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Be Warned: This chapter contains a mother being raped from a child's point of view as well as some violence, blood, gore, and death. Chapter 3 To Kill a Bear The girl crept silently through the dark woods, patches of moonlight shining on her fur, causing her to all but glow in the darkness. The clearing was just ahead of her and she could see a soft glow of firelight through the windows of the small cabin. Slipping silently into the clearing, she approached one of the windows. Kynra had been watching the male off and on since the beginning of summer and, she would be the first to admit, he was a beautiful creature. She had listened to the talk around town, and despite some of the darker tales of his past, she found herself almost irresistibly drawn to him. She had been careless the previous day and had stepped on a twig, alerting him to her presence. She knew he had seen her, so tonight she had apted to come well after dark. Earlier that day was, she felt, a turning point. It was the closest to him she had ever been and she could still smell his cologne. His scent had made her heart flutter throughout class, and she fully intended to approach him once they were dismissed, but the girl that had walked in with him beat her to it. Kynra had seen the cabbit many times throughout the summer, but she couldn't figure out what their relationship might be. Word around town was they were friends, inseparable since cubhood. However, they often acted like lovers, though she had never seen them mate. If they had, she had simply not been around at those times, and she hoped dearly that they hadn't. Kynra, herself, was a virgin, having never found a male that she felt was deserving of the gift of her body. They only ever thought about one thing, and every action they took was a drive toward it. That fact infuriated the feline, driving her to avoid males. Her father'd had many of the boys in town approach him and ask for the privilege to see his daughter, and he constantly urged her to select at least someone from the town, but she hadn't found one that even remotely intrigued her. That was, until she saw Xanu working at the docks with her father. She hadn't ever seen him before, and when she pressed her father about him, he waved it off, saying that the boy was a recluse, living by himself in some shabby cabin in the woods. It wasn't someone he wanted his daughter with. Over the next few weeks, she had watched him, marveling how his muscles ripped under his gray and black fur, watching the bright sun shine from his sleek, jet-black hair. Even as she watched him, he became more dashing, stronger, and manlier. He became a boy that loved hard labor, his body showing it, until, one day, she couldn't take it anymore, and followed him home. She had almost walked out into the clearing and spoken to him, but as she had approached the edge of the woods and made to step into the clearing, she saw a beautiful mixblood with short auburn hair walk from the cabin and begin speaking with him. She wasn't able to catch the words, but they had turned and walked back into the cabin, hand in hand. It didn't stop her, however. She wanted to know what their relationship was, so she kept watching. A short time later, the female had emerged from the cabin and bid farewell to Xanu, walking toward the path to town. So they weren't mates... at least, not live-in mates. She had to find out more, so she had followed the mixblood. Kynra never got a name, but learned that the female was an orphan, having been abandoned as a baby. She learned that the two had become best friends at a young age and were, even to this day, inseparable. Many thought they made perfect mates, but when pressed, admitted that they hadn't heard wind that the two had actually mated. This was good news to Kynra. Over the progression of the summer, Kynra was content to just watch the male, studying him. He seemed to care more about work than anything, slowly working to restore the old cabin, one day patching the roof, another day working to restore the front porch. There were times that he would walk out of his cabin completely nude. It was those times that her breath would catch in her throat and her loins would burn. She would imagine what it would be like for his strong body to lay over her, moving gently against her. She often found herself masturbating right there as she watched him, her hand slipping under her skirt and rubbing gently at her virgin folds through her panties. Fortunately, he never seemed to scent her, as strong as the scent of her arousal must have been. He was a true enigma. The only time he had ever gone to town was to get supplies, but it had seemed he was well-known, and loved, among the simple folk that lived there. Questions began to arise. Who was he? Why did he seek solitude at such a young age? What did the cabbit mean to him, that they would spend hours, sometimes days together? She had sat on a log in the woods pondering those questions