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The Adventures of Rune and Rukio
Book 3:

Prologue:

Dawn was coming. The night blue sky was beginning to get lighter. A slight gust of wind blew outside the jungle, leaving dust in the air from the desert surrounding it. Little by little stars were disappearing from the sky. On the east side, the sky was light, showing only a few of the suns rays. The sky further west was skill dark with a few stars. The forest was still slightly shadowed.
In the brush outside the forest were two shadowy creatures watching the empty desert. Their red eyes pierced through the bushes. The waited silently. Moments later, a paw stepped out of the bushes. It was a mountain lion. Soon after, the other one came out too. The walked around and smelled the ground. Their brown fur glowed blue under the morning sky. Their backs were slightly coated with dust from the desert grounds.
One mountain lion looked up toward the east. Humans cannot interfere. These words raced through their minds as they paced the ground. After several paces around, they laid on the ground. Their tails were flicking up and down. They were becoming bored and restless.
In the distance, something dark was coming their way. It was coming from the direction where the sun will rise. It looked like a black dot in their eyes. The mountain lions locked eyes with it. As it got closer, they could just about make out what it was. It was a human machine. A truck heading their way. Humans cannot interfere.
The mountain lions got up and walked toward the dirt road the truck was riding a long. They waited. It was still quite far, but it was coming fast. One mountain lion walked into the road. The oncoming truck was getting closer.
The truck was dark brown, with rust covering the hood. The lights were slightly dim, and the back it was carrying was a short box like cargo trailer. The back of it was slightly open, but tied with rope.
The truck got closer and on of the mountain lions ran in front of the truck and stopped. The truck swerved away from it and started to spin out of control. The swerving caused more dust and sand to fly in the air. The second mountain lion jumped on to the hood of the truck then jumped off. The truck was forced the swerve to the side again, but this time the truck flipped over. Finally causing the truck to stop moving. After that a large crate and some other stuff fell out from the back of the truck.
The mountain lions waited for the dust and the sand in the air to clear. Then they approached and vehicle slowly. On one side of the door, a man was trying to crawl out of the truck from the door, unaware of the mountain lions approach.
Humans cannot interfere.
Just as he was half way out of the truck, one of the mountain lions lunged at the struggling man. The man screamed and tried to get back in the truck, but the lion grabbed him by his neck, pulled him out and crushed his neck, killing him. The other mountain lion crawled up to the truck. He peeked in through the window to see another man crouching down in fear. He crawled in the window. The other mountain lion watched. He heard the man screaming and yelling, but then he went silent. Both humans were dead.
The mountain lion crawled out of the truck and joined the other, "Our work here is done."
Just as they were about to head back to the forest, on lion turned and saw that the big crate that fell from the back was moving. They both looked at each other and they walked up to the shaking crate. "Something's inside?"
The crate was made of thin wood. It had all kinds of markings made by humans. But the mountain lions smelled an animal inside. One of the lions bit down on a piece of the crate and ripped a layer of wood off. With out warning, a shadow ripped through the crate, slitting both mountain lion's throats, leaving them dead. Then the shadowy creature landed out the ground and faced the forest.
"I'm free."

Chapter 1

It was late in the afternoon, the sun was high over Malody's Cliff. Rune leaped in the air for a direct attack against Keruru. Keruru dodged the attack, and Rune landed on the ground. Before Rune could react, Keruru came in for a direct attack. Rune roared and swiped his claw at the oncoming attack. But it didn't stop Keruru's move, instead he dodged Rune's swipe and went for an attack from behind. Rune quick turned around and leaped away. Keruru stood in place and watched Rune. Rune stopped to see Keruru, "Your defense is pretty good," Keruru said, "But your offense is slow, and needs work."
Rune sat next to Keruru, and he continued, "You need to be a little quicker, you hesitate too much. Especially now, that Claw uses the vibrations in the ground to figure out where his opponents stand, makes it even worse."
"Should I approach it a different way?" Rune asked.
"Not necessarily," Keruru replied, "You just can't think about your moves while your doing them. You can't think while your fighting, you don't have time for that. When you fight, it has to be quick and thoughtless." Just as he finished his sentence, Keruru swung his large paw at Rune, Rune dodged and leaped into a fighting stance as if ready to fight again. But Keruru sat at his position and smirked, "Very nice." Rune smiled at his compliment. "Alright then," He continued, "Lets see what else you got."

Back at the castle, Rukio and Maira sat on the ledge of the castle's porch, both basking in the sun, grooming themselves. Keruji sat by the stairs in the shade sleeping. The sun was hot. Seemingly a good day to relax. Keruji woke up and looked up to see Rukio and Maira. He got up, stretched and then headed for the stairs. "Hey girls," He spoke, "You just gonna sit around all day cleaning yourselves?"
"Come on Keru," Rukio said, "it's a nice day, come relax with us."
"Yeah, its beautiful today!" Maira added.
"I don't know how you guys can relax knowing Claw is out there planning on killing us." Keruji retorted.
"Its been several days," Rukio said, "Claw hasn't been around, and if he does come around, we'll be ready."
"Oh really?" Keruji replied, "Can you ladies fight? And I don't mean that ridiculous pouncing you guys did when Claw first attacked you guys, I mean REAL fighting!" Rukio and Maira exchanged awkward glances.
"Pouncing?" Maira asked.
"What was wrong with our fighting?" Rukio added.
"Come on ladies," Keruji continued, "You couldn't possibly call that fighting!"
Keruji smiled at them, he crouched down in a fighting position then faced the girls.
"Come on ladies," Keruji growled, "I'll teach you how to fight."
Rukio sprung at Keruji, then right after, Maira followed. The lesson turned into play fighting as they rolled around in the grass. Moments later, Rune appeared from the brush, quite exhausted. He looked up and was surprised to see the three cubs playing.
"May I join?" Rune joked. The three cubs looked up at Rune's response, then jumped up to greet him.
"How was training?" Rukio asked.
"Tough," responded Rune, " but well. Keruru has a lot of experience, and a lot of stories about dad. It was cool."
"Did my dad bore you to death with his other lame stories?" added Keruji. Rune threw an annoyed glance at Keruji and turned to his sister and Maira, "So how was your day so far?"
"No trouble here." Maira added. "Things have been pretty quiet since Claw left."
Rune nodded approvingly and turned to face the woods, "Have you seen Toni or Coco at all today?" The three cubs turn to each other with confused looks.
"No," Rukio replied, "haven't seen either of them."
Rune looked toward the woods again, "I wonder where they are."

Chapter 2

"Hurry up!!" Coco cried, "We have to deliver this news as quickly as possible!"
"I'm coming," Toni replied, " but I cant help but cant shake this feeling we're being watched." Toni and Coco were traveling through the woods as quickly as they could, but Toni turned his head at every corner.
"Watched? By who?"
"I don't know, what if it's the one who's been committing all those murders! Oh no hurry!!"
"Calm down Toni! You cant panic in this situation, we have to hurry and get this information back to Rune."
"Coco, just fly back and check, please. Im starting to hear noises!" Coco grunted and flew back to look around. Toni stopped in his tracks fearing the worse. Coco flew around and came back with nothing. A rustle in the bushes next to where Toni was standing made Toni leap in fear. "Coco!!"
"What is it. Toni?" Coco replied shooting toward Toni. But before he could answer a shadows shot from the bushes straight for Toni. The two screamed in fear and Toni ran for his life with Coco not to far behind. But the enemy was only a few tail lengths behind. Coco flew ahead, they were close to Rune's home. Coco flew above the trees and over Rune.
"Rune help!" Coco screamed, "we're being attacked!"
Rune quick leaped at Coco's words and sprung into the woods, with his friends not far behind. Toni, heading for Rune's home attempted to leaped up a steep hillside ahead of him, but he failed and slid. His enemy however, was right under him and Toni landed right on him, stopping him in his tracks. Toni lifted his head, and shook off some leaves.
"Toni you did it!" Coco called out, "You caught the attacker!"
"I did?" Toni replied, then he looked and saw what had been chasing them half passed out under Toni. Toni leaped up in fear. The attacker was a Bengal tiger cub, he was a bright orange color with black stripes on his back and face. He had a thick tuft of white hear on his head and some more white fur under his ears. He lied on the ground with a frustrated look on his face. He was hurt from Toni's body crushing him.
"What's going on here?" Rune called from a distance. Coco flew up to Rune, "it's a tiger cub!" Rune slid down the hill and look down at the cub. The cub was around Rune's size. The cub looked up at Rune, only slightly intimidated by Rune's expression of low tolerance. "Hey there," the cub retorted "I'm going to leave now." He slowly backed away, still facing Rune, but before he went further, Rukio stepped out of bushes behind him.  The cub jerked his head to see who was behind him. Rukio stood her ground. Feeling threatened, he veered slowly to the left and Maira appeared in front of him. The cub panicked when he saw Maira and tried to escape to the right, but then Keruji blocked his last exit.
"Okay," the cub said, calmly, "how many of you are there?"  Keruji stepped forward and looked directly in the eye of the cub, "Your coming with us."

