~The Walking Forest~

Shimza looked out at the feline settlement from the edge of the forest. He knew it would not be wise to just walk into the town in the darkness. So he decided he'd spend the night in the forest instead. He turned back to where he'd set up camp around a tree. He stood next to the tree, closed his eyes and rested his palm on its trunk. He took a series of practiced breaths then muttered;

"Fire turn fire burn

Do not stray but obey

Flaming flower do not cower

Circle form fire borne."

He opened his eyes and scanned his camp. Surrounding him and the tree in a perfect wide circle, were fire daisies. He smiled at himself. Despite not wanting more power he still felt some slight satisfaction at his improvement. A few weeks ago he could barely command a single daisy into doing his will. A few years ago he could not even dream of casting a flame. Now he had successfully bound a tree and set up a warning system in case something came wondering about. He had done it rather easily too. Second grade mage? He could probably take on Zengruid and win if he wanted to. He could become first mage and-

He remembered the feline kid who had bested him just a few days ago and hoped for his sake that not all felines would be that strong and fast. To clear his mind of these futile thoughts and suppress other unpleasant memories that were starting to blossom, he sat and leaned against the tree, fished out a bottle of ale from his travel sac and sang himself to oblivion.

*

When night gave way to day Shimza packed his sac and unbound the tree he lay under. The daisies scattered, finding sun-lit patches to sit in and he was on his way.

He did not have to go far. Before he even entered the town he was spotted and a group of four feline had surrounded him. The tallest of these stepped forward and gave the mage a threatening stare. Under usual circumstances Shimza would be shouting vile things at them and throwing fireballs. He hated the feline just as much as they hated his kind. But he was on a mission. So instead he chose a peaceful approach.

"I come in peace," Shimza said, raising his hands to show his unarmed state.

"On what business? There is nothing for your kind here," the feline said.

"I need to deliver a message to your chief," Shimza responded.

"Our chief will not listen to your fowl words human," There was an edge to the feline's tone as he said this.

"I have reason to believe your chief will want to listen to what I have to say," Shimza insisted.

"And I have reason to believe otherwise," the feline said, daring the mage to counter.

"Well then. I guess I'll be on my way back home." Shimza turned to walk away but one of the feline men blocked his path.

"On second thoughts, I do believe the chief will want to see you," the man said.

"I've decided I do not want to see your chief after all."

"I do not think you have a choice on the matter." The feline prodded him on the shoulder and turned him around as he said this and they escorted him through the town.

As they moved through the settlement Shimza felt the cold stares that bore into him from every feline they passed. Every now and then they passed groups of four well-built feline men like the ones escorting him. He soon figured that they must be some sort of street patrol. By the way other feline looked at them and the tension in the air, Shimza could tell that there was something unusual and unsettling yet familiar about the atmosphere. He knew feline hated humans but what he felt as he walked across the little town was more than hate. Children looked at him with remorse and only their mothers' curt words stopped them from stoning him. A few men who were fitting glass into a window stopped what they were doing and he could have sworn he saw them consider using the glass to cut him up instead of wasting it on a window frame. Fear suddenly clutched at his heart as he realized his situation. These people wanted him dead and he could do nothing but wonder why he was even still alive. They could have killed him on the spot and be done with it.

*

"You are not the chief..." Shimza speculated as he regained consciousness to see a tall dark-skinned feline.

"I am now. Thanks to your people," the man shot back.

The mage seemed surprised by this.

"Uhhh, I seem to be lost here, do you mind explaining what that means?" he said.

"Do not test my patience. We know it was you and we know why you are here," the feline said.

"Okay, you know it was me who did what exactly?" As much as Shimza asked this to gain information, as per his mission, he was also genuinely curious.

The feline looked irritated, as if he did not like this game that the human mage was putting up. He motioned to a guy whom Shimza recognized as one of the men who escorted him into the town. The man passed on something that Shimza didn't recognize until the feline who was now the chief moved toward him waving the object in the air purposefully. It was a knife! Shimza decided then that it was time to call it quits on the mission and fight his way out. The first mage would have to be fine with the little information he had gathered which, as he saw it, was none at all. That didn't seem to matter seeing as knives were involved. He made a move to stand and realized he couldn't. Looking down, he noticed for the first time since regaining consciousness that he'd been bound. A thick rope wound around his waist and his legs anchoring him to the chair on which he sat and also, he was sitting. He attempted to cast a flame but individual strings were tied to his fingers and stretched taught so that he could not even as much as twitch. His captors had thought this through.

"Ah, you are starting to see what's going on here," the feline said. "You'll start talking now?"

"What did you do to me?" Shimza fought to hide his fear.

"A well-guarded feline secret. Now talk before the knife does some cutting. I've been wondering if mages really do bleed fire..." The genuineness in the feline's tone sent a shiver down the mage's spine. His mind worked fast. He had to think of something. Was this about the feline boy he had fought? Was he that important? No. It could not have been about that unless...

"A girl. A human girl. Is that who you are looking for?" he offered.

"Why yes," the feline said, taken aback. He had not expected it to have been that easy. Then he added;

"Not just any human girl. It was your princess. She came in here and assassinated our chief and we would like to know why?"

Shimza took all of this in. Now he knew why the girl had come into the feline town. But solving this mystery only allowed more questions to grow. Rumors that the girl they were chasing was actually the princess had crept into almost every dark corner of Solestia. Shimza himself was not too concerned with the royal families and believe it or not. He did not know how the princess looked. If this didn't confirm the rumors then Shimza didn't know what would. The question now was why the king would want her brought back dead. He had made it clear to Zengruid that she was not to enter that palace alive. And why would she murder the feline chief. Surely this would start a -

Shimza looked up. He did not understand a thing that was going on. All he was sure of was that whatever events had taken place were going to start a war in which he was most probably going to be the first casualty. He smiled at the feline;

"Oh, well that is the same person I am looking for too."

~*~