FSE

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Migratory birds- Chapter 2- Part 1

Runner

by kodayu

It was almost completely hidden between all the huge firs and other trees which had overgrown the broad valley. From above, for a bird, it was almost invisible, but any wanderer who walked through the forest could not miss it because it occupied such a prominent place in the middle of the valley, although it was anything but large. On the contrary it was a rather small settlement, just big enough for the families which tried to make a living down there, in the middle of the forest.

It seemed to be yet another ordinary clearing and just when one was getting closer one would be able to realize that there were houses in between the smaller trees of this area. Just a few houses were big enough to attract any attention at all, the others were hardly more than hovels which could one day be overgrown by the forest and would not leave behind any trace at all. But there were at least three very impressive buildings around a square, right in the middle of the town and in the middle of this square was growing a not very huge, but nevertheless impressive, old, gnarled oak which hardly had any leaves left but somehow the tree was still surviving as the small, wrinkled leaves rustled in the faint wind which let the dust of the paths in between the houses fly high for a few moments, just before it would settle again like nothing ever happened.

Around this oak a few stands had gathered and quite some people (for such a small town) had gathered there, talking in high voices, some bubbling because of too much ale although the sun was still high up in the sky. But mainly they were just talking, joking and trying to make a deal with the three traders which displayed their goods at their stands. No one seemed to care much about one another, just like one was just accidentally talking to another and that was why they quickly separated and strode further on. It was rather quiet, there was no commotion as if the whole town had just exhaled and was now about to inhale but this had not happened yet and thus every inhabitant was calmly waiting for what was yet to come, maybe awaiting it with secret anxiousness.

There was one stand every single one was at least going past once: An old, grumpy stag sat there and the only thing he had was ink, paper and a quill. Nevertheless he seemed to attract the interest of even the youngest child which was playing around on the place. Every time somebody addressed him, he answered lowly and without much enthusiasm but he did it and he seemed to answer every questions politely. But most of the time he had nothing to do and either motionlessly observed the other people or noted something on his sheets.

After a certain time he stood up clumsily and as if quite some people had waited for this, they walked over to the stand and suddenly it was encircled by curious people who tried to get a look a the lists the stag had put on display there. Nobody was paying attention to the stag anymore who walked over to a large stone brick building. Everyone stared at the

lists.

A wolf broke away from the crowd, carrying away one of the sheets, ran over the place and hopped up the stairs to the sawmill as he really felt light-hearted in this moment, pushed open the door and stepped into the office, holding the scroll like they had already won the trophy which was to be gained. "Here's the list!" he shouted so that his voice sounded throughout the small room, but thus he was able to drown out the noise of the steam engines which kept the saws working.

The woman looked up instantly and let the bandage go which she had used on the boy who quickly grabbed it before it fell to the ground and went on to wrap his hands, holding one end between his teeth while winding

the bandage around his palm.

He hurled the scroll onto the table. "We've got as good as won. No dangerous outsiders this year!"

"Sounds good!" the woman agreed and picked up the scroll which had been rolling around on the table in front of her and unrolled it. Her nervous eyes studied the paper, motionlessly she just laughed dryly sometimes. "That's a joke!"

The man raised his eyebrows with a broad smile. "I can assure you: It's not! Avalanche has just finished registration!"

The woman studied the paper once again as she was barely able to believe what she was reading and then she threw it into the boy's lap. "Take a look, Wheel! This time there'll be no excuse for you!"

Carefully the wolf boy fixed the bandage around his hand before he picked up the scroll, pulled a face and started reading.

The two other wolves watched him.

"Who's Tzerska?"

From his chair where he was now rather lying than sitting in, his legs stretched out, the wolf answered: "He's an old hunter from the Blue Ridge, a damn rabbit but he should be no match for you. Guess he's just running because of some kind of tradition, although he didn't participate last year."

"And MacLezt?" He hesitated due to the strange name.

The wolf shrugged his shoulders so that his leather jacket was slightly creaking. He had taken out a short hunting knife and sharpened his claws. "Haven't seen him before. As far as I know he's some trader from Kastania. He's just passing through... A ram." He rose his paw and scrutinized his sharpened claws. "Rams are sometimes real toughies but he should be no threat!" he said while he studied his work.

"You know or you guess?" the woman, leaning on the table, intervened.

"I guess!"

"You should better check that. Grampa won't be happy about that kind of information..."

"Oh, screw him!" He spread his arms and stared at her. "Where should I get something about a complete stranger, hu?"

She turned her eyes away and faintly shook her head. "You don't have to tell me that."

"Screw him!" The man repeated and went on with sharpening the claws of his other hand.

The boy swallowed. "Who's Grand Leaf?" he asked.

"Don't you remember?" the woman asked him. "He's Ol' Dune's nephew, the pony who was right behind you last year when..."

"I remember!" The boy quickly cut short her explanation.

"Seems like the wound is still bleeding..." The man laughed.

"Better this way!" the woman agreed.

The boy gave them a harsh look before he stared at the scroll again. "Pendulum?"

"A boar boy from Amalkin. Stalker said that he's got a good stamina, but he's quite slow so I guess you'll shake him off during the first mile and will never see him again..." He stretched the last few words while carefully cutting of some of his index' nail.

