A Moment of Peace

Six months after the ordeal with the striped cats and still the harsh and sad memories had not left all the minds of the Keyra. Balmor was dead and his charred and burnt body had been left to rot and decay in the sandy desert, which was now hundreds and hundreds of miles behind them.

The whole of the tribe was now resting on a sandy beach with the tide lapping the shore, causing long shore drift which pulled the few pebbles back into the small angry torrents of the sea. The air smelt a lot like fish instead of salt and the sky was a nice, calm blue colour with not a cloud in sight. It was warm and hot but not as hot as the desert, which made the day a perfect one.

Nearby was the human town of Tai' grith, a bustling and overcrowded town with tallish buildings and numerous shops. The Keyra were not scared of the humans, just wary of them. Some hunters wanted them dead and Antok said he would check the place out later to make sure it was safe.

Meanwhile, the whole tribe had a chance to relax and rest thanks to Hadrian who had led them to the sandy shores of the edge of, what they thought, was an unmerciful continent. On the horizon, the human, wooden sailing boats, swayed about in the waves and wind, trying desperately to grab some fish to sell at the market.

In the middle of the sand a huge meeting was taking place but for once Dracon was leading it and talking to Keyra and striped cats alike.

"Um, all of you?" he shouted, wanting to be heard over the crashing waves. His mother came up beside him and looked out at the crowd who were talking, screaming and upsetting the sand beneath their feet. She shook her head.

"This place needs discipline," she grumbled at her son.

" Well, I told you, I don't want to be like my father and-" he was cut short as Kar accidentally kicked sand into his face, "Okay, do it." Scythe coughed and sat up as if she was about to perform a solo singing act and then she took in a deep breath and let out a tremendous, ear-bleeding roar. The cats around her jumped up in fright and ran off to hide behind others as they stared at Scythe who continued to roar without lowering her voice until all eyes were on her. She stopped and screwed her eyes up at the crowd around her and then looked down. Without surprise she saw Kar still wrestling with some imaginary friend.

"What!" she roared, "Do you think I'm doing?" Kar looked up suddenly and realised what was happening.

"You're pretending to be a moose?" he suggested grinning.

"Okay listen up," Dracon said trying not to laugh at his mother's disgusted face. "Well, I just want to thank you for your time first of all and now I'd like to actually thank…well all of you really. I know we promised each other not to talk of the war we had between our two separate species here but to be honest, I don't think we should look on it as a…um, bad thing."

"What do you mean?" a cub squeaked. "My mummy died."

"Uh…" Dracon walked up to the cub and cuddled her, "I'll tell you what I mean." Kar got up from the sand and walked over to the others and lay down to patiently listen to what his friend had to say. "Many of us lost loved ones, many off us have been scarred for life physically and mentally but think what would have happened if we never had the war. Us striped cats wouldn't be friends with the Keyra and you Keyra would still be at war with us. It could have led to much worse. What I'm trying to say is…is…"

"That we are all equal," Antok said joining his side. All the cats let off a great cheer and moved away to leave an upset leader behind them. With a mewing sound he shouted,

"Why is it whenever I finish saying something, you decide to leave?" they all turned around and wandered back looking bored. "I can see you want to play and rest but I have a few words. Thank you friends for getting on well together-"

"Okay, the few words are up lets go everyone," Kar said bouncing through the crowds happily but Antok carried on.

"I want to leave the past behind us and I want us to start thinking about the great future we're going to have together, right?" Once again everyone cheered and with a smile he finished on, "Now you can go."

They all wandered off to explore the numerous caves and cracks in the cliffs and some drenched themselves in the cool, foamy salt water. Linka and Yekaf had discovered the rock pools of the far end of the beach but Linka wasn't as enthusiastic about it as Yekaf. It seemed the old, grey male was at home here but Linka couldn't exactly remember why even though he had known his friend since his cub years. Still he followed carefully trying not to slip on the slimy, moss covered rocks. Once or twice he swore that they would get swept out to sea, as the waves here, were much higher than those on the shore. He shook his head and foolishly carried on without watching his steps and instantly fell into a massive pool drenching himself.

"Urgh!" he yelled resurfacing, "I'm drowning!" Yekaf who was a quite a way ahead heard his friends cries and worriedly flew through the air to get to the endangered Linka.

"Here, give me your paw," he said when he arrived reaching out a wet paw and then realised that Linka was actually sitting on the bottom on the pool. "Your not drowning but you found a nice rock pool!"

"You don't say," he replied not amused. His hair was laying on his shoulders, damp and cold, and seaweed hung from his tail, while his whiskers seemed glued to the side of his face and his expression was angry but still startled. He padded out onto a huge boulder and began to clean himself.

