The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 25: Accretion

 The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 25: Accretion

Jasiri was walking cautiously through the tall, dry grass under the hot sunlight, crouching as she maintained a focused glance on her preys, a family of buffaloes that was grazing with no other worries. Jasiri's ear twitched when hearing rushed steps ahead, so she poked out her head from the grass and her eyes widened when seeing another hyena going after the buffaloes. Jasiri growled and began to hurry towards her, knowing she had to either just get her away or end with her life in order to feed her family, wanting to avoid that option, thing she didn't find hard as the other hyena stopped her steps abruptly while breathing in and out rapidly. "Queen Jasiri?"

Jasiri raised an eyebrow when finding out who she was, still taking small, cautious steps before her. "Jaira." She said with a neutral tone in her voice.

Jaira was still recovering her breath. "My queen...I'm sorry for what happened." She lowered her head with shame. "I never thought he would do such a thing."

Jasiri sat down slowly, action mimicked by Jaira. "Your cubs?" She asked with a still unconfident tone.

"They're safe, we took shelter over there." Jaira gestured over her back, pointing at a group of tall bushes. "Not the best of places, but..." She sighed. "...enough, I guess."

Jasiri was thoughtful, she looked at the buffalos that were still unaware of their presence. She glared at Jaira again then glanced back at the preys. "I'll go for the female." She crouched and began to walk towards them, hesitantly followed by Jaira. "You get the male." Jasiri kept commanding. "Then we both go for the children, understand?"

"Yes, my queen." Jaira said.

Jasiri suddenly hurried up her steps, running with her eyes locked on the female buffalo, who never expected what was coming, same as the male and the children. When getting close enough to them, Jasiri jumped at her with her open jaws and her paws aiming at her side, tackling and biting with strength, bringing the buffalo down, keeping her teeth embedded on her skin, muscle and bone. Jaira had done the same with the male, throwing lots of bites at his neck, killing him almost right away, she looked around and saw the children trying to escape desperately, so she jumped over the dead male and began to run towards them. Jasiri gave a fatal bite at the agonizing mother, leaving her lifeless over the ground, she noticed that Jaira was already chasing the children so she rapidly rushed towards her.

The two little buffaloes looked over their backs constantly, each time seeing the hyenas closer to them, sharing looks of fear and great desperation. Jasiri scratched the hind leg of one of the buffaloes with a quick blow, making her to fall. She killed her rapidly with a bite on her face. Jaira jumped over the male child and got her jaws over his back, bringing him down along with herself, but she stood up quickly and ended with his suffering with a strong bite on his neck. The two hyenas were sitting down among their victims, sighing repeatedly with a rapid breathing, glaring into the other's eyes. "Now..." Jaira's breathing slowly began to get back to normal. "...what?"

Jasiri inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times while glaring at the ground, constantly switching her gaze between the scattered dead preys. "We have a cave." She looked into her eyes again. "Small, less than decent. But enough for two families nonetheless."

Jaira almost didn't think in her answer at all. "Really? You'll let us spent the night there?"

Jasiri got into her paws and started to walk towards her. "The night, the day. As long as we all do our part. Hunting, training, watching, all of those things. Those are the ways to our survival now that we have nothing left."

"My queen." Jaira sighed with shame and gratefulness. "I don't know what to say."

Jasiri was focused on the tears that were forming on Jaira's eyes. "Bring your cubs, Jaira. Tell them they'll sleep and eat in peace for today. Tomorrow, no one knows."