In a Bind
Kion gets set a challenge by Nirmala to help him overcome his issues, but things take a sudden and dramatic turn. SFW but with somewhat mature themes.
This is my first attempt at a story in probably 15 years, so don't set your expectations -too- high!
All characters contained in this story are © Disney / The Lion Guard.
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In a Bind
"Hey uh, what's the purpose of this training again?" asks Kion with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"I told you, Kion" replied Nirmala, as the cub in front of her was sat at the base of a thin tree, probably the same width as him, and Makini began tying him to it with several lengths of rope made from vines. "This is to test your patience and resilience when times are tricky. If you can keep your cool and free yourself, then you'll be well on the road to recovery!" she continued with that warm smile of hers, but with a hint of underlying amusement Kion thought.
Kion's body was pulled tightly against the tree trunk by the Makini's vines, which also snaked over his shoulders and between his legs to ensure that movement was at a minimum. Then, to his surprise, Kion felt his forepaws being pulled behind his back and more vines being attached.
"Woah Makini, what gives?" Kion blurted out. "How am I supposed to escape this without my claws?"
"That's the point, Kion" chimed in Nirmala. "If you just claw your way out, you'll be free in moments which won't teach you to be patient and think things through."
"Yeah Kion" added Makini. "This is the best way to get better" she continued as she wrapped Kion's paws together, adding a snug cinch in between them. As a mandrill, her opposable thumbs came into their own, which is presumably why Nirmala employed her to do the tying. Not that Kion appreciated the benefit, as soon enough he was tightly tied against the tree with his forepaws tied behind the trunk.
"Done Nirmala!" yelled Makini. "He ain't going anywhere for a while!" She teased, whilst grinning widely at Kion, who in turn replied with a scowl.
Kion squirmed a little in his predicament, it was immediately clear that he wasn't going anywhere soon. The vines between his legs and over his shoulders stopped any wiggle room, his waist vines held him snug to the tree trunk, and his bound paws were more or less useless behind the trunk where he couldn't see them, much less move them. The tight cinch from Makini had done its job. Kion looked up at Nirmala and Makini, almost worried at how helpless he was.
"So uhh, what do I do now?" he asked shakily. "You're not just gonna leave me here, are you?"
"Yep! See ya Kion!" laughed Makini.
"Not quite" calmed Nirmala. "Yes, you'll be left here to test your ability to stay calm in stressful situations, and hopefully you'll figure out a way to escape. But if you're still here by the time the Night Pride finish our patrol, I'll get Makini to come and free you. Sound ok, Kion? I can see you're quite nervous."
"Uhh, yeah kinda." Kion replied, giving a brief struggle against his vines. "But I'm willing to try. I guess I can't use the roar either huh?" he added.
Nirmala's ears perked up. "Oh, I'd forgotten about your roar! Makini, you know what to do." She looked down at the young mandrill with a smirk.
Makini's face dropped. "You...you want me to tie his mouth?" She questioned. "Like, so he can't speak?"
"More accurately, so he can't use the roar." Corrected Nirmala. This turn of events led to a protest from the bound adolescent lion.
"What?! You can't tie my mouth too!" Kion squirmed more in his bonds. "What if I need water, or something?" He pleaded.
"Like I said, we don't need you losing your cool and using the roar where it's not safe to." Nirmala said calmly. "And also, you're safe here at the Tree of Life. It's only for a few hours anyway and then you'll be free." She nodded to Makini, who stepped forward with a final length of vine.
Kion opened his mouth to protest further, when Makini threw the vine into his maw, and wrapped it around his head and then around his muzzle before tying it off securely. Kion's protest quickly became muffled as he was effectively gagged and muzzled by the vines. He tried to beg the two of them to reconsider, but all that came out of his mouth was garbled whimpers. To make matters worse, the rest of the Night Pride arrived at that very moment and took great pleasure in seeing the lion so helpless.
"Gosh Kion" blushed Rani. "You look kinda good like that." She grinned a little at her friend, who just looked back at her with an expression of both defeat and embarrassment. He managed a weak mrrrf as he looked down at the ground.
