Light and Dark

Chapter 10: Unavoidable

"Momma? What scared everyone at the meeting last night?" Leru had asked her mother when she'd woken up. Since they all went to sleep at the crack of dawn, the family all slept into the next morning. But Leru had woken up in the middle of the night, and hadn't been able to go back to sleep. It was only until Anaiyu woke up that Leru made noise. "You mean the loud sound?" Anaiyu asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her paws. "Yeah. What was it? It even had the older jaguars running around like cubs," Leru said, shivering at the memory.

Anaiyu sighed. She looked at her daughter with sadness and pity. It frightened Leru. She'd never seen Anaiyu scared. Even at the meeting, she hadn't looked scared or panicked. She'd looked determined. Determined to not look weak. Determined to find us, Leru concluded proudly. She wondered, did Thorn care that much about Vine and Snake? Wait, why was she caring about Vine? Maybe, she was starting to care about him. Maybe like the way he cared about her. No, that was a stretch. For now, she cared about his wellbeing.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have had to tell you about this until you were a little older," Anaiyu said solemnly, not looking at Leru in the eyes. "But I'm afraid that your education has been rushed," she looked at Leru. The albino looked at her mother, expecting the worst.

"That sound came from a fire stick. They are weapons the Humans use to kill jaguars and other creatures. But they don't kill us for meat, like we do other creatures. No, they break the number one rule of the forest: to not waste food. They kill us for sport or if we're 'encroaching' on their territory," Anaiyu gave a disgusted snort. She shook her head, and continued. "The fire sticks are long and slender, about the length of my tail," she straightened her tail out so Leru could see. "They're made of wood and have silver on the top. So on sunny days, they glimmer in the sun. Also they have a rancid smell to them. So that's two ways we can spot them. If you can't then you're a goner."

"But why? Can't you just outrun them?" Leru asked. Anaiyu chuckled wryly. "No. You can't outrun a fire stick. You can out dodge them however. See, fire sticks shoot something at you as fast as lightning. The only way you'd know if the Human shot the fire stick, would be when you heard that giant sound, if you were shot and you were killed/wounded, or if the ground near you was shot. But it's very uncommon for the Humans to miss."

"What is it that they shoot at you?" Leru asked. "I don't know, but I hear it's small. Small as an acorn, and can travel through the air as fast as sound. It's also supposedly silver," Anaiyu replied.

"Have there been any survivors from a fire stick?" Leru asked warily. Anaiyu shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid that if there have been, then the Jaguar Gods must've been right with them."

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It had been a year after the incident at the Moonlight Meeting, and it still sent chills up Leru's spine. It had also been a year since she'd seen Vine or Snake... If they had been fighting for her affections, she wondered, had they been thinking about her? The next meeting was coming up, but Leru and her family had sworn they wouldn't go back there for another year or so.

She was already a year and a half old, and Leru and her brothers had grown. They were now allowed to come on hunts with their mother. Anaiyu was very lucky to have raised all four of them this far. Jinkx, Shade and Ifrit were already showing signs of being excellent hunters and fighters. Leru was showing signs that she would be just like her mother.

They still occasionally heard noises like the one that scared everyone so badly at the meeting. Leru's brothers had no idea what they were from, but Anaiyu promised she'd tell them what they were when they all were about to go away.

Now that it was so close, Leru didn't want to leave. She wasn't afraid to hunt for herself; she could do that already. She wanted to stay with her mother. and Leru especially didn't want to leave her brothers. Jinkx, Shade and Ifrit would all grow up and separate, all of them would. There was a very small chance of them all seeing each other again. But in the mean time, she would enjoy as much family time as she could get.

One morning, Shade was the first to wake up. He got up from the nest, and shook out his pelt. It was getting colder, but since the forest was so hot, they'd never see this magical, white, cold dust that their mother had told them stories about.

He tiptoed around his litter mates and mother and scrambled out of the den as quietly as he could. Once Shade stepped out into the crisp, dawn air, he stretched to his limits. He licked his lips. I hope we can actually hunt on our own on our next hunt, Shade thought excitedly.

Something twitched out of the corner of his eye. He scented the air, smelling another jaguar. He wrinkled his nose, trying to think. This jaguar didn't smell right. It smelled like a male, but the scent was too sweet. It was musty, too. The scent smelled sick.

Out of the bushes limped an old male jaguar. Well past his prime, the male had gray fur around his muzzle, and healed scars ran the length of his body. His eyes were light blue and glazed. His tail dragged across the ground as he walked away from the bushes and right to Shade.

Shade was so busy watching the old male that he didn't even notice Ifrit come up and stand next to him.

"Hey! Who are you?" Ifrit yelled at the old male. Shade sighed and stomped on Ifrit's paw. Ifrit yelped and held his paw up. "What was that for?" He demanded. Shade gestured with his head towards the old male. The old jaguar seemed to have not even noticed them. He walked right past them and into the tree line at the other end of the field.

"He was dying," Shade said finally. He'd waited until the old one was out of sight before he spoke. He looked down at his younger brother. "Sorry about your paw," he apologized, chuckling. "But he couldn't have answered you even if he wanted to. It's part of jaguar culture that when you're dying, you make the journey to the Tree of Life. It's a giant willow tree in the middle of a field of flowers," Shade explained.

"So that's where he was going?" Ifrit asked, staring after the old one. His older brother nodded, and he asked, "Well why wouldn't he answer me?" "You see, it's also jaguar culture that on your journey to the Tree, you can't speak at all. Then when you get to the Tree of Life, you lay down and go to sleep for the last time," Shade sighed and looked at his paws. Then he smiled and continued. "But when you die, they say that your soul flies by the tree, and the willow branches sway."

"But what happens to the bodies? Surely it would start to smell," Ifrit said. "Vultures come in and out and take care of the bodies," Shade said stiffly. He looked down at his little brother and saw his horrified face. Shade chuckled.

"There's nothing to be scared of, little brother. Death is unavoidable. And I'd rather go the easy way than the hard way."