Cheetara put herself down on all four paws and crawled through the grass toward the herd. She took deep breaths to quell the electric tingling in her lips, shoulders and back, and the thump thumping in her chest that always accompanied the beginning of her hunts.
Deep breaths, she cursed, trying to dampen her excitement. Slowly, slowly she integrated herself in with the animals, softening her gaze, smoothing out her movements. She used her golden fur and dark brown spots as a mask to blend in with the group. A low rumble resounded in her chest as she drew closer to the older female maka gazelle. The animals looked up sharply as Cheetara announced her presence. The older female started first, but it was too late. Cheetara was upon her.
"Come here girl!" Cheetara shouted.
Cheetara dug her front claws into the hind quarters of the older female, and turned her head to shield her eyes against the flashes from the maka gazelle's fur. Firmly anchored, she sank her teeth hard into the maka's left hind leg, and twisted her jaws to the side to shatter the bone, disabling it. The animal staggered away from the cheetah, and fell with a thud, coloring the grass around her with scarlet ribbons. As the cheetah prowled beside her, smelling of slaughter, the animal swung her head frenetically and ripped the air with her short, straight antlers two, five, seven times, narrowly catching Cheetara's shoulder. Cheetara winced and leapt up landing squarely on top of the maka, pinning the animal on its side.
Barring her fangs, Cheetara sliced the maka's throat and smashed the animal against the ground, draining the energy from it. Feeling a warm presence looming behind her, the cheetah ducked and looked to her left. Indeed, the younger female had come to protect the elder. The younger female maka thrust its antlers at the cheetah's head and then slammed its body into the slender cat. Cheetara landed hard onto her right shoulder and scrambled to regain her footing. The large beast charged the cheetah and forced her to move a distance away to avoid being trampled. Cheetara grasped her right shoulder and cried out in pain.
"You want to play rough, huh?" Cheetara snarled.
Rising behind the younger female maka, Cheetara caught sight of the male. He had witnessed the melee and was now charging at the cat. Cheetara's mouth went dry and her fur bristled as she looked back and forth, and to her right. The older female maka dragged itself toward Cheetara to her right, attempting to regain its footing, streaming crimson and foamy-gray saliva down its fur from the cat's attack. Is she going to get back up? Cheetara wondered.
The cheetah whipped her head back to center. The younger female maka had stopped charging and was advancing deliberately at Cheetara, thrusting her antlers ahead of her, blinding the cat with flashes from her coat. The cheetah could feel a deep chill under her fur as the male called out wildly, bellowing at her, stomping and rocking the ground beneath them. The nine-foot beast closed in on her, casting a black shadow on top of her. Cheetara's breast rose and fell and rose and fell and she stumbled backward onto the ground, holding her injured shoulder, eyeing both beasts in front of her, aware of the injured maka staggering toward her slightly behind her on her right side, cutting off the path for her escape.
Cheetara grimaced and stretched her arms apart, baring the white fur of her belly, drawing the maka in toward her. The male licked his fangs and rained saliva from his lips; his breath blew a fowl mist into the air. He roared and slowed his charging, moving closer in toward the cat. Cheetara narrowed her gaze and roared a warning.
The male maka halted his advance and stood in place to roar and snap at the cat. The cheetah snorted out a quick breath to gird her courage. Precision, she reminded herself; she had to act carefully to take this chance to attack him. She sprang up and used the younger female's body to cloak herself as she rushed at the male. Reaching around its front legs, Cheetara plunged her claws into its belly, and ripped away the white fur and pink flesh beneath. The cheetah swung her body close to his tail to avoid his great curved antlers that slashed at her shoulder and flank. The maka reared up stretching his body skyward. Before he could slam himself down to crush her, Cheetara pushed her bruised shoulder into the skin surrounding the maka's raw entrails. He roared and fell backward writhing. Cheetara pounced and sank her fangs into his throat crushing his larynx. As he lay asphyxiating, the cheetah looked around quickly to identify the position of the younger maka. She spied the animal tugging at the older female maka, attempting to drag the animal deeper into the tall grasses. Cheetara slashed the neck of the male and drew out his blood. She hated the taste - a combination of iron mixed with soil and raw maka fat- but it was the surest way to ease his suffering. When she saw the brightness from his golden eyes darken for the last time, she worked quickly to remove his entrails so that the meat would not spoil.
