The Jackals of Sakhmet- Kasha's Plot: Part One

      I dream of a vast land where everything is to my liking. Everything is perfected, purified. Everything is how I want it, meaning everyone's the same.

      I dream of a land where only my kind, my people, my pets, live together in harmony. Everyone listens to me, as well as each other. Everyone does what I do. Everyone eats what I eat. Everyone likes what I like.

      I dream of a community where everyone's like me. Some pets are opposed to this idea. I can't see a reason why. Perhaps they don't understand it from my point of view, my angle. Or perhaps they're jealous of my brilliance.

      Why wouldn't they be? I'm superior to them. They just don't see my reasoning, my plan, my hopes and dreams. They don't understand why this must happen, why it will happen.

      Others can dream, why can't I?

     * * *

The Lost Desert-

      There was nothing pleasant about the vast desert lands of the Lost Desert. It was always scorching hot and the setting sun would blind you with its blazing rays. No, it was not a very pleasant place at all. And apparently, Niger didn't think so either.

      "When will we arrive, Aisha?" Niger snarled at the Aisha escorting him. The fair-skinned Aisha turned to the Cybunny, glaring at him through her turban.

      "I have a name, you know? You refer to me as Lycos, you understand?" She snarled right back. Niger growled, but said nothing more. It was way too hot to be arguing in the middle of the desert.

      "We will arrive in at least ten minutes, but not another word until we get there, understood?" Lycos instructed, turning back sharply, and continuing to lead Niger to Sakhmet. This time, Niger stopped in his tracks and grabbed Lycos by the paw.

      "I don't take orders from Aishas," he whispered threateningly. "So it'd be wise to hold your tongue and just lead the way…"

      Stunned by these words, Lycos yanked her paw free from Niger, turning back around once more, only this time wide-eyed and scared. Niger smiled his eerie smile behind her back, satisfied that he had her scared out of her wits…

      As Lycos had said, they arrived in Sakhmet in less than ten minutes. They were greeted by the thuggish grarrls that guarded the city gates.

      "Friend or foe?" bellowed the green one to the left. His staff shone menacingly.

      "If we were foe, we wouldn't be trying to waltz right in here, now would we?" Niger snapped at him. The grarrl was taken aback, but tried hard not to show it. Instead, he lowered the sharpened part of his wooden staff to Niger.

      But Niger just stared at it as if it could not injure him in the slightest. He looked calm, actually.

      "You'd be better off if you didn't go talkin' like that 'round others," the second grarrl warned, blocking the first's staff with his. "You'd be in a lot of trouble with that kind o' back-sass."

      Niger snorted.

      "Just let us in! I'm here to see Kasha."

      The guards exchanged suspicious looks, and Lycos shifted uncomfortably.

      "Why yaw wanna see her?" the second grarrl asked, glaring at the only eye visible through Niger's white turban.

      "That's my business, now are you going to let us stand out here all day, or are you going to let us in?"

      The two guards cleared their throats, straightened up, and stared off into space like soldiers did when they were to salute a general. Like soldiers, the two saluted Lycos and Niger as the gates opened, allowing them to pass. Once they were inside the city, Niger removed his turban.

      Lycos eyed him for a moment, wondering why he, at this exact moment, wished to reveal his face to her.

      "What are you staring at, Aisha," he snapped. His sharp voice jolted her back to reality.

      "My name is Lycos!"

      Niger waved a fluffy, white paw in the air, waving away her comment, as he examined the busy streets of Sakhmet. A glorious place, Sakhmet was. What with the many shops and markets set up along the bustling streets.

      Various pets were walking, strolling, or running along on the sidelines. Shopkeepers bargained with customers. Customers bargained with shopkeepers. Hissi Charmers performed for the crowds that enclosed them in a small circle. Everyone was busy.

      Everyone was doing something. Everyone was preoccupied, which meant Niger and Kasha could conspire without interruption.