"And this last one? Jid?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "A roamer, a lynx, guess he's just trying although he looks quite well trained. But first of all he's got to settle with Mlala who of them runs in the end and after all he's nothing but a feline... So forget about him!"

The boy pulled a face again and laid the scroll aside. "Eleven? That's all?" he asked.

"Ten! You know there won't be two cats[1](%5C) running," the man corrected him and suddenly put the knife away, stood up and went over to him. Ironically he pat on the boy's shoulder. "Come on, my dear brother. You'll just run and dishonor your clan, so why bother anyway, hm?"

"Don't rib him, Searcher. We need this damn victory!"

The wolf pushed himself off the chair of his younger brother where he had been leaning on. "Yeah, yeah! As he didn't already shame us last year!" He had walked away and suddenly spun around, pointing his knife at his younger brother. "This time there's no excuse, Wheel. There's no one in between you, Fistle and Thunder." He screwed up his eyes while

he observed the boy's reaction.

For a moment it got silent inside the office, at least as silent as it was able to get inside a sawmill where the steam engines hammered almost constantly, at least the saws had nothing to work on and so they evaded their screaming sound. The sawdust danced in the sunlight which was falling brightly through the windows.

"Well, you don't want to disgrace your newborn children, do you?" The woman had approached his seat from behind and now stood right in his back. She was speaking very lowly, just like she wanted to tell him some secret.

"Do you?" she repeated, almost whispering into his ear.

"No!" he mumbled.

"What did he say, Blade? I couldn't hear him over here!" Searcher said.

"NO!" the boy yelled as loud as he could. The veins of his bare chest poked out of his fur as he tensed the fine lines of his muscles.

"Oh,... that's good!" Searcher grinned.

The woman pat on the boy's shoulder. "That's a good wolf! The real fighting spirit for our clan."

Once again the sound of the sawmill took over although this time the shrill cry of wood being torn apart drowned out anything else. But the three wolfs in the small office couldn't care less. Behind the wooden windows the noon sun was shining brightly onto the wooden houses, build around the small piece of lawn which had remained around the huge crippled oak which formed the center of the lumberjack outpost. The strangely twisted branches of the huge tree hang all over the three largest building which occupied the space around this place. There was the long drawn-out functional building of the sawmill, the large and especially high dormitory of the lumberjacks whose outside was completely covered by carvings of strange beasts and there was the strange interwoven buildings of the saloon and the shop which could also been called one building as the houses had been build one against the other so that they rather formed a heap of houses than anything else. Behind these gathered some more houses, much smaller and less pompous than the main buildings of the three dominant clans, houses to the members of those and a few other families. Through the branches of the redwoods which made up most of the surrounding forest shone a greenish sun which illuminated the swirling dust with useless accuracy. Few people could be seen as the dryness and the heat of the sun had created a rather unpleasant cover of sudorific motionless air.

The crying of the treated wood suddenly subsided and there was nothing left but the metallic shriek of the saws' blades, the low hammering of the steam engines and the resinous scent of freshly cut wood.

Blade had gone to the window, looking out onto the place and now she pushed herself off the window frame where she had leaned (her dress rustled) and turned around to her brothers. Searcher had balanced his knife on his finger, but now he threw it upwards, grabbed it in midair and hurled it onto the table where it stuck deeply into the wood. Thus he attracted Wheel's attention who seemed to have forgotten about his surroundings. He raised his head and perceived that his brother's knife had just pinned the contest list to the table.

"That should do it," Blade mumbled. "That should do it."

Exhaling the lynx dropped down on the straw. One arm rested on his forehead while he stared at the wood of the roof which was just an arm's length from him. Nevertheless it was pretty bright in there due to the small hatches in the wall to his right. There was just enough space for two persons if there had been no straw but at least this way he had a soft underlay.

"OK?" The voice barely reached him as- because of this sudden relaxation- the tiredness of the last days' journey had come back and had almost instantly put him to sleep.

With an unpleasant groan he sat up again. "Yeah, fine!" He looked down from behind the pillar, the only separation between him and the gap which was the main room underneath him.

"You're sure?" The pointed ears of the older lynx twitched, maybe due to some never-ending nervousness.

"Yeah, thanks. It's OK with me!" The lynx above reassured the older one.

The one below nodded slowly. "I'm sorry that I can't offer you anything better. I'd really like to get a fellow lynx something better, but well..." He shrugged his shoulders. "By the way, my son'd like to meet you. He's just come back."

The one above sighed quietly and closed his eyes for a moment without answering. But then he rose his head again. "I'll come down!"

The older one nodded while the newcomer picked some straw out of his straggly brown hair and then quickly moved closer to the ladder which stood at the store, the only connection to the main room. Clumsily the young lynx descended while his host scrutinized him once again: He was quite small for his age although well trained and certainly a valuable worker with these muscles of his which stretched underneath his light brown fur. His small, very fluffy tail wagged nervously while he climbed down the ladder. He just wore an old ragged leather shirt and old denim shorts.

He had come down and turned around to his host, thus showed his straight lined face which had just some few smoothness of youth. Some strange silver pendant hang around his neck. His slanting eyes shimmered.

