One Step Further pt. 1 “I Wasn’t Even Thirsty”

It was a typically gorgeous tropical sunset as Void walked lazily home from swim practice. The giant palms swayed gently in the cool evening breeze and cast interesting shadows in the fading orange light. Meanwhile the many exotic calls of the jungle birds could be heard on all sides of the old stone path he tread, just as on every evening since Void could remember, but he was too tired from practice to really care about anything aside from getting home and going to bed for a bit before having to get up for the family meal.

“Hey Void!”

“Huh?” Void looked up, startled from his unthinking state. It was his friend Sadie, she and Void had known each other since infancy and had grown to become best friends over the years hence, much to the chagrin of Void’s broodmother. You see, Sadie had developed, throughout the course of her childhood, the reputation of being mischief incarnate, and she quite enjoyed Void’s company on her rampages of misbehavior.

Today was to be no exception.

“Hiya!” she shouted and fairly-well tackled him, knocking both of them to the ground, “Heeey, I’m bored, you want to go get something to drink from the market? Huh?”

Void, although still too stunned to respond, wondered why he hadn’t expected Sadie’s usual (and often painful) greeting. Looking up, he saw her wide, toothy grin beaming down at him.

Sadie was a typically forward member of the dog tribe, perhaps even more so than typical, if that was possible. It didn’t help matters much that she was considered one of the most beautiful females of her tribe, but her typical suitor wouldn’t survive more than a day or two in her presence. She was also unfathomably tom-boyish, and had no qualms with decking any man who even so much as tried to woo her.

But Void wasn’t thinking of her stunning gold-mottled fur that nearly shone in the waning sunlight, giving it an almost goddess-like beauty, nor was he ogling her perfectly curved (though well-muscled) body. No, he was scared silly of that maniacal glint in her eye, and the way her tail was wagging as only it does when she is about to get them into unfortold amounts of trouble …again.

“Uhm, I don’t know. I don’t have any money on me, and I’m also a little..,”

“Bah, you won’t need any money!” she interrupted gleefully, then proceeded to pin him to the ground. “If my plan works…” she added, whispering in his ear.

“Yeah, I don’t know, last time you said we could get free dinners we had to run from the police for…”

“Good, let’s go then!” She interrupted yet again, “this time I have a plan that involves no arson whatsoever!” she beamed as she picked Void up from the ground.

Thank the Gods, thought Void as he was dragged along one of the many dirt side paths toward the marketplace.

Familiar trees and family dwellings blurred past on either side of the small path as Sadie pulled him quickly by the hand, all the while Void quietly begged the fates to be kind to him this day.

“Alright, we’re here,” Sadie stopped and crouched amongst the undergrowth on the outskirts of the market. Breathing heavily, Void collapsed beside her. Lucky for him his father was of the coyote tribe, or he might have had a heart attack about a half-mile back.

Looking out from the foliage, Void could see only a few people left perusing the various shops as evening slowly turned to night. A peacekeeper from the bat tribe could be seen silently lighting the gas torches that lined the open marketplace, Void recognized him instantly as his older cousin Gale. Gale was widely regarded as the favorite among his and Void’s generation, strong in both will and body. He also happened to be directly descended from one of the great heroes of the bat clan, Wind.

“Oh great”

“Shhh! What’s wrong?”

“That’s my cousin Gale. If he catches us doing anything shady, I am in for a beating!”

“Hey don’t worry”, Sadie flashed him a very disconcerting smile “when have I ever …hmm, on second thought, never mind, heheh.”

“…”

“Ok, ok, settle down, we won’t get caught, besides we’re practically doing the panther tribe a favor!” she stated matter-of-factly.

Void’s eyes looked as wide as two twin moons in the torchlight.

“You can’t be serious Sadie,” he entreated, “you’re gonna steal from a cat tribe?!”

“Yeah, they just throw out gallons of that wonderful melon juice they sell, at the end of the day, this way they won’t have to worry about the waste!”

“Oh, goddess of mercy! If we get caught, it’ll be us they pour into the sewer tomorrow morning!” Void was trembling visibly.

“Oh please, just because someone might hunt you down and massacre you is no reason not to do something!” That familiar insane grin appeared on Sadie’s face and filled Void’s very soul with dread.

“OK, here’s the plan Void, I’m gonna distract the old man that sits at the front counter, he’s half deaf anyways. You just have to sneak back into the kitchen and fill up a few jugs, simple as that.”

“Why do I have to do all the dirty work?!” Void gasped.

“Duh!” she tugged on Void’s lavender fur, “one of us is better suited to sneaking around at night...Except those shiny eyes of yours…you might wanna hide those, heheh.”

“Wonderful.”

“Enough talk, let’s do this!”

With that she shoved Void out of the brush and walked toward the panther tribe’s produce hut. She looked back and gave a final wink at Void.

How, Void thought, could this not end in tragedy.