"Okay, now watch this." Yekaf rounded the pool keeping his eyes on the surface of the water all the time. He did this for five minutes until the other old cat began to speak,

"I think we should-"

"Shhhhhh!" the other spitted angrily and crouched at the edge of the pool his tail swishing side to side behind him. Then, with a quick and swiping action, his paw flew through the surface and flipped a massive, silver-scaled trout out of the pool and onto the craggy rocks, where it flapped about damaging itself more on the sharp, hard stones.

"How'd you do that?" Linka asking showing some interest.

"What?"

"I said how did you-"

"I know what you said but…what?"

"I don't understand," the blonde cat said confusedly.

"You don't remember either?"

"What?" Yekaf sighed and began to go back to the shore the tide lapping at his feet. Linka followed ashamedly as slowly his and Yekaf's past fitted themselves back together in his mind.

Back on the beach Yenal was looking with desperation at his cub. He had to give him a name now that Balmor was dead. The cub had remained nameless before because Yenal had an idea to leave the striped tribe as he feared for his cubs safety and naming him would mean that Balmor would be able to track his son easier. There were rules under the rule of the Slayer. You weren't allowed to leave. If you did, you and all your family were killed, whether they were still in the tribe or they had left too. He never even liked to think about the past or why he was going to leave in the first place. He just followed his new leaders motto carefully, 'Let's leave the past behind us.'

Looking down at the cub once more he sighed and smiled. The youngster was growing; he now had a short black mane like himself and beautiful golden yellow eyes. Nudging the cub with his head he said,

"Looks like you get a name sonny." Looking up the cub said with a crooked smile,

"Really?" Yenal nodded and looked up to see Antok, Dracon and Chem approach him. Respectfully he put on a frown and bowed and then motioned for the cub to do the same.

"No, no," the blue main said beaming, "not in our tribe. We're-"

"All equal, dad, we know." Chem said pushing him out the way to look at the cub.

"Hi, again!" he said happily. "You want to come jump of the cliff into the sea again?" Dracon and Chem shot each other a startled glance while Yenal and Antok looked at them curiously. "Oh, yeah…"

"I wasn't supposed to say that." Dracon, Chem and the cub said simultaneously. The grown ups continued to look at them and Antok turned to look at the steep cliff top above,

"You-" he began but was cut off by his daughter who coughed loudly and shouted.

"So! What name do you want, little un?"

"Hey, good idea!" Yenal said his mind swept clean from the thought of his son jumping off the peak of the cliff, "I wasn't sure what to call him but if he picks a name he likes then…"

"Fred." All of them turned to Antok who had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Fred?" Dracon asked.

"What…oh, that's humans but I suppose you haven't met them yet have you. Damn, that reminds me, I was going to check out that human town. Better go!"

"Wait I want to come too!" Chem said excitedly.

"Don't you want to stay here and help the cub choose his name?"

"I'll go Chem, don't worry I'll look after your dad." Dracon and Antok pounded off over the sand to find a way off the shore onto the rough, dirty track they had come along before. Chem sighed and wished she was going with them but noticed the cub was jumping up and down giggling.

"Fred, I like it! Fred!" Yenal's eyes were wide with what looked like fright and he was biting his claws.

"You know, I think we can do better than that and besides, we're Keyra, not humans." The cub moaned and thoughtfully paced around.

"But dad, I don't know any good names." Chem laughed and said,

"Okay, I got an idea. Each of us says a letter and then that will spell out to be a random name. Therefore we have all in a way chose." Yenal seemed pleased and so did the cub who thought the whole thing was some big game and in a way it was.

"O!" the cub squeaked.

"Er…L," Yenal said shrugging.

"U," Chem said and then spelt out the name so far.

"I need a few more letters than that, don't I dad?"

"Well, okay...um…V."

"L, I like L, there should be loadsa Ls."

"And Y from my dad's name!"

"Y? Oluvly?" Chem giggled and looked at the cub. It was a sweet name but sounded really dumn especially when Yenal's cub would be the owner of it. She pondered her thoughts for a suitable name and yawned. This game was getting boring.

"I don't know, what about…Javolu?"

"What?" The cub pricked up his ears and walked up to Chem with a serious but wondering expression.

"Oh, I added the 'J' and 'A' and put the 'V'…you like it don't you?"

"Love it!"

And so the cubs name had finally been decided on much to the relief of Yenal who really thought his cub would be named Fred.

Antok looked around him and gulped. The city was massive but luckily it wasn't one of those modernised ones he can come across before, these humans seemed to stick to horse and cart…luckily. He said humans but really that was the group name he gave to the assorted to legged beings which wandered the streets, usually begging the local shopkeepers for free food. Some of the creatures he had never seen before. One little boy, who was wandering around a fruit stool, even had a little tail like his own.

