The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 14: Accord

 The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 14: Accord

At Nandari, Kion was scolding the four cubs. "What were you thinking? It's unsafe beyond the Pride Lands and you leave just like that, without any permission."

"We..." Emba had his head lowered just as the others. "We just wanted to explore a bit, that's all, uhm..." He sighed and got enough courage to look into his father's eyes. "We wanted to return, dad, bu...."

Nuku intervened, walking between the four cubs and getting in front of Kion. "I took them here...your majesty." He bowed his head and crouched briefly. "As you said, it's dangerous out there. I didn't want anything bad to happen to them."

Kion just kept his gaze on the caracal, thoughtful. He looked at his children and nephews, who glared at him with eyes of apology. Finally, he glanced back at the caracal. "What's your name?"

"Nu..." Nuku was a bit nervous. "Nuku."

Kion remained thoughtful for another moment then smirked subtly, giving him a thankful nod. "Thanks, Nuku." His ear twitched when hearing several steps at the distance. Nekeri and his two guards had arrived to meet with him. He turned his glance back to the children. "We'll have a word on this at home, you understand?" The four cubs nodded with hesitant acceptance. "On the meantime..." He briefly looked at the place. "Stay here." He finally left them to go talk with Nandari's king.

Ari sighed. "I told you, Emba."

"Hey, you guys wanna play or something?" Nuku inquired.

"Yes!" Keru said effusively.

Emba yawned. "I don't know, I'm kinda hungry."

Nuku chuckled. "We can eat later, come on." He turned and started to rush all of a sudden, followed by Ari, Keru and Zale. "Emba seeks!"

"Hey! That's not..." Emba ran after them for a couple of seconds, then just slowed his steps down and let out a sigh of resignation while the others kept running. "Okay..." He laid over the white sand and closed his eyes then covered them with both paws. "Ten..!" He yelled, with the defile's echo being enough for Nuku and the other three lions to hear the warning.

Keru spotted a crack at the foot of the right cliff, and smiling at his finding, he separated from the group and headed there to hide. Ari was glancing at her sides constantly to spot a possible hideout, she gasped when seeing a small path that took to the left cliff's inside, so she ran towards it with no more hesitation. Zale was just following Nuku, thinking he could arguably know the best hideouts in Nandari. The caracal was chuckling naturally, enjoying this time of frolic and joy.

Kion and Nekeri were walking, the later accompanied by other two caracals. "I must congratulate you, Nekeri." Kion was looking at the caves, the families and the casual caracals that passed by him. "You've made this place a true land to live."

Nekeri let out a brief chuckle. "It was like this when we found it." He explained. "We just saw a chance and, well, we took it."

"You look...so happy here." Kion kept glaring at the caracals he spotted at every corner of the place.

"We are, indeed." Nekeri said then looked at him. "But I suspect you're not here just to praise our Kingdom."

Kion got a straight face. "That's correct, King of Nandari." He kept glancing frontwards. "Baturu is coming."

Nekeri didn't say a word for a long moment then nodded slightly. "I know..."

They reached a path at the side of the dead end and took it. "Is Nandari prepared for such menace?" Kion asked, looking at Nekeri.

"No." Nekeri said. "We are not." He replied. "But the less we know about it, the better."

"And I respect that, Nekeri, I truly do." Kion said. "But..." He looked at his surroundings again. "...you have something beautiful here."

"If you're trying to convince me to battle, then you've come in vane, Kion." Nekeri adopted a more serious tone. "It's not the way of my Kingdom."

Kion sighed. "I know, Nekeri." He looked away to keep glancing at the cliffs' sandy walls. "No problems, no...disturbances..."

Nekeri got thoughtful for a moment. "You could argue that." He lowered his head slightly, shaking it and saying no more.

Kion looked at him with inquiry. "Nekeri?"

Nekeri delayed a bit more to answer but then finally explained himself, looking at Kion. "The hyenas." He said. "They're killing our children."

Kion gasped slightly. "Why?"

Nekeri nodded and turned his gaze to the front. "Exactly."

Kion reflected on what the king of Nandari had told him, glaring at the sandy ground while thinking about his proposal, he then looked at him. "We can offer you protection. From the hyenas, from Baturu." He finally got to the point.

Nekeri thought about Kion's offer, already wanting to say no, but he still had a vivid image of what had happened with his nephew's friends. "How much?"

Kion gave him a certain, firm nod. "Enough." He responded. "I'll give you lions and cheetahs to protect your land from Baturu and the hyenas, any menace that could arise, at least until the waters calm down."

Nekeri knew some fast paws and strong bites would bring good safety to his kingdom. "I..." He hesitated to answer and then just let out a sigh of resignation. "I accept your offer." He looked at Kion. "What does the king of the Pride Lands asks in exchange?"

"We just need your loyalty." Kion answered. "Don't let Baturu break you if h..."

"Kion." Nekeri interrupted him, rather upset. "Why would I even consider joining that lunatic?"

Kion nodded. "And that's just why I'm offering you this." He looked at the sky. "You know which side you're on."

"Nandari's." Nekeri replied, looking at Kion with a straight face.

Kion nodded subtly. "They'll be here by night." He informed. "You and your children shall sleep in peace from now on."

"And I bet..." Emba jumped into a cave. "You're here!" He woke up a caracal who was sleeping there, who growled at him. "Oh..." Emba laughed ashamed. "Sorry." He rapidly walked out the cave and kept searching, glaring at every spot of the cliff at the right, through every crack and cave he could spot. He sighed with frustration. "This is so hard. I'll never find thos..." He gasped suddenly when someone jumped at him from above, pushing him and making him to fall over the ground. He groaned and opened his eyes, seeing his sister who had her paws over his chest. "Got ya!" She exclaimed then Zale, Nuku and Keru also jumped from the rock above and started to bite him playfully.

"Hey! Stop it!" Emba complained while growling and struggling to get them off him. "...now!" He said while grunting.

Ari chuckled and finally let him stand up, the rest just stopped bothering him. "You really suck at this game, Emba." She chuckled mockingly along with her cousins and the caracal.

"Well, it's not my fault." Emba was licking his fur over the bites. "This place literally has like ten million places to hide in!"

"Oh, you're exaggerating." Zale chuckled.

"Well yes, but you get the point, right?" Emba said with a frown.

Nuku chuckled. "It's fine, Emba. We were getting bored anyway." He let out another chuckle and made the rest to laugh too.

"So funny you all..." Emba looked at them upset.

Ari got in front of him. "Come on, brother, we're kidding. Maybe with some practice..."

"You could find us in half the time." Keru added, making them to laugh again, looking at them with confusion as he didn't intend to mock Emba. "What? Or not?"

Emba tried to look upset but even he chuckled subtly at Keru's comment. "Maybe..."

"Okay, I guess that's enough hide and seek for now, so...who wants to hunt some mice?" Nuku proposed, giving them a daring look and adopting a hostile position.

"Me!" Ari, Keru and Zale all expressed.

Emba chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, why not?"