after she had accidentally revealed herself to him, but as the afternoon had melted into evening, then night, she had returned home to get some sleep for the first day of class. Needless to say, she was startled, even horrified to see him appear in class. Their eyes had locked for what seemed like an eternity, until the instructor had called out, knocking them both back into reality. It was then that Xanu had shown a side of himself that she had never before seen, through all of her endless hours of spying on him. He had stumbled and staggered to his seat, mumbling under his breath. The instructor had watched him, one eyebrow quirked. So, she thought, that kind of behavior is new to not only myself. She had found herself having an unusual amount of difficulty concentrating on class that morning, and longed for it to be over so that she could finally approach Xanu. It was the perfect time because he would no doubt be spooked if she were to appear out of the woods while he worked on the cabin, and there was no way she could just walk out onto the docks. For one, her father would be there working with Xanu, which was a bad thing because the burly man didn't want her around him, and two, she always felt dizzy when stepping out onto the flimsy planks of wood, just knowing that one good wave could come, tip the pathetic dock, and pitch her into the dark, freezing water. The thought caused her to shiver. However, the instructor had kept him after class. To talk about what, she had no idea. She stood near a small group of girls, trying to seem like she was a part of them as she waited, watching the door. The mixblood had watched her, in turn, shooting dark glances at her every now and then. After a few minutes, Xanu had emerged and was immediately greeted by the female by the door. Kynra huffed slightly, realizing that the female with Xanu wouldn't give her the chance to approach the male. For friends, the cabbit really seemed a bit over-clingy with him. It was then that she realized that Xanu had seen her and frozen in place. She gazed into his green eyes, knowing that now would be the perfect time to approach him. However, she found that she couldn't move. Her heat fluttered and she silently begged him to make the first move before the moment could be lost. Then it was. The dark-furred female had once again stolen his attention. Heart sinking, Kynra turned away from the two for a few moments. The bitch had ruined her approach again! What the hell would it take to pull him away from the cabbit? The girl thought for a moment, struggling with just walking up to them and addressing Xanu in an attempt to speak with him alone. It was the only option. Turning back to them, she froze. Xanu now had his arm around the female and was holding her body against his own, talking to her with a smile on his face. The female was returning his smile, her eyes sparkling. Kynra wasn't close enough to catch any of their words, but for a moment only, she saw the cabbit's hazel eyes lock with her own. She thought she caught a glimpse of a triumphant smirk, but it was only a flash, and the moment was gone. Kynra blinked and looked at them again. The female's attention had returned to Xanu and they were now slowly making their way down the path away from the school. The white feline turned away from them then, deciding she would wait for them to go their separate ways before approaching the male. After all, they couldn't stay together all the time, could they? But just as she was making her way toward them, she heard a voice call out her name. She spun, spotting the wolf that had taught the class waving at her from the door of the old school building. She jogged up to him, curious, and he waved her inside. Taking one last glance at the two, she followed him into the school building. "Kynra," he began, his gray eyes watching her with concern, "listen, there have been reports of a bear in the woods. I need you to stop going into the woods to spy on Xanu." The color drained from her face. "H-how did-" "It isn't hard to tell," the old wolf cut her off, "what you've been doing all summer." Kynra's mouth opened, then closed when she realized she couldn't think of a reply. How did this simple schoolteacher know what she had been up to? And, more importantly, who had he told? As if to answer her question, he continued. "Don't worry," he began, "I haven't told your father, or, for that matter, anyone else in town, and the only reason I know what you've been doing is I keep an eye on the boy myself. I need you to promise me you won't go into the woods." In the end, she gave him the promise, but didn't intend to keep it. He notified her that her father wanted her to return home immediately after school because he wanted to treat her to lunch. She scowled at the idea, but obliged. After stepping out into the schoolyard, she realized that she was now the only one left on the lawn of the old building. Sighing, she trudged down the path toward her father's estate. She and her father had