Xavier's Arc

Chapter 15 of 21

Xavier rode the tiger into the bog's edge and waited. The reeds hid the deep mud behind him. He knew the safe path along the tree line by heart now. The howls grew close. Then the pack broke from the trees, twice the number as before. But they did not charge. They spread wide around the mud, fanning left and right, sniffing the ground. Their leader hung back and watched the red tiger. They had learned. They would not run into the trap. Xavier gripped the tiger's shoulders and cursed under his breath. His plan needed them to chase. They stood still, patient, waiting for him to move first. If he waited too long, they would circle behind and reach the solid ground where he sat. A voice called from the trees across the bog. "You there! Boy on the great cat!" A young woman stepped into the open on the far bank. She wore a red dress, muddy at the hem, and heels that sank in the wet ground. A crown sat crooked on her head. She had no weapon. "They have me pinned here! I cannot cross!" Xavier stared. A princess, lost in the swamp, trapped on the wrong side. The wolves at the bog's rim turned toward her fresh scent. Two peeled off and loped along the tree line toward her. She was bait now, whether she meant to be or not. "Stay on the hard ground!" Xavier shouted. "Follow the reeds to your left! Not the open mud!" But the wolves moved fast. The woman stumbled back, one heel caught. Xavier saw his chance and his risk in the same breath. The pack had split. Half chased her. He drew his bone knife, the jagged blade cold in his fist. Then he pressed his heels in. The tiger sprang along the safe path. Xavier drove it straight at the two wolves stalking the princess. The beasts turned to meet the charge and backed onto softer ground. Their paws sank. Xavier cut down at the nearest, the serrated edge tearing its shoulder. It yelped and floundered deeper. The mud pulled it under to the chest. The rest of the pack saw their own trapped and rushed to help. They forgot caution. They poured onto the open mud, and the bog took them. Legs sank. Bodies thrashed. The leader howled and clawed for the tree line but could not reach it. Xavier wheeled the tiger back to the hard path. He reached down. The princess grabbed his arm, and he pulled her up behind him. She clung to his waist as the tiger climbed to solid ground. Behind them the mud swallowed the pack. The threat was ended. But now a stranger rode at his back, far from any home, and the swamp still held its bigger dangers. Xavier had won his ground. He had not planned to win a passenger.