Fifteen - Part One

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: FAUNA AND THE LEOPARDS

“For the love of dragons, Saber! If you don’t talk to me, I’ll shove my foot so far up your ass that you won’t be able to –”

“Concentrate, Fauna,” Saber cut her off, causing her to growl in frustration, her chest heaving with anger.

He had refused to exchange pleasantries with her, and while she understood his feelings were hurt, she really wished he would stop ignoring her.

What annoyed her the most was that on their way down, he was chatting with Lyle as though they were best of friends.

It made no sense!

Usually, Fauna was more of an understanding person than an angry person, but perhaps Lyle was right about the approaching full moon and it messing with her mood, but it had to be something more than that. Ever since she met with the werewolves, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was really wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on what the problem was.

Perhaps she should talk with her mate about it. He knew a lot about a lot of things.

At that moment though, she was blindfolded in the forest above the bear cave. All she could tell was that it was hotter than she had become

accustomed to. It was early and the sun wasn’t out yet, but she still felt beads of sweat form on her face.

The task of that morning was to chase after Saber blindfolded, in a forest filled with trees, boulders, cliffs and other werefolks. It was supposed to

help her train her senses because they all seemed to have agreed that was her weak point. She wasn’t good at picking out scents or sounds far from her, making it easy for anyone to sneak up on her.

“What exactly is wrong with you both?” She heard Zara’s voice. Zara had tagged along. She said she wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to watch Fauna run into obstacles and bruise herself.

“Saber refuses to talk to me,” Fauna complained as she breathed out through her mouth and placed her hands on her hips.

“Saber, stop being a moronic furball and talk to your sister,” Zara snapped at Saber as she reached over to him. She had to step on the tip of her toes

to be able to flick him behind his head.

Fauna physically cringed at Zara’s mention of the word ‘sister’. That was what everyone saw them as though. They were supposed to be siblings. So, when did Saber stop seeing her as such?

“Stop the arguments, cubs and pup!” Doka’s stern voice made Fauna jump. She had totally forgotten he was there. She took in a deep breath and

straightened herself. She could do this!

She could smell Doka who was behind her, then her tiger friends who were just in front of her. Behind Doka was a bear she only learned his name

was Espen. Around them was the scent of the forest; trees, damp soil, crawling ants, lizards on the bark of trees, birds hovering above them and the likes. Nothing unusual.

“Are you both ready?” Doka questioned and Fauna let out a low whine.

She could only hope that Saber wouldn’t be too petty and let her hurt herself. Saber wasn’t like that, right? He had never done anything to hurt her, but he was changing so much that she worried she didn’t know him anymore. A part of her wanted to ask Doka to change her training partner to Espen, but she feared it would only make Saber feel worse.

“GO!” Doka yelled and immediately, Fauna heard Saber take off. She didn’t move at first. She couldn’t see anything and she was afraid she was going to hurt herself.

“Run, Fauna! Run!” Zara encouraged her and reluctantly, she started to run slowly, trying earnestly not to run into anything.

“Remember what Bone told you,” she heard Saber’s voice in the distance. “You need to sniff, listen and run at the same time.”

That sounded like an awful lot of work and Fauna was tempted to just take off the cloth around her eyes and test out her newfound speed. She could easily outrun him and everything in the forest, but she knew she had to be reasonable.

“Will you at least talk to me?” She asked as she tried to take his advice. The scent and sounds things made created a map in her head so she could move around.

“I don’t know what to say, Fauna,” he finally answered her. He had stopped running, that much she was sure about. He was probably waiting for her to catch up with him.

She allowed a small smile. At least he was talking to her. She had expected him to just ignore her.

“Anything is better than the silence you –”

“Incline a little to the left. You’re almost off the trail and about to run into a tree.”

“Oh!” She exclaimed and followed his instruction. She wasn’t concentrating hard enough.

She heard him move further from her. He gentle breeze carried his scent, but there was still a trail she could follow. She could hear a rabbit run just past her foot and she almost jumped. She made a sharp turn to the left and followed after him.

“I’m not angry at you, Fauna,” Saber said when he had stopped running and was waiting for her. “I don’t hate you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I

mean, it’s pretty clear to me that you have feelings for Lyle and I don’t blame you. He’s a good person. A really good person. I just need some time to –”

“Ouch!” Fauna yelped when she tripped over a tree’s root and Saber let out a soft chuckle. “Why didn’t you tell me there was something in my way?”

“The point of your training is to figure that out by yourself. You’re doing a good job, by the way.” He sounded proud and it caused Fauna to grin

widely.

Things may have been awkward between them, but his validation still meant everything to her.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Saber. You know that, right?”

He was silent for a while. Fauna heard him move a little away from her as she continued to try to jog towards him. She jumped over a fallen tree and smirked to herself. She was getting the hang of things.

She didn’t think sensing things was her weakness. She thought strength was her weakness. She lacked strength. Well, perhaps she could always learn stealth and ambush instead. ‘Work with your strengths,’ Doka had once said.

“I know, Fauna. I’m sorry I was a jerk to you yesterday and said all those things to you. I didn’t mean it. You’re a nice person and I’m the selfish one.”

