Prologue: The Bastet's Pride

The Young Lioness ran with everything she had, but there was nothing to do. The Antelopes had been warned far too much in advance.

At least, the wounded Antelope was slowed down enough by hole in its rump that the nearby Lion managed to attack it again. This time, the Lion held on. With a adult female lioness on its thigh and a gaping wound that was only getting larger and wetter, the poor Antelope no longer had a chance to escape. Another lion pounced on its shoulder while it was mid-strike. The shock put it off balance and it crumpled down. Before long a third began the strangulation process. Life left its eyes...

The Lions began to feed. With the size of the meal and the group of hunters, nothing would be left by the time they are done. Unfortunately, while everyone here would be fine, no one at the pride would have eaten yet. That meant they had one more hunt to do.

After they were done eating.

Of course, the best parts went to the best hunters. They were the one that needed to remain the best, that way, when they were successful everyone could eat. In bigger groups, that meant the unproven ones like the Young Lioness would subsist on the last strips of flesh or worse. Today, however, it was small enough that she had a decent spot around the carcass.

When ingestion was over, the group moved on. Her mother looked for the next prey, the one they would bring back to the pride. The choice needed to be good, their bellies were full, so they would be slower. The crossed paths with a giraffe and a hippo. Both were unwise choices and her mother decided not to attack. Finally, they met a herd of Cape Buffalo. A favored prey of Lions.

They were very dangerous to humans, but fair game to lions. One of the advantages they had was the way the herds are organized. The core herd of females with their young ones were kept in the middle. Around them were smaller sub herds constituted of males, the rest of the females and, much more importantly, the old and the sick. The easier prey.

There would be no catchers this time. They would encircle the herd and get as close as possible before pouncing in surprise. Each would aim for the closest target. If no one failed to hide, this would increase their chances of creating a panic and also the number of attacks. In the chaos, some buffalo were sure to fall.

The leader of the hunt had decided. It was now time to get into position.

The Young One and all of the gathered Lionesses instinctively moved together to surround the exterior herd in harmony and silence. Even the male. They found 2 suitable prey easily, elderly buffalo that would be easy to catch but still had enough meat on the bones to be worth the trouble. The Buffalo saw nothing.  

Mother and daughter pounced as one, instinctively in unison. Chaos exploded in the herd but the prey had to fall so nothing else mattered. Another lioness came running in to help take it down. The three were quick, efficient, perfect. Further away, the male and the remaining female had more trouble but also succeeded in killing. They had more food than they needed, a most rare occurrence.

She didn't have a lot of time to eat before she was brushed aside. The rest of the pride seemed more interested in carrying these carcasses back home.

It took many an hour to do the deed. Buffalo were big creatures and with nothing but their maws to work with, it was gruesome work. Most of the night was gone by the time they made it, tired and beaten. Father came, somehow twice his usual size, and carried off a huge part of meat to eat alone. The rest of the pride hurried along excitedly for their own share.

While the were gone, no one had died, and the stress had diminished greatly. Even the cubs from this morning was back to running around and terrorizing small rodents for fun. Life had returned to normal.

Cats and sleep go well together. After all, when the hunts go went, it is easy to fall asleep on a full stomach for the worries of finding the next meal are far away and a cat's little heart if filled with content. When the hunts go bad, it is also preferable to sleep so as to keep strength and sleep off the hunger.

Today the hunt had been excellent. The entire pride had fed well, her father didn't even scream at any one. He'd eaten alone in a corner, seemingly pleased. He did like Buffalo meat after all. Everyone else was mostly doing what cats do and sleeping it off as she did. The remains they left behind would likely feed carrions while they did so.

But the night was not as restful as they might have hoped. She woke up startled. There was a cry of alarm from one of the Lionesses several meters away.

By the time she got there much had already happened. She saw three ridiculously oversized hyenas. They were harassing a mother and her cub. The one she'd been playing with this morning. This was clearly not that cub's day. At least she was being defended by her mom. But, alone, there was nothing she could hope to accomplish against such creatures.

Hyenas this size were unnatural, they felt wrong enough to send chill of alarm inside every Lion's guts on mere sight. But this was a mother fighting for her offspring. She would not relent.

The hyenas showed not the slightest hint of fear. They held grounds on all fours and showed signs of barely restrained ferocity. They looked at the duo of Lionesses as if taunting them to try something.

She manged to delay them for a time. The other lioness at her side did not seem willing to risk outright battle if it could be avoided. Luckily, the cub was also tame. Its adventures of the day had make it unlikely to ever desire angering something larger than it again.

