Chapter 2

Kara awoke slowly – the back of her head was throbbing mercilessly, and her entire body ached. She tried to move her arm, and winced in pain; she had forgotten the gash the vermin had inflicted on her.

The vermin.

Everything came flooding back to the young pure ferret, so quickly she could hardly comprehend it: the confrontation, the madness that had enveloped her, the blinding flash of white light…then nothing. There had been nothing else...or at least that she could remember.

Finally, Kara opened her eyes – sunlight pierced them, and immediately she slitted them, looking around. All she could see above her was bright sky – no trace of Tirreg and the Haera.

Bright sky.

It had been storming when she had fought them…what had happened? Had she fainted, and lain unconscious for days and days? Or…dread seeped into her. Was she dead? Don't be stupid, she thought to herself. That's impossible – besides, I can still feel pain.

Finally, Kara found the strength to stand up – gritting her teeth in pain, she pushed herself up from the ground, teetering on her footpaws as she swayed drunkenly. Slowly, she unslitted her eyes – and gazed around in total disbelief.

Everything was so bright – so horribly bright…and so horribly unfamiliar. There were huge, tall, mountainous things, rising up so high that their peaks seemed to touch the sky. But they weren't mountains…oh, no, they were definitely not mountains. Their surfaces were completely flat, and completely shiny – the sun's light seemed to reflect off of them, sending the brightness right into the young pure ferret's eyes. And the ground…the ground was not grassy and muddy as it had been, but hard and grey, like gravel that had been melted together. And all around her were flashing lights – lights were everywhere, and they were so terribly bright that Kara just wanted to close her eyes and shut them off.

But perhaps the most frightening – and unnatural – was the huge, brightly-colored things. They were all sorts of different colors – red, green, yellow, black, silver, purple – and they ­moved. There seemed to be two flashing lights on them, and every so often they would stop, motionless, then begin to move again, sometimes so fast that they were hard to follow with your eyes. But, even stranger, there actually seemed to be creatures inside of them. What was it? Had they been eaten?

But these things moved – on their own, without being pulled. So…they had to be alive.

Kara had never been so completely terrified, and astounded. She knew this was not a dream…it couldn't be. She could smell the dirt in the air, feel pain in the back of her eyes from the flashing lights…but she wished it was a dream. She had no idea what had happened, no idea where she was, or what had happened to her.

However, there did seem to be creatures around her. At first, she was afraid they might attack her; but they didn't even seem to notice her. They were all kinds of different beasts – ferrets, stoats, weasels, mice, otters, rats, shrews, foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels – and they were all dressed extremely strangely. They were wearing odd, bright clothing, some with pictures on them that Kara didn't recognize. She reasoned that they must be some sort of symbol – but she had no idea what for. Some of them were carrying bags alongside of them, and some of them were actually crossing in front of the giant creatures. But, as they crossed in front of them, they didn't move; but as soon as they were out of the way, they started to go again, making an odd growling noise as they moved.

Kara was so scared that tears began to well in her eyes. "I don't know where I am," she said weakly, trembling slightly. However, suddenly, she felt herself tense – she wanted to know where she was. She needed to know where she was. This simply wasn't normal – she had been in a completely natural place, and she had now been put into this horrible environment. Anger began to churn in her stomach. How dare they, she thought, not thinking clearly. How dare they do this!

Suddenly, she ran forward, past all of the oddly-dressed beasts, and into the path of the bright creatures. "I want to know where I am!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "I want to know who brought me here!"

The bright creature in front of her was far away, but it was coming closer by the moment – she could her its strange growling. But, unlike it had been for the other beasts, it wasn't slowing down.

It's not going to stop, she thought, dread seeping into her. It's going to hit me!

Kara turned and began to run as fast as she could, her legs pumping like twin pistons. Fear enveloped her – she kept telling herself that she was going to make it, but the thing was still coming, its lights flashing, its growling becoming louder and louder. However, the pure ferret was not going to let it hit her – she jumped, landing on all fours on the hard ground, shock waves running through her injured arm. She winced it pain – it was still bleeding, the skin loose around it.