Fauna was about to assure him that he most definitely wasn’t a selfish person, but the wind carried the scent of leopards towards her. She scrunched her nose and came to an abrupt halt.

“Saber, why wouldn’t you tell me that there are leopards in front of me?” Her voice was shaky and she was frozen to the spot.

No one had seen a leopard in a long time and she could smell four headed in her direction. Why would Saber put her in harm’s way?

“If you’re looking for an excuse to stop practicing, you need something a little better and more creative than leopards.” Saber chuckled and by the movement of the wind around him, she could tell he was shaking his head at her.

“I swear, I can hear them!” She sounded urgent, but he wasn’t buying it. In desperation, she reached up and yanked off the blindfold and looked

around. There was nothing but trees. The sun was already rising, bathing the whole place in its warm glow and the temperature had risen.

Thankfully, her clothing was keeping her cool.

Saber jogged over to her, his forehead creased in concern as he placed a hand on her shoulder and bent so he was at eye-level with her.

“Are you sure you’re o-”

“I swear I heard them! Four of them. Three females and one male, all in animal form and they sounded very angry, Like, very, very angry. They all smell pretty familiar; I think they’re siblings… Why aren’t you believing me?”

“I – Fauna, I…” Saber stuttered. He didn’t know what to say. He turned his nose upwards and inhaled the air, but he couldn’t smell anything out of place. “Mother nature knows I cannot smell anything, but we can get going now. Come on.”

Fauna nodded and Saber protectively took her palm in his and started leading them back. She huddled closer to him as she frantically looked around.

She could still smell the leopards. She could still hear them. They sounded so close, she could hear leaves crunch underneath their paws and their

elongated nails lightly scratch against the ground.

“How do you know they’re leopards though? You’ve never seen one. Hardly anyone has.”

“I don’t know, but I know they are and I know they are very angry… And hungry. I just heard one of their stomachs rumble.”

She understood how crazy she sounded. She didn’t understand why she was catching a scent Saber couldn’t catch. Was she crazy? Was it all in her head? It probably was. Hardly anyone had come across a cheetah or a leopard. Some even said the wereleopards were probably extinct or endangered.

She didn’t know anything other than the fear she was feeling. Saber may have been bigger and stronger, but they were four. She didn’t think they’d attack, but she didn’t want to find out.

“Well, I –” Saber suddenly stopped, holding Fauna in place. He completely stiffened and his eyes darted around. He turned around and inhaled deeply, then he turned back to Fauna, his eyes wide.

“Saber, you’re scaring me. What’s –”

“Come on.” He pulled her along, but he was a lot faster this time. He didn’t look back; he didn’t look around in panic. He just stared at the road ahead, his eyes narrowed and set as he tugged her forward.

He soon broke into a jog with Fauna following beside him. At that point, she was panicking, but she didn’t say anything. She trusted Saber more than anyone in the world, and she knew he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.

Soon enough, she saw the bear caves before them with Doka, Espen and Zara frowning at them in confusion.

“We need to go down, NOW!”

Doka didn’t question Saber, he simply nodded. The earth rumbled beneath them and they were soon swallowed by the caves. Slowly, the above

world disappeared and they found themselves standing inside the dark and cold cave.

Zara walked up to Saber; her eyes squinted in worry. She pulled her wild red hair away from her face and stared at him as she waited for him to explain what was going on.

“We were being chased,” Saber finally answered and Fauna puffed out air though her mouth. She knew she smelled leopards, but they weren’t

chasing them, were they?

“They were running, and they were running fast, and Fauna sensed them long before I did.” He pulled Fauna forward and beamed in pride at her,

causing her to blush shyly.

“Well, I did.”

“More than that. She described them perfectly as though they were right in front of us.”

“I did think they were right in front of us,” she reminded him and he nodded.

“Seems like your subconscious is taking in everything. You’re just not the one paying attention,” Doka mused aloud before humming to himself. “It’s a good thing you’re okay.”

“Are you sure they didn’t see us come down?” Espen spoke up for the first time since. His voice was almost scratchy. He was a tall, dark and slim bear with soft, almost feminine features and very intense eyes.

“They didn’t.” Saber assured him and he smiled.

“Well, I’m so proud of you!” Zara rushed Fauna and threw her arms around her, squeezing her tightly. “Look at you! You’re fast and you also have amazing ears and nose.” She threw an arm over Fauna’s shoulder when she broke the hug, pulling Fauna down to her height. “All we need is the merfolks to teach you to mask your scent, then you could sneak up on Ari. He’ll never see what’s coming.”

She grinned excitedly as she nodded at Fauna, waiting for the girl to tell her the idea was brilliant. Fauna could only offer a smile. She was still shaken, but she was also trying to process what Doka just said.

She could barely smell a tree right before her, but she senses the leopards perfectly. She guessed Doka was right. She could smell everything, but she just wasn’t paying close attention. However, her subconscious sensed danger and brought it to the forefront of her mind.

She guessed it made sense. All she had to do was to work on her attention span. She needed to learn to multitask.