"Aww, chin up buddy!" cooed Baliyo. "Nirmala knows what she's doing, before you know it, you'll be all better and this will all be in the past! Though I gotta say I'm with Rani on this one, that looks kinda fun. Maybe I could try it out sometime Makini?" He shot a dorky grin down at Makini, who grinned back at him.
"Sure!" She replied excitedly, eliciting an eyeroll from Nirmala, who saw this purely as an exercise to help Kion rather than a silly game.
"Come on guys, let's leave Kion to it." She said calmly but sternly. "He's not going to be able to concentrate with all of us here, besides, it's time for our patrol." She looked down to Kion. "Good luck Kion, I'll be back after our patrol." She smiled. Kion however could only grunt and shift slightly in his bonds.
"Yeah, good luck Kion!" The others said in unison, as they turned and began to walk away. However, Rani approached the bound lion. She leaned into him and whispered.
"I wasn't kidding by the way, you do look really nice all tied up like that, I've never seen anything like it before." She murmured with a blush as she looked the lion up and down, his body held tight against the trunk by all the vines. "Maybe I'll have to ask Makini to tie you up again just for me later." She smirked and gave him a lick across the nose. Kion may well have returned the favour, had his tongue not been held prisoner inside his maw by a length of vine which also held his maw shut. Instead, he blushed a deep shade of red and stared at here with wide eyes, saying nothing. Not that he was able to anyway. "See ya later!" She chirped as she ran off to join the rest of the Night Pride. And with that, Kion was left alone.
Kion's initial thoughts were that Nirmala and Makini surely wouldn't devise a task so impossible to escape from.
"There must be a trick." He thought to himself, as he tried to angle his paws in order to unsheathe his claws, but his paws were tied in such a way that he had almost no movement or leverage in any direction, and his paws were cleverly angled away from the vines themselves, leaving him unable to scratch or claw at them to get free. Similarly, the vines between his legs and across his shoulders meant he couldn't get any leverage with his body either to get a better angle. He strained hard against the ropes, pushing and squirming with all his might until he felt them start to dig in around his neck and groin painfully which made him stop momentarily.
He attempted to bite trough the vine in his maw, but it was too far back in his mouth for his teeth to reach, and with his muzzle tied shut he was unable to open his mouth to get a firm grip on it. The reality of the situation began to dawn on him, he was completely alone and helpless, tied to a tree and totally unable to move or call for help. Kion began to panic and renew his struggles, succeeding only in tiring himself out.
"C'mon Kion, keep calm, you heard what Nirmala said." He thought to himself. "You're safe here, and the Night Pride will be back before you know it." He began to relax a little, his struggles becoming more rhythmic squirms in between his breaths. "These ropes are pretty tight, but other than that it doesn't feel so bad I guess." He mused. "Though I don't understand why Rani liked it so much, maybe she should try it herself first before she says anything."
He huffed to himself, soon finding himself imagining Rani in the position he was in, and grinning at the thought. His mind began to wander, and soon he'd forgotten all about trying to get free and was just thinking about Rani all tied up just like he was and enjoying the images it conjured up. "Heck, maybe she has a point after all." Kion smirked.
On the other side of the hill, Makucha and Chuluun were walking together, sneakily trying to find a way to the Tree of Life without alerting the Night Pride, who surely would throw them out as soon as they saw them.
"I promise ya, the Night Pride went the other way, we've got a clear path." Said Makucha in his usual arrogant way. "The Tree of Life is as good as ours!" He smirked.
"I dunno," replied Chuluun, "there's more of them now that Kion and his buddies showed up. I just don't think they'd all go together, there's got to be more of 'em around here."
"Ahh, quit worrying, I got this!" Makucha boasted. "It'll be just like taking candy from a ba-" he stopped dead in his tracks.
"From a ba?" Chuluun questioned. "What the heck is a ba?" She looked up at her leopard friend, to see he was staring dead ahead, eyes wide open. "What? Makucha what is it?" Chuluun persisted.
"There, over by that tree, there's something there." Makucha gestured towards a tree in the distance, in the darkness it was hard to make out, but it looked like there was a figure of some creature at the base of the tree, but it was too dark and far away for Makucha to make out.
