by Sven Grams
Thoughts returning to the present, Sara could see a tired smile on the lion’s face, just as it was back then when they were cubs… What could she lose in opening up to him anyway? There was a good chance she would be dead soon anyway.
Taking a deep breath, she looked Trex squarely in the eyes.
‘You promise you won’t tell anyone,’ she said seriously.
Trex took a seat on a nearby large tree root.
‘As long as you do the same.’
‘Deal,’ agreed Sara.
The wolf moved over to a large rock, sitting down. It only took a few minutes for her to fill Trex in about her grandfather and the exiles. Sara found herself even opening up further to him, expressing how she had felt during much of the ordeal. It was odd to her, but she found it easy to express her feelings to Trex, despite not having seen him for such a long time. His kind, calm expression was disarming, and he didn’t interrupt when listening.
Sometimes shared experiences, particularly traumatic ones, create a bond between individuals. As they say, actions speak louder then words.
‘Then I followed them and waited till night,’ Sara stated. ‘And well… you know the rest.’ Leaning back, Sara stretched her arms and back a bit after the long talk. She waited for a reaction from her childhood friend.
‘It makes sense now, what the exiles were talking about,’ said Trex finally.
‘What did they say?’
‘They were talking about using me to help trick Sage Filfia into leaving her home.’
Sara thought about this for a moment.
‘Why would a lion cause Filfia to leave her home?’
Trex calmly looked at Sara, unsure if he wanted to share any more information with the wolf. From the story she had just told, she was obviously not a particular friend of the lion race. But then she had told him of potentially sensitive information regarding her grandfather.
‘I’m not sure how, but I think there really is a connection between your Sage and our Shaman’ said Trex, recalling back to professor Katan’s comments about having a contact up in the mountains.
Sara had not said anything about this suspicion, simply telling Trex the facts of what had happened, not why she thought they had happened.
Sara sat still, her face twisted into deep contemplation at the confirmation of what she already suspected. This was the only way that the exile’s break-in at RefugeCross made sense. It had nothing to do with the lions, or, as it turned out, gathering proof that Filfia was a spy for them, it had always been about Filfia herself.
Sara’s mind raced as she made new connections between the thoughts in her mind. So what was Filfia doing with the lions? She should have no contact with them, particularly not a secret one. If the Mintury Society wanted her killed, her connection with the lions was obviously not in the Wolf Kingdom’s interest. If so, then why did her grandfather suddenly want to protect the Sage? Surely he knew or suspected her connection with the lions. The whole thing just didn’t make sense.
Trex watched her as her mind raced. Looking around, he realized that the night was somehow getting even darker.
The vegetation was thicker here and it was dangerous to move around so close to the cliff, it was probably best that they stayed where they were for the night. Removing the rope from around his shoulders, Trex meditated to attach its length back into his shortened cloak. A small part of Trex’s mind couldn’t help but randomly worry again about Flint, wondering how the horse was spending the night.
Finished with the transformation, Trex searched around for a place to stay the night. Nearby, the remains of a roof provided shelter from the occasional rain that was falling. In a corner, leaf litter had collected, luckily it seemed quite dry.
‘We should get some rest,’ Trex said. He probed the leaf litter for hard objects and any wild animals that may have had the same idea as him. Sara shook herself clear of her thoughts, but was still distant.
‘Sure,’ she said.
Getting up automatically, she walked over to Trex. Lying down on the opposite corner of the dried leaf litter, she made herself as comfortable as possible. She turned her back to the young lion.
Trex, who was now sitting, transformed his bow back into a staff. Taking it apart he placed it away.
‘Thanks for saving me,’ he said eventually.
‘Sure thing,’ replied Sara, off hand. She was becoming frustrated with her confusing thoughts. ‘You should be able to slip past and head home tomorrow morning.’ Her final words carried a slight amount of resentment.
‘I’m coming with you,’ Trex said plainly, his mind having been made up since he had heard Sara’s side of the story.
‘Why? This isn’t your problem,’ Sara said after a while. Her thoughts were currently very negative towards Filfia, and very sceptical regarding lions in general. ‘Or are you suddenly feeling patriotic?’ she added accusingly; hinting that the wolf Sage Filfia was some type of lion spy, worth saving by Trex in the interest of the Lion Empire.
Trex stared at the back of the wolf for a second, unsure of the aim of such a comment.
‘You should know that I only have a little loyalty to the empire.’
‘And why is that?’ asked Sara, her distracted thoughts quickly realizing the stupidity of her question, but it was too late, Trex answered.
‘Sharlee and Zea of course,’ he replied, referring to his uncle’s wolf wife and half-ling cousin.
‘Sorry,’ said Sara, feeling a little dumb. ‘Why then?’ she asked a second time, this time more kindly.
Trex thought about her question for a moment. Since he had first suspected the connection between Sage Filfia, Head Councillor Tasch and her husband Katan, he had tried to figure out what their connection was. Brekiz’s grandparent Tasch and Katan were well known for their pro-wolf activities and anti-war sentiment. Trex couldn’t imagine that there would be any type of hostile intent from the two old lions, which meant that Sage Filfia must also have the same beliefs as her lion friends, namely to keep the peace.
