Izula

All who come here are lost, even the vultures.

Her paws left lines in the sand as she dragged them onwards. Curling, tangled lines that stretched over the dunes and past the horizon. For a moment, the sun disappeared from her face and she felt her legs buckle and her body hit the compacted dirt. Even a moment's reprieve from the scorching rays could give her enough energy to make it to where she was going.

Where was she going?

Her eyes searched the cliffs in front of her. No water in sight, not even the mirages that had plagued her journey across the desert.

She soared back home, remembering the way the leaves whispered over the creek, the grass under her paws as she watched the cubs chase dragonflies. Rash decisions made in the middle of the night are often regretted, and this one was no different.

There had been no mistreatment, no injury; she simply wanted more than to sit in the shade and wait for her dinner to be brought to her. What more had the world to offer her? She was a queen, and yet she threw her birthright to the jackals, and herself to the vultures.

When she opened her eyes, she realized night had fallen. Though her legs trembled, she continued on towards movement nearby. When she got close, she smelled a stench that turned her stomach. Decay. She walked forward and discovered that the offensive scent was that of an unfortunate animal, so decomposed and ripped apart that she had no idea what it could have been in life. She didn't care what it had been. What it was now, was food.

She charged forward, chasing the vultures from their latest meal. She didn't think to check until after she had begun eating to see if the carcass had belonged to another lion. Thankfully, it had hooves.

As she ate, she noticed the vultures abandoning the carcass to find another. Her mind chugged away through the thirst and exhaustion, but she eventually came to a realization. Bloody, but sated, she stood and looked over the cliffs, teeming with the birds.

So long as the vultures led her to food, she would never go hungry.

Her tongue cleaned one side of her mouth from the blood. The other side curled into a smile.

She was home.