Chapter 1: Hunting and The Herd

Nita's paws pounded on the forest floor, following her family as they raced through the woods. Her parents were in front of course, followed closely by her brother and sister. Nita, being the smallest, had never been able to keep pace with any of them, but she was determined to keep up this time.

It was their first hunting trip as a whole family.

However, as they lived on an island, and the rest of their adopted extended family were all herbivores, there were only so many places they could hunt.

Nita noticed that her parents had stopped up ahead and raced harder, landing nimbly on a small boulder to catch her breath.

"Hey Nita, glad you could make it." Her brother Jasper teased, patting her head in the way that he knew annoyed her, but his smile showed that he was genuinely proud of her effort. They had been running full tilt.

"Of course I did." She panted. Jasper was a lot like their father, Diego: tawny fur, hazel eyes and while he acted tough, he was a bit of a softy underneath.

Nita looked over to her sister, Carmen, who was surveying the landscape with their parents. She looked more like their mother, Shira. Snowy-white fur, patterned with dark grey stripes. The only difference was their eyes. Her mother's eyes were a brilliant blue, and also wore two earrings, courtesy of her former days as a pirate.

Nita herself, on the other hand, didn't look quite like either of her parents. Not tawny like her father, nor a pure, snowy white like her mother, but more the colour of white sand.

"Alright guys, there's our target." Her father gestured to the herd of antelope grazing in the clearing before them. "Nita, which do you think we should go for?"

"Me?" Nita asked in surprise.

"Why does she get to pick?" Jasper complained.

Yes, why did she get to pick? Nita wondered. She had overheard her parents debating whether to let her join the hunt, so was surprised to be asked an opinion. Maybe this was a test?

"Okay". If this was a test, she was determined to pass it. Nita scanned the herd of antelope in the clearing. Rule number one: try to get your prey on their own. Rule number two: pick the one you know you can take down.

Nita searched for a likely candidate, until she spotted a young buck grazing at the herd's edge, on their right. It wasn't too far away, and they could still use the forest as cover for an ambush.

"That young buck over there." Nita nodded toward her choice. "We can use the forest as cover to get closer. Mum and Carmen can get on its other side, their fur would help against the snow, and then they can drive it toward the forest where Dad and Jasper could ambush it, and I can be between the buck and the rest of the herd, to stop it rejoining the group."

"Not a bad choice." Her father nodded approvingly.

"How did you decide on those roles for us, Nita?" Her mother asked.

"You and Carmen are more agile, so you'd be able to keep track of the buck easier once you've startled it. Dad and Jasper are stronger, so they should be the ones to take it down, and I'm pretty nimble, but not that strong, so I thought I should just help steer it." Nita explained.

"Alright, let's do it." Nita's mother stood up and began walking silently along the forest edge.

"Wait, you're actually using my plan?" Nita asked.

"Hunting Rule number three?" Her father prompted as he brushed past.

"Whatever your decision is, go with it before you miss your target, because you won't get another shot." Carmen stated as she fell in behind their mother.

Carefully, Nita followed, trying to move and breathe as silently as she could. Once her Dad and Jasper were lined up, her Mum and Carmen stalked carefully into the clearing in a wide arc on the buck's left, as he grazed, oblivious to their silent steps in the snow.

Nita went between the buck and the bulk of the herd, staying flat so as to avoid being seen by the taller antelope. One good thing about being small? It was easier to become invisible.

Once everyone was in position, they waited.

On a silent signal, Shira and Carmen surged forward, roaring, startling the young antelope to run for his life.

Shira and Carmen drove it easily toward the forest, cutting it off as it tried to zig zag around them.

Nita ran along the edge of the herd, keeping her eyes locked on the buck, in case it tried to rejoin the herd, which had recoiled from the scene into a tighter group.

Just as it looked like the buck was about to reach the forest edge, it suddenly bolted to the right, just in front of Nita.

Snarling, Nita sprinted to block of the buck's dash for freedom.

She was there! Growling as the buck raced toward her, Nita held her ground and lashed out with her claws, trying to scare him into turning back toward the forest.

