North.
The word left a bitter taste in the Lucani huntress' mouth as she stalked through the savannah. Never had she been so far from home but home was gone, obliterated in a night of terror and fire. Even blood wasn't enough to keep many of the members around and now; now she was on her own. A head huntress with no hunting party, what a shame and sorry sight that was.
Low to the ground, Pakhet crept along, her tail twitching as her muscles tensed. In her line of sight was a small thin creature, partially obscured by some brush. It was grazing from what she could assume and soon it would be dead. Quietly she began her approach, picking up speed with each raise and fall of her paws until she was in a full on sprint.
Her roar broke the silence that had fallen over the plains as she lept at her prey.
Prey that happened to not even been a herd beast.
The thin cheeton raised his head from his foraging at the sound of a lion's roar. He had hoped it might have been his father, come to rescue him from his imprisonment to a hyena but instead what greeted him was the image of a pouncing lioness, claws out and mouth open.
He hardly had and time to even scream before she was upon him.
The two began their tumble, lost in the moment of prey and predator to even realize they were two felines fighting. Well, it could hardly even called fighting. It was more or less the small cheeton trying to escape while the much larger lioness kept dragging him back in. He would manage to slip under her paw and scramble away mere feet before she would grab his tail in her mouth and drag him back.
"H-H-Heidrun!!" He finally yelled as a last resort. Ashamed at his own call, it was his only chance of survival and his only chance to see his mother again. He had to call for the hyena who had enslaved him.
Luckily for him, she had already been around, curious at what was taking her 'gift' to Matsuko so long to find a little meerkat or something for her to snack on during the afternoon before having to hunt for Risheera's pleasure later that evening. The hyena's pace had quickened when her ears picked up the low roars and hissing of creatures taking wounds. By the time she heard her name she was in a full run.
She had fully expected to see Bjorg being killed by the cheeton out of revenge but instead she was greeted by the sight of an unknown lioness attempting to suffocate her prize. Raising her hackles as well as her tail and baring her yellowing teeth to the assailant, Heidrun charged into the mess with the lioness' death on her mind.
It was now a bundle of fur and fangs as the three fought for survival against one another.
Orange fur went flying as parts of the cheeton's mane was ripped from his fur as he pulled himself out the lioness' grip. Hastily he scampered away from the two that remained and began nursing his wounds. No, there would be time for that later. Instead his pale orange eyes stared in awe as the two snapped at eachother. A hyena versus and a full grown, but awfully tired looking lioness.
Normally Heidrun would have lost or just never cared about joining the fight but her entire livelihood possibly rode on that one cheeton surviving. At least until they returned to the Mava'bunda. How else was she going to convince Matsuko to allow her back into the pack? That was the only thing running through her mind as she fought with all of her might.
Never had Pakhet fought such a strong hyena but never had she fought a hyena while in such a weakened state. If she had been able to eat before the battle things would have been much different, different that she would be feasted in hyena right now instead of receiving bites and scratches all over her body. Her eyes shifted, just for a moment to see what this hyena fought so desperately to protect. It...it was a small lion! Oh sun, she was going to kill a lion. Somehow the hunger her belly managed to push the horrid thought aside. Perhaps things weren't all bad, instead maybe she'd have hyena for dinner.
But that dinner would not come. Heidrun took the small time of distraction and overturned the lioness, using her entire body weight to throw the tan body to the ground. Out of breath, she stepped back, her head down but her tail still raised as she put herself between the lioness and the cheeton she called slave. Blood dripped from her mouth as it poured from wounds on her shoulders and side. A few slashes now decorated her face but the lioness' blood stained her paws.
Pakhet was no better off as her body held bite on at least one of her front legs and on the side of her neck. Rough claw marks also littered her side. Luckily for her, nothing vital was hit. She took a few steps back, looking over both of them. It was...odd. to see a hyena protect this thin lion as if it was her own pup.
"Heidrun, I-" The orange-maned cheeton began to speak meekly, his head and tail lowered as he began to approach her side from behind her all while red began to stain his white fur.
"Save it!" Heidrun snapped, her head turning to snap her jaws in front of his face. "We'll talk later." Her attention turned back to the lioness who she had just went head to head against. "And you! Why the ******** do you think you have the right to kill what is mine?!"
"Yours?" Pakhet questioned, again looking between them. Maybe the hyena was delusional and thought the lion to her own child, but by how she acted it didn't seem as likely. Wincing, she began looking at them in a different light. Her belly was aching an causing her pain on top of the stinging of her wounds. She could hardly even put her front left leg down thanks to a bite from that mangy hyena's mouth. She was in no shape to hunt and that filthy beast was in better shape then she was despite being smaller.
"Yes, mine!" She retorted with a snarl at the end. "You better leave before I call my pack!"
Pack? He had never met any pack...Ooooh, she was bluffing! It was a smart move and something inside of him wanting to help but at this point he knew that if he even so much as spoke that he'd probably end up a lot worse off then he was right then missing half of his mane.
"You have a pack?" Pakhet questioned as she raised a brow in disbelief. Something seemed off. The hyena didn't look like any sort of alpha, but she at least fought like one. Maybe it would be best to leave at this point...There was nothing to gain but more scars and possibly a one-way trip to the afterlife at this point, but just as she was about to turn and leave a piercing howl ripped through the air.
Heidrun had howled and now she stared the lioness, hoping that the bluff would work and she would leave before she realized that no pack was coming. Well, maybe Bjorg would come but that was unlikely since she had already sent him out on another errand that would probably keep him busy for a while.
He was nervous but tried not to let it show as he began to cower, hoping at the very least that would help Heidrun's bluff succeed. The little body curled up into a ball of white, black and red with hints of orange here and there as bits of his mane flecked his pelt. In truth he was terrified, but not nearly as much as he was trying to show himself to be.
Quickly she looked between them, her ears falling back as she took a step away from the pair. It wasn't worth it. There was nothing to gain and if a pack was coming then death would be swift if she really did just attack their alpha. Without looking back, Pakhet began hastily limping away from the battle site, hoping that leaving would stop the pack from pursuing her, but full expected death to follow behind in her pawprints.
As soon as the offending lioness was out of sight, Heidrun began to smile instead of scowling like she had the entire time.
"Heidrun...?" The cheeton slave called out quietly as he rose slightly from his fearful position.
Without so much as a word, the hyena collapsed onto the ground.
As quickly as he could, the slave ran to find help for his master.
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