Beta Tales

Chapter 1: Convicts

KIVALOUN raced through the dark, poorly lit streets. She paused to catch her breath and see how far behind her persuers were. Not far. Two slid out from a street corner, righting themselves quickly and loosing a sheet of bullets in her directions as more armored wolves and cheetahs tromped after them. The ground around Kivaloun sparked with shells. Searching frantically for escape, she darted into a pitch alleyway, splashing through shallow puddles of sewer water, spraying droplets glittering in the streetlight and mingling with the sparkling of the gunfire.

The static of handheld radios and the tromping of booted paws drew closer. But Kiva pressed further through the ghetto alley. Finally, she came to a thick chain link metal fence and could run no further. She pressed her back flat against the fence as her pursuers splashed through the puddles after her.

"Remember!" Huffed a cheetah soldier. "We need her alive! Shoot to halt."

The soldiers dashed forward, encircling her, guns aimed. But Kiva seemed fairly calm, she was focused on the tall puma that seemed to be leading the pursuit. He was more thickly armored than the rest, poised to shoot,  his yellow eyes blazing through the visor of his helmet upon his prey. "You are charged with the illegal possession of an unauthorized foriegn weapon," he declared.

As he said this, Kiva slowly raised her arms, pointing the palms of her paws toward her enemies. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against..." he droned on harshly. Kiva closed her eyes, concentrating on unseen energy forces, and bending them to her wishes. The captain finished the readin of the rights and began approaching. "Will you come quietly?" A cresent band of light swept through the air, carving a sphere around Kivaloun.

The attack team was startled and shrank away. The puma in lead stumbled, his gun shooting off in his paws. The other soldiers, spooked, scrambled and fired in response, and a shower of bullets rang in Kiva's direction.

But Kiva was unharmed. The bullets splashed off the invisible sphere, light ripple as the shells pelted the sheild as water ripples when pebbles fall into its surface.

"You call this a weapon," she shouted angrily over the shatter of gunshots. The assault persisted The sphere bubbled like a geyser with the volume of the attack. The puma began shouting, "cease fire!"

He had detected movement on the roof of the building on the right had distracted him. At first he thought it was just rats, but paying closer attention, he realized there was one full body. There were two yellow stars gleaming above the shadow, and no sooner, than he realized those stars were eyes, had the creature bore down on them.

The spiked end of a thick staff smashed through the green tinted visor and into the face of one soldier,the other end, topped off by a wicked blade, was burried into another soldier's thigh a second later. A few soldier's had the composure to shoot, but every shot missed. The creature was bathed in darkness, and hard to see, making it difficult to tell it's mass and exactly where any parts were to shoot at. It struck down four more men before touching down to the ground, standing in full moonlight in a dangerous battlestance. Even in the low position he assumed, the old jaguar was at a height of seven feet.

"Kivaloun! Are you alright," he concerned himself in his hoarse, gruff but gentle voice.

"Yes, Awdtah," she murmured, dissolving her sheild and re-enchanting the area, dropping another sheild through the air, ecompassing them both. She voided the spell to one side, leaving a gaping space behind them, yet fully protecting then from their adversaries. "I can't hold much more," she said, her body fatigued with channeling. It was incredibly hard work holding resistance, let alone against such an attack. Each bullet dented her stamina.

"Just concentrate on the barrier," he said, dropping the position and moving to her. He gathered her up in his arms. The sheild once again bubbled with the maelstrom of shells. Kiva stretched the sheild to the brick walls on either side,flattening the liquid reality into a wall-like barrier.

Then Awdtah jumped, kicking off against the wall, leaping over the fence. Kiva's gypsy jewels and chains clicked and jingled somewhat musically when Awdtah's large jaguarian build hit the concrete ground on the other side. He took off running, Kivaloun running too as Awdtah dropped her on her feet. They darted soundlessly  down the dimly lit streets, taking many bewildering turns, before vanishing down another dark alley and stopping.

Awdtah came up slow. He leaned against the nearest wall, breathing heavily. "I'm not built to run like that..." he moaned humorously, and gave a light hearted smile on his ancient face.

Kivaloun giggled softly, but the lynx girl's face froze in a curious look. "Awdtah...," she whimpered.

"Freeze," a familiar voice commanded, and the nose of a powerful gun pressed against Awdtah's skull. "I'm Commander Menonvar. Any further resistance can land you in an electric chair." He pushed a little harder with the gun. "Jaguars can't run, so don't try it again."

Awdtah gave a puzzled look. "I didn't think cougars could either."

"Shut up, keep your paws where I can see them."

He turned slowly with his paws in the air. He faced Commander Menonvar. "Do you know why we're being arrested?"

The cougar nodded. "The possession and use of an unauthorized and foreign weapon. You're a danger to yourself and those around you."

"I have attacked you, but never have I hurt a soul with the weapon you speak of. Nor can I surrender it." As he spoke, his tail wrapped discretely around Kivaloun's ankle. "Anything can be a weaponif used incorrectly or in the wrong hands," he replied in an honest voice with wisdom beyond the years of the young cougar.

"You killed my men," he spat vehemently, remembering the vicious blows his men recieved and assuming a few were fatally injured.

"Watch your tongue, pup," Awdtah hissed. "I have never taken another life." Another moment he looked at him in silence, then abruptly pulled Kiva's leg out from underher, making her fall, startling Menonvar, and Awdtah took the oppurtunity to rip the gun out of his paws and kicked him squarely in the stomach.

Menonvar stumbled back; that kick was so strong he felt he might vomit. "God..." he mumbled, falling to his knees, then to his side. He heard a strangel crackling sound, his gun fall to the ground a few feet behind him, and he saw Kiva and Awdtah bound off once more.

Menonvar turned to reach for his weapon, still too far to grab, but when he looked at it, he didn't see shining pride of his weaponry that was the gun. Instead he saw a smoldering piece of metal, only somewhat perceptable as a gun. He turned, looking for his convicts, but they were well out of the ally. But they seemed to be running on all fours. What? No... there wasn't such a thing as a werecat. What was he thinking? But there they were, the forms of the runaways shifted from the norm to the ancient four legged cats of old, that were extinct. He blinked, not believing it, weres are fairy tale creatures, house cats are extinct, neither exist. But when he looked again, they had gone.

Thrivis Tundra February 2002