Tiger's Blood

We have been traveling for about a month now. I don’t know where we are, but I do know that Kira has been acting very strangely lately. She has been fainting multiple times a day. She has been walking very slowly, and she won’t eat as much as she used too. I am worried sick about her ever since she started these random dizzy spells. I blame it on the late season heat. The warmer season is about to finish, then the cold season will come. Even I, as a Wolf Blood get overheated in the hot seasons. My pelt feels hot and sticky and I sometimes pass out randomly. I offered to let Kira ride on me if she is tired but she keeps denying it.

We walk around the deep, green woods a little longer until I spot a long, grey path. I stop and run over towards the path. “Hey Kira look at this,” I call to her. She soon stands by my side looking at the broken, grey path. “What’s so exciting about this?” she asks me. I point over to the large sign next to the path and she squints her eyes. The sign reads, “Beware, stay out of the Lion’s Kingdom if you wish to live,” with scratched out letters. I smile at her and she smiles back.

“The Lions territory is really close to here. We are only a couple miles away,” I explain to her. “Oh yeah, that is true. Good job Noah,” she says and pats me on the back. I look up at the grey skies and frown. The fluffy clouds begin to form together in a giant cloud. “It looks like it’s going to storm though,” I say. “We should find a shelter then,” Kira says. I look over at Ethan and he has his hands in his pockets staring off into space. I can feel the negative pressure in the air whenever I’m around him.

I have a feeling that Ethan doesn’t trust me. I don’t know why, because I’m not a bad guy. At least I think I’m a good person. Unless you ask my family. I was the oldest of five siblings. I had two brothers and two sisters. My brothers were Kai and Scout and my sisters were Iris and Avery. My brothers hated me because I was the oldest and I got everything. That wasn’t true though. My parents loved all five of us, but they despised me the most. They never told me why they hated me, but they just did. I felt like I was alone and no one knew how I felt.

When I discovered my Wolf Blood at sixteen, they made me do all the hunting and gathering food for them. My mom was a Fox Blood and my father was a Falcon. I believe they were disappointed that I wasn’t a Fox or a Falcon like them. Two of my siblings were Falcons and the other two were Foxes. I ended up getting fed up with all the shit they made me do and I ran away. I don’t even know if they are still alive or not, then I found Kira and I couldn’t be happier. Well, if she likes me back, I’ll be even happier.

We travel along the grey path until we came to a dead end. I find a cave that would be a good enough shelter until the storm dies down. Ethan helps me start a fire and I take some of the fish that is left to eat. After we lit the fire, we notice that Kira hasn’t come in the cave yet. Ethan walks to the end of the cave and I follow him. We watch as Kira stands in the rain with her arms straight to her sides. She starts dancing and running around in the rain. She twirls and laughs as her beautiful brown hair gets drenched. She then falls down in a mud puddle. She stands up and walks over to the cave all dirty and sticky.

“What was all that about?” I ask her curiously. “I used to dance in the rain all the time when I was little. I love how the rain feels. My parents would get mad at me because I would always get dirty,” she giggles. I smile at her and so does Ethan. “Well, you are a beautiful dancer,” Ethan adds. I nod in agreement and sit down by the fire. Kira scrapes off the sticky mud from her clothes and hair. Ethan sits at the entrance to the cave looking out at the rain falling. He lets out a big sigh then crawls over to Kira.

I watch as Ethan and Kira giggle and whisper to each other. I could feel a pinch of hurt inside of me and I just lay down and pretend to sleep as I listen to their conversation. “You know I can make you a sword if you want,” Ethan says. “Really? How?” Kira asks. “I have a friend who makes really good swords. I could have him make you one,” He explains. “What friend?” she asks. “He lives in the Lion Kingdom,” he says.

“Why did you leave the Lion’s Kingdom?” she asks. “We were running low on food, so I went out hunting when I got lost and I couldn’t find my way back. When we find our way back, I could find my friend and look for a sword for you,” he says. “That would be really nice if I had a larger weapon with me. My pocket knife can’t do as much as I want it to;. therefore, I would prefer a one handed sword so I could kill my enemies quicker,” she laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind,” Ethan says and then they were silent.

The sun shines brightly in my face and wakes me up. I yawn and stretch my arms out. I look over and Kira squirms around in her sleep. After that I noticed something: Ethan’s missing. I get up quietly and look outside the cave. He is nowhere to be found. I knew that Lion was trouble. He is off to go tell the others about Kira. I sit back down and I stare at Kira slowly waking up. She stretches her arms out then rubs her eyes. She looks to the back of the cave then back at me. She gets up and looks around her area and storms angrily to the end of the cave. She walks outside then runs back in the cave.

“Noah, you didn’t even notice that Ethan was gone?” she says in an angry tone. “I just woke up and noticed,” I reply. She looks through her backpack frustrated. “He took the note with him,” she grumbles angrily. She packs up everything and storms out of the cave. “Hey, maybe this is a good thing. He probably left because he was mad or upset. Now it can just be the two of us again together,” I say and smile. She turns around and lightly punches me in the gut. I groan in pain.

“Noah are you insane? We need him on this journey,” she says frustrated. I start following behind her. “Are you sure that we need him? Or is it that you need him?” I ask her. She stops walking then turns to face me. “Listen, we are going to find him whether you like it or not. Now let’s go,” she says angrily then keep on walking. I guess that answered my question. I frown and I follow Kira’s footsteps.