Chapter 34: Ciara's hunt

Ciara lowered herself into the tall grass and crept forward slowly. Each paw step was carefully placed and deathly silent. She had left the den at Pride Rock several minutes before this moment. It was early in the morning, but the sun was already hot and bright. Ciara decided to start her hunt rather far from Pride Rock then work her way back. She had gotten the idea from Tali when the two discussed some tactics the night before. The orange lioness put to memory Tali's exact words.

"It's probably a good idea to start far and chase your prey back this way. That way you won't have as far to drag when you catch it."

"You mean if I catch it." Ciara murmured herself as she replayed the advice in her head.

Other advice swarmed through her mind.

"Remain calm and quiet. Watch where you put each paw and always stay downwind of your prey."

She moved her paw slowly forward and looked where it as going to land. Grass and dirt, no twigs or rocks. Good. Paw down. Next paw up, check the ground. No twigs or rocks. Good, paw down.

Ciara had managed to remain calm the entire distance from Pride Rock to this grassy field where she had begun her slow prowl. She surprised herself by hardly being nervous at all. She tried to push away the thoughts that the King and many others were watching her far-away form from Pride Rock's peak.

Ciara came upon a small group of gazelle who were grazing quietly. She had suspected they would be in this area. She remembered more of Tali's words.

"Herds like to reside in quiet areas. Trying those places may be difficult; you have to be quieter than the air."

The young lioness hardly dared to breathe as she focused her eyes on a gazelle who began to graze farther and farther from the others in its herd. It seemed to be the first obvious target, although Ciara would have liked to find a smaller prey. Even though she wasn't an adult yet, she was almost full sized. She figured she was about the same size as the beast.

Perfect…Ciara's heart began to race as she started in closer toward the roaming gazelle. It hadn't noticed her approach and was still munching happily. She was about thirty yards from the straying beast when it suddenly became alert. It raised its head sharply and its ears were pointed straight in the air. Seeing this gazelle becoming alert, the rest of the herd copied it and began to look about for danger.

How did it sense me? I haven't made a sound! It can't possibly see me this far. Ciara's insides started to panic while her outside remained composed. She sunk lower in the grass and waited. While the rest of the herd eventually put their heads back down to continue grazing, the wanderer remained alert. Its huge eyes darted around.

Ciara remained still and waited for her prey to continue munching. It was several minutes later when the young lioness began to become impatient.

Come on! She thought frantically. Look down already!

The reason for the gazelle's alertness suddenly became clear as Ciara heard a loud growl some distance from her right. Like a bolt of lightning, a young adult cheetah went sprinting toward the wanderer gazelle. It bleated loudly and immediately ran in the opposite direction along with the rest of the herd.

"No!" Ciara shouted and stood. There was no point in running after her prey or the cheetah who had interrupted her test. A cheetah was faster than a lion any day.

Ciara's heart pounded as she watched the cheetah chase her prey. Her blood began to boil.

I had that gazelle. It would have been mine if that idiot hadn't shown up and blown everything!

The cheetah was chasing the wanderer gazelle, but tripped over her own feet several times. The beast was getting away. The cheetah quickly ran out of energy and collapsed to her side. She breathed heavily. All the gazelles were now nowhere to be see. Ciara couldn't move because she was so angry. Several growls escaped her throat. Suddenly, something happened that Ciara wouldn't normally have done. She ran as fast as she could toward the resting cheetah; her fury was fueling her feet. As she got closer, she could see just how young the cheetah was. Probably barely older than Ciara.

When the young cheetah noticed the red hot fury of a lioness that was Ciara coming straight at her, she stood with a slight panic. The cheetah didn't run, however, once she noticed Ciara's age and size. The cheetah took on a smirk instead.

The orange lionesses stopped several yards in front of her new enemy.

"What in the world was that? That gazelle was mine! Didn't you see me stalking it, you daft bimbo?" Ciara could barely contain herself.

The cheetah only smirked with narrowed eyes. "Did I ruin your first hunt, Princess? Hah, you Pride Landers always send out your kids to do the hunting. Only adults can do this work."

"You've got to be kidding me. First of all, you can't be that much older than me; second, you simultaneously ruined my hunt and failed your own. This must be one proud day for the cheetah kind!"

"Oh, leave it, Princess. You couldn't have caught that gazelle anyway. Why don't you go hunt a rabbit?" The cheetah began walking away. Ciara snarled at her spotted back.

"One day I will hunt you." Ciara threatened with her teeth bared. The young cheetah didn't respond, but only walked away. It took a few minutes for Ciara to calm herself down. She remembered more of Tali's words.

"Don't let any failure ruin your mood. Remain calm and try again. You're not being time but it is important to finish your hunt before it gets dark, unless you want to hunt beside hyenas…"

Ciara smirked cynically. "Or cheetahs…"

The adolescent was beginning to feel the heat. The sun was rising and there were no clouds to cover it. Her mad run toward the cheetah had taken a lot of her energy. Ciara softly growled and moved on. She hoped other herd animals hadn't heard the loud hooves of the running gazelles.