Chuluun squinted, her night vision was far superior to Makucha's, she could make out the shape of a familiar-looking lion seemingly just sat under the tree.
"It's Kion!" She exclaimed. "Ha, I told you they'd split up, Makucha! He's clearly keeping watch for us so he can alert the rest of the Night Pride. Pfft, nice try kid" She scoffs. "He looks like he's on his own, let's get him..."
Quickly, she motioned for them to scoot downwind before Kion could notice them, and together they continued their advance.
Kion, meanwhile, was completely unaware that the leopard and snow leopard were approaching from behind him. Aside from a few occasional squirms, he'd given up trying to escape and was bordering on dozing off.
Just as he felt himself closing his eyes, he suddenly felt a large sense of malaise, as if something was wrong. His eyes shot wide open, and he turned his head from side to side trying to see if anything was amiss. At first, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but then his eyes glanced up to the two silhouetted felines heading straight towards him. It was dark and he couldn't see properly, but he knew instantly who they were. Chuluun and Makucha.
Instant alertness set in, and all Kion knew was that he had to fight. He lurched forward to stand up, completely forgetting that he was completely tied up and helpless as the vines held him tight. He tried to open his mouth to yell, but the muzzle and gag put a stop to that too. He began to panic, squirming wildly in his bonds and shouting incoherently behind his gag, desperate to get free. But obviously, it was no use, Makini had tied him too well and he wasn't even able to get a paw free, let alone his whole body.
Makucha and Chuluun were much closer now and could see that Kion had noticed them.
"Aw heck, he's seen us!" Makucha complained, preparing himself to turn around and run, but Chuluun continued staring at the lion.
"If he's seen us, why is he not coming for us?" Chuluun wondered. "He's just still sitting there, but he definitely looked right at us. Something's not right." she added. "I gotta check this out." And with that, she took off in the direction of Kion. Makucha, not wanting to be left by himself, quickly yet also apprehensively followed his snow leopard friend.
Kion was in the midst of trying to worm his paws out of the tight cinch knot they were trapped in when Chuluun finally noticed why Kion had not given chase when he saw her and Makucha. Chuluun stared down at the lion, and for the first time, she could see genuine fear in his eyes. He knew he couldn't defend himself, and so did she. Chuluun eventually broke the silence, by bursting into a fit of laughter.
"Ohhh Kion!" She dramatically exclaimed. "What a mess you seem to have gotten yourself into! I have to say, I find this Kion much more appealing, and much less painful" She added, remember the last time Kion's roar had sent her flying into the river. "Makucha, you gotta see this!"
Makucha tentatively approached, his nervous expression quickly melting into a wide grin when he saw how incapacitated Kion was. "Hey look, he can't roar either with those vines on his muzzle" He blurted out.
"Perfect." Chuluun purred. "Now I hope you don't mind, Kion, but we're just gonna go after the Tree of Life. We initially got nervous when we saw you sitting there, but now we can see you're too tied up to stop us."
Kion uttered a low growl from behind his gag and strained against the ropes, he couldn't believe how easy it was going to be for them, and how helpless he was to stop it.
"There there, lion." Makucha leaned in, having seemingly grown in confidence knowing he was safe from Kion's roar. "Don't take it personally, we were always gonna best you one way or the other." He teasingly scritched Kion's chin with a claw, a move which resulted in a louder growl and more squirming from the lion.
"I hate to break up the....thing...you have going on here." Chuluun interjected with an exasperated sigh. "But we have a job to do, don't we, Makucha?" She turned around and began heading towards the Tree of Life. "Nice knowing you, Kion!" She yelled over her shoulder. Makucha simply grinned down at Kion, then also turned to follow Chuluun, and soon they were back to being silhouettes in the distance.
Once Kion's adrenaline level had returned to normal, he thought about what had just happened. What were they up to? What did they want with the Tree of Life? And more importantly, why did Chuluun end with "nice knowing you"? Kion pondered the last part especially; it was such an odd phrase to use. He racked his brain trying to work out the answer, as well as trying to think of a way out of these darn vines.
At the Tree of Life, Makucha and Chuluun stood in awe at the entrance. They couldn't believe it, after all the failed attempts at trying, they were finally there.