Chapter 3

It was sunset. Many parts of the forest start to become dark. Rune stood on the balcony of his home looking up at the sky, deep in thought. Rune was quickly interrupted with the voices of Keruji and the tiger cub arguing back and forth. Rune had brought the tiger cub back with him to his home for interrogation. Several animals in the jungle were reported to be killed by an unknown predator. Rumors were saying it was a lion-related animal and that the tiger cub was suspected of being the culprit. But after hours of questions, nothing was learned. The cub claimed to be innocent. Rune decided to hold the tiger cub in quarantine until answers can be found. Rune paused his investigation on the cub, but even now, Keruji was still going at it.
At that moment, Rune thought of another was of obtaining information from the tiger cub. He realized he knows nothing about the cub. Like his name or where he came from. Rune couldn't help but realizes that all we was concerned about at first was who was committing the killings in the jungle rather than this strange tiger cub coming out of nowhere. Rune stepped of the balcony and approached the cub. "Look," The tiger cub started hastily, "I did not kill any of these animals your accusing me of."
"But you were going to kill Toni?" Rune replied.
"Well yea," the cub responded, with a tone as if to be caught in a lie, "I was hungry. I haven't eaten in hours."
"That's it?" Rune asked,
"Okay," confessed the cub, "I did kill two mountain lions." Rune looked in surprise, and Keruji hissed: "I knew you weren't innocent!"
"I swear they were the only ones I killed!" the cub retorted, "I only did it because they threatened to kill!" Keruji hissed at the cub and stood back. Rune took a breath and spoke again,
"What's your name?" Rune's tone grew lighter, he wondered to himself if his father was here, how would he handle this.
"My name is Haru." replied the cub.
"Where did you come from?"
"I came from a zoo. I lived there with my family. Every day humans came by our cage and kids would try to roar at us. Most of the other tigers ignored it. Some started at the humans with hunger in their eyes. But one day, no humans showed up. Later, My mom told me the zoo was closed up and that humans were no longer going to visit us. All the animals were going to be taken away and that we'd never see them again." Rune became fascinated by this story as Haru told it. Haru's tone was mild, his tone seemed sarcastic and serious at the same time. Rune knew he spoke the truth here. Rukio, Maira and Keruji listened from the side.
Haru continued: "I couldn't sleep that night, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to me and my family. The next morning, humans came in our cages, shooting my family members with dart guns! Not me though I avoided as many as I can. One human threw a rope around my neck and pulled me into a box. The box I was in kept moving around until the box I was in was put into one of those machines humans control.
I must have been in there for days. I couldn't take it anymore. I ripped open the box. But the human machine was still on the move so I waited in the box a little longer. I knew the human machine would stop as it usually did once in a while. But this time was different. I heard voices outside that kept saying 'humans cannot interfere' and they kept talking about killing or something-"
"So that's when you killed the mountain lions!?" Keruji interrupted.
"Yes," Haru responded in a low tone." I said they were the only ones I killed, after that I came into the jungle looking for something to eat. I found nothing so I slept for a while then stumbled across the antelope."
Rune looked at Haru and nodded, "its getting late, I think we all need to rest." Haru walked to a corner and laid down. Maira and Rukio walked to their beds too, and Keruji headed out the door. Rune walked outside and met up with Toni and Coco. Rune walked with them in the woods a little and explained everything he learned about the tiger cub that tried to kill them. Toni and Coco were on their way home too. After several feet, Rune turned around and headed back to his home. Rune yawned uncontrollably, he was tired from a long day. But he was not expecting what was waiting for him at his home. He started to get a whiff of blood n the air, he panicked and ran for his home suspecting someone had invaded when he was gone. But when he got there, it was very quiet, he walked up to the top of the stairs, and he gasped at what he saw there. It was a dead bird covered in blood. Rune was horrified at the site. This kill was fresh. Only minutes he was gone and a murder was committed and left at his doorway waiting for him. What? Rune thought to himself, is this some kind of warning?

Chapter 4

Rune found himself walking through the forest. The forest around him was shrouded in a very light fog. The fog captured all of the suns rays that were peaking through the trees. The forest had an evening glow to it.  The trees had the fall colors, and the leaves Rune stepped on cracked as he walked by. The aura around him felt very ominous. He felt chills all over his body, he wondered where he was, I've never seen this part of the forest.  Straight ahead, Rune saw light. It wasn't the light from the red sun, this was different. It had a familiar glow to it. But it was so far away. Rune started to run, but just as quickly as he started. He stopped. It was too far to chase.
Rune kept his pace through the dense forest. Rune began to hear voices. They sounded familiar. He looked all around, but saw nothing. He stood in his track. Not knowing what to do next. But the voice became louder. Though he still couldn't make words out if it, he soon recognized the voices. It sounds like Raiya, his mother. A voice he hadn't heard in so long. It was nice feeling, but at the same time it was also scary. He didn't know what was happening to him. Rune called out to his mother. But there was no answer. Rune looked straight ahead at the light, but this time it was closer to him. He charged straight for it, but it wasn't getting closer to him. When he looked at the light, he realized it's shape. It was a lion? No it was his mother, it was Raiya!
The shock of his vision awoke him. It was a dream. Rune was breathing heavily gasping for air. He stood up to shake off his dream. He felt something leaning heavily on his shoulder, a thought that something was going to happen. He walked to another room to see his den mates, Rukio was in her bed sleeping seemingly peacefully. Maira was laying next to Haru also relaxed. Rune walked back to his nest to regain sleep once more.

It was early dawn and Rune was at Malody's cliff for training. Rune stood in place waiting for Keruru's next lesson. But that wasn't what was on his mind. The dream held him from concentrating. His thoughts were quickly interrupted when a large lions paw shot directly in Rune's face, knocking him to the ground. Rune fought to catch his balance and tried to make sense of what just happened, and when he looked up, Keruru was standing over him with a look of frustration.
"I'm sorry, sir," Rune said, "I--"
"If your not going to listen to me then leave!" Keruru yelled.
"Please," begged Rune, "I'm sorry. I have a lot on my mind." Keruru looked at Rune with slight pity, "What's your problem?"
"I can't but wonder what Claw's next plan of attack is." Keruru looked at Rune with interest, Rune continued: "Yesterday, we met a tiger cub from outside the jungle. He overheard two mountain lions talking about killing. Then last night when I walked Toni and Coco home, I found a bird at my home nearly torn apart. I had only been gone for a few minutes. Its like they were waiting for me to leave before leaving it there. "
"Before who left it?" Keruru asked,.
"I don't know," Rune replied, "The mountain lions, maybe? I thought they put it there as a warning."
"Its possible." Keruru added.
"That's not all," Rune continued, "I had a dream! The forest was red like fall. I even saw my mom, I think she was trying to tell me something. But I woke up before I learned anything. What should I do?"
"The jungle's safety is your responsibility, Rune," Replied Keruru, "Don't take these warnings lightly. You should go back and discuss this with your followers. Warn the animals of the coming dangers, and prepare for the worse."

Back at the castle, Rukio paced back and forth in front of the steps. She had a lot on her mind too. Keruji pop out from the woods with a casual look of carelessness on his face as usual and walked up to Rukio. "'Mornin' princess," Keruji greeted, but Rukio just gave a friendly nod and sat down and looked away. "Well, what's with you?" Keruji asked, looking confused.
"I had a strange dream last night…" She replied, Keruji shrugged and looked at her.
"It was nothing." She added.
"Okay," Keruji replied, "So what's up for this morning?"
"Nothing so far. I'm waiting for Rune." Keruji walked away and went inside the castle. Maira was sitting next to Haru. Maira noticed Keruji, "Hey Keru," she called out, "Haru says he can help us fight the mountain lions."
"Hey," Keruji asked, "Did you notice that Rukio's a little off today?" Maira's expression changed from happy to serious. "Yeah, actually, and Rune too seemed distracted as well."
"I wonder what's going on." Keruji added.
"I don't know if this helps or not," Haru started, Keruji and Maira turned to listen to Haru, Keruji looked as if he didn't want to trust anything Haru said, Haru continued, "I thought I smelled a mountain lion outside of here when Rune left with the bird and deer. But when I looked outside I didn't see anything."
"IDIOT!" Keruji blurted out, "Why didn't you say anything!?!?!" before any response was made, Rukio walked in.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"This guy said mountain lions came here last night and he said nothing!"
"What?"
Rune charged through the doorway, "Rukio, come here!" He interrupted, "We need to talk."
"What's going on?" Keruji asked.
"Is everything okay, Rune" Maira added.
"No," Rune answered, "Claw is going to attack us! I don't know when, or how. But we must be prepared. I'm going into the jungle to warn as many animals as I can."
"Warn them?" Rukio asked.
"Yes," Answered Rune, "They need to be on the look out incase anything suspicious happens. I'm going!" Rune stormed out the front door as quickly as he could. Rukio and the others watched. Rukio felt this decision of Rune's was unnecessary. But she wasn't able to get to him in time. Rune had already left.

Chapter 5

Rune went through the woods, he searched for Toni and Coco, but they weren't insight. Rune slowed his pace to see who he can find in the woods. Then a voice about him called him out, "Hiya Rune," it was a spider monkey hanging from a tree. Rune turned to face him, "Hi, I'm glad I found you,"
"Oh really?" The spider monkey replied.
"Yeah, I'm sending out a warning to the everyone to look out for anything suspicious. If you see anything, let me know."
"Sure thing, Rune!" After his response, Rune took off again.
Later, after speaking with several animals, Rune headed home. He was exhausted from his rounds around the jungle.
Moments after his decision to head home, he had thought of something. He changed his path and headed in another direction. He started to run. He was determined to get to his new destination. Something is going to happen, Run thought to himself, I just know it; Mom and Dad  are trying to warn us, I know it. Night set it. Rune found himself in an open field. It was the same place he came to when the animals of jungle had rejected his return home. Rune looked around, and as he expected, Mandy was laying under the stars looking up.
"Mandy," Rune called out, "Can I ask you something?" Mandy turned to see and was delighted at Rune's visit. "Hello, Rune!" Mandy greeted, "How are things in the jungle."
"Not good," Replied Rune, "Something really bad is going to happen, and I can't stop it because I don't know what it is. I know my parents are trying to warn me. But I don't know how I can communicate with them. What should I do, Mandy?"
"I wish I knew," Mandy replied, "I don't know how you can talk to your parents, but I do know that if what you received is a warning, then prepare yourself. Consider what you already know, and be ready for when it comes."

