Kaahla enjoys a day out hunting and teaching her class, but comes home to find that her mate is only interested in providing a night of disappointing sex.

Read the full chapter here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/zebraddiction-1-31505587
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The high afternoon sun beat on the Savannah with an unrelenting heat. While the cloudless sky offered no reprieve from the blasting rays, the temperature went unnoticed by the common inhabitants of the area.

One of which was a six legged lizard that stalked the tall grass, its size the equivalent of an elephant. Its jaw hung open and from its throat emanated a rough growl, a forked tongue lapping out to taste the air. The wind blew at its face, good news for the other inhabitants of the Savannah that stalked it for prey.

The gigatile was a ferocious beast, bad temper and unending appetite made it one of the most dangerous things to encounter, but it's thickly muscled legs and body made for a substantial meal for anyone that could bring it down. As was the current mission for a group of barbarians that had been trailing its tracks for the past four hours.

There was five of them, all lionesses, three young out on their first hunt and two elders that were tasked with training them. From a tree line they spotted the gigatile as it made its way over to a water hole. It dipped its head to lap at the murky water, and it was now with its attention drawn that the hunting pack advanced on it.

The five lionesses kept low in the grass, crouched but still moving quickly, their heads barely peaking above the top of the blades. They stopped fifty yards away from their prey and knelt on the dry soil. Each lioness was dressed in little more than a loincloth, each holding a distinct weapon that they had chosen to work with for the rest of their lives. In barbarian society, one's own weapon was their connection to the pride, their symbol by which other barbarians could tell who they were and what their personality was like.

The lioness at the front of the pack was the largest of the five, her muscular body and tall stature made her out to be the clear leader of them. She was known as Kaahla, a beautifully fierce woman with striking, golden eyes and a braid of dark red hair that fell against the middle of her back. Clutched in her left paw was a broadsword that was nearly the length of her own body but no wider than any normal one of its size. What made the weapon so distinct was it's unimaginable weight, the metal that it was made of was smelted from compacted iron found incredibly deep underground.

Beside her, one of the younger lionesses stared with transfixed awe at the gigatile. She was Taam, the daughter of one of their tribe's more revered noblemen. Despite her youth, she was the largest among her peers, almost as big as the second elder. In her own paw she clutched a spear twice the length of her own body, the pole so thick that her fingers couldn't touch as she held it. On its end was a massive obsidian tip that was as big as her head and was so dark one could hardly make out the chiseled features across its surface.

Kaahla turned her gaze to Taam and she returned the look. Without a word spoken between them, the young lioness ducked beneath the grass and began stalking far off to the gigatile's flank. As she did, the other lioness elder and the two remaining youths went the opposite way, leaving Kaahla to begin forward to approach the beast at its rear.

Minutes ticked by of the gigatile lapping noisily at the water in front of it, a shallow hiss escaping every once in a while as it breathed. As silent as the night, Kaahla stopped only when she was twenty yards away and crouched down with her legs drawing beneath her, powerful springs coiling. She gathered her strength, spoke a brief prayer to herself, and leaped.

The brisk rustle of grass caught the attention of the gigatile and it raised its head and glanced behind it with lightning speed. By the time it caught sight of the lioness, it was far too late for it to dodge her attack, one that was poised to set the pace for the rest of the hunt. Kaahla sprinted and closed the distance in the span of a second, her sword held out at her side, she slashed it forward while aiming to rush past the beast's side.

The razor edge of her blade caught the gigatile's back leg behind its knee and cleaved straight through as if were nothing at all. A screech of agony ripped through the creature's mouth and it reached to the side to snap at the lioness, but she was ready for the move. Her momentum carrying her forward, Kaahla ducked beneath the gigatile's jaws by a foot and skidded into the water.

Gore painted the Savannah floor as it flowed freely from the dismembered limb, but a gigatile with five legs was almost just as dangerous as one with six, though its balance was a whole other story. From the opposite side of its hacked off limb, Taam's spear arched through the air and drove into the beast's ribs with such force that it went tumbling onto its side. Another pained roar made the air vibrate and Kaahla's ears pin back against her head.

From a short distance away, the remaining elder and the two youths were already sprinting to join the fray. Held within the older lioness's paw was a glaive that rivaled Taam's spear, though its wood was not nearly so heavy and stiff. This became evident when she gripped the weapon with both paws and drove it hard into the ground. The pole bent into a U-shape and flicked the elder into the air, making her soar ten feat high with her weapon still held firmly in her grasp.

Her aim was perfect, and the glaive became positioned over her head as she completed her arch and came back to the ground. In a resound, brutal shop, the glaive's edge came down on the gigatile's nape, cutting through the tough armored skin there and severing it's spinal cord. The beast was dead before the razor edge became embedded in the soil.

The two youth came trotting up to the valiant elder's sides as she pulled her glaive back, grinning triumphantly as she stared at the creature. Kaahla let out a celebratory whoop and loped up to the other's side, Taam soon joining them and lending her own voice to the call. Soon all five were roaring out their praise for one another and calling up towards the sky.

“Excellent work, Maali” Kaahla said to the other elder, a broad grin plastered over her face.

“And to you, sister, a flawless plan flawlessly executed,” Maali replied.

“And let us not forget our students,” Kaahla said, turning to look over the three young lionesses. While Taam beamed happily after she had retrieved her spear from the gigatile, Saami and Ataah gazed back with crestfallen expressions.

“Not a drop of blood was tasted by our weapons,” Ataah whispered, her paws gripping her twin battle knives in tightly balled fists.

“That's a greater thing than you realize,” Kaahla explained and reached out to set her paw on Ataah's shoulder. The young lioness gazed into the other's eyes. “You and Saami were the reserve, had something gone wrong it would have been your responsibility to back us up. But things went well. The lesson to be learned here is to appreciate the times that plans work out instead of being disappointed that they didn't.”

“But, elder, how are we supposed to become great hunters if we don't get practice or take the lead on hunts?” Saami asked.

Kaahla smirked and stepped up to her. “You are already great hunters. We are known for our strength and resilience, but great barbarians will never last in this world if that is all that they rely on. You can throw yourself at a steel wall all you want and it will not break, but sometimes to get past, all you have to do is walk around it.”

Saami gave a subtle nod of her head and turned her eyes away. Meanwhile, Maali beamed with pride at not only Kaahla's accurate description of the day's lesson but also that the two youth would spend the rest of the evening mulling it over in their heads.