The Children of Destiny

Chapter 9 - Who even are they?

That night, we sheltered in an open space in a rock, which was surprisingly comfy. Roxie woke me up early the next morning and we continued walking. It occurred to me as we were walking that we'd have to pass through the desert to get to Starling tribe's main camp and I sighed. I was not in the mood to walk around the desert with no water in sight other than anything I get from the air, and I couldn't make big enough ice cubes to quench my thirst in the middle of the hot, dry desert. I told all this to Roxie, and she didn't look very amused either. It didn't seem like either of us were very excited to trek through the desert just to pick up some kid we didn't even know the name of. But, I knew there were people out there that were counting on me and this kid to find each other and finally stop the war for good, and that kept me going.

A few hours later, we'd reached the desert. I was a bit nervous since the creatures living here were a lot worse than foxenas and dodgers. Here, there were scorpicats; cats with scorpion tails and legs; owls; huge, vicious birds with four sets of eyes, two on their face and two more on the back of their head; vultures; huge birds of prey that will eat anything they can fit in their beaks; and hawkaroos; huge birds, but they have a pouch to carry their babies and powerful legs that can break your ribs with one kick instead of talons. All these animals were things I absolutely did not want to run into.

There was also an animal much stronger and way more dangerous than all of the animals previously mentioned and that I was much more familiar with: flying snake-tailed lions, the most dangerous animal to ever live. I was lucky to have been raised by those lions, else I would've been dead before my journey even started. Snake-tailed lions have been known to prey on creatures as big as crocodiles even before the war. When they could be owned by humans as pets, they'd be used mainly for hunting purposes instead of companionship.

Most people believe that the lions went rogue due to lack of attention and that we should've been more affectionate towards the creatures, but I just say they were bound to snap someday when they ran out of food that wasn't their owners. That's why I usually would never even think of owning an exotic pet. Animals that belong in the wild should stay in the wild unless they've been professionally tamed and trained to keep their grimy paws off their owner. Even so, I'd never dream of having a snake-tailed lion as a pet. Those things can be vicious!

I was lucky to have one as a mother, but that still didn't keep me safe from them. Full grown male lions have been known to kill cubs that aren't theirs for mating purposes. Once the lion finds out who the cubs he killed belonged to, he'll proceed to get the lioness to mate with him. On a rare occasion, the male lion will steal a cub and wait until it's full grown to mate with that lion instead. Things like this especially happen during mating season, which is why my mother never allowed me or my siblings to leave the nest during mating season. I thought about Thorn and shuddered.

He didn't do any of that to my mother, did he?

I shook my head to clear those awful thoughts from it. Thorn would never do anything like that, he was far too nice! As Roxie and I walked through the desert, I allowed myself to get lost in my thoughts. I wondered how Kenai and the others were doing, even Victor, as much as I hated to admit it.

Is Jackal still after Thorn now that I'm gone? Does he even know that I've left?

Questions about my family flooded my mind, but one question stood out: What's the other prophecy kid like?

I wanted an answer to this question more than anything else.

Are they nice? Are they like me? Did their parents abandon them or were they stolen from their village like I was? What do they look like?

I then remembered the black-haired boy I saw in my dreams.

Is that who I'm looking for? Could he be the one I need to find? I guess I'll find out soon enough, we're nearing Starling tribe territory...

That was one thing I knew. Starling tribe's territory was almost the whole desert as far as the eye could see. And somewhere in the vast expanse of sand was their main village.

The place where I'll find them... I added to myself. This is it. Soon, it won't just be me and Roxie anymore...