Chapter 1

Tirrin raced through the open savanna. His eyes were wide, searching, as he pushed through the grass with his tiny nose and small paws. He could smell the faint burned smell that always emanated from the thing he was looking for. He couldn’t lose again, not three times in a row…and there it was. The branch with a burned end, and one solitary lonesome leaf on the end. It was hardly hidden, just stuck into the ground and covered with grass.

Tirrin yelped in triumph, and grabbed it in his mouth, sharp teeth scraping against rough bark. He scampered, tail whipping, mouth full of the taste of burnt wood, back the way he had came. He would beat Whinler this time, he was sure… just as he was about to pass the line, a shape shot past him. Sleek, brown, it whizzed by, then skidded to a stop a few meters behind Tirrin.

‘Beat you again, Tir,’ Whinler said. As you might have guessed, Tirrin and Whinler weren’t humans. They were a strange pair. Everyone knew that the tribes looked down on friendships between different tribes, especially between predator and prey. But neither Tirrin nor Whinler were normal animals.

Whinler was a tall, sleek brown filly (a term Tirrin only learned of because of spending time with a horse), with long legs, and sharp hooves. Her brown skin rippled as she panted, strong muscles tensing and relaxing, hind legs always ready to spring into motion. Her eyes darted, hazelnut brown, always on the lookout for danger. Her parents were part of the Wind, an elite faction of horses in the Horse army.

To be in the Wind, you had to be fast. As such, Whinler was one of the swiftest horses in her year. As such, she should have been one of the most popular horses around. But she also was quite interested in the other tribes, something that was considered quite strange. And, she was friends with Tirrin.

Tirrin was a lion cub, small for his age, but fiercer than most of the other cubs. His yellow eyes gleamed with mischief, and his small claws were as sharp as needles. His brownish gold pelt shone in the sunlight, and his tail whipped almost constantly. He wasn’t cautious at all. In fact, he was quite reckless, and almost always, he dragged his friends into his crazy schemes. And, Tirrin’s father was the high chieftain of the lion tribe, high chieftain Tagorant the roarer, oh most powerful lion on the continent of Aromi.

As of such, they didn’t have much of a relationship. Everyone knew that sooner or later, Tirrin would have to challenge his father for the tribe. His father definitely knew it. So, they didn’t speak much. Tirrin slept, and left, came back at mealtimes, and slept again. No dillydally. Since he was the son of high chieftain Tagorant the roarer, oh most powerful lion on the continent of Aromi, (and yes, you always had to say his full title or you might get disembowelled) Tirrin was at the same time popular with the cubs, and not popular with the adults, who had known Tagorant the roarer, oh most powerful lion on the continent of Aromi. So Tirrin spent a lot of time roaming the grasslands alone, and hiding from his father’s Claws, the official lion guard for the chief. Or so everyone thought.

‘How are you so fast?’ Tirrin panted, dropping the stick now that there was no point. ‘I was so sure that my hiding place was sound!’
‘Up in the top of an acacia tree?’ Whinler asked. ‘Yes, that was a bit tricky. It took more time getting it down then finding it. You always put your flag high up.’ Tirrin groaned in frustration. Just then, a large white cockatoo with a yellow crest came flapping down, and landed on Whinler’s shoulder.

‘Have I missed anything?’ it asked.
‘Hallo, Bill,’ Tirrin said. ‘You just missed a capture the flag game, nothing else.’
‘For the last time, it’s Bill Hermitage the Second, Esquire!’ Bill Hermitage the Second, Esquire said indignantly. ‘Get that into your pea-sized brain, Tir!’

Bill Hermitage the Second, Esquire, or Bill by his friends, was a sulfur-crested cockatoo from the tribe of the birds. He didn’t much like being a cockatoo though.
‘Why have a personality like mine, and not be an eagle or something?’ He would squawk indignantly. He did a lot of things indignantly. His mom was dead (a bobcat had eaten her), and his dad was a strong drinker of Gumwater, a drink that could send a cockatoo into an alcoholic state that would last for a day. So Bill, like Tirrin, didn’t spend too much time at his house.

