Klinrona Tribe

Angry snorting and roaring, two Salikos rolled across the damp earth, pressing the high stalks of reed grass down as they trampled it in their fierce battle. They were both female and of the same age, yet one of them was a lot tinier than the other and seemed to be inferior to the other, yet the green colored Tatra fought vigorously against the blue one. As the smaller on was being thrown to the ground, the other one standing above her, she grinned and with a strong hit from her hind legs sent the other one flying, who just looked baffled at that immense strength.

«Hey, that’s against the rules!»

«Who said there were any rules?»

«Come on Nickel, don’t be like that!»

«What do you mean? All’s fair in love and war.»

The green spotted one smirked and dodged her sister paw which had reached back to slap her in the face. They loved each other a lot, went through thick and thin together, but they still were quite different in comparison. Sif was brash and adventurous, tall for her age and was the spitting image of their father. She was quick to fight and never let anyone tell her what to do. Nickelglut on the other hand was rather calm and clever, always passive and defensive, yet upbeat and positive, whereas her sister often had a gloomier attitude.

Out of the thicket a pretty, blue jill came towards them, smiling and nodding her head towards them.

«Alright, that’s enough for today you two.»

«Aww come on, Nerissa! We were just in the middle of a fight!»

«Seemed to me as if you were losing, Sif.»

She winked towards Nickelglut.

«Nice work! I knew your size wouldn’t determine your strength.»

«Yeah yeah…still wish I was taller anyway. I can never see when something’s going on and others just patronize me all the time.»

«They’ll learn not to. You’ll show them what you’re made of, I’m sure. You’re both still young, don’t let yourselves get defined by those narrow minded squirrel-brains. Now, let’s get to business. Nickel, your mother needs us to collect some herbs for her to help Caliban. We should go right away.»

«What about Sif, can she not come with us?»

«Pffft! As if I’d spend my time looking for plants.»

The cold colored jill grunted, then turned around and left towards their camp.

«Have fun you two!»

Then she was gone. Nickel looked bewildered by how rude her sister could be sometimes, but she had always been like that anyway. Together the two remaining jills started their journey around the lake, followed the river and left the large clearing, walking into the shade of a dark forest. The needles of the conifers crunched beneath their paws and the soft earth was bouncy at every step.

«You know, I’ve been talking to Galina and we both think you might become a great healer apprentice sometime. You know a lot of herbs already and this might be the perfect calling for you.»

«What?! Come on, the only reason mum wants me to become a healer is because she’s scared I might get hurt! You all know I’m a good fighter and I want to become a guardian and protect our tribe someday!»

«Sure sure, I just wanted to tell you so you could think about it. Your mother also never thought she’d become a healer when she was younger, but it just happened some day.»

«What do you know about her? You didn’t even know Galina when you were both younger!»

Nerissa turned silent. She hated it when someone was yelling at her and the spotted jill was quite mad. They quietly walked on for a while, until Nickel sighed and turned to the adult.

«I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. It’s just that…Sif wants to become a warrior someday and everyone says that’s fine and she’ll be great and so on. But if I say I want the same thing, everyone’s like ‘Are you sure? You should think about that’. No one believes in me…except you.»

«They are just worried, you know? There have been rumors about a hob running around the forest, who’s said to be on a terrifying, murderous rampage, killing mothers and whelps alike. They just don’t want to lose you defending the tribe out there when you could be in safety, helping the clan from the inside.»

Nickel thought about that for a while and then nodded.

«I see that. But still it’s my life and I should be allowed to do whatever I want with it. And if the gods let me die on the battlefield, then that is exactly where I’m supposed to be.»

Nerissa swallowed audibly, such depressing thoughts were making her uncomfortable.

«You’ll be fine, just keep on practicing with Sif and maybe one day try to challenge Diedre, she’s quite a good fighter as well.»

«Your sister?»

«Yeah. It’s funny, me and Diedre are just like you and Sif – Complete opposites. But that makes us stronger when we’re together. We compensate each other perfectly.»

«I’ve never seen it like that…»

They were getting close to the edge of their territory. The trees had become sparser and gave way to a snowy landscape in the distance. Here the winter was clearly noticeable.

As her feet sank into the cold snow, the fur on Nickels neck stood up like spikes. She wasn’t used to it, but didn’t want to show weakness, so she kept on going.

Nerissa led them over a snowy hill and towards a frozen pond, where the herbs were they were supposed to find the herbs they were looking for.

«How can there be anything growing out here? It’s way too cold for any plant.»

«I believe these ones are special. They only grow in the north.»

«Then what do Kumbas do when they need it?»

«It’s used for treating white- and greencough, a sickness that only occurs in cold areas, so Kumbas shouldn’t really need to collect it.»

«I see. Have I had whitecough yet when I was younger?»

«Thankfully not. It’s usually not dangerous, but whelps have a harder time getting over the illness and if untreated it could become greencough, which is severe and can spread around easily.»

«Is Caliban gonna be fine?»

«I’m sure he’ll be. Your half brother is a strong young hob. Here we are!»

