The King of the Beasts

Chapter one

Zach opened his eyes. He was in a small hut in the middle of the woods. The hut had a thatched roof and was made out of what looked like hand carved oak beams.

Zach was a fifteen year old boy with a mane of shaggy, unkempt blond hair and breathtaking silver eyes. He was the foster son of two shifters, named Davin and Hazel. A shifter is someone who had the ability to change their shape to that of an animal. The animal it was depends on your parents. It was not a choice to become one, but rather a honour and a opportunity.
Zach himself did not know if he was one himself.

Zach's real mother and father had left him on the edge of the forest when he was a baby. Tomorrow he would turn 17, and would hopefully shift. If he didn't he would know he didn't have an animal inside him

Zach desperately hoped he would be a badger shifter like Davin. He'd watched his foster father shift many times, his nose extending into a snout and fur rising all over his body. This was the form he adopted when he had fought in the Great War many years ago and Zach knew that was what he wanted, to fight for the king as a soldier under the banner of a noble household.

He knew children got their powers from their parents, but as he had never known his, he was worried that they had been humans, which would make him one of the lower class citizens, and all he would be fit for was a farmer or hunter. He hated that society was that way, but still could only hope that he was a shifter.

How powerful a shifter is varies depending on the animal. For example, a lion or wolf shifter (one of the two high races) would be very strong, whereas a sheep or robin shifter would not be classed so highly, but still above humans. When you first shift, you are very hard to control, and need lots of practice to make them perfectly honed. This was what Davin had told him many times.

"Zach. Come on. We need to go!" A voice coming from the kitchen said. This was Dawn, Davin and Hazel's real son. He would turn 14 in two months.

Zach got up, and threw on some warm trousers, a pair of battered boots and a woolly jumper Hazel had knitted for him.

Dawn was in the kitchen, sharpening his knife. It had been a present from Zach, who had saved up all year to get it for him. "The Prince is passing through, we need to go know or we will miss him!" Exclaimed Dawn loudly. Zach had agreed to take him to see Prince Zane, who was passing through the forest on his first public journey.

You see, the lion kingdom was very secluded from everywhere else. Them, along with all other big cat species and their allies, had gone into hiding after the wolves defeated them in the Great War. Though Davin had fought for the lions, he had been forced to hide his animosity towards the wolves, as otherwise he would be persecuted. This meant he was always ranting about them at home.

The oldest son of king Damion of the lions had been sent to try and make a peace treaty with the wolves. Many people suspected the wolves to try something, but nobody was sure.
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When they arrived at the gathering Zach and Dawn has made their way to the front to get a better view. After waiting for a while they spotted a procession of three horses, and could just make out two men and a boy.

As they got closer, people began whispering, but no one clapped or cheered for fear of arrest. Anyone could be a spy for the wolves.

The closer the trio got, the louder the whispering became, and the more painful Zach's headache. When the procession came fully into view, every single eye turned to Zach. He stared at the Prince, and the Prince stared back. Two pairs of identical silver eyes gazing at one another. Then Zach's headache became too much for him, and he passed out.