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 Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:47 pm
"Thank you."
Lyka picked up her weights (had they really been this heavy before?) and followed, not sure how to voice her thoughts. She didn't want to appear worried for Eris's safety. So far, the kitten had turned out as a complete failure, but something was still nagging her.
"Well, it's not that I'm really concerned. I just think that maybe the Spirits have a destiny for Eris. I know she's completely useless now, but maybe there's something in her, something that the wind likes. Something that..just hasn't woken up yet. If it's there, she could be really vauluble to Quicktalon. I'd hate to see that kind of special power go untapped."
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Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:39 pm
Moriean nodded.
"That is true. The spirits may yet have a path for her to follow."
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:51 am
Tavi, watched her daughter carefully as she presented her kill to a homemaker. Lyka was with Moriean, a powerful but oddly gentle warrior. It seemed that the teen was keeping good company. The striped huntress sent a glare her way for good measure, the meaning clear.
As she caught her mother's eye, Lyka's ears dropped slightly. She was stil a teen, and as a mother, Tavi wasn't finished pounding important lessons into her skull. One of which was the importance of hunting and the difficulties of catching food. Knowing full well that she could still catch her own meal, even after an exhausting day of training, Lyka backed away from the entrance.
"Thank you for teaching me, Moriean, and thank you for asking about Eris. I will train hard."
With a parting wave, she strode off into the mountains. Sure, they would probably give her food if she asked for it, but she would never earn her Mother's respect that way. More importantly, it was on her honor now.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:02 pm
~O~Hunting Wolf~O~ Lyka sniffed the wind carefully from her perch high on a rock ledge. They were here, in this valley. She had heard their howls as they chased their prey a few nights before, oblivious to the predator among them. The teen had been practicing her strikes, learning to hit hard instead of just drawing blood. She had been slowly but surely increasing her fractional dodging speed and ability, slowly improving her fighting skills, and now she had come here to test them.
As she had seen during the Festival of Warfare, wolves were dangerous prey. They were not only prey, but also predators, and would kill a cougar if given the chance. There was no doubt that a fully trained warrioress would have no trouble against a wolf, but Lyka had only sparred before, she had learned all the techniques she needed and she knew her strength was sufficient, thanks to long days of training with the weights. The only thing left, the last thing, was learning how to keep her mind working even with the pumping adrenaline. Lyka was here to learn how to fight for her life.
She waited for them to rouse themselves for the night. Now, the hunt would begin. She moved to a clearing near the base of the cliffs. Wolves couldn't climb, so she could escape if she really needed to, but she tried to forget about her safety line, knowing that in real combat there would be none. The teen clawed her arm gently, drawing blood with her sharpened claws, but not damaging the muscles underneath. This was only to attract them with the scent.
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Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:38 pm
~O~Enter Dream~O~
Black, all black. She could hear their snuffery breath through the darkness, hear them growling wrathfully at her. Their claws scraped against the ground and their tails thumped. The air was filled with the scent of wolf! Nothing but wolf all around her. Then a glint of silver flashed through the darkness and a single bright feather floated through the air towards her. She reached out and caught it, crushing it in her hands, angrily. She, too, was a Daughter of the Cliffs! She would prove herself his equal. His bright eyes and whipping red toungue loomed out at her from the darkness, fangs shining, laughing at her. Instead of being afraid, the cougar snarled back and the spirit faced her from across the battle ring at the Festival of War. He flapped his wings once and the blast of air pushed her back.
~O~End Dream~O~
Lyka's eyes snapped open as the first wolf rushed at her from the left. She hopped backwards to avoid the charge, slamming her elbow into its ear as it brushed by. She dug her claws tightly into its back,, leaving bloody claw marks with minimal effort. The second came at her from behind and she lashed out at it with her foot. Her footclaws were out, but she struck with her heel, aiming for impact rather than bloodshed, although as she continued the kick into a twist, the claws did their damage. She elbowed another in the gut, but one of the previous wolves sprang for her unprotected throat. The blue-grey cougar threw up an arm to stave it off, and a burning pain knifed through her as the wolf tore into her flesh.
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Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:52 pm
She wanted to run, to sprint up the cliff she knew was behind her, but she didn't allow herself that. If she turned coward now, the wolves would be on her and drag her down in an instant. Keep calm, keep still, don't be afraid to take a hit. That had been Moriean's advice. Yes, she needed to stay calm. The wolf had his jaws locked around her arm, which meant it was vulnerable. She sunk her claws through the thick skin of its neck and ripped away as much as she could, releived when the wolf went limp and a torrent of blood spouted from the broken veins. Seeing their dead comrade, the other wolves fled.