Trex didn’t know much about politics, but one thing was crystal clear to him, the peace was critical for his uncle and aunt to be able to live on as they had done so far. Anything to help that peace continue was definitely worth fighting for.
Trex suddenly smiled to himself in the dark, his uncle’s words of: ‘You will have to fight soon enough’, suddenly making a lot more sense.
‘I suppose it’s because I respect Tasch and Katan,’ Trex said. ‘They’re our Shaman. If Sage Filfia is a friend of theirs, then I would want to help her, regardless of who she is.’
Sara kept her back to the lion male, staring at the wall. Trex had rolled onto his back, looking at the dark ceiling above.
‘Anyway,’ Trex continued, ‘no one deserves to die.’
The last words Trex had said was a repetition of another one of his uncle lines that the old veteran firmly believed in.
Sara stayed still, absorbing Trex’s words. She used to think like Trex, only thinking of individuals, her family and her friends. But since her trouble at school she had realized how seemingly naive such apparent narrow mindedness was. No one cared about just you. There was always a bigger picture. There were traditions and respect. Sara had learnt from her grandfather the importance of the system, of knowing how society worked and how to work with it. There were things bigger then just yourself, more important then the individual. It had made sense; she had seen it work for her after all.
With this new way of thinking Sara didn’t have to worry so much about her family, which suited her just fine. There was more to life, something to be part of. The problem was that this bigger-picture didn’t always make sense, like now. But that was no good reason to give up on it, she knew that much. You could only control your life if you were part of the system. This she understood from her painful experiences suffered at school. Sara realized that this was also a big reason why her family had had so much difficulty all those years ago. Her parents had not been able to play
the game, to fit into society, and so had paid the price. Sara wasn’t going to do the same mistake. But what was she to do? It was all too complex in the end. All she could really do was fulfil her grandfather’s wishes. If he didn’t know, after all he had been able to teach her, well then, who did?
Sara shifted uncomfortably. Though she was quite capable of sleeping without a blanket, it was not something she was used to. Her passage into sleep this night would be an uncomfortable one.
Trex, in the meantime, was already curled up within his cloak. He had changed it into a large sheet to maximize softness and warmth.
Trex stirred from his sleep in the middle of the night. The lion cursed his race’s habit of being light sleepers. It was still dark. Sara’s continued fidgeting in her sleep was accompanied by shivering and unhappy murmurs, she was obviously not dreaming well. Trex stared at her sleeping form as it turned towards him. Sara’s expression was not one of a contented sleep. Grimacing to himself, the young lion wondered what he could do for her.
Lions normally slept quietly, while wolves always twitched and fidgeted. This was something Trex knew from Zea, who seemed to have inherited her sleeping traits from her mother. On some nights when Zea had nightmares she had crawled into Trex’s bed, just being near him had usually been enough to calm her down to sleep normally.
Sara turned viciously again, causing Trex to role his eyes, he would be kept awake all night if this continued. Wolves were not as light sleepers as lions; Trex also knew that from Zea.
The young lion found himself suddenly shifting closer to the unsettled wolf. Concentrating for a second, he extended the width of his cloak even further so as to be able to cover both of them without the need to get too close. It would mean it was not as warm for him as before, but he knew he didn’t need it in any case. Covering the wolf with the blanked, he moved a bit closer. Turning his back to her so it was just touching her arm, he curled back into a ball. Waiting to see if there was any response, he felt her finally calm down next to him, at least now he would be able to get some sleep.
Back at the exiles camp, the wolf males were also mostly asleep; only two remained awake. Philton was running over the plans for tomorrow, there was still a good chance to kill the Sage; all he had to do was remove all the variables.
The other wolf that was awake was the brown exile Tomn. His mind was too busy thinking of what it would do with the two damn youngsters once he got a hold of them to fall asleep.
It would be a short night far all involved, asleep or otherwise.
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN -
Reluctant acceptance of needed help
(The tail of Trex and Sara.)
Sara slowly awoke from her deep sleep. She had just had one of the strangest dreams; it wasn’t what you would call a nightmare, just disorientating.
Never one for getting up quickly, Sara momentarily forgot about were she actually was. Wherever it was, it sure seemed warm and comfortable… and soft.
Wait a second… thought Sara.
Her mind suddenly registered that something was not right. Blinking a few times, she opened her eyes properly, Orange fur? That was definitely wrong. She appeared to be curled around it, but at least it was… warm? Shaking her head to clear it, Sara removed herself from her warm pillow, which turned out to be the curled up, fuzzy pale orange ball that was Trex, still fast asleep.
Recognition came as a bit of a shock and Sara backed away on all fours. Trex, in the meantime, appeared to sleep on peacefully. Sara could hear him purring softly.
The young wolf stood up, still a little disorientated and a bit embarrassed. How long had she been curled up with the lion? All night? Sara really hoped that Trex hadn’t noticed.
