With Fire in the Night: Chapter 1
The first chapter of a novel product I've had in the works (and have uploaded parts of, in earlier stages, to dA in the past). This is the latest retooled round, and I'm pleased to share it with you.
The great thick, black blanket of night covered them. Their silent feet shuffled along the road from the west. Laden with the weight of forged metal armor, their bodies clanged and clattered. In the distance, offering no contrast against the sky, was a town. A few flaming lights marked the extent of its settlement; otherwise the view was pitch black, and someone would need to be told that there was a town here to believe it.
"That is our goal, Vera," one male leopard whispered to his girlfriend and fellow leader, who stood beside him. His paw pointed in the direction of the town as he gazed up at the night stars that had brought him and his posse so far.
"Yes... yes it is, Alex," she giggled.
"Vera, be a little more serious next time, OK? This isn't the time for giggling, not before a major military operation."
"Fine." She sighed, her tail flicking back and forth nervously.
"In the Central Kingdom we conduct serious business, you know." Alex turned back to look at his soldiers. Seeing their readiness, he offered a laconic reply.
"Charge!"His cry seemed to echo in the endless night. The soldiers began marching, even racing, toward the north.
***
"Get out of here! Now! For your lives, my daughters!"
Inside the gray stone-clad castle that formed the heart of Amber Bluff and the Cheetah Kingdom, Mbako Kizrai was frazzled. A messenger had just informed her that Alex Spirethorn, sworn enemy of the cheetahs and ruler of the massive neighboring Central Kingdom, was waiting to pounce outside the town. She knew the real prize was her family, the three Cheetah Princesses, and that while she could not go into hiding, her daughters could.
Another messenger furiously pounded on the wood door. "They're coming this way! Get them out of here!" his deep but muffled voice yelled from beyond the fortress. Mbako now led the three sisters out and to the bank of the Great River, the riverbank on which her castle sat. Never in any of these cats' lives had there been such a frantic moment. Their mother huffed and puffed in between barking out instructions to her scared cubs. Ximena dashed on all fours instead of just on her hind legs. She was heading north, perhaps toward Cactus Ruins and the bobcats. Jazz, the oldest, had decided the best way to escape was through and across the turgid Great River, toward the Panthera Territory and perhaps its crown jewel, Forden Court. What can I do?, the third and final cheetah wondered, scared half to death. Then her mother laid a basket in the river, holding it down firmly against the river's current.
"Ramona--! Get down in that basket before they see you!" Clanging noises rang out in the distance. "Now! Now!" The young cub hastily complied. The last she saw of her mother was her returning to the castle.
***
Bootsteps trampled through the sturdy, stone-clad castle of the town of Amber Bluff. Their loud clangor had only one audience member and one target. The Cheetah Queen had braced herself in a corner of her throne room, waiting for the inevitable: a final showdown, probably the end of her life. She knew that this could not end any other way.
Then the door opened.
"You!" Alex Spirethorn glared at Mbako. Her pulse had visibly quickened, her tail rapidly moving from side to side.
"What? You leopards... What motivates you to take this land!? You have so much of it and yet you want more of it!" She glared back at him, her eyes seeming to glow with anger.
"Our glory has been tarnished. You are in the way of us regaining what we once lost!" He bared his teeth, further intimating his intent to attack.
"Try saying that again!" Mbako's fur was beginning to stand up on end.
"We want you gone!" Alex dove right for the cheetah. Mbako barely dodged his attack.
"You are beyond evil, Alex. Beyond evil, I say!" His anger renewed, Alex made another lunge--this time, making impact. He then pulled himself around her and fiercely ripped his claws into her upper body.
"Alex, I do not deserve to die this way!"
"Oh yes you do, Mbako Kizrai!" The cheetah's muzzle dropped slightly at Alex's break with formality, his use of her given name and not her title. But that was not the most imminent of her worries. Spirethorn continued attacking. She tried to gather her strength for one last effort, but couldn't. Blood was rippling from her, eventually to add itself to the current of crimson that was being created in this land on this fateful night. The heavy wounds were a growing sharp pain in her side. What strength she had was rapidly fading.
"The great prize...shall not be yours..." Weakened by the heavy wounds, Mbako collapsed onto the ground. Alex cast off his blood-stained uniform, going shirtless, and walked away from the throne room, baffled by the last words of one of his first great casualties.
***
Alex now searched the castle. Expecting to take Ramona or any of the other sisters as captives (not to mention trophies of his conquest), he pranced and prowled the corridors. He looked inside service rooms, bedrooms, storage spaces. But he soon grew frustrated. He banged his head on a wall.
"Where are you?" His loud voice echoed across the halls with no audience but himself. "What is this? How dare you escape my wrath?" he cried again, responding to himself.
