Once again: Don't own Doyle, Drew, or their parents. Jay Stephens owns all of them.
I do own the animals that are behaving strangely.
Not intended to be Alternate Universe, episodic, etc.
The spotted cat that shows up here (and later chapters) is also mentioned in the Sierra story (which has yet to receive an actual name, or even exist outside of vague notes). How it appears in that story...will be mentioned whenever I get around to actually writing that story.
Avalanche!
Jonathon kissed Anna's forehead. "If you need any help, remember the rule...."
"Watch for animals behaving strangely," Anna finished. She turned her back on him and peered in the direction he'd indicated. It hurt to walk away from him, but every second before they found their children again would hurt worse. With an effort of pure willpower, she set out to find their son.
The storm proved stronger than her willpower. She'd traveled what must have been hours, even days. She couldn't see more than a few feet around, though in good weather the campsite would still have been in view. The cold sucked at her strength. It was so tempting to just lie down and rest....
"Yowp!" Anna jumped, suddenly wide-awake. She clutched at her leg and stared at the bloody scratches. She looked around frantically, fearing the monster had found her, and found herself facing a great spotted cat, gray and white with a mane of turquoise. She eased back onto the ground, and jumped up again when the creature gave her another set of scratches.
The creature wandered off just a few feet, sat down, and watched her with a bored expression.
Its feet never touched the ground.
Anna shook herself and tried to ignore the predator. But her legs seemed to move with a will of their own...straight towards the cat.
Anna struggled with her strangely disobedient body, but found herself standing next to the cat. The creature shook itself, wandered off another few feet, and waited again. The process repeated itself several times.
Where is...what is it doing? It wants me to follow, but why? Anna shook with fear. The thing didn't want her for a meal...she hoped. Cats didn't hunt like this, not even apparently magical ones, so why was it behaving so....
Strangely...? She shook herself again. "Animals...behave strangely around our children."
The creature's bored expression did not change, but she had the sense that it smiled at her. The odd compulsion faded, unneeded. The fear remained, but she followed the creature without hesitation.
She did not know how long or far she walked; her weariness seemed to fall with every step. And then the creature ran off to greet....
Doyle! For one crucial moment, Anna forgot the nature of her guide and rushed to greet her son....
And found herself facing a mouthful of fangs. Anna dropped to the ground, fearing she would die after all.
But the creature did not strike, and Anna cautiously lifted her head. The creature rubbed its forehead against Doyle's, treating him as it might treat one of its own cubs.
Anna tried to stand, and the creature looked up and snarled at her. Anna froze in a half-crouch. The creature positioned itself between Anna and her son.
"Momma?" Doyle was puzzled. Why was momma acting like that? The 'pard wasn't going to hurt anyone, so why was momma afraid of it?
Anna jumped at Doyle's voice, but she forgot her fear enough to speak. "D–Doyle, sweetie? C–could you...tell...your new friend...that I...that I'm not...going...to hurt you?"
Doyle blinked again, and then he finally understood. "'S'okay, 'pard. She's momma."
The creature stared at him, clearly bewildered. It stalked over to Anna and stood so its face was only an inch away from hers. Anna trembled, torn between survival and maternal instincts.
The creature took a deep breath, gave Doyle another look of astonishment, and ran off. Anna released the breath she'd been holding.
"Doyle," Anna breathed. She gathered her son in her arms, and when she thought she could stand without shaking, she began the long walk back to the campsite.
"Bye, 'pard," Doyle called and waved over Anna's shoulder.
When this is all over, Anna thought, we're going to have to teach you the difference between a lion and a leopard.
"Momma?"
"Hmm, baby?"
"Where's daddy an' Drew?"
"Drew's...a little farther away than we thought. Daddy went out to get her. We're supposed to meet them back at the camp."
"Oh. 'S'okay, then." Doyle squirmed into a more comfortable position, yawned and fell asleep.
"'Watch for animals behaving strangely.'" Anna shivered. "How can your father be so casual about that?" she whispered. "Or you kids?" It wasn't like Jonathon had grown up around magic, not with his tyrant of a father. But this animal thing....
The only time she'd ever seen Jonathon get upset was with that Beast a few months back...and that had been a man-eater. That monster had been all the argument Jonathon had needed; old Blackwell had backed down without a fight, something Anna had thought impossible. They'd immediately set out to find some mythical Ghost Clan to train the children...with old Blackwell's blessing.
She came upon a familiar landmark and breathed a sigh of relief. The camp shouldn't be too much further. She might make it back before dark, after all.
Doyle whimpered. "What's wrong?" Anna stopped for a moment. "Doyle, baby, what's the matter?"
"Bad hunners. 'Pard says bad hunners."
"The...the leopard says bad...hunters?" Anna interpreted. She forced herself not to look for the creature. "Don't worry, baby, hunters aren't going to want us." She smiled at him. "And if they're bad hunters, then the...the leopard won't have to worry about them, either." She took another step.
Doyle shook his head and tried to squirm free. "No!" he screamed. "Bad hunners! Bad hunners, bad mans!"
"Doy— Doyle, wait! Hold still.... Doyle, I don't understand...!" Anna fought to keep from dropping her son, and had no attention to spare to her surroundings.
A grey shadow approached that she thought was the cat....
Something heavy collided with the back of her head....
She heard Doyle scream....
Then she knew nothing.
Um, yeah, Doyle wasn't talking about skill when he screamed about the "bad hunners." Too bad Anna didn't realize that in time.
First one to guess where I got "bad mans" from gets a fifty points and a virtual cookie. It used to be the chance to name one of my minor characters, but since pretty much all the ones I wanted to name this way now have names....
What are the points good for, you ask? Um...bragging rights?
Need a hint? Fine. The author's name is Mercedes Lackey. Now you've got to guess the character and book. (Chapter gets another fifty points, and another cookie. I'd say page number, but editions might be different. Chapter will be "close enough.")
On the spotted cat/leopard/creature/cat/what-have-you.
The original version of this document had a perfectly mundane snow leopard playing the role of Doyle's protector. I wanted to keep the leopard, for one reason, and one reason only.
And I'm not going to tell you what it is. Guess; c'mon, guess. Pretty please?
(I just want to know if anyone else had the same impression, is all.... But I don't want to influence anyone's impressions by revealing what mine was.)
Tell you what, though: I'll give you a virtual cookie for guessing, and two more for guessing right.
Anywho. Then I found out about some snow lion of Tibetan mythology (white with a turquoise mane), that I thought might be appropriate given the location. Not to mention a bit of unintentional metaphorical foreshadowing.
So I combined the details of each, and occasionally referred to it as a leopard (in spite of the mane).