Lyka extracted her mangled arm from its teeth bit by bit. The wolf had bitten down to the bone, but the damage was not as serious as it might have been. It would heal on it's own. She had not done as well as she would have liked, but the teen was proud of herself. She had not turned and scampered away up the cliff. She had stood her ground, taken a hit, and kept her head.
The wolves did not return to avenge their fallen, and Lyka ate and rested for a while, as her arm healed. When she at last returned to the Quicktalon home caves, there was a new proud glint in her eye, and four new wolf's fangs on an armband.
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:06 pm
~O~The Falcon's Challenge~O~ She was high up, higher up than she had ever gone before, and she wasn't alone. Above her, a winged shadow taunted her with its sharp cry. Lyka bared her fangs at the falcon, clearly annoyed. If only it would come closer, she could swat it out of the air with her claws, but the bird danced out of her reach, close enough to fill her nose with dusty avian scent, far enough that if she reached out to catch it, she would fall to her death.
Irritated, she climbed higher, still trying to reach the bird.
Truthfully, the falcon was the first living thing besides wayward cougars like herself that Lyka had seen in the Gust Cliffs, and it's prescence reassured her that vengeful spirits were not about to rise up from the depths, or down from the endless stretch of rock wall above her as the case might have been. She had come here to train, but the falcon was just a package of very fast and very annoying meat hovering just beyond her reach and the blue-grey teen was determined to catch it. A faclon was diffucult prey, and not only would she have the succulent flesh to present to her tribe, she would have the feathers to make ornaments with, and the respect that came with having killed such a bird. Falcons were predators, just as cougars were. They did not scratch the ground looking for seeds, but swooped out of the sky with talons outstretched. The dive of a falcon was faster than a cougar's pounce by far, and the eyes of a falcon sharper. To catch a falcon was to exhibit great prowess. Lyka couldn't beleive her luck when she spied the bird perching on a ledge high above her, but so far, it had prooved much more difficult than she anticipated.As Lyka turned her body against the cliff to climb higher, in hopes of gaining on the bird, the falcon swooped in and tried to strike her shoulder. She twisted around fast enough to lash at the bird, but not quite fast enough, for it darted out of range again. She hissed at it, flattening her ears, but every time she tried to climb, the falcon swooped towards her again.
Lyka tried leaping from ledge to ledge, but the falcon always kept out of her reach. She didn't dare go further, afraid that she would miss the ledge and fall. Still the falcon hassled her, aggraviating the cougar. She let out a frustrated roar-scream, the furious sound reverberating off the cliffs and shaking the very air around them. The falcon answered with an equally shrill, equally desparate screech.
She chased the falcon higher, looking for a wide ledge that she might be able to fall outwards onto, but the wind would blow her off course. It would be a tricky manuver, even if she could find a suitable place. Her prey was also struggling to stay on course, the wind pushing its feathers haphazardly astray, but the delicate wings strained against it with all the strength the bird could muster. It was just barely enough, but the falcon showed no signs of relenting although Lyka knew it must be tiring quickly. A feirce desparation shone in its eyes and the pair went higher still, locked in a deadly struggle on the endless cliffs.
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:12 pm
The wind, it was the enemy of them both, and as they were enemies, it was a strength to them both. A particularly strong gust propelled the bird forwards and it sunk sharp talons into Lyka's back before it was ripped away again, beating its wings to steady itself in the air.
As she watched the falcon, alternately fending it off and trying to capture it, Lyka was facinated by those wings. Not only did they beat, but they turned and curved as if they were carving through the air. With the lethal winds buffeting them, feeling more like a solid than a vapor, the teen realized that the air had a shape. The falcon could see it, ride it, mould it to its flight, while she was stuck like a stone, clinging to the mountainside in fear of it. If she wanted to go safely, she would have to learn the shape of the wind just like the falcon.
She closed her eyes and tried to tune out her other senses, and slowly, the stones began to hum beneath her touch. She could feel their ancient words flowing through her, feel their power. She searched within them for the wooshing, rushing sensation, ah, there it was, there was the wind. Her eyes were closed, but she could feel it coming into focus, a gap there, a rough patch there, and over there the wind was strong but as smooth as a well worn riverstone. There was something coming, yes, it was there. Here was her chance! Her eyes snapped open and she leaped upwards as hard as she could, her claws unsheathed and her hand reaching upwards, grabbing the falcon out of the sky.