"Well..." The older lynx was slightly embarrassed as he had stared so overtly at his guest. "He's outside," he said and tried to direct the younger lynx outside while taking the lead.

They walked across the small room which was cramped full with the furniture, the beds, the food, the tools and all the other stuff this family seemed to need. They stepped outside, onto the small verandah where an old table and some fragile stools stood.

A young lynx instantly jumped up from his seat when they came closer. "Hello!" he welcomed them. "I'm Mlala"

"Hi!" The newcomer from the inside blinked due to the brightness of the sunlight, after a short instant he was able to see the other one: Another lynx, slightly younger than him but a little bit larger, wearing thick leather clothes tied up to his body with countless leather straps. He seemed to be rather the wiry kind of lynx without any useless trace of fat or muscle. His short hair had exactly the same light brown color as his fur. He smiled friendly with all his juvenile features.

"Name's Jid!"

"Yeah, my father already told me that!" Mlala said, smiled and lowered his head. "So you're here to attend the race?"

"Nah!" Jid shook his head. "Just passin' through and I thought it'd be a good chance to get some money."

The other boy raised his head and stared at him with absolute disbelief.

The older lynx had observed the two youngsters with curiosity. "I'll leave you alone. Got some work to do!" he said quickly after some time and disappeared inside the house again.

Mlala finally found his speech again. "You're just attending it because of the money?" he asked highly exaggerated.

Jid had looked into the wood which grew just next to the house as it stood at the absolute edge of the town and he nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Eh..." The other one was speechless. "Eh..." He waved his hands. "Let's sit down!" he invited his guest and they went over to the table and while Mlala sat down on a chair Jid simply sat down on the edge of the table, obviously not caring about manners. They were silent for a moment.

Sudden joyful cries of a young child broke through their silence and with waving hair a girl was running around the house, her thin blue dress fluttered as she hopped onto the veranda. With a loud "Mlala!" she welcomed her brother and without stopping she ran over to him.

"Enja!" He grabbed her quickly, turned her around in midair and sat her down on his knee with such an incredible speed as he must have done many times before.

With big eyes the lynx girl studied the newcomer. She was very young, almost still a cub. Her hair was short as it had not grown that much yet and she looked rather skinny and tiny, especially in this poor dress she wore.

"Say hello, Enja! That's Jid, he's our guest for a while," Mlala introduced the other boy.

The girl rose her head and looked at the newcomer. There was a strange expression flickering over her face for a moment: Her eyes wide open she stared at him with a mixture of shyness and fear. "Did you really have

to come so soon?" the girl asked.

Before Mlala could intervene Jid had already answered to the strange impolite question: "Ehrrr,... guess so!"

"Ooooh!" The girl blinked several times, gulped and fell silent for a moment. "So you won't leave us any more time, will you?"

Jid was absolutely confused for a moment. "What?" he blurred out.

"I'm sorry for her but she... Em! You know: Sometimes she is having some kind of visions or so," Mlala tried to excuse his sister who was already distracted by some butterfly which was flying over the verandah. "Actually I've no idea what she's talking about."

Jid was still tense, he stared at the girl with amazement and he screwed up his eyes while he tried to judge this innocent girl who was looking like she did not even know what she had been talking about. Slowly he relaxed as he observed like she tried to catch the peacock butterfly which danced around her head. He exchanged a short look with Mlala. "I've no idea either," he said to the boy.

"Oooh, you should have told after you came out of the cave!" the girl mumbled. She had caught the butterfly and was now busy with tearing the miserable insect apart.

"Uh?" Jid stared wildly at the girl which showed no interest for the distraught boy.

"But you shall have prevented to flee from the bar!" she advised him. "Or to let him take your shirt off..."

Carefully Mlala grabbed the girl and sat her down on her feet again while she was chewing on the butterfly, his colorful wings poking out of her small muzzle. "Maybe you should help Daddy!" he said to her and pat her on her backside.

"Yeah!" she cried, dashed off and disappeared inside.

Jid's eyes followed her.

"I'm sorry," Mlala apologized once more. "She always saying that kind of things and no one knows how to make any sense of it. Maybe she is just making it all up, but.... Well.... Since her mother's death she's like that..." He fell silent.

Motionlessly Jid was staring at the door where she had disappeared. He was still much too surprised by what the girl had mentioned and he wished that he had been unable to make any sense of what she had said. But the first part made sense and that was maybe the worst of it all, although he couldn't say what she had wanted to express with her last advise, for

better or worse.

"So you want to attend the race?" the other lynx boy asked once more and thus caught Jid's attention.

First Jid stared at Mlala with wide opened eyes until he seemed to remember who that guy sitting there actually was. "Yeah,... right!"

Mlala nodded. He rocked his chair backwards and forwards, holding on to the table so that he wouldn't fall down. "I want to run too!"

"Yeah, I know!"

"And you do it just because of the money?" Mlala looked at him with slightly lowered head.

Jid supported himself on the table so that his straggly hair covered most of his face but then suddenly he rose it and thus the strands were flying backwards as he looked straight into Mlala's eyes. "Yeah, sort of!"

For a short moment Mlala stared at the lynx: The sunlight was right in his back so that his shape was sharply distinguishable although his features were partly hidden by shadows, but the light shimmered through his hair and the fur of his shoulders and thus emphasized the curves of his muscled body. "Well..." His tongue had suddenly gotten very dry. "We can't run both, you know?"