lunch and he insisted she head home and begin her homework. Galling though it was, she didn't have much choice, and she decided to sneak out of the large house soon after nightfall to make her way to Xanu's cabin. She had a plan. There was no way that the two friends could always be together, especially now that school had started. She was going to get Xanu's attention by walking straight up to his cabin and knocking on the door. It was fool-proof, and she had trouble concentrating on her schoolwork with the details of the plan floating about in her head. As it was, she wasn't able to sneak out of the house until much later than planned. She grumbled under her breath as she made her way through the undergrowth of the forest, completely ignoring the warning old Master Bek had given her earlier that day. If there was a bear, she would be able to hear it coming at her from a good distance and outrun it, she hoped, anyway. She soon found herself looking into the clearing, watching the dim light flickering from the windows. Going over the details of her plan once again, she gulped. This was the moment of truth. It was time to see if she had the guts to just barge into the home of the man of her dreams and confess her love to him. She stepped from the trees and paused. Maybe she should look into a window first and see if he was even there... He might be asleep, for all she knew. Creeping up as silently as she could, she slipped under one of the windows and crouched there, almost afraid to look. What if he isn't alone, she questioned, nervousness freezing her in place. After all, the girl that was with him had spent the night at the cabin in the past. But what if he was alone, just naked? She blushed, thinking about it. No. This wasn't the time to have fantasies about the man she was about to spy on. She shook her head, clearing the nervousness as much as she could. She took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, placed her hands on the window sill, and raised her eyes just above the sill, level with the glass. She froze, her heart hammering. She couldn't see very well into the cabin, but could definitely see movement on the bed, a slow and rhythmic, back and forth motion. She reached up, wiped her palm pads against the glass to clear away some of the grime, and gasped. She could now see them clearly. Xanu was the one moving, and there was no mistaking what he was doing. The brown-furred female was lying under him, clinging to his slowly bucking body. Their lips were locked in a passionate kiss as he thrust himself into her, their eyes closed. They were mating before her very eyes... by the light of the fire... A sob racked her body and tears burned her eyes, blurring the romantic scene. It was too much. The one guy she had found herself attracted to was already claimed... and sexually active... how could she ever hope to please such a man, when the girl he was with knew so much more about pleasuring him than she ever could? She turned and ran from the clearing, bolting down the winding path toward town, her white, moonlit fur disappearing into the darkness. * * *

K

• * * The bells rang out over the town as Xanu's mother shoved him under her bed. He resisted, asking where his father was, knowing the large feline could protect them against the bad men that were coming for them. His mother begged him to be quiet and he finally obeyed, just as the door of their home burst open and six pairs of boots rushed in. Xanu heard a dark rumble of laughter as his mother began to sob and saw one of the men shift his weight slightly. He watched as his mothers feet left the ground and heard her scream as she landed on the bed above him. The sound of ripping cloth reached him and he opened his mouth in a silent scream of his own, clamping his small hands over his ears, trying to block out the sound of his mother's panicked squealing and crying as she begged the men to not hurt her. He suddenly realized the bed was moving and he stared up at the spring mattress as it bounced up and down, scooting back and forth on the floor. He heard his mother's tortured moans and realized they were killing her. He began to sob, tears streaming from his eyes as he dug his claws into the carpet, praying the bad men wouldn't be able to find him. As he watched, each of the men took turns climbing onto the bed and making it move. When the bed moved, his mother would moan and sob, her screaming having stopped after the first few minutes. And always when the bed stopped moving, he would hear a man grunt and his mother begin to cry louder for a few moments before she would beg them to stop. Xanu kept his eyes on one pair of boots in particular. They seemed oddly familiar to him, their owner never climbing onto the bed. However, just as the last man grunted after making the bed move for a number of minutes, a small amount of white liquid splashed onto the carpet in front of the familiar-booted man. It looked strangely like milk, but smelled horrible. He watched as the man stepped forward, his mother uttering one last plea for her life before a gurgling sound filled the air and Xanu watched as the mattress above him slowly turned red. He began to scream and cry, knowing they had killed his mommy. Suddenly, he felt rough hands grab him and pull him, flailing, out from under the bed. He twisted, lashing out, and froze, seeing the face of his father, specked with blood, grinning darkly down on him. * * *