The strong something slammed into her with jarring force and she was hurled back against the cliff wall by the wind. For a breif moment, she panicked as she scrabbled for a hold, but she did not slide far before she found one. Grasped in her hand was the falcon.
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:20 pm
A sharp cry to her left interrupted the satisfied sensation of a sucessful kill flooding through her. Deep in a crack, sheltered from the relentless winds was another falcon, this one fluffed and angry, but not willing to leave her perch. The fluffy white head with bright avian eyes that peeked out from under the bird said it all. She was a mother.
Lyka looked to the slain body she held. So that was why it had been hassling her. The bird was a proud father defending his mate and his young. That was silly. Cougar mothers did the fighting and the hunting. The fathers were worthless beings, useful only for reproduction. While it was unprecedented to bring in two falcons from the same hunt, Lyka let her be. Mothers were mothers and they were to be respected, no matter what species.
As she reached the trail back to the Quicktalon home caves, the winds seemed to soften in approval and she felt the cliffs hum to her. She had let a huge opportunity slide, but she somehow knew she had done the right thing.
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:33 pm
~O~The Days Before~O~ In the days the followed, Lyka trained relentlessly as the winds blew at the Gust Cliffs. She was growing stronger and more skillful by the day, but she could sense something building and growing within her. She was almost ready, to take on Blue Moon. Her dreams were invaded with the vision of the impassive expanse of ominous blue stone, and the figure of the winged wolf seemed to leer down at her from every ledge. In response, she redoubled her efforts and trained even harder. The stone hummed it's secrets to her, and she no longer had to strain her mind to hear them, although it was difficult to understand. She was almost ready.
She had watched the mountain goat and learned to use her claws to balance on the narrowest of ledges. She had returned to the hyrexes and learned the tunnels that they bore through the mountains. She had learned to mimic the wolverine's powerful slashes and a weasl's determination and ferocity. Lyka returned often to the mother falcon, bringing her food, and in turn she had learned the shape of the wind and how to time her jumps by it. She was no longer afraid of even the Gust Cliffs, where so many had died before, confident that the stone walls would not let her fall. She was able to spring from a point pressed flat against the stone to another and push to a ledge without hanging on to the cliff face for more than a few moments. She was almost ready.
Lyka trained hard with the weights that Moriean had given her, learning to use long slashing strokes and quickening her movements, driving her power to a turning twisting whirling frenzy, yet maintaining perfect control. Her first instinct was still to go upwards, but she fought with more than just instinct now. She was almost ready.
One night, as she was walking to the stream for a gulp of water in the summer heat, a shiver rippled through her fur and the clouds parted. There in the distance was the shining precipace from which she had fallen. There was the home of the spirits which had gifted her with her shoulder, the spirits who called her from within the stone. They called her now, and she was ready.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:08 pm
Lyka walked purposefully, focused on that cliff. The rocky terrien welcomed her; sand and pebbles which would have scraped the pads of other cougars or clattered away noisily lay undisturbed by her footsteps. The stones hummed around her, singing their ancient songs, heralding the arrival of the Cliffs Cougar, and among them was the strongest voice of all: Blue Moon.
She stood before it, no longer the curious tentative kitten that she had been when she first attempted the climb. Lyka had grown stronger, both physically and mentally. She had developed the hinged shoulder, accepting the gift and overcoming her fear. She had climbed, fought, and sweated, all for this final test. Now, she faced it, ready to prove herself a true Daughter of the Cliffs.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:32 pm
~O~Blue Moon~O~ The area was illuminated with the cold blue light, sharpening her mind and focusing her senses to a startling clarity. She could see every crack, every fissure in the stone wall, she could feel every breeze, hear every sound. The rock was cold and comforting under her hands, and purposefully, she began to climb.