Rune walked home exhausted. When he arrived, Maira was already asleep next to Haru. Rune didn't see Rukio at first, then she came in from another room. Rune walked up to her and gave her a conforming lick.
"How was today?" Rukio asked.
"Tiring," Rune replied with sleep in his voice, "I know I got some warning that something is going to happen."
"I know," Rukio interrupted, Rune looked at her kin of shocked, "I had a dream too." Rune and Rukio talked quietly so they wouldn't disturb their den mates.
"It was weird. The forest was weird. I even saw mom."
"You saw mom?"
"Yeah."
"I saw dad." Rune was shocked at her dream. It was almost identical. He knew his parents were trying to contact them. But he still had no idea what was coming.
"Did he say anything to you?" Rune asked.
"No," She replied, "He was so far away, and I couldn't hear him well."
"Same here."
"What do we do, Rune?
"Lets just get some rest. We've both had a long day. All we can do now is wait."
Rune threw himself at his nest. He was aching from being on his paws all day. The anxiety from all this had drained him. Even after being nervous about what was going to happen, he finally started to relax. Then he fell into a deep sleep and began to dream again.
Rune found himself in the foggy forest again. Only this time, it was more clear. It still had that evening glow on the trees. Rune looked around. He walked up to a stream flowing by. When he went to have a drink, the water was very warm. Rune spit out the water with displeasure. He shook himself and continued to walk. All the leaves he stepped on shattered under his paws. They were dry as can be.
Rune began to feel warm. The further he got, the warmer. It seemed as if it were the middle of summer. But Rune assumed it was getting close to winter. This was weird.
What's going on? Is this part of the warning? Rune thought to himself. Then a familiar voice came out of no where, "Yes it is." Rune turned and saw right next to him, his father, Kimba! Rune was in shock, he didn't know what to say.
Kimba stood in place. Staring in one direction. When he spoke, his voice echoed.
"Remember, the safety of the animals is your responsibility."
"What does that mean?" Rune asked, his voice kind of shaky.
"You must protect the animals who live in this jungle."
The heat began to rise. Rune started to sweat. He was trying to figure out what his father meant by protecting the animals, was this related to the killings? But before anymore thought could cross his mind, a fire broke out next to him, where Kimba was standing. Rune turned to see his father. Kimba stared at Rune as he was being engulfed in flames. Rune froze, he couldn't move, all he could see was his father burning from his paws up. The more fire broke around them. As the fire rose up Kimba, he began to disappear.
"Remember Rune," Kimba added as he began to burn away, "The safety of the animals is your responsibility" After his last words, the flames covered Kimba, and he was gone. After Kimba vanished, Rune began choking, he couldn't breathe.
Then he heard voices around him. They started faint but they were getting louder and louder. "Rune wake up, fire!!"

Chapter 6

Rune quick awakened from his sleep and his home was shrouded in smoke. "Rune!" Rukio was standing over him pushing for him to get up.
"Rune, we got to get out of here!!" Rune jumped from his nest and ran to the next room, but Haru and Maira were gone. "Maira!" Rune yelled. But his outburst forced smoke down his throat and Rune choked and coughed. "Rune," Rukio whispered to Rune, "We have to get out of here, I already sent Maira and Haru away from here." Rune nodded and Rune followed Rukio through the smoke. Flames were heavily burning everything above them. The trees crackled and ripped as the fire grew stronger.
"The flames are already too strong," Rune said, "We'll have to cut through the river." Rune and Rukio changed their route and headed in the directed to the nearest river. As they ran towards the river.
The smoke was thick in the air, the cubs had to move quickly. They traveled as low to the ground as they could. The fire has already spread through the forest.
As the cubs progressed forward, they began to hear cries. Rune crouched down below the heavy flames above and tried to see ahead, but all he could see were burning trees and bushes. Rukio looked at Rune in hopes that he could explain the cries, but when he faced her she knew the answer and she began to worry. The cubs crawled forward. As they got closer the cries were more becoming words: "Help us! Help us!" Rune saw two small figures ahead, he leaped through the smoke and met what were two small spider monkeys leaning against a rock holding each other, surrounded by flames. "Don't worry," Rune reassured them, "You'll be okay, follow us!" The scared monkeys crawled up to Rune, Rukio caught up, she reassured the scared monkeys to keep calm and to follow Rune. She stayed behind them to be sure that the monkeys wouldn't fall behind.
"The river is just up ahead," Rune announced, "We're almost there." The monkeys were relieved. But Rukio was starting to slow her pace.
Finally the cubs reached the river. The river was wide with burnt tree branches following the river's current. Some small animals were swimming along the river's current. The river was wide enough so that the flames couldn't harm any animals in it. However across the river there were flames from the fire. The swimming animals were following the current until they could fine somewhere safe to rest. The monkeys climbed on Rune's back and the cubs began to swim.
The cool water made them feel good after being under the strong flames. The swim wasn't long before they reach land with no burning trees. The forest across the river was more narrow and less trees were on that side, so the flames were less of a threat on that side of the river, Rune and Rukio followed the swimming animals in front of them off to dry land. Waiting for them on shore was Maira, Keruji Haru, Toni, Coco, and Mandy. The monkeys hopped off of Rune and left to meet other spider monkeys sitting by the river. Rune smiled at them and  then him and Rune went to meet their friends.
"Rune," Maira called as she ran up to him, "your okay!" Maira nuzzled Rune's cheek then went to meet Rukio.  Toni Coco and Keruji also greeted them, but the sounds of his concerned friends were drowned out with the sound of the crackling fire behind. Rune turned to see his father's forest being burned.
"We got as many animals out as we could," Keruji reported to Rukio, "My dad also helped with escorting lost animals, he's further up the river with the rest of the pride."
"The fire is everywhere," Coco added, "I've circled our borders and all engulfed in flames, oh what do we do?!?!"
"I'm sure we can think of something," Mandy replied, "The important thing now is that everyone is here safe." Rukio nodded, then curled up on the ground to rest. Keruji joined her and Haru also picked a spot near a large rock to rest. The other animals took refuge close to the river. The flames were they were weren't as severe. Elephants gathered in the river to try to put the small flames out. Rune watched as they sprayed water at the burning trees. It was obvious that if he tried to ask the elephants to spray water at Kimba's jungle where they lived would be useless, since the flames were much stronger.
Maira sat next to Rune with concern. Rune watched the burning jungle for a while already. "It's my fathers jungle Maira," Rune murmured, "I've only been in control for a few weeks and already I'm failing."

"You haven't failed, Rune," Maira replied, " Look around, everyone made it out alive."
"Yeah," Rune responded, "Now there homeless, and I cant do anything about it!"
Rune's frustration turned to anger.
He stood up and faced his friends, "I'm going to put this fire out," he announced, "Im not just going to sit here and watch as my father's jungle gets burned to the ground!"
"Rune, you cant," Rukio replied. Her voice rasped slightly, it was easy to tell it was caused from the smoke.
"Are you stupid?" Keruji added, "how would you do that? Do you have a plan?" Rune was caught off guard. He had nothing. But that wasn't going to stop him. His determination quickly took over.
"No I don't," Rune continued, "But I'll find a way. I cant just watch the forest burn to the ground while I sit here and do nothing." Rune turned and headed for the river, Maira, and his friends called for him to come back, but he didn't listen. Keruji leaped up and charged after Rune and confronted him.
"Move Keruji." Rune's voice was more serious than Keruji had expected from Rune.
"Look, I cant let you go in that fire." Keruji said, " Its suicide. Your not doing anyone any good. The fire is out of control, no amount of water you attempt to throw at the flames is going to make a difference."
"You don't understand," Rune replied, "I have to do this-"
"You  don't," Keruji interrupted, "But if this is what your going to do than fine. You can throw away your life. Its okay, if you die, we have Rukio, she already ran the forest while you were gone for months, she can do it again."
Keruji walked away from him and join the group. All the of them looked at Rune, not knowing what he was going to do. Rune was hit in the pride by Keruji's words. Rune looked back at his friends in guilt, but he couldn't shake off that he felt he wasn't doing anything about it. But then he turned and walked away.

