All characters referred to in this story are copyright Daniel Pering. Any unauthorized alteration, or distribution constitutes as theft and will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. Enjoy but don't mess with this stuff.

CHAPTER VIII

Lillian was both excited and frightened. The task assigned to her was like nothing she had ever heard of being done before. She had to fight the urge to put on her hunting knife and take her bow along, 'He would probably think I wanted hurt the kittens.' she thought. She put on her water-skin, leather skirt, leather brazier, and since it would probably become cold soon, her long triple-layered winter coat, and two sleeping skins 'Just-in-case.' It was early morning, hours before the sun would begin filling the sky. She padded up to Roy's hut and knocked softly. *knock* *knock* Lillian could hear Roy grumbling slightly as he worked himself out of his sleeping skins. He opened the front of his hut and looked groggily at the tigress standing wide eyed at him,

"Lillian?" he croaked, "What do you want?" he asked. Lillian had to concentrate on not staring at HIM,

"Uh, Roy maybe you should put some cloths on before you answer the door next time." she said. Roy looked down and noticed he was 'NAKED!' he thought to himself. He shut the door quickly and rummaged around his hut then returned in his regular apparel,

"O.K. what?"

"Ruth asks that you show me where the human lives, then leave me there." she said. Roy was too dopey to refuse,

"Alright let me get my stuff..."

"Roy? Who is it?" a feminine voice asked. Lillian's ears shot forward in intense interest 'Oh, boy this could be trouble. The law states that anyone found in the arms of one, not their mate, to be put to death.' Lillian thought. Roy turned his head to reply and Lillian caught the sight of a bright red fluffy tail sticking out of some sleeping skins on the other side of the hut,

"Erica?" she asked.

"Hi, Lillian." Erica said.

"Erica, what are you doing?" she asked exasperated.

"Doing what?" Roy asked.

"You are not mates yet! The law states that if two furrs are found in each others arms, and are not mates they have to be killed."

"You think we mated?" Erica asked.

"Are you saying you didn't?"

"Yes! Take a good whiff. The smell of mating sweat stays in the air for three days. Sniff and see." Erica said. Lillian took two steps inside and began sniffing everywhere. She sniffed the ground, the sleeping skins, even the two furrs in question. She found nothing,

"The law also states that all furrs should avoid the appearance of breaking the law. And you both know how much appearances count around here."

"Yes, yes."

"O.K. so Erica now that you are up, I guess you will be going back to your hut and Roy will clean up, and I will keep my muzzle shut." Lillian said. Erica smiled,

"I will be going back to my hut, but only for the rest of my things." she said. Lillian's jaw dropped,

"You mean?"

"Yes we are going to be mates." Roy said, "That is what we discussed last night." Lillian squealed for joy,

"Oh, Great Spirit, Erica I'm so happy for you!" Lillian gibbered. Roy walked up next to Erica and placed a strong hoof-like paw on her shoulders,

"Any way don't we need to be going, Lillian?" he asked. Lillian remembered the original reason she had come to Roy's hut,

"Oh, yes we do. O.K., bye Erica." she waved as she and Roy stepped out the door.

Roy was finally beginning to wake up, and still did not remember why Lillian wanted him,

"So where are we going?" he asked. Lillian let a sigh out from the side of her muzzle,

"You are taking me to where the human lives, and leaving me there. Ruth said so." she answered. Roy did a double-take,

"Are you sure it is a good idea?" he asked. Lillian had not eaten yet, and was still a bit tired,

"No! I'm not sure about this at all! But Ruth said to and so I must." she said. Roy did not ask any more questions of her for the moment. They traveled for two hours, until Roy stopped,

"Alright, head straight that way," he said pointing deeper into the forest, "You will eventually find where the human lives. You will be able to tell by the strong smell of burning meat. You still have a long way to go, just use the sun to guide you. I need to go back to the village to prepare for the celebration tonight. See you then Lillian, and be careful." Roy said and headed back into the forest, in the direction of the village.

Lillian heaved a sigh and began padding her way through the forest in the direction Roy had shown her. She walked for several hours without the slightest scent of anything burning,

"Maybe Roy had it all wrong?" she wondered out loud. Lillian eventually became acutely aware that she was being followed by something. She could hear it occasionally break a twig or brush by a bush. Her mind began to think curiously,

'Hmm, if Roy was right then this is probably the human tracking me right now, that means I am getting close to its home now. If I should come upon the human kittens by surprise, he may attack as Ruth predicted. I should probably reveal that I know he is there then see what happens before anything goes too far.' she thought. Lillian stopped in her tracks and her follower followed suit, 'This must be him.' she thought.