‘For the last time, it’s Tirrin the Roarer, the son of the most powerful lion on the continent of Aromi!’ Tirrin copied Bill’s accent, and outraged expression. Whinler keeled over laughing, and Bill flew up into the air, squawking, ‘I do NOT sound like THAT, you CRAZY buFOON of a LION CUB—’
‘It’s actually a pretty good impression,’ came a hissy sinister sort of voice. Out of the grass slithered a python, huge, and long. It’s diamond patterned brown scales shone in the sunlight, the colour of amber in the light.
‘How many lizards got eaten this time, Snake?’ Whinler asked.

Snake was…a snake. She, unlike the others, did not live in her tribe land. She had been hatched with a long crack that almost killed her, and when she came out, she was declared a runt, and not fit for the snakes to keep. So she was cast out. She instead lived with the lizards. They gave her food and protection, and she stopped the other snakes from eating most of them. As the law of the savanna said, to break the ecosystem, is for all to suffer. If the snakes died, then the world would be put into chaos. So some of the lizards still suffered a gruesome fate at the wrong end of a snake.

‘Not too many,’ Snake said languidly. ‘The snakes still have mice, and rodents, and all of those things. I managed to stop most of the really eager ones.’
‘Cool, cool, cool,’ Tirrin said quickly. He had a plan in his head, and he really needed to share it. Now that the others were finally here, he was top ready to burst. ‘Now, I need to tell you guys something.’
‘Really?’ Snake teased. ‘I thought we were all just going to relax today. Chill out, and enjoy our small patch of Aromi…’ Whinler and Bill nodded, smiles barely concealed on their faces.
‘Guuuuuuuuuuys!’ Tirrin moaned. Bill couldn’t hold a straight face any longer. He cackled with glee, then shot into the air. That caused Whinler to crack up, her face contorting as she tried unsuccessfully to hide her whinnies. Snake shook her head in mock disgust (or real disgust. You could never tell with Snake.)

‘You people are such babies,’ she said scornfully. ‘Now, what crazy, ridiculous, insane, pointless, or downright stupid kind of plan have you made up this time, Tir?’
‘Well, Tir said, I was thinking, we need a new hideout. One that’s actually completely secret. My dad’s Claws nearly found us last time. We need somewhere where we can actually hide and have fun. And I found just the perfect place. Come on, we don’t have all day!’ And Tirrin scampered off.

Chapter 2

‘Where is this oh so great place you have been talking about for the last few years?’ Snake asked sarcastically. ‘And how long will Whin have to carry me before we reach there?’ Snake was draped over Whinler’s shoulders, looking morose and haughty. Whinler, for her part, was taking almost no notice of Snake’s weight, concentrating almost completely on the path that Tirrin was treading. They had been marching through the savanna’s for at least thirty minutes, by the position of the sun. They had left rodent territory (the rodents didn’t care who was in their land so long as they didn’t smash their burrows, and rodents could be very fierce when their burrows were smashed) and entered No Tribe territory, a land inhabited by none of the tribes.

‘Not far,’ Tirrin barked happily.
‘Said Tirrin, five hours after he had said it before,’ Snake said.
‘Oh, put a rock in it, Snake,’ Whinler said tiredly, shaking her mane, and rocking Snake sideways.

Bill flapped down.
‘Is it just me, or are we heading towards Phoenix mountain?’ He asked worriedly. Phoenix mountain was the center of all the tribes. It was a giant mountain, made of granite, and shaped vaguely in the form of a bird. As of such, it was named Phoenix mountain. Phoenix mountain, and the plains around it, were not owned by any of the many tribes. So this was where battles were traditionally fought. Some said that Phoenix mountain wasn’t made of granite, but normal stone covered in the blood of the dead. So it wasn’t a very nice place to go to.

‘Yup!’ Tirrin said. ‘That’s our destination!’
‘But isn’t it cursed?’ Bill asked.
‘That’s just bird nonsense made up because the mountain is in the shape of your ancient evil predecessor,’ Tirrin barked cheerily. ‘It’s not like Darkflame’s just going to pop up and destroy everyone.’
‘DON’T SAY HIS NAME!’ Bill screeched. ‘YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE MYTHS! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!’

