Midori stretched and got up. The small jackal had been napping all after noon in the sun. He black pelt had heated up to the point of being uncomfortable. Looking around she tried to think about where the watering hole she had seen last night was. THe jackal had a seriously terrible sense of direction. She began to take a walk in the direction that she thought it might be in. It was seriously a miracle the she hadn't ended up walking off a ledge after she left her family. At least thanks to Gard she knew how to hunt a little bit better and was no longer eating grubs.
There was a part of Eris that felt a little guilty. She had been away from Elam for a couple of days now, just wandering on her own. Of course she would return to him, but the lioness had never known a life where she felt bound to someone on a daily basis. It was odd for her; chaffing. He seemed to thrive on the company, though, so likely she would suck it up and go back to him before the sun went down.
Perhaps she could smooth things over with a good meal? Eris pondered on it for a moment and nodded. Yes, that would do the trick! She lowered her body to the earth, setting about her tracking and after a few good hours she came across a lone jackal. A little unconventional perhaps, but from her hiding place in the brush, it looked just as tasty as a hare.
Midori felt like she had been walking forever the sun still beating down on her dark fur. It was intense and too much. She needed to find water like yesterday. She grumbled a little why hadn't she paid more attention to where she was going yesterday. If that was the case she would be happy now in a pool of water and not hot as hell with a dry throat.
Because of her dire need for water she wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings. In the past she had never had any trouble with larger animals paying her any interest so she never thought it would be all that necessary to look around and make sure she wasn't going to be someone elses meal.
Creeping along, the grey lioness kept herself as close to the ground as possible with her eye on the prize. It wouldn’t be enough to fill a stomach, but hopefully it would ease some of Elam’s tension.
Eris moved out of her shrubbery. At first she was slow, moving only as far as she needed to, when she began to pick up speed. She was no runner, but the enigmatic lioness was a born huntress. With the jackal in her line of vision, Eris was sure of her victory. With her body barely high enough off the ground to avoid hitting stones, the lioness ran on, closing the gap between them quickly.
Midori turned but it was too late. The lioness was coming at her full speed. Midori let out a great cry. "NOOOO." she ducked down knowing that there was no way she could run to either side or even away from her. The only thing she could do was duck and hope that lioness would leap right over her.
She went low to the ground putting her paws on her head trying to make herself small. She closed her eyes and waited. It wouldn't be a long wait either the lioness would colide right into her or Midori would feel her fur move as the lioness moved above her.
The jackal may as well have been mute for all the good her cry did. Eris was running far too fast to stop now, and when the little canine ducked, the larger lioness found herself sailing over it. Even if she had been capable of snapping it up at that speed, she would have tumbled to the ground. Gritting her teeth, Eris turned around, slowing down her momentum enough so that the mistake wouldn’t happen twice. Her blue eyes narrowed as she moved back towards the jackal for a second run. It’s a kill or be killed world, little one. Either you’ll eat me or I’ll eat you; you can’t cower forever!
Midori gelt the lioness soar over her. She got up quickly and turned around to look over to see the lioness line up to take another run at her. This time Midori weighed her options she could try running and if she made it into the bushes in time she might be safe or she could try to stand up to the lioness make her realize that she would not make a very good meal.
Her mind was buzzing trying to think through the situation but then she saw it just a glint in the lioness's eyes and she knew that he only option was to run like hell and get into those bushes before the lioness sank her claws into her back. The small Jackal ran as fast as she could and surprisingly enough made it into the bushes just in the nick of time.
For that one moment, when the jackal looked at her as if she were making a grave decision, Eris stalled. The curious Cheshire within her wanted to know what she was thinking, but the huntress didn’t care. As soon as the little canine started running for the same brush that Eris had just come out of, she took off after it.
She wasn’t fast enough to catch it, however, and found herself forcible grinding to a stop in front of the brush. The grey lioness craned her head, trying to see inside and hoping to find it. What she saw was a lot of green, which didn’t help. Grinding her teeth, Eris started through the brush, picking her much larger body through the foliage in a vain attempt to find the jackal.
Midori didn't stop or slow down. She moved as fast as she could weaving through the branches and getting into denser parts of the bushes. She was pretty sure she could hear the lioness entering the bushes behind her. Midori resisted the urge to look behind her.
She made it to the densest part of the bushes a place that she just barely fit. Her body was rubbing against branches on every side and sun light completely blocked out by the leaves. She crouched down her whole body shaking the thoughts of water and a swim long gone from her mind. She did her best to stay still and breath slowly. It must have been hours that she sat in that bush well past sun set before Midori even imagined moving..
It must have been well over an hour before Eris gave up the search. By the time she emerged from the brush and brambles her fur was a jagged mess. Her skin was covered in scratches, with some of the looser briars clinging to her mane. So much for catching a quick snack for Elam. The lioness passed one last look at the bushes before moving back towards the last place she had left him. Hopefully he would just be happy to see her without a little coaxing.
Eris really hoped so. It bugged her that she hadn’t been able to catch the jackal, but it wasn’t as if that was the only one. There would be others and many more opportunities down the line.