Dracon had never even seen a town before even though he had come across humans. Looking around he pulled an amused face and wandered over to a small cart with string and necklaces hanging off it. The cart owner was a fat, ugly man but in a way very friendly looking. He was smoking a huge cigar and wore a tattered and dirty white apron. Staring over the various contraptions for sale, he looked down at the striped cat and said,

"Well, well! We ain't had any Nox in the city for weeks! So little fella, looking for anything in particular."

Dracon rose up onto his hind legs and placing his front paws on the top of the cart he looked at the various objects lying on top. There were a few rings with weird symbols on them he didn't recognise and a few nicely decorated bracelets. The things hanging from the roof were tickling his head and looking up he noticed that there were a few pendants, mostly shaped like a diamond.

"No, just looking I suppose." He jumped off and ran back to Antok. "These humans are pretty friendly. I thought you told me on the way that they didn't like Nox or Keyra for that matter."

"That was in Berionim, I dunno…this place is a little different."

"Hey, you!" they both turned around to see a young man with long cat like ears waving at them. They wandered over to him and he knelt down and ruffled both their black hair. "I do Nox hair stuff. You want stuff done to your hair?"

"If I want stuff done to my hair I'll just ask my mate," Antok groaned and began to wander around looking through numerous shop windows.

"And I don't have any money," Dracon said. He had heard about the currency that Antok had taught him about on the way. When Nox wanted things, they traded them but humans and other two-legged things usually traded for small metal circles, which they called money, and he had none of that. He began to follow Antok when the young boy laughed and pulled his tail.

"Hey, yunno I'm doing a training course for the local barbers and I'll do your hair for free!" he danced around as if he had a frog in his pants and Dracon decided to slowly edge away. "Don't go!" he said spotting the cat's sly moves, "tell you what, I'll pay you!"

"You'll pay me? With what?"

"Money!"

"What would I want with…"

"Oh, yeah…you Nox always difficult. Um, how bout this bracelet?" he took off a silver rimmed bracelet from his wrist and grabbed Dracon's paw while he struggled to squeeze it on. When it was in place, however, the striped cat decided he kind of liked it. It was decorated with small clear crystals and inside each one was a blue teardrop.

"Wow, Chem would like that," he said not meaning it to be out loud.

"Ah, lucky lady friend eh?"

"Okay, do my hair…stuff." The young man squealed in delight and made the cat turn to his back to him and sit down. Then fondling his black hair into a ponytail he began to brush it.

"Now you look like a mean sort of character to me…"

"I'm not!" Dracon growled.

"Now," the young man interrupted quickly, "you look like a nice sort of character to me…uh…a little quite are you but loving and very feeling?" He carried on to brush the cat's black, shiny hair and when he had done he let it go so if flowed nicely over the Keyra's shoulders. He then rummaged around one of the various pockets on his green waistcoat and produced some beads and feathers.

While the man was tending to his hair, Dracon had turned to look at the various buildings around him. They were tall but very old and the street was cobbled and hard. The hoards of people mainly were here for the market and of course the various attractions. Antok had wandered back and grinned at his friend,

"Beautiful, just beautiful!" he sighed, "Isn't Chem just going to die for you?"

"Shutup! He's paying me to do it," Dracon grinned.

"I can see why. Hurry up, we have to go back."

"Finished!" The man sprinted off quickly as he spotted a young girl who was fiddling with her pigtail. Dracon looked a little more like a Keyra. His hair by his neck was done in separate braids, each with a silver bead on the end. The top of his hair had some how been gelled and sprayed into spikes which flopped down over his eyes behind his right ear where to orange tipped feathers.

"Not bad!" Antok nodded and gestured that they should go.

"Well…okay," Dracon replied and walked off by Antok's side.

Javolu ran forward into the lapping tide and splashed about happily, while Chem followed him along the coastline. She sat down and stared at the horizon, which was beginning to turn orange with setting Sun. Yawning, she watched the young cub prance back to her with a cheeky grin on his face. He too sat down and looked at the sky. Already, a few stars were visible and it was still warm.

Javolu looked at the female and realised that it was not the time to start wrestling her. She was thinking. The grownups did that a lot; think. He didn't understand what there was to think about, especially now they were away from the evil that had pursued them before. Now all the evil was on their side…

Javolu suddenly stopped and looked at his forepaws. He went up his legs and examined the black, mottled stripes, which appeared amongst the dirty white colour. He gulped and his throat went sore. Suddenly, to Chem's surprise, the cub began to cry mournfully, the tears rolling down his face like rain and his mouth quivering like an on land fish. His eyes were big and damp with shiny water and they sparkled with sadness as he lay down and wept into his chest.

Chem opened her mouth to say something but decided against it and looked around worriedly for Yenal or any other Striped Cat. The cats in her tribe never cried all of a sudden, without meaning, like this. Maybe he was ill. She nudged him with her wet nose and said in a shaky voice.