She easily navigated the large crack that had supported her on her first climb, passing the crumbling rocks and the root that stuck out of the side with ease. In a mere hour, she was already in sight of the ledge that had taken her the entire night to reach on her first try. Lyka wasn't just climbing, she was bounding from hold to hold, swinging her body to accelerate her momentum, racing up the cliffs in little hop-jumps as if she were pouncing around on the ground like a kitten with her first rat. She took a lungful of cold night air, feeling the breeze whip around her and smiling as the moonlight flashed off her silver hair exactly the same way it reflected off the pale stone surface, allowing herself to be consumed by the joy of climbing.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 6:14 pm
This time, the exhilaration did not fade with the rising of the sun, although Lyka's strength was beginning to wane. She pushed onwards, still thrilled with the way her body soared upwards. Cougars were creatures of the earth, bound to it as the trees were bound to the soil. But Lyka was like the creeper vine, yearning skyward, pushing upwards with one tendril at a time.
She had passed the ledge that she had fallen from as a kitten long before the first glimmer of light touched the horizon, but she kpet going, driven by a new sense of accomplishment. She swung her body like an acrobat to go from hold to hold. She inched along the narrowest ledges as she had learned from the Mountain Goat. She leapt into the air, letting the strong updrafts carry her and extend her jump, as she had learned from the falcon. The whispers of the light, the humming of the stone, the shape of the wind, Lyka felt it all and felt none of it, fully absorbed in her task.
She moved with purpose, determined to reach her goal. When noon came, she did not feel the hot sun on her back. When twillight fell, she hardly realized the ache of her limbs from climbing for so long. In the light of the full moon, she neither heard nor felt the growling of her empty stomache, and at the light of dawn again, she knew not soporific weariness. Her hands began to bleed, but she did not notice it for the blood red color of her fur. Her mind was joined with the stone and as the cliffs hummed, her body hummed with them.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:37 pm
The moon was blue and bright, lighting the stone with its soft glow as Lyka curled her body for one final leap that brought her to the top of Blue Moon. This was what had been missing! Although she had finally overcome her fear of the cliffs, her fear of falling, something was still amiss, but now she was whole and complete again. Even though she had overcome her fear, she had not rediscovered the joy that the dizzying heights brought her until now. No longer would she cower in fear of anything for she had conquered her fear of herself! She let out a proud roar, high and peircing like the cries of the falcons that inhabited the bare expanses of stone with her. With the echo came the answering cry of thousands of cougars, each of which had lived fought and died in these cliffs, and each of their lessons, Lyka had learned on her journey. Her ears were full of cliff song and her lungs full of sweet night air. In her clear yellow eyes was the blue moonlight, and the moonlight wove through her hair.
Out of the plain of endless stone, a shadow burst upwards with a snarl-scream of his own. A single silver feather floated downwards into her hand and she clenched her fist, crushing it to a moon-fine powder. Lyka's eyes flashed viciously and she faced her opponent, the winged wolf. She prepared to attack him, but he sat and folded his wings about him, his eyes kind. They were siblings now, for he too, hummed with the voices of the stone.
You have come, Daughter.
Her eyes narrowed and she bared her fangs. You!
No. Not me. An outsider.
I was afraid of you.
And yet you climbed.
I’ll not be afraid of you anymore.
The wolf raised his head to the moon, letting the light wash over his scarred muzzle.
You never were, Daughter. You never were.
He leaned down and rested his head on her shoulder for a moment, an unspoken understanding between them.
Lyka closed her eyes contentedly, feeling the warmth of his massive body and thick shaggy fur. She put a bloody hand on his chest, feeling the heart that beat within. His wings closed around them and she felt herself sinking into the stone, becoming one with it. She reached forwards, stepping calmly away and she found herself emerging from the cliff base as a statue might free itself from the carving stone. In her hair, there shone a single silver feather, and she smiled to herself, murmuring aloud.
“Thank you, Spirit of the Cliffs.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:10 pm
7 Growth Posts Change in Status Journal Pg. 5Lyka took the totem, feeling its curves and creases against her fingers. Before, it would have been like any other stone, but now, she could read it and the power that it represented. She could feel the rock below her, humming out ancient secrets that she could not yet understand.
A glimmer of light caught her eye and Lyka walked over to the bowl of water. She could see her reflection clearly in the moonlight and the dark marks around her eyes reminded her of..something. She splashed some of the water onto her face, washing away the black paint and darkening the water. When it stilled again, Lyka was startled to see twin orbs, shining and yellow, staring at her out of the blackness. She was afraid at first, thinking of the wolf that had laughed as she fell, but she realized that those golden eyes belonged to her. She was a kitten no longer. He and she were no different now, both children of the cliffs that surrounded them. They would soon be equals.