Cheetara turned to face the younger female and charged toward the animal. The younger maka swung around and roared. Spitting saliva and entrails from her mouth, Cheetara bared her teeth at the younger maka. The cheetah stopped her charge and moved slowly behind the mother-daughter pair; the older female maka lay dying. I've got to end this quick or the meat from that beast is going to spoil, Cheetara thought.
The cheetah seized the hind quarters of the younger maka from behind, burying her claws in deeply. She catapulted herself up and bounced awkwardly, sloppily, onto the back of the younger maka, sliding along the gazelle's side, Cheetara hung on and tried to pull herself forward to grab the animal's throat. The younger maka swung her head backwards and managed to snap a bit of fur on the cheetah's arm between her teeth. Cheetara howled with fright and dug her claws into the maka's side. The great beast bucked, shook her body sideways and tossed Cheetara down onto the ground. The gods, Cheetara swore to herself.
The maka bore her golden stare into Cheetara, and caught the unyielding glare from the cat. The beast turned away, flashing her short fluffy tail. The young female maka had decided to run. Cheetara hastened to her feet and chased the great beast. Their chase frightened and stirred the herd. The herd of gazelles began to stampede kicking up earth, and rocks, and dust and grass. Cheetara ran, following the cardinal colored trail behind the injured gazelle. The maka used her powerful forward legs to pull away, and to force the cheetah to chase her through the herd. Cheetara cursed, seeing that the maka might outrun her. She stopped and scanned the clearing quickly to locate a large stone. Cheetara took hold of a flat, palm-sized rock and aimed for the maka's head. She hurled the rock in an arc and caught the animal's head squarely above the eye.
Stunned, the animal stumbled backward and slowed allowing Cheetara to catch up to her. Panting and roaring, the cheetah dodged through the pack of gazelles and grabbed the injured left hind quarter of the young female maka, ripping the flesh there and toppling the animal onto its side. Cheetara bounded on top of the animal and slashed at its belly wounding it fatally. The animal stared into the face of the cheetah and watched as the cat moved onto her neck. Cheetara met the animal's stare with honesty in her eyes and swiftly delivered the final blow. She removed the entrails quickly, and ran back to prepare the body of the older female who died during Cheetara's struggle with the younger. Cheetara wiped her claws and palms on the clean grass next to the older gazelle, then laid out a leather mat from the pouch she carried on her back. She stripped the fur, then the skin from the animal's neck to its hind quarters, and dislodged the hind, then the front legs, and laid the meat onto the mat.
The evening sun sank into a rusty sphere as Cheetara prepared the meat from the male, then the younger female for transport. She wrapped as much as she could liberate from the bones of the animals, and left the rest for the hyenas and buzzards that would soon come circling. Before leaving, Cheetara stood silently and exhaled. We thank the gods of the earth and the animals. We shall endeavor to live lives worthy of their sacrifice, she thought. The herd was moving off, and in her meditation, she did not see a smaller, rose-shaded female, a bit taller than seven feet, who eyed Cheetara before trudging away toward the rest of herd. The adrenaline fading, Cheetara became aware of the nipped fur on her arm, and the ache in her right shoulder. She stopped to examine herself. Only bruises, she thought, but I'm getting careless.
Knowing she had miles to travel, she used rope from her pack to tie the meat onto her back. She readjusted the leather leg braces she wore from ankle to thigh, and prepared to accelerate toward the camp. She stopped short, and eyed the rockrose bush that had hidden her from the herd. She broke off several of the large white flowers and used them to rub the civet juice from her face. Inhaling deeply, she remembered the dark amber notes of the fragrance from her childhood. When she had grown a bit older, her mother allowed her to add the rockrose fragrance to her bath. Her mother only let her use it sparingly and told her that traditionally, the fragrance was reserved for noblewomen at times of mating. At the time, Cheetara did not really know what her mother meant. She had simply liked the sticky, sweet, wooden fragrance for its own sake. She now found it the perfect antidote to counteract the dung smell she used to mask her scent for the hunt. Cheetara stored a few rockrose petals with the meat, packed a few for her later use, and accelerated toward the cats' camp.