Brothers Before Blood (Lion King Mufasa Fanfiction)

Chapter 23: Going Too Far

Mufasa moaned as spots of color danced in his eyes. He started to roll on his side and abruptly stopped as pain flashed through him. He lifted a paw and rubbed at his eyes. "What the-"

"Why are you following me," bellowed Taka as his face finally came into view.

Mufasa lifted a paw and rubbed it at his head. He flinched when he felt a bump starting to protrude from his head. "What are you talking about, Taka?" His mind felt fuzzy enough without Taka suddenly adding to his confusion. "What did you do to me?"

"I defended myself from a stalker and then I realized that it was you!" Taka bounded in front of his brother with his front paws thrust against the ground. Mufasa hissed at the sound that sent tremors through his head. "I'll ask you one more time. Why were you following me?!"

"I thought that you were going to do something to Dad," Mufasa finally confessed. He managed to press against the bump on his head and not feel an avalanche of pain flood through him. His eyes quickly pressed shut for a moment before he padded back to his paws. He wobbled ever so slightly and stumbled forward, feeling his stomach churn. "I saw you rush off and-"

"And you suspected the worst," finished Taka. He smiled ruefully as he lifted a paw and thrust it at his brother.

Mufasa managed to lift his own paw up and stop Taka's paw just in time. He sunk his claw into Taka's paw and Taka let out a gasp in alarm. He tried to bare his teeth at his brother, but Mufasa thrust his head against Taka's. Taka fell backwards and Mufasa instantly regretted it. Fresh pain blossomed behind his eyes and he laid sideways in pain. His paw pressed against the side side of his head. Each heartbeat seemed to send more jolts of pain into his skull.

"What did you do to me," roared Mufasa. The roar made his head hurt even more and he fell to the ground almost beside his brother.

Taka pulled his paw away from his lip. Blood started to flow from a small nick. "Calm down," he grumbled as he licked the blood away before it could bead and fall from it. "I just stumbled into you and you hit your head on a rock. You'll be fine after a while."

"I'm glad that you're so concerned," spat Mufasa. He hunkered down even more and moaned as he felt his head continue to pound.

Taka opened his mouth to argue when the sound of pawsteps caused him to stop. Mufasa didn't need to look up to know who was coming.

Sarabi.

"Mufasa," fretted Sarabi as she waltzed right past Taka and lowered down by her friend. She tried to nose his paws away from his head, but Mufasa was persistent. A growl rolled in Sarabi's throat. "I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong?"

"M'head," Mufasa managed as he reluctantly pulled his paws away.

Sarabi wasted no time. She found the bump on his head and touched her nose to it. Mufasa almost leaped away while Sarabi pressed against him and tried to assess the damage. She rested her paw to it and let out a low murmur. "It's a bit of a bump here. Abaku should have a look at it just to make sure," she assessed.

"How far?"

"A while," answered Sarabi gravely. "But, if we work together, then we should make it home before dusk, even if we have to go slower."

Mufasa said nothing except let out a low moan. Sarabi pulled back before she spun around to face Taka. "What happened?"

"What? He attacked me," Taka growled.

Sarabi shook her head. "You could never take Mufasa down in a fair fight. You must've done something else to him. Only snakes fight like cowards!"

Shock and hurt flashed across Taka's face. He lapped at the blood on his lip once more as he slightly leaned forward. "I didn't mean to, Sarabi. You know that."

Sarabi said nothing more to Taka. Instead, she lowered down and sunk her teeth into Mufasa's scruff. She had to fight away the mane, but she finally managed to secure a grip. She hauled the prince to his paws and allowed him to slump against her. Sarabi struggled to hold herself and Mufasa upright. Her eyes flashed as she angled her head around Mufasa's neck to look at Taka. "Are you going to help, or are you just going to stand there?"

Taka let out a hiss of annoyance before he reluctantly joined Sarabi on the other side of Mufasa. He pressed against them powerfully and tried not to sag under his brother's weight. "He's heavy," Taka complained.

"And if you wouldn't have had him hit his head, then we wouldn't be in this predicament, now would we," pointed out Sarabi as she reluctantly pulled herself forward. Her pawsteps were uncoordinated and shaky as she tried to hold Mufasa up. Mufasa helped as much as he could while Taka seemed to push most of Mufasa's weight onto Sarabi's back and shoulders.

It took much longer to arrive home than Sarabi had guessed. She stopped at the base of Pride Rock and let out a roar.

"What are you doing," complained Taka with his fur starting to stand on end.

Sarabi looked at him quizzically. "What do you think? We can't possibly get him up there ourselves. We need help," she reminded sternly.

Taka shifted uncomfortably before Maduro glanced over the edge of Pride Rock. He lifted his head instantly and let out a roar and that caused more of the pride to cluster close.

    "Help! We need Abaku," wailed Sarabi urgently.

    There were shouts as everyone watching called for the healer. It only took a moment for Abaku to start down the rockface urgently with his eyes round, already assessing the situation. He charged down beside them and stretched out a paw and touched his nose to Mufasa's forehead.

    "We need to get him up to my den. There's something wrong."