The Last Lioness: As A Cub

Chapter 8: Amadia

As the night rolled on, I decided to do a bit of midnight hunting, to catch the wildebeests off guard. I padded out of the thick brush, dragging my paws, making a brushing sound. I needed to be more quiet and stealthy if I was going to gain a kill tonight. I started to sprint a little faster, the sleepy herd finally in my sight. I then burst into a larger sprint, a male wildebeest snorted, alerting the herd. They ran and I hid, they were frantically glancing around and looking for me. I leapt up from behind a mother wildebeest, she snorted loudly and the herd ran again, her calf stayed and she head butted it, telling it to run. The calf sprinted off and joined the rest of the herd.

It was a long time before she finally gave up and decided it was her time to go. She lay there lifelessly, as I thought the stress had killed her. I started taking chunks out of her rump and leg, only for her to let out a cry of pain. I hadn't killed her. I dug my two canines deep into her neck, crushing her spinal cord, she gasped for air and then went silent. She was dead. I quickly devoured the best bits and left the scraps for the hyenas and wild dogs. As the sun broke through the horizon and dawn was brewing, I had reached my den. I lay just outside of it to have a small nap, only to get woken up by a small cry. My eyes immediately widened, sounded like a cub. I padded around the perimeter of my den, not seeing a cub I lied back down and rested. There was another cry. This one was louder.

I looked to see a small leopardess. She was in good shape but looked a little too young to have cubs. I saw two small figures tackling each other beside her. I got a little to curious, and of coarse the saying "Curiosity killed the Cat" Is real. I got a little too close and the leopardess turned to me and snarled, razing her tail, ready to pounce. It was her! She had half a tail! When I emerged clearer out of the grass, she looked at me and almost smiled. The cubs got scared and shuffled fast towards the open. I looked at the leopardess and we stood there for a minute just gazing at each other. She dipped her head. "Amadia." I looked at her blankly before copying. "Sancha..." Before I knew what happened she had disappeared..with the two cubs.

Were they hers? Was Amadia really her name? How could she just stand there and not react as if I was a danger to her cubs...why..??