Lillian turned around and opened her muzzle to address him. When she saw what was tracking her however, her comment turned into a scream. No less than twenty feet behind her was a huge lizard. It stood four feet tall at the shoulder, with spines running down its back. It stood on four legs with its length around fifteen feet long. It stared back at her, its tongue flickering in and out with every breath. Lillian stood frozen in terror. She distinctly heard a clicking sound from behind her. The lizard charged. The lizard was on Lillian like lightening. It knocked her onto the ground knocking her out as well. As she faded into blackness, she thought she could hear the sound of thunder booming close by.

Lillian awoke with a monstrous headache. She tried to open her eyes but she was blind-folded. She tried to use her paws to take off the blind-fold only to find out she was also tied down. She could not even move her foot-paws. She struggled for a moment, then heard some scuffling from somewhere nearby,

"Who are you?" she asked frightened, "What do you want?"

She received no answer. She sniffed to see if she could determine the species of her captor. The scent that availed her nostrils was nearly overwhelming. She was still so shaken up she could not concentrate on anything specific, but one thing rang in her mind, 'I smell burnt wood.' She could hear the scuffling continuing,

"Please, if you can understand me, I am not here to hurt you. I just want to talk." She received no answer. She fell silent for a while. The scuffling continued constantly for hours, still no words from her captor. Lillian was becoming thirsty. She could not feel the sun, so presumed she was in some kind of shelter,

"Please, I need some water." she said. Still no response from her captor. She tried sniffing again, since she was more awake. This time she could tell almost a dozen scents. She could smell several scents she could not identify, however these scents were each unique and they all had pheromones. She was able to distinguish seven female scents, one of which was very faint, and five male scents, one of which was very weak as well. Lillian realized she was surrounded.

Lillian was becoming frightened. She was tied down and blind-folded, by people she didn't know, she was thirsty, and she was still competing with an intense headache. She heard a new sound suddenly, the sound of running. She held still and listened. The running feet stopped and stood still. Lillian heard something drop to the ground and then some whispering. She could not understand any of it,

"Excuse me, but I am very thirsty." she said. Silence reigned for a moment then a louder sound of snapping and crackling sound. Lillian smelled a new smell then, another smell she did not recognize. She heard the sound of foot falls coming toward her, then they stopped. Lillian waited expectantly.

Suddenly she felt someone caressing her muzzle. She flinched at the feeling and the appendage withdrew, but only for a moment. It returned, gently stroking her muzzle. Lillian swallowed hard, not knowing if the affection was for her benefit or for her captor's. She could not help it, and whimpered in fear at the intrusion upon her person, in such an exclusively intimate manner. She spoke again,

"Please, don't hurt me. I just came to talk. Please let me go." she whimpered.

She felt, the appendage leave her muzzle, much to her relief. Then she felt herself being turned onto her tummy. She struggled against her captor, but it was no use. She felt someone untie her blind-fold, then remove it. Her eyes were bombarded with bright light, a type she had never seen before. She closed her eyes most of the way to allow only a tiny bit of light to enter her eyes. As her sight became adjusted she heard the sound of someone eating. Her stomach came to life at the thought of some food, growling along with her mouth watering. She could not still see her captors but she had to ask,

"Will you untie me please?" she asked. There was a scuffling noise again and suddenly some meat was thrown down in front of her. Lillian shied away at the smell,

"It smells burnt..." then it registered, 'Humans burn their food! It's the humans who have captured me.'

Lillian tried to get close enough to the meat to take a bite, 'Ugh, it smells terrible, but if humans can eat it, then, it must have some nutritional value.' she thought. She wriggled as close as she could but still could not reach it, 'Well the human doesn't speak, so how do I ask for help?' Lillian wondered. She grunted trying again to get to the meat. It was no use, she was just in a bad position, but she kept at it squirming toward the food. She was close enough but it was at a bad angle, she twisted her head left and right trying to manage one bite. She stuck out her tongue as far as she could, trying to edge the meat closer with her tongue, 'Come on. Just a little closer.' she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted by something climbing onto her back, 'No! What is he doing?' she wondered. Someone grabbed her tail and pulled it up toward her head. Lillian strained not to scream in pain. She grunted as her tail was jerked this way and that. Finally she could take no more,

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed with all her might, and began squirming trying to get her attacker off. Something fell off her back with a thump. Lillian tried desperately to get away from her assailant, when she heard a wailing sound, like a kitten crying. She stopped struggling and looked at what fell off her back. Lillian's eyes widened when she saw a baby human crying next to her, 'Oh, no. I've hurt one of the kittens!' Lillian could hear more noise behind her, 'Now he will kill me for sure.' she thought. She heard a familiar clicking sound behind her then something was put to the back of her head. 'No! Great Spirit, please.' she thought.