But, eventually, the hyenas grew tired of the game and began advancing with all snarls and menacing growls. The mother's instincts to protect her young took over and she made to attack. The hyenas were ready for her and dodged with ease. Two of them turned to her while the last one was watching their back, and right now that meant the Young Lioness, our protagonist. She could see the Lioness begin to panic, she was cornered and had been cut from her child. The Hyenas did not kill her, although they could have. They seemed to be playing with her.

She could vaguely hear the pride getting into motion. But, a lot could happen between now and then. The Hyena before her seemed less inclined to play. He was well and truly menacing. He made to attack, mostly testing her defenses.

She dodged, far better than he expected. Which he clearly found entertaining. She had a feeling the next attack would be far more dangerous.

He followed the movement, oblivious to the pride. His second attack was serious. Meant to hurt. To draw blood. This time she barely manage to move in time and come out of the motion with only a few hairs less. He attacked almost immediately again, but her position was advantageous enough that she was safely out of harms way when it landed.

But, he was relentless. He made to pounce, using his full body and all his claws. He meant to kill. His body lifted off the ground towards her... but never made it. Her father, even bigger than the hyena was, slammed violently into him mid-way through the motion. The hyena landed several feet away on the other Lioness. She was surprised and opened to attacks, but she was sage. The other two Hyenas were paying mind to only one thing: The impressive pissed off Simba with bloodshot eyes and a murderous roar. In his war form, the Chatro form, he was a 700 lb muscular cross between a lion and a saber-toothed smilodon. Armed with mean tooth and claws that were as big as they could without becoming hindering. The hyenas were in Chatro too, but even so they all weighed a good 100 lb less than him all told. They couldn't guarantee themselves an easy victory here.

Regardless, the Simba did not even give them time to consider fight or flight. He pounced on the one he had slammed and went straight for the throat. Ripping off half of his neck in one graceful motion while the mother underneath scrambled away from the scene in utter panic. The hyena was surprisingly still alive and while his blood was gauging intensely from his wound, the Simba ruthlessly went for the kill. He bit him in the face with all of his might before the other two could even move. The Lioness could hear bones break and the hyena that had scared her so much a moment ago went limp.

Her father was now surrounded by the remaining two who lost no time jumping on him. He was in trouble, but fighting back with all of his fury.

She savagely lunged for the neck to tear it out, much like her father just did. She had a clear shot, since he did not pay her any mind. She was met with significantly less success than her progenitor had, but still bit off a chunk of flesh. The Hyena, the one to the left of her father was now hurt and bleeding. Sadly, she had not ruptured any critical arteries and all signs indicated that he would live... for now. He still had a lioness well and truly stuck to him, holding on all fours with all of her claws sunk deep in his pelt, sometimes even his flesh.

He was quite surprised and the sheer amount of pain he was feeling made him contract all of his muscles. Rendering him incapable of reacting in time when the Simba began to tear him apart. Her father had seized the momentum, taking full advantage of his foes' weakness. Still in Chatro, he stood up on two paws to rake the Hyena with powerful and quick strikes. His immense claws ran across the hyena's face (a mere inch from her own), then his chest, then his face again. She couldn't tell if he was dead, but, he had at least lost consciousness and one of his eyes.

That was when things turned around for the worst. The last hyena, the one originally to the right of her father was now right behind him. He ran both of his paws down her father's back from his neck to his hind legs. Her father's roar of pain and fury hurt her ears. From where she was, with her jaws around the neck of her likely-dying foe, she could see his surprised and agonized look.

From her new vantage point, she could see her father's spine and the lower part of his skull. That did not prevent him from turning around to face his foe. He do so, slowly and gracefully. Aware of his exposition, but sending the message that he simply did not care. His foe was meaningless. He was not afraid. Truth be told, while his face was the very image of agony a second ago, now, impossibly, it betrayed no sign of the slightest pain. Only anger and murderous stare.

The Hyena, even with his recent victory took several steps back and clearly was considering his options. He obviously knew the man he had just wounded meant bizness, there was a Lioness circling him and the rest of the pride was mere seconds away... He submitted. He cowered back, fully on the defensive but showing no more sign of aggression. He even let out a heart-wrenching, pitiful cry of anguish. Something worthy of a confused kitten's most adorable plea for help.

Her father did not seem moved in the least and the pride had finally made it.

The young lioness, somewhat happy to see the rest of her family, did not move from where she stood, and waited for her father's move. The hyena, though submissive, could still be a threat.