Saurian Tales: The Children of Raug

Chapter Two

       The rain finally let up around the middle of the night.

      All around the encampment, black fur stirred, setting about preparing for the ceremony. Dry logs were brought from the wood shack. The large fire pit was shoveled out, the slurry of burnt charcoal dumped in the pines. A single prisoner, an adult raptor with reddish brown hide and a scar down his cheek, had a sack thrown over his head and was led out of the holding pen by a rope tied around his birdlike neck.

       His family cried out after him, reaching through the bars of the pen. They quickly withdrew their claws when the guard put stripes across their arms with a whip.

       The hooded raptor was yanked toward the fire pit, to a wooden frame beside it. There, a rope was tied around each ankle. He could have kicked blindly at the panther as he knelt to tie the knots, but he did not. The middle claw of each scaly foot had been severed,robbing him of any way to hurt the Cat. The stump of a toe was far too tender to even try.

       Once that task was finished, each hand was tied off to the corresponding side of the wooden frame and pulled tight, until his arms were straight out at shoulder height. By now, the raptor was breathing in such deep gasps of fear that his rib cage became prominent against the skin. He began praying rapidly, yet quietly so as not to be cuffed.

       The bonfire was lit. Flames soared high, crackling and popping as the sap began oozing out of the hot pine logs.

       The Cat Folk encircled the fire, making a path as a tall, cloaked figure stalked out of his quarters. His foot paws made no sound on the earth, and he walked with the sinewy gait of a predator.

       When he arrived at the bonfire, he turned to face back the way he had come. A muscular arm emerged from the cloak draped around his wide shoulders, and pointed straight ahead.

       An adolescent Cat emerged from the same quarters. He was naked from the waist up, wearing only a pair of pants. The muscle rippled under his fur as he walked, and his feline tail swished with each step,flicking every so often.

       The cloaked figure continued to point at the adolescent approaching him. His arm dropped the closer the younger Cat got, and pointed instead at a spot directly in front of him. When the half naked feline arrived at the indicated spot, he sank to his knees and bowed his head.

       The ranks closed, and the pathway disappeared.

       The cloaked figure eased back the hood of his cloak, revealing a face that had felt the bite of steel more than once. Gray scars crisscrossed his features, and each pointy ear was pierced from base to tip by small gold hoops.

       Raug the Skinner addressed the feline figure on his knees in the dirt before him.

       "The Kaar Fulkaar have been around since before the first sunrise.  That is why Dennawyn gave us the ability to see in the dark. And when She gave us this generous gift, she also filled the world with prey. Hunt, She said. Eat, and become strong. So we became hunters. We prowled the shadows, killed a great many things, and only ate the best parts. We left the rest to rot. We were wasteful."

       The prisoner staked to the wooden frame was praying louder now. Raug gestured, and the poor beast was backhanded. He yelped and immediately lowered his tone to a mutter.

       Raug turned his focus back to the kneeling Cat.

       "Dennawyn saw our wastefulness, and knew that the world could not sustain us if we continued like this. After careful deliberation, She brought light to the world so that the creatures we shared it with would be able to see us.