Sabre: The Grasslands Book 1

Chapter 3

"You're okay, we will help you." The male said. The male leaned down and grasped the arrow with this teeth and slowly pulled. The blood tipped arrow came out and the he flung it aside. "Lick the wound and then try to get up." The male said. Kypress carefully licked the wound and looked up at the male. 'Why is he so nice to me? I'm a loner!' Kypress thought. Soon, Kypress was able to limp away with the male and Vice. "What's your name?" He asked. "Kypress." She managed to wheeze. "I'm Kife, Head hunter of SwiftTribe. Thank you for saving my little brother." Kife said, smiling at Kypress. Kypress nodded. "It's nothing. He was In a trap made by the humans nearby. He would've been taken by morning." "Yes, we have a problem with the nearby humans, we have tried scaring them off multiple times, but, they are always too strong. We have lost too many protectors because of them." Kife told Kypress. Finally, they reached the camp. Happy yowls greeted Kife and his little brother, Vice. "Go, Vice, go to mother." Kife told Vice as he lightly shoved Vice forward. "Follow me." Kife said to Kypress. Kife stopped at the leader's rock, a large rock about 4 or 5 feet away from the ground, the end of the rock had a rock den. 'Probably the leader's den.' Kypress thought. The camp was a giant flat rock with rock dens scattered across. Grasses covered the outsides and to the west of the camp was a cliff, under the cliff was the river, where Kypress fought the human. "Dagzer, we have a wounded Sabertooth." Kife said, peeking his ears up to listen for a reply. A muscular, large male Sabertooth cat with many battle scars across his belly, sides and back, stalked out. His head held high. Kypress realized it was the exact same Sabertooth that she had seen by the kill. He narrowed his eyes at her. Kypress tried her best to stand tall and look at least look stronger than she felt. "Who is this?" He asked. "This is the tiger that rescued Vice, my little brother, from the human trap." Kife said strongly. "Come, I will take you to see Killira, our herbalist." Dagzer said. Kypress slowly followed the leader. The camp was busy. There were many tigers running around and gathering things and some mothers scolding cubs, and some just sunning on the flat rocks of the camp. A very thin, middle aged Sabertooth came out of the den of leaves. "Oh! Hello! My name is Killira, please come in the den, I will help fix your shoulder." Killira said. Killira was easily startled and got jumpy and shaky when Kypress told Killira about her encounter with the rabid human. It was very clear that Killira had never and would never be a fighter in the tribe or ever engaged in battle. "I have never been in battle. I just tend to the wounded. My mother was very protective, so I never experienced anything traumatic." Killira said, still shaking. "Yeah, well, my mom was really hard on us, we never got to be weak or tired. We kind of lived on the run." Kypress said grooming her fur with her tongue. "You know, you are always welcome to stay with us in the tribe, you could live with us! We have plenty of room." Killira said hopefully. "I've gotten so used to being on the run, I don't know. Tomorrow I will meet the rest of the Tribe." Kypress sighed. Killira said goodnight and Kypress drifted off to sleep with the stars above her rock den.
"Kypress? It's time to wake up, Kife is giving you a tour today." Killira said as she nudged Kypress with her head. Kypress jumped up and growled. She had been dreaming of the dire wolves. They had chased her down and had entered camp. They had killed Vice and Killira and Kife. Killira jumped back in terror. "I'm sorry, I had a nightmare." Kypress told her. Kypress stretched and dragged her perfectly sharpened claws into the rock outside the den. She liked sharpening her claws. Her claws were what defined her, what made her Kypress, what made her powerful. Kypress glanced up and saw some of the mother tigers glaring at her, like she was about to kill one of their Cubs. Kypress stared and then trotted to the leader's den. "Kypress" the leader said as he walked out of his den. "Go to Kife, he will introduce you and show you around." Dagzer told her. Soon, Kife was introducing her to the others. "Everyone, this is Kypress, she was wounded by a human. She helped Vice escape from a human trap." Kife said. The first to step forward was a small female cub with fierce eyes. " my name is Renn, I am being currently trained by my mother, Lunea." Renn's mother was nothing like Renn. Lunea was thin and had no fierceness. " I am Acre" a strong looking male said. "I am next in line to be leader. My father is Dagzer." Acre said. "Thanks everyone, I am going to show Kypress around." Kife said. Kypress could see that Kife was well respected in the Tribe, but, all of the females still glared at her. Renn didn't. Renn smiled at Kypress wildly as if looking up to her. Lunea saw that her daughter was looking up to Kypress and whispered something to Renn. Renn's ears dropped and she turned into the forest. 'Poor Renn, her mother doesn't even let her look at me. I'm the outsider.' Kypress thought. "Now, I will show you around camp." Kife said, his long, sharp teeth lifting up to a faint smile.