The sweltering Barrens sun beat down upon Beruuna Bramblehorn as she skinned the zhevra. It had been a tough beast to take down, but with this much meat she wouldn't have to hunt for some time to come. Not to mention that she could fashion a number of things from it's hide.
She paused in her work, standing and lifting a hand to shade her eyes against the harsh rays and gazed out over the tall grasses. Her ebony fur dripped with sweat and she snorted in irritation. Where on Azeroth had that foolish little bird gotten to?
She sighed, dropping her hand and letting out a sharp whistle. A moment later she was answered by an annoyed squawk. Beruuna let out another, longer whistle.
The grasses parted before her and a violet form dashed towards her. The plainstrider skidded to a stop and pecked Beruuna's leg, glaring up at her.
Beruuna crossed her arms and returned the glare, "How am I supposed to know if you're out foraging, or getting eaten? Stay. By. Me." The plainstrider had had a penchant for mischief ever since she had hatched, and always seemed to put effort into irritating Bramblehorn. Despite that, they had a deep bond and were prone to teasing each other, playing little games wherever they went. Here though, it was too dangerous for such games.
Amethyst screeched and flapped her stubby wings, but complied, wandering a few feet away to peck at the dirt.
Beruuna ran a hand through her mane, dropping it with a shake of her head, and returned to skinning the zhevra.
It was well past midday when she had completed her work, rolling up the hide and collecting the meat she had laid out to dry, she looked around for Amethyst. Of course. The little creature had run off again. Why her plainstrider was so disobedient, Beruuna was uncertain, but one thing she was certain of, was that it was liable to get the little beast killed. She shook her head and collected her things, whistling to Amethyst, and eyeing the carrion birds that were now picking at what little remained of the zhevra.
Bramblehorn furrowed her brow. Amethyst hadn't answered. She whistled again. Nothing. Beruuna shouldered her pack and began jogging, following the path that the plainstrider had left.
That path soon began to include signs of a struggle, and then a blood trail. Beruuna shakily grabbed her bow, and readied an arrow. She should have known better than to let Amethyst get out of her sight again. She knew how many predators lurked in the grasses.
The trail led to a great tree the provided shade for a vast area. Beruuna crouched low in the grass and tried to figure out just what she was dealing with. The scent of blood was overpowering, she could scarcely make out anything else, but as she continued to follow the trail, she began to make out another scent. Lion.
She cursed silently. At this point, it was far too late for Amethyst. Whichever one of the creatures had brought her down, had dragged her back to the pride, and there was no way Bramblehorn could take on an entire pride of lions. But still, the rage and pain of loss filled her and she couldn't just give up. Even if Amethyst was gone, she might be able to get her body, or even kill the lion that had brought her down.
She glanced at the tree. She could climb it. But so could the lions. Not all at once though. If she could get up in that tree, she could take them down, one by one. Normally, she would never have considered such a thing. The Earth Mother did not condone senseless killing, but her judgement was clouded by grief, and the whims of the Earth Mother were the furthest things from her mind.
Beruuna quietly circled around the pride, coming up by the tree. She placed traps around its base before pulling herself up the trunk. The shape of the tree made it easy to make it to the branches. She laid another trap behind her and pulled herself up onto a thick limb and surveyed the area below her.
Fortunately, there was no wind, so it did not carry her scent to the lions, not that it would have mattered much for she had made certain the moment she entered the Barrens that her smell was indistinguishable from that of the dirt and grasses. This was a massive pride. She counted thirty adult lions. There were bones strewn everywhere, she looked around for Amethyst's corpse, and cringed at the sight. A bloody mess of bones and torn skin, all the meat had been stripped from it and the only thing that made it identifiable were the few bloody, violet feathers scattered around the carcass.
There was no way to tell which lion had killed Amethyst, but if she could get even one of them far enough away from the group, she wouldn't hesitate to strike it down, killer or not.
She took a deep breath and leaned her head back, though her twisting horns prevented her from resting it against the tree. The sound of movement caused her to look down at the pride.
Many of the lions that were laying about had lifted their heads and she tried to figure out what it was that they were looking at. Soon, she had her answer as a great ebony lion with the largest fangs she had ever seen, made his way to the center of the pride. He seated himself beside the partially eaten carcass of a kodo, a beast that surely would have taken the entire pride to claim, and began tearing at it while the other lions resumed whatever they were doing.
Beruuna had never seen such a magnificent creature before, and she remembered hearing the citizens of Ratchet call him Humar the Pridelord, with a sort of reverence, and some of the goblins wondering just how much his pelt might be worth. But that mattered little to her as she noted the bits of purple feather stuck in his mane and around his muzzle. Even if he hadn't killed her, he had certainly eaten her, and there was absolutely no way she was going to let him get away with that.
She waited until night fell, and most of the lionesses had gone to hunt, leaving only a few with Humar, who was laying on his side, idly flicking his tail.
Beruuna eased herself down from the tree and made her way around the perimeter of the pride, laying traps every few feet, not cruel steel jaws, but traps that she had designed herself. They would inject any who stepped on them with the venom of a particular snake, venom that would render the unfortunate creature helpless for a limited time.
When she had finished with that she carefully made her way back up into the tree, and readied her bow. She fired an arrow in the direction of one of the traps, causing one of the lionesses to jump, and tilt her head at the sound. She fired another and garnered the attention of two more lionesses. The trio made their way over to investigate and soon fell to the ground, paralyzed.
There were only four more lionesses and they had noticed their sisters disappear and began to move in that direction. Beruuna fired an arrow behind them, causing them to whirl around, hissing.
Humar had begun to take interest in what was going on, and pushed himself up scenting the air curiously.
Another arrow had two of the four lionesses heading straight for a trap, the other two were looking around, perhaps feeling that all was not well. Beruuna fired three rapid arrows, making the remaining two lionesses discard whatever apprehensions they may have had, and chase the sound, right into another trap.
By now Humar had grown wary, his hackles were raised, his teeth bared. He realized his pride would not protect him, and that he was not alone.
Beruuna drew her bow again, aiming the arrow at the lion's heart. As she loosed the arrow, Humar moved at the last second, causing the arrow to strike him in the shoulder. He let out a pained wail and Bramblehorn cursed. She should have poisoned the tip. She took out another arrow, dipping it in the snake venom in case she missed again.
Now she was dealing with a foe more dangerous than any she had fought before. This was an injured lion, more than that he was alone and desperate. She feared that if he figured out where she was, she would join Amethyst in the Earth Mother's embrace.
He limped forward a few steps, his head frantically moving from side to side, trying to discern what was attacking him.
Beruuna drew another arrow and trained it on him. She aimed for his chest.
He was right there. Why didn't she loose the arrow? She had killed before, what was stopping her now?
A voice in the back of her head answered her. Because this is wrong. This isn't survival. This is revenge.
Beruuna lowered her weapon, tears streaming from her eyes. She couldn't kill him. She couldn't. But she had hurt him, and now had a responsibility to him.
She raised her bow again, this time aiming for the same shoulder the other arrow was stuck in, better to keep the injury in one spot, she thought. She loosed the arrow, and it stuck him with a dull thuck.
Humar let out a weak grunt, staggering about fro a few moments, before toppling over. Beruuna leaped down from the tree and ran over to him. She had little time.
She whipped out her knife and cut away the part of his mane what was in her way, and removed the two arrows. She pulled her healing salve and bandages from her pack and quickly dressed the wound.
She stepped back glancing around. The others were beginning to stir. She quickly shoved her items in her pack and snatched up some of the feathers by Amethyst's carcass and ran as fast as she could away from the lions, and towards the town of Ratchet.