Chapter 7

Rune swam down the river until he reached another jungle that wasn't in flames. Crawling out of the water, he collapsed on to the ground. He was exhausted after a long day. Rune groomed himself a little, clearing the burns and dirt off of his fur, then turned his head to get some water. After his short rest he stood up again and went into the jungle ahead of him. The jungle was quiet. Rune figured the animals traveled deeper in the woods in fear that the fire would spread to their jungle. He was starting to pick up the scent of mountain lions. Rune followed the scent, just knowing they were around made Rune suspicious. He knew the ties between Claw and the mountain lions, his fear of them causing the fire grew stronger and stronger. This was a possibility he feared the most. Claw made it clear to Rune that he was getting revenge.
As Rune followed the mountain lion scent, he heard rustling in the bushes. Rune looked up to check. But nothing appeared, Rune slowly approached the bushes, he couldn't pick up any scents coming from the bushes, so he remained low and moved carefully. But before Rune could react, a shadow leaped from the bushes and pounced Rune to the ground. By the scent Rune could tell it was a mountain lion, but he was huge and Rune struggled to push him off. The attacker bit down on Rune's neck, but the pressure seemed to be weak. Rune slipped from his grip and bit his attacker on his shoulder, the attacker jerked his paw up and backed up in pain. Rune crouched in position waiting for him to strike again, but when he got a good look at his opponent, he saw him licking his wound.
"Who are you?" Rune asked.
"Who are you?" His attacker replied. His voice was raspy, the mountain lion appeared to be old aged. Rune no longer saw this guy as a threat. He was more curious than anything.
"I'm Rune," he replied, "My father's jungle has been burned to the ground. I know the Claw and his mountain lions are responsible."
"I apologize for attacking you," The mountain lion replied, "I thought you were one of them."
"Not at all."
"Oh, yes. That Claw is an awful guy. I thought our leader was bad. But this guy is even worse." Rune walked up to the mountain lion and sat next to him.
"He killed our leader and took over our pack." The old lion continued, "Now they have become blood thirsty killers. It was in our nature to fight for territory, but we always accepted our losses. Now all of a sudden they have become obsessed with the cliff and the forest. I am ashamed of them."
"That's why you left," Rune added.
"Yes," the old lion replied, " and it wasn't easy, either. They threatened to kill anyone who leaves. I was lucky. But I am sure once they find me, they will kill me. I'm just not strong enough to fight for myself." Rune pitied the old lion. But before Rune could say anything the lion spoke again,
"Where are my manners??" He laughed "my name is Rei."
"I'm Rune," he replied. Rune felt better about this mountain lion. This old guy was no harm to anyone. He was only protecting himself.

Night set in. Rune walked to the river and looked at the jungle. There wasn't much left of the fire. Some parts were still burning, but some elephants were spraying water at some of the flames. There was very little left of his home. Rune felt the guilt of not saving his home again. He turned and walked away. He didn't want to face his friends.
"What is wrong?" Rei asked, approaching the river from behind Rune. "arent you going back?"
"No," Rune replied, "Not yet. I have accomplished nothing. How can I face them?"
"Your being to hard on yourself," Rei said, trying to comfort Rune, "I don't think this is what your father wanted." Rune looked at Rei. Rune had explained everything to Rei about how he and his sister, Rukio are responsible for the jungle since the passing of his father, Kimba.
"As a parent, I believe he would of wanted your safety more than anything. Plus you rescued many of the animals who lived there. That counts for something"
"But they have no where to live! This is my fault!" Rune's outburst quieted the old lion for a second. But Rei didn't change is opinion, he looked at Rune and continued: "You cant do everything. Its just impossible. I believe that it isn't the jungle you are responsible for, you are responsible for the lives that live there." Just as he finished his sentence, Rune suddenly remembered the dream he had right before he woke up in the flames of his father. The words suddenly echoed in his mind: "The safety of the animals is your responsibility." Rune started to relive the dream, watching his father vanish in front of his eyes again echoing those words. Rune finally understood. Rei was right, it wasn't the jungle, it was the animals who lived there. Rune breathed a sigh of relief, he knew he didn't sacrifice effort helping as many animals as he could. Rei saw Rune change. He was no longer tense, and he saw how relaxed he felt. Rei knew his words got to him and was happy about it. Rune thanked Rei for his support and he nodded.
"There he is!!" Rune looked up at that familiar voice, it was Coco! "Rune, we've been looking everywhere for you!"
After Coco finished speaking, Rukio, Maira and Haru appeared from the bushes behind. Rune was happy to se his friends. Now Rune could explain his day, and he introduced them to Rei, a good mountain lion. This was a new beginning for Rune. With his new friendship of Rei, and a better understanding of his father, he knew together they could all help with rebuilding their home. Now it was time for Rune to return home.

Chapter 8

The forest had become a wasteland. Burnt wood, destroyed homes; Animals wandered and mourned the lost of their homes. Rune and his group wandered silently through the ashes of their once lush, green home. It was all to depressing for their group to bear. Rune tried to wonder what his father would have done. He told himself what Rei had told him, that it was important that everyone made it out alive. He was still a little uncomfortable about that answer, but it was what it was. Rune knew he couldn't change anything. It was important now to recover, help the animals build new homes and start over.
The group returned to their home. It was still standing, barely. It was more of a pile of rubble now. Repairing this home was going to be the biggest job of all. But, it was agreed with out words not to start that night. Everyone was tired from a long day.
After examining their finished home, Rune took the first step up the stairs. Exhaustion turned to cold fear when the strong smell of multiple mountain lions arose as Rune got up the stairs, Rune raced up the stairs to see the source, and sure enough two mountain lions were sitting in the den, waiting for their return. Rune snarled at the two mountain lions staring dead at him. The snarl caught the attention of Rukio, Maira, and Haru, who waited below, and they raced up the stairs to see Rune.
"Haven't you guys caused enough destruction for one night?" Rune hissed,
"We're only here do deal with a traitor." One lion uttered. His words baffled the cubs for a moment, but before the said anything, Rei appeared from behind.
"Don't Rei," Rune whispered, "They'll kill you!"
"I know the risks" Rei replied, "Let me deal with this." Rei turned from Rune and faced the to mountain lions sitting in front.
"How dare you," spoke one of the lions, "Not only do you betray us, but you take the side of our enemy. Why?"
"You're fools," Rei replied angrily, "For years we fought to survive. We did it because we were at risk for losing our home and to be divided. But now, we kill with out honor. I want nothing to do with this new leader, or any of your ridiculous plans either."
"Fine Rei," the other lion added, "then you will be killed. We will see to it that you and your new buddies will all die."
"Than so be it." Rei finished.
After a moment of raw silence, the cubs gathered next to Rei. But the mountain lions calmly walked away. They knew they were outnumbered and didn't want to take the risk of losing. So they left.
Coco flew in a moment later. Rune and Rukio greeted Coco's entrance. "Glad that's over!" Coco blurted.
"Its far from over," Rune replied. "Its only the beginning."
"I wonder what they're next move will be," Rukio murmured, "Do you really think they are the ones who burned down the jungle?"
"Its possible," Haru added. "They probably got the fire from a human camp. Back at the zoo I came from, the humans always made fire."
"Before I left the clan, I saw some of my pack mates with sticks in their jaws and they were leaving the den."
"Well that explains it," Maira replied, "They left to find fire."
"Most likely," Rei continued, "The pack got so busy last night, it was my opportunity to escape. But when the forest caught fire, I didn't have any where to turn to."
"What are we going to do?" Rukio asked, "We cant confront them, we're terribly out numbered."
"I don't want to think about it now." Rune replied, "Lets just rest. We'll worry about it tomorrow. I'm tired."

Chapter 9

Mountain lions gather around the cave. They were everywhere. Claw sat outside under the night sky. Shaka joined him, but before he could speak, Claw spoke first: "Tonight went well don't you think?"
"Agreed," Shaka replied, "Everything went as planned. Panja's jungle is no more." Claw chuckled at his response: "Yes, as soon as the jungle grows back, I will claim it as mine once again. I am tired of the white lion family taking what is rightfully mine. Because of Panja and Kimba, I can no longer enjoy my prize with my vision, so I will be sure have Rune, Kimba's son as my prized kill. Do no let the mountain lions kill him. I want to stain my claws with his blood."
"Sure thing master."
"Master, master!!" a mountain lion yelled.
"What is it?" Shaka asked. The mountain lion sat himself in front of Claw and Shaka, he was small and rugged. His pelt showed a history of many battles. He was lighter brown with some patches of fur missing under his neck, and as he spoke his voice cracked slightly with damage from being bit on the neck.
"Sergeant Dice and Creo returned," The rugged mountain lion continued, "He has confirmed Rei's betrayal." Claw gave a neutral nod.
"What should be done sir?" Shaka asked.
"Nothing," Claw replied, "leave him be for now. He will in no way benefit them or hurt us. He's old and feeble. If you see him you can kill him. But don't go out of your way for it. There's too much to be done here.
"Yes sir," replied the rugged lion, "I will note the others." After that we left back the pack. Claw got up and turned to the cave's opening. Inside there were at least a count of a hundred lions. While many were thriving and working well with others, some were old and sick. Claw could sense the imbalance. While tons of these mountain lions are pretty useful, there were still way too many useless lions. Claw wanted to do away with the old and the weak. Claw turned around again and begin to walk away from the cave. Shaka noticed Claw and went to catch up with him.
"Claw," Shaka asked, "Where are you going?"
"We have a minor problem," Claw replied, "I need to take care of something. You will take over the pack for me until I get back."
"Ok," Shaka continued, "but why?"
"Look around you," Claw replied slowly, "This job is very serious. We cant work with what we have. I'm going to try to make a few improvements for our pack. I don't know when I'll be back. But I will. I assure you. So you must keep and eye on things." Before Shaka can ask anymore questions, Claw turned and walked away. He was still quite confused about what Claw explained, but he knew he had no choice but to go with it. He turned and announced to the mountain lion pack about his temporary position of being in charge. Things were getting serious and the time for take over was getting near. But what Claw planning on doing? Why did he go alone? And what was going to happen next? Shaka could shake off these questions. Winning this war would now be the most important accomplishment. He knew that Claw will take no chances. He trusted his decision and prepared himself. It is almost time for war.

