I knew running was pointless. A jaguar would catch me before I’d taken five strides.
The decision was taken from me as all three cats leaped as one, each towards a different human. My crossbow was already on target, which was just as well because otherwise I’d never have released the shot in time. The bolt struck the jaguar under its right shoulder, and it cried out in pain. I dove to the side to get out of its flight path.
Despite being in pain and wounded, when it hit the ground, it seemed to fold in on itself and launched off at a new angle right towards me. I tried to get out of the way, but this time the cat caught me, knocking me to the ground. Stars danced in my vision as the beast bit my shoulder.
Searching for anything I could use, in a panic, my hand chanced on a rock. I smashed it as hard as I could into the side of the cat’s head, over and over, until it released me.
I tried to scramble away, but the powerful paws pressing into my chest ensured I couldn’t move. The cat roared, and I was sure it was going to bite me again, but a golden colored streak slammed into the side of it, sending it tumbling away.
As I tried to get to my feet, dizziness swept over me. I felt very cold. I couldn’t feel my left arm anymore, and that meant the wound was serious.
The battle raged around me, and I knew I had to get clear. I scanned the clearing and saw not only three black jaguars but two massive lions, one male and one female.
The lions stayed between me and the jaguars. They worked as a team, just as the three others did against them. They seemed far more intelligent than I would have thought possible for an animal.
The jaguars tried several charges, but broke off as the lions turned to meet them. Each time they seemed ready to fight, the jaguars backed off. It was as if they were reluctant to hurt the lions, but that didn’t make sense. The lions didn’t counterattack, they just paced back and forth between me and the jaguars.
Rose and Ryn were nowhere to be seen, which puzzled me. I knew they would never have left me here alone. For all their ribbing, they were always there for me when I was hurt or in trouble.
The male lion stood his ground, but the lioness paced over to me. Her bright green eyes were somehow familiar. Before I could make the connection, she knelt down for me to get on her back.
She was large enough to carry me, so I moved slowly towards her and climbed on. Then she stood up and started running. I held on as long as I could with only one arm, but at some point I fell off, and then there was only darkness.
CHAPTER 5
When I came to, the sun was a full hand’s breadth above the horizon, and Ryn was standing watch. Rose was nowhere in sight.
“Ugh,” I groaned and tried to sit up.
“Easy,” said Ryn.
He came over and helped me to sit and then drink some water. As he did, I noticed his brilliant green eyes. It couldn’t be—could it?
“Where’s Rose?” I asked.
“She’ll be back soon. Eat and drink. You need to rest after last night,” he said.
My shoulder decided this would be a good time to remind me of my injury. It felt as if it were on fire. I cried out in pain, and my eyes watered. I forced myself to take some deep breaths.
“Shoulder?” he asked.
I nodded.
“We cleaned it as best we could, but we don’t have anything for the pain. We need to get you to Healer Tanyl.”
“I’ll be fine. Do we have the wormsroot?” I asked through gritted teeth. Healer Tanyl’s magic would take care of the injury. I just had to endure it until then.
“Over there, waiting for you.”
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I worked my way over to the bags. With my good hand, I began sorting through what we’d collected. I was surprised at the quantity we had gathered.
I tossed out everything that wasn’t wormsroot, and then sorted the usable roots from the unusable ones. As I was working, Rose returned and came over to me.
She sat down opposite me, and her vivid green eyes met mine.
“Sorry I couldn’t hold on for longer,” I said, taking a chance that I was right about what had happened last night.
She sighed. “How’s the shoulder?”
“Feels like it’s on fire, so it’s probably infected,” I said.
She nodded.
“So you two are cat people?” I said, wanting to know more.
She smiled and nodded. “The jaguar clan rules this valley. We come from the lion clan. Our people are nomads; we wander the lands in family groups while these jaguars, unlike their natural brethren, are fiercely territorial and loyal to their jamboree.”
“I really thought you were joking, you know, just teasing me,” I said. My mind spun, trying to make sense of what she’d told me.
“Sorry about that,” said Ryn as he joined us. “I had hoped we might be able to gather your root and get out without being seen. Then you could have gone on believing that the cat people were a myth, and our secret would be safe.”
“You can trust me, but why does it have to be kept secret?” I asked.
“Because if anyone finds out, we’ll be hunted down and killed,” he replied.
“Humans destroy what they don’t understand,” said Rose grimly.
“Are the jaguars still out there?” I asked, looking towards the tree line.
“There’s a whole clan in the valley, but none of them followed us,” said Rose.