He clambered down the stairs. He was immediately met by his lieutenant general, a longtime member of the Central Kingdom military and one of the most respected military cats the River Valley had to offer. He was almost as decorated as his superior, a silver seven-pointed star shimmering above his right breast.
"What is it, Alex? And why is your uniform off?"
"She took her daughters and hid them! Or something like that!" he declared, yelling almost at the top of his lungs. "She told me that the great prize would not be mine. It isn't..." He let out an exasperated and somewhat exaggerated sigh. "And there was too much blood on my uniform; if they ever go after me for this, I must not retain the evidence."
"Calm down, King Alex. Calm down. Look at all you have won!" He gazed out at the town of Amber Bluff. "You dreamed of this! Now let's solidify our hold on this land." The royal seemed pacified to hear those words, especially the title of King Alex. It's been a long road here, he thought. And it's true...I am now a real king, a real force in this land. "We've already started the fire."
"Yes." He took a glance out of one of the windows of the room he had found himself in. Dawn, with its orange light and its rising teal hues, was soon to break on an indelibly changed territory.
***
Ramona stared up at the starry night sky. Her mind was full of anxiety about Mbako. She knew that her mother was in danger, that Alex seemed to be trying his hand at an invasion, but not anything of their fate or of what she had to do to survive. She turned her head, looking past the low sides of the basket and to the river bank, which was quiet in the early morning darkness. This basket seemed appropriate for the size of a cub like herself, nine years of age. She briefly turned to look behind her and saw a glimmer of orange light in the far off distance. She quaked in fear.
That has to be... No, it cannot be... It has to be Amber Bluff. Ramona tried to hold back the tears, but could not. The only home and life I've ever known is...well, it is gone... She still could not quite believe the magnitude of what just happened to her. Why would Alex be so bloodthirsty as to invade our little land when he has so much of it already? What could he have possibly wanted?
She returned to her normal position, not wanting to see the conflagration any longer, then yawned and soon closed her drowsy eyes.
***
It was almost dawn when Ramona woke up. The current had stopped carrying the basket, and it had washed up on the shore, the west bank of the Great River. She now climbed out. My body feels...heavy, she thought. Must be all the water, or maybe it's because I feel dizzy. She looked up to see a small hill set against the royal blue western sky. On top of it was a small, understated stone castle which looked to be surrounded by a small city. She tried to run toward it, but her body still did not feel quite right, and she tired quickly. While the feeling of exasperation persisted, she carried on and began moving toward the castle at a slower pace, hoping that within lay help.
She moved through the town. Its streets were quiet at this hour of the morning, so there was no hint as to in what country she had come ashore. The buildings formed inviting, somewhat narrow streets, in different styles than she was used to in the town of Amber Bluff. She instinctively moved forward and looked for the center of town, hoping for someone or something that could help her determine where she had landed and what to do. She was absorbed in the new sights and sounds of this foreign settlement that she did not notice how dreadful she looked; her clothing was disheveled and torn, her hair and fur mottled and messy.
In the midst of this incredibly unfamiliar situation, a few words Ramona had learned echoed in her mind. "Fate places our paws onto the path we each must tread." That phrase kept repeating itself in her mind as she passed through the city. Fate has placed me onto a new path, which I now begin to tread....
Now she had made her way up some elevation. At last, the castle, of a relatively austere design, appeared in front of her. Ramona looked around, surveying her surroundings as well as the view of the town from here. There were several dhakti off to the side, but she couldn't make out what species they were.
She approached the main door to the castle, which faced east towards the river from which she had emerged. It was inlaid with an intricate wooden pattern in a lighter wood entirely in the shape of a crescent. She could not have recalled seeing this symbol before, but it was delightfully mesmerizing and tranquil. For a moment, she hesitated to do anything, wondering if it really was appropriate, but realizing that it meant her life, she mustered up the energy, spirit and courage to knock on the door. After a nervous moment, it opened a crack. Behind it was a wolf of royal blue fur, to Ramona's simultaneous surprise and relief.
"This is the White Moon Kingdom...?" His hesitant voice was thoroughly soaked in consternation, noticing that the visitor was having trouble standing. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Can't you tell!?" Ramona blurted out, first in anger and then in shock.
"You're a cheetah, but..."
"You don't know what happened last night? My home is gone! Burned to the ground!" Ramona was shocked right out of her fur that the servant did not know, but he began to make sense of what was happening.
"Oh my, oh my..." Ramona's dizziness began to overtake her, and she became even more unsteady. Ultimately, she came crashing down over the threshold of the castle door. The servant who opened the door loudly cried out for his king, looking back in confusion. "Azurik!"