Jela was hiding again. This wasn’t an uncommon thing for the wild dog to be doing. Hiding and napping were two of her favorite things to do, and the best thing about it was that she could do them both simultaneously. With a yawn, the little pup stretched out, then sunk back into the shadows of the bones she was concealed among. The life of a slave was usually pretty unpleasant and miserable, but Jela had the perfect coloring to cheat the system – her black and white patches allowed her to blend in to the bones around her, which let her frequently indulge in her favorite past time.
Mafuta’Mla was having a good day. She had a lucky bone, a full belly, and free time. The only thing she was missing was something to do – someone to manipulate, to boss around. The hyena sniffed around, trying to find an easy target to practice on. Perhaps one of the slaves... Oh! Her head jerked up and her ears twitched as she caught a scent. There was a wild dog around here somewhere; that would be just perfect!
“Come out, come out, little puppy,” she called, trying to figure out the confusing scent trail that circled in and out of the nearest piles of bones.
Jela’s ears twitched and she flinched back into the shadows. Someone was looking for her. Someone had caught her scent. This wasn’t good... if her scent trails weren’t confusing enough, then she could be found and forced to do so many different things. Things that weren’t napping! Naturally, the wild dog wanted absolutely nothing of the sort to happen, so she sank low to the ground and closed her eyes, lest their bright color give her away against her hiding place.
Maybe, if she stayed absolutely still and quiet, she would go unnoticed – but then she was struck by an itch in her nose, one that caused it to twitch and twitch until at last, she sneezed with a ridiculously loud, clearly enunciated, “Achoo!”
Mafuta perked up when she heard the sneeze, and she trotted over to a small pile of bones, and sniffed it – oh, wait, that wasn’t bones, it was the wild dog pup! Breaking into a cackle, Mafuta circled the pup, kicking some dirt over her just because she could. Tormenting the slaves was so much fun, she should make a habit of it every day; it would be one worth keeping!
”Thought you could hid from me, puppy? Thought you could fool Mafuta’Mla? Too bad, too bad, I caught you now, so get up and follow me because we’re going to play!”
No! No no no no no this was not what she had wanted at all! Jela groaned and got to her paws, glaring sulkily at the hyena that had found her. She didn’t want to work, she didn’t want to be kicked around, and she definitely didn’t want to have this crazy thing gloating over her all day and night! No matter, really, she would just...
She would just have to put up with it for a little while longer. Then, when Mafuta’Mla wasn’t looking, she would slip away and hide again. She’d been in this situation before, and she would get out of it just as she always did. It just meant putting up with a few unpleasant things beforehand.
Mafuta cackled again and stamped her paws, bending down to n** at the pup’s ears. “Haha, I found you, I found you! You can’t hide from me!” Oh, she was just the best hyena ever- the best and the smartest and the most intelligent, and beautiful member of her entire species! Oh, but... wait she needed to focus on that slave, or it might try to slip away again. Not that it could, of course, Mafuta was much too smart to ever be fooled!
“Slave-puppy, slave, puppy, do you have a name? Tell me your name if you do!” She commanded, tilting her head and trying to look smart and intimidating – not that she needed any help with either of them!
Jela wondered what kind of face that hyena was trying to pull. She looked like she was staring at a bug on the end of her own muzzle. And... ew, was her tongue hanging out a little? It was! Suddenly the huge female seemed much less scary than she had been just a few moments prior, and Jela’s usual confidence returned quickly, her usual sassiness perking back up under the sheer stupidity of the hyena’s expression.
“My name... is Mistress,” she lied with a straight face. If the hyena was stupid enough to believe her, well that was hardly her fault. And it would be funny to have a hyena, on of her masters, call her mistress instead!
“Mistress, huh?” Mafuta said, tasting the name in her mouth. “Well, Mistress, I want you to... to... find me another lucky bone!” She said, tilting her head. There was something funny about that name... why couldn’t she put her paw on it? Hm. Well, anyway. “Then, Mistress, I want you to hop on your back feet until you fall over!”
Oh, she was good. Mistress would do whatever she wan...ted... wait a minute. That dog’s name couldn’t be ‘Mistress’, could it? Wasn’t that was the slaves were suppose to call her?!?
Jela did her best not to fall over giggling as the great big hyena called her ‘Mistress’, sounding completely serious and convinced. Oh, this was too funny! Then she saw the light of understanding start to dawn in the larger creature’s eyes and decided to run away while the stupid creature tried to puzzle out what was really going on.
The black and white pup ran out of there as fast as she could, circling around and through bone piles and doing her best to avoid any and all hyenas until she reached one of her other safe spots, a pile of bones clear on the other side of the main pack lands. Once she was there, she collapsed to the ground and tried to catch her breath. That had been too close!
It was definitely time for a well-earned nap.
Word count: 1031
