Chapter Six

Chiara looked up. She noticed that it had begun to get colder as the sun made its way towards the snowy mountains on the horizon. She had cried alone her troubles to the wind and sky, away from her leap so that they may not hear her as she did so. The Leothra were starting to take off and she knew that they wouldn’t wait for her.

          Chiara had a fleeting thought wondering if she should go to their territory. *I could just fly over to the jungle and look for Cephas myself. The Leothra and father won’t even know I’ve been gone until it is too late. By then I would’ve found Cephas-dead or alive.*

          She glanced at the Leothra, now fewer on the ground still than before. Time was running out. She had to make a decision. The prospect of flying straight into danger terrified her and Chiara wasn’t sure she could do it. *I really am a coward,* she thought.

          Chiara flew into the air, kicking off a cloud of snow into the air behind her. The light from the setting sun gleamed on the surface of the snowy ground as she made her way to follow Chief Warrick. She couldn’t leave her leap, even for Cephas.

          Chiara soon caught up to the Leothra. She flew towards the back of it, avoiding her father. She was sure he would try to take the opportunity to lecture her on how to be chief. Chiara didn’t want to have to hear that. She didn’t want to be chief or leader of anything. She didn’t deserve to be.

**. . .**

          It was well into the night when the chief commanded them to land. Chiara didn’t know exactly where they were except that the Leothra headed South. She glided down to the pine needle strewn ground. Chiara was sure she had never flown so far before. She yawned and stretched her wings which hurt from the excessive use of them. *I’m just going to go to sleep ... maybe everything will be better in the morning.*

          Chiara settled down. She covered herself with her wings to protect herself from the cold breeze. She couldn’t sleep.

          Thoughts raced through her mind, despite her attempts to slow them down. She remembered seeing Cephas push her off the platform to save her. She wondered if the tree had crushed him and if it was because he was too busy trying to save her. She thought of the different territories. How they were so apart from the jungle she had known for her whole life. Chiara thought of what Casus had said.

          Chiara could hear the gentle snores of the Leothra around her. If she opened her eyes she could see the wings of many colors of her leap surrounding her. It was almost as if they were there to protect her. She shut them tight and rolled onto her belly to try to be less distracted. *Why can’t I sleep? I’m tired but I can’t figure out how to fix that!*

          She grumbled and rolled over yet again, her wings spread out that time. Chiara wished she could avoid her thoughts like how she avoided her father and the Leothren. *And my brother.* A small uninvited part of her whispered. *I had the chance to go out and save him and what did I do? I chose to leave him to not risk my own fur. I know I am like the Leothren-possibly even worse.*

          Chiara yawned as she thought bitter thoughts. She was starting to feel thirsty. Chiara opened her eyes as she laid on her back to see that the moon was past its highest point. She groaned inwardly as she got to her feet.

          The Leothra had landed in the middle of a forest next to a mountain range in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t in their territory and all the trees and plants weren’t the kind she was used to finding in the jungle.

          Chiara lifted her nose to the air, scenting water. She headed towards it, staggering from how drowsy she was from the lack of rest. She came to a small lake where she thought she saw a sizable black blob at the shore. Chiara squinted and thought it had wings. *Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me,* she thought. She panted with nervousness, ready to turn tail. *Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe it's something bad. A dragon?* Her heart raced and she lifted her wings to take off. her tail swept through the underbrush on accident and made a crackling sound.

          “Who's there?” the sharp voice asked . It sounded familiar. *Maybe it's just another Leothra and there is no reason to be scared.*

          It was too late to run away anyways. The form was already upon her and Chiara could see its dark green eyes which were lit by the moonlight. “Chiara is that you?” he asked. “What are you doing awake?”

          Chiara let out a gasp of relief. She *did* recognize that voice. It belonged to the chief. *What a fool I am! I was too scared to recognize the scent of my own father!*

          “Um ...can’t sleep.” She said, “I came to the lake to get a drink of water.” *And thought I saw a monster which terrified me only for it to be you. There’s no way I’m telling you that. Not in a million years.*

          “Hm,” Chief Warrick rumbled. She shifted to his side. “Me too. I was deciding on the future of Leothra.” Even through the darkness of the new moon, Chiara managed to see his eyes brighten. “You could help me!” he exclaimed, quiet enough to not wake the nearest snoozing Leothra.

          “I’d rather not,” Chiara interjected.

          Chief Warrick grew stern. “You can’t just not learn how to be chief. It takes knowledge and practice. I gave you grace before and let you put off learning until now. You need to learn and I am going to see to it that you do and that the future of the Leothra is secured. Understand?” His voice was firm and Chiara knew there would be no arguing.