      "About my pay," Lycos suddenly said, rubbing her paws together eagerly. "I believe 5,000 neopoints was agreed…"

      "You receive nothing for your services," Niger smirked, starting down the side of the road. Lycos ran to keep up with him.

      "Now see here, I was promised 5,000 neopoints!"

      "No, we said you could gain 5,000 neopoints. Notice how I said 'could'," he waved his paw in the air once more. "Now leave me, Aisha. I have no more of a use for you than I do with a dried up river."

      Unfortunately for Niger, Lycos did not give up that easily.

      "I demand to know why I was so rudely used as a pawn for your bidding and did not receive payment! I want my neopoints!"

      Without warning, Lycos was grabbed from behind by two shadowed figures hidden in an alley. Her mouth was covered with a dirty, white rag being tied quickly by the figure behind her. Another filthy rag was being tightened around her wrists.

      Poor Lycos writhed and wiggled with all her might, but alas, the two figures were too great for her, and she was carried away into the darkness. The darkness of the alley consumed her, and she watched, in horror and disgust, as Niger laughed.

      He laughed at her, pointing at her bonds. He was amused that she had been pet-napped, and what was worse was that he had said, "Fare-well."

      He waved, still chuckling to himself as the frightened Lycos was dragged away into the depths of the alley. Niger turned back to the street, glad no one had saw what had happened. He continued to walk along the sidelines with the many other pets that were busy as the city itself.

      "Like I said, Lycos," he whispered happily to himself, putting much emphasis on Lycos's name. "It'd be wise to hold your tongue. Lucky for me, no one saw you…"

      But my friends, though he was unaware of it, Lycos had been seen. Someone had seen Lycos's attack. Someone had seen Niger point so cruelly at her and laugh with amusement. That someone was a twelve-year old Wocky by the name of Cole, and he watched Niger swiftly walked into a building with beaded curtains for a door.

      Now you see, Cole was a street urchin, and had no parents. He had no family at all. But to him, the street urchins of Sakhmet were like his family. Together, they helped each other. There was this sort of group of children who had no family and had to steal their meals. They called themselves the Jackals (the perfect name to enforce citizens' opinion of them: pests.)

      Cole, unlike most children his age, wasn't the type who would run off to tell an adult about what he had witnessed. No, Cole was the nosy type. So he, like all nosy pets, wanted to see what was going on. But should he go follow the pet-napped Aisha, or sneak into the building the Cybunny had disappeared into?

      "Cole?"

      Cole turned around to find two other pets his age staring at him. One, the sassy, green Ixi, had her arms crossed and was staring at Cole, her expression reading, I'm-bored-so-let's-go. The other, a short, stout little Cybunny with ruffled white fur, was clutching a basket full of fruits and bread.

      "C'mon, we got the food, now let's go before those annoying guard Grarrls catch us," Lee, the Ixi, said.

      "Not yet. I wanna see something…"

      "See what?" Omar, the Cybunny, asked, edging closer to Cole carefully, so as not to drop the basket.

      "Some lady just got pulled into that alley," Cole said, pointing to the alley. "Right there and some man just walked into that building."

      Omar set the basket down and stood next to Cole, Lee followed.

      "What does the man have to do with anything?" Lee asked in an annoyed voice.

      "He laughed," Cole said. "He laughed at the lady being dragged away, and then walked in that building."

      "Wow, he must be horrible," Omar whispered. "Anyone wants fruit?" he suddenly asked cheerfully. Lee raised her hand.

      "Stop clowning, guys. Something's up," Cole said to his friends, who were now picking out their favorite fruit from the basket. They looked up at him with concerned looks on their faces. Cole started to walk down the street over to the building Niger had disappeared into.

      Throwing the basket aside, Lee and Omar followed him, trying to reason with him, to make him understand that it was none of his business.

      "Then I'll make it my business," Cole smiled mischievously. "Whether you like it or not…"

To be continued...