his forelegs forewards. There were two small puncture marks on one of his paws. "It hurts... This is bad, isn't it?" he asked, his voice shaky as his whole body began to tremble with fear.

"Don't worry, I can help." said Muroki. He knew that being nervous meant a having a faster heartbeat which meant that the venom would spread faster. He had to calm Kato down. "My parents taught me a lot about snakes."

"We're going to find you sooner or later!" came the voice of the 2nd lion.

"Come, this way." said Muroki quietly, slowly leading Kato out of the nook and immediately taking cover behind a large boulder. He scanned the area around them and noticed a narrow and rather hidden pathway they could use to ascend one of the mountains. Perfect. "Keep quiet and follow me." They were heading farther away from their pride's rerritory. He knew that. But they had to hide.