As if on cue, the clouds parted and shining out of the midnight mists like a beacon was the oppressive face of Blue Moon, from which she had fallen. Yes, she and the wolf would soon be equals, but there was still one challenge she had to face before taking her place in the Quicktalon Tribe.
Lyka faced the cliff and honored it with a reverent nod, glaring confidently at the invisible point from which she had fallen. She would be afraid no longer. With that thought, she strided to the edge of the cliff and stepped off.
Lyka's body had grown considerably since she had first fallen, and now that she was free of her mental blockade, she found it surprisingly easy to reclaim a grip on the stone wall. With three leaps, she was back to the Quicktalon training grounds, and with two more, she was back to her own small ledge, with the mangled stump. How different things felt now. It almost seemed that she had outgrown the space.
No, it had expanded to acomidate her. Now she was not bound to this ledge. Now, the entire cliff was to be her training area and the first thing she needed to perfect was how to get around it. The moonlight had already begun to fade into dawn and she had had enough excitement for one night. Contentedly, Lyka curled up to sleep. Meanwhile, the daytime huntresses were emerging from their dens. Tavi panicked when her kitten was not curled beside her upon waking. Angrily she dashed outside and roared for her, frightened that Lyka had fallen again. However, the cliffs gave the answering cry, bouncing her echo back at her and Tavi somehow knew that things had changed. Silently, she left. Lyka was no longer her responsibility. She would provide help, but a kitten no longer, her daughter would have to learn to fend for herself. Climbing Competition Festival of War Pg. 1The great healer of their tribe, Vixa, stood in the circle nearest the fire. Her entire body was painted in war colors. They stood out like scars of blood. Throwing her hands up the rest of the torches lite around her.
"We come here to show our strength and prove our worth to take what is rightfully ours. Lets see if any of you truly stand up to the Quicktalon standards! First event, climbing. I placed a small ring atop one of the peaks of our mountains. The first to come back with it wins!"In response, the Quicktalons roared again in unison, many of them shedding their decrative furs, which would hinder them in such a task. The huntress shot her daughter a meaningful glare, and started off without waiting for a go-signal. Acomplish the task as soon as it is given. That was the way in warfare, that was the way of Quicktalon. Ahead of her, a fight had already broken out. That was another thing that Lyka would not be expectingLyka caught her mother's eye and nodded. She turned to face the cliffs, their imposing faces more familiar to her than ever. The mountain lands of Quicktalon were her totem, her guiding spirit, there was no way she could lose this challenge. Breifly, she thought of Blue Moon, to her, the highest and most challenging pinnacle of all, but no. Blue Moon was her personal war. The ring would not be hidden there. She ran west, in the same direction as the center of the mountain range, where the highest mountains would be.The path that Lyka had chosen was surprisingly void. She could sense other cougars around her, but the trail that she followed was like none other. She leaped skillfully from rock to rock, using the momentum of her body to swing herself onto the highest and narrowest of ledges with confidence. She was not running like her eartenbound sisters. No, she felt as if she were flying.Tavi watched her daughter go as she ran the same trail that many cougars took. Each year the ring was at the top of the same mountain and each year the new teens learned the trail from their elders. The run to the mountain was merely a test of stamina. The true contest would come when they had cleared the base and had to conquer the steep incline that rose up like a pillar and curved over to form a circular ledge. There were only a few routes that would let them pass the overhang, and it was for those routes that the fights broke out. However, it seemed that Lyka had taken a different route.It seemed to Lyka that there were many cougars fighting. She looked down and was startled to see a long trail, worn smooth by the yearly race. In the distance, she could see a mountain that looked like there was a ring of stone forced around the pinacle. The overhang would make it almost impossible to climb, but all the cougars (save a few lost teens like herself) seemed to be heading there. On the trail below her, there were cougars fighting. She chided herself for stopping to watch them. Speed was the name of the game, and she needed to reach the mountain as soon as possible.
She continued along the edge of the cliffs, high above the trail for most of the way, but when she reached the base of the mountain, she had no choice, but to run it like the rest. It wasn't long until a burly fawn huntress shouldered her roughly, hoping to knock Lyka back down the hill.
Though she was lifted into the air, Lyka wasn't about to loose her footing so easily. She kept her limbs under her and dug her claws into the rocky soil to stop her backwards momentum. Putting even more force into her hold, she sprung back up the slope with an angry snarl and onto the huntress's shoulders.
