The road to the Bat-Clan

(Authors' note: The velociraptors in this chapter of the story are not the Jurassic Park type -- those are more closely based on the deinonychus, which you may remember from the first chapter. The real velociraptor was smaller, roughly the size of a turkey. It was still extremely dangerous, though. Also, while the velociraptor may or may not have actually hunted in packs as commonly depicted, they do in this world. Who says smut can't be educational?)

It had been about half a day since Lara had left the Spider-Clan village and set out to meet the Bat-Clan, the nearest allied tribe. She'd found herself pining for the women she'd met -- F'li-sha, M'ary-J'ain, Cin-dy and G'wen had all certainly made an impression on her. The romantic and sexual feelings Lara had for them were more intense than anything she'd ever felt before, and she'd have loved nothing more than to simply stay in their village. Hell, she could have stayed there forever. But she knew she'd be back there as soon as she could, and she was eagerly anticipating meeting the Bat-Clan. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched.

Men in the Savage Land were few and far between. Most lived in the family-settlement, but the ones that didn't were generally dangerous, hostile people. Kraven was one of the most dangerous of the nomadic men of the Savage Land. Unlike most of them, he was an extremely wily foe. His motivations also made him far more deadly -- the average nomadic man of the Savage Land was usually fueled by rage and jealousy, unable to accept the fact that the women of the Savage Land preferred other women. They took the womens' homosexuality as a personal affront, and it infuriated them. Kraven didn't have any rage clouding his mind; he was cold, calcuating and ruthless. His motivation was to hunt the rarest, most challenging prey he could find. This made him a constant thorn in the side of any tribe with talented warrior women, the Spider-Clan in particular.

Lara heard faint footsteps, and quickly grabbed her bow and drew an arrow, pointing at the shadowy figure in the bushes. Kraven emerged, flanked by a pack of velociraptors and a sinister smirk on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" Lara hissed.

"Hello, outsider. I am Kraven, the greatest hunter the Savage Land has ever known. I take pride in hunting the rarest and most challenging game this land has to offer, and you've caught my interest. I've come to inform you that I intend to claim your head as a trophy."

"Oh hell no." Lara let loose the arrow, aiming for Kraven's head.

Kraven caught the arrow mere inches from his face. "I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that. Anyway, I'll take my leave now -- I enjoy the thrill of the hunt too much not to give my quarry at least a sporting chance. Farewell, outsider. In the meantime, though, perhaps you'd like to play with a few of my pets?"

Kraven leapt into the tall trees as the raptors advanced on Lara. Lara was able to fend them off fairly easily due to their size, but their tenacity and numbers made them difficult to deal with. When the opportunity came, Lara grabbed the web shooters the Spider-Clan had gifted her and mounted them on her wrists. Soon enough, the raptors had been subdued.

Lara sighed in relief and continued on towards the Bat-Clan village. She looked at the tall trees and recalled how the Spider-Clan had used the web shooters to swing between them to get from place to place. It had looked like a lot of fun. With that in mind, Lara pointed a web shooter at the top of a nearby tree. With her athletic and acrobatic skill and a little practice, she was soon swinging her way to her destination.