The Children of Destiny

Chapter 14 - You Grew So Much!

(A/N: Anything said in italicized bold from this point on is in Elvish, and everything said in normal font is either lion or English depending on who's being spoken to.)

When Roxie finally woke up, the three of us set off back the way I came when I had been looking for Scout.

"Where are we going next?" Scout asked as we traveled through the desert.

"We're gonna meet up with someone," I answered simply. "He'll tell us where to go next."

"Sounds good." Scout said.

Roxie bounced around next to me as we walked, then suddenly stopped in her tracks and started growling.

"What is it, girl?" I asked, turning to look at her and signaling for Scout to stop walking as well.

She was staring intently at something hidden behind a rock. I followed her gaze and froze when I saw what it was; a female hawkaroo was standing behind the rock and stretching her huge wings. I only knew she was a female because all the females have a pouch and are much bigger than the males, making them an even bigger threat. The hawkaroo didn't seem to notice Roxie growling at her and just picked something up from the ground. It was a dead scorpicat; she placed it in her pouch and I heard tiny chirping from the pouch that stopped after a moment.

I gulped and staggered backwards. Scout caught me from behind before I fell to the floor and stared intently at the hawkaroo. Suddenly, Roxie pounced and the hawkaroo screeched and shoved Roxie away with her powerful legs. I listened for the crack of Roxie's bones, but she seemed to be alright. The hawkaroo spotted me and her eyes widened in pure terror and shock, and her ears flattened against her head. She backed away and did the closest thing she could to a bow. She squawked something that sounded like an apology and Scout shrugged.

"Did you get any of that?" I asked jokingly.

"Only some of it," Scout muttered. "She basically apologized for hurting Roxie."

"Wait, really?" I was surprised that Scout actually understood what the hawkaroo said.

"Oh, I never told you, did I?" Scout asked. "Elves can understand Avian, which is the language birds use to communicate. We can't speak it, but all animals can understand Elvish, so we speak to animals that way."

"Cool," I replied. "Roxie, leave her alone."

Roxie gave me an annoyed look, angry that I'd cost her her prey, then stalked over to my side, allowing the hawkaroo to fly away peacefully. We continued walking all the way to the savanna until I heard a loud roar and instinctively got in front of Scout and Roxie protectively.

"Who dares cross the border of the desert and the savanna?" roared a voice. "Surely you elves know better than to leave your village alone?"

The voice sounded familiar, but not as I'd remembered it. This roar was fierce and bloodthirsty; it was scarier than I'd remembered.

"Lions!" Scout shuddered. "I should've known there would be lions..."

A huge silhouette of a young male snake-tailed lion descended towards us and I concentrated on any water I could possibly have access to, whether it was in the ground or in the air. When the lion flew a few feet in front of me, I blasted water from the ground in his face, creating a geyser of freezing cold water right in front of me that shielded Scout, Roxie, and I from the lion.

The young lion staggered backwards and growled under his breath, "Well, alright. If you wanna play it that way, we'll fight."

I had some of the water float towards me, froze it, and made a small shield out of it. I peeked out from behind my shield and caught a glimpse of a bright red mane; almost fully grown out; blue eyes; one of which had a long scar across it and was clouded as if blind; and ginger fur.