"So uh, what now?" Makucha asked, clearly clueless as to why they had been trying to get to the Tree of Life all those times. Chuluun rolled her eyes.
"You doofus, we're gonna destroy it. That way the Night Pride won't have any powers and we'll be able to overthrow them!" She yelled, almost maniacally, before walking over to a fire pit that Makini had set for warmth some hours earlier. "We'll burn it down!"
Makucha stared at her, dumbfounded. He'd never seen her be so evil before, he began to feel guilty. However, not waiting to show himself up, he walked over to the fire and stood next to her.
"We each get a stick, light it on this fire, and then throw it inside the tree, then watch as their home and their powers go up in smoke" Chuluun smirked, picking up a twig in her maw and holding it over the fire until the end began to smoulder. "Yurrr turrrn!" She yelled with a mouthful of burning twig.
Makucha suddenly didn't want to be involved, but he was too deep in now, if he backed out, he'd be humiliated. So, he took a similar sized twig and set it alight in the same way. They then walked over and stood at the entrance to the tree, holding their torches.
Without warning, Chuluun crouched down and FLUNG her torch right at the tree! It smacked a few leaves which began to burn, before the stick came to rest just inside the entrance, where it began to scorch the inner bark of the tree. Chuluun snapped her head to look at Makucha, who was stood with his burning stick in his maw, not moving.
"MAKUCHA!" Chuluun yelled. "What are you waiting for? Throw it!" But Makucha didn't move, he just stared at the burning leaves of the tree, which were very quickly setting fire to other leaves. He looked almost scared.
"You'd better not be wussing out on me, leopard!" Chuluun snapped. "If you don't throw it, I'll throw you with it!" The snow leopard advanced towards Makucha but stopped dead in her tracks when she heard familiar voices shouting from behind.
"With honour and respect, Night Pride protect!" The four members of the Night Pride were running at full speed down the hill towards them and the tree.
"Shoot, let's get outta here Makucha!" Chuluun urged. They both turned to run away from the tree, Makucha carelessly throwing the stick out of his maw. The stick landed in a patch of grass, and almost immediately began to start burning. Before too long, they had reached the border of the Night Pride's area.
"Let them run." Surak called. "The tree requires our attention the most, someone go get some water from the lake!"
"We're on it!" Beshte responded loudly. "Come on guys!" He rallied the rest of the Lion Guard, and they all turned and rushed off in the direction of the nearest water source.
Meanwhile, Surak and Baliyo tried to extinguish the fire in the entrance out by shovelling dirt onto it and beating it with their paws as best they could. Eventually they got that fire under control, but the leaves and branches were still very much ablaze. However, it wasn't long before the Lion Guard returned with water and a few reinforcements they had recruited along the way, namely a couple of elephants. They eventually managed to douse the tree in enough water that the fire stopped spreading and was left smouldering and steaming, however no longer in any danger.
"Well done everyone!" Rani cheered. "You saved the Tree of Life!"
"Uhh yeah but, what about that fire?" Bunga retorted, pointing to a larger fire that had taken hold out in the grass where Makucha had thrown his torch. A fire that was spreading, and to Nirmala's horror when she realised, spreading towards where Kion was still tied up.
"Oh no..." She murmured. "Kion! He's still out by the tree! We have to get to him before the fire does! Makini, come with me, the rest of you deal with the fire!" She commanded. And without missing another moment, the mandrill and her were rushing to Kion's rescue.
From where Kion was sat, he could see the smoke rising, and seemingly getting thicker and closer with each passing minute. He also saw Makucha and Chuluun make good their escape.
"So, this was their plan all along, those horrible creatures." He seethed, angry at himself for not stopping them. Completely failing to take into account that he was tied to a tree and completely incapable of stopping anything. This didn't seem to stop Kion blaming himself, he cried softly to himself, however through his tears he could make out that it seemed to be getting brighter. He blinked, and glanced up, and his blood ran cold as he saw why it was getting brighter.
The fire that Makucha had inadvertently started was spreading closer to him at quite a pace, if he didn't get free soon, he'd be a toasted lion! He HAD to get free!
