Miwani was terrified, to put it lightly. She was not sure she had ever felt so much fear as she did in this moment, curled in the very back of her den, a hole in the ground, as far back as she could get with a massive paw swinging at her, digging at the earth above and trying to make its way down to her. Likely to rip her throat out, as the Goddess kept saying as she clawed wildly at the earth. A lot of rocks and dust was falling down on top of Miwani, getting in her eyes and making it difficult to breathe, but she was pretty sure she had stopped doing that, anyway, at some point in her fear. She was really not sure what she was going to do or if she had any options left but to wait for the inevitable death that was coming for her, or if she should rush toward it and hope to catch the Goddess by surprise. Maybe claw out her eyes… but Miwani was not a violent type of lady, and the very idea of hurting someone so badly was enough to make her stomach turn. Yet what good were morals if you were dead? She had to decide where the line was, and quickly, as she was running out of time to ponder. The Goddess would be able to churn through the opening and make enough space to fit herself in and get to Miwani soon enough. There was no way she was going to miss this chance to catch her prey, who had no where to go.
Afriti was not going to give up any time soon. She kept scrabbling at the entry and working to make it bigger, big enough to fit her massive body. As a Goddess, she was much larger than normal lions, and her huge wings did not do much to help her at this point. She kept them as close to her body as she could, but with the injuries she had taken even that was difficult, and she had to leave them slightly out. It meant she could not enter the hole of the den very well, and even when she dug enough to get her head and shoulders in, her wings got in the way. She had to dig an even bigger hole to get them in. But she knew she was close, and that was just fueling her to work harder. She could fear how terrified the lioness in the hole was, and there was no hope for her at this point. Where was she going to go? What was she going to do? Afriti knew when she had a victory in front of her, and now was the time to savor it for what it was. A chance to play with her victim, to make her feel all the fear and terror that she could possibly feel before her heart gave out. Not that Afriti would let her die so easily. Oh no, this was the first of many mortals who would suffer for the crimes committed against her by those vikings. Practice, for when she caught up with them.
She was so wrapped up in what she was doing, she did not notice the hyena that came running at her from the side. This was not the same one that had left the area before, when she first attacked. There had been a grey one, but she ran off with her tail between her legs at the first sign of trouble. No, this one was green, and this one was much more brave than the one who had run. She leaped on the Goddess without a second thought, sinking her teeth into the big wing that was curled up against the female’s back. Suddenly having the weight of a tackling hyena slamming into her already sensitive wing and chomping down on it to boot was enough to make Afriti pitch backwards and rear up, stepping back a few paces away from the hole and giving Miwani some light that she had been blocking out. She pitched and rolled, trying to get the hyena off of her. Gandama held on as long as she could and then let go when she could sail away and land on her feet, quickly turning to face the Goddess, who was wildly searching for her and spotted her quickly enough. Another mortal who dared to attack her! She could not take the insufferable attitudes these creatures had. And this one not even a lion, or the same hyena as before! Why were all these mortals so determined to get themselves killed in the name of defending others? It mattered little to Afriti, as far as motivation went. She just wanted them all to die, and in the worst way possible. She snarled, lowering her head and focusing on the green hyena.
Gandama held her ground, standing proudly. She was an older hyena, though she was certainly not interested in throwing her life away. Not for any reason, much less on the word of a stranger. She was told there was a lioness stuck in a hole, about to get killed by a strange creature, and while the strange thing was right on, she had yet to see another lioness appear. It was certainly not someone she was invested in personally, anyway, but that did not matter. She was not afraid of bullies, of any kind, and she did not bow to lions or goddesses or anything else. She was a tough old lady, and she was not going to let someone be killed if she could do something to stop it. This was not natural hunting: this was an uncalled for attack and what amounted to a murder in progress. Gandama lived in this land and she would not have her home soiled with the blood of an innocent lioness that she had the option of helping. She growled and jumped when the large lioness lunged at her, but not out of the way. She snapped her jaws onto the Goddess’s ear, tearing at it just to cause pain and throw her off, which worked well enough. Afriti let out a shrill roar and shook her head violently, sending Gandama spinning off, but not without taking a chunk out of her ear for her trouble.
Miwani poked her head up out of her hole, finally mastering her fear enough to emerge. She saw that the Goddess was now thoroughly distracted, and that gave her a chance to scramble out of the hole and move to defend the hyena that just saved her. There was no way she was going to run off now, and while she did not have any ill feelings toward Bilashi, who had run off in terror at the start of the fight, she was just not that kind of a lion. She was going to hold her ground, and now she had someone to fight for, because they had fought for her first. It was a matter of pride as much as it was honor, and she was always told by her parents to be strong but to be kind and fair. She wanted to live her life as honestly as she could. She was still very scared, but that was not going to be enough to stop her from the task in front of her now. She moved to stand at the Goddess’s back, snarling and making her presence known. Afriti looked back at her, then forward at the hyena, huffing and shaking her head to get the blood out of her ear. This had not gone as she had hoped, and she knew again that she was going to have to retreat for now. She needed better planning, she supposed, and with an indignant snort she leaped into the air and flew up into the sky, forcing her pained wings to work for her, though she would have to land not too far away to rest.
Miwani watched her go, then took a breath and looked over at Gandama. She trotted over, smiling warmly and bowing her head a few times submissively.
“Thank you so much for your help. Whatever that was, it was going to kill me. Why did you come over to help?! You could have gotten yourself killed!”
“Actually, another hyena told me you were in trouble. She was slower than me, though, and is probably hiding around here somewhere. But she told me where to go, and I came over to help. I was not expecting that… thing, but it certainly made my day interesting. And now we have a good story. Are you hurt?”
“No, but thank you. Are you?”
“Not at all! I surprised her and she didn’t get a chance. I guess she knew she couldn’t take the two of us on, it looked like she had already been in a bad fight before this. She probably keeps biting off more than she can chew. Now. I think… you should come stay at my place for a little, just so neither of us are alone tonight.” Gandama was not really asking, and Miwani nodded her head quickly, responding to the motherly nature this hyena had.
“I think that’s a very good idea.”
Word Count: 1554 in Google Docs