Description
The Adventures of Rune and Rukio
Book 3:

Prologue:

Dawn was coming. The night blue sky was beginning to get lighter. A slight gust of wind blew outside the jungle, leaving dust in the air from the desert surrounding it. Little by little stars were disappearing from the sky. On the east side, the sky was light, showing only a few of the suns rays. The sky further west was skill dark with a few stars. The forest was still slightly shadowed.
In the brush outside the forest were two shadowy creatures watching the empty desert. Their red eyes pierced through the bushes. The waited silently. Moments later, a paw stepped out of the bushes. It was a mountain lion. Soon after, the other one came out too. The walked around and smelled the ground. Their brown fur glowed blue under the morning sky. Their backs were slightly coated with dust from the desert grounds.
One mountain lion looked up toward the east. Humans cannot interfere. These words raced through their minds as they paced the ground. After several paces around, they laid on the ground. Their tails were flicking up and down. They were becoming bored and restless.
In the distance, something dark was coming their way. It was coming from the direction where the sun will rise. It looked like a black dot in their eyes. The mountain lions locked eyes with it. As it got closer, they could just about make out what it was. It was a human machine. A truck heading their way. Humans cannot interfere.
The mountain lions got up and walked toward the dirt road the truck was riding a long. They waited. It was still quite far, but it was coming fast. One mountain lion walked into the road. The oncoming truck was getting closer.
The truck was dark brown, with rust covering the hood. The lights were slightly dim, and the back it was carrying was a short box like cargo trailer. The back of it was slightly open, but tied with rope.
The truck got closer and on of the mountain lions ran in front of the truck and stopped. The truck swerved away from it and started to spin out of control. The swerving caused more dust and sand to fly in the air. The second mountain lion jumped on to the hood of the truck then jumped off. The truck was forced the swerve to the side again, but this time the truck flipped over. Finally causing the truck to stop moving. After that a large crate and some other stuff fell out from the back of the truck.
The mountain lions waited for the dust and the sand in the air to clear. Then they approached and vehicle slowly. On one side of the door, a man was trying to crawl out of the truck from the door, unaware of the mountain lions approach.
Humans cannot interfere.
Just as he was half way out of the truck, one of the mountain lions lunged at the struggling man. The man screamed and tried to get back in the truck, but the lion grabbed him by his neck, pulled him out and crushed his neck, killing him. The other mountain lion crawled up to the truck. He peeked in through the window to see another man crouching down in fear. He crawled in the window. The other mountain lion watched. He heard the man screaming and yelling, but then he went silent. Both humans were dead.
The mountain lion crawled out of the truck and joined the other, "Our work here is done."
Just as they were about to head back to the forest, on lion turned and saw that the big crate that fell from the back was moving. They both looked at each other and they walked up to the shaking crate. "Something's inside?"
The crate was made of thin wood. It had all kinds of markings made by humans. But the mountain lions smelled an animal inside. One of the lions bit down on a piece of the crate and ripped a layer of wood off. With out warning, a shadow ripped through the crate, slitting both mountain lion's throats, leaving them dead. Then the shadowy creature landed out the ground and faced the forest.
"I'm free."

Chapter 1

It was late in the afternoon, the sun was high over Malody's Cliff. Rune leaped in the air for a direct attack against Keruru. Keruru dodged the attack, and Rune landed on the ground. Before Rune could react, Keruru came in for a direct attack. Rune roared and swiped his claw at the oncoming attack. But it didn't stop Keruru's move, instead he dodged Rune's swipe and went for an attack from behind. Rune quick turned around and leaped away. Keruru stood in place and watched Rune. Rune stopped to see Keruru, "Your defense is pretty good," Keruru said, "But your offense is slow, and needs work."
Rune sat next to Keruru, and he continued, "You need to be a little quicker, you hesitate too much. Especially now, that Claw uses the vibrations in the ground to figure out where his opponents stand, makes it even worse."
"Should I approach it a different way?" Rune asked.
"Not necessarily," Keruru replied, "You just can't think about your moves while your doing them. You can't think while your fighting, you don't have time for that. When you fight, it has to be quick and thoughtless." Just as he finished his sentence, Keruru swung his large paw at Rune, Rune dodged and leaped into a fighting stance as if ready to fight again. But Keruru sat at his position and smirked, "Very nice." Rune smiled at his compliment. "Alright then," He continued, "Lets see what else you got."

Back at the castle, Rukio and Maira sat on the ledge of the castle's porch, both basking in the sun, grooming themselves. Keruji sat by the stairs in the shade sleeping. The sun was hot. Seemingly a good day to relax. Keruji woke up and looked up to see Rukio and Maira. He got up, stretched and then headed for the stairs. "Hey girls," He spoke, "You just gonna sit around all day cleaning yourselves?"
"Come on Keru," Rukio said, "it's a nice day, come relax with us."
"Yeah, its beautiful today!" Maira added.
"I don't know how you guys can relax knowing Claw is out there planning on killing us." Keruji retorted.
"Its been several days," Rukio said, "Claw hasn't been around, and if he does come around, we'll be ready."
"Oh really?" Keruji replied, "Can you ladies fight? And I don't mean that ridiculous pouncing you guys did when Claw first attacked you guys, I mean REAL fighting!" Rukio and Maira exchanged awkward glances.
"Pouncing?" Maira asked.
"What was wrong with our fighting?" Rukio added.
"Come on ladies," Keruji continued, "You couldn't possibly call that fighting!"
Keruji smiled at them, he crouched down in a fighting position then faced the girls.
"Come on ladies," Keruji growled, "I'll teach you how to fight."
Rukio sprung at Keruji, then right after, Maira followed. The lesson turned into play fighting as they rolled around in the grass. Moments later, Rune appeared from the brush, quite exhausted. He looked up and was surprised to see the three cubs playing.
"May I join?" Rune joked. The three cubs looked up at Rune's response, then jumped up to greet him.
"How was training?" Rukio asked.
"Tough," responded Rune, " but well. Keruru has a lot of experience, and a lot of stories about dad. It was cool."
"Did my dad bore you to death with his other lame stories?" added Keruji. Rune threw an annoyed glance at Keruji and turned to his sister and Maira, "So how was your day so far?"
"No trouble here." Maira added. "Things have been pretty quiet since Claw left."
Rune nodded approvingly and turned to face the woods, "Have you seen Toni or Coco at all today?" The three cubs turn to each other with confused looks.
"No," Rukio replied, "haven't seen either of them."
Rune looked toward the woods again, "I wonder where they are."

Chapter 2

"Hurry up!!" Coco cried, "We have to deliver this news as quickly as possible!"
"I'm coming," Toni replied, " but I cant help but cant shake this feeling we're being watched." Toni and Coco were traveling through the woods as quickly as they could, but Toni turned his head at every corner.
"Watched? By who?"
"I don't know, what if it's the one who's been committing all those murders! Oh no hurry!!"
"Calm down Toni! You cant panic in this situation, we have to hurry and get this information back to Rune."
"Coco, just fly back and check, please. Im starting to hear noises!" Coco grunted and flew back to look around. Toni stopped in his tracks fearing the worse. Coco flew around and came back with nothing. A rustle in the bushes next to where Toni was standing made Toni leap in fear. "Coco!!"
"What is it. Toni?" Coco replied shooting toward Toni. But before he could answer a shadows shot from the bushes straight for Toni. The two screamed in fear and Toni ran for his life with Coco not to far behind. But the enemy was only a few tail lengths behind. Coco flew ahead, they were close to Rune's home. Coco flew above the trees and over Rune.
"Rune help!" Coco screamed, "we're being attacked!"
Rune quick leaped at Coco's words and sprung into the woods, with his friends not far behind. Toni, heading for Rune's home attempted to leaped up a steep hillside ahead of him, but he failed and slid. His enemy however, was right under him and Toni landed right on him, stopping him in his tracks. Toni lifted his head, and shook off some leaves.
"Toni you did it!" Coco called out, "You caught the attacker!"
"I did?" Toni replied, then he looked and saw what had been chasing them half passed out under Toni. Toni leaped up in fear. The attacker was a Bengal tiger cub, he was a bright orange color with black stripes on his back and face. He had a thick tuft of white hear on his head and some more white fur under his ears. He lied on the ground with a frustrated look on his face. He was hurt from Toni's body crushing him.
"What's going on here?" Rune called from a distance. Coco flew up to Rune, "it's a tiger cub!" Rune slid down the hill and look down at the cub. The cub was around Rune's size. The cub looked up at Rune, only slightly intimidated by Rune's expression of low tolerance. "Hey there," the cub retorted "I'm going to leave now." He slowly backed away, still facing Rune, but before he went further, Rukio stepped out of bushes behind him.  The cub jerked his head to see who was behind him. Rukio stood her ground. Feeling threatened, he veered slowly to the left and Maira appeared in front of him. The cub panicked when he saw Maira and tried to escape to the right, but then Keruji blocked his last exit.
"Okay," the cub said, calmly, "how many of you are there?"  Keruji stepped forward and looked directly in the eye of the cub, "Your coming with us."