The newcomer blinked in surprise. Then he screwed up his slanting eyes so that they mere slits in his face. Very carefully he eyed every inch of the other one, every single line of muscle, every trace of a bone. "What d'you mean..." His voice was toneless.

Mlala blinked too, but because of the sunlight which did blind him partly. He smiled in embarrassment. "See! There's just one member of every species allowed to run."

The reaction of the other one was as true as surprising: He seemed to be totally flabbergasted. "What...?" he breathed.

"Like I said..." The younger lynx blushed slightly. "Just one member of every species is allowed to run: One horse, one wolf, one fox, one deer, one beaver, one... lynx!" He waited for a reaction but Jid was totally motionless. "See! It's about who'll represent the village in front of the Spirits. So there's just one runner, originally the heir, allowed per family and thus one member per species. I mean: You do not belong to my family but you're lynx, so..."

Jid was motionless for another moment, then he gulped and turned his face away. He stared at the forest close by although he did not seem to notice the wall of trunks and leaves. "I get it," he mumbled.

Mlala watched him for a while like he had folded his large paws and how his short tail wagged like in slow-motion: If he had not lost the typical lighter fur of youth, one might have considered him to be younger than Mlala because of his small size. But his muscles proved that he could not be so young at all, although he seemed to be surprisingly strong for his age nevertheless and for a moment Mlala wondered how one could get such muscles in such a short life. "So...?"

Jid looked at him again.

"Who'll run?" He leaned in his chair, almost relaxing.

"I need the money," Jid stated shortly.

Shortly Mlala pulled a face. "I see..." He felt silent. "Actually..."

Jid did not take his eyes off the lynx.

"Actually I do represent a local family and you don't." He looked at the other lynx who did turn away. For a moment they glared at each other then Mlala turned away because of the sunlight. "But you're lynx, that's what's important... So I suggest that we'll run for it." He waited for a reaction. "OK?"

His ears twitched then he nodded slowly. "OK!"

"Good! The better one runs for the lynx." He smiled. "As long a lynx wins the Spirit's Race, both of us can be proud, right?"

Jid just screwed up the corner of his mouth. "Guess so..."

Mlala looked at him again but he screwed up his eyes as he tried to percept Jid's features. "Sure, the race is not that important anymore but the Big Three are still taking it quite seriously."

"Big Three?"

"The three clans: Storm's End, the deer clan; Nighthunters, the wolf clan and Nickel, the vulpine clan. But after all it isn't about the rule of the town anymore. Different stuff matters today."

Jid nodded.

"Nevertheless the Big Three are still into it and last year there was a real turmoil and some outsider who seemed to have been engaged by the foxes had won it and this year the others want to pay them back. So it will be real tough this year."

"Sort of a feud!?"

Mlala laughed shortly. "Yeah, blood feud! After all they can't support the disgrace, being dishonored in front of the Spirits and such stuff. Last year hell broke almost loose..."

The other boy nodded thoughtfully. "I bet!" He rose to full size and went over to the edge of the veranda, leaned against a pillar which supported the roof and there he stood while he looked out into the wood close by.

As the sun was moving on, a strange mixture of a greenish and reddish light had taken over the forest. Long drawn slanting rays of light shone through the branches and the foliage, illuminating the floor.

A three-eyed squirrel[2](%5C) was jumping at a trunk, it looked nervously into their directions while it had clawed at the bark in a moderate height. It blinked shortly and then suddenly, although they hadn't even moved a bit, the squirrel run up the tree as fast as it could and disappeared between the branches.

Jid had raised one hand and was gnawing at the claw of his thumb which was hidden underneath its furry sheath. "Ten red stones," he mumbled. "It's ten red stones..."

With every last trace of power his body still hold he buried his fist in the punching bag so that it swung backwards with a inert movement. His hand hurt almost instantly after he had retired it, a dull pain was extending into the limb, gnawed at the bones of his entire arm. Unconsciously he rubbed his hand while he stared at the swinging sandbag. The hammering

sound of the steam engines was almost insupportable in the backyard where he stood but he was much too used to it to even noticed it. Slowly he went over to heap of trunks which leaned against the wall of the sawmill and let himself drop down onto them with a sigh. He breathed heavily and looked up into the sky where he could see some birds which flew around like they had not anything better to do. Leaning against the wood he sighed once more.

He could feel like his sweat dried due to the faint wind and the day's heat. The sweat dried and left behind an unpleasant crust of salt which covered almost all of his skin which was so itchy underneath his sticky fur that he wished he could tear it off. But in this very moment he didn't care after all. The last drops flowed dropped down from his gray hair and onto his black muzzle.

Suddenly a loud hiss broke through the rhythm of the steam engines and then the hammering of the engines slowly subsided, they got slower and finally they stopped completely and left behind nothing but the strange humming noise of silence in his ears.

With another sigh he started to undo the bandages which had been wrapped around his hands and had almost cut off their blood cycle so that they had felt cold like numb stumps at the end of his arms, feeling neither touch nor pain. Now as the blood rushed back into his fingers the usually pleasant warmth of it almost hurt. He crumpled up the pieces of cloth and

hurled them away so that they landed in between the heap of sawdust which occupied the space at the other wall which formed this small backyard. As his eyes had followed them he suddenly noticed that the wooden door there was opened and that a vixen stood in the door frame, smiling at him and carefully holding her two cubs in her arm.

