The Fate of Xon

The trek south to the very tip of southwestern Xon as tiresome and took most of the first two days. By noon on the third day, the Court of the Tiger caravan was heading along the coast toward the River of Truth, located at the border of the Land of the Mammals and the vast prairies and forests of Xon. It would take three days to get to the part of the river that met the eastern coast of the Land of the Mammals. Another day to get over the first leg of the river, half a day to get over the border, another half a day to get over the second leg over the river, and then a day to get to, and over, the last piece of the river. Finally, there was a four day trip to the mouth of the gulf where they were to join up with another caravan. All in all, it was a two week trip to the Gulf, a week of rest, and then another three days to Flagcord, no one was looking forward to it.



The day after they had crossed the first part of the river, Brendan and Sarah were sitting at the top of their wagon, having gotten a bit of cabin fever sitting in the wagon for almost four days. They had met a great many Mammals in the few hours that they had been visible, but all backed away in fear when they realized that Brendan was the Prince of the Tigers who had the ability to change into his animal whenever he wanted. It was a cause of fear in all shapeshifter populations. You were either a human that transformed once a month into an animal, or an animal who had to change into a human once a month, but never able to do either.



It had made the trip a little easier, but at the same time, it was a hassle when Sarah wanted to talk to the other shapeshifters. All she wanted to do was to see if their community was any different than theirs, but no one wanted to come close enough to the wagon for her to talk to them. After a couple of hours, Brendan went back into the wagon so that Sarah could speak to the others. It was a great sacrifice on his part, having to leave Sarah out in the open for her own curiosity\'s sake, but at the same time, it was something that they all needed to know.



Sarah, being better at working with the animal populations, shapeshifter and regular alike, worked fast, talking to all the shifters and finding out what their family lives and group lives were like. Tigers were a close knit community where the families lived together until they were all dead. She found that most of the other shapeshifters communities were either much the same way or completely different. The Bear shifters would abandon their young as soon as they hit ten, something that was unheard of in the Tiger community. Ten was still a child, not someone worthy of being out on their own. It was a horrible thought and Sarah finally thought it best to go back and report to Brendan.



She flopped onto her cushions and sighed, shaking her head. "I never want to talk to another shapeshifter Bear ever again. Do you know that they abandon their children when they hit the age of ten? They leave them to fend for themselves, thinking that their instincts will take over and help them survive. Over half of them die in the first year. No wonder Bears are so hard to find."



Brendan nodded. "Horrible stuff, that. It makes me extremely glad that I was born a Tiger. I don not know what I would have done without all of mom\'s aunts and uncles running around. Or the cousins. It would have been too hard to deal with." Sarah nodded in agreement, and then they were silent again, pondering how good their life had been.



A while later, they crossed the second part of the river. As night began to fall, strange noises began to come from the jungle to the west of the beach they were camped on. It couldn\'t have been the Mammals, they had crossed the border a few hours before, but it had to have been something large and loud. Then came the smell. It was like rotting flesh being burned alive. The sound of wolves howling began to drift to them and Brendan was the first on top of the wagons to hear what they were saying.



After a few minutes, the howling stopped and Brendan turned to the group of Tigers around him. "Dead Things attacked a pack of shapeshifting wolves. They\'ve crossed the river, no longer fearing it. They\'re heading this way." He turned to the guards, nodding slowly. "Get your blades out. We\'ll take turns keeping watch tonight. Captain, you have first watch. I\'ll take second. The rest of you can determine which shift you want. Four hour shifts now, boys."



He nodded and headed into the wagon, shaking his head as anger overwhelmed him. This wasn\'t supposed to happen. There wasn\'t supposed to be anything go wrong. His source about the Dead Things had been wrong. He could kill the guy. His teeth began to elongate, as did his face. It wasn\'t until Sarah wrapped her arms around his neck from the back that he realized how angry he had been. He took a deep breath and calmed down in her arms. "Did you hear?"



"It\'s hard not to. I understand wolf too." She grew silent before moving to sit in his lap, wrapping her arms around his waist. "What are we going to do?"



Brendan sighed, pulling her closer into his arms and shaking his head. "The only thing we can do. We\'ll keep watch over the wagons at night and pray to the Goddess that nothing happens in the next few days to hinder us getting into safer territory." She nodded and kept still in his arms. A few moments later she was asleep. He put her on her mat and went to keep watch.



Nothing happened. The same thing went on for days and days. There would be rumors of Dead Things moving their way, but nothing would happen. They were a day away from the Gulf when the first attack took place. One of their wagons, an empty wagon kept for bringing things back on the journey back, was attacked and destroyed, the Tigers inside left for dead. Brendan had made sure that Sarah was asleep before he had gone with the Captain to check things out.



