The Jaded Leopard

Chapter One

The clouds covered everything, puffy gray masses that hid the sun and allowed no ray of sunlight to enter to the world below. The highest peaks of the Verkhoyansk mountains were covered by the clouds, hidden from the rest of the world, much like the rest of the sun. Snowflakes fell lazily through the sky, dancing gently in time to the tune of the wind before landing on the snow-locked land below. Nothing stirred. Anyone wise enough to read the clouds knew that there was far too much snow to go outside, and stayed cozily by their fires inside their warm homes, glad to have a reason to stay inside and slack on their work.

Movement. High upon one of the mountains, the snow moved, batted away from where it covered the entrance to a small cave. A snowy white head emerged from the freshly dug hole, and twin sapphire eyes gazed out upon the world, like large blue moons. The rest of the creature's body followed the head out of the small cave, revealing it to be a massive male snow leopard. He stretched luxuriously, his snowy rump high in the air, stretching his toes far apart from each other, relishing in the feeling of newfound energy flowing through his stiff limbs. He had been locked in the cave for several days while the blizzard raged outside, trapped in the blizzard while hunting. But now, the whirlwind of wind and ice and snow had subsided, and he was free to move again, before the winds picked up and the snow fell more quickly, creating another freak storm.

The leopard stood from his stretch, yawning, revealing a large pink tongue. He shook the snow lightly from his thick fur, the dark spots on his pelt more clearly visible as the cold white powder fell from his fur. He settled down again, sitting with his large bushy tail curled gently on top of his large gray-white paws. He gazed down upon the world, king of the mountain, keen eyes scanning the snowy world below for any signs of movement. His large head turned from side to side, occasionally scenting the air, before returning to gazing imperiously down upon his kingdom again.

The leopard was truly an amazing beast, larger than most of his kind. He was almost twice the size of the average snow leopard, including his extremely long tail, which was as long and fluffy as a feather boa. He had broad shoulders, and well-muscled legs, which allowed him to easily vault himself long distances over ledges and boulders. The mountain was his terrain, and he was more than perfectly suited to live in this dangerous home. This was his territory, his kingdom. This beast was the lord of his kind, ruler of the snowy land below him. The humans may not have known this, but the earth belonged to nature, and there was nothing more natural than a snow leopard in its very element.

He froze, scenting the air. There was prey below, he could scent it. His eyes flickered towards the small crofter's village below, scenting prey there. He made a split second decision and made up his mind to go there for his next meal. The goats in villages were often fat, and much more slow than the agile ibex that lived this high up in the mountains, mere pets for the humans. And if the humans didn't want their livestock eaten? Nothing stood in the way of a starving snow leopard and his next meal.

He stood, and began to bound down his mountain kingdom towards the small snow-locked village below. As he ran, kicking up large snowdrifts in his wake, a small beam of sunlight forced its way through the dense clouds, shining down upon the leopard. And if anyone had been there to see, that one shaft of sunlight illuminated the leopard, turning his eyes into blue brighter than the most brilliant sapphire, his black spots into the black of polished obsidian. And every hair of his fur glowed with an inner light, as if created from a strand of diamonds.

If anyone had been there to see, the leopard changed from a normal white-gray to a creature made of jewels.

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"Oh, Papa, It's beautiful!" Roksana gasped, standing up from her place near the hearth to dance over to where her father was seated, enveloping in a tight hug while he laughed and smiled, hugging his youngest daughter in return. "Why, it seems only fitting when my little girl becomes sixteen." He laughed, watching Roksana dart back toward the little box she had left near the hearth, her dark braid swinging behind her. She pulled out the gift her father had given her.