Incredibly, the buck didn't turn.

He jumped.

Right. Over. Nita.

"No!" She screamed in frustration as she spun around in time to see the buck land, scrambling to close the distance to its herd.

Growling, Nita gave chase, but she knew the odds of her getting in front of the buck now were slim.

A white blur came from her right, and Carmen launched herself into the buck's side, pushing it toward the forest edge.

The buck landed hard, right beside the trees, where Diego and Jasper pounced. Jasper held the antelope down, while her father went for the throat.

The buck gave one last kick, and became still.

"Breakfast is served." Diego said proudly as Shira, Carmen and Nita approached, panting, trying to catch their breath. "Good work everybody."

'Yeah, everybody but me,' Nita thought. Her family had each done their job perfectly, but it was Carmen who had kept the antelope from rejoining its herd.

"Nice tackle, Carmen." Nita congratulated her sister. After all, if it hadn't been for her, they'd have nothing to eat this morning.

"Thanks, sis." Carmen smiled. "Your plan worked."

"Not the way I had planned it."Nita pointed out glumly.

"No hunting plan ever works out exactly the way you expect." Shira told her smallest daughter. "You often have to improvise. But if you end up having a meal at the end, it worked."

"You're Mother's right, Nita." Diego said. "You came up with the plan, and now we have food. So it worked well."

"Yeah, so let's eat!" Jasper cheered.

Despite the reassurances of her family, as she ate her fill, Nita still wondered if she had passed her hunting test. Sure, she had come up with the plan, but in the end, it's whether or not you can make the kill. As Carmen had been the one to steer the buck, they could have easily got this meal without her help.

Once their family's hunger was sated, the kids were free to follow their own plans for the day.

"Hey Nita, you coming to The Rock?" Jasper asked as they headed back into the forest.

'The Rock' was the area at one tip of the island, where a huge stone cliff jutted out across the shore to the sea like a solid stone table. The kids like to go there to get away from the adults, slide down the sand dunes and swim in the ocean.

"No, thanks." Nita said. "I think I'll head to the training area, or Switchback cove."

"Come on, Nita." Carmen encouraged. "You never come. Being social isn't that scary."

"Yeah," Jasper added. "And Sasha was asking about you yesterday, she hasn't seen you in a while."

"Well..." Nita considered. "I have missed Sasha..."

"Great!" Jasper cheered. "Come on, let's go!"

They heard the voices and laughter before they got there.

Emerging onto the sand, the three young sabres were greeted by a crowd of teenage herbivores. Most weren't part of their family herd, so as the sabres wondered into the crowd, many gave them scared looks and edged away, giving them space.

Or, Nita thought, giving Carmen and Jasper scared looks and edging away. Nita narrowly missed getting stepped on three times by a group of young mammoths playing a game with a turtle.

Making their way closer to The Rock itself, Nita could finally see Sasha sunning herself on one of the large boulders, the light sea breeze ruffling her soft, tawny fur.

Jasper ran forward. "Sasha!"

Turning her head, Sasha smiled and jumped down, nuzzling Jasper in greeting.

Sasha and her brothers, identical twins Kane and Zane, were stragglers who had washed up on the island as cubs not long after she and her siblings were born. Separated from their pack and trapped on an ice flow, they were half drowned by the time they were found on the beach. As the twins' and Nita's families grew up together, Nita and her siblings took comfort in the fact that they were not the only sabres on the island. It also led to the inevitable: Jasper and Sasha became a couple last month, and both the twins were crazy about Carmen.

"Carmen, hi." Sasha greeted cheerfully, before doing a slight double-take.

"Nita!" She exclaimed in delight, playfully giving her a push, which Nita returned before hugging her friend. "I haven't seen you in ages, where have you been?"

"Avoiding the crowds." Nita looked back over her shoulder at the herbivore kids, some of whom were still keeping a wary eye on the sabres in their midst. Nita spotted some antelope playing a running game in the distance, and thought it best to avoid that group for a while. Everyone knew, of course, that they were sabres and so ate meat. But it did make socialising with herbivores difficult if they weren't part of their family group.