The wagon was on fire when they got there, but that was no big loss. It was the bodies laying on the ground that made Brendan mourn. His cousin had been in charge of this wagon. The nearest, Isabella, had her throat torn out, blood pooling around her body as if they had had their fill before getting to her. The older two cousins, Michaelangelo and Jacobs, had to had been the first because they wasn\'t a drop of blood anywhere near their bodies. It was almost like Isabella had been held down and forced to watch her older brothers be drained to death before she was allowed to die. Someone had to had known that her death, her blood, would have a greater effect on Brendan and the Tigers than the others did.



Brendan ordered that the bodies be added to the fire and burned. He said a prayer over the bodies and then called for everyone to head back to the wagons. When they had gotten there, he ordered everyone to pack up. "From now on, we travel at night too. At least until we get to the Gulf where we know we are safe."



He went back into the tent he shared with Sarah and lay down to sleep a while. The wagon started to move immediately and he began to sleep. He woke a few hours later when he roused by the sound of people talking. It was the sound of city life. He glanced up to find Sarah looking excitedly out the tent flap. They had arrived at the Gulf. Great news for them, bad news for the hungry Dead Things waiting for them in the wild.



* * *

Gabriel stood on the edge of the dock, looking down at his feet. He was one step away from a new life. He was hoping that it was one that would make him happy, but the ship ride over the Gulf hadn\'t eased his bad mood. He looked at the ship\'s captain as he stood on the solid ground of the main land of Xon. Anger welled inside him, for the great captain had killed thousands of innocents in the name of prosperity and wealth. He dreamed about their faces at night, dreamed about the way their blood felt on his hands, and it had killed a small part of Gabriel\'s buzz.



Back to his normal, depressive self, Gabriel took a deep breath and stepped onto the solid ground, no longer having the waves lap under his feet. He walked toward the Inn, wanting to avoid the captain. He had already been paid up, so there really was no point in talking to the man any more. Besides, Gabriel wasn\'t one to let what he had seen in others dreams go. He would make something, in his normal off beat way, and everyone who had ever known the man would know that he was a murdering bastard.



Shaking it off, Gabriel went into the pub and ordered a glass of whiskey, downing it in less than a second. It would take the edge off the aftermath of the captain\'s dream. He ordered another glass, again, downing it as soon as he had gotten it. He heard his name over the loud hum of bar talking and turned to find a man only a little older than him talking to the bartender. He was tall with broad shoulders, short blond hair, and blue eyes. He must be the head of the caravan that was to take Gabriel to Flagcord College.



Gabriel turned his honey brown eyes to look at the stranger. His shoulder length brown hair moved in front of his eyes and he ran his fingers through his hair to get it out of his face. He raised hsi hand toward the stranger, getting his attention. "I\'m Gabriel of the Island of Dreams." When the stranger turned to him, Gabriel saw the outline of the Tiger. He knew that he was dealing with a shapeshifter. And a cat at that.



He told himself to behave and nodded to the young man as he came to sit down with him. "Hello, Gabriel. I am Prince Brendan of the Court of the Tiger. I came here to meet you so that we can get to the caravan and head out."



Gabriel nodded, downed another glass of whiskey, paid, and then followed the Prince out the door. If he didn\'t have to deal with him for more than the trip, he would be okay with it. Cats were the Keepers of Dreams, and as a DreamCatcher who could see others dreams, he didn\'t like the Keepers because they had their own way of giving him hell.



He kept his head low, hands on his bags, and followed the Tiger to a caravan of about a dozen wagons. He was shown to the one on the end where a beautiful girl with white blond hair and Brendan\'s same blue eyes. She was nearly a foot shorter, but positively beautiful and definitely a Tiger. She turned to Gabriel with a smile on her face, and his face merely froze up, hair sliding into his face to hide the horror that someone so beautiful could be in the same league as the Keepers.



She didn\'t let the brooding nature bother her, but kept smiling and spoke to him in a sing song voice. "Hello! You must be Gabriel of the Island of Dreams. I am Princess Sarah of the Court of the Tiger. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She curtsied and turned to the wagon. "It is not much, considering our spare wagon was attacked in the Land of the Mammals, but it should be plenty enough room for you."



She looked at Gabriel, waiting for a response. "Um, yes, it should do fine. Thank you, Princess."



"Oh no, call me Sarah. And Brendan is just Brendan. It will fun having you in our caravan. Maybe we can talk some other time." She touched his hand lightly before heading to the head of the caravan. She turned a few seconds later and called to Brendan. "Bring me back something to eat, Brendan."



Her brother nodded and said his goodbyes to Gabriel before heading back to the Inn. Gabriel was in shock. He had had feelings of attraction toward a Tiger, a cat. It was unreal. Maybe this was all some nightmare. Was he in someone\'s head? He tried to slap himself, but it didn\'t work. This was going to be a hell of a journey. He knew that at least he wouldn\'t have to worry about seeing their dreams. As far as he knew, he couldn\'t get the dreams of the larger cat shapeshifters, and that seemed to be all that this caravan was made of. Maybe it would be safe, maybe it wouldn\'t, but either way, he was heading to Flagcord College and his new life.