K

• * * Morning came, finding the two friends still in one another's arms. Xanu opened his eyes and was greeted by a soft golden light shining through the window, a welcome change after a night riddled with dark dreams of blood and death. He shuddered, not wishing to hold onto the fading dream. He knew that the details would soon be faded into one blur, leaving only the dark emotions as testament to the dreams' existence. He reached up and brushed his fingers through his tangled jet-black hair. Remembering the previous night, he sighed contently, feeling the shadows of sleep slip away in the light of the new morning. Raaj stirred beside him and he smiled as the blankets pulled away from her chest, exposing her rounded left breast. He chuckled to himself, toying with the idea of taking it into his palm to caress his best friend into awareness. Resisting the urge, he slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her. Glancing out of the window, he saw a smudge on the glass. His heart skipped a beat and he moved closer to inspect it further. There was no mistake. A smudged handprint showed clearly against the thin layer of dirt that rested on the glass, disrupting the show of time. Xanu's heart rate increased slightly as he wondered frantically when it had been placed there, and whether or not he had simply missed it before. Gazing more carefully at it showed the hand to be a small one, smaller (but only slightly) than those of his best friend. He shuddered when he noticed the lines were defined, unbroken by the running of the dew. So... Kynra had been here the night before. Xanu closed his eyes, coming to terms with what that could mean. What had she seen? How long had she been there? He cursed and walked from the cabin. The cool morning air greeted his nude body, but he paid it no mind. His attention was drawn, instead, to the small paw prints in the sparse grass. He noticed the tracks led to the window from the edge of the clearing, their form clear in the soft ground where the grass failed to grow, as if the maker had been creeping as silently as she could. From what he knew of the female, silence was her specialty. He noticed, however, that the prints leading away were made in a rush, the fronts of the prints deeper, with claw marks appearing in front of the deep toe prints. Specks of disturbed dirt showed that Kynra had run from the clearing as fast as she could, her feet dislodging small rocks and dirt clods behind her. Xanu sighed. So she had seen them. He gazed toward the path where her prints disappeared against the packed earth. He stood there for some minutes, as if watching the shadow of her form disappearing into the trees. He knew that he would have to approach her that day in class and explain himself. Ahh, who was he kidding? She wouldn't want to hear it. She would likely completely ignore him, acting as if they had never locked eyes in the classroom, then again after class. She was a lost cause. He sighed again and turned toward the cabin, stopping in his tracks when his eyes locked onto Raaj's nude form standing in the doorway. "What's wrong," she asked him, a worried expression in her eyes, "you look like you just found out your favorite pet died." How could he possibly tell her? For all he knew she had noticed the girl standing in the window and decided not to tell him. It would be just like Raaj to do something like that. No... He shook his head. He shouldn't think of her like that. What happened to the deep caring he had felt for her the night before, the love he had shown her in their gentle, passionate mating? No, this wasn't her fault, and he chided himself for thinking such thoughts. Besides, he hadn't even known Kynra. What was he losing because of this? Still... He had to apologize to her later at school for what she must have seen to send her running off into the night, especially with the bear on the loose. He froze, the blood draining from his face. The bear! What if... no... Still... he had to check. He turned to Raaj. "I'll be right back," he began apologetically, "I have to check something. You should get dressed so we aren't late for school." She scoffed, shaking her head. "Sure. Just one problem. You forgot to put my clothes over the fireplace last night. I can't believe you don't have a dryer. Oh, and I can see you still aren't wishing me good morning." Growling as he cursed his own absent-mindedness, Xanu abandoned his quest to follow the tracks of the fleeing female and turned back to go into the cabin. "You know I can't afford a dryer," he brushed past her as he spoke