With renewed energy and determination, Kion strained with all his might against the ropes, desperate to find just one weak spot or one part of vine that he could reach with a claw. But it was no use, everything was too tight and too out of reach. Kion tried to roar, but the gag and muzzle took prevented anything beyond an incoherent muffle from escaping.
"MMMMM! RRRRRMMMMMM! HRRRRRRP EEEEEEE" Kion screamed, but nobody could hear him, and soon nobody would be able to see him. In his desperation to escape, the smoke from the fire had surrounded him.
His eyes stung, and he coughed as his breathing suddenly became very laboured. The smoke was too thick to breathe through, Kion was sure this was it. He felt himself begin to lose consciousness; his struggles slowed as he gasped for air. Eventually he succumbed to his body's desire to sleep.
"I'm sorry guys...I tried my best." He thought to himself as he slumped over. His eyes closed for the last time, and his final moments were feeling the heat of the fire as it reached ever closer.
Kion was having the weirdest dream, he dreamed that despite being tied to a tree moments earlier, he was flying. Flying across all the fire damaged grassland, back towards the Tree of Life. As he neared the entrance to the tree, he realised he was unable to stop himself from flying, and he was on a collision course with the tree itself! Kion yelled out and braced for impact.
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Just when he expected to have become a lion pancake against the Tree of Life, Kion awoke with a start, coughing and spluttering. He forced himself to open his sore eyes and found himself...at the base of the Tree of Life! But he hadn't flown there, Nirmala had carried him on her back.
"KION!" Screamed several in unison. Kion could make out at least two voices, Bunga and Rani. He peered over to try and see, but his vision was too blurred. Kion soon passed out.
Kion awoke yet again, this time on a rock inside the Tree of Life. The smell of smoke still lingered in the air, and Kion was instantly nervous. He opened his eyes, his vision was still a bit fuzzy, the smoke must have damaged his eyes. He shakily sat up and looked around as best he could. Next to him was a half gourd full of water, which he lapped up. It was quiet, no vines, no Makucha, no Chuluun, no fire, no smoke. He rubbed at his maw and paws, which were quite tender from all the struggling he'd done.
At that moment, Nirmala walked in, Kion smiled weakly at her.
"Kion!" She yelled excitedly and ran over to nuzzle him. "Oh I'm so glad you're ok, we've all been so worried." She continued, with tears in her eyes. Kion began to cry too, the reality of his brush with death hitting him like a stampede.
"I think the smoke damaged my eyes; my vision is all fuzzy like Ono's was." Kion sniffed through the tears. "I'm also really thirsty, but other than that I think I'm ok." He tried his best to forge a smile to reassure her.
"Don't worry about that, we can fix your vision just like we fixed Ono's." Nirmala smiled. "What matters is that your journey in the circle of life is still ongoing. We were all so scared we'd lost you when I brought you back here. Makini and I found you just in time. I feel so terrible, I should never have left you alone for so long."
"Don't worry about it Nirmala, I'm fine." Kion coughed, resulting in a stern look from the older lioness. Kion thought back to his daydreaming about Rani whilst tied up. "It uh, wasn't actually that bad. Uh, apart from the fire anyway." Kion blushed, and Nirmala noticed.
"I had a feeling you were going to say that; who's idea do you think that challenge was anyway?" She asked with a playful smirk.
Kion's eyes widened. "Yours?!" He gasped.
"No, silly." Replied Nirmala, stifling a giggle. "Rani of course! She's not the innocent lioness you think she is y'know." She continued. "I had to think of a challenge for you, and Rani wanted to see you tied up, that was the result."
Kion was speechless, it was Rani's idea? How did he not know?
"So anyway." Nirmala carried on. "I suspect Rani will probably want to discuss that more with you in private, when you're better." She narrowed her eyes at Kion during those last few words, to make sure the message got through.
"Sure thing Nirmala." Replied Kion, with a smile.
"Good." Nirmala gave Kion another nuzzle, before turning and walking towards the entrance. "No more challenges for a while, I'll get Makini to make up a solution for your eyesight straight away." She added.
"Hey Nirmala." Kion called after her. "Did I pass?"
END.