The storm had cleared and it was sunny outside. The trees were dry. Tattan
was in shock. Where had Celia gone? He looked around and saw that all of her
things were still there. Even the wings were still there and they were still
glowing. He looked outside and saw muddy paw prints all around.
"The Lupes!" he said. "They took Celia!" He climbed back into the tree and
saw signs of a struggle. Then he climbed back out the tree and looked around.
The Lupes had left a clean trail into the woods. "I need to go after them."
"Oh, you a stupid beast... you is."
"Who's there?" yelled Tattan. "Show yourself!"
A red Usul climbed down from a tall tree. "Who you looking for?"
Tattan gave the Usul a funny look. This Usul had an odd form of speech. It
was very unusual. "I'm looking for a friend," he said. "Have you seen her?"
"Maybe and maybe not," the Usul replied. He hopped down onto the ground and
tilted his head sideways. "She with some friends?"
"No, some Lupes kidnapped her," Tattan replied. "I need to go and find
her."
"Oh!" he said. "I saw her going with kidnappers to the plains."
"The plains?" asked Tattan.
"Oh yes. Many beasts go to plains. Mostly Lupe beasts," he said. "Sometimes
they bring other beasts with them." He began ticking off his fingers. "Chia
beasts, Lenny birds, Kyrii beasts." Then he stopped and looked at Tattan. "What
be your name?"
"I'm Tattan," he said. "Who are you?"
"I be called Piper," he said. "Well Tattan beast, if you is looking for you
friend, you follow Piper."
"But I can't fight a pack of Lupes without weapons," said Tattan. He began
to look worried. He needed to find her before the Lupes made a meal of her.
"Oh Piper help you there, Tattan beast," said Piper. He scampered away up
to the top of his old tree and disappeared into a large circular hole. He reappeared
seconds later at the base of the tree with a spear and a wooden shield with
a small green gem in the centre. Tattan was amazed. They matched the weapons
in his dream. He thought for a second. His dream was coming true.
"Where did you get these Piper?"
"A poor old Lenny bird was eaten by the Lupes very long time ago. He tried
to fight them off with these, but the Lupes is fast they is. There were four
or five Lupe beasts that got him. His tools were left by Piper's tree, so Piper
kept them."
"Can you show me to the plains?" Tattan asked.
"Yes I can," said Piper. He began to scamper away through the forest. He was
extremely swift on his feet.
Tattan scrambled to collect his things and keep up with the Usul. Piper lead
Tattan through the woods. They had been running for an hour when Tattan said,
"how much farther until we reach the plains?"
"Not much longer, cause we is already here," replied the Usul. He stopped
in the last tree before the plains.
Tattan looked straight ahead. He pictured the plains as open fields of grass
and possibly flowers, but what he saw was the exact opposite. These plains were
covered in rocks and dirt. In the distance Tattan saw the large mountains. "Where
do I find the Lupes?" Tattan asked.
"You need to dart behind rocks so you won't be seen," replied Piper. "The
Lupe beasts have guards all over plains. They will use you in their meals. If
you dart far enough you will see cave. That secret entrance it is."
"Thank you Piper," said Tattan.
"Anytime Tattan beast," he replied. "Now you go find friend." Then he scampered
back towards the woods.
"Well here goes nothing," said Tattan. Then he raced behind a rock then another
and another. Suddenly he saw a group of Lupe guards coming his way. He needed
a diversion; he saw a small stone lying next to him. He threw the rock at a
nearby rock.
"What was that?" said one of the guards in a deep gruff.
"Let's go see," said another. Tattan didn't wait any longer, he raced behind
another rock. He was doing great until his shoulder bumped against a rock. Several
small pebbles fell to the ground. Tattan heard more Lupes coming his way. He
quickly hid behind another rock very close to the one that he bumped into.
"Something moved over here," said one of the Guards.
"Your just hungry Moshak," laughed the other.
"I smell Shoyru," said Moshak. Tattan held his breath.
"Come on Moshak we need to get back to the cave our watch is over."
The Lupe named Moshak took one last look around before heading back. Tattan
breathed a sigh of relief. He rested for a few more minuets and ate a slice
of Hartroot Pie from his bag. He left Celia's bag untouched. He packed up his
bags again and began to dart behind rocks again. It took him a very long to
actually reach the secret entrance. He finally could see the secret entrance,
but what he saw lowered his hopes and made him frown. Three small Lupe children
were playing by the secret entrance. Tattan turned around and leaned against
a rock. "Now what," said Tattan.
Tattan watched the Lupe children. He decided to wait until it was a bit dark
to try and get in. Just then a large red female Lupe appeared.
"Come children, it's time for dinner."