"Kind of hard to do when you live on an island." Sasha said.

"You'd be surprised." Nita replied. "This island isn't that small, you know."

"Hey Sasha, are the twins here?" Jasper asked, looking around.

Sasha sighed. "No. Last I saw them they were in the training area, practicing some new moves to impress Carmen with." She smiled at the white tiger, who rolled her eyes.

"Can they not take a hint?" Carmen asked rhetorically. "Was my tackle too subtle for them last time?"

"I think it may have encouraged them, actually." Sasha admitted.

"Yeah, they probably think you're just playing 'hard to get.'" Jasper added with a grin.

"Hey guys!" A voice called.

The four sabres turned to see a young mammoth walking towards them, a mole-hog riding on her shoulder.

"Hi Peaches." Nita greeted her adoptive cousin. "Hi Louis."

"We're gonna play a game. Wanna join in?" Peaches asked.

"We're in!" Jasper ran forward, the girls following. "What's the game?"

"Relay race." Peaches answered, pointing her trunk to where some kids were setting up what looked to be an obstacle course. "You have to jump from boulder to boulder, then climb over and under those logs, around the tree, and come back before you tag the next person on your team."

"Perfect." Carmen said confidently. "We'll win easy."

As the group walked toward the starting line, Nita felt a shadow go over her. Looking up, she saw a megaloceros, or moose-deer, stepping over her.

"Excuse me." Nita said, called to him. "Can you not walk over me like I don't exist?"

The deer looked down, his huge antlers stretching out from his head like the branches of a tree.

"Oh, I'm sorry, kitten." He said sarcastically, "I didn't see you down there."

That brought Nita up short. "Kitten?"

"Yeah, that's what you are, right?" The deer asked with a smirk. "You're tiny and cute, just like a little kitten."

"She's even fluffy like one." A young mammoth added with a laugh.

Nita felt a growl building. Kitten? She was a sabre!

"Don't," she warned, "call me cute."

"Look out, she might scratch you!" The mammoth called to the deer, who laughed until he found himself nose to nose with Jasper.

"You got a problem, burger brain?" Jasper growled. The deer backed off quickly, shaking his head.

"Ahh!" The mammoth yelped as he felt Carmen's claws digging into his shoulder as she perched on his back.

"Come on, tough trunk." Carmen softly whispered in his ear. "Let's play tag." She dug her claws in further, causing the mammoth to whimper.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The deer babbled, backing away as Jasper followed in a stalker's crouch.

"So am I, I'm sorry too!" The mammoth added. Carmen gave him a final dig before hopping down smoothly.

Both the deer and the mammoth hurried off, not looking back.

Sasha looked apologetically at Peaches. "I don't think we'll be able to join the game now, sorry."

Peaches shook her head. "It's okay. They shouldn't have treated Nita like that."

Jasper turned to his smallest sister, Carmen coming up beside him.

"You okay, sis?" He asked concernedly.

"That," Nita spat out "is why I don't come here."

"Nita-" Carmen started, but Nita cut her off.

"No! It happens every single time, and I'm tired of it!" Nita yelled in exasperation, before looking quizzically at her siblings.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Jasper asked.

"Make them scared of you!" Nita gestured in the direction the deer and mammoth had gone. "You can make them back off with a look, but with me it always: 'Oh, look at the little fluffy one! She's too cute to be a real sabre!'"

Carmen and Jasper looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"Nita, you're one of the toughest people I know." Sasha told her. "Every time we train for hunting, you keep going until you either get the move perfectly or your paws start bleeding."

"Like that helped, I couldn't even do my job this morning." Nita grumbled.

"Are you still thinking about that?" Jasper asked, surprised.

"He jumped right over me, Jasper." Nita reminded her brother. "Just like that moose-deer did. No fear at all."

Jasper and Carmen were speechless, trying to think of the words to help their sister.

Frustrated, Nita turned and began walking away.

"I'm going to Switchback Cove." She called over her shoulder.