They trotted around the pond and used their paws to remove the snow until they found a cluster of the leaves and carefully picked as much as they could carry.

Suddenly the loud noise of feet trampling through the white mass could be heard and the two jills turned around. A group of four strangers ran towards them at breakneck speed, the snow flying thorugh the air as they pushed through with ease. The three Tundras immediately surrounded them and continued to walk in circles around them. There was no way for them to run.

One of them, a dark green colored jill with red eyes, which was obviously the leader of the group, stopped in front of them and looked down at the Tatras with a fiery stare, both of them had their ears low and tails tucked, showing they didn’t want to fight.

«Well well well, what do we have here? Two lone Tatras stealing our whitesage. What have you to say for yourselves?»

Nerissa spoke calmly, but couldn’t hold the strangers gaze for long.

«I’m sorry, did we trespass your territory? I didn’t know there was anyone living here, we were just looking for these herbs and were on our way home.»

«Well bad luck, ‘cause we need those plants. You’re gonna give them to us now or we’re gonna get unpleasant.»

«You can’t!»

Nickel stepped up, her posture now defiant and confident.

«What was that you little twerp?»

«I said NO.»

They were standing right in front of each other now, only a whiskers length away, but the Tatra didn’t even reach to the other jills chin. The stranger laughed.

«What are you gonna do about it, huh? If you want a battle, you shall get a battle.»

«Nickelglut, no. Don’t risk it. We can just keep searching.»

«Be smart and listen to your mommy, whelp.»

That was enough. The spotted jill growled and jumped at her opponents throat, teeth exposed. Surprised by the attack the larger jill could not defend herself and fell down, Nickel on top of her, snapping at her, but the Tundra kept her at bay with her front paws. Immediately two of the other Tundras jumped up and pulled the angry owl face away from their leader, the last Tundra making sure Nerissa didn’t run, though she didn’t even think about abandoning the apprentice.

«How DARE you!?»

The two warriors held Nickel down while their leader got back up to her paws and shook her fur, snow flying everywhere.

«For that alone you deserve a fight to death. I’m gonna be nice and let you choose your opponent yourself.»

Nickel looked around at the Tundras. They were all more than twice her size and way too experienced. There was the dark, red eyed jill, a hob with white claw marks across his face, a huge brown hob and a blue jill with mesh gracing her fur. The Tatra knew a fight would not end well, but she didn’t back down and pointed to the blue jill, which looked surprised and softly shook her head.

«I don’t want t–»

«Silence, Revira! You will battle this dwarf now, it’s my command.»

«But…»

The jill looked disturbed by the thought of fighting what seemed to be a whelp for them.

«Ontari, we’re just here for the whitesage. We found it and they’re giving it to us, let’s go.»

«Are you seriously doubting my decisions in front of everyone?»

The leader hissed, mad with rage. Her head darted towards the blue jill, but she turned her head in time, so Ontari bit her ear. The dark one shook her head, not letting go until she ripped a cut into Reviras ear, which bled heavily.

«Lucky again, little one. This idiot here saved you from your punishment, but let me tell you, if I see you again I will rip you to shreds myself.»

With that the two hobs took the herbs and went after their leader, Revira turning towards the Tatras who bowed in thanks and she nodded back, then she sprinted after her pack.

«What are we gonna do now?! Caliban needs his medicine!»

«Nickel, first of all, listen to me. It’s very brave of you to stand up for yourself and your friends, but a true warrior chooses his battles carefully. This might not have ended so well.»

«I won’t let anyone walk over me like that!»

«I know.»

Her mentor softly licked the apprentices mane to calm her down, then proceeded to sweep away the snow in front of the blue ones feet.

«About the herbs, while the others were distracted I buried some of them here. So we’re not gonna come back with empty paws.»

«Is it gonna be enough?»

«It will have to be.»

As they walked back home, Nickel was angry at herself for leashing out like that and was afraid Nerissa would tell her parents. They’d never let her go out again if they’d know! A tear rolled down the little ones cheek and the adult noticed, turning her head towards the green jill.

«Don’t worry, you’ll learn. Just don’t make the same mistake again next time.»

Next time!

She smiled and the tiny spotted one smiled back.

«I promise I won’t.»

Back at home they brought the herbs to Galina right away, who thanked them and proceeded to chew them up and put them in the tiny whelps mouth, who was lying in her den. Calibans fur was still almost completely black and he slept most of the time, but his cough sounded pretty bad.

«Is that all you got?»

«Maybe someone else can try to find more, but it would be even farther north I assume. We didn’t dare to go too far.»

The kupfer jill shook her head.

«It’s fine, I’ll see what I can do.»

She lay down next to the whelp and wrapped her bushy tail around her youngest pup to keep him warm.

«How was the trip, Nickel. Did you enjoy it?»

The apprentice hesitatet, not sure if she should tell the truth or not, but then Nerissa answered in her stead.

«Nickelglut was very brave today! A wild Isbar surprised us while we were gathering the herbs, but she scared it off. It had ambushed me and I would’ve never been able to fend it off myself. She’d truly be a great warrior.»

They smiled at each other knowingly.