Prolog

 

They say the first of us started out as a poor farm girl. They say when she was about five her mother couldn’t take care of her anymore, so one night while the girl was sleeping her mother took her into the forest and left her there praying to God that he would look after her.

            The girl wandered the forest for several days trying to get home. One day she came across a small cave and inside that cave were two black panthers and their cubs. Now they say that she was taken in right away, but really who among us knows if that is true or not. The panthers taught her the way of the forest, and even went so far as to give her a new form one that she could come into and leave when ever she wanted.

            After about seven years the girl remembered her mother and her family, and went to find them. What she saw terrified her, her mother and the other villagers were starving. Most of the young children and elders had died from a sickness that came from not having enough to eat.

             When the girl saw this she wanted to help. She brought them food for the rest of that terrible winter. Once winter was over the girl brought the villagers into the forest.

            She gave each of them the form of a wildcat. To her mother and the rest of her family she gave the form of a black panther that was the start of the ruling house. To the rest of the village she gave each, according to family, the form of any of the wildcats from the bobcat to the cheetah and above.

            She ruled for nearly twenty years. Tragedy struck however in the form of wolves. They had come to the city to trade or so they said. The next day the Queen was found dead with a knife in her back. They say that the knife was made by the wolves and so they were naturally blamed for the loss of the Queen.

            It started a war that has now lasted for two thousand years. So long we barely remember why we fight except for blood lost in our own families. There is no family that has not lost a loved one, a brother, a sister, mother, or father, not even the ruling house has managed to escape it.

            A few years ago, I remember that day well, many of the bigger cats decided that they had had enough of the war and left to start their own kingdoms so that they might know what peace was.

            Just as I wish to know peace, there must be a way to stop this war. But how to do it?

                                   

                                                           Faye

                                    Princess to the 

                                    Throne of Cantara