Chapter 1

            Deep in the woods left untouched by civilization sat a small house in a clearing. The stone porch was always kept tidy and the inside cleaner still. A small dirt path led to a dirt road that in turn led to the great city and castle some distance off. All was quiet save the sound of chopping some distance off in the woods, just how Shustim liked it.

            A young panther, Shustim sat on the thatched roof close enough to the edge that he could look over it to the only door in the whole house. He brushed long locks of crimson hair from his eyes with one hand using the other to adjust his tight tunic. His sister had been insisting he wear the new one she recently finished but clothes took a long time to break in. This particular tunic was only just now feeling right, sort of anyway.

            The turning of the doorknob alerted Shustim and he poised tense letting his hair do what it wished. A female panther only slightly larger than him stepped out, her bright red hair shinning in the afternoon sun with her plain tan dress. Shustim snatched a bucket behind him previously prepared and emptied it over the lady’s head with a cry triumph. She shrieked as the water flooded over every surface of her clothing and body, falling to the floor with a splash. Shustim tumbled over the edge onto a nearby pile of chopped wood laughing hysterically.

            “Got you Tamaila! I got you!” he cried rolling down the pile to her soaked feet. She shot him a look full of daggers then began wringing her dress out over the grass.

            “I swear Shustim, what ever I deserved to be you sister I repent a thousand fold! Weren’t you supposed to help father today?” The young panther stood up, his laughing finally dying down to an occasional chuckle. He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms trying to look a few years older to her. It didn’t work very well.

            “I got all my chores done for today. Anyway I thought you’d be happy that I didn’t drop the bucket with the water this time. You looked a little silly last time don’t you think?” Tamaila stopped wringing her dress and straightened up to a full head over her brother despite not being on the porch. He smiled up at her using one hand to brush his disobedient bangs aside again, “If you’re not too mad at me, you think we can go to the city? I heard from Ja’coi that they’re having a festival for winter solstice that’s going to make last year’s look like a barn dance.”

            Tamaila smirked shaking her head side-to-side, “You know as well as I do that festival isn’t going to be for another week. I think someone just ran out of things to do around here.”

            He jerked upright holding his hands out as if to halt her, “No! No! No! I got plenty but I thought we could stay at an inn until the festival was over!” A thought suddenly occurred to him, “Plus we need to get a new grindstone, the last got cracked.”

            “Maybe if you hadn’t tried to use it for a table it wouldn’t have fallen and been cracked.” Shustim shifted at this seeing his ploy for a road trip vanishing.

            “A stool, Tam. I needed a stool to get to the bird nest and see the eggs. But we still have to replace it and I promised father I wouldn’t touch anything we couldn’t make on our own again.”

            “All right Shustim, we’ll go as soon as I can change my clothes.” He was in the house and up the stairs at a full sprint before she even got to the words ‘as soon as’. Tamaila couldn’t help but smile to herself. The little monster might play pranks but he always meant well in the end. A large thump upstairs caught her attention as she was entering the house and caused the bucket to slide off the roof onto her head.

 

            Shustim panted moving behind the heavy trunk he had just rolled over. A loose board gave way to his efforts and he lifted up a small bag that jingled. He had saved up his whole life every penny that came his way. Tamaila was always so practical that not hiding the money would put it towards family expenses instead of Shustim’s dream. He wanted to be an adventurer like in the stories his father sometimes told them. Now he finally had enough to buy a sword, he hoped. Last year he had been short of his goal by a considerable amount. He tucked the money into his tunic hoping Tamaila wouldn’t catch on until after he bought a sword. He moved open a hole in the thatch on the roof, something he had done a long time ago before he was tall enough to climb there on the outside. He closed the hole back up careful to close any leaks he might have made. An attic leaking water would alert his father and Tamaila to the secret door. He lay on his back dreaming about things he would do with a sword and waited for his sister to call for him.

 

            Tamaila set the bucket outside the door then moved behind a woven changing screen to strip her wet things off. Living with Shustim was no easy task, especially given that their mother had died birthing him. Still he tried his best when it counted most and his endeavors with the neighbors had managed to bring in some money to help support them. Just barely worth soaked dressed and mud filled shoes that turned up when had nothing else to do.

            Stepping out in a long black skirt and white blouse, she was just in time to see their father enter the door. Taking note of her wet clothes hanging over the screen was all he needed to update him on Shustim’s latest prank.

            He was a strong man though his fur was grayed more than his children’s and his red hair had a stripe of gray along one side. He set his ax outside next to the bucket and arched his back, cracking a few vertebrae. He turned and smiled at Tamaila, tugging the tuft of fur on his chin.

