Pendant Buisiness

The tribe had somewhat settled down after the ordeal with Balmor and now they were fully relaxed but still aware of the new stranger who had decided to tag along. Life had carried on as normal but to Dracon it was a brand new experience. He had never been with such caring and loving cats, even though some of the looks he got every now and then weren't too friendly. He had, however, made good friends with Kar but then everyone got along with him. Dracon tried to stay out of Antok's way but since he was the leader it was very hard to and when Antok did spot him, he never said anything but usually nodded in an approving way but that was when he was in a good mood. Chem, however, continued to let Dracon participate in the meetings they randomly had and he also went on a few hunting trips. He had become very fond of the young female.

Today, the tribe was talking about moving on, even though they weren't sure of where to go.

"Just go forward," Kar had said.

"Well done, clever cat!" Antok smirked sarcastically.

"Ah, the youth speaks wisdom," Yekaf had said rubbing his nose where one of his tattoos were, "forward is the best way to go. We have been back but not forward."

"I know that, will you stop stating the obvious," Antok moaned.

"What about up?" Kar asked Yekaf.

"Now that's just stupid!" Dracon and Chem were also attending this meeting. There was of course Antok and his mate, Yekaf, Kar and Raga. All were tired of the heat and as soon as they worked out in which direction they were to depart, they would go straight away. Chem had told them where the water pool was and they decided to stop there on the way, if they could find it again.

Linka was also at the meeting much to Antok's annoyance, as he had told the old and injured cat that he should rest some more but Linka was very stubborn and wanted to make sure that the decisions they made, were of his approval.

"I'm really hungry!" Raga said throwing the meeting completely off track.

"You've just had dinner," Ali'b stated.

"I know but I'm really hungry and can you call a few berries dinner?"

"Listen everyone," the leader said raising his paws for silence, "once we get out of here, out of the…"

"Desert," Linka butted in.

"Ugh, I know it's a desert!" he yelled clasping his aching head.

"Love, the heat is getting to you," his mate said rubbing his head fondly.

"Once we get out of the desert," he continued, "there will be plenty of food, water and it won't be so damn hot." He glanced up at the burning, white sun and then realised that over on the distance were a few white, fluffy clouds, just sprouting the horizon. "Good, god!"

"Clouds!" Chem gasped, "they're just a few ten or twenty miles away."

"Then it's decided," Antok said smiling at his daughter, "tomorrow, we head out for those." He pointed at the clouds once more and ran off to find some shade. The meeting slowly broke up as Raga went off to find some food and Linka limped off to talk to some of the other cubs. Dracon and Chem were also about to wander off somewhere, when Yekaf ushered the two to come to him.

"What do you have to say about this young male?" he asked Dracon, eyeing him curiously.

"About what, Sir?" The old cat shook his head and made tut tut noises with his tongue.

"Don't call me 'Sir', it makes me feel old," he burst into fits of coughing and had to support himself on Chem until his throat stopped tickling, "What did you think of that meeting?"

"Er, a good way to waste time?" Dracon slammed his paw over his mouth as the words just seeped out and he saw Chem giggle, who bit her tail to make her stop. Yekaf eyed the young male some more and then bit his lip and seemed to be thinking really hard about something.

"Ah," he rasped, "I get it!" he began to laugh but then broke into a fit of coughs. Dracon was glad the old Keyra had a sense of humour.

"Heh, heh, sorry Yekaf," he said supporting his furry back.

"That's okay. Hey, you two! Off of me! I can support myself you know," he pulled their paws off of him and sank to the floor like a soggy tissue. He began to slide across the floor and said, "I'm not that old!"

Chem giggled again but Dracon put a claw to his lips and told her to hush.

"Draccy, he's only pretending, look!" Dracon looked to where Chem was pointing as saw the old male running over the sands. He stopped for a second, looked back, winked at Dracon and ran off again but tumbled over the body of Kar who started pummelling him playfully. The striped cat laughed and nodded at Chem. They began to walk around the area and each time Dracon received a friendly nod from almost all the Keyra.

"They are trying," the blue cub said looking lovingly into his eyes, "they really want you to feel at home."

"I feel great," he replied and grinned at her.

"Are you sure?" she said pulling a face which told him she wasn't so sure.

"Hmm…"

"You've been a little quiet lately."

"I don't want to make anything seem different now I'm here. It would be like I'm butting in, ruining everyone's' lives," he said sorrowfully looking away.

"You shouldn't feel like that." Dracon looked around but he couldn't see anyone, Chem had disappeared.

"W-w-what do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't want you to feel or even think like that," the voice came from behind him and turning around he saw Antok, almost silhouetted against the Sun's brilliant rays. Something was wrong about him though, he looked less threatening and it seemed to Dracon he was looking proudly at him. Antok sat beside him and then he called Chem over who was wrestling with Yekaf and Kar.

"You two," he said, "I have got something to tell you both." Chem's eyes dropped and she began moaning,

"Oh, Dad! Don't send Dracon back!"

"Quite the contrary," he replied and out from behind his back he brought two brand new pendants, which were elaborately decorated with gems and jewels. Chem gasped and squeaked with joy but Dracon contained his excitement, or maybe he didn't really understand.

