All characters are copyright Tig2002.

	
	Ranik, lord of the clans, stared moodily out over the desolation of the plains. The 
news he had just received from the messenger worried him, the humans were moving in 
force again. 'Don't they have land enough already?' He thought to himself, 'obviously 
not' he snorted. 
	A chill wind sprang up off the plain, ruffling his fur, causing him to shiver. The 
humans had already pushed his kind far from their ancestral homes to this barren land, 
and now they wanted to take that as well. 
	As it always did when he was moody his mind travelled back to when times were 
better. He had grown up in the humid jungles of Trellick far to the south. As far back as 
the records stretched his people had always lived there, but where they originally came 
from no one knew not even the oldest of the lore keepers. There were tantalising 
fragments in the oldest records that suggested that they had been brought to this planet, 
but the records had rotted away and the reasons why it had been done had been lost. His 
people were definitely different to the humans that infested this planet. Humanoid in 
shape they tended to be taller than humans, there bodies covered with short fur and their 
features were those of animals. Felines, canines, birds, all the animals of old urth were 
represented. 
	The humans had immediately distrusted them and tried to drive them out. Some 
humans said they had come to replace them, 'the next step in evolution' others said, still 
some hated them because they resembled animals. 'They're animals' they had said 'no 
good for anything except being our slaves, our beasts of burden'. The majority of humans 
feared them for no more than the fact they were different. The most vocal group among 
the humans was one that thought the furs challenged the humans right to be dominant life 
form on the planet.
	Ranik had been born into the ruling family of a small clan of felines near the border 
with the lands of the humans. Even young he could see the differences between himself 
and the human children, they were small and weak and had no fur while he was tall, 
strong and fast. He closely resembled a tiger of urth, with orange fur and black stripes, he 
walked upright like they did but he could also run on all fours much faster than a human 
could run. 
	They lived like this for years, human and fur side by side, then something happened. 
Suddenly large groups of humans came out of the north carrying axes and swords as well 
as some strange new weapons. They burned every village they could find and killed 
anything that moved, men, women, cubs, and livestock. In the end it was either flee or 
die, they were driven from their land and into the desolate wastes the humans had left.
	Ranik had been 30, still young by his peoples' standards, when his father and brother 
were killed in a ambush by one of the roving bands of humans. He only just managed to 
get himself, his mother and his sister away before they all ended up dead.
	 For the next 20 years what was left of his family had scraped an existence from the 
earth, always on the move, never stopping for longer than 1 or 2 weeks at a time, always 
living in fear…
	Ranik shook himself, returning to the present, this was solving nothing. 'One things 
for sure' he growled, 'this time I wont run away with my tail between my legs.'
	'My lord?' asked the confused servant behind him.
	'I've made my decision.' Ranik said, ignoring the panthers' confused look, he hadn't 
meant to talk out loud. 'Call the clan heads to me, there will be a meeting at dawn 
tomorrow.' Ranik turned to stare back out over the plains.
	'Yes my lord' the servant saluted and ran off into the evenings darkness.
	Ranik listened to the messenger run off. He turned slowly and peered into the 
darkness. 'Okay Rin. Come out were I can see you' There was a startled silence and then 
a young, male, white tiger strode into view from behind a large rock were he'd been 
hiding.
	'How did you know I was there father?' Rin asked with a look of surprise and chagrin 
on his face.
	Ranik burst out laughing 'you young cubs always forget that you have noses. By the 
way when was the last time you bathed?'
	Rin looked sheepishly around 'I'm sorry father, I got caught in a stampede today,'
	Ranik laughed harder 'how did you manage to get caught in a stampede?'
	'I'd rather not say' Rin said, looking anywhere but at his father. If his father ever 
found out that he had started the stampede by opening the beasts' pen on a dare, he'd 
spend the rest of his life in the scullery. What was worse, in Rins' mind, was the fact that 
he had been to slow to get out of the way.
	Ranik gave his son a sly look and let the matter drop. 'How much did you hear?' He 
asked, with no trace of humour in his voice.
	'Enough.' Was all Rin said. 
	They both turned to stare out over the darkening plain. 
	After a few minutes Rin cleared his throat noisily 'F-father does this mean there's 
going to be a war' He was angry with himself for letting his fear show by stuttering.
	'I don't know, son' Ranik said soberly. 'But it's beginning to look that way. You 
know I called a meeting of the clan heads tomorrow?' He looked at Rin and saw him nod. 
'Good. I want you to attend that meeting as well, if there's going to be a battle you'll be 
in charge of some of the clans so you'll need to know what's going on.'
	'Okay father. The meeting starts at dawn right? I had better get some sleep then.' 
With that Rin turned to leave but his father stopped him.
	'Don't forget to bathe first.' Rin could see his fathers' teeth showing in a huge grin 
and he silently groaned to himself. His father wasn't going to let him forget his accident, 
he noticed silently.
	'I'm going to bathe now,' with that he turned and left, walking towards the 
bathhouse. He hadn't gone far when his fathers voice reached him from out of the gloom, 
'you need to work on your sidestep a bit Rin.' That was it, Rin dropped to all fours and 
sprinted to the bathhouse with his fathers laughter chasing after him.
	He reached the bathhouse and, after a quick look to see if it was empty, went in and 
shut the door. He looked over at the large iron drum that supplied the baths with hot 
water and started to curse inventively. Someone had let the fire go out. 'It looks like I'm 
going to have a cold bath tonight,' he muttered, adding a few extra curses. He removed 
his weapons harness and placed the two long swords he carried into the special rack built 
on one wall for just such a purpose. He quickly slipped out of the leather pants he wore, 
the only clothing he did wear, as the bath filled. He stepped into the bath and started to 
swear again. Damn that water was cold.
	He quickly soaped himself up, discovering in the process that he had a very large 
bruise on his back. He then picked up, from beside the bath, a stiff bristled brush and 
scrubbed himself vigorously. That done, he dunked his head under the water a few times 
then jumping out of the bath he ran under the shower to rinse the suds off. Grabbing a 
towel from a nearby pile he began to dry his fur, finding another bruise on the back of his 
leg.
 	Of all the stupid half-assed things to do, why did he go and accept that dare. He shook 
his head, 'oh well it's in the past now Rin me boyo' he muttered to himself, 'lets hope it 
stays there.'
	He quickly got dressed and grabbed his weapons, and after he'd checked to make sure 
he had cleaned up the mess he had made, he left the bathhouse and headed towards his 
room. Once inside he dropped his weapons onto the chair by the door and stretched out 
on his bed. 
	He lay awake for a while worrying about his father, after he had read the news from 
the messenger he had looked so old and frail. At least he had laughed at Rins' accident, in 
a way that made him feel better, he didn't like to think of his father as being old and frail. 
In truth it scared him.  Rin turned over with a sigh, there was nothing he could do for his 
father tonight he would have to wait for the meeting to find out what was going to 
happen. With that thought he slowly drifted off to sleep.
 			