Chapter 3

It was sunset. Many parts of the forest start to become dark. Rune stood on the balcony of his home looking up at the sky, deep in thought. Rune was quickly interrupted with the voices of Keruji and the tiger cub arguing back and forth. Rune had brought the tiger cub back with him to his home for interrogation. Several animals in the jungle were reported to be killed by an unknown predator. Rumors were saying it was a lion-related animal and that the tiger cub was suspected of being the culprit. But after hours of questions, nothing was learned. The cub claimed to be innocent. Rune decided to hold the tiger cub in quarantine until answers can be found. Rune paused his investigation on the cub, but even now, Keruji was still going at it.
At that moment, Rune thought of another was of obtaining information from the tiger cub. He realized he knows nothing about the cub. Like his name or where he came from. Rune couldn't help but realizes that all we was concerned about at first was who was committing the killings in the jungle rather than this strange tiger cub coming out of nowhere. Rune stepped of the balcony and approached the cub. "Look," The tiger cub started hastily, "I did not kill any of these animals your accusing me of."
"But you were going to kill Toni?" Rune replied.
"Well yea," the cub responded, with a tone as if to be caught in a lie, "I was hungry. I haven't eaten in hours."
"That's it?" Rune asked,
"Okay," confessed the cub, "I did kill two mountain lions." Rune looked in surprise, and Keruji hissed: "I knew you weren't innocent!"
"I swear they were the only ones I killed!" the cub retorted, "I only did it because they threatened to kill!" Keruji hissed at the cub and stood back. Rune took a breath and spoke again,
"What's your name?" Rune's tone grew lighter, he wondered to himself if his father was here, how would he handle this.
"My name is Haru." replied the cub.
"Where did you come from?"
"I came from a zoo. I lived there with my family. Every day humans came by our cage and kids would try to roar at us. Most of the other tigers ignored it. Some started at the humans with hunger in their eyes. But one day, no humans showed up. Later, My mom told me the zoo was closed up and that humans were no longer going to visit us. All the animals were going to be taken away and that we'd never see them again." Rune became fascinated by this story as Haru told it. Haru's tone was mild, his tone seemed sarcastic and serious at the same time. Rune knew he spoke the truth here. Rukio, Maira and Keruji listened from the side.
Haru continued: "I couldn't sleep that night, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to me and my family. The next morning, humans came in our cages, shooting my family members with dart guns! Not me though I avoided as many as I can. One human threw a rope around my neck and pulled me into a box. The box I was in kept moving around until the box I was in was put into one of those machines humans control.
I must have been in there for days. I couldn't take it anymore. I ripped open the box. But the human machine was still on the move so I waited in the box a little longer. I knew the human machine would stop as it usually did once in a while. But this time was different. I heard voices outside that kept saying 'humans cannot interfere' and they kept talking about killing or something-"
"So that's when you killed the mountain lions!?" Keruji interrupted.
"Yes," Haru responded in a low tone." I said they were the only ones I killed, after that I came into the jungle looking for something to eat. I found nothing so I slept for a while then stumbled across the antelope."
Rune looked at Haru and nodded, "its getting late, I think we all need to rest." Haru walked to a corner and laid down. Maira and Rukio walked to their beds too, and Keruji headed out the door. Rune walked outside and met up with Toni and Coco. Rune walked with them in the woods a little and explained everything he learned about the tiger cub that tried to kill them. Toni and Coco were on their way home too. After several feet, Rune turned around and headed back to his home. Rune yawned uncontrollably, he was tired from a long day. But he was not expecting what was waiting for him at his home. He started to get a whiff of blood n the air, he panicked and ran for his home suspecting someone had invaded when he was gone. But when he got there, it was very quiet, he walked up to the top of the stairs, and he gasped at what he saw there. It was a dead bird covered in blood. Rune was horrified at the site. This kill was fresh. Only minutes he was gone and a murder was committed and left at his doorway waiting for him. What? Rune thought to himself, is this some kind of warning?

Chapter 4

Rune found himself walking through the forest. The forest around him was shrouded in a very light fog. The fog captured all of the suns rays that were peaking through the trees. The forest had an evening glow to it.  The trees had the fall colors, and the leaves Rune stepped on cracked as he walked by. The aura around him felt very ominous. He felt chills all over his body, he wondered where he was, I've never seen this part of the forest.  Straight ahead, Rune saw light. It wasn't the light from the red sun, this was different. It had a familiar glow to it. But it was so far away. Rune started to run, but just as quickly as he started. He stopped. It was too far to chase.
Rune kept his pace through the dense forest. Rune began to hear voices. They sounded familiar. He looked all around, but saw nothing. He stood in his track. Not knowing what to do next. But the voice became louder. Though he still couldn't make words out if it, he soon recognized the voices. It sounds like Raiya, his mother. A voice he hadn't heard in so long. It was nice feeling, but at the same time it was also scary. He didn't know what was happening to him. Rune called out to his mother. But there was no answer. Rune looked straight ahead at the light, but this time it was closer to him. He charged straight for it, but it wasn't getting closer to him. When he looked at the light, he realized it's shape. It was a lion? No it was his mother, it was Raiya!
The shock of his vision awoke him. It was a dream. Rune was breathing heavily gasping for air. He stood up to shake off his dream. He felt something leaning heavily on his shoulder, a thought that something was going to happen. He walked to another room to see his den mates, Rukio was in her bed sleeping seemingly peacefully. Maira was laying next to Haru also relaxed. Rune walked back to his nest to regain sleep once more.

It was early dawn and Rune was at Malody's cliff for training. Rune stood in place waiting for Keruru's next lesson. But that wasn't what was on his mind. The dream held him from concentrating. His thoughts were quickly interrupted when a large lions paw shot directly in Rune's face, knocking him to the ground. Rune fought to catch his balance and tried to make sense of what just happened, and when he looked up, Keruru was standing over him with a look of frustration.
"I'm sorry, sir," Rune said, "I--"
"If your not going to listen to me then leave!" Keruru yelled.
"Please," begged Rune, "I'm sorry. I have a lot on my mind." Keruru looked at Rune with slight pity, "What's your problem?"
"I can't but wonder what Claw's next plan of attack is." Keruru looked at Rune with interest, Rune continued: "Yesterday, we met a tiger cub from outside the jungle. He overheard two mountain lions talking about killing. Then last night when I walked Toni and Coco home, I found a bird at my home nearly torn apart. I had only been gone for a few minutes. Its like they were waiting for me to leave before leaving it there. "
"Before who left it?" Keruru asked,.
"I don't know," Rune replied, "The mountain lions, maybe? I thought they put it there as a warning."
"Its possible." Keruru added.
"That's not all," Rune continued, "I had a dream! The forest was red like fall. I even saw my mom, I think she was trying to tell me something. But I woke up before I learned anything. What should I do?"
"The jungle's safety is your responsibility, Rune," Replied Keruru, "Don't take these warnings lightly. You should go back and discuss this with your followers. Warn the animals of the coming dangers, and prepare for the worse."

Back at the castle, Rukio paced back and forth in front of the steps. She had a lot on her mind too. Keruji pop out from the woods with a casual look of carelessness on his face as usual and walked up to Rukio. "'Mornin' princess," Keruji greeted, but Rukio just gave a friendly nod and sat down and looked away. "Well, what's with you?" Keruji asked, looking confused.
"I had a strange dream last night…" She replied, Keruji shrugged and looked at her.
"It was nothing." She added.
"Okay," Keruji replied, "So what's up for this morning?"
"Nothing so far. I'm waiting for Rune." Keruji walked away and went inside the castle. Maira was sitting next to Haru. Maira noticed Keruji, "Hey Keru," she called out, "Haru says he can help us fight the mountain lions."
"Hey," Keruji asked, "Did you notice that Rukio's a little off today?" Maira's expression changed from happy to serious. "Yeah, actually, and Rune too seemed distracted as well."
"I wonder what's going on." Keruji added.
"I don't know if this helps or not," Haru started, Keruji and Maira turned to listen to Haru, Keruji looked as if he didn't want to trust anything Haru said, Haru continued, "I thought I smelled a mountain lion outside of here when Rune left with the bird and deer. But when I looked outside I didn't see anything."
"IDIOT!" Keruji blurted out, "Why didn't you say anything!?!?!" before any response was made, Rukio walked in.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"This guy said mountain lions came here last night and he said nothing!"
"What?"
Rune charged through the doorway, "Rukio, come here!" He interrupted, "We need to talk."
"What's going on?" Keruji asked.
"Is everything okay, Rune" Maira added.
"No," Rune answered, "Claw is going to attack us! I don't know when, or how. But we must be prepared. I'm going into the jungle to warn as many animals as I can."
"Warn them?" Rukio asked.
"Yes," Answered Rune, "They need to be on the look out incase anything suspicious happens. I'm going!" Rune stormed out the front door as quickly as he could. Rukio and the others watched. Rukio felt this decision of Rune's was unnecessary. But she wasn't able to get to him in time. Rune had already left.

Chapter 5

Rune went through the woods, he searched for Toni and Coco, but they weren't insight. Rune slowed his pace to see who he can find in the woods. Then a voice about him called him out, "Hiya Rune," it was a spider monkey hanging from a tree. Rune turned to face him, "Hi, I'm glad I found you,"
"Oh really?" The spider monkey replied.
"Yeah, I'm sending out a warning to the everyone to look out for anything suspicious. If you see anything, let me know."
"Sure thing, Rune!" After his response, Rune took off again.
Later, after speaking with several animals, Rune headed home. He was exhausted from his rounds around the jungle.
Moments after his decision to head home, he had thought of something. He changed his path and headed in another direction. He started to run. He was determined to get to his new destination. Something is going to happen, Run thought to himself, I just know it; Mom and Dad  are trying to warn us, I know it. Night set it. Rune found himself in an open field. It was the same place he came to when the animals of jungle had rejected his return home. Rune looked around, and as he expected, Mandy was laying under the stars looking up.
"Mandy," Rune called out, "Can I ask you something?" Mandy turned to see and was delighted at Rune's visit. "Hello, Rune!" Mandy greeted, "How are things in the jungle."
"Not good," Replied Rune, "Something really bad is going to happen, and I can't stop it because I don't know what it is. I know my parents are trying to warn me. But I don't know how I can communicate with them. What should I do, Mandy?"
"I wish I knew," Mandy replied, "I don't know how you can talk to your parents, but I do know that if what you received is a warning, then prepare yourself. Consider what you already know, and be ready for when it comes."

