Avya really had to wonder about her luck. Seriously, how could she be so unlucky as to first run into an angry lioness who left her injured after a completely unnecessary fight, and now to be on the receiving end of a butt kicking from a pack of hyena who had really wanted her kill. Apparently the food was scarce around here, some days away from the last patch of green she had seen. Maybe she should have stuck around that green lioness’s lands a bit longer. Or had opted to go a different way. Or something. Being attacked by starving hyena had not been on her mind, and now that it had happened she certainly wasn’t happy about it.

Ygraine was not expecting to be anyone’s hero today. She was just walking her way slowly across the lands, aimlessly search for a love long lost, with thoughts of what her friend had said to her not long before. The same friend, as it turned out, was responsible for Avya’s shoulder wound. But that was not important at the moment. She was simply walking along, her stomach rumbling softly, and she smelled blood on the air. Different kinds of it, she imagined, taking a bigger whiff. Then she started hearing things, barking, growls. She slowed, looking around, and in the distance she saw some dark marks moving together, like they were hunting.

The hyenas were closing in on Avya at that moment, having come from no where, literally no where as far as she could tell, to attack her. They charged with full on murderous intent, not satisfied with the meal they had stolen from her before. They had been starving, near death themselves, and she stumbled into the wrong area when she came to hunt. There was no life around here, and she had managed to find a likewise lost meal which, in turn, put her in this terrible position. She was a lioness, not a damn prey beast, yet these clowns were treating her like a zebra. It was infuriating, but with her injured shoulder ,and now the injuries she had taken from them, she wasn’t much of a match.

She was actually nervous.

Until another lion’s roar joined her own as she bellowed threateningly at the approaching hyenas. She looked up, surprised, and saw a light brown lioness leap from nearby tall grass. She landed right on top of a hyena, biting into its back and shaking her head viciously to throw it off its feet. It yelped and skittered, running a good distance off before turning around to watch, growling but now not daring to get closer. The others moved closer, though, to replace it. Ygraine growled at them as viciously as she knew how, standing her ground defiantly as they loomed ever closer. She was not going to let them get her or, though she didn’t know the other, the camouflage colored lioness.

The hyenas attacked her in unison, leaping at the lighter lioness and tackling her to the ground. She felt pain lancing through her as their bites landed, their paws scrabbling, but she fought as hard as she knew how. She wasn’t used to fighting like this, having grown up feeling fairly entitled and ‘above’ such things, and now she regretted not training harder. Her love had shown her a few things, but she had always thought him silly and paranoid, telling him she didn’t have to worry because she would always have him there to protect her. She had been sorely mistaken on that front, to be sure.

Not that now was the time for musing.

Avya leaped in to join the fight, tearing with her claws and biting whatever part of a hyena she could get near enough to. They were soon yelping a retreat, leaving the two bloody and battered lionesses to stand together. Avya sighed heavily, shaking her head, and looked over to thank the female who had come in to help her just in time to see her fall over. Letting out a yelp, Avya moved to her, limping painfully, nudging her shoulder to see if she was still alive. Seeing that the fallen lioness was still breathing, Avya took hold of her fur as carefully as she could and pulled the other across the savannah to a shaded area. It was exhausting, and she laid down beside the lioness, whose name she didn’t know, panting.

Ygriane whimpered softly, opening her eyes some time later, looking around to see the camo lioness laying beside her. Her flank was rising and falling steadily, which was a good sign. Relieved, Ygraine scooted closer to nudge her, taking a breath as pain shot through her. She was covered in bites and scratches, but she wasn’t sure any of it was too serious. Mostly superficial, though some were bleeding quite well. There was one bite on her tail that she felt was woefully deep, and would leave a scar. An ugly scar on her perfect tail that her mate would absolutely be repulsed by. That was just her luck, it seemed. She sighed, shaking her head slowly.

“Are you alright?” She asked the camo lioness, he looked at her groggily.

“I think so. Tired. Thank you for saving me. I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

“Mostly okay. I may be carrying mark from this whole thing, which I do not condone. But what’s done is done. My name is Ygraine, by the way.”

“Avya, and at your service.”

It was unclear if Avya was teasing, or if she had actually picked up on Ygraine’s self taught royal nature and was responding to it in turn. Ygraine watched her for a long, skeptical moment and Avya shook her head. She had meant what she said: she was ready to follow and tend to Ygraine as long as she was injured and might need help. In any case, neither of them would last very long on their own. And it wouldn’t be very fun to get killed after all of this. Or to be responsible for this lioness, who had jumped in to save a stranger, getting killed.

“I mean, I’ll help you out, if you’ll let me. We’re injured, you know.”

Ygraine watched her, then nodded slowly. She would need the help, to get food and to just feel safe. Anyway, she had been alone for so long, she was beginning to forget what it was to have someone take care of her. A servant. Besides that young lioness from Kilgharrah’s lands, at least. She nodded her head, but then put it down on her paws and sighed, closing her eyes.

“Rest first. We both need it. We’ll see where we stand, if we can stand, tomorrow. I’m too tired to worry about such things now.”

Avya nodded her head, scooting protectively closer. She watched over Ygraine protectively for a short while, before she grew tired and put her head down on her own paws as well. Soon enough, both lionesses were asleep.

(Word Count: 1170 in Word)