Warning – this story is graphic. Please read at your own risk.

This story is for my friend Nala_91 from Impressive Title. She asked me to write a story about one of her characters hunting Quad. I’ve been a little late getting it written but had the muse this morning to write it for her.

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On a particularly chilly afternoon, a blackbuck stole away and went to a river for a sip of water. As he drank, his ears perked, and he rose his head. He thought he heard something, and scanned around. Satisfied that he was alone, he returned to drink.

He was mistaken. He was not alone. For a lioness watched him intently from behind the trees. Mkinaifu was a different kind of hunter, she was a gifted shaman. With a magic wand in one paw, she knew many spells to bend the world around her. She was effective in catching prey, and even loved to toy with them moments before the chase. “What beautiful prey…I can almost taste the fresh deer meat now…”, she spoke to herself.

She reached her paw out, and made a tapping motion. Bloop! The water made a sound that startled Quad. He shrugged it off and continued to drink. Bloop!, the sound was louder this time. Quad ignored it this time.

Splash!! The water rose before him, nearly making the blackbuck lose his footing. He stumbled backwards and watched in shock as the water column took the form of a great snake. Quad’s instincts heightened, his heart raced. At once, he ran, and the snake followed, making a hissing sound like the roar of a waterfall. The snake pursued the blackbuck, while in the treeline, the hunter followed.

Quad bounded on the river rocks, occasionally splashing in the shallow water. The water snake was nearly on him. ”Come on, wings!!”, Quad thought again and again. At once, four wings burst from his back, and he took flight. The snake rose up to bite him, but the flying deer was too fast for it, and the snake fell and crashed into the river below, vanishing as it merged with the flowing water.

Quad thought he was safe, and exhaling, he tried to figure out what just happened. His rest was short lived, a twang sound came from the trees, and a thin wooden arrow flew at him. The arrow barely missed his head, zipping past him so fast that he would have not known what hit him if it had made it’s mark. He looked down to the trees, hoping to spot what was after him, but a second twang sound led to a second arrow flying at him. He dodged the attack, and quickly flew to evade the unseen hunter.

Arrows continued to fly at him, more numerous now. Each twang sound could be heard in succession, Quad’s heart pounding. He evaded, flying in a serpentine pattern to avoid the arrows. Mkinaifu caught on with his pattern, and drawing back her magic bow, she let an arrow fly that hit the mark. The sound was sickening as it struck Quad in his wing, and he let out a painful cry and began to plummet to the ground, the other three wings flapping wildly to slow his fall.

He corrected and glided to the ground, landing with a thud in the forest below. He quickly pulled the arrow out of his wing, blood squirting and soaking the feathers. When it was removed, Quad let his wings return to his body, hoping the bloodied wing would heal. The process was very painful, and he let out a cry. Mkinaifu smiled, “There you are, little one…”, she caught his location.

The hunter arrived to find the arrow laying in a pool of blood. Quad had fled, but wounded, he left a trail leading into the distance. Mkinaifu chased after him, moving much quicker than the blackbuck and closing the gap. When she saw him, she immediately threw her paws out and ripped chunks of ground from beneath Quad’s hooves. He barely avoided the new threat, and soon dirt and vines were exploding all around him. He was able to maneuver around them, but soon made a mistake. A vine tangled around his leg and he hit the ground hard. Pulling, he struggled to break free.

Pleased, Mkinaifu approached slowly. “You gave a fun chase, but now it is time for you to return to Mother Nature!”, she spoke, and prepared to bite his throat. Quad reacted in a way she did not expect, his body flashed a brilliant white light that blinded her temporarily. He took the opportunity to bite the vine that tangled him, breaking it and stumbling to his hooves to run.

Mkinaifu’s vision regained, and she saw him continuing to flee. “Persistent little one…”, she spoke, and continued to hunt him. Quad ran until he slid to a halt, nearly falling off of a cliff on the edge of the forest. He looked back to see the hunter was nearly on him. He made a decision that would pain him tremendously, but he was more concerned with escaping that his adrenaline heightened to it’s max. His back burst in a flurry of wings and blood, and quickly he jumped off the cliff, three of his four wings powerfully flapping to make him ascend to the sky.

“Oh no you don’t!”, the hunter shouted, and pointed her wand at him. Chanting, the blackbuck seemed to be caught by an invisible net. He hovered, struggling to move, finding himself floating back toward the lioness. He was soon staring at her face to face, and the hunter smiled again. “Don’t you see, little foal? I never lose my prey.”, she spoke softly to him, and with a smile, her magic worked on the blackbuck. A sickening snap could be heard between the two of them, Quad cringing and silently screaming.

His lower body had been bent backwards, his spine snapped in two. He was completely paralyzed, and soon going into shock. Mkinaifu placed the blackbuck on the ground gently, where he watched her approach before closing his eyes. He never felt her fangs on his throat.

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Mkinaifu was full. She had stripped the blackbuck’s broken body to the bones. Satisfied, she stood and walked off into the forest. Before she left, something caught the corner of her eye, a flash of light through the trees. The hunter peeked from a distance to see the blackbuck, fully alive, stumbling and shivering in pain. “Hmm? The foal lives again?”, she questioned. Chuckling, she nodded, “If that’s the case, he will be my prey another day. For now, I am full…”

Twang!, an arrow raced toward Quad. He was too tired to avoid it, but luckily, it struck the ground before him. Attached to the end was a white feather – one of Quad’s feathers. Shuddering in pain, Quad slowly backed away, and vanished into the trees. His powers kept him alive to be hunted another day.