Rune walked home exhausted. When he arrived, Maira was already asleep next to Haru. Rune didn't see Rukio at first, then she came in from another room. Rune walked up to her and gave her a conforming lick.
"How was today?" Rukio asked.
"Tiring," Rune replied with sleep in his voice, "I know I got some warning that something is going to happen."
"I know," Rukio interrupted, Rune looked at her kin of shocked, "I had a dream too." Rune and Rukio talked quietly so they wouldn't disturb their den mates.
"It was weird. The forest was weird. I even saw mom."
"You saw mom?"
"Yeah."
"I saw dad." Rune was shocked at her dream. It was almost identical. He knew his parents were trying to contact them. But he still had no idea what was coming.
"Did he say anything to you?" Rune asked.
"No," She replied, "He was so far away, and I couldn't hear him well."
"Same here."
"What do we do, Rune?
"Lets just get some rest. We've both had a long day. All we can do now is wait."
Rune threw himself at his nest. He was aching from being on his paws all day. The anxiety from all this had drained him. Even after being nervous about what was going to happen, he finally started to relax. Then he fell into a deep sleep and began to dream again.
Rune found himself in the foggy forest again. Only this time, it was more clear. It still had that evening glow on the trees. Rune looked around. He walked up to a stream flowing by. When he went to have a drink, the water was very warm. Rune spit out the water with displeasure. He shook himself and continued to walk. All the leaves he stepped on shattered under his paws. They were dry as can be.
Rune began to feel warm. The further he got, the warmer. It seemed as if it were the middle of summer. But Rune assumed it was getting close to winter. This was weird.
What's going on? Is this part of the warning? Rune thought to himself. Then a familiar voice came out of no where, "Yes it is." Rune turned and saw right next to him, his father, Kimba! Rune was in shock, he didn't know what to say.
Kimba stood in place. Staring in one direction. When he spoke, his voice echoed.
"Remember, the safety of the animals is your responsibility."
"What does that mean?" Rune asked, his voice kind of shaky.
"You must protect the animals who live in this jungle."
The heat began to rise. Rune started to sweat. He was trying to figure out what his father meant by protecting the animals, was this related to the killings? But before anymore thought could cross his mind, a fire broke out next to him, where Kimba was standing. Rune turned to see his father. Kimba stared at Rune as he was being engulfed in flames. Rune froze, he couldn't move, all he could see was his father burning from his paws up. The more fire broke around them. As the fire rose up Kimba, he began to disappear.
"Remember Rune," Kimba added as he began to burn away, "The safety of the animals is your responsibility" After his last words, the flames covered Kimba, and he was gone. After Kimba vanished, Rune began choking, he couldn't breathe.
Then he heard voices around him. They started faint but they were getting louder and louder. "Rune wake up, fire!!"

Chapter 6

Rune quick awakened from his sleep and his home was shrouded in smoke. "Rune!" Rukio was standing over him pushing for him to get up.
"Rune, we got to get out of here!!" Rune jumped from his nest and ran to the next room, but Haru and Maira were gone. "Maira!" Rune yelled. But his outburst forced smoke down his throat and Rune choked and coughed. "Rune," Rukio whispered to Rune, "We have to get out of here, I already sent Maira and Haru away from here." Rune nodded and Rune followed Rukio through the smoke. Flames were heavily burning everything above them. The trees crackled and ripped as the fire grew stronger.
"The flames are already too strong," Rune said, "We'll have to cut through the river." Rune and Rukio changed their route and headed in the directed to the nearest river. As they ran towards the river.
The smoke was thick in the air, the cubs had to move quickly. They traveled as low to the ground as they could. The fire has already spread through the forest.
As the cubs progressed forward, they began to hear cries. Rune crouched down below the heavy flames above and tried to see ahead, but all he could see were burning trees and bushes. Rukio looked at Rune in hopes that he could explain the cries, but when he faced her she knew the answer and she began to worry. The cubs crawled forward. As they got closer the cries were more becoming words: "Help us! Help us!" Rune saw two small figures ahead, he leaped through the smoke and met what were two small spider monkeys leaning against a rock holding each other, surrounded by flames. "Don't worry," Rune reassured them, "You'll be okay, follow us!" The scared monkeys crawled up to Rune, Rukio caught up, she reassured the scared monkeys to keep calm and to follow Rune. She stayed behind them to be sure that the monkeys wouldn't fall behind.
"The river is just up ahead," Rune announced, "We're almost there." The monkeys were relieved. But Rukio was starting to slow her pace.
Finally the cubs reached the river. The river was wide with burnt tree branches following the river's current. Some small animals were swimming along the river's current. The river was wide enough so that the flames couldn't harm any animals in it. However across the river there were flames from the fire. The swimming animals were following the current until they could fine somewhere safe to rest. The monkeys climbed on Rune's back and the cubs began to swim.
The cool water made them feel good after being under the strong flames. The swim wasn't long before they reach land with no burning trees. The forest across the river was more narrow and less trees were on that side, so the flames were less of a threat on that side of the river, Rune and Rukio followed the swimming animals in front of them off to dry land. Waiting for them on shore was Maira, Keruji Haru, Toni, Coco, and Mandy. The monkeys hopped off of Rune and left to meet other spider monkeys sitting by the river. Rune smiled at them and  then him and Rune went to meet their friends.
"Rune," Maira called as she ran up to him, "your okay!" Maira nuzzled Rune's cheek then went to meet Rukio.  Toni Coco and Keruji also greeted them, but the sounds of his concerned friends were drowned out with the sound of the crackling fire behind. Rune turned to see his father's forest being burned.
"We got as many animals out as we could," Keruji reported to Rukio, "My dad also helped with escorting lost animals, he's further up the river with the rest of the pride."
"The fire is everywhere," Coco added, "I've circled our borders and all engulfed in flames, oh what do we do?!?!"
"I'm sure we can think of something," Mandy replied, "The important thing now is that everyone is here safe." Rukio nodded, then curled up on the ground to rest. Keruji joined her and Haru also picked a spot near a large rock to rest. The other animals took refuge close to the river. The flames were they were weren't as severe. Elephants gathered in the river to try to put the small flames out. Rune watched as they sprayed water at the burning trees. It was obvious that if he tried to ask the elephants to spray water at Kimba's jungle where they lived would be useless, since the flames were much stronger.
Maira sat next to Rune with concern. Rune watched the burning jungle for a while already. "It's my fathers jungle Maira," Rune murmured, "I've only been in control for a few weeks and already I'm failing."

"You haven't failed, Rune," Maira replied, " Look around, everyone made it out alive."
"Yeah," Rune responded, "Now there homeless, and I cant do anything about it!"
Rune's frustration turned to anger.
He stood up and faced his friends, "I'm going to put this fire out," he announced, "Im not just going to sit here and watch as my father's jungle gets burned to the ground!"
"Rune, you cant," Rukio replied. Her voice rasped slightly, it was easy to tell it was caused from the smoke.
"Are you stupid?" Keruji added, "how would you do that? Do you have a plan?" Rune was caught off guard. He had nothing. But that wasn't going to stop him. His determination quickly took over.
"No I don't," Rune continued, "But I'll find a way. I cant just watch the forest burn to the ground while I sit here and do nothing." Rune turned and headed for the river, Maira, and his friends called for him to come back, but he didn't listen. Keruji leaped up and charged after Rune and confronted him.
"Move Keruji." Rune's voice was more serious than Keruji had expected from Rune.
"Look, I cant let you go in that fire." Keruji said, " Its suicide. Your not doing anyone any good. The fire is out of control, no amount of water you attempt to throw at the flames is going to make a difference."
"You don't understand," Rune replied, "I have to do this-"
"You  don't," Keruji interrupted, "But if this is what your going to do than fine. You can throw away your life. Its okay, if you die, we have Rukio, she already ran the forest while you were gone for months, she can do it again."
Keruji walked away from him and join the group. All the of them looked at Rune, not knowing what he was going to do. Rune was hit in the pride by Keruji's words. Rune looked back at his friends in guilt, but he couldn't shake off that he felt he wasn't doing anything about it. But then he turned and walked away.