She stalked along the plains for a while, trying to find a new herd. In an area near the waterhole, a herd of African Buffalo were grazing. She moved quietly toward them, keeping very close to the ground. She wished she could find something smaller like more gazelle, or even zebras, but these large horned creatures was all she could find after many minutes of searching.

"Remember, target small, young, elderly, sick or injured animals." Ciara heard Tali's voice reply in her head. "You can usually tell the age by paying attention to the antlers or by their head position. The lower ranking animals, such as the elderly, carry their head lower than others."

Ciara tried to find a buffalo whose head was the lowest. More than a few of them had their head lowered but that was because they were grazing. She could easily tell which of them had the highest rank. A giant male had his head high in the air with scary deadly looking horns. He had a few noticeable scars on his shoulder that probably came from battles over the territory. She would hate to see what this bull's enemies looked like after he fought them.

The bull was facing away from Ciara, seemingly interested in something far away. She was glad that she was nowhere near him and made note to never get close to him. She tried to locate any wounded buffalo, but none appeared to be hurt. After the beasts shifted around by lazily walking while grazing, a smaller, probably younger buffalo came into view. It was the smallest in the herd, but not a child.

Ciara figured she could probably take him down if she used all her weight and if luck was with her. But the only way to get him was if the young buffalo wasn't so close to the others. Ciara wasn't about to rush in to the middle of the herd to try to attack it. She took a few minutes to think of a way to separate the small buffalo from the others. Most of the sane ideas that came to her required a teammate, which at this time was out of the question. The only other option she could come up with was to run at the herd and try to panic them into running, and then hope the younger buffalo was a slow runner.

Ciara didn't like her own plan, but her stubbornness was beginning to take over, so she couldn't give up on the buffalo yet. Before she could launch her plan into action, the big herd leader began grunting and gestured with his horns in the direction of the waterhole. His herd began to move in the direction he indicated.

No! Ciara thought. The waterhole is all open space. There would be no chance for me to hunt them there! I must act now.

The young lioness leaped from her grassy hiding place toward the young buffalo. She didn't get far before she halted to an immediate stop. The large male had walked over to Ciara's target and began ushering him with his horns to go along with the others. The young buffalo grunted angrily at the large male, but trotted along with the rest of the herd. The large male stood where he was for a moment, letting the trail end of the herd pass him. It was like he was protecting the back of the herd as if he knew a young lioness might be trying to pick one of them off.

Ciara growled to herself and backed away. She didn't want the large male to see her, no matter how badly she wanted to get that buffalo.

The sun was hot on her back as she walked away. She desperately wanted to rest in some shade. But not wanting to appear defeated by anyone who might be watching, she moved on. Ciara tried to think of another area that would be as quiet as the first place. She was sure the gazelles wouldn't return to the area where the cheetah had attacked. She began running toward the Pride Land border, hoping to find a quiet area. After a few moments of running, she saw something move in the corner of her eyes, and Ciara's instinct told her to stop. She ducked down in the grass, not knowing at first as to why her instinct made her halt. She breathed quietly for a few moments.

Then, a long gazelle walked slowly into view. Ciara's mouth dropped and almost couldn't believe it: It was the wanderer gazelle from before! She knew it was the same one because she had stared at it for so long before that cheetah had come along. It was grazing along as it if had never almost been caught by a hungry cheetah. And –even better—it was now limping.

I guess that cheetah was good for something! Ciara thought triumphantly.

The gazelle walked slowly out into the open, limping more. It had no idea the young lioness was nearby. Ciara fought the urge to growl with excitement. She forced herself to wait as the gazelle moved closer. She stopped breathing as she prepped herself to attack.

When the moment was right, her body knew it, and Ciara exploded out of the grass, right at the shocked animal. It bleated loudly in surprise and turned to leap away. But since he had been so close, the gazelle kicked Ciara in the neck and stumbled. Ciara felt no pain since adrenaline had taken over. She grappled at the gazelle's hooves trying to trip it even more. The maneuver worded, and the animal couldn't get the right footing to get away. Ciara took this opportunity to seal the deal by putting most of her body weight on it and fastening her teeth to its neck. After some struggling, kicking, and few strangled sounds, it was over. The gazelle went limp, but Ciara didn't let go. She breathed heavily for a few moments to ensure success. After her heart beat started to return to normal, she let go, stood back and looked at her first kill.

Pride coursed through her.

Ciara didn't give herself time to celebrate. She grabbed the prey by the neck again, and began dragging it toward Pride Rock. The gazelle was heavy, but she didn't find it hard to pull it once she got started. It also helped that adrenaline still pumped through her veins. She felt the pain in her neck from the gazelle's kick for the first time. She ignored the pain, and kept dragging.

The young lioness was a short distance from Pride Rock when her mother, Toni, and all her friends, Kivu, Jai, Tali, Tempest and Mani were running toward her, shouting her name. Toni had tears in her eyes. Ciara smiled. She had passed.