"I know you are not over thirteen yet, Chem but near enough," he draped one of the pendants over her neck. The black, soft strap felt good against her neck and she laughed and hugged her father happily.

"Does that mean I get to train magic with you now?" she giggled feeling the metal arrowhead in her paw. Antok simply nodded and looked at Dracon who was staring with shock at the remaining pendant he was holding.

"You are over thirteen, aren't you?" he asked putting the pendant round Dracon's neck. He just stared with wide eyes at it until Chem burst into fits of laughter. He finally snapped and said,

"But I, this, you, um…what?"

"You are part of this tribe, right?" Antok asked grinning.

"I am?"

"Of course you are silly," laughed Chem cuddling him softly and then she added, "It's so cool! I'll have to explain the whole pendant business to you but it's gonna be so wicked!" Antok rolled his eyes at his daughter's excitement and then he roared once, then twice. Dracon looked up to see the whole tribe gather in front of their leader.

"All of you!" he yelled out to the crowds of watching Keyra, "Today, two new magic users are born, please wish our two friends good luck on their journey."

"Journey?" Dracon asked looking worriedly at Chem. She was about to reply when the whole tribe roared happily and moved off to carry on what they were doing. Antok nodded towards Dracon, hugged his daughter and ran off to join Kar who was thrashing Yekaf.

"I'm gonna have to do some explaining but we might as well start walking." Chem said walking proudly, her pendant shimmering in the light.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see!"

On the other side of the desert, however, the evil striped cat tribe was not doing any celebrating. Balmor was in an extremely bad mood because he couldn't find his son anywhere. He now had the whole tribe looking for him but a few had already given up and were wearily coming back to the clearing to rest.

He began to clean his stripy coat, which he only did when he was worried. He wasn't worried about about Dracon, just his reputation. Balmor, the slayer, his name was ruined now his son had turned soft. He didn't want to believe that there was some of that soppy melodrama in him too. Scythe his mate ran over and purred a greeting before roaring at the lazy cats laying down, to start searching again.

"How does it look?" the male asked looking out at the landscape from his viewpoint on the rock.

"Not a trace but his scent is near the rocks to the west, it isn't too strong."

"He's left then?"

"Smells like it." Balmor sighed and muttered some cursed words as he looked up at the bright sky.

"Why?" he said quietly and then he roared "Why did he leave!" the searchers stopped what they were doing as his voice thundered in his ears. Scythe grinned and roared out to the others,

"Forget the search! Dracon has left us to join the enemy, he has earned his name!" Balmor nodded at his mate and together they roared,

"Dracon, the traitor!"

Running through the sandy plains was a hard business as the weight of the two cubs' bodies made them sink considerably, making the going harder. Dracon was a lot fitter than Chem who was trailing behind, gasping for breath. It was just a few more hours until the Sun went down and the striped cub was surprised that Antok had let his daughter out on her own after the battle with his father. 'Maybe, he's counting on me,' he thought happily, 'He's counting on me to protect his daughter.'

"Hey, wait up!" Chem moaned flopping down in the sand. He turned around and had to run a few yards back to where her blue body was laying. She was very sweaty and smelt awful,

"I thought you were the leader's daughter?" he asked sticking his dry nose into the air.

"Yeah?"

"Well, aren't you meant to be good at this sort of thing?"

"Very funny," she said rising onto her four paws and began to walk slowly with Dracon by her side. Then when she came to a nearby rock she lay down and roared for the fun of it. He lay beside her and put his head on his front paws.

"Okay," she said taking the pendant off her neck and placing it in the sand, "I will now explain about this pendant thing."

"Finally, I was beginning to-" he stopped when he thought he heard his name being called. It sounded distant and seemed to echo to him. "Did someone call my name?"

"I didn't hear anything," she replied looking behind her, "maybe it was just the wind." He laughed and rolled his eyes,

"What wind?"

"Okay," she repeated, "these pendants have been in the Keyra history for thousands of years. All the way back to the Ancient Cetra!"

"Ancient what?"

"Cetera, C…E…T…R…A," she said burying her pendant in the soft, golden sand and then digging it out again.

"Okay, what are they?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest. You'll have to ask Linka or Yekaf about that one but all I know is that the Cetra were another tribe of cat, before the Keyra, who also used magic via pendants and the tradition has carried on throughout the decades."

"Hmm," Dracon said thoughtfully, "we have a tradition too, you get a special name. But you have to earn it." He sighed and moved into the shade of the rock, glaring at the Sun. Chem came over too and then ran back to retrieve her pendant which had been heated up in the sand.

"What's your name?" she asked returning, the pendant dangling from her teeth.

"I never did earn one and never will I suppose."

"Ha! Who needs a name when you gotta pendant?" she asked smiling. He returned the smile but didn't say anything. Chem carried on,

"Anyway, once anyone in the tribe is fourteen, they get the responsibility of owning one."

"Then why did you get one?"

"Partly because if my dad gave you one it would be well unfair to me and I suppose because with all this danger around, my dad thinks it will protect me."