            “You used to give your mother as many problems when you were young. She did the same thing you’re doing now, smiled and waited for someone smaller to give you problems one day.” Tamaila smiled and went back to tending the stew she had prepared before Shustim’s ambush. Her father was right and lucky for her their mother had been incredibly forgiving of her daughter.

            “Who do you think will torment him then? I don’t think anything less than a band of imps could come close to his trouble causing schemes.” Her father chuckled slipping into a chair. Tamaila got out three wooden bowls and begin to fill them with stew.

            “Shustim says you two plan to take a trip into town. He didn’t mention anything about my coming along. Don’t tell me you plan to make it alone, Tamaila.” She smiled setting the bowls down around the table and pulling into her own chair.

            “I’m old enough to survive an empty road with Shustim now. The worst thing that could happen is a frog in my hair courtesy of the little monster.” As if on cue, Shustim flipped down from the roof using a grip on the edge of the house to aim his landing inside the room. He hopped, literally, over to the table then crouched in his chair. He held the bowl in both hands and ate with his face planted firmly in the stew, a number of gurgling and munching noises coming from him.

            “I take it you over heard us, Shustim.” a dripping face rose from the bowl and nodded to their father.

            “Even little monsters eat their stews properly. Sit in your seat, it’s not a stool.” Shustim sat as Tamaila told him and tried to lick his face somewhat clean before resorting to his sleeve. Tamaila sighed and smiled, that was the best response from him to date.

            “The sun is going down, you two should wait until morning before traveling out there alone.” Shustim looked to Tamaila worried. She had never wanted to do anything remotely adventurous in his living memory.

            “We can stick to the road and make good time while it’s cool out. Besides after you shared those fighting techniques from your army days we’re hardly defenseless. We can be there and back by tomorrow afternoon.” Shustim turned to his father. If Tamaila was willing to try this, another miracle might happen tonight as well.

            “All right but be careful and try to use stealth instead of fists if you meet up with bandits.” Tamaila smiled at Shustim’s beaming face. He smiled back at her then turned to his father again.

            “But papa you and the army men drove out the baddies. Remember from your stories?” Tamaila had to smile at that and their father chuckled ruffling Shustim’s hair.

            “We gave them a run around but there’s always someone looking to make a dishonest gain. You should be careful just the same. Ok you two get going and your old man will clean up for you.” Shustim cheered and bolted out the door, cartwheeling off the stone porch. Tamaila smiled and kissed her father’s cheek before getting two cloaks off a wall hanger and following her brother.

 

            Shustim wrapped his cloak about him then threw it to the side dramatically drawing his stick and fencing the invisible bandits about him and Tamaila.

            “Hey Tam, how come you tried my idea? You never try my ideas.” Tamaila smiled walking next to her little hero as he defeated another bandit.

            “Because if I’m going to be nice and travel with you in the dark you’re going to be nice back and not play anymore tricks on me for a week, right?” Shustim jumped ahead and turned saluting her with his stick. She had to laugh lightly at that.

            They continued to travel down the road letting their night vision pick it out by the starlight. Shustim yawned and held his stick over his shoulder like a pole arm so he could use his other hand to hold onto Tamaila’s hand. The silence lasted for the rest of the trip until they came in sight of the city’s large stonewalls.

            Shustim always marveled at the city no matter how many times they came to it for supplies. Tamaila let him run ahead picking up her own pace to keep in sight of her brother who ran on all fours, his weapon left behind. The little monster scrambled up a tree to get a better view then began leaping branch to branch to keep moving along. Tamaila let him having learned that her brother was quite capable of stopping any falls he might make with a short jump.

            “Look at it Tam! It’s huge! It’s walls look like cliffs! I can see the castle Tam, the castle! There are no people around. You think they went to bed? I want to go hear the bards, you think they’re in bed? I hope they aren’t because I want to hear a story! You think they know any stories about papa? He was a hero wasn’t he? He fought in the war remember? I bet they have lots of stories on papa! There’s the guard house Tam!” Tamaila pulled ahead of her brother while he stopped at one tree for a long look. His questions rattled on until they got closer to the outer wall. He always tried to act twice his age in the city even if he gawked at the same old sights every time. Somehow in his mad dash through the trees he had found another stick-sword and held it in his hand as though it were sheathed in a scabbard.

            The guards let them pass easily enough. The war father fought in had been over almost as long as Shustim had been around. He would have been there to help with his son’s birthing if it hadn’t been for that war. She had managed to tend to her brother for the first year of his life simple enough. It wasn’t until he could run on all fours that the name ‘little monster’ applied, however lovingly.

