The Shattered Plains (Aphrika #1)

Chapter 2

Pebble picked her way among the leaves. They were as big as her. The colourful tints that lined the leaves were fading away to a brown like the others.

She could basically hide under them. That made her prey to about everything around here. That didn't make her easy prey though. They would have trouble swallowing something that had sharp teeth and claws.

She was on a mission. She needed to go and spy on the enemy. Since she was so small, she could hardly be seen. It also made it hard to travel.

A small cliff sat in front of her. She was too small to climb up it. And it looked like it went on forever.

A tree with leaves that lay flat like a pancake stood beside the stone wall. She walked over to the base of the trunk and hopped on the first circular leaf stone thing. It was soft and her paws sunk into it a little bit.

She hopped to the next one and jumped all the way up to the top. The cliff overlooked a valley. In the valley there were some trees with leaves dropping down like a colourful waterfall. Some animals pooled together. They seemed to be arguing about something.

Pebble crept towards the edge of the cliff. There was a small rock ledge that led down to the lush valley.

Pebble cautiously put one paw on the hard stone. It seemed to support her weight so she put all four paws on. She slowly made her way down to the valley.

Some animals stood on the edge of the crowd making sure nobody came. If they spotted her she would be outnumbered and get shred to pieces.

She reached the ground and crouched down behind a leafy shrub. She peeked through the branches and listened to what the animals were saying.

"We must attack soon" An impatient leopard hissed.

"We will soon, but not yet." A cheetah growled.

"We should attack when they aren't expecting it." A snake slithered out of the crowd. It had green scales with the odd black one shoved in. It had fierce green eyes that flickered back and forth, eying the animals closely.

"Commander Athern, I thought you were out watching the lunatic animals that follow that crazy impala." The cheetah snickered.

"Onyx, I found out some things about them. I will tell you when we're alone." Athern said.

"Perfect. All you loyal animals, go back to training." Onyx commanded. Onyx and Athern walked away.

The animals all separated and went their own ways. A lonely Ostrich started to stomp over to the bush that Pebble was hiding behind. Pebble held her breath. She wasn't sure what they would do to her, but she didn't want to find out.

"Hey, I need you over here." Someone shouted.

"Coming." The ostrich squaked.

The ostrich stomped away and Pebble exhaled. She waited until all of the animals were gone then she snuck out of her hiding place. She scampered in the direction that the two leaders went.

She saw them near a stone that hung over a hole in the ground. The two leaders were talking in hushed voices. Pebble inched forwards towards the two animals.

"-learned that they are asking animals with no experience to fight." Athern hissed.

"That will make it easier to defeat them." Onyx purred. "We will attack them before all of them know how to fight."

"If you'll excuse me, I have things to do." Athern slithered silently away.

Pebble backed up and used the cover of the grass to get back to the cliff wall. She slowly climbed up the small ledge and pulled herself to safety. She ran to the otherside of the cliff and hopped down the tree with the flat leaves.

When her paws touched the ground she stopped to catch her breath. Her little body was vibrating so much that she needed to sit down before she lost her balance and fell over.

A tree with orange leaves sat all alone. Grass surrounded it like a fence. On one of the branches a grey bird was asleep in a nest.

"Bimera, we need to leave now!" Pebble shouted.

The grey crane lifted her head in alarm. She stood up and waited for Pebble to jump into her nest. Pebble jumped into the nest. Sticks lined the nest and some plants mixed with them. Pebble unsheathed her claws and hung on to the sticks that were firmly wedged into the nest.

The great bird grabbed onto her nest and flapped her wings. She lifted off the ground.

The tree gradually became smaller as the bird rose higher. Pebble sat in her nest. This was her fast transportation. It would take her weeks, if not months to travel back and forth between the places she needed to be.

The savanna looked so different from up here. It looked like the world went on forever. There was so much more land, not just the savanna but jungles and oceans. There were so many different animals.

"Were almost there, Pebble." Bimera croaked. She landed on a tree branch and Pebble hopped out of her nest.

"Thanks for the ride Bimera," Pebble had to get used to solid ground again.

"Anytime, Pebble. Except for the night, or mealtime, or..." Bimera listed all of the times and Pebble shook her head. She climbed down the branch and jumped down to the ground.

A cave mouth yawned open and Pebble walked inside. The roof was clear and you could see the red dirt that piled over it. The walls were stone and they had markings carved over the cool surface.

Animals huddled in groups. Some talked about what training they learned, others about how they missed their home.

Pebble looked into a big hole in the wall and a tall impala was talking to a group of zebras. The impala said a few words that Pebble couldn't hear and they all nodded their heads and clopped away. The impala looked around and saw Pebble standing by the doorway of her cave.

"Pebble, I must speak with you." The Impala said.

Pebble walked through the doorway. The impala's cave was smaller but it was very comfortable.

"What did you learn, Pebble?" The impala asked.

"They are going to attack soon. I'm not sure when but they said before our new recruits know how to fight." Pebble mewed urgently.

"How do they know of our recruits?" She asked. Her hoof pawed the stone.

"A bush viper named Athern has been spying on us somehow." Pebble hissed.

"Athern... I've never heard of him." The impala snorted and said. " So one of the most venomous snakes is on their side. Not good."

"That was all I heard. I will travel back eventually to know what else is going on." Pebble sighed. "I wish this was all over and there was no war."

"That would be great." The impala agreed.

"Ceros." A voice called from the door of the cave.

"What is it?" The impala called. "Come in both of you."

A spotted dog walked in the room followed by a smaller cat. Pebble recognized the dog to be Thye the second in command. The cat was brown with black stripes on his fur. He was about twice the size of Pebble.

"We have a new recruit." The dog barked. "He fought Splinter and Stick."

"Impressive, what is your name?" Ceros asked the small cat that sat beside the dog.

"Splash" The cat answered.

"Well Splash, I am Ceros and this Pebble." Ceros introduced the two of them.

"Hi," Splash mewed. He nodded to both of them.

"Pebble, you should go get some rest. After that long journey you took you should rest." Ceros said. "I would like to speak with Splash alone. Thye go and train some animals."

Pebble nodded and excited the room with Thye. Thye walked towards the training cave and pebble walked towards her own personal cave. It was a small crack in the wall that opened up into a room that was big enough to fit two badgers.

There was a small indent in the floor. It was filled with grey feathers from Bimera. Pebble lay down in it and fell asleep.