"Hi, there," she said.

He stared into her gray-blue eyes for a moment and then the blood shot through his entire body again, instinctively he stretched himself, sat up straight and tried to reply the smile. "Hi!" he said to her, slightly blushing.

She smiled even more compassionately than she had already done. She stepped outside and carefully carrying the two small bundles on her left arm she went over to him and sat down right beside him.

They were silent for a moment. The two still very young, lupine cubs [3](%5C) were both sleeping just their muzzles twitched a little bit sometimes. With a strange mixture of happiness, pride, love and tiredness he looked at the two babies and he rose his finger as he intended to stroke them.

But she quickly grabbed his fingers with her free hand and with a smile she put them back where they belonged. "Don't you disturb them!" she said carefully. "I'm just happy they are finally sleeping."

He noticed the bags under her eyes. "They kept you busy?"

"Oh, yes! All day long!" she assured him and while she said that he had already approached her and kissed the fluffy fur of her neck. His lips gently caressed the skin before he playfully gnawed at it. "Don't!" She was laughing faintly and bowed her head to get away but instead she brushed her cheek against his and he gave in to her caress and for a moment they let the furs intertwine, enjoyed the other ones closeness. He rose his hand and gently stroke her other cheek, let his fingers brush through her short gray vulpine fur.

"Don't!" she repeated "Your mother could see us!"

"What if?" he asked quietly and she answered with a giggle.

A short growl brought them back and they were startled for an instant.

Instantly they separated and sat up straight. A much older wolf woman had appeared in the door frame and was glaring at the two. From below her long plaits she was staring at them. "Just because you're married, doesn't mean that I'd allow any kind of foolishness!" she said so that the boy and the girl could clearly understand her.

"Sorry, mum!" the young man apologized. The girl was shyly looking at him. "Please, just a moment, we just wanted to talk."

"Talking is alright!" the woman said and her glare made sure that there could be no kind of misunderstanding.

"Yes, mum! Thank you, mum!"

The woman gave them a last glare, eyed them carefully, first the boy with the bare chest and then especially carefully the vulpine girl in her rather unfamiliar leather clothes which had been cut, although widely, in a manner which emphasized her female curves and her rather short hair she was still wearing openly. The woman wrinkled her nose and finally, much to the relief of her son and his wife, disappeared inside the house again.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled after a moment.

"You don't have to," she assured him. "We both knew that it wouldn't be easy."

"Yes,..." He hesitated. "We knew..." He fell silent.

One of the babies opened his muzzle wide and something like a yawn escaped his small throat, a faint but likeable sound. Slowly he closed his mouth again and snuggled up (or at least moved) inside his coat which protected him, so that he lay silently against his sister's or brother's side. Shannanah and Wheel were completely absorbed by him and they watched everyone of his movements as carefully as possible and while Shannanah tried to hold her cub as comfortable as possible, Wheel stretched out his little finger and he was beaming with joy, happiness and pride as his child grabbed

his finger in its small hands. Shannanah smiled happily at him although he did not notice as he was still looking at the baby.

"Forgive me, Shannanah, but..." He blushed. "But I still can't tell them apart."

For a short moment a broad smile flitted over Shannanah's face. "You should spend more time with them," she said without the slightest trace of an accusation.

"I will," he promised. "I will!" He pressed his lips together until there was nothing but a thin line left. "As soon as this damn..." This last word was nothing but a hiss in between his teeth. "...race is over I'll spend all of my time with them. And with you, of course!" He still stared at his child.

She lowered her face and watched his finger which was still held captive by Shade, his daughter, although he did not know that. "Look!" she said quietly. "The small dark spot between her eyes..."

"You're right!" he said instantly and smiled again. "I'm sorry, Shade!" he apologized towards his slumbering daughter. He leaned over to the absolutely motionless second baby. "I'm sorry too, Rush!" he whispered carefully to his son.

Shannanah carefully rocked their cubs on her arm. They were still so young that she could carry them on one arm. She was startled for a moment as she felt like he was carefully pushing the hair from her neck and then his soft lips gently lowered onto her fur. It tickled first but then she could feel the warmth of his mouth which sparkled underneath her skin. Instinctively she leaned her head against his.

"That's enough!"

The sudden yell paralyzed them as it hit them out of the blue and then she already stood in front of them, had grabbed Shannanah's arm and had pulled her away from her husband. Although every fiber in the girl's body was disobedient she had already been forced onto her feet, meanwhile Wheel stared at his mother with a total bewilderment.

"What...?" The boy mumbled while his mother pulled his wife behind herself and so forced herself in between the two.

"That's enough!" His mother glared down onto him. "We won't start with such foolishness now!"

He jumped up onto his feet and glared at her with all of his juvenile fury. "We have not done anything!" he blurt out.

Despite her gender she was still much bigger than him and so she eyed him carefully from above. After a short meaningful pause she said: "I won't discuss that with you!"

