Unfinished Stories

Secrets of the Savanna Pt. 2

(time skip to midnight)

Polar opened her eyes.

Her empty stomach wouldn't let her sleep any longer.

She silently got up and walked out of the den.

At the entrance to the den, she accidentally stepped on a twig.

She froze.

She looked back, and saw everyone was still asleep.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

But as she turned towards the prey pile, Cosmo lifted his head.

As he blinked away sleep, he recognized Polar walking toward the prey pile.

He got up and followed her.

As Polar was picking out a small mousebird, Cosmo walked silently up to her.

"Hi."

Polar jumped and and dropped her mousebird.

"What are you doing up?" she asked.

"I could ask the same to you," Cosmo replied.

"Yeah, well, I got hungry. Why are you awake?"

"You weren't exactly the quietest walking out of the den."

"Well, go back to sleep."

"I'll go when you go."

"I planned to hunt to restock the pile."

"Polar, you know you're not allowed outside of camp alone."

"No one was supposed to know, Cosmo."

"I'll come to hunt with you."

"Yeah, no."

"I'll wake everyone up then."

"You wouldn't dare."

"I would, actually."

"Fine, let's go hunt. But I don't want to talk."

"Fine by me."

As they walked out of camp, Polar started towards the forest.

"We have to be back before sunrise," she murmured to herself.

As they walked, Polar could feel Cosmo watching her every move.

When she looked at him, she growled, "What?"

"Nothing," was the reply she got.

As they started walking again, a hare jumped out of a nearby bush.

Polar flicked her towards Cosmo, then towards the bush behind the hare.

As Cosmo stalked off, Polar lowered herself into the hunter's crouch.

The hare was very wary, but it stopped a few rabbit-lengths away.

She patiently waited, till she saw Cosmo's tail signaling he was ready.

Polar pounced forward.

The hare saw her and bolted towards Cosmo's bush.

Cosmo was ready, and pounced at the right time.

The hare tried to bolt around, but Polar was too fast.

Polar caught the hare in between her paws, claws unsheathed, and bit down on its neck.

She held herself there until the hare stopped moving.

She dropped the hare and looked up.

Cosmo was looking at her with a proud look in his eyes.

Polar felt her face heat up and looked away.

"Great catch," he said.

"It would have gotten away if you hadn't been in the bush," she stated.

"But it was your plan."

Polar sighed in defeat.

She looked up to see the sunrise.

"Let's head back to camp."

She picked up the rabbit and started walking in the direction of the camp.

Cosmo caught up to her.

They walked to camp in a comfortable silence.

Polar saw a small stream, and headed towards it.

"Where are you going," Cosmo asked.

She couldn't answer because of the hare, so she just kept walking.

As she reached the stream, she dropped the hare on the ground and drank.

Cosmo caught up to her and drank as well.

"You know, we aren't far from camp," he said in a sly voice.

"And?" Polar replied.

"Race you!"

"Hey! Wait up! Cheater!"

She picked up the hare corpse and ran after him.

He was far ahead, but she was much faster than him.

She caught up quickly and ran ahead.

As she burst into camp, the pride started stirring.

Cosmo ran into the camp, sat down, and started panting.

Though she was out of breath, she went to put the hare in the prey pile.

"Who's attacking?" Adder asked with a laugh.

"No one. A certain SoMeOnE cheated in a race, though," Polar said, eyeing Cosmo.

"Who would do that?" Cosmo asked in an innocent voice.

Star just laughed.

Polar just flopped over in exhaustion.

Cosmo just nudged her shoulder.

Sun, Cosmo's father and the leader of the pride, walked out of his den to the center of the clearing.

Polar immediately jumped up, accidentally hitting Cosmo in the process.

Cosmo gave a startled yelp.

Sun let out a roar, gathering the pride in front of him.

"I have an announcement to make," he said when all the lions gathered in front of him.

"There have been snakes spotted living in an old aardvark den on the starboard border."

"You are all forbidden to go near there."

There was a small murmur of agreement from the gathered lions.

The leader walked away, and headed for the prey pile.

As the group started to disperse, Polar could hear some of the whispers as they walked by.

"I bet this is Star's fault. After all, the snakes are on the STARboard side of the territory."

"You're right."

"Star is to-."

Polar lunged at the cub, not letting him finish his sentence.

They landed on the ground with a thud.

After they landed, Polar bent down and hissed in his ear.

"It is NOT Star's fault. Say it again, and I WILL kill you."

"Of course you would," came the response in a snotty tone.

Oh crap. This is one of the higher ranking cubs.

Whatever. He can't blame Star. I won't let him.

Polar swiped her paw across his nose, claws unsheathed.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!?"