Reliba

The wind and rain scratched at Reliba’s mid-night black fur. Droplets of water dripped off of her back as the rain made indents in her sleek and smooth coat. She looked proudly over the ocean that moved ferociously and crashed against the bottom of the cliff of which she was standing on top of. She watched the falling droplets cut the surface of the stormy seas, slicing the violent flow of water. This increased its anger and it crashed harder on the land before it. Something about the seas and oceans fascinated the young fox. She admired its power and force and its change of temperaments. Several personalities it could show, the pleasantness of the pacific to the ferociousness it only shows when the clouds stir with crashes of thunder and flashes of lightning.

Reliba raised her head; closing her eyes she felt the winds dance on her muzzle and the rains melody beating on her head. The shrill cool breeze chilling her, though she did not shudder. She loved to stand and feel the elements music, being almost incredibly in tune with nature also helped with her survival. For she had, with time, learnt to tell what the world was doing, which elements would arise with at least a two-minute warning. She noticed small signs that helped her predict when rain would fall, when the sun would shine down and she had even learnt to feel when predators were near, by the moving of rocks or land under her paws. She was known throughout the pack and was feared by many of her peers. Noises of moving foliage behind her made her open her eyes. She glanced, out of the corner of her eye, in the direction of the sound and saw a largely built fox pretty well hidden between the ferns and dries grass. Reliba pretended she hadn’t seen him, as she watched him creep slowly closer.

Stan crouched low concealing himself the best he could. Moving one paw at a time he crept stealthily up to the cliff edge where Reliba stood. He kept his breathing low and quiet. Once at a good position he tensed his body feeling the grip of the dirt under his paws and forelegs. Stan tensed up his back legs even more and got ready to pounce. “3,2,1” he counted in his head. Then he pounced. He sprang himself forward feeling the rain hit him hard on the head making him close his eyes. His paws reached out in mid air expecting to hit against their target, but as Stan quickly re-opened his eyes to check once again he was travelling in the right direction he noticed he was leaping towards the edge of the cliff. He let out a panicked yelp as he twisted his body to try and avoid the fall to certain death. Missing the edge by inches Stan’s claws dug into the earth as he tried to get back into the forest, from whence he’d just jumped. His breath came out in short panicked bursts as he realised the sudden shock he had just received. With his paws sliding in the mud of the cliff-top it was hard to run and his paws found it hard to co-operate. He got halfway back to the forest. Suddenly he felt a thump as Reliba hit him hard on the side. They both rolled down the hill leading away from the cliff edge and into the forest foliage.

The two foxes slowed to a halt and Reliba took hold of Stan’s ear with her teeth playfully. Quickly getting over his shock Stan shook Reliba off of his ear and pushed down her head with his muddy paw.

“You could’ve killed me you know” Stan said, smiling at his friend, who lay back and looked innocently at him. He longingly looked down at her, normally he would have been angry

“Well you shouldn’t have been stalking me” Reliba replied a smile creeping onto her lips. She took a paw and pushed Stan’s paw off of her face, then rolled to the side onto her stomach stood up and started to walk back towards the pack’s camp. Stan lay and watched her for a minute then quickly jumped up to follow her. The pair walked through the trees; the rain couldn’t get through the treetops so the walkways were nice and dry. The smell of damp leaves hung around the forest it smelled sweet and refreshing. Stan hurried to catch up with Reliba, he reached her and they walked in silence listening to the water hit the tree tops above them. The dense forest thinned out as they reached the clearing of the camp. The weather began to get fairer and the rain slowed to a stop. The two foxes wandered through the side entrance into camp clearing. The zerro pack was one of the most feared in the land. It contained a vast array of foxes and stray dogs that had wondered into the forest and captured by the sentry guards. All different types were sat around small cooking fires next to large tents and disposable buildings. Small, skinny lapdogs to strongly built black foxes filled the lands, each fulfilling out a task that they had been set.

Reliba wandered through the creatures, weaving, ducking and diving to avoid being crushed in the mass of working beasts. Stan tried his best to keep up, but found himself pushing people aside rather than the smooth movement of Reliba’s; this took him much longer and he gained many angry looks as he pushed past.

“Oi Reliba” called a very powerful brown-coated fox that sat by a sycamore tree. He was accompanied by a rather odd group of Corgi’s and small wimpy foxes that followed him because of his physique. Reliba stopped long enough to see who had called her, then slowly began to walk towards the fox wondering what he wanted.