            Shustim tugged her hand along to try and hurry her to the same inn they stayed at every time a trip to the city lasted for overnight. She smiled and let him pull her through the streets to the “Lonely Wanderer”, a well-kept and whitewashed inn whose owner was a family friend. Tamaila knocked on the door and they both waited.

            Finally it opened revealing an equine that would have stood two feet taller than their father. She had a blue robe held shut in one hand and a lit candle in the other. Her cream fur looked freshly washed and her sky blue hair was held up in wooden curlers. The frown on her face dissolved when she recognized the two visitors though. Kilee, the equine, let them in mothering Shustim like she always did. He laughed then clapped a hand over his mouth when he remembered the hour. Sister and brother alike were led to a room with two beds and a washstand.

            “You two must be tired after that long trip. I don’t know what your father was thinking letting you two make the trip. I guess you’re just growing up faster than I realized. You know the rules so no pranks this time Shustim, you hear me?” Shustim smiled and nodded to Kilee. Tamaila snatched his hand from behind his back showing off his crossed fingers. Shustim looked humbled and uncrossed them much to Kilee’s satisfaction. There was still a stain in the kitchen floor from their last visit.

            The two siblings hung their coats up, Shustim was thrilled he didn’t have to jump this year for it, and crawled into bed. Tamaila fell asleep quickly but Shustim lay awake thinking about his sword to be. He was still thinking about it when Kilee woke him the next morning with a knock on the door. Both siblings washed up then went down stairs for breakfast, thought Shustim jumped on the railing and slid down it using his feet.

            Kilee was in the kitchen cooking when Shustim burst in like a catapult shot. He grabbed a large round lid from one of the bigger cooking pots then ran back out just as Tamaila entered. They could hear crash after crash as though something heavy was being repeatedly pushed down the stairs. Tamaila’s ears slid back at the first crash and the second made her shake her head in frustration.

            “I’m sorry about Shustim, he never seems to want to behave.” Kilee smiled and set out three plates of ostrich ham and eggs. One last massive crash resounded as Shustim came sliding into the kitchen ridding the pot lid like a round sled. He spun in place for a moment then stumbled to his chair, taking some time to mount it properly.

            “No need to apologize Tamaila, he’s a dear to have about despite the noise and anyway I don’t have any customers renting right now.” Tamaila frowned. The Lonely Wanderer was far from the best inn in the city but never once had it been empty, especially this close to the festival.

            “Is something wrong Kilee?” The mare sat down with a shrug then laughed when Shustim shook his ham in his mouth like freshly caught prey.

            “Well there are stories that the Fallen are stirring up again and people are vanishing but I’ve seen nothing to prove it. At any rate I blame those wild stories for my lack of business. A lot of inns are worse off than mine though so I thank the Dragon for what luck has come my way.” Tamaila glared at Shustim until he ate his ham a bit more civilized.

            “But tell me, how is your father doing? We haven’t had the chance to talk in some time.” Shustim tried to hide his giggles in his drink causing it to bubble furiously. Tamaila smiled quietly and Kilee seemed puzzled by it all.

            “Are you gonna be my mommy Kilee?” Shustim asked finally breaking the silence. Even through cream fur Tamaila could see the blush while Kilee’s expression had a look of shock.

            “What in the world do you mean Shustim?” Shustim only giggled into his drink again, trying to not choke.

            “Last time father came here with us he let us run out to see the parade the king was having about an hour early. I figured it would have been rude to argue so I took Shustim and let you two have some alone time. I waited until we were out of the inn to tell father his shirt had been buttoned up wrong and his belt was undone.” Shustim burst into laughter until he fell back in his chair onto the floor. Kilee smiled sheepishly and Tamaila grinned in earnest.

            “Well I will admit to him being handsome. You kids are growing up fast after all I suppose.” Tamaila reached over to hug Kilee’s shoulders with one arm.

            “Me and Shustim agreed while waiting for the parade you’d be a great mother. So what’s holding you two apart?” Shustim had finally stopped laughing and Kilee returned the hug.

            “Well you and your father live out in the cottage and I have my inn here. I’m not quite ready to leave my business yet or the safety of the city and your father didn’t want to leave the home he and your mother had built together.” Tamaila nodded then suddenly an idea occurred to her.

            “If Shustim and I tell him we wouldn’t mind moving in with you I think he’d consider moving here, if you don’t mind that is, Kilee. We could keep the cottage as a summer home or something and visit it.” Shustim smiled at the idea of living in the city as he began to think again. Kilee smiled and nodded to Tamaila.

            “I’d love to have you live at the inn, even you Shustim though I don’t want you playing with any.... Tam, did you see where he went?”

 

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