Chapter 7

Rune swam down the river until he reached another jungle that wasn't in flames. Crawling out of the water, he collapsed on to the ground. He was exhausted after a long day. Rune groomed himself a little, clearing the burns and dirt off of his fur, then turned his head to get some water. After his short rest he stood up again and went into the jungle ahead of him. The jungle was quiet. Rune figured the animals traveled deeper in the woods in fear that the fire would spread to their jungle. He was starting to pick up the scent of mountain lions. Rune followed the scent, just knowing they were around made Rune suspicious. He knew the ties between Claw and the mountain lions, his fear of them causing the fire grew stronger and stronger. This was a possibility he feared the most. Claw made it clear to Rune that he was getting revenge.
As Rune followed the mountain lion scent, he heard rustling in the bushes. Rune looked up to check. But nothing appeared, Rune slowly approached the bushes, he couldn't pick up any scents coming from the bushes, so he remained low and moved carefully. But before Rune could react, a shadow leaped from the bushes and pounced Rune to the ground. By the scent Rune could tell it was a mountain lion, but he was huge and Rune struggled to push him off. The attacker bit down on Rune's neck, but the pressure seemed to be weak. Rune slipped from his grip and bit his attacker on his shoulder, the attacker jerked his paw up and backed up in pain. Rune crouched in position waiting for him to strike again, but when he got a good look at his opponent, he saw him licking his wound.
"Who are you?" Rune asked.
"Who are you?" His attacker replied. His voice was raspy, the mountain lion appeared to be old aged. Rune no longer saw this guy as a threat. He was more curious than anything.
"I'm Rune," he replied, "My father's jungle has been burned to the ground. I know the Claw and his mountain lions are responsible."
"I apologize for attacking you," The mountain lion replied, "I thought you were one of them."
"Not at all."
"Oh, yes. That Claw is an awful guy. I thought our leader was bad. But this guy is even worse." Rune walked up to the mountain lion and sat next to him.
"He killed our leader and took over our pack." The old lion continued, "Now they have become blood thirsty killers. It was in our nature to fight for territory, but we always accepted our losses. Now all of a sudden they have become obsessed with the cliff and the forest. I am ashamed of them."
"That's why you left," Rune added.
"Yes," the old lion replied, " and it wasn't easy, either. They threatened to kill anyone who leaves. I was lucky. But I am sure once they find me, they will kill me. I'm just not strong enough to fight for myself." Rune pitied the old lion. But before Rune could say anything the lion spoke again,
"Where are my manners??" He laughed "my name is Rei."
"I'm Rune," he replied. Rune felt better about this mountain lion. This old guy was no harm to anyone. He was only protecting himself.

Night set in. Rune walked to the river and looked at the jungle. There wasn't much left of the fire. Some parts were still burning, but some elephants were spraying water at some of the flames. There was very little left of his home. Rune felt the guilt of not saving his home again. He turned and walked away. He didn't want to face his friends.
"What is wrong?" Rei asked, approaching the river from behind Rune. "arent you going back?"
"No," Rune replied, "Not yet. I have accomplished nothing. How can I face them?"
"Your being to hard on yourself," Rei said, trying to comfort Rune, "I don't think this is what your father wanted." Rune looked at Rei. Rune had explained everything to Rei about how he and his sister, Rukio are responsible for the jungle since the passing of his father, Kimba.
"As a parent, I believe he would of wanted your safety more than anything. Plus you rescued many of the animals who lived there. That counts for something"
"But they have no where to live! This is my fault!" Rune's outburst quieted the old lion for a second. But Rei didn't change is opinion, he looked at Rune and continued: "You cant do everything. Its just impossible. I believe that it isn't the jungle you are responsible for, you are responsible for the lives that live there." Just as he finished his sentence, Rune suddenly remembered the dream he had right before he woke up in the flames of his father. The words suddenly echoed in his mind: "The safety of the animals is your responsibility." Rune started to relive the dream, watching his father vanish in front of his eyes again echoing those words. Rune finally understood. Rei was right, it wasn't the jungle, it was the animals who lived there. Rune breathed a sigh of relief, he knew he didn't sacrifice effort helping as many animals as he could. Rei saw Rune change. He was no longer tense, and he saw how relaxed he felt. Rei knew his words got to him and was happy about it. Rune thanked Rei for his support and he nodded.
"There he is!!" Rune looked up at that familiar voice, it was Coco! "Rune, we've been looking everywhere for you!"
After Coco finished speaking, Rukio, Maira and Haru appeared from the bushes behind. Rune was happy to se his friends. Now Rune could explain his day, and he introduced them to Rei, a good mountain lion. This was a new beginning for Rune. With his new friendship of Rei, and a better understanding of his father, he knew together they could all help with rebuilding their home. Now it was time for Rune to return home.

Chapter 8

The forest had become a wasteland. Burnt wood, destroyed homes; Animals wandered and mourned the lost of their homes. Rune and his group wandered silently through the ashes of their once lush, green home. It was all to depressing for their group to bear. Rune tried to wonder what his father would have done. He told himself what Rei had told him, that it was important that everyone made it out alive. He was still a little uncomfortable about that answer, but it was what it was. Rune knew he couldn't change anything. It was important now to recover, help the animals build new homes and start over.
The group returned to their home. It was still standing, barely. It was more of a pile of rubble now. Repairing this home was going to be the biggest job of all. But, it was agreed with out words not to start that night. Everyone was tired from a long day.
After examining their finished home, Rune took the first step up the stairs. Exhaustion turned to cold fear when the strong smell of multiple mountain lions arose as Rune got up the stairs, Rune raced up the stairs to see the source, and sure enough two mountain lions were sitting in the den, waiting for their return. Rune snarled at the two mountain lions staring dead at him. The snarl caught the attention of Rukio, Maira, and Haru, who waited below, and they raced up the stairs to see Rune.
"Haven't you guys caused enough destruction for one night?" Rune hissed,
"We're only here do deal with a traitor." One lion uttered. His words baffled the cubs for a moment, but before the said anything, Rei appeared from behind.
"Don't Rei," Rune whispered, "They'll kill you!"
"I know the risks" Rei replied, "Let me deal with this." Rei turned from Rune and faced the to mountain lions sitting in front.
"How dare you," spoke one of the lions, "Not only do you betray us, but you take the side of our enemy. Why?"
"You're fools," Rei replied angrily, "For years we fought to survive. We did it because we were at risk for losing our home and to be divided. But now, we kill with out honor. I want nothing to do with this new leader, or any of your ridiculous plans either."
"Fine Rei," the other lion added, "then you will be killed. We will see to it that you and your new buddies will all die."
"Than so be it." Rei finished.
After a moment of raw silence, the cubs gathered next to Rei. But the mountain lions calmly walked away. They knew they were outnumbered and didn't want to take the risk of losing. So they left.
Coco flew in a moment later. Rune and Rukio greeted Coco's entrance. "Glad that's over!" Coco blurted.
"Its far from over," Rune replied. "Its only the beginning."
"I wonder what they're next move will be," Rukio murmured, "Do you really think they are the ones who burned down the jungle?"
"Its possible," Haru added. "They probably got the fire from a human camp. Back at the zoo I came from, the humans always made fire."
"Before I left the clan, I saw some of my pack mates with sticks in their jaws and they were leaving the den."
"Well that explains it," Maira replied, "They left to find fire."
"Most likely," Rei continued, "The pack got so busy last night, it was my opportunity to escape. But when the forest caught fire, I didn't have any where to turn to."
"What are we going to do?" Rukio asked, "We cant confront them, we're terribly out numbered."
"I don't want to think about it now." Rune replied, "Lets just rest. We'll worry about it tomorrow. I'm tired."

Chapter 9

Mountain lions gather around the cave. They were everywhere. Claw sat outside under the night sky. Shaka joined him, but before he could speak, Claw spoke first: "Tonight went well don't you think?"
"Agreed," Shaka replied, "Everything went as planned. Panja's jungle is no more." Claw chuckled at his response: "Yes, as soon as the jungle grows back, I will claim it as mine once again. I am tired of the white lion family taking what is rightfully mine. Because of Panja and Kimba, I can no longer enjoy my prize with my vision, so I will be sure have Rune, Kimba's son as my prized kill. Do no let the mountain lions kill him. I want to stain my claws with his blood."
"Sure thing master."
"Master, master!!" a mountain lion yelled.
"What is it?" Shaka asked. The mountain lion sat himself in front of Claw and Shaka, he was small and rugged. His pelt showed a history of many battles. He was lighter brown with some patches of fur missing under his neck, and as he spoke his voice cracked slightly with damage from being bit on the neck.
"Sergeant Dice and Creo returned," The rugged mountain lion continued, "He has confirmed Rei's betrayal." Claw gave a neutral nod.
"What should be done sir?" Shaka asked.
"Nothing," Claw replied, "leave him be for now. He will in no way benefit them or hurt us. He's old and feeble. If you see him you can kill him. But don't go out of your way for it. There's too much to be done here.
"Yes sir," replied the rugged lion, "I will note the others." After that we left back the pack. Claw got up and turned to the cave's opening. Inside there were at least a count of a hundred lions. While many were thriving and working well with others, some were old and sick. Claw could sense the imbalance. While tons of these mountain lions are pretty useful, there were still way too many useless lions. Claw wanted to do away with the old and the weak. Claw turned around again and begin to walk away from the cave. Shaka noticed Claw and went to catch up with him.
"Claw," Shaka asked, "Where are you going?"
"We have a minor problem," Claw replied, "I need to take care of something. You will take over the pack for me until I get back."
"Ok," Shaka continued, "but why?"
"Look around you," Claw replied slowly, "This job is very serious. We cant work with what we have. I'm going to try to make a few improvements for our pack. I don't know when I'll be back. But I will. I assure you. So you must keep and eye on things." Before Shaka can ask anymore questions, Claw turned and walked away. He was still quite confused about what Claw explained, but he knew he had no choice but to go with it. He turned and announced to the mountain lion pack about his temporary position of being in charge. Things were getting serious and the time for take over was getting near. But what Claw planning on doing? Why did he go alone? And what was going to happen next? Shaka could shake off these questions. Winning this war would now be the most important accomplishment. He knew that Claw will take no chances. He trusted his decision and prepared himself. It is almost time for war.