FSE

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Chapter 2: Discovery

Isi blinked open her eyes, squinted into the brilliant sunlight, and shut them again.

"No, it is not morning already," she moaned, covering her face with one black paw. A claw poked her in the side and she squeaked, bolting upright. Tokala's whiskers twitched into a smile, but he quickly replaced it with his usual scowl.

Isi glared back, until a wonderful smell reached her nose.

"Is that food?" she asked sleepily, anger forgotten as she searched with bleary eyes for the meat she could smell roasting. He snorted and handed her a stick, on which was a juicy, dripping chunk of cooked rabbit meat.

The cat tore into it voraciously, waking a little. Enough to see that the sun was already midway up the sky, and most of the small camp was already packed up. Only her blanket remained unpacked, wrapped around her shoulders. Tokala busied himself with the fire, tossing fistfuls of dirt onto it until it hissed out of existence. Isi shook her head, trying to drive out the last remnants of dreams, and folded her blanket into her bag. The boy hoisted his own bag onto his shoulders and set off without a backward glance, leaving his companion scrambling to catch up, muttering curses to herself.

It was when they stopped beside a stream at midday for a drink that Isi's suspicions that they weren't alone were confirmed. She knelt beside the clear water, cupped some in her two hands and had brought it to her mouth to drink, when she jumped, splashing water all over herself.

"What the hell...?" yelped Tokala

She ignored the fox's indignant exclamation, bolting to her feet and leaping over the thin waterway in pursuit of the flash of white fur. It had disappeared as quickly as it had come. She skidded to a halt, spraying water everywhere from her soaked fur, scanning the woods for movement.

"There!" she yowled, leaping ten feet-and landing directly in the center of a juniper bush. The branches on the far side rustled as her quarry escaped, and Isi bit her lip to keep from yowling in her pain.

She was well trapped, thorns snarled in her thick fur, holding all four limbs, and no matter how she twisted her lithe body she couldn't free herself. If anything, she became more entangled.

At last she hung limp, panting with her efforts, trying to find any way out besides getting help. I can't depend on him. I can't depend on anyone. All people can be counted on to give you is the pain of betrayal...

She gave a mighty heave, and did yowl as a large chunk of fur was torn from her left arm.

Tokala's sharp face appeared through the brambles. "We don't have time for this" he sighed, picking his way gingerly to where Isi was suspended in an embarrassing position, her toes six inches above the ground.

"I know that, dumbass!" she screeched, twisting frantically "You think I did this on purpose?!" He flattened his ears and bared a single fang in response to the name calling.

"I'd be more polite if I were you, since I'm your only way down from there" he muttered, reaching up to untangle one wrist from the clinging thorns, but drawing back as Isi pinned back her ears and hissed.

"Leave me to starve then. It's not like you care" she tried to growl, but her voice cracked in the middle of her sentence.

He didn't bother to respond, reaching for her wrist again. He ignored the continued stream of hisses, insults, and threats to untangle first an arm, then her legs. She ceased her protests with a shiver, as his gentle fingers worked up her legs. She clenched every muscle in her body against more shudders. He gave her an unreadable look, but finished getting her loose.

Isi dropped to the ground, shaking herself all over. She peered intently in the direction that her unknown prey had taken, and growled.

"Dammit, I had it!" she hissed.

Tokala twitched his ears in annoyance. "This is why we have to be paired together, you know! They expect me to somehow keep you from jumping at shadows and getting thorns in your butt! We need to get moving for real, or I'll never get back to...her..." he added dreamily, looking back toward the village.

Isi's fur had been slowly rising with indignation throughout this speech, and this was the last straw. "Fine. We'll get moving so you can be back with your precious girlfriend." She hissed, stalking off with tail lashing.

Tokala sighed. "It's the other way. We're headed east, remember?" and set off without checking to see if she followed. After a moment's thought, she did. Closing her eyes, Isi touched her lips as she remembered the kiss of the night before. What on earth was I thinking?

The early afternoon passed uneventfully. Isi soon tired of the never changing scenery, first dawdling behind, then trotting to the front, muttering about "trees trees trees nothing but stupid trees." Tokala hummed slightly to himself, glancing now and then at the sun to keep the pair on their course. He didn't let Isi see, but he also kept one eye aimed behind them. As much as he hated to admit it, she might have seen something worth jumping at back at the stream. So it was Isi who noticed first when they came to an abrupt end of the forest.

"Oh...my..." she muttered, stopping dead in her tracks. The boy sighed as he turned back to the front.

"Isi, I don't want-" he began, before his jaw dropped. A few trees were scattered down the slope in front of them, dark against the waving golden slope. Beyond lay a single ridge, splotched blackly with exposed rocks. Past that the pair could see only rippling hills of grass, unbroken to the far horizon.

"It's like the river valley clearing...but huge" Isi whispered, looking for some break in the expanse before her. Tokala stepped up beside her, ears flicking nervously. He didn't like the look of that wide, exposed space. Shifting his gaze to the scene directly before them, he nudged her arm, pointing down into the ravine.

"I think we found the camp" she murmured, brushing past him again It was hardly big enough to really be called a village. Only four peaked tents stood around a central fire pit, and one had collapsed on its side. All the signs of a life quickly abandoned littered the ground both inside and around this central ring. Woven baskets, charred cooking pots, beads, even a couple of toys were strewn about, some broken as if thrown violently. Isi picked her way into the wreckage, nudging objects with her feet and sniffing the air. Tokala headed straight for the ashes of the fire pit, testing them with a claw.

