A curse has washed over the land, causing the rainy season to arrive early, but there is no savior in sight. Witness a realistic fiction about the demise of prides and its savanna, as well as the rise of a new as it becomes too wet to cope.
The night fell ever so softly and in the night were three lionesses, Behati and her associates had left to help get Behati a proper meal as scraps were nothing. The night was quiet and shielded the vulnerable from view yet Oshun lit up the land with each lightning strike. They were unafraid, focused on the wind that passed through their noses, which was not at all satisfying. Her greed drove her to ignore it, even as her colleagues looked on wearily.
It didn't take long for them to locate their prey, Roan Antelope frolicking in the underbrush, feasting, and giving birth to or tending to calves. The opportunity shone brighter than the sun, yet Behati wanted to feast. They continued to unintentionally work separately, the others on the calves and her on a weaker adult. She looked around for the others, but they were nowhere to be found. She made her move anyway.
Stalking closer, she observed one of her companions doing the same, looking toward their respective food sources. The herd grew weary, they encircled their young with the bull looking around. She assumed they were stressed because the third accomplice was nowhere to be found and that they could smell them. The bushes rustled and leaves slid off their stems, revealing the all-too-familiar coarse brown fur. Behati snarled angrily. She jerked her head around as another flash rippled across the landscape and a laughing hyaena clan darted out in pursuit of their prey. It would have been prudent for them to leave the scene, but they did not and instead followed them silently as they did the work for them. The clan was far too preoccupied to notice the lionesses; they'd laugh and holler among themselves as they cantered around in an attempt to overpower their prey, but they stood their ground, not moving too far from their protective circle, knowing that doing so would mean death. Many were gathered among the herd, snapping at available legs, rallying when one encumbered another, and distracting aggressive females to allow space for their colleagues. Any typical hyena would have released its hold once the bull charged at the intruders, tearing through the dismal grasses. However, this particular hyena clamped down even harder, draining more blood and tearing through key muscles, leaving a lesion as its teeth were wrenched away from the wound and flew through the air with slimy blood on its teeth.
Behati scrutinized the antelope as it raced back to its herd leaving a noticeable trail of blood, her peers intercepted it before she could, announcing their presence to the clan but collectively taking the antelope down. Behati ran over, biting its throat while being pricked by its kicks. The bull was far too preoccupied with the hyenas across the way to protect its female, and the females were far too preoccupied with protecting their calves...or so they thought. Behati began to rumble as she dug her claws deep into her food. She then began to lunge, claw, and bat at her companions in an attempt to keep them both away from a meal that was obviously meant to be shared, treating them the same way she had been treated earlier this morning. The two backed off to survey their surroundings while she ate like a queen, snapping bones in half with ease and licking meat from others.
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Unfortunately, Karma has not taken her actions lightly, and the hyenas have turned their attention to them in search of an easier meal. They branched off one by one, leaving the bull alone and making them believe they had won, so they arrogantly sauntered back to its herd and moved them quickly away from its predators. Behatis associates smelled their approach but did nothing, squinting at the clan as their fast whooping rang out. Behati's head rose from her kill, her face bloodied up to her throat, and she snarled as her eyes met the lustful gaze of her competitors, her hunting party now gone.
A thought seemed to pass her by, her face blanks as her pursuers approached, the bushes shook as if they were also afraid of what would happen. They rushed up to her, not wasting any time, and she decided to defend her banquet in a matter of seconds. Low drawn-out sounds filled the night as the clan became quickly impatient and began to assail her cautiously. Behati swatted as they approached, but she was vastly outnumbered and opened herself up to attack with each swat. She stood over her kill, her muzzle wrinkled and teeth blazing bright in the moonlight peeking through the clouds, illuminating the ordeal. Despite a claw to the shoulder, a member of the hyena clan purposefully continued to take hits from Behati until it happened...a crushing bite to the flank.
She yelled whipping backward in an attempt to remove them from her behind, but she was unlucky and a tailbone was snapped; fear set in as she saw the depravity of the situation and realized that if left open for too long, she would become a part of the kill. With her ears pinned and her tail snapped to the side irregularly, she was forced to flee drooling distastefully and uncontrollably. They gathered around the carcass, whining and squealing softly. Throughout the ordeal, Behati had bite wounds on her side, but her legs still took her as fast as they could go at 50mph. Meanwhile, her companions returned to the acacia tree where the pride was fully awake walking or sitting around the den area, the younglings were at play being watched over by Hope before she immediately got up at the sight of them standing on her tiptoes, lifting her tail, and hunching her back in a fit of rage sharply growling and approaching on their fragile personal bubble. They backed away, denying her discipline and bellowing collectively at her. Hope sent a clawed swipe toward them hitting one of them in the face Hope was a great hunting leader, but that was it.
