Valley of Weeds

Chapter Six [Edited]

Chapter Six:

"Flower, you told us that someone named Fillius told you about the giant birds," Cassia began just as Flower finished nursing. "Who was Fullius?"

Flower raised her head and smiled. "Fillius is my brother! But when we were four weeks old, I woke up in the middle of the night 'cause I had a nightmare. It wasn't about giant cub-eating birds though. Anyway, I couldn't find Fillius, and Mother was crying, so I asked her what was going on. Not that I was scared, though. And she told me that Fillius had to go somewhere called Caeclum, 'cause he was sick back then. She never talks about it anymore."

All three adults glanced at one another. Caeclum was the word that tigers used to describe where a tiger's spirit went when they died. According to legend, Caeclum was a paradise. There was no sickness, no hunger, no sorrow, and every spirit there had everything they could ever want. Nobody knew what it looked like, although there were a few theories: One was that it was a luminous white temple that never ended. Another was that it was a meadow of flowers; and another was that  it was exactly like the jungle. Some tigers even denied it's existence.

"Mother told me that my father liked the name Fillius," Flower added, not taking notice of Amur's frozen posture, unlike Cassia. "And I also used to have a sister named Nata, but she went to Caeclum not long after we were born. She didn't tell me why they went there, though."

"What did he look like?" Amur asked quietly. Cassia narrowed her eyes at him, but he didn't notice due to him staring into space.

"He had dark fur," Flower's eyes glowed as she imagined her brother. "And his eyes were blue, but they had dark amber flecks in them. That's what Mother called them, flecks. And he was really strong too! And a little bigger than me. He was really really nice, too, but he teased me sometimes." She tilted her head at Amur. "Hey... he looked a little bit like-"

"Amur!" Atha gasped. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Smell the air!"

Amur parted his lips to taste the scent on the slight breeze, and his eyes widened. He quickly scooped Flower up in his mouth and guided Cassia to the corner of the cave. He set Flower down, then looked at Cassia.

"Try to hide her and yourself as well as you can," he whispered. "Don't say a word. Don't even breathe heavily."

He went back to Atha and pulled her up by her scruff. She was unsteady, so she began leaning on Amur for support. As they made their way to Cassia and Flower, her swollen stomach was swaying with every footstep.

"What is it, Amur?" Cassia whispered.

"The scent," Amur slowly set Atha down do that she was sitting. "It's Searn!"

"Atha!" came a roar. "Atha, where are you?"

Amur carefully peered outside, and he spotted a huge male coated in scars. The male turned his head, and the scar that ran from just by his left ear, across his face, and ended at his right lower jaw. Also on his muzzle were four smaller slashes, criss-crossing with the large one.

Amur stepped out into the light, and Searn looked shocked.

"Amur?" he growled. "What in Hell are you doing here?"

"I just so happen  to live here," Amur growled back. "What do you want with Atha?"

"That's none of your buisness! By the way, when did males become able to give birth?" the question rolled off his tongue in a snake-like manner.

"What are you talking about?" Amur asked, desperately trying to hide the hint of fear in his voice with aggression.

"It smells of both pregnancy and cubs here," Searn's flaring red eyes narrowed.