"What the hell were you doing? Are you crazy? You could have killed yourself!"

Kara looked up. A young squirrel was standing over her, carrying a bag by a long strap and wearing a brightly-colored tunic, which ended at her shoulders. On it was a strange yellow insignia that looked like the sun, but the pure ferret wasn't sure.

"You must be totally out of it," she continued, staring down at Kara with dark green eyes. "I saw you run in front of that car, and it was gonna hit you, you know that, right? Were you committing suicide or something, and decided to get cold feet right in the middle of it? Not very smart, if y'ask me." She paused, seeming to size her up. "What're you wearing that weird shirt for? And is that fake blood on your arm?"

Kara had no idea what the squirrel was talking about – first, because she was talking so fast, and second, because she was using strange terms the pure ferret had never even heard of. "W…what's a car?" she asked – then, it registered in her mind what the squirrel had just said. "I don't look weird, you do – all of you! And this is not fake blood – one of the Haera cut my arm!"

The squirrel stared at her. "What are you talking about?" Then she laughed. "Whoa, you are nuts. What's a car? You can't not know what a car is. And I look weird? Geez, I just bought this shirt – you can't be serious."

Kara, despite her position, began to feel angry. "I can not know what a car is," she snapped. "I don't even know where I am, or how I got here…or what any of this is." It was as she spoke that the pure ferret began to realize just how bad her situation was. However, the squirrel just laughed.

"Did you escape from the psycho ward or something? What happened, did you bump your head off a rock and forget everything?" Then she laughed again. "Here, lemme see your arm – that's pretty good fake blood."

She knelt down and tried to grab Kara's arm, but the pure ferret yanked it away. "Who are you?" she asked angrily, "and what are you talking about?"

"Oh, sorry," the squirrel said. "I didn't introduce myself. My name's May."

"Then what are you talking about?"

She sighed. "Fine, I guess I'll play along with you're little game. A car is one of those things"- she gestured to the brightly-colored creatures, -"and they're driven by beasts over fifteen seasons of age. And it's not a very good idea to jump in front of one of them – just so you know."

"I'm not playing a game," Kara snarled, not thinking straight and feeling unusually aggressive. "I have no idea where I am."

"Don't be silly," May said, chuckling. "Everyone knows where New York is." But, seeing the puzzled look on Kara's face, she sighed again. "Then, where did you come from?"

"I come from the north," the young pure ferret began, pausing to see if the squirrel had any idea of what she was talking about.

May shrugged. "Canada?"

Kara had never heard of this place, so she continued. "No, the Northlands. My family was killed by the Haera, and they took me and some others as their slaves. But the others died, so I was the only one left. But I escaped – and Tirreg, the leader of the Haera, came after me with a score of his creatures. He found me, and attacked me – that's how my arm got hurt. Then there was this flash of white light…and that's all I can remember."

May stared at her for a long moment, then she spoke, slightly less quickly as before. "This Tirreg guy, isn't he, like, sort of…retro? I mean, that can't have happened – the whole world would be up on their paws over something like that! That's totally against the law, and it's impossible I haven't heard of it, 'cause I watch the News every night!"

Kara stared back. "You're crazy," she said, her mouth hanging open. "What law are you talking about? And the whole world? They wouldn't get angry over Tirreg – there are probably a lot of other Warlords trying to do that same thing as him. And what's the News?

May shook her head. "No, it isn't me who's crazy," she said, her voice carrying strong disbelief. "Geez, you're not sane…I can't let you wander around like this, you'll throw yourself in front of another car. Which mental hospital are you from?"

Kara stared at her, feeling angry that she was treating her like an insane beast. "I don't know what you're talking about."

May sighed. "Fine, I guess I'll bring you home with me." The young squirrel stood up. "C'mon, follow me – my house is just close by."