and walked into the bathroom to retrieve her still-sopping clothing, "Don't you have any other clothes here?" He ignored her taunt about his lack of 'good mornings'. She shook her head as she followed him into the relative darkness of the cabin. "No, it's all at the IMIN Center, you know that." The IMIN, the Institution for Minors in Need, as the local orphanage across the street from the school was named, was where Raaj was supposed to live, not like she spent much time there. She was one of twenty-three orphans, most of which were moved there after the raid when their parents were killed. The only reason Xanu hadn't been sent there was because he had beseeched Master Bek to allow him to claim independence before the town council. The result of that independence would be the erasing of his last name until he came of age, at which time, he would take a name of his choosing. It took some time to convince the old wolf, but finally Master Bek had argued on his behalf, agreeing to watch over the boy and become somewhat of a guardian, even as Xanu was officially considered independent. How he had won the case was still, to this day, a mystery to him. Xanu grunted as he took the clothing outside the cabin and hung them on a thin line he had strung between the posts of his front porch awning. He would have to find her something to wear to school, and fast. By his judgments, the school bells would be ringing any minute. If they weren't careful, they would be late...again. He returned to his bedroom with the naked cabbit in tow, throwing open his closet and gazing into it thoughtfully. He selected one of his plain, dark green t-shirts and tossed it to her. The selection of pants was the trick. He didn't have anything that she would like overly much. Nothing that would cling to her bottom or show off her long legs, but she would have to deal with it. Grabbing a pair of camouflage cargo shorts and a belt, he turned to her and stopped momentarily. His eyes swept over her form. The shirt was a tad too big and swept down below her pubic region, causing it to appear as if she were wearing a short nightgown. He grinned as he handed her the belt and shorts. When she began to protest at his selection, he placed his fingertips over her lips, silencing her. "Deal with it," he growled into her ear, drawing a visible shiver from her scantily-clad form. He smiled, satisfied, before turning back to his closet and selecting a polo shirt and jeans for himself. He got dressed without looking at her. Reaching for his belt, he stopped, remembering he had given it to her, knowing his pants would be too big for her feminine form. He idly wondered how she was doing, being forced to put on his clothes and wear them to school. He turned toward her. His eyes widened as he saw his friend. To his shock, the boyish look fit her amazingly well. She had tied the shirt under her breasts and rolled up the sleeves, always finding ways to make any clothing look sexy. Her wide hips and luscious, brown-furred thighs complimented the cargos extremely well, the dark green clothing giving her the look of a ranger, one of the guerilla warriors that protected the free lands. She already had the short hair, and he grinned again as he imagined a sword baldric slung across her back and a crossbow in her hand. Raaj glanced at him and saw his expression. She scowled. "What," she hissed indignantly, "wishing I had a cock?" It was too obvious she hated the clothing. Xanu laughed. "No, actually. I was just thinking how amazing you make my clothes look." Good save. A smirk flashed over her beautiful features and she brushed a stray strand of hair from her forehead. "Ah," she scoffed playfully, "I'm sure that's what you were thinking. That is, before you undressed me with your eyes." "Why would I need to undress you with my eyes, when, with a simple command, I could have you nude and on my bed wiggling your bare ass at me and begging me to mount you?" It was a bold statement, and probably wasn't true, simply because the girl was so headstrong. It might take two commands. Xanu grinned at the thought, but he knew now wasn't the time to test the theory. Raaj purred and slipped in close, taking the male slightly by surprise. "Then why don't you try it, mister domination," she cooed into his ear, causing a shiver to lance down his spine, "or do you suddenly think you lack what it takes to command one such as me?" Her eyes shone with a taunting light and Xanu longed to prove her otherwise. That was, until he heard the school bells pealing out over the forest from the direction of town. Cursing, he pushed her warm body away from his own, mentally screaming at his member, which had slipped from his sheath and now bulged against the front of his jeans, to cool it and go back to sleep. The friends bolted from the cabin for the second morning in a row, letting the screen door slam behind them as they disappeared around the first bend of the path. They weren't nearly as late as the morning before, and had fifteen