Sekhmet let out a growl as she dodged the annoying canine’s attack. Fang went for its back legs, biting one and almost shaking it off its feet. While he did that, Lionel attacked its flank. When the enemy twisted around to bite at Fang, Sekhmet took the opportunity to strike.
Snatching at its throat, she was satisfied when her teeth sank in deeply and she tasted its hot blood. Snarling under her breath, she shook the canine. It was more than half her size, but she was stronger now than she used to be, which enabled her to lift it off the ground despite its size.
The nipping at her back legs reminded her that the canines weren't the only threats in this place – just the biggest ones.
‘Get the vermin,’ she instructed the two males. They obeyed without question: they’d learned better in previous fights. Her time as a huntress allowed her to lead these fights with far more skill than their inexperienced efforts.
Sekhmet held onto the canine long after it had stopped moving. That was something they had learned the hard way when several of their enemies had got back up to attack them when they had thought them dead. Just to make sure, Sekhmet tore the canine’s throat out, almost separating its head from its body, just as they’d done with the previous canines they’d killed in this fight.
By that point, the young males had dealt with the irritating vermin which had been harassing them almost constantly. They were recognisable to the lions, but none of them were used to being attacked by these things. Normally, they would scurry for their burrows at the first sign of a lion coming close – and at least one of the group was always watching. But in this place, all the rules seemed to be discarded like a cub would do with a bone it was tired of.
In this place, the vermin were several times their normal size and their teeth were surprisingly sharp. They were all bleeding from wounds the vermin had inflicted on them, and from the odd bite the canines had got in. The beginning of the fight had been particularly tricky with all three lions being hard-pressed by the sheer number of their enemies. But they got through it with teamwork.
All prey in the surrounding area apparently now dead, they had a brief moment to heal and recuperate a bit. Lionel Consumed the carcasses lying around them and then moved in between Sekhmet and Fang. When he released golden dust in a cloud around him, Sekhmet sighed in contentment. After sweeping up the shiny orbs which Dominic called ‘cores’ into her new piece of equipment, she slumped to the ground and laid her head on her paws. As soon as they were all healed, Fang did the same, and then Lionel too.
They rested for a while. It had been a lot of fighting and killing recently. Sekhmet didn’t have any problems with that, but she was still feeling a bit tired. They had slept from time to time, cat naps more than anything else, and she certainly was feeling the need for a proper sleep. But this wasn’t the area for that – even if so far the prey hadn’t actually come looking for them, there was no guarantee another predator wouldn’t come along. Still, a rest would do them all good.
It had been a shock to be separated from the rest of their pride, and from Dominic in particular. He was the one who had brought them into this place and who seemed to always know how to get to the next part of it, or at least where to start looking. But they had been separated by a thick wall of rock and there was no other way they could go but forward if they wanted to try to meet up with the rest of the pride again.
The door had led into a room full of obstacles and enemies, the same two creatures which they had just fought. The obstacles had created an odd sort of winding path which was full of blind spots and smaller spaces which the enemies had used to their advantage.
The lions had learned to walk cautiously and to send Fang ahead – with his quiet feet which were able to find places to walk where he wouldn’t create too much noise, they were sometimes able to get an idea of what enemies awaited them before they were attacked. Sometimes.
Fortunately, the groups were rarely numerous enough to offer much of a threat to the lions, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be injured. Each injury meant time was required to heal afterwards – they had learned that Lionel’s golden clouds healed the enemy as easily as they healed the lions. They therefore didn’t use his healing during fights any more unless there was enough space between the lions and the enemies to avoid benefiting their opponents.
Sekhmet admitted to being slightly worried, though. When they had first started this room, they had been attacked by one enemy at a time; sometimes two. In this fight, there had been three of the canines and five of the vermin and they were not yet at the end of this twisty path.
The air didn’t move much in this confined space, but what movement there was brought scents to her nose which became stronger the further they advanced. Given the strength of the scent, she suspected that they were not far from their destination. Not that that meant a lot when it came to this odd route: sometimes they had had to double back on themselves because they had found that there was no way forward from where they had reached. At other times, they were able to get much closer to the smell before being redirected backwards for a bit. It was very disorientating.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
They rested, falling into a half-doze that would allow them to rapidly react to a threat if one approached. It didn’t.