Lillian was frightened, she did not want to die. Despite her general control, she began to cry. The object pushed harder on her head, until her muzzle touched the ground. Lillian lost all hope and began to mew softly, as was her nature to do when frightened for her life. She heard some more scuffling behind her. Suddenly the object was pulled away from her head. She heard what sounded like a struggle for a moment then what sounded like someone being hit. *whap* Then a thump as someone hit the ground behind her. Lillian was still too frightened to stop mewing. As much as she tried to, she could not. Someone began messing with the bonds on her foot-paws. Once the bonds were off they started to untie her wrists. Lillian began struggling for her life as soon as she felt her paws loosened.

Lillian flailed out with all four limbs trying to get away. She struck something several times, and finally managed to get onto her back. She scrambled as far as she could. Something barred her way from behind. Lillian looked to see what it might be. It looked like a giant, flat, vertically standing, white rock. Lillian could go no farther. She curled up into as small a ball as she could, hoping no one would see her. She could not hear any more crying, only her own mewing, 'Oh, come on Lillian. Stop making that noise. It sounds really pathetic.' she thought. She struggled for control over her nature, and finally managed to stop mewing. She could not hear anything now. She inched her paws away from her face to see what was happening.

The male human was rolling on the ground holding his right arm, which had a goodly number of tigress scratches on it, 'Oh no! He was the one untying me. I injured him.' Lillian looked behind her and saw a younger male human lying on the ground. The younger human looked to have been knocked unconscience, 'He defended me.' she realized. There were many other younger humans around the male, trying to comfort him. Lillian saw her opportunity to get on his good side,' If I can doctor him up enough, maybe he will begin to trust me.'

Lillian crawled slowly up to the human male and offered him, her paw. He looked up in shock. Their eyes contacted again. Lillian could see fear in his eyes. She also realized that if he acted on that fear he could become dangerous. Lillian decided to try to comfort him. She gently took his arm and examined it.

The little humans around him shied away from her when they saw her. Lillian breathed a sigh of relief when she saw she had only hit him with her foot-claws, which were very dull, 'Well at least I didn't draw blood. That is going to be a really bad bruise.' She gently stroked his arm, trying to sooth him,

"Shhh, it's O.K. It's alright. I am not going to hurt you." she cooed. She did not imagine, that he could understand her, but maybe the tone of her voice would sooth him.

Lillian watched the younger humans around her. They looked at the older male with concern in their eyes. Lillian looked back down at his arm then at his eyes. He looked up at her with sadness in his eyes. Lillian wondered what could have happened to put that kind of sorrow behind his eyes. He reached up and put his paw on top of her own. Lillian looked down at his paw, 'What does he mean by this?' she wondered. The human male looked toward the younger humans and motioned for them to come to him with his head. No one moved a muscle. The human male took his hand off Lillian's paw and motioned toward the younger ones again. Still not a one moved. Lillian motioned with her own paw toward the humans. One looked at her claws and took a step back. The male slowly stood up; Lillian stayed seated. The male picked up one of the smallest ones. The child buried its head against the male's shoulder.

Lillian began to stand. The male held out his paw, palm forward. Lillian recognized the symbol as the *stop* command. Lillian realized then, that she could communicate with the human through paw gestures. She made a cradling motion with her arms then pointed toward the baby human. The male looked at her very sternly. Lillian made it a point to drop her ears and look as crestfallen as possible. The male put down the younger one and began examining the human that had been knocked out . Lillian took the opportunity to look around.

Light seemed to come from some source in the ceiling that Lillian could not identify. Looking around carefully Lillian realized the thing she had backed into earlier was a wall. There were four of them, two long, two semi short and all white. The walls were lined with strange items. Lillian noticed some banners with writing on them. She spelled the words out to herself, 'G-l-o-c-k? T-a-u-r-u-s? H&K? What does all this mean? This place looks ancient.' she thought. Lillian heard groaning nearby. She turned and saw the formerly knocked out human was awake now and rubbing its head. Lillian tried to cower, so as to be as unobtrusive as possible.

The former captor, which Lillian mentally referred to as Sam, looked around and landed its eyes on Lillian. The human's eyes went to a strange, long object on the floor. The older human male grabbed it first and held it away from the younger one. The younger one looked angrily at the older one, 'Obviously,' Lillian thought, 'It wants to use that object to do something to me. Why does it not like me?' she wondered. The older human pointed at Lillian while looking at the younger one. The younger one looked at Lillian then back to the older one. The older male pointed at Lillian again, and the younger one went to her. Lillian shied away from the younger human. The older human looked rather displeased with her actions, but the angry stares were directed to Sam. The older male pointed at Lillian again. Sam reached out and began petting Lillian's muzzle. Lillian recognized the feel and growled slightly. She quickly regained control, but could not help but have her tail fluff way up. Sam looked to the older male. The older male went over to Lillian and sat down next to her. He put down the strange object. He reached out and began to stroke Lillian's muzzle, in the same manner Sam had. Lillian pulled away from his paw with all haste. The older male picked up Lillian's own paw and began to stroke her face with it. Lillian quickly removed her paw from her face, all the while looking rather dour.