“Yeah?” she said and she cocked her head to the side.

“Sir said he wanted to see you,” replied looking up at the young fox before him. He hated the young, childish and irresponsible, they would come to nothing and he thought that no child should have a place in the pack.

“Oh, ok,” said Reliba. Her heart sank, whenever “sir”, the leader of the pack wanted to see people, they usually either never came back or they contained horrific scars and deep wounds beyond belief. Reliba’s paws shook in the dirt as she made each step away from the terrible news barer. She saw people nearby, who had been eavesdropping, looked at Reliba in shock, some even fear, as she took each step towards the enormous castle like structure at the far end of the camp.

Stan swerved into people everywhere he went struggling to keep up his friend, though he’d been lost from her for about five minutes already. He found his way into a clearing and perked his ears up listening and watching for any thing that could take him back to Reliba. He sighed and punished himself for his incompetence. He, what he thought was secretly, liked Reliba a lot. Even though many thought her mysterious and scary, he had found the mystery kind of enchanting. He loved the strange qualities of her nature and for some reason wanted to be around her a lot, but he couldn’t find it within him to tell her. Lost in his own thoughts his brain suddenly kicked itself into action as he heard some people talking near him.

“I heard he’s going to kill her” came an exiting whisper from behind a tree “who is she anyway?” it continued.

“They say her names Reliba and don’t be stupid, they won’t kill her… first,” an evil and sly voice speaking in hushed tones said to the other.

Stan’s heart began to beat faster in shock and in one action he sped off towards the castle at the far end of the camp.

People continued to stare as Reliba got to the steel gates. The guards straightened up as she entered nearer. Everyone seemed to back away from her as they saw her, like they were seeing the living dead. An array of unnecessary growling came from certain areas of the camp. Reliba dropped her head in shame.

“What have I done wrong” she thought as she heard all the hate creeping through the pack. The steel gates slammed shut behind her as she proceeded through the main passage. The walls around her were lined with gold, silver, platinum and other expensive metals. Expensive objects filled the edges of the small hallway making it look crowded, yet impressive. It widened out into a massive chamber covered with fancy decorations of pure gold and at the far end, sat on a magnificent throne, was the leader of the pack. He was an extremely powerful beast and his very name was feared throughout the land and even over the vast seas. Damien the fierce, the very name sent chills in the heart of many beasts. The fox had massacred thousands of creatures. Blood stained his paws and teeth. Wild eyes slyly watched his servants running around terrified that they would have their heads chopped off or sliced if they made one mistake. He stared at the beautiful young fox before him and an evil smile crept onto his lips.

Reliba stood in front of Damian, her head hung low yet she had to keep eye contact, she could not show weakness in front of the grand master. The silence was almost overpowering, Reliba’s shaking breaths echoed throughout the hall bouncing off of the walls.

“Step forward” shouted a strong wolf, that sat obediently next to the throne.

Reliba did as she was told. She stood and awaited her orders. She hoped that she wouldn’t suddenly feel a blade thrust into her stomach or an arrow pierce her chest as she was slaughtered. Holding her breath she listened as Damian began to speak.

“Reliba, I have heard many rumours about you. I have heard you posses some kind of… authority shall we say, within the group. Well it just seemed appropriate that I see someone so widely feared.” He said as he arose and walked towards Reliba. “I expected to find a strong beast that would suit fit to be in my armies. Or maybe I expected a seer, a mystic beast who could tell me my future. But what do I see before me?” He paused, though he didn’t expect an answer. His voice seemed to tense up, as an anger built up. “A puny fox child with no importance or capability within her! That’s what I find!” He yelled and pressed his muzzle forcefully against hers.

Cowering below the mighty beast Reliba tried to utter her words in a panicky defence.

“But sir, I don’t know of any authority, I... I hope that you could… maybe… ignore the rumours, I…I’m no threat to you sir.” She shut her eyes. Panicking that her choice of words might make Damien’s anger increase. She heard a snigger close to her right ear.

“Do you think I’m a fool Kid? I wouldn’t let you loose without testing you first…see if you really are trying to take over my throne then you will survive my tasks… and if not your fine.” He smiled at his own words. “You are ordered to go into a maze that I myself shall make, if you make it out alive I will know you are trying to overtake me. Damian suddenly burst out laughing, a cruel evil laugh that echoed around the room. Once he had stopped he glanced towards the wolf that sat near his throne. “Take her to the Slave line”. The wolf bowed his head and took hold of Reliba’s paws and almost had to drag her.