“Hey, I wanted to say how impressed I am with you,” said Ryn.
“Not today, please,” I responded.
“No, I’m serious. You did a good job on that jaguar while you were pinned down. She won’t soon forget you, that’s for sure!”
I met his gaze and waited for the punch line, but none came. “Let me guess: they all survived?”
Ryn nodded. “Werecats are notoriously hard to kill, and all cat people heal fast. I’m sure they’re all sitting around somewhere, eating a meal together and cursing you.”
I sighed. “I don’t know whether to be happy that I didn’t kill anyone or scared that they’re alive to come after me.”
“They won’t come after you. As I said, they’re fiercely territorial. To pursue you would mean leaving their land, and they haven’t done that since your grandparents’ time. If you return to the valley, they’ll attack again; otherwise, you’re safe.”
“Did we get enough wormsroot?” asked Rose.
I looked over the haul. “About twice as much as I need.”
“Great!” she said.
I split it in half. “Here, take this to the city and sell it. Healer Tanyl deals with a merchant named Franz. Franz will give you a fair price if he thinks Healer Tanyl sent you.”
“You’re sure you want to do this?” asked Rose.
“Based on what you said, that’s worth a lot of money,” said Ryn.
“Yes. Take it. The two of you will never have to live in the orphanage again. I’ll use the remainder to pay for my treatment and cover my apprenticeship.”
“That works out well, since they’ll be kicking us out in a few months anyway,” said Ryn.
“Why?” I queried.
“They seem to think we’re too old to go on living there and that we should find a respectable job or something,” grumbled Ryn.
CHAPTER 6
It took a couple of days to make the trip back to town. We didn’t discuss the cat people again, but I caught Rose gesturing towards my arm once or twice while talking in low tones with her brother.
When we finally reached Healer Tanyl’s house, Ryn said, “We’re off to sell the roots.”
“You’re still planning to come back, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Of course. We’ll sell the roots, party a little, and then come back to the orphanage. We’ll check on you when we get back,” he said. Ryn knocked on the healer’s door and the two of them ran off.
Healer Tanyl came out, took one look at the filthy bandage on my shoulder, and frowned deeply. “What is it this time?”
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“An animal in the woods,” I replied.
“Well, get in here, then,” he said.
When we were inside, I handed him the container of wormsroot.
“As promised.”
He took the container and examined it. “Huh.” Putting it down, he said, “Let’s see what you’ve done to yourself this time.”
He pulled off the bandages, which didn’t hurt as much as I’d expected, and poured clean water across my shoulder to remove the dried blood and dirt.
For the first time, I turned to examine it myself. The wound was nothing like I had expected. Instead of deep tears from the jaguar’s teeth, there were only a few small puncture wounds.
“Oh,” I said. The puncture wounds suggested that the cat had just been trying to hold me, not rip my shoulder to shreds. But why would it do that? And why had it hurt so much, when there was no sign of infection?
“You went to the valley and harvested this root.”
“Yes,” I said.
“This is the bite of a jaguar.”
“Yes.”
He met my eyes. “It will heal by itself in a few more days. You’ll just have to live with it until then.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“You are in no danger from that wound. In a few days, you won’t even be able to tell you’ve been bitten.”
He got out clean bandages and covered the wound again. Afterwards, he sat in silence for a while, and I stayed quiet, too, thinking. It seemed odd that he should bandage up such a minor wound.
He sighed. “It would be best if you didn’t tell anyone how you got that wound.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“People are superstitious, and it will cause you even more grief.” He sighed again, then smiled gently at me. “You completed your part of the agreement, so from sunrise tomorrow you will be my apprentice.”
The pain in my arm seemed to recede, beaten back by the joy I took in that simple statement. I was no longer a worthless runt. I had found purpose and meaning.
“I will send word to your family. From now on, you will live here in my hut. A healer must be ready to serve at any time, and to do that you must be here. It’s best not to show your face till that bite mark is completely gone.”
I had done it! I resisted the urge to scream and shout, but my joy must have been apparent because Healer Tanyl’s face lit up with a big smile in response.
Healer Zero, I said in my mind. Rose was right. It was musical, and the best song I had ever heard.
POETRY INTRODUCTION
When I first started writing as a young adult, I began many novels, only to lose track of the majority of them. The only one that survived that era was the one that eventually became The Enemy of an Enemy.
Enemy was published a couple of decades after I started it, but it was not my first published work. I went through a period, in late high school and early college, where I wrote poetry. Some of those poems were published in various small-time publications. A selection of those poems is included here for your enjoyment.