The older human looked angrily at the younger human again. The older human raised his paw as if to strike the younger one. The younger one backed off and cowered in fear. The older human approached the younger one quickly, paw still raised to strike. The younger human stopped and held still waiting for the blow. Lillian's paw shot out and caught the older human's paw in mid-strike. The older human turned and looked at Lillian with his eyes ablaze. Lillian was afraid for her life and had no idea why she defended the younger one. Suddenly it occurred to her, it might not be a good idea to have stopped the older human. She had seen how strong he was and realized he could kill her with just a couple of blows like the one she had just stopped. She began mewing softly as she sat there holding back severe punishment from the very one who almost killed her. As Lillian looked at the older human, his eyes began to soften. Looking down at the pitiful sight of the lone tigress cowered on the ground mewing, pleading for her life in the most basic possible manner, after she defended his younger brother melted his heart, 'She's at my mercy. Why'd she put herself in this position?' he wondered.

Lillian saw no movement in the older human, 'What's he going to do?' she wondered. The older human flinched as if to do something, but stopped, 'What do I do?' he wondered, 'More importantly what does she want here? Why did she choose to find this place?' For a moment his instincts got the better of him, 'Here is my chance to pay them back for killing moma and papa.' he thought. He raised his paw, balled up in a fist, toward Lillian instead of his brother. Lillian put her paws in front of her head and cowered, and began to shake, while she continued to mew softly. Despite the incredible intensity of his anger, he could not bring himself to stoop so low as to strike an innocent, even if she was a furr, 'Why can't I do it? They deserve it, and more for what they did to us! But, she was not there, she had no actual part of it. I can't do it.' his mind was in turmoil.

He let his paw fall limp as he sighed. He picked up Lillian, by her shoulders, and stood her up. Lillian was frightened, she struggled a bit at first, but when he did not hurt her, her curiosity began to rise. Lillian was still frightened and so kept her paws in front of her face. The human let go of her and slowly took her by the paws. He carefully pulled her paws away from her face so she could look at him. Their eyes locked for the fifth time, communicating something that found its way through the language barrier. The human finally pulled his paws away from Lillian and left her alone. Lillian stood before the human still slightly fearful, but more in control than before. She took a step backward from the human, while maintaining eye contact, and carefully sat down on the floor. The human just starred at her for a moment as if contemplating what to do next.

Out of the clear blue Lillian's stomach growled loudly, reminding her she had barely eaten all day. The older human male gave a small start at hearing the noise. Then he realized what the noise was. He strode over to the fire and pulled some meat off of a stick then handed it to Lillian. Lillian saw the meat and remembered the meat that had been thrown to her earlier. She scrambled, on all fours, toward the older meat, while the humans all watched with rapt attention. Lillian picked up the meat, much to her surprise it was still clean. She closed her eyes and took one big bite of the meat. Lillian could taste the wood from the fire, the bark from the stick, and the ashes from the smoke but the meat was palatable, albeit barely. Lillian had to chew the meat several times in order for it to be soft enough to swallow, but did finally manage to do so. The humans watched the horrible expression from her face as she ate, and they looked sincerely sorry for her.

The older male looked thoughtful for a moment, then went out an apparent exit leaving Lillian alone with the younger humans. Lillian made no sudden movements, nor did the other humans. The eldest returned shortly with some fresh raw, meat. Lillian spied it and began to salavate profusely. The older human held out the meat toward her. Lillian needed no second offer, she took the meat and began devouring it noisily in front of the humans. Her audience looked disgusted, to say the least. Lillian noticed the pained expressions on their faces and decided to use what little etiquette she had to try to make them comfortable. She stopped slurping, gulping, and licking the blood off the meat and began to eat it in some fashion of a civilized manner, which was not particularly easy due to her border line extreme hunger.

The humans all sat around their cooking fire eating burnt meat and watching Lillian. The night was becoming very cold and Lillian, unlike the humans, did not have any one with which to share body-warmth. Lillian would have been happy using her sleeping skins, except she did not know where they were. She was too tired both emotionally and physically to stay awake for long. She curled up next to the fire, in a little ball, as tightly as she could, and quickly fell asleep.