Every fiber in his body was stretched up to the brink of being torn apart by his anger. He saw his mother through a red haze of blood but then he percepted Shannanah behind his mother and he could see like she was mumbling "Please!" although she remained silent. He swallowed it all down.

"Your grandfather wants to see you," his mother said.

Some droning sound was still humming in his ears and he still tried to restrain himself. "Yes, mum!" he said.

It was silent for a moment. The sun was no longer shining into the backyard. It had disappeared behind the surrounding walls and the trees behind these and so the shadowy twilight of the evening was now occupying this place. The wooden walls had darkened and seemed to be thicker and even more impenetrable than they already were and now the small tree, the only plant there, was the only thing which still reached out high enough to get some light. Its highest branches slowly moved in the remains of the reddish sunlight and their rustle filled out the silence which occupied the entire backyard.

"Good!" the woman said. Her plaits swirled about when she turned around and she grabbed the lupine girl's arm and forced her to follow her back into the house.

Shannanah instinctively tried to resist but the wolf woman was much too strong for her and so she had to follow her, after she had been looking after Wheel.

Their eyes met for a moment and they exchanged a look of love and helplessness which mixed with the boy's hardly restraint anger. But then Shannanah had already disappeared inside the house and Wheel stood alone in the backyard,

his fist cramping painfully.

During afternoon clouds gathered in the sky, like they had dated up there they showed up all at once and very quickly they had filled the sky with white scraps which offered- at least sometimes- a reminiscence of a shadow which covered the burning sun for a short moment and thus offered a short moment of release from the sunlight. According to the clouds a faint wind had come too and the leaves rustled calmly and the shimmering spots of sunlight on the forest ground danced around.

Even though he had somehow noticed the slight change of the weather he was quite happy about the easing of the warmth but on the other hand he had already been happy when they had penetrated deeper and deeper into the forest as its coolness accumulated around them and made every breath a little bit easier. Except for the heavy undergrowth and the unstable, moist ground which hid lots of stones and trunks and boughs beneath the densely growing moss it seemed to him like almost any forest he had seen before and thus he did not feel particularly sorry about not being able to appreciate his surroundings. But after quite some time he got that chance nevertheless because he had to slow down as his guide was not able to catch up with him anymore.

"Dear Spirit of wind," Mlala gasped and inhaled deeply. "You're so good..." He left the rest up to the other lynx' imagination as he was already much to too occupied with running. His feline legs, rather adapted for sprint than long distance running, hurt and his chest felt like a bowl of burning coal.

Jid had slightly slowed down so that he could run at Mlala's side.

He did not know the way to the Tacola Tree even though there was something like a small beaten path, but this one disappeared very often in between the moss and the fern or behind some stones or so and thus it was not very easy to follow and as he followed it for the very first time he rather invested some time in observing his surroundings so that he might find it all on his own again.

"OK! OK!" Mlala hissed and stopped suddenly.

Jid stopped at a certain distance too and eyed the panting boy who supported himself on a tree.

"I give up..." Mlala gasped. "You run!" He took a deep breath. "I got no chance against you, nor against any other." He coughed. "You run tomorrow..." He tried to overcome his panting but instead he coughed even more violently. His chest burned like hell and now his feet felt like being made out of lead which yanked at his limbs. "You run tomorrow..." he repeated.

There was no trace of triumph on Jid's face, nor any other proof that he had understood the meaning of that statement.

"That's what you wanted...?!" A smile flitted over Mlala's face. "Now you'll get your chance to win the money..."

The other lynx nodded slowly. "Thanks," he said shortly. Except for the sweat on his forehead he did not seem to be exhausted.

"It's OK!" Mlala waved his hand. "Guess I never had a real chance at all."

The slanted eyes narrowed. "What d'you mean?"

"For all the others I have always been a push-over and I have just run to represent our kind, so... I guess you're a much more serious opponent for Fistle, Thunder, Big Wheel and all the others..."

For a moment they were both silent, just the sounds of the forest surrounded them and Jid rose his head and watched up into the branches of the trees were a small ray of light was getting through and shone almost directly on his face so that he had to close his eyes. "Who're they?" he asked.

"Hm?" Mlala had just lowered his head for a moment. "Who? Fistle, Thunder and Big Wheel?"

Jid nodded.

"Fistle runs for Nickel, the fox clan. He is a young man, certainly the best of his entire family, although you hardly see him very often because- just like the rest of his family- he's a trader. He's a very good runner, very fast. Thunder is the runner of the deer clan, Storm's End. Being a stag and maybe the oldest of us he's very steady, has got lots of stamina and is very stubborn as well. He can be really mean and he's not known to care about fairness or such. As anyone did! But Thunder is really bad, trust me! Two years ago he attacked me from behind and broke my leg, so... Well, I hope you know how to deal with such guys. And there's Big Wheel, of course. He's a wolf and runs for his clan, the Nighthunters.

I'd say that he's maybe the best of all but..." Suddenly he stopped and rose his head. His light brown hair shimmered with a strange greenish shade. "Last year he really mucked it up, so I guess he's very eager to get it this year. That's why I'd pay attention. And who else? There's Grand Leaf, a pony, who isn't bad either; there's Tzerska, an old rabbit hunter from the Blue Ridge Mountains, a real toughie; Gynes, a beaver, a friend of mine, he knows that he's got no chance but he doesn't want to disappoint his family; there's some boar from Amalkin I do not know and... There some more I do not remember. But these should be the most important ones."