"What can a measly bit of metal do?" he asked taking his pendant off his neck and placing it next to Chem's.

"Well apparently the first day you get it, they reveal their true power to you but after that nothing happens. My father said you shouldn't really tell others what your pendant does and he said when he received his, he was amazed at what they could actually do but that was the only time his ever did anything."

"What did it do?"

"He didn't say. No one is meant to say," the young cub said yawning for the fifth time.

"So what's the use when they only work once?"

"They do work more than once but only when you are put in life threatening situations." Dracon stood up with a confused look on his face and he clutched his head. Chem let him ponder his thought for a second and was about to continue when he said,

"But what about when Linka got hurt by my father? The pendant didn't do anything then, did it?"

"No but Linka wasn't in a life threatening situation was he? Raga was there." Chem suddenly realised that all the excitement from her had gone. Her friend had made it sound so dull and confusing that she wanted to go back to the tribe and rest. She got up and began pacing around and finally made off to her left, not sure of where she was going. Dracon ran up beside her but she pushed him away,

"No, we go separate ways from here on. Meet back at this rock around midnight." She began to run off leaving Dracon rather confused and put off.

"Hey," he called after her angrily, "where the hell do I go?"

"Any place," she called back but didn't stop running, "you'll know once you come to the right place."

"I will?"

"Your pendant will reveal it's power to you!" he watched her body become a small dot on the horizon until it disappeared over the hill. He sighed and grasped the pendant round his neck in his sweaty paw.

"It would have been easier to have been given a name," he mumbled and made off in the opposite direction to Chem, not sure of who or what he was looking for.

Balmor roared and crumbled the chalky rock beneath his paws while Ruff, his bodyguard, pranced up and down the dirty track, sniffing at the numerous trees around him. It was almost midnight the millions of stars revealed their shining faces to the planet once more. The moon was shrouded in mist and set an eerie glow on their surrounding but neither of the mean cats were scared. The trees were tall, spiky pines, with thick slender trunks and they were growing so closely to one another that it looked like a huge mass of darkness, like the mouth of a dark and scary cave. Ruff continued to run up and down sniffing the floor hurriedly.

"You fool!" Balmor grunted at his bodyguard. "She has no scent!" Ruff moved off and sat beside his master,

"Then how am I supposed to find her?" he moaned staring glumly into his black, shiny eyes.

"By calling her," he replied simply. Ruff was a not particularly clever cat and had to think about what Balmor said for a second. He was called 'fool' or 'stupid' by Balmor and Scythe very frequently and it hurt his feelings even though he kept a straight face about it.

"You mean call her name?" he asked nodding his head up and down in the air to see if he could see anything through the gaps in the trees.

"Never call Invido by her name," Balmor whispered and then walked up closer to the trees leaving a bemused Ruff behind him. He then began to recite a poem,

"Oh, mistress of darkness,

"Oh, killer of light,

"Who reveals thou self to my pitiful life,

"Come and talk to us,

"Come and see,

"Us poor little mortals,

"Who are of different creed"

Ruff's spine tingled as the gloomy poem cut the silence of the night. The woods seemed to glow purple for a second and suddenly a tremendous wind blew in his face, knocking him off balance. He fell to the floor and gripped it with his claws while the wind got stronger. Balmor, however, faced the wind and began to laugh and then shouted,

"My friend! I need your help!"

"What dost thou desire, evil one!" boomed a voice from the trees. Suddenly a flash of light revealed the head of a pure white cat, just the head, nothing else. Ruff gasped and stared at he head floating just in front of the trees. The cat had a stubby nose but beautiful, blood red eyes, which shone with evil at him. He was about to call out to his master but he decided not to and gulped instead. The wind dropped but the head continued to float above where its body would have been, if it had one.

"Invido," Balmor grinned, "It has been a long time." The white cat shut her eyes and suddenly her shoulders suddenly began to appear. There was a constant ringing in the ears of the onlookers but they didn't care. The sight of this elegant, shape shifting and metamorphosing cat was too amazing to forget for a very long time.

"What do you desire?" she repeated. Balmor laughed and said,

"My son, Dracon has left use to join the enemy."

"So, my visions were true," she said. Her voice seemed to echo but it was surprising how in this open landscape.

"You therefore know what I have come for?" Balmor asked standing in front of Invido.

"You want me to wipe his existence, but only before I hath gained the information vital to the survival of your tribe."

"Yes, will you do it for me great one?"

"Your wish has been granted." Her voice echoed in their ears as the vision flashed and she disappeared, the trees returned to the same darkening colour. Ruff had his jaw wide open as Balmor passed him and began to make the long journey back to the others.

"Balmor!" he called.

"What?" he snapped back.

"What, I mean, who was that?" Balmor returned to his body guard's side and said,

"She is the one who will make sure our existence is a long one and the Keyra's existence is a short." Ruff found this highly amusing and he burst into laughter his voice ringing out loud across the desert. Balmor grinned, raised his head to the moon and joined in with the insane and cruel laughter. His son would be sorry…

Copyright of Meghan Fisher