Her constant climbing had kept Lyka light and lithe, while the huntress was obviously more suited to running down prey. She was strong, but she was also thickly built and correspondingly weighted down with the hulking muscles needed for heavy blows. She was like the bear, Lyka reasoned, and like the bear, she would fall easily if pushed the right way. The teen jerked backwards with all four limbs, trying to propell herself forwards and push the huntress back at the same time, adding a twist to keep her from resisting properly. Not bothering to check if the huntress had fallen, Lyka hurled her body forwards and kept running. She was almost to the start of the nearly vertical climb. Strange, it seemed that there were very few cougars around her, and most of them were panicky teens such as herself, searching for a route upwards. To her right, she could hear a chorus of grunts and snarls, the sound of fighting Quicktalons. Every once and a while, there was a short cry and a loud thud, the sound of falling. Quicktalons screams were for intimidation only.
For Lyka, it was not difficult to find holds in the climbing surface, as she darted about, it seemed as if she were alone on the mountain, if it weren't for the roars and growls of cougars she could not see. Why were they still fighting? Why were they all jammed into one route? The mountain couldn't possibly be that difficult of a climb! Or could it be that she was so much better than them that they could not see the route that she took? Lyka grinned to herself. Yes, that had to be it. They were all gathered around the easiest route up, while she climbed above them all. She would be the first to reach the top of the mountain and bring back the ring. After all, she was a daughter of the cliffs. She was not limited to their carved holds.
As Lyka reached the overhang, her confidence waned and the fighting to her right grew even louder. There was no way she could pass the barrier! She would have to climb upside down! No cougar could do that! She peeked around a boulder and she could see that the cougars were gathered to fight over the small opening that would allow them through the overhang. Now she understood, but how could she get through? The other cougars were all older and stronger than she, there was no way she could fight them off. She spidered away and began to search at the base of the overhang, but at every opening she found, there were already cougars gathered and fighting.
Lyka snarled in frustration and thrust her fist against the rock angrily, shaking loose a small stone from somewhere, which hit her tail and caused her to become even more wrathful. But wait, from the place the stone had fallen from, there was a root protruding down out of the overhang, and from there she could see a shaft of light. There was a way up! It was several feet out from the surface she was on, and a fall from this height meant serious injury, death if she fell on the wrong thing, but the root formed a loop and it looked strong enough to hold her, and the opening was large enough to fit her body, if not much larger. She knew it was risky, but she had to try.
Bodly, she pushed herself away from the mountainside, just barely managing to grasp the root with a claw. She could feel it loosening, but she kept her hold and swiftly swung her body upwards. Like an acrobat, she held on to the root with her arms, while digging into the opening with the claws on her feet, slowly climbing her way up backwards. She was straining her abdominal muscles to force herself into such a position, but it was worth it when she managed to get enough of her body through to twist around and brace herself with her knees. That was it! She was through and she would be the first to the ring. she could see it gleaming several yards above her and she scaled them with ease. With the ring clenched firmly in her teeth, she started her descent, but a fist appeared out of nowhere and connected to her jaw, knocking the ring out of her mouth and her body back to the overhanging ledge. The lean dark grey warrioress who had struggled her way out of the throng of cougars at the well known openings in the ledge stretched out her arm and caught the ring as it fell from Lyka's jaws. With that, she dissappeared from the teen's vision and although she gave chase, the cougaress was soon far ahead on the way back to Vixa, with the entire pack of competitors on her heels.The striped huntress watched the display from afar and nodded proudly. Lyka had been the first one to the ring. Her daughter was undoubtedly the best climber, even though she had not been able to defend the ring properly. She had done well, for a teen.Lyka returned to camp slowly. There was really no way for her to get down from the ledge until the other cougars had cleared away from the opening. She could see that the ring had changed hands several times on the journey back, as the lean grey cougar that had taken it from her was being treated by the healder and the ring was clasped around the tail of a rusty red cougar, who seemed to be gloating.
She had checked around the mountain before she left, and although there were several cougars who had been knocked unconcious and were just waking, there didn't seem to be any with serious injuries, so she left them where they were. Most of them were teens like herself, and Lyka prided herself in having reached the top, even if she hadn't won.
