Secret Buried Within

Evie was bounding through the brambles. How did this happen? Just moments before, she had been pitching camp with Ma. Ma cried out. There was fire. Ma was gone. Now Evie was bolting through the forest as fast as a jaguar, tears streaming down her face. How was she going to survive without Ma?

She was only 17 summers old! Evie looked around, the forest around her was vaguely familiar, she remembered coming here for a wild cat clan meet. Ma and the clan had never gotten along very well, that is why they were outcasts living in the forbidden forest. Evie stopped; in the distance, she could hear a lonely cub meowing. Food. Evie scampered towards the noise, being careful not to startle whatever creature awaited her. She peered behind a pona tree and saw a tiny jaguar cub. Evie's mouth watered. She was starving. The cub looked at her with big hopeful eyes. Then suddenly, the cub bounded at her and tackled Evie to the ground. Evie was not hungry anymore. They had made an instant connection, like they had known each other in their before lives. The cub loved Evie and Evie loved the cub. "I'm going to call you Tiger," said Evie.

Evie and tiger trotted through the tangles. Tiger's ears suddenly pricked up. A young man was crying beside a stream. "Boy, why are you crying?" asked Evie curiously. Startled, the man jumped up and wiped his tears. "I wasn't crying, he muttered as his pale cheeks turned a rosy red. His pure hazel eyes filled with sorrow. “And anyway, what is it to you? My name is C-Cade, what's yours?" he questioned, his eyes never leaving the jaguar cub. "Evie." Cade looked nervously at Evie, his face showing every inner thought and emotion. Evie then asked why he was crying. "My Ma, Fa and little brother were all killed by a tiny thing with fire. As if it were reliving the moment, Cade whimpered and started weeping loudly again. Evie didn't have time to think because suddenly, Evie, Cade and Tiger were surrounded by the evilest clan in the Amazon. The Gutchi-goo. Although only three squirrels tall, they have massacred half of every clan’s population. Before they knew it, Evie, Cade, and the cub were tied in chains around their hands and waist and were being taken to who knows where.

"Let us go!" screamed Evie, her chains rattling against the cage bars. They were now in some sort of underground cave, the guards were as tall as Evie's knee, but feisty, nonetheless. Awful aromas were coming from down the hall where there was the whole of the dreadful Gutchi-goo clan. They were dancing around a fire cheering "hoo-min stew hoo-min stew". Tiger gave a bedraggled 'uff' as if he had just woken up. After a long, uncomfortable sleep, Evie woke to see that Cade, Tiger and herself were tied to kebab sticks which were delicately hanging over a tiny cooking skin. The kebab sticks were only just long enough to support their backs and tailbones. A Gutchi-goo warrior wearing a giant head crest stood up. Presumably the leader, thought Cade. He stood and said, "to our dear guests, you will be made into hoo-min stew". The crowd erupted. The fire gurgled beneath them as they started to feel their deerskin pants heat up and melt. They looked at each other in a panic. Suddenly, a tiger wearing a green tunic and brown shredded pants that were ripping at the seams burst through the entrance of the cave. He looks like my favourite character from the story Ma used to tell me, just not a tiger, thought Evie. She looked sadly to the side, but Evie had bigger things to worry about. The Gutchi-goo, feeling threatened by the oddly dressed tiger, looked in fear at one another wondering what to do. When the tiger yelled very loudly “NEVER FEAR! TIGER-HOOD IS HERE!” The gorgeous green eyes of the tiger never left the captives. He reared up on his hind legs and lifted Evie, Cade, and Tiger to the safety of a ledge, too high for the clan to reach. “YOU!” Tiger-hood shouted at the leader “ARE A LIAR!” The leader cowered in the corner, obviously knowing what he was talking about. Tiger-hood ran over to the leader and scratched him on the face. A mask came off. The room gasped…