Darkness fell and with it, the cold of the desert descended. Shivering, the young female hyena whimpered slightly, unable to stop the shivers that wracked her small frame. This was one of the very few things she hated about being alone, there was no one with which to curl up to for warmth, and she daren’t try and make a den, and stealing one was even less of an option, as the last time she tried she was chased out by a furious honey badger. Sighing softly she crept up the small rise and, flattening herself on her belly, peeked over the top at the huge pale gold lion not that fa away. She had been following him for three days now, though they hadn’t covered that much ground due to the fact that he was seriously wounded. She was under no illusion though that being hurt made him any less dangerous, in fact it was probably the opposite, a lion in pain was grumpy, and grumpy lions often attacked for no reason. Still, he hadn’t moved for some time now and as far as she could see, he hadn’t exactly chosen a good place to rest for the night. A frown wrinkled between her brows as she crept a little higher, wondering just what he was doing.
The pain in his shoulder had increased steadily throughout the past few days, to the point where he wasn’t sure he could bare it for much longer. He couldn’t reach the area, the wounds to his neck prevented him, so eventually he had laid down, hoping that taking the weight off the joint would ease the pain. So far it had helped a little bit, but it still felt like a rattlesnake had bit him, the burning penetrating deep into his bones. Lowering his head he sighed deeply. And then there was his stalker... he had caught glimpses of the young hyena for days now, though she never got too close. This was the closest she had come to him since he first spotted her, but maybe she was waiting for him to pass out before feasting. The thought made him growl softly, yet the working part of his mind poked at him. She had not seemed violent, or indeed did not seem to be following him as if waiting for him to drop dead.. if anything, she seemed curious, maybe a little worried but then, that was to be expected. Anything that could hurt him this badly, would be deadly to a small hyena female. Huffing he lifted his head and looked over.
On her small lump of rock, she suddenly realised the big male was staring directly at her. With a muffled yelp she ducked back down, pinning herself flat to the ground in the hopes that he forgot she was there, no matter how unlikely that really was. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her and she carefully peeked over the top again, only to meet pale blue eyes across the scant distance that separated them.
There she was. Shaking his head he watched her for a long moment, then called out to her. “Why do you follow?” She vanished with a flurry of fur and dust, and in the darkness, he wasn’t sure if she had fled entirely, or was still hiding. But his patience was rewarded with the glimpse of red and black fur once again.
“H-hello...?” The thin, fragile voice called out, uncertain definitely, but rather bold for all that. Confused Akhenaten sighed softly, yet he couldn’t bring himself to scare her away. “Greetings. Why do you follow me? I’ve been watching you for days.” He could tell the little female was on the verge of running, but then her head popped up again, followed by the rest of her as she stood atop the hump she had been hiding behind.
“How did you get hurt?” She called out, her high, clear voice was curious, yet there was no hint of malice there. Huffing under his breath softly, he almost shrugged, but caught the movement in time. “A war in my pride... Who are you?” His rough voice returned to her, still wary, but mostly just weary, the pain of his body had tired him out.
“I’m Ikenna.” She replied, voice warming as the threat of immediate death slowly faded. “Akhenaton.” He returned by way of introduction. For a long while the pair just stared at the other, but finally she came down off the small rise and called out to him. “You seem hurt.... maybe I can help?” Too tired to be careful he nodded, wishing he could stand but unable to bring himself to put any weight on his bad leg. The pain was steadily increasing, a hot pressure under his skin. The young hyena trotted over to him, apparently fearless now they were on speaking terms. Swallowing the growl of warning he wanted to utter as she got close, he flattened his ears.
“Ah.... “ Stopping he blinked at him, obviously on alert again. Sighing he lowered his lips over glistening fangs and breathed out his hostility. It wasn’t like him to be openly aggressive, he knew it was because of the pain and the recent turmoil, but that was no reason to take it out on her. “Sorry....” he murmured, yet when he looked back at her, she was already staring fixedly at his shoulder. “That has to hurt.” She murmured, stepping in close to sniff the festered wound. Without warning she suddenly bit down on the burning flesh, her fangs shredding the tortured skin. With a roar of pained anger he shot to his feet, the hyena scrambling back with a cry of fear. They stood frozen for several seconds, Akhenaton poised to pounce, the hyena ready to flee, but then he blinked, glancing down at his shoulder where the pain, while still terrible, was no longer burning him up. Her fang marks punctured his shoulder neatly, and while fresh blood trickled from them, a thick yellowish green liquid oozed copiously down his fur. Wrinkling his nose in disgust he looked up at her again, seeing her hopeful though still nervous expression. “How did you know?” He asked, the anger gone from his voice.
Grinning, the young female came back over to him, looking mighty pleased with herself. “The scent... you have to let the badness out or it won’t heal. A snake taught me that.” Beaming she moved up to him, squinting at the wound. “It you lay down, I can get the rest out. Just... promise not to eat me?”
Rolling his eyes he let himself settle on the ground with a grunt. “Of course I won’t eat you... “ Closing his yes he readied himself for her ministrations. Anything to ease the pain, even if that meant letting a hyena chew on him.
(word count = 1,146)