Once she was back to the Festival site, it seemed that all the cougars were readying their weapons. Her mother was adjusting the wraps on a pair of short-handled hand scythes, as she fixed her kitten with a glare. Lyka nodded in response. The fighting was about to begin.The rusty warrioress spied the totem on Lyka's armband and smirked arrogantly. The teen was stretching on top of a large rock and flexing her jointed shoulder, making sure she hadn't injured anything in the climb. It irked her thouroughly that although she had won she hadn't won, and she glared right back, showing her teeth in annoyance. In response, the older cougar snarled at her, and several other adults fixed her with harsh rebuking stares.
Normally, Lyka would have wilted and gone back to whatever she was doing. Older Quicktalons were not above delivering a hard cuff to unruly youngsters, no matter whose or how old they really were. But Lyka felt that this time her anger was justified. As a daughter of the cliffs, she had won, and she needn't be scorned to walk among them.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the grey cougar that had taken the ring from her shaking her head, but Lyka put the thought aside. She kept her gaze firm into the eyes of the rusty warrioress, slowly, lifted her hand into the air, and slammed it down onto the rock she was sitting on with as much force as she could muster, startling everyone with a loud snap as the rock cracked under her talons."It won't be good to crush your hand just because you lost Lyka. Getting there is only half the battle. And don't be so upset, no one but an adult has ever won that race. You are too inexperienced in battle to know to defend your way back."
The Healer held up her hands again, the fires arond the area burning high to annouce the next round. Teen Battle Festival of War Pg.3 Theta turned away from the kitten again and announced that the Teen battles would now begin.The roars and snarls were differnet from the adult battles. Teens had not yet proven themselves in fights and hunts so they were not cheers of approval. They were taunts, insults, snid coments, and anything else that would bring out the base warrior in the younger ones. Any that bowed out from embarressment or fear would be severely delt with.Theta looked upon the row of Teens. There weren't many, this disappointed her but from them would come the warriors of tomorrow.
"First battle."Two teens, older than Lyka stepped into the ring. One was solid while with a black tail. The other was brown and black with the strange diamond shape of her totem on her chest. Even their mothers were taunting and insulting them, trying to make them lose their focus. But they both stayed their ground and took their stance.
The battle took awhile, they always did. Unsure of how hard to hit and where exactly to strike, the two teens beat each other bloody before the Diamond one struck a particuarly hard blow to the white one, making her fall. Cheers erupted as the teen slowly made her way back to the outside of the ring and the white one was carried off to the healing tent.Tavi joined in with a heartfelt roar, adding her own jeers to the crowd. She insult each of the teens in turn, but lingered on her own daughter, shouting out the things she knew would hurt most.
"Cowardly Climber! Broken Shoulder! Run away and hide on the cliffs, cripple! You've no fight worth the wolf who was your father! You couldn't fight a kitten! You only know how to bully hyrexes!"Lyka's opponant was a lithe clouded blue cougar. Normally she was quite quiet but she growled openly at Lyka before taking her stance. She was built for speed and stamina, so she would be hard to hit and even harder to wear out."Begin!"Lyka bristled, but did not react otherwise. Quicktalon mothers were never very affectionate. She had already heard all of those things over and over again when she was a kitten. She could not allow it to affect her resolve. She would fight and she was determined to fight well.
As Theta looked at her, and another teen, and announced the next round, Lyka stepped into the ring with a cold glare and a strategy in mind. As a Daughter of the Cliffs, she had learned the bear's lesson well. She would not lose her temper a second time and make the same mistake.