"Javvy, please stop. You're scaring me! What's wrong? Are you ill?" The cub stopped his mournful cries and said through gasps.

"I was evil!" Then he went back to his sobs and moans. The blue female cocked her head, confused, and said,

"Evil? Javolu, the only one who was evil was Balmor and he's dead."

"Then will I die too?" Chem gasped and licked the cub lovingly.

"You were never evil, did you kill? Did you bully us?"

"N-n-o…"

"Well there you are!" she smiled.

"But Anathon…"

"Anathon?" The cub rolled onto his front and shut his eyes. The memories flooded back to him. Life before the Keyra, the time when they were Striped Cats. In a way, he missed the old days. So many had died in the battle between them, it was painful to think about. Anathon was one of them.

"He was a good friend."

"Who's Anathon?" The cub didn't reply but ran off to find his father. Chem watched him go and shook her head. She wandered back along the shore, watching each star appear from the darkening sky. The horizon was a warm, crimson colour and the tide was slowly rolling back. She made her way to the cave where her family was resting for tonight and on the way she met Scythe who was staring out at the returning fishing boats, in the salty, cold sea. She smiled at her and saw the same sadness she had seen in the cub before.

"What's wrong?" Chem asked stopping.

"I…just miss a few people that's all," she replied not turning her head.

"Balmor?"

"Never mind." She wandered away towards the tide, in hope of finding somewhere a little less crowded.

"Huh?" the blue female snorted, "What is wrong with everyone today?" She rolled her eyes, annoyed at the misery and ran towards the entrance to the cave. Stepping through the entrance, her tail lit up the area with a blue glow. She saw her mother, who was probably asleep, squint at her angrily and also Dracon who was looking rather Nox like.

"Hi!" she cried and flopped next to her mate.

"Can you shut your light off?" he grinned back.

"Uh…" she looked at her tail, which was flickering with blue flames, "no." He sighed and rubbed his head against her neck. She felt cold, even though it was a warm night and he lifted his head back up to look into her big, brown eyes.

"Human world fun?" she asked giggling at his hair and feathers.

"Yeah, some human did this for me. They're not as dumn as they look yunno and I got you this." He took the beautiful bracelet of his leg and placed it on Chem's. Her eyes seemed to light up and she thanked him with a warm loving smile. Suddenly, from the darkness, Antok came with a massive grin on his face. Ali'b groaned and tried to get to sleep. She hated it when her mate had a grin like that, it meant he'd found something particularly dangerous or he had a rubbish idea. He growled a greeting to the two lovers and said,

"I've had a great idea!"

"Great, huh?" Dracon replied raising and eyebrow.

"Yep! You know it's kind of really nice here, friendly humans, plenty of food, warm, shelter-"

"Get to the point," his mate said in a bored tone.

"Well, I reckon we should have a group to go off and search for a better place. I doubt there will be one though but it would be nice to try."

"You mean to say that if this group doesn't find any better place, this will be our home?" the Striped Cat asked questioningly. Antok nodded and took a deep breath as he thought of a good way to deliver the interesting news.

"And you want me and Dracon to be in this group right?" Chem joked while her mate laughed.

"Well, yes." Both the Keyra stopped giggling and laughing and stared with wide eyes at their leader. This was not like him at all. Antok was usually protective of his daughter and over time he had come to think Dracon as a son who he was also protective of, letting them off on their own was unlikely.

"You're coming as well then?" his daughter asked.

"Kar and Hadrian have agreed to go with you, I will stay here and watch over this lot." He smiled at them and made his way to the entrance before turning and saying, "I have organised for you to leave tomorrow. You two will be the leaders. You will decide where to go and what to do." He was about to leave when Chem asked,

"But why us? You said once you never wanted to loose me."

"Now, you have Dracon with you. I'm sure he will protect you as I have done." The Striped Cat's heart filled with pride and happiness and puffing out his chest he growled.

"Of course! I wouldn't let any thing harm her."

"I have seen this already and I trust the both of you to find a better home, if there is such a thing." With those last words, it disappeared as he went out into the dark night. Dracon and Chem sat with each other, grinning with happiness and utter joy. Ali'b smiled but then rolled her eyes at Antok who had stuttered all the way through that conversation as if it was a speech.

"You hear that Dracon?" Chem asked fiddling with her braclet.

"Yeh, you and me together...."

"And me!" squeaked a familiar voice and the two watched an energetic Kar bounce up to them.

"Dammit, will you stop mucking around!" Hadrian roared from the depths of the cave.

Chem laughed and rubbed heads with her new mate, "More adventures, and I've already had enough to last a lifetime!"

Copyright to Meghan Fisher