From Sea to Desert

Ba'sir walked along the shore. His soft boots sank into the sand; his great weight made his passage laborious. The mage rounded an outcropping of rocks that jutted toward the waves. He delighted in the fact that the tide was out. He hated getting wet unnecessarily.

A cool breeze billowed the black cloak that he wore over his saffron robes. A jeweled turban now kept his maneless head warm. He could always detect the changes in the seasons by the chill in the air. Summer would soon yield to autumn. A ripple of feminine laughter reached his ears. The Felinari he sought sat on the sand. The young couple focused completely on each other. The white tigress gently brushed back a strand of hair from her companion's face. The red tiger shifted uncomfortably, as if the intimacy of the touch had somehow burned him. The little gestures hinted at the sexuality they would both soon express. The timing is wrong for you, thought the mage, but right for me. I hope you will one day find it possible to forgive me for placing you on this difficult road.

He gathered his strength to project his voice, ready to play a role he had assumed for many seasons. Just the correct touch of arrogance for believability; just the right amount of coldness. "Sky!" Ba'sir shouted. "There is something you must do for me." His rumbling tones had the effect he had desired. The startled couple leapt to their feet.

The tigress was a bold one. Te'mira stormed toward him, arms flailing in outrage. "How dare you demand anything of the young lord!" she exclaimed. She took full advantage of her height, being one of the few who could match his gaze.

Ba'sir raised his plump hands in submission, saying nothing, waiting for Sky to come to his aide.

The scientist did not disappoint him. "Do not fuss, Te'mira," he demurred. "You should know that Ba'sir takes sport in baiting you."

And I get her to respond every time with that fierce temper, the mage decided thoughtfully. But her fire, as well as your own, will see you though the dangers which lay ahead, my truest friend.

The tiger was shorter than both of them, but so were many of the Felinari. Yet his deportment favored his noble breeding. The mage remembered the tiger's ancestor, whom he so strongly favored in appearance. Tygra would be proud of you, Sky. He could always calm tempers, but like him, controlling your own ferocity has proven a challenge. You are not the placid, civilized creatures your relatives are. The old blood runs hot in you.

Ba'sir appraised the pair: mystic Te'mira in her robes of blue, and Lord Sky in traditional red. Together you make a royal purple, he thought, amused with his word play. It is that quality within you which will save this world. He dismissed the azure glare that marked the mystic, and changed his focus to the odd-eyed tiger. "My lord," he said, followed by a slight bow of respect. "Your servant has need of your skill."

"I suppose we shall both use each other," Sky snapped in return. The tiger turned to his companion. "Let me confer with him alone; he wants something as usual. There is no need to annoy you."

"Ah, but she must stay, for I require her help as well."

Anger danced across the mystic's features. Her oath demanded that she at least listen before she judged. "Proceed," Te'mira said through her teeth.

"Fear not for me, Sky," Ba'sir added gently.

The subtlety of words made the geneticist tense, for he had known the mage long enough to hear hidden meanings in his speech. "Please, my friend, don't --"

Ba'sir brushed aside his objection with a sigh. "Observe and understand," he said. His chant brought forth a sphere of light. The images reflected off of its surface told the story of how he had saved Third Earth from destruction by a asteroid far in the past.

Te'mira stepped back in shock. "You cannot be the original rogue! It is too much to accept."

"The very same," Ba'sir confirmed.

"And you have known of him and of how he saved our world?" she asked Sky.

The tiger shrugged. "I stumbled into the truth."

"What matters is why you have need of this knowledge, Te'mira," Ba'sir added. "See the new danger that comes." The light shifted through a rainbow of colors. It settled back on the infinite darkness of space, and displayed the fleet of strange ships that patterned it like stars. "The heirs of Lion-o followed not their father's vision. Their desire for isolation supplanted that of trade and exploration. As the population grew, and manufacturing increased, they forbade the reconstruction of spaceships, and disbanded those fraternities that kept the secrets of engineering. Thus, we have forged no alliance with other worlds, despite the alien visitors who have infrequently traded with us. The Galactic Council, who, so long ago, chose not to help us repel the Mutant invasion of Thundera, has forgotten the Felinari. No one will care if this invader conquers Third Earth, and makes slaves of her people."

"What of the planetary defense system that has shielded this world long before the return of the Felinari? Our people now control it. While it could not divert an asteroid, it could destroy ships," Sky remarked.

"The fleet is too vast to combat. In this instance, camouflage is the solution."

"You cannot hide a whole world!" Te'mira insisted.

"Ah, but there you are wrong," Ba'sir said with a chuckle. "See where you must go to save a world." The image that grew within the sphere showed an aerial view of pitted canyons and desert. "The cliff-dwellers hold the key. A crystal of great power has been in their keeping for untold generations. Observe." The scene changed. Elaborately clothed figures danced in a plaza surrounded by stone dwellings cut into the red cliffs. The drumming of the people, whose skin tones matched the rich color of the rocks, formed the heartbeat of the earth.

"Beautiful," Te'mira murmured, gently swaying in time to the rhythms.

Ba'sir intoned, "Their legends tell of a pair of sky beings who will one day come to reclaim the crystal to prevent the world's ending. If the people have been worthy, the disaster will be averted, and the current world will not end."

"And we must be those beings?" Sky queried. "Why can you not go?"

"I will need all my power to work the magic needed to shield this world from invasion."

"What of the threat to other worlds?" Te'mira asked.

"Let them find their own heros," Ba'sir stated casually. "Will you help?"

Te'mira stared at Ba'sir, her face betraying her uncertainty by her frown. "You have said little of the journey and nothing of the dangers."

Sky added quickly, "And what of our absence? Will you explain all to my people and Te'mira's?"

"I make no guarantees, young lord. My concern is only for the world. In the space of two breaths I must ask you to decide the future."

"Yes!" the couple declared spontaneously.

"I knew I had found heros," Ba'sir whispered, before the word of power he had shouted swept away the still questioning youngsters in a flood of scarlet light."

A tiny whirlwind danced by Ba'sir's feet, a remnant of the spell's demise. "May the gods of Thundera protect you," he said to the empty space before him.