It had been days since they'd eaten. Notai and her sister were getting extremely hungry. That's when they spotted it. Up ahead, laying in a patch of high savannah grass, trying to hide- a lone antelope. Kimitar nudged her sister, jerking her head in the beast's direction. Notai understood exactly what she meant. Without a word, Kimitar slunk off to the left, crouched low and approaching the antelope silently. Notai crouched as well and stalked off to the right. This had to work. She couldn't bear to go another day without a bite to eat. As she was getting close, Notai saw her sister leap, throwing her front legs around the antelope's neck even as in started.
Notai sprung too, landing firmly on the beast's hindquarters as it struggled to get to its feet. The smell of blood filled the air, and Notai knew that Kimitar had gotten her jaws on its throat. She dug her claws in and held on fast, but the antelope wasn't struggling very much. It must be really sick or something. Whatever it was, Notai didn't care. She was hungry, and she'd take what they could get. After a few long minutes, the beast stopped struggling altogether and fell to the ground, limp. Notai slid off of its rump and looked at its neck. Yep, it was definitely dead.
"Good job, sis!" she complimented Kimitar. The two of them rarely actually caught prey this big, being so inexperienced as they were, and usually ended up munching on vultures and such, as revolting as that was.
"Save the compliments until after we've eaten," Kimitar said, digging into the fresh carcass. Notai nodded and joined her sister in the meal. It was delicious. She took huge bites, hardly bothering to chew it all, swallowing the food as quickly as she could, trying to get as full as possible. As they were eating, they suddenly heard a creepy laughing from behind them. Notai turned to look, blood and a little bit of muscle tissue dangling from her mouth. It was a pack of hyenas.
"Hey look," said the female in front, "A couple of lions, all alone out here with a fresh kill."
"Hey boss, ain't lions always stealing our fresh kills?" asked one of the males behind her. She cackled.
"Why, I think you're right. These two lions are young, too, look at 'em. What say you boys we return the favor and steal their fresh kill?" The whole pack cackled in response.
"We can't give up our meal, Notai. Run with it. I'll distract them," whispered Kimitar to her sister. Frightened, Notai moved towards the antelope's neck. The hyena female stepped up and stood face-to-face with Kimitar.
"Hey there, why don't you give that to us?" she ordered. Kimitar shook her head and growled.
"It's our kill."
"Well, in that case, you'll be ours," said the hyena. As if on cue, two of the males behind her leaped forward and lunged at Kimitar. She darted away- and away from the carcass. As they followed her, Notai grabbed the carcass in her jaws and started dragging it away as fast as she could. She couldn't let her sister down.
"Hey! She's making off with the food! Stop her!" barked the leader. Another hyena broke from the pack and sprinted at Notai. She started panicking. She couldn't get out of the way fast enough. The hyena raked her hind leg viciously with it's claws. She cried out in pain as it tore deep gashes into her right back leg. When she cried out, she had to release their catch. The hyena grabbed it, and was joined by another. Together, they dragged it back to their matriarch.
"That's enough lads. They get the idea," she said, putting her front paws on the carcass as if to claim it. Notai looked around for her sister and saw that she was bleeding in several places. She started to approach Kimitar, but that's when the other lion did something very stupid. Kimitar sprinted forward and lunged at the matriarch. All of the hyenas, looking surprised, jumped in to help. Screams of "Kill this lion!" could be heard from the mass of flailing bodies.
"Kimitar! NOOO!!" Notai shouted. The only response she got from her sister was a yell back.
"RUN!!!"
Afraid, Notai turned and ran, tears streaming down her cheeks. She hated leaving her sister like this, but she knew that they would both perish if she stuck around. Maybe this way she could get help, and save her sister, too.
Kimitar glanced after her sister as the pretty princess fled. At least Notai would live to fight another day, and, if she was really lucky, maybe Kimitar could their meal back. She slashed a nearby hyena, snapping at another, even as they overwhelmed her. She was still struggling when everything went black.
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It had been several weeks, but Jongeni was sure that the princesses were still alive. He could feel it, and he wouldn't give up on them. Several of the lionesses had decided that they were dead, others speculated that they'd just tired of this pride. He didn't buy that. Notai cared too much about her family and friends to just abandon them like that, and Kimitar would never leave her sister... At least, he didn't think that she would.
The adolescent male was laying on one of the tanning stones, scanning the horizon for any sign of the sisters, for about the thousandth time. It didn't make any sense for them to run off. They must have gone out hunting, and gotten hurt, or something. They could be out there somewhere, injured and in need of help, and he felt useless to help them.
"Jongeni, they're not coming back," his mother said softly, climbing up onto the rock beside him. He stopped staring at the horizon to look at his mother.
"They'll come back. I know them. They have to come back," he assured her.
"And what will you do if they don't?" Hisani asked, furrowing her brow.
"If they don't, I'll just have to go out and find them, myself. They could be lost or hurt. They might need help," he insisted. his mother's eyes filled with worry.
"Jongeni, no. I can't risk losing you, too," she pleaded.
"Well I don't think the pride can risk losing the princesses. I'm going to retrace their steps again."
[OOC: Whoops. This is way longer than I thought lol]