"They aren't damp at all. If the fire was put out, it was a couple days ago" he commented, looking up at her. The two Bear tribe hunters stared at each other, animosity forgotten in this find.

"They left everything they had made, or gathered. Something forced these people to move, it wasn't a choice" Isi observed, heading for the patch of bare earth where the collapsed house had stood. The center was packed firm by the pounding of feet in everyday routines, but the dirt around the edge had been disturbed when the poles anchoring and supporting the tent had been torn up.

Tokala wrinkled his nose as a waft of unpleasantness reached him. "Isi, stay where I can see you" he called, standing and following the breeze. The cat flipped her tail at him in passive agreement, absorbed in her tracking. Pointed muzzle held high, the boy meandered through the camp area to a clump of low lying bushes at the far side. By now the scent was unmistakable: rotting meat. He paused, glancing back over his shoulder. Isi still bent over the ground, ignoring him. Good, since he had an idea of what he could be about to find. Grimacing, he reached out gingerly to pull back the branches of the junipers-and sighed with real relief. It was simply the half butchered carcass of a deer, beginning to swell and stink from exposure.

Turning back to Isi, he was about to request she took a look at it, when she bit her lip, looking up at him with blue eyes huge.

"Tokala, you might want to see this" she stated, voice trembling ever so slightly. He felt his hackles rise at her tone, and calmed himself with effort. That hadn't been anger or sorrow clouding her voice, but fear. The fox couldn't remember the confident girl ever showing fear before.

He paced over, succeeding in his attempt to appear unconcerned. Isi flexed her hind claws into the packed earth, impatient.

"Find anything?" She ignored his arrogant tone, and traced the shape she had found in the dirt with one finger. "Just that" she said, seeing his own eyes widen as he peered at her find. A paw print, feline, but easily twice the size of any she'd seen before. The cat spread her fingers as far as she could and laid her extended hand in the indentation. No fingertip touched the outer edge.

"Even the cougars' paws are smaller than that" Tokala muttered. "Tocho's big for a cougar, but he wouldn't come close."

Isi sighed, tipping back onto her heels, staring at the faint outline. "Maybe it's nothing. Just a Falcon tribesman with big feet"

Despite her attempts to seem unconcerned, one ear twisted uneasily. Her nervousness made Tokala's fur prickle with tension, and it took conscious effort to keep his own ears from twitching.

"We can't stay here for much longer. We need to reach the border by tonight" he said, trying to appear brisk and business-like. The cat-girl nodded, standing and brushing her hands off on her pants.

Isi didn't know what game the fox-boy was playing. Couldn't he let go of their past long enough to take something as important as that print seriously? She peered at him as subtly as she could, but got the feeling he knew exactly when she was looking at him. They had left the Falcon camp several hours ago, and he'd led the way directly east across the plains. They hadn't seen or scented anything out of the ordinary in that distance, though both were on edge. Once or twice Isi thought she heard something behind them, but hadn't been able to spot so much as a ripple in the endless grass.

"Would you stop spinning around like that? You're making me jumpy." Tokala complained the third time she did this. "What are you even looking at anyway?"

"Nothing." Isi snapped, fur standing on end at the patronizing tone the boy had taken with her. "Just watching our backs is all. Since something drove the Falcons out I thought it might be intelligent to keep an eye out. I'll be stopping now, since it bothers you."

The fox sighed heavily. There was no reasoning with her now. He turned back to the front-and fell on his rump with a yelp as what appeared to be a ball of white fur launched itself out of the grass in front of him. Whatever it was seemed completely uninterested in him, bounding straight for the girl. She let out a yowl, and he heard the thud of the cat being knocked sprawling as well.

"Isi!" he shouted, voice cracking with surprise as he scrambled to his feet and turned. The girl was crouched on the ground...he blinked. Her arms were wrapped tightly around the trembling form that had just startled him.

"Honi, what on earth are you doing here?" She demanded, pushing the wolf away to peer at his face.

"I wanted to come with you! I went to find you, and I tracked you all the way here. I got bored and I ran ahead, and I found...I found..." his words dissolved into sobs, and Isi pulled him close again, rubbing his back, staring wide-eyed at Tokala over the younger boy's shoulder.

"What did you find, Honiahaka?" the fox asked, being as gentle as he could, though his heart was racing. He closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath. The child was a message runner, not a hunter, or even a scout. He may well have found a dead rabbit, or other small creature.

"It's terrible! I think, maybe, it was a fox..." Tokala's ears pinned back and Isi's tail bristled. "A fox? What do you mean a fox?" The older boy demanded, grabbing Honi's shoulder and giving him a hard shake. The message runner wailed, and Isi slapped his hand away.

"Honi, we need you to show us what you found, alright? Can you do that?" She asked. The wolf was still shaking uncontrollably, and every sniffle led to renewed trembling. Just as Tokala reached for him again, ignoring Isi's threatening glare, Honi took a slow, calming breath and nodded.

"Okay, lead on. And hurry!" The fox snapped. Honiahaka leapt away, dropping to all fours to run faster, plumed tail waving just above the tips of the grass.