Chương 11: Chapter 11: The Hunt

The river water was murky, reflecting the afternoon sun high in the sky.

The creatures that found safety in drinking from this river did so because the beasts who called this river home were quite welcoming.

Unlike the documentation that showed animals struggling to drink some water from a crocodile-infested river, this river contained herds of hippopotamus.

These large water-dwelling beasts frolicked around in the water. Occasionally, they would open their large maws, exposing their incredibly large teeth to the animals drinking from the river.

With such an impressive set of teeth and jaws, anyone who had never seen a hippopotamus would assume that these magnificent animals were meat devourers.

After all, their large canines and incisors which were more than one foot in length each, looked designed to reap things to shreds.

But these hippos that had a color range from reddish grey to brown to brownish grey and just grey, were all herbivores. Those large teeth were meant for something else.

After observing the lot of animals present, Big Aunt stepped forward. She cast her sharp gaze upon the land, seemingly searching for something.

Finally, she rested her sight on a large buffalo that had just finished drinking from the river.

This buffalo stood out as it was still far away from its herd. It had obviously come along with the herd of buffalos to the river to drink some water, but apparently, it was a slow drinker or it had quenched its thirst late.

Either way, it had drawn the attention of the eldest lioness. Big Aunt turned to her hunting sisters, aware that they had all taken notice of the buffalo she was looking at.

The Pride leader, seeing this, gave a little growl before walking away with his brother who followed behind diligently.

They began to split up. There was a lush tree nearby that looked similar to the one Kael sees at the den. The cubs were led there to wait under its shade by two lionesses and the sub-adults.

The ten other lionesses including Nalii, Kael's mother, began to spread out. They hid in the tall shrubs or behind elevated dirt bumps or rocks, calmly observing.

They moved methodically, some silently approaching the buffalo head-on, the others setting themselves in such a position that they would be able to intercept the buffalo from joining the herd if needed.

The Pride leader and Uncle disappeared from view. Wherever they were, they would be watching everything that was about to unfold.

Kael was full of curiosity, he wanted to see what was going on but he was too small and the grass around him was too tall. The nearest boulder was so far away that it would be considered a danger zone.

Suddenly, he was struck with an idea. He looked up at the big tree. 'All cats can climb right?' He asked himself.

Not waiting any second longer, he immediately went to work. He jumped at the tree trunk and grabbed hold of it with his claws.

His little claws were now strong enough to help him hold his weight on the side of the tree. This action came naturally to Kael, he felt like he already knew how to climb a tree before he had even started.

At that moment, there were multiple roars and a lot of commotion. The lionesses had already made a move.

Kael felt the urgency and climbed faster. As he climbed, tree barks fell and hit some cubs on the head, earning their attention. They looked up curiously at Kael, wondering what this strange cub was up to.

Kael finally reached the nearest branch that was at the top of the tree. He quickly stabilized himself and faced the direction the lionesses had gone to.

He was just in time to see the chase begin. Currently, the buffalo was running fast and it was running towards the herd. As it ran, it let out cries for help, but the herd members just stood there, watching, not daring to be a hero.

Right behind the running buffalo, hogbin its tail, were three lionesses.

Kael was amazed at the speed they were going, the lionesses were impressively fast. But Kael was afraid they would be too late.

The buffalo was closing up on the herd, once that happened, the herd would not make it easy for the lions. They might be scared to be a hero but they had confidence in their numbers to fight back once the lions got close.

Just when he thought this would be a failed hunt, four lionesses jumped out of the shrubs that stood between the herd and the running buffalo.

The buff was surprised, it tried to stop itself from running but the inertia acted otherwise. The large hooved black herbivore toppled to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

This was extremely dangerous for the buffalo, and Kael felt the tension. This turn of events had given the lionesses behind enough time to catch up to their target.

Sensing its death closing in, the buffalo shot up from the ground one last time. It picked up its speed, attempting to ram into the lionesses in its way with its horns.

Alas, it was too slow and the lionesses were too prepared. The buffalo had barely traveled more than ten meters before it felt something jump on its back.

It didn't bother to look back as it already knew what it was. At the same time, while the lioness was biting and clawing its way on the back of the buffalo, another lioness was behind, swiping and snapping at the hind legs.

That wasn't enough though. The buffalo caught up to the four lionesses but now ignored them, it was panicking and had no time to try to fight back. It just wanted to get back to the safety of its herd.

One of the four lionesses that had interceptered the buffalo, made a powerful leap.

Her claws dug into the buffalo's shoulder and forelegs to give her stability. This was Big Aunt.

She clearly showed her superiority and experience when it came to hunting. Her fangs found its way to the buffalo's neck. Despite the tumble from the running buffalo, she still managed to clamp down on its windpipe ruthlessly.

The buffalo, not ready to give up, continued running, even though it was quickly running out of breath. It wasn't ready to give up, not yet.

It had always seen its fellow herd members get hunted by predators but it had never thought it would meet the same fate.

As Big Aunt had her fangs pierce into its throat, the other lionesses began pouncing on the slowed-down buffalo, using their weight to bring it down.

The vultures circled above, aware of the bleak and agonizing future for this creature.

Eventually, the buffalo was brought to its knees. It was being suffocated and its hund was torn open, exposing its flesh to the open air and losing blood in the process.

Its eyes began to grow hazy. The pain it felt all over its body made it want to scream for help, yet it couldn't try to without ripping Big Aunt away from his throat.

Finally, the buffalo fell to its side one last time, defeated, never to get up again.