He had, however, seemingly noticed the removal of her body heat. The young lion quickly came out of his quiet dozing. Uncurling slowly, Trex seemed to extend beyond any normal proportion. Stretching elastically to a comical angle, he let out a huge yawn, turning around to be on all fours, he did another stretch; arching his back, a small crack came from somewhere in his lower spine, the young lion grinned in satisfaction.
Outside, it was still only very early morning. The birds of the upper mountains were already singing, but the sun was not yet up.
Sara was giving Trex an odd look.
‘What?’ asked Trex.
Sara was still watching him sceptically.
‘You do that every morning?’ she asked a little hesitantly.
‘Yep,’ replied Trex with satisfaction. ‘It feels great; you should give it a go.’
While Trex bend backwards again Sara heard another audible crack. Trex’s face contorted, as if still deciding whether the most recent crack was a good thing or a disaster. A moment later his expression changed to lazy contentedness.
‘I think I’ll pass,’ said Sara. The young female wolf ran her hands through her hair out of habit. Sara, like most Anthro females, was lucky that her long hair didn’t seem to get tied into knots too easily. It only needed the odd bit of maintenance, something her claws could handle well enough.
‘So you slept well in the end?’ asked Trex casually.
‘In the end?’
‘Well, you were sort of restless last night, you kept me awake.’
Sara stopped to examine Trex’s face carefully, his expression seemed innocent enough.
‘Yeah, about last night…’ she trailed of questioningly.
Trex suddenly remembered what he had done that might have caused Sara to act as she currently was.
‘Yeah well…’ he said a little nervously. ‘You seemed cold, so I sort of moved over to be able to cover you with some of my cloak.’
Sara analysed his expression carefully, but again there was nothing but honesty. Though she had touched the young lion on numerous occasions yesterday, the thought of him cuddling-up to her last night was still disturbing to her. To be honest, she was still embarrassed that this morning it was her who was cuddling up to him.
‘Nothing more?’
Trex looked confused by the question, unsure of how to take it.
‘No, nothing more,’ Trex said eventually. ‘Why, was something wrong?’ he asked, genuinely concerned.
‘No,’ replied Sara hesitantly. She turned away, suddenly uncomfortable with the situation.
‘Thanks,’ she said simply.
The flustered female youth moved out into the open. Stepping out from under the ruined building’s remains, Sara needed to clear her head, she looked around for somewhere to wash herself.
Apart from the two larger waterfalls that surrounded the central ruined city, a whole series of smaller waterways fell and tumbled their way down the upper cliffs. It didn’t take long for Sara to find a small pond to wash herself in, moving closer to the rocks she drinks from the flowing water.
Trex appeared beside her and start to wash his face in the same pond. Kneeling, Trex examined his leg wound. It was throbbing slightly but the cut did not appear to be too deep. The healing cream and rough bandage would be good enough for now. At least the wound didn’t hinder his movements.
‘It doesn’t look as difficult to get down from here in the light,’ said Trex in casual conversation, while washing his face and torso.
Sara stared out beyond the edge of the lower cliffs, moving towards it to get a better view. It wouldn’t be too difficult for them to make their way down from here.
‘How long do you think we have?’ asked Trex. He hoped that Sara could guess how long it would take the exiles to catch up to them.
Sara was lost in her own thoughts. The view was quite magnificent from up here. The weather has breaking up slightly and only a few puffy clouds sailed lazily high above them, tinged yellow in the fresh morning light. Trex took a drink of water, also filling up a small leather pouch he magically retrieved from somewhere. Trex, like all lions, was always well equipped for any eventuality. Filling the pouch, he then slung it around his shoulder.
Sara remained on her stone perch, the morning wind playing w
ith her skirt and hair. The robust material of the travel skirt was now stained and dirty from her adventures the last few days.
Coming up beside her, Trex looked towards where the exiles camp was across the rapids. It was far too close for his comfort.
‘Do you think they will try to catch us again?’ Trex asked. ‘It would only take them an hour or so to get around. They may actually be close already,’
Sara calmly looked towards the west coast, seemingly unconcerned.
‘No. Their aim is to kill Sage Filfia, not us,’ Sara said calmly.
‘But after all the effort last night?’ Trex persisted.
‘That was last night, and we got away.’
Trex could only watch as the wolf female started to make her way towards the overgrown ridge-way that led to the forest below. After a surprised second’s hesitation, Trex quickly ran to get his belongings. He fumbled to get himself travel ready while chasing after the wolf.
‘Hey, wait up!’ he called in irritation. He was struggling to get his quiver and staff sections in place on the straps on his back.
Sara didn’t react, simply forging ahead.
Ducking and weaving through the thick vegetation, Trex finally managed to catch up. The young lion was clearly irritated at being ignored by the female wolf.
‘Thanks for waiting,’ said Trex sarcastically. He was not used to working as a team either, which made Sara’s obvious dismissal of his offered help all the more irritating. Trex had to remind himself that even if he had decided to help warn Sage Filfia, this was still Sara’s rescue. Recognizing his annoyance as it surfaced in his mind, he suppressed the urge to simply let the arrogant wolf girl go on her own way.