Jid observed Mlala, his slanting eyes were merely open while he eyed the exhausted lynx.

Mlala noticed the strange glare of the other lynx and was a little bit startled for a moment but as Jid noticed his reaction he quickly turned his head away. There was a strange, embarrassing silence for a moment, hardly filled up by the forest's sound and thus Mlala quickly went on: "Some time ago, the Big Three settled this always among themselves and they're still very serious about this, so I guess Fistle, Thunder and Big Wheel will lead the race."

Thoughtfully the other lynx nodded. "Can you show me the way to this tree?" he asked.

Mlala had already forgotten about this. "Yes, of course."

They started anew, but much more slowly this time as Mlala was still much to exhausted to be able to run at Jid's usual speed. The small path they followed led them deeper into the forest and their surroundings became wilder with every step they made. Jid knew these kinds of forest pretty well but he had to admit that he would have been completely lost if Mlala did not guide him because the likeness of this area was easily fooling everyone who did not know it pretty well. Even though the sun was still burning brightly in the sky the air beneath the treetops was still somehow cool, the moist scents of it swirled around their muzzles like a fading deja-vu and soon they both did not pay any attention anymore as they slowly accelerated their pace as the undergrowth became less dense, instead the ground beneath their bare feet was getting much more wet and they jumped over small rivulets and green heaps of thick moss. The smell changed slightly, filled with the strange, bitter scent of fern crushed beneath their soles.

With every step he made he felt like the joy mounted inside him until it seemed to him like his entire chest would burst, his feet moved all by themselves and thus he was fully absorbed by the feeling of the air rushing by his face, the shades of green shooting past, the gentle, ephemeral touch of fern and moss, brushing his fur. His dark brown hair and pointed ears fluttered in the wind and he accelerated more and more, simply because it felt so good to let it all behind and very quickly his guide was no longer able to keep up with him. But he did no longer pay any attention to it anymore as the path he believed to follow seemed to be totally straight now. He wanted to cry with joy because it felt so good.

His stop was as hard as violent. He had expected this clearing long before but when he had stepped out of the forest he was- at first- blinded by the sunlight but he noticed the strange, unfamiliar scent and thus, before he had even seen them, he had already stopped and stood motionlessly at the edge of the wood and stared at the three figures while his eyes slowly adapted to the brightness his feline eyes were hardly able to support.

With narrowed, slanting eyes he glared at them.

"Who the fuck is that?" There was a short pause. "Who the fuck are you?"

He swallowed the saliva which had gathered in his mouth and slowly he scrutinized the three stags which stood beneath the tree: There were quite large, much bigger than him (like almost every deer), their scanty clothing displayed freely their impressive muscles beneath their smooth, shiny dark brown fur which let the whiter fur on their chest shimmer with even greater intensity. The light brown hair and their antlers shook slightly when they scrutinized the lynx just like he did scrutinize them. "Anybody knows that cat[1](%5C)?" one of them, sitting on a small rock close by the trunk, asked. He had almost blond hair and wore a necklace with a silver bell as a pendant around his neck. Every time he moved the bell rung with a clear, high sound.

The two others shook their heads "Nope!"

"Hey, cat! Swallowed your tongue?" the first one asked. The two other grinned. "Are you deaf? I am talking to you...!"

The lynx did not move, just his tail wagged frantically.

Slowly the stag with the bell stood up, at full height he was at least three heads bigger than the feline even though he could not be that old at all. Slowly he made some steps into the direction of the lynx.

"You're supposed to answer, cat," the stag at the leader's right side said.

Meanwhile the leader with the long blond hair was five steps away from the feline. He returned the lynx' glare.

For a moment there was total silence except for the droning of the dragonflies and the other insects which flew all over the wet ground.

"I don't like disobedient cats," the leader said slowly.

Very slowly the lynx bared his gritted predator teeth. "Don't call me a cat!" he hissed.

The leader smiled scornfully. "So you are what?" His antlers shook. "Or do you want to tell me that I am not allowed to call a fucking cat a fucking cat..., eh?"

The cat hissed shortly and then a violent smile flitted over his face. "At least I got all I need unlike any bullock such as you!"

For a moment the three stags were unable to react because they were so surprised by that offense. First their faces just displayed disbelief then their features hardened again until there was nothing but anger and hatred left. "Just repeat that..." the stag at the left growled.

Suddenly the noise of someone staggering through the wood got closer and within a very short time Mlala entered the clearing in a rush. He was panting, hardly able to breathe properly, sweat dropped from his forehead and he seemed to be so miserable because of his exhaustion that nobody expected him to grasp the situation so quickly. But within an instant the lynx had perfectly understood what was going on and before anyone was able to react to his appearance he was already standing in between Jid and the huge stag. "Sorry, we did not mean to disturb you, Thunder!"

The stag in lead slowly rose his head, his eyes would have reduced the boy to cinders if they had could. "Mlala!? I should have known that this turd belongs to you..." He glared at Jid. "Unfortunately that won't save him either...," he hissed and stepped forward.

"Look, Thunder! He's a newcomer, OK? He doesn't know about you or anyone else in town..."