Darkflame was an old bird myth, told to small birds to get them to behave. He had apparently enslaved the entirety of Aromi, and his reign had lasted for years. Tirrin hadn’t really liked that myth. It was spooky, thinking that a bird could have conquered the great chimera, the forefathers of the lions, so easily.
‘Sorry, sheesh!’ Tirrin said, holding one paw up in the air in surrender. ‘Don’t worry, we’re not heading to Phoenix Mountain.’
‘You just said we were!’ Bill squawked.
‘Used the wrong word,’ Tirrin said. ‘We’re not going to Phoenix mountain. We’re going into Phoenix mountain.’ Bill fell from the air, and Tirrin just barely caught him before he hit the ground. Bill had fainted.

‘He’s out,’ Snake hissed with mild interest. ‘Well, you’d better carry him Tir. He’s not going to be flying any time soon after what you said. Speaking of what you said, what was that? Oh yes, you said we were going to go into phoenix mountain. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but we have a horse and a bird with us. They both like open spaces.’ Whinler tossed her head in agreement, but didn’t say anything.
‘Trust me, you’ll want to see this,’ Tirrin said confidently. He was sure they would like it. They had been walking as they talked, but now, Tirrin came to a halt. They were at the end of the grass plains that consisted of most of the savanna. Now, rocky, silty land stretched out in front of them. It stretched out for miles, with no end in sight.

The only break in the landscape was the ominous form of phoenix mountain, looming high in the air, its three peaks sticking up high in the air, the two side ones spreading out to either side, curving down ever so slightly, the wings of the phoenix. The middle peak had a large outcropping that was vaguely shaped in a beak form, completing the picture of a giant malevolent bird. Tirrin had noticed when he came here before that the mountain wasn’t exactly all red. There were patches of a black stone that covered the entire mountain. It was a kind of black that sucked in light. And the black stone patches were shaped like feathers. Tirrin shivered.

‘Glad we’re not going on that monstrosity,’ Whinler puffed. Snake hissed in agreement. Bill finally came too. Seeing the giant mountain, he squeaked in terror, and dived behind Whinler.
‘Come on!’ Tirrin said impatiently. ‘I have to show you what I’ve found! This is important!’
‘Everything’s important to you,’ Snake muttered under her breath. Tirrin scampered off towards phoenix mountain, over the hard rocks.

It was quite different running over rocks than grass and dirt. The rocks were uneven, and they were hard. What was the point of hard ground? Who needed it? Why did it have to be so sharp? All of these thoughts ran through Tirrin’s head as he plodded across the stone plains. After about 10 minutes, they finally reached the foot of the mountain.

‘I’m glad rodent territory is so close to phoenix mountain,’ Whinler neighed. ‘I think I have a rock stuck in my foot.’ She held it up, and Snake examined it closely. Then, with careful precision, she opened her jaws, and grabbed the small pebble with her teeth. Snake spat it out instantly, her face disgusted.
‘It tastes like old foot!’ she complained. Bill peered out from behind Whinler.
‘Why on earth do we have to come so close!?’ he squawked, his face seeming to grow pale.
‘Because we’re going in there,’ Tirrin said. He pointed a paw at a giant gaping hole in the side of the mountain.

It was only noticeable from a certain angle, as the cave tunnel curved only a little bit in. Because of this, the only way the cave was discernible from a sideways angle as a dark crack in the wall. From the front, it looked as if there was only a slight irregularity in the mountain’s side. Bill took one look at it, and had to sit down.

‘Come on, just trust me!’ Tirrin pleaded. ‘You’ll love this.’ Whinler rolled her eyes, but followed Tirrin down into the cave mouth. Snake grabbed Bill before he could fly away.
‘You’re seeing this whether you like it or not, Hermitage,’ she said through a mouthful of feathers.
‘HELP! HELP!’ Bill screeched, as Snake dragged him down into the hole. ‘SNAKE’S GONE KILLER!’
‘Shut up or I will,’ came Snake’s muffled voice.