          She hesitated. “Alright,” she surrendered. She waited for the lecture, hoping she wouldn’t have to contribute. *Maybe I can tune him out and think about other things instead.*

          Chief Warrick nodded. “So, do you have any ideas for where the Leothra should go?”

          Chiara’s mouth gaped open but she quickly shut it. “No,” she said. She didn’t want to be a part of any decision making only to find out she chose the wrong thing.

          He narrowed his eyes. “You sure? It seems like you would. I remember that time when you managed to catch an anaconda by luring it out of the water with some leftover deer. If you can use your smarts to hunt you can use them to lead.” Chief Warrick sat back. “I’m not leading the Leothra anywhere until you decide where we should go.”

          Chiara peered at him. Her gaze was steady in spite of her panicking on the inside. *I have an idea.* “Then I say we go to the jungle. To look for Cephas and the rest left behind.” *He would never say yes to that! He would be forced to make the decision instead!* She applauded her cleverness.

          Chief Warrick eyed her. “Okay,” he answered. *He said* what*?* “I will let you lead a patrol to go to our territory. You may choose ten Leothra of your choice since you are so desperate to go there. If there are still dragons, report back immediately. Don’t engage. And do not let any of the Leothra you choose make the decisions for the group. It must be you, Chiara. If I hear that you have been stepping back to let someone else do all the leading things ... things won’t be good. Do as I say or else.”

          Chiara knew he had caught on to what she was trying to do. She didn’t answer, half furious and indigninet and the other half fearful. “When you return you will find us still here. Even if we are forced to leave, I will send at least one scout to this exact spot every day at daybreak. I suppose we can manage to stay here for a while. There is little food-not enough to support our entire leap-so I’m afraid we will have to trespass to hunt. Be quick about your mission and come back before a fortnight passes as I cannot afford to waste any more time than that. If you do not return by then you must understand that I will be forced to leave your patrol behind.” She could tell Chief Warrick was serious, his voice deep and commanding.

          “On second thought maybe it would be a bad idea to go back,” Chiara began. The journey and expedition sounded dangerous and scary.

          Chief Warrick shook his head. “Nope, sorry. You can’t go back on your decisions so suddenly when you are chief. Pretend you have already made sacrifices to go. If you don’t go you waste them. No, you need to learn what it takes to be a leader one way or another. If you are so desperate not to go then I can instead have you lead the entire leap while I step back for a while instead of taking baby steps by leading a patrol of ten Leothra first. Your choice.”

          Chief Warrick had backed her into a corner. Chiara felt as if her father was betraying her. He was meant to protect the Leothra. All of them which included her. How could he be protecting her if he was sending her away from the comfort of the rest of the leap. Not only that but off to face the dangers of the jungle and possibly dragons? She wasn’t ready.

*Why can’t he understand? Why can’t he just let me stay comfortable and not lead. I’m not worthy-he should choose someone else. Like Cephas. I know he is alive-he just has to be with us again. I can lead him back, I know it. And then everything will be back to normal and fixed and the Dragons will eventually disappear and everything will be perfect.* She looked up and faced her father.”I’ll go,” she said with as much confidence as she could work up.

          Chiara felt dizzy knowing that she was volunteering to go out and risk her life. *Should I have chosen to not go? But this is my only chance. Now that it's the choice between risking my life versus risking the life of herself and the entirety of Leothra it wasn’t as hard of a decision to make.*

          “Good,” Chief Warrick nodded. “You will choose the ones who will go with you tomorrow. Pick wisely. I recommend choosing Leothra who share different strengths and who can help you in their own ways instead of a miniature army of duplicates. What good is a patrol made only of muscle when they aren’t good at tracking? Or the other way around?”

          Chiara nodded, still shocked by what she had said earlier.

          Chief Warrick sighed. “Alright, well I assume you came here to drink too? Might as well since you’re here now although I don’t advise staying up all night again.”

          Chiara walked over to the edge of the water, which lapped against the mud covered bank. “Look who’s talking,” she said casually. She felt her ears go hot in embarrassment. She realized that she had talked back to not only her father but also the chief. She expected him to punish her in some way or another for her insolence.

          But Chief Warrick gave out a hearty laugh instead. “I suppose so,” he chuckled, “I’m quite the hypocrite aren’t I?”

          Chiara turned, stunned. He would never have tolerated that before. She realized that Chief Warrick spent much more time with her than he ever had once Cephas was gone. If Cephas had been here Chief Warrick would be talking to him instead like old buddies. She would rarely see him but it would be like old times. She was used to it.

          “I suppose so,” Chiara responded as she took a sip of the water. She could see the reflection of the stars on the lake. Chiara wondered exactly what they were and why they glowed and how. She tried to distract herself from worrying about what was soon to come.