minutes to reach the old brick school building. Xanu, remembering the tracks in the dirt, kept an eye out for any sign that misfortune had befallen Kynra. A tuft of white fur, a bear track, a spot of blood, anything that might tell a tragic story. He found nothing as they ran, and breathed a sigh of relief when the two friends broke free of the woods and slowed to a jog as they entered town, each barely out of breath. They pushed and shoved each other jokingly as they approached the school, laughing and blaming the other for cheating in their pseudo-race to be in class first. Kids were still streaming into the schoolyard by the twos and threes when Xanu and Raaj came into sight of the old brick building. The school was one of the oldest buildings in town, and was the one that had undergone the most renovation over the long years. It consisted of two wings, each lined with classroom doors designated for each age group. With the IMIN Center, which was considered part of the school, standing across the street, the complex was easily the largest establishment in the town aside from the ship port. No one took notice of the two friends as they made their way toward their classroom door, their teasing voices raised, perhaps, a little louder than was necessary. This had long ago become a routine for the two, and it no longer interested the other kids as the different age groups divided into their respective classrooms. Master Bek looked up as the two teenagers entered, shaking his head slowly as he allowed himself a momentary grin. He was the instructor for their age group, as well as the headmaster of the school. He also served by watching over the IMIN Center, managing the affairs of the orphanage and making sure that everything ran smoothly. The only ward he had ever had a problem with was Raaj, simply because she refused to be recognized as a resident of the Center, sometimes spending days at a time outside its walls. Xanu saw him and offered a good morning. He felt Raaj push past him and just barely caught her mumbling something about good mornings under her breath. She plopped into her seat, her bra-less breasts giving a little bounce, and crossed her arms, looking out the window in feigned annoyance. Xanu turned away from her, sensing Master Bek wanted to say something to him. To his surprise, he was correct in his assumption as the wolf grinned and began to speak. "Maybe I should begin your training this afternoon, before Raajna decides to finish you off," he laughed, eyes twinkling. He leaned forward, placing his paw at the corner of his mouth, speaking in a low voice, "I think an angry Miss Noran would be a more dangerous foe than a hungry grizzly, if you ask me." Xanu snorted and Bek's eyes twinkled playfully. Truly, Xanu saw the old wolf as an uncle, and Bek often treated the feline as a beloved nephew. Xanu could barely hide his anticipation of that afternoon, however, as he wondered what weapon the old master would teach him to use first. Xanu, still grinning, turned to take his seat, glancing toward the back of the classroom as he did so, eyes searching for Kynra. His smile faded when he saw an empty seat where she had been sitting the day before. He puzzled over her absence as he took his seat beside his best friend. His thoughts returned to reality when the shrill drilling of the morning bell rang, signaling a start to the class. The morning bell was a much less pleasant sound than the rhythmic 'dong, dong, dong' of the bells signaling the fifteen-minute mark until classes began. The old school bell tower also served as a warning signal to the residents of the town, sounding out a different rhythm when the alarm was sounded. Five years prior, the bells had pealed out across the foot of the mountain the dreaded, multi-bell ring: d-dong-d-dong, d-dong-d-dong. At that time, the raiders had swept from the docks into town, killing as they went. The bell tower saved many lives that day, bringing the sailors from their homes and sending a large portion of the population into the safety of the woods. Xanu watched as Bek rose from his seat and walked to the front of the class to begin his lecture. The feline felt Raaj move closer and lean against him, faking a yawn as she did so. He knew she did it to annoy the schoolteacher, but Bek took no notice of her that morning. She eventually ended up falling asleep with her head on Xanu's shoulder. * * *

K