"I won't let myself be insulted by some cat!"

"Please, Thunder, don't take it seriously, OK? He was just training with me..."

"What?" The stag rose his head and glared at them from above. "This looser runs instead of you?"

Mlala blushed. "Well..., yes!"

Suddenly the stag started to smile, a devious, sadistic grin in his face. He pointed his index at the lynx behind Mlala. "I will save myself that for tomorrow. It will be a pleasure to me..."

"The pleasure's all mine," the light furred lynx replied coldly.

Thunder nodded so that the bell around his neck ringed brightly then he turned around and went back to his companions who still stood beneath the huge silver leaved Tacolar Tree. As he walked back he displayed once more his impressive muscles, he was almost double the size of the felines and most certainly double their combined weight, his muscles showed a gracious play of smooth movements beneath his thick, furry skin and his powerful hind legs sunk deeply into the soft, wet ground.

Jid stared after him.

Mlala carefully grabbed his shoulder. "Come!" he said simply and very slowly and unwillingly the other lynx turned around as well and followed his guide back into the wood.

They walked in silence back to the small village. Mlala kept his head low, he was still feeling ill at ease because of this meeting with Thunder and he was sure that it meant trouble for Jid, but he had to know by himself and did not seem to worry half as much as Mlala did. Meanwhile Jid carefully studied their surroundings, to memorize as much of this area as possible.

Unlike all other contestants he was a total foreigner and he had to follow the path even though it was anything but used to be straight. But in between these high firs and the large boulders which laid all around the hilly landscape he was sure that he would quickly get lost if he did not take good care. In the hollows in between the boulders gathered water so that

the ground was a reminiscent of a swamp rather than a forest as the ground was so yielding that the only plants (except of trees with large roots) which were able to grow there were fern, moss and the strange plants of swamps which partly fed on small insects. The path led all around these so it was hardly surprising that it was pretty winding, searching its way upon elevated ground, especially in between the boulders which stood erect on hard ground, most of them larger than three bears standing one upon another, unmistakable landmarks, some small hills in their own right, half covered by earth and overgrown by small trees.

The way was much longer than Jid would have expected: This Race of the Spirits (or whatever it was called) was anything but a stroll and it needed a lot of endurance to get through with it. Being a cross-country race as well meant even more difficulties and as far as Mlala had given him hints about the race's customs, half of it was rather a battle among

the contestants than a running contest.

The smaller lynx was completely lost in his thoughts, just absent-mindedly eyeing his surroundings when Mlala grabbed his arm. For an infinitely short moment he had to fight back his instincts, being touched by some stranger.

But as the other lynx was pointing at something he had no time thinking about that. Instead he looked into the direction Mlala had pointed at: On the boulder they were just walking by, an especially large and long drawn one, were two figures running along its ridge.

Before Jid was able to react Mlala had already been jumping aside, hiding himself behind a trunk. "Hey," he hissed at his companion and gave him a sign to hide himself too.

Instead of replying Jid screwed up his eyes and turned towards the two runners again who were approaching quickly and got fully into his view: They were apparently two wolves, the first one was a rather large and slender man with lots of muscles and a dark gray fur which shimmered whenever he ran across a beam of sunlight which had gotten through the foliage of the forest. The second one was smaller and most certainly younger than the first, but equally muscled. His fur was rather tan and strangely it did not shimmer at all just like he did not take care of it. But when he ran into the sunlight his companion had just left something strange happened to his fur: For a short moment it shimmered like perfect silver, before he dived into the shadow again and his fur got this common tan color again. The straps of his leather clothes fluttered around him while he jumped over stones and cracks in the rock, his brown hair waved around his head and the two lupine men were now right above the two lynx.

Jid did not take his eyes off the second wolf.

And just when he was about to run past them the wolf turned his head around and looked directly into the lynx' direction. Their eyes met, the dark brown, feline ones met the yellow ones of the lupine and in this instant it felt like they were touching each other, feeling the softness of their furs, the litheness of their muscles and the hardness of their will which was just about to swirl around the other one, trying to judge him, uncertain about what to do they circled around and everything else was cast aside until the running wolf had to turn his head away again, leaving the lynx behind who looked after the lupine with his harsh, slanted eyes, his tail wagging anxiously.

"Fortunate you are!" Mlala blurred out, coming out from behind the tree. "If Searcher had seen you..." He whistled.

The two figures and now disappeared behind the slope of this boulder but Jid was still staring into their direction. "Who's been this one?" he asked.

"Who? The second? That's been Big Wheel, the runner of the Nighthunters!"

Jid screwed up his eyes. "So we're opponents..."

Annotation 1: As there are no domesticated animals in this world, the term cat substitutes for a very vulgar expression for felines in general. The equivalent term for canines would be dog, of course.

Annotation 2: A three-eyed squirrel is an entirely different creature than the squirrel we know. It resembles a crossing of a lemur and a shrew with three eyes.

Annotation 3: A child of two furrs belonging to different species is a full member of either species. Thus Shannanah's and Wheel's children- Rush and Shade- are both wolves. Most clans consider relationships with a member of a different species to be impure and dishonoring.

End of Chapter 2/Part 1.

Copyright 2002 by kodayu. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading...

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