Lyka kept her ears back, but covered her fangs and ceased to bristle, although she got into the fighting stance that she had adopted.Lyka evaluated her opponent. They were of simular build, although the striped teen was slightly more muscular. She would not be able to dance along the edge of her opponent's reach, as she liked to do, but no matter. It did not change her strategy.The cloudy teen growled and bristled, shifting her weight often.Although she looked meanacing, Lyka could tell that she was unnnerved. She too was excited and anxious, but she hoped that by appearing calm, she could throw her off. It would make things much easier for her later.The moment Theta announced the start of the fight, the clouded cougar was off like a shot. She charged at Lyka, obviously used to having the advantage of speed. At the last moment she skirted around and attacked from behind.Most cougars would have blocked and ducked, or dodged to the side, at a headlong charge. The move was clever and intended to catch her off guard. However, Lyka's instinct prompted that she go upwards, even though she did not see the sudden twist. All four limbs flexed underneath her and suddenly, she was airborne. Being right above the other teen gave her the opportunity to deliver a sound kick to the back of her opponent's head, and Lyka was sure to dig in with her claws trying to draw first blood as her heel conected with the solid bone. Her intention was to use the forced to push herself away at the same time, but the cloudy teen was too fast for that.Lyka had jumped too hard and the extra split second it took for her to come back to earth was all the cloudy teen needed. As her head was pushed forwards from Lyka's kick, she stuck her leg out for balance, pivoted and sprang after the other cougar, digging a solid punch into her.She almost managed to block it by twisting her body around and bringing her arm up. She wasn't fast enough to counter the punch, but the twisting of her body meant that it connected with her ribs instead of catching her in the stomache. She continued the twist into a round kick when she was back on the ground.The other cougar was far too fast for that. The combination of Lyka's body sliding backwards from her landing and her own small leap back to avoid the kick meant that it was nothing but a graze, but she still winced when Lyka's claws scraped against her abdomen. She rushed forwards again, this time anticipating a jump upwards and hopping into the air at the last moment, claws outstretched, ready to pummul Lyka again.Knowing that she could not dodge the same way as before, Lyka flattened herself to the ground and managed to catch hold of the other cougar's foot. She yanked down on it, propelling herself upwards at the same time and managed to rake her claws down the other's back, before she was rebuked with another twist kick and slammed back into the ground. She rolled backwards as soon as she hit and made a low backwards leap, closer to the edge of the circle. It was unconventional, but Lyka needed to play to her strengths.She yowled when she felt Lyka's claws on her back, and charged after her with an angry snarl as soon as she was grounded again. So far, the silver-haired cougar hadn't managed any forceful hits, but she had drawn a lot of blood. The clouded teen was determined to knock her out with a swift blow to the head, once and for all.Lyka was careful not to make any aggressive sounds. She could tell that the other teen was getting riled, and it would work to her advantage. There was just one more obstacle that she needed to overcome. As the cloudy cougar came racing after her, Lyka prepared herself for the most diffucult part of her strategy and shot off into the crowd of adults. She knew it wouldn't be wise to try to tire other teen, when she herself was already no longer fresh, so she tried to go as straight as possible.At once, the adults rose and attacked her jeering and trying to toss her back into the ring. Coward! This teen was trying to run, she wasn't worthy to be a Quicktalon! However, the rules were that the adults were not to interfere. Tavi's eyes followed her daughter's path and realized that she was not running from the battle, just moving it towards the sloping base of a rock wall. She too, joined the fray, but although she did not try to pull the attackers away from the blue-grey teen, the space her body occupied prevented more from getting to her. Adults were not suposed to interfere."Coward!" snarled the cloudy teen as she chased after Lyka through the gauntlet of jeering adults. She was running straight and fast and the other teen looked tired. With one more stride, she would catch her and then she would kill her for running! Lyka knew she was cutting it close. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and she could hear the snarls of the other teen. She was frightened, but she was confident that her strategy would work as she climbed seven feet up the rock wall in a second.That next stride never came as the clouded teen crashed headlong into the stone surface, the impact dazing her momentarily. She had been so focused on catching Lyka that she hadn't realized what was in front of her.The moment she felt the stone shake, Lyka dropped to the ground and grasped the other cougar's throat, squeezing gently. The battle was over.
She had been exceedingly lucky, but she would have to improve by a lot if she ever wanted to become a true warrior. The trick that had worked on the bear, and on a rage-blinded inexperianced teen, would never suffice for an old cougar. She would have to improve her speed and reaction time, but she was satisfied for now.Lyka was breathing hard, and her adrenaline was running high as she braced herself against the rock, ready for the desparate struggle that was sure to follow, if the other teen did not recignize that she was beaten.As expected, the cloudy cougar lashed out, her eyes wide. She wasn't safe! She had to get away! Her fist connected with Lyka's jaw, but then she came back to her senses and realized one, that Lyka had let her go, and two, that she had lost.Lyka braced harder when the loser started to struggle, but she released her in surprise when she felt something give way under her body. She looked back for an instant, and was startled to see that her arm was sunken into the rock up to her elbow. Her opponent dealt her one last blow, reminding her of where she was and she quickly jerked her arm out of the cliff, even more surprised when instead of a gaping hole, there was only a narrow crack. She pushed it firmly out of mind to be tested later. For now, what was important was the official outcome of the fight."The fight is over, Lyka wins. Interesting."
Theta just smirked.
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