"Please can we play for a bit longer momma?" the smallest Lupe asked.
"Now you don't want cold dinner do you?" the mother Lupe replied.
"Hurry inside before your father eats your dinner." The children raced back
inside. The mother Lupe headed inside seconds later.
"That was a close one," he said. "Okay now I need to move fast, or else the
Lupes will have Celia for dinner." He shot through the secret entrance. When
he was inside he groaned. There were tunnels everywhere. He Stopped for a second
and tried to narrow down which tunnel had the most noise. He decided that the
tunnel to his left had the most noise coming from it. He run through the tunnel
quickly and soon found out that this Lupe home was like a maze. It took him
forever to reach the long rocky hallway that went past the dining hall. Tattan
walked through the hall quietly. There were large openings in the walls, which
he guessed were windows. He peered into the nearest window and gulped. Before
him the Lupes dining hall was huge and packed with Lupes of every shape and
size. Tattan's heart pounded in his chest, he had never been so scared. He searched
the room for Celia hoping that she hadn't been killed. He quickly spotted he
towards the back of the room in what appeared to be a makeshift cage. Two Lupes
were guarding her. She looked extremely frightened. Tattan saw a doorway at
the back of Celia's cage. He instantly raced through passages until he found
the one at the back of the cage. He picked up a rock and used Celia's slingshot
to hit the rock against one of the walls. The Lupes ears picked up the noise
rather quickly and the headed toward the passageway. Tattan waited until they
came close to him before whacking each of them on the head with his spear. The
both hit the ground with a sickening thud. Tattan raced to the cage and tapped
Celia on the shoulder.
"Tattan!" said Celia her eyes full of tears. "You came but how…"
"No time to talk," he said. "Here take your slingshot." Celia took the slingshot
and her bag back. Tattan used the spearhead to pick the lock. As soon as the
door opened the heard a yell from one of the Lupes.
"The prisoner is escaping."
"Run!" yelled Tattan as several Lupe warriors came at them. Tattan and Celia
ran through the passage, running over the knocked out Lupe guards as they went.
The Lupes were closing in on them. A few were throwing their spears or shooting
off arrows. Tattan blocked them with his shield. They were out of the mountain
now but were still being closely pursued by eight Lupe guards. Suddenly Tattan
felt a stinging pain in his left arm. An arrow had pierced his arm but he didn't
stop running.
"We have to get to the mountains," said Tattan. Celia quickly nodded It took
them all night to reach the mountains by then the Lupes had given up on the
chase.
They stopped to rest at the entrance of a small cave. "This must be Kondach's
mountain," said Tattan.
"It can't be," said Celia as she caught her breath. "It's not raining. Remember
the Legend? The sky cries with him."
"That's right!" said Tattan. "But then which mountain is this?"
"This must be Snowcap Mountain," said Celia. "It's next to Kondach's mountain.
In between the two mountains is a very long rock slab. It called the Rock bridge."
"So I guess it always snows here then," Tattan said.
"That's right. There is a village somewhere on the mountain. The villagers
are very big believers in Kondach. They always bring gifts to the centre of
the Rock Bridge. The gifts make Kondach give them their food or something like
that."
"Wow Celia, how do you know so much about this mountain?"
"Myra told me the legend," Celia replied. " I always loved her knowledge of
Legends…" She stopped her sentence and bowed her head. Tattan knew that she
was thinking about the village.
"Celia, why don't we go inside the cave and have some dinner?" Celia looked
up at him and smiled. "Tattan do you ever stop thinking about your stomach?"
she asked while wiping away a tear.
"I haven't eaten all morning!" he said.
"Me neither," said Celia. She got up and brushed a snowflake off of her wing.
"Besides it's starting to snow." Tattan looked up. Clouds covered the once starry
sky and little white snowflakes began drifting down to the ground. "Let's go,"
he said. The two friends headed into the cave in the side of the mountain. They
started a fire and toasted some bread for dinner. Tattan decided that he should
eat his last slice of Hartroot Pie in celebration of the rescue. When Tattan
had finished he was very tired but he wanted to know all about the Lupes from
Celia.
"Celia?" he asked. "What were the Lupes like?"
"Actually some are all right," she replied. " The male Lupes do all of the
hunting. They scared me a little, they always said that they were going to eat
me." Celia shivered. "Some of the female Lupes are okay. A few have their own
little group because some of them don't like to eat other animals. They eat
mostly vegetables, and bread. They love to talk about legends and stuff."
"Wow, they sound all right," said Tattan with a yawn.
"Yes they are. But I wouldn't like to go back. Good night, Tattan."
"Good night, Celia."
"Oh and Tattan?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for saving me."
To be continued... | 