	The creaking of his door woke Rin the next morning, someone was slowly opening it 
and sneaking into his room. Rin lay perfectly still, feigning sleep, his hand slowly 
reaching for the dagger by the side of his bed. 'Just a little further'. He thought silently to 
himself, 'there', he grasped the hilt of his dagger in hands suddenly trembling in 
excitement. He was suddenly grabbed from behind by an unseen assailant, his arms 
pinned to his chest in a vice like grip, his dagger clattered uselessly to the floor between 
his feet.
	'Not quick enough animal' a deep voice rumbled from the doorway.
	'Who are you?' Rin wheezed, this man mountain holding him was slowly squeezing 
the life out of him.
	'You'll never know', the man holding him chuckled, evilly.
	Rin caught the glint of steel out of the corner of his eye, off to the left. 'How many 
men where in here?' He wondered. He heard a slight noise to his right announcing that 
another intruder lurked there, that brought the total to four, but were there anymore 
outside or just these in here with him?
	The man holding Rin grunted and straightened, lifting Rins' feet up off the floor.
	'Finish him' the man by the door growled.
	A tall man walked in front of Rin holding his gleaming sword aloft. Rin tensed the 
muscles in his legs, making the claws in his feet extend, he would only have one chance 
to get away. The sword started to descend, Rin dug his claws into the thigh of the man 
that was holding him. With a squeal the man dropped Rin and clutched at his leg. His 
companion was to slow to react, the sword bit into the side of the big mans neck, sending 
the head rolling across the floor.
	While confusion reigned Rin hit the floor and rolled underneath the bed, coming up 
on the other side. He grabbed his swords off the chair, and shaking off the scabbards, 
made a run for the door .
	Someone leapt at him out of the shadows by the door, but Rins swords were quicker, 
his attacker fell to the floor in a spray of blood. He raced out into the hallway, prepared 
for the worst, but found it empty. There was a noise behind him but as he spun around his 
foot caught on one of the rugs, spread over the floor, and he fell backwards.
	He heard a grunt as the sword aimed for his head whistled past were he had been 
standing. Rin, growling low in his chest, lunge up from his sitting position on the floor 
and struck the man through the chest with his sword, sticking him to the wall. Rin let go 
of the sword, leaving the man pinned like a bug, and crouched low holding his remaining 
sword aloft.
	'Where had the fourth man gone? The one who had wanted him dead' Rin wondered. 
He crouched perfectly still, straining to hear any sound that would betray his attacker. 
	
To be continued