Sekhmet was roused out of her doze as she sensed one of the males push himself to his feet. Fang. He approached her almost tentatively, his head descending to sniff at her searching. She growled a warning at him, the deep rumble almost inaudible.
He hesitated for a moment, then continued, sniffing at her body. Sekhmet tensed as he moved towards her tail, her growl increasing in volume and becoming a snarl.
She knew what had got his attention. Knew why he had been throwing her glances and coming close to rub against her whenever he dared. She could feel the prickly heat beginning, the urge to mate, to lie beneath a male and let him enter her. Memories of the last time this had happened were blurry, but she remembered need and pain and an itch which only a male could scratch, and that only temporarily.
The urge to find a strong and virile male was beginning, and she knew that within a short amount of time, it would become overwhelming. But she didn’t want these males. Not as long as she was able to choose. There was a strong, powerful, virile male nearby, she just needed to get to him. He would satisfy her, she was sure. These young males with wispy manes and smaller frames were undesirable in comparison.
When Fang started shifting as if he was about to mount her, Sekhmet leapt to her feet. Before he could react, she whirled around and swiped at him, her heavy paw hitting him right in the muzzle. She had kept her claws sheathed and hadn’t activated the extra power that she now had in her front legs – another gift from her male – but her sharp snarl left no illusions that she was being serious.
Face to face, Sekhmet could only feel contempt at the thought of this lesser male mounting her. He was smaller than her, and weaker. He had practically no mane, and had not proven himself in any way except as a decent fighter. He wasn’t even a good hunter. His juvenile frame would struggle just as much as hers to bring down large prey. Maybe even more so.
Not like Dominic.
Dominic, who had taught her how to hunt for more than just food. Dominic, who had made her stronger. Dominic, who had led their pride across the land in search of ways to make them more powerful. Dominic, who had protected them. Dominic, who was so much larger and stronger than any of the other lions. Dominic, with his attractive, long, dark mane.
Sekhmet half-crouched into a position which would make it easy to attack and glared at Fang, her eye contact warning him not to try again. He probably would – it was the nature of males to push – but she would teach him that he would face her claws and teeth if he tried.
Lionel padded closer. Sekhmet didn’t spare him a glance, her eyes still locked with Fang’s in a contest of who would look away first.
‘We’re wasting time,’ the other male said, with a hint of annoyance in his mental voice. ‘Brother, she is not ready for you. Let’s go.’
Fang continued staring at Sekhmet for a moment longer, and then broke their eye contact.
‘I will go scout,’ he announced in the Pride chat, his ears swivelling back towards Sekhmet, seeking her agreement as if nothing had happened. Which, as Sekhmet straightened from her half-crouched position, was true. Nothing had happened. And nothing would as long as Sekhmet was able to say anything about it.
The problem was that, as she remembered back to her last mating period, she wasn’t sure for how long she would be able to say anything about it. But maybe it would be different this time. Everything else had been different; why not this as well?
‘Yes, go scout,’ she agreed, focussing on the present. Permission given, she watched as the male padded silently toward the next corner. Hesitating there, he pressed himself to the ground and slowly slunk around the obstacle. Inch by inch, as if he were hunting timid and watchful prey, he crept out of sight, the black tip of his tail the last to disappear.
Sekhmet eyed Lionel, wondering whether the other male would be the next to try to mount her. He seemed to be studiously ignoring her, but she could tell from the way his ear on the side of his head closest to her kept swivelling in her direction that he was paying far more attention to her than he wanted to make obvious.
She huffed out an irritated breath. The prickly heat was annoying. The males were annoying. This place was annoying. She just wanted to be out of it and find Dominic again. Hopefully Fang would be able to tell them on his return that the exit to this wretched path was in the next area.
It seemed to take ages before Fang returned and when he did his eyes were wide. He seemed to have lost his interest in mating entirely.
‘What did you see?’ Sekhmet asked briskly.
In answer, he pushed an impression into the Pride chat, like he used to before he was capable of speaking the way Dominic did. The impression was of a canine like the ones they had been fighting, but much bigger. This one was even larger than Fang, perhaps Sekhmet’s size. Not only that, but it was surrounded by several large vermin, these ones also bigger than the ones they’d been killing so far.
And beyond it, one of those rectangular shapes which Sekhmet had learned indicated an area that was able to open and reveal space behind it. A door. The exit to the path.