I had only the briefest of moments to feel sorry for myself when a black blur leapt into the cavern and slammed Lance against the wall with incredible force. It was, surprisingly, not a bobcat, but the form of a larger onyx-colored feline that flew, catching Lance mid-air with snarling teeth and snapping his neck into an unnatural position as she twisted hard with powerful jaws. Dropping the leader’s unmoving body to the ground, she turned around to face the other three stunned cats and a still-smiling Newt Wellington farther back.

Now maybe it was the adrenaline spiking, or quite possibly the state of having the wind knocked out of me, we’ll never know, but the sight of this newcomer took my breath away.

She. Was. Magnificent.

The more I looked, the more I stared. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her. She made the bobcats look like mere kittens in her presence, so impressive in size she was. My heart skipped and I watched her fight. The way she moved was elegant. Her every step was effortless brutal effortless efficiency. The way she fought was magnificent. Each step was precise and backed up with an uncanny physical strength that outclassed all present. Her eyes belied a wizened intelligence just under the surface.

After dispatching Lance, it was apparent that the other three were clearly outmatched but watching them I could tell they had never received that missive as they reoriented themselves to face their new adversary.

The intimidating wall of muscle that was the mystery panther paused a moment with her eyes narrowing slightly, as if saying “Seriously? We’re really going to do this? Your funeral then.” She cocked her head a little. Immediately after, the large black menaced turned a little to her right and looked to be making a tactical error by facing in the direction of Nigel and Marjorie while presenting Winston with her unprotected hindquarters.

Winston’s eyes lit up with glee as he made his move by sprinting toward the blindside of the larger cat. Simultaneously, Nigel and Majorie started growling and moving forward with deliberate purpose, which from my vantage point looked to be the distraction for Winston’s ambush. Before I could think, the panther lashed out with a no-look strike with her rear left paw, caving in the side of Winston’s face and stopping and reversing his momentum. The seriously injured bobcat flailed and rolled in agony in a series of involuntary twitches as it went down. That would hurt in the morning, but morning for Winston was an unachievable goal after an injury so grievous.

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The two approaching the massive cat from the front suddenly paused, their cocky confidence of a moment ago clearly lost as the panther had finished their companion off without even breaking eye contact. They glanced at each other for a moment, looking for inspiration but clearly reaching a moment of indecision. That lasted only briefly as Nigel’s gaze shot toward the exit, immediately followed by his entire form with his abbreviated tail held firmly down. Marjorie seemed to weigh her options for a tad longer than her fleeing comrade, as she held her position momentarily and started to back up toward the wall of the cavern.

Seeming to grow weary of the encounter, the great panther shot forward, grabbing the relatively tiny bobcat by the back of the neck. Her prey, paralyzed in terror, could do nothing as she was carried out of the cave and flung an impressive distance down the side of the hill. She lay there, dazed for a moment, shook her head wildly, looked at the panther one last time, then sprinted away.

XP Notification – not sure how much, but for defeating the bobcats, will be after they realize the panther is not a threat. Since the panther is a threat, I think RD will see it but immediately minimize it since he has bigger problems in the moment.

While the panther was busy throwing the last moving bobcat outside, I shook myself from my fixed gaze that had focused solely on the enormous and fanged newcomer and spared a moment to see how Newt fared. To my disbelief, the eccentric amphibian remained standing in the exact place he had been the entire violent situation. He stood there with a grin even bigger than what he initially wore, if that were possible.

“Newt!”, I cried, “we need to get out of here! Now!”

“Whatever for, mate?” he replied, calm as ever.

“You daft cold-blood, we need to escape! That panther will be back soon, and we need to get into one of the egress tunnels and hide or we’ll end up like him!” I gestured dual-pawed toward Lance’s now-still form, resting with his neck at an unnatural angle near the wall of the cavern.

Before we had a chance to run, a darkness came over the chamber as a certain massive panther blocked the light coming from outside. With a deafening roar, she stepped forward to face us. He eyes seemed to pierce us with predatory intelligence.

Now I am not too proud to say at this point I wanted to run. I had every intension to do just that – at least my mind did. My body, however, mutinied and refused orders due to some sort of hard-wired survival instinct. For the record, I do not share the same sense of preservation with my involuntary nature. Holding still and letting the food chain play out isn’t my cup of tea. Regardless of my internal struggle, things were not looking good.