• * * The feline held his breath, gazing down the length of the shaft, the wood seeming to grow warm in his hand. His grip strained against it as he pulled it back, letting it rest against his cheek. He slowly let out his breath, his palms sweating as they gripped the long rod. A bead of sweat formed on his nose from the effort of holding the end of the shaft in his fingers and he grunted in release, watching as the arrow sliced through the air and thudded into the target twenty paces away. Ghilan Bek grinned at Xanu. "Good! Very good. You are getting the hang of this at an amazing rate. I must say, I'm shocked." Xanu turned to Raaj, who beamed at him. She had insisted that they allow her to sit in on Xanu's training sessions, bugging the wolf until the old master had finally agreed, as long as she kept out of the way and refrained from making snide remarks. Bek walked to the target and drew the arrow out. He noted the progression of the boy's skill as he watched the arrow strike closer and closer to the center of the target. He hadn't been kidding when he had said he was shocked. What he didn't tell the feline was that he was more than a natural. Xanu could be considered a freak of nature. Bek felt a power stirring in the teenager that he was almost afraid to admit, even to himself, a master of the Arts. He thought back to that faithful day of the raid, how he had rushed into town, hearing the alarm and saw the raiders attacking. He swept in to engage them, his sword cleaving through flesh and bone as he cut a path toward the docks, sailors joining him and watching his flanks as he moved. Passing the one of the burning homes, he had frozen, feeling a spike of power lance through the air. Almost immediately, he had to slash his sword through the heavy wooden door of the house as it was blown clear of the frame, directly at him. Every window in the small home burst outward with a shockwave so immense that the windows of the buildings surrounding the house were nearly vaporized. The pressurized air that had rushed forth from the windows and doorway was stained crimson with a bloody mist and the fires that had been licking at the outer walls of the home were suddenly gone, swept away in the torrent. Bek had rushed into the house to find the young Xanu standing in the middle of the room surrounded by the bodies of the raiders he had slain. The child was panting, tears streaming from his swollen eyes as he stared at the old sword master. A quick sweep of the carnage was enough to tell the wolf what had transpired. Xanu's mother was lying face-up on the bed, her clothes cup open and her throat slit. It was obvious that she had been raped by the men that now lie broken against the walls of the small living room. Xanu's father was among them, his pants around his knees, exactly like a few of the other men that had occupied the room. So... Bek had thought to himself, the boy's father had been part of the raiding party. The thought sickened him, and as his eyes had settled on the boy, still standing in the center of the room, it had become clear. The father had led a small group of men into his own home, where he had watched them rape his wife. Tears in the carpet had showed where the men had pulled young Xanu out from under the bed, and the rips in the cub's clothing told the old wolf that they had intended to rape him as well, but weren't expecting the reaction they would get from the young one. It was then Xanu had swayed, collapsing into the warrior's arms. His strength was drained. Bek had rushed from the house, leaving the boy in the care of three sailors as he had organized the remainder of the resistance and drove the pirates from the town. He had questioned Xanu about the incident later, only to realize that the boy remembered nothing about his own power, assuming it to have been that of the swordsman. The old wolf watched as another arrow leapt from Xanu's bow and thudded into the target, directly in the center. What had happened didn't register for a few moments, that was, until Raajna gave a squeal of delight when she saw where the arrow had struck. The old master gazed at the target, a grin slowly spreading across his features. "And that, I think, will signal the end of today's training." He turned toward a beaming Xanu. "The bow is yours, simply for making such an amazing shot on your first day of training." He chuckled when he realized the male was speechless. The next few days would be interesting, indeed, if Xanu could keep up with this type of performance. * * *

K

• * * The next few weeks passed in a blur for Xanu. Each day, he would walk, or run to class, depending on what time it was. And each day, he noticed Kynra's seat remained empty. He began to worry about her, but didn't think to bring it up to Master Bek during their training sessions. The old warrior had a way of wiping all of his other thoughts away during the grueling work he put the boy through. Some days, it was bows. Other days, they used blades of varying length, sparring as the old man taught him the details of using his feet and the art of balance, which were critical, the old master explained, in the dance of steel and death. Then some days, they didn't use weapons at all. Those were the days Xanu liked the least, his mentor setting up makeshift obstacle courses for the feline to run through. In all, the training wore the teenage male out, which began to frustrate Raaj, who had practically moved in with him when they heard the trail of the bear had grown closer to town. Xanu's exhaustion after each practice session was enough for them to cut down on their usual