FotS Side Stories- Mala's Story P1: Kidnap

"Mama! Mama! I caught a mousy!" a cub Mala yelled as she ran up to her mother. She held a dead mouse in her jaws that was a bit messy.
"I see. Though, it looks like you were trying to eat it before catching it," the lioness mused.
"Ehhehe...I did have a difficult time catching it cleanly like you, Mama..."
"Well, with a bit more practice, you'll be as good as any hunter. Maybe even better."
"Hehe!" Mala beamed up at her mother. "Do you want me to put the mouse with the rest of our food?"
"Mm, well, that's for you to decide. You did hunt it after all."
"Okay!" Mala ran to put the mouse up with some of the leftover food from yesterday's hunt. Mala's mother managed to get lucky and caught a heavily injured wildebeest. It seemed like its injuries got the best of it which let the single lioness take it down with ease.
She smiled at her daughter when her ear twitched at a noise. She lifted her head up, looking in the direction the noise came from. The lioness could see figures coming in from the distance and her fur bristled slightly. This isn't a a part of a pride's territory...and yet I can smell from here that they are coming from one...but it's one I've hardly smelled before, she thought.
"Mama, something wrong?" Mala asked when she came back. "Who are those lions?"
"Just under me, dear," her mother ordered. Mala ducked behind her mother's front legs once the lions got closer.
"Well well, just as our sources stated," one lion sneered, looking at Mala. The cub shook with a scared look on her face. She didn't like these lions at all.
"What do you want? We're just rogues passing through. And this isn't pride territory," Mala's mother stated.
"True, but we're not interested in you. It's that little cub that's hiding right behind your paws."
The lioness snarled. "Keep your filthy paws away from my daughter! Don't you have enough cubs in your pride? Surely you wouldn't be wanting a rogue's cub in your pride."
"That's for us to know. Now, hand over the cub, lady!"
"I will not-!" Mala's mother didn't get any further as one of the lions tackled into her side. Mala screamed when her mother hit the dirt.
"Mama!!"
The other lion picked up the cub. She struggled, trying to reach behind her to hit him but to no avail. Mala's mother managed to get back up from the dirt, snarling and claws out. "Let her go right now!"
"I don't think so, lady." His partner then smacked her hard on the right side of the head. The force caused her to hit her head on a nearby rock. She didn't get up.
"Mama! Mama!!!" The cub continued crying as the lions took her away from the place.
TBC