The poems represent a variety of styles, as I was experimenting and trying to discover my voice when I first wrote them. The Enchanter and The Chaos Bringer are the two I believe are the best, but as you probably know, poetry is highly subjective, so you may end up disagreeing with me.
I do not know if “spoilers” are a thing for poetry, but if they are, go read the poems first before continuing this introduction, as what follows is a very brief explanation of each poem.
Dance of Fire and The Fall of Light were written as exercises in describing normal events as epic adventures. The idea is that there is so much more to life and everyday events than we perceive. Epic-ness happens all around us, and we take it for granted.
The Hunter and The Victim were written to describe two opposing responses to the same event. I wrote them to challenge myself to think through different perspectives.
Which Way was written after I heard about the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. I had not actually read the poem at that point, just heard that Robert Frost took the “road not taken” and was better for it.
Trapped is a love poem of sorts. I had no specific people in mind when I wrote it, just a general picture of the constant choices before young adults as they stand on the threshold of becoming adults.
Proud To Be A Nobody was a poem written to bring light to all the little things that people do in life that make the world a better place. It is not really about me, even though the examples are from my life, but it is about the everyday hero doing everyday heroics.
The Chaos Bringer was an exercise in imagery. I used to be known as the “chaos bringer” among my friends for various reasons and decided to write a poem about what it would be like if there really was such a creature.
The Enchanter is, in my opinion, the best poem of the lot. I enjoy asking people to read it and then tell me who or what they think it is about. I have gotten many answers over the years and have learned it tells me far more about the person than about the poem. Everyone reads into it something from their own life, good or bad.
Now that all that is out of the way, on to the poems!
THE DANCE OF FIRE
A piece of glass falls unnoticed
The Sun finds it hiding amongst the leaves
Heat builds and a single leaf begins to burn
Like all true friends several join in
An army of bushes rush to the aid
Saplings out to prove their worth follow quickly
Big brother oak is not to be outdone and soon follows
Ancient pines make a last valiant stand and are soon vanquished
Such is the Fall of Great Ones
THE FALL OF LIGHT
Two great powers prepare for war
Light versus Dark, the ultimate battle
The Emperor of Light leads armies of
Red, Orange and Violet to the Front
The Price of Darkness marches into the Land of Light
Silent violence fills the heavens, as Light and Dark clash
Great shadow armies attack the Land of Light from the East
While the Emperor fights in the West
Darkness outflanks Light
Light is forced to retreat from its Lands
The Sky bleeds red as the Emperor falls in battle
Light has fallen to Darkness
The minor Lords of Darkness divide the lands amongst themselves
The Prince of Darkness rules supreme...
THE HUNTER
You hunt through,
the corridors,
the trails,
the roads,
everywhere.
You draw forth the beast within,
us all.
You see the jugular of life,
of birth,
of death.
You enchant,
You capture,
You possess your prey.
You kill
all reason,
all thought,
all self-control.
You force your victim,
to love it,
desire it,
lust it.
You retreat,
your victim in despair.
You abandon him,
but leave behind the
Seeds of Want,
Seeds of Need.
You wait,
impatient for
the next victim.
THE VICTIM
Running,
Hiding,
Running,
Hiding.
Trying in vain
to escape.
The unseen predator.
That which hunts, seeks, stalks.
All of us.
Nowhere to hide,
Nowhere to go,
No way to win,
This game of cat and mouse.
Capture,
Ensnarement,
Possession.
Fire
In
my body,
In my heart,
In my very soul.
Loss
of thought,
of control.
Need
Of thought,
Of control.
Need
Of her.
Want
Of more.
It is gone,
I am free,
empty, alone,
despair.
Waiting,
Wanting
Another
Hunt.
WHICH WAY
Two paths stretch before me,
To the right is a well-lit path,
That climbs steeply upwards...
Reaching for the valiant stars.
It is a treacherously easy climb,
Its many pitfalls are easily seen.
To the left is the one I know well
It spirals downward
Hiding its many traps in its
cloak of shadows.
And yet is the easier of the two,
I know this path well, for it is the one
the path which I follow.
I have come to the last fork between them
It is here that I must pick my path to eternity.
If I choose the right,
I could plummet to spiritual death.
If I choose the left,
I may never be able to reach the stars.
As I sit here deciding,
many chances at greatness pass me by
Yet I know not which to follow,
The long, hard climb into the white
light of the heavens?
Whose reward awaits after the trek?
Glimpses Page 9