nightly ritual, which annoyed Raaj enough for her to ask Bek to make the training days either less tiring, or hold them every other day. The old wolf had simply laughed and watched her storm off. September faded to October, and still no sign of Kynra or the bear. The days began to grow cooler, the nights slipping tendrils of frosty air into the cabin. The fireplace was being used regularly now, and the two friends would huddle close as the first cold snap settled on the village in the second week of October, bringing with it the first crystals of frost on the dirty windows of the cabin, icy tendrils that traced the streaked hand print on the window. It was one of these nights, with the fire burning low and Raaj's warm body snuggled against his own after an hour of gentle mating, that Xanu heard the scream. His ears flagged, eyes flaring open as he was torn from a light doze. He sat bolt upright and gazed intently out of the window of the cabin. Raaj stirred and sat up, gazing at him. She made a motion to speak, but he shushed her, his ears still twisting, straining as they filtered through every sound of the night. It came, then, like a mournful wail of the wind through the forest. The scream of a woman sounding in the distance, west of the cabin toward the roots of the mountain. In an instant, Xanu was out of bed with his bow and a quiver of arrows in his hand, all rational thought parting from him as he turned to his best friend, demanding that she stay inside. "I will be back in one hour," he promised her urgently, "if I'm not, don't come looking for me. Stay inside!" With that, he disappeared through the door of the cabin and vanished into the night. * * *

K

• * * Xanu didn't know what he was going to do once he found the source of the scream, though he had a very strong feeling what it was. Someone had happened upon the bear in the night. He didn't care that he was armed only with a bow and a quiver of thirty arrows. He didn't think about how he was going to save whoever it was once he reached them. He only cared that he did something. The cold air swirled around his naked body as he launched himself through the trees, his feline sight not hindered by the darkness. He gripped the bow tightly as his feet found new agility from the training. He leapt from the ground and rebounded from a tree, hitting the ground running at an even greater speed. The scream came again, and he knew he was close. Yes... There! Xanu launched himself from another tree and found himself in a natural clearing. Three things registered immediately. The first was the bear. It was enormous, the moonlight glinting from its dark fur. It was sweeping its powerful forelegs through a screen of three fallen trees at something just out of its reach. The second thing that registered was a flash of white fur just beyond the bear's reach. Kynra was huddled against the trunk of a huge oak tree, shrieking out of terror as the vicious claws whipped closer and closer to her trembling form. The third thing that registered was the fact the bear hade already detected him and was in the process of rounding on his position. Xanu froze, his bow in his hand with an arrow resting against the drawstring. The beast moved fastâ€"much faster than Xanu thought it could. Before the feline knew it, the hulking form was upon him. He leapt to the right, rolling and coming to his feet running. He took a running jump, rebounding off of a tree and landing smoothly atop the screen of fallen trees. He glanced down at the stricken female below him and saw blood flowing from a slash across her back. Fury hotter than molten metal flooded him and, as the bear dropped to all fours and roared at him, the sound ripping through the clearing causing Kynra to wail in terror, he drew the arrow back until it rested against his cheek. He roared in return, a feral snarl shredding all reason and rational thought as he released the arrow, unleashing a flood of sheer emotion with the shaft, all of his anger and fear projecting into the wood of the arrow as it flashed toward the bear. What happened next, he couldn't explain. The arrow entered the mouth of the bear and exploded, sending a massive shockwave outward that ripped the bear's massive head in half, spraying the entire clearing with blood and brain matter. The force of the blast lifted the headless body of the bear from the ground, slamming the immense form against a beech tree, which snapped under the impact. Kynra screamed again, but the sound of her shriek was lost in the sonic boom that issued forth, blowing Xanu from the fallen tree and flinging his body into the oak, knocking him unconscious. Not a minute later, Raaj came bursting upon the scene. She swayed, seeing the shredded body of the bear, feeling as if she would faint. Then her eyes fell to rest on the two, Kynra bleeding from a massive gash across her back, and Xanu covered in blood, his limp form draped over Kynra's lap as she sobbed, tears dripping into his fur. Raajna's world spun into darkness.