Amara and Rath's Tale
This story is rated for Readers Over 16 for sexual situations and violence
Over the next few days, the cat clan gathered together. The strange thing was that no one looked unhappy about leaving their home. I asked Zarra about this and he told me that the cat clan was very glad to be leaving the cold and unforgiving mountains to be able to live in the sunny valley. He had explained the arrangement that the wolves had with the humans in Prospect and everyone of his clan was amenable to the same arrangement. I was very surprised by this turn of events and when I talked to Rath, he expressed the same elation as I did. Everything was going even better than we hoped.
Zarra's clan consisted of 26 male cat demons, 15 female demons, and about 75 demon cats, including females and young. This was a much larger clan that expected and would make things in the valley very different. The moratorium on the number of people allowed in Prospect could be lifted, and we might be able to spread our protection to neighboring villages. I was anxious to return to the village with our good news.
On the morning of the fifth day we started the trek homeward. I was not looked upon with disdain as I had been with the wolves at first; rather I seemed to be consider a sort of savior. I suddenly realized how hard life must be in the mountains and it made me wonder how it was on the other side of the mountains.
Rath used to live there, but he offered no information at all, barely answering my questions with monosyllables and only doing that because of my power. Not for the first time did I wonder what he was hiding. Rath was an enigma wrapped in a mystery. He was obviously a high class demon and Zarra had called him a demon lord. Both Kala and Zarra knew who Rath was, but only by name. When I asked if he had family, he replied in the negative. If he was a lord, did he have a kingdom? A clan of his own? No to both of those questions. So who was Rathamaru? I began to think I would never find out the truth about his past.
With Zarra's clan, our little group became a caravan, spread almost a half mile from beginning to end. The female with young walked the slowest but they were not vulnerable - the strongest males protected them. The females and young of any species were the most valuable, for they were the future.
Since we were traveling so slowly, it took six days to reach Prospect. When I reached the first farms, news quickly spread and by the time we reached the edge of the village, the entire population was there to greet us. They welcomed the cat clan with open arms and threw an impromptu feast in the village square. Venison and boar were roasted over long spits and vegetables, soups, breads, and milk was served. And several kegs of wine were opened.
Humans, wolves and cats all mingled together in friendship for probably the first time ever. The wolves and cats had been enemies at one time, both vying for the same food source: humans. Now they were one family -- and all thanks to my strange power.
I was toasted many times and had to make several speeches - which usually consisted little more than a stammered thank you. It was embarrassing to be treated special -- especially since my power was nothing that I could control. It had just happened and it felt wrong to take credit when it was merely fate that had chosen me for this gift.
After the feast had ended, very late that night, me and my three demons walked to my house. The cats stayed in the village or on the outskirts of town. Tomorrow they would decide where to make their new home. All of us were tired from the long journey and the long night, so we all said goodnight, with Rath and Kala going to their own rooms, leaving Zarra and me standing on the porch. Zarra said he would sleep on the porch and bid me goodnight. I told him that he could share my bed, but he shook his head. He didn't think he could sleep next to me without wanting me and then neither of us would get any rest.
As I got into my soft bed -- I had missed it so much! -- it suddenly occurred to me that it had been over four years since I had slept alone. I immediately missed the warmth of their bodies, and the feeling of completely security when one of them was wrapped around me as I slept. But exhaustion took over and I fell into a dreamless sleep that lasted way past sunup, but then I had never been an early riser.
When I did get up, I found breakfast waiting for me. And all three of my demons waiting for me also. They wanted to get started on Zarra's room, but couldn't until I got up. Once I was up and eating breakfast on the porch, they got busy adding the fourth bedroom. Pretty soon my house was going to be the largest in the village.
After breakfast I went to visit my chickens and found my hens happily caring for baby chicks -- just as I had predicted. When they grew up, I was going to have over three dozen chickens! I hoped that the cats liked eggs as much as the wolves did! I asked the wolf demons nearby if they would build a larger chicken coop and they immediately started on it.
In the late morning one of the cat demons came to report that they had decided on a home base -- in the rolling hills to the east of my house. They were already busy building little huts to live in -- for the families -- and one large communal living hall for the single demons. They were also making plans with the wolves on exactly how to divide the protection. And they wanted to reconnoiter to find out how much land and how many people they could safely guard.
As the days passed, word spread and soon new families were moving to Prospect, but their farms were getting further and further away. The wolves and cats decided to set up two splinter groups in two of the largest neighboring villages so that they would not so far to travel to get home. And wolves and cats that did not belong to the clan came and asked to join. Living in peace with plenty of food and a safe home was very enticing to demons who had been living day to day and often sleeping on hard ground or in trees for safety.
Rath made a map of the Valley and with the help of Zarra and Kala, marked the boundaries that were protected. We now could protect half of the Valley. Only two villages, one to the North and the other of the South, and the outlying farms on the edges of the Valley were unprotected.
And again I wondered if it would be possible to bind another clan leader, so that we could protect the whole Valley. All three groaned in unison! I just smiled at them.