The Star Runners

Where will their destinies take them?

Prolog: A Destiny is Born

Tossa sat on the rocky mound, her brown eyes staring into the setting sun. The sky was all shades of pinks and purples, the land quiet waiting for the coming night to swallow the color of the lush green grass and the rainbow colored flowers. Already the land was quite dark because most of the sun was hidden behind the ring of hills that surrounded the valley she lived in. But somehow Tossa could take none of it in. All she knew was the feeling of loss in a time that should have been filled with happiness. Tossa’s mind stayed focused on the strong black dog with coal black eyes and a fiery temper. He had come to her like a dream and loved her with all his might. Every night they had run in joy and freedom over the hills. But now her mate Slecker was no longer with her in the small valley surrounded by hills. When the puppies were born he had left her because he spoke of a destiny elsewhere, a destiny that lay with the two clans that lived in hatred of each other. He was the leader of one of the clans. How he had spoken of it. It was his life. How could she have thought he would want to stay with her? But what about the puppies, freshly born, their eyes still tightly closed, who lay together fast asleep in the rocky cave hidden by dense ferns and vines? Wouldn’t they be enough to have made him stay?

Tossa stood up and picked her way down the rocky slope to the cave underneath it. There lay her puppies without a care in the world. They were only two weeks old, and already Tossa loved them more then she could say. Two of the three were black like their father. She hoped they would look like him. That way she could treasure the troublesome foxhound in her mind. Her last puppy was also her only female and she looked just like her mother. Tossa sat beside her daughter staring at her, loving her. This puppy’s name was Star. She had named her for the stars that shined though the darkness no matter what happened. There was something about this dog, everyone spoke of her. They said that Star had a wonderful life ahead of her, one haunted with pain and death but one also alight with glory and friendship. Her destiny would only grow with time. The words of the prophecy flickered though Tossa’s mind: When a power hungry lion and a great evil take control the only one who can save everything is the one that will one day walk among the stars. “Oh well,” Tossa thought, “I’ll keep her from walking the path of destiny.”

How very wrong she was.