Sabra

Porcupine




Test Story

Sabra yawns. The sun has now set. It is time to get some sleep. Sabra climbs high up in a tree and stops when she reaches a broad branch that will serve her purpose. She settles down for the night. Draping her cloak over herself to keep warm, Sabra smiles. Tomorrow she will go home. Her isolation has come to an end. While being alone had its advantages, Sabra misses her friends. Her vision quest is complete. Her desire for some uninterrupted time with the forest and Marawen is now fulfilled. She slowly drifts off to sleep.

Reaching through the darkness, Sabra retrieves her quiver and bow. Looking around blindly, she wonders what awakened her. She stands up, balancing easily on the tree branch. This is the forest she’s spent her whole life in, she knows every tree and animal. Off in the distance the call of a frightened bird sounds. Something is not right. Reaching in her quiver, she picks out one of the many hand-made arrows. Fitting the arrow to the bow, Sabra turns slightly and launches the arrow through the cold night air. She listens. Then it comes, a scream, the noise of people moving about. Running through the trees, she follows the sound. Silently she looks through the leaves, into the camp of the unknown men. Anger and hatred soar through her blood when she realizes what she’s looking at. They are hunters.

A wolf cub lay injured in the center of their camp, bound and drugged. With rage surging through her muscles, Sabra dips the tip of an arrow in a deadly poison and sends it flying straight into the heart of one of their men. She watches in satisfaction as the group tried in vain to save their leader. Knowing they will now pack up and leave, Sabra sneaks through their camp to save the small cub. After wrapping the cub in her cloak, she leaves, unnoticed.

Sabra walks through the forest to meet the Storm Weavers. She prays that Marawen will keep this cub alive until she can get it to Amberle and Hope for healing. Crying silently for the pain of this precious animal, Sabra’s tears are blessed by Marawen. As each salty drop hits the wolf cub’s body, health and strength slowly return to him. Sabra smiles, she has done well for Marawen.


Second Story

A twig snaps. Sabra starts. Feeling through the darkness, she locates her quiver, but her bow is not to be found. She wonders if the raccoon is trying to get her back for naming one of her spiders Cloe. She is high up in the air, on a tree branch that had been her bed for the night. A soft noise brings her back to the present. She pulls out an arrow and closes her eyes, listening. With a strong, smooth movement, Sabra throws the arrow into her enemy's arm. She waits to hear the thud of a dead body falling to the forest floor.

Sabra leaps out of the tree and lands gracefully on the damp ground. She leans over the male troll. Slowly she removes the arrow from his arm. Tracing her fingers along the arrow, Sabra admires Jil's work. The arrow is fit with three perfect feathers, a sharp and poisoned arrowhead. "One day," Sabra whispers, "I'll learn to make arrows like this." Sighing, Sabra looks around, it is almost dawn.

Climbing back up into the tree Sabra searches out through the trees to find where the troll was camping. Smiling she makes her way towards the enemy campground. Climbing through the trees, Sabra circles the camp. She sets down five huge spiders. Pointing to the trolls she says "Go!" The spiders crawl into the camp. Smiling, Sabra waits for her spiders to get into their position. "Up!" Sabra leaps into a tree while the trolls look to see where the voice came from. They are soon distracted by huge spiders crawling up their legs and back. Sabra laughs silently at the chaos resulting from her pets' presence. The spiders continue up the trolls' backs. As soon as the first spider reaches the troll's shoulder Sabra shouts out again, "Attack!" The spiders inject their deadly poison into the trolls' flesh, killing them within a minute.

"Retreat!" Sabra commands. Four of the spiders return to Sabra. Smiling she reaches out her hand to Arrow. As she picks him up, she smiles to Shadow Hunter, Quiver, and Feather at her feet. Cloe and Stone sit on Sabra's shoulder, watching the attack. They have not yet been trained. Sabra glares at Poison, crawling over the troll she just killed. Sabra growls, "Poison, I said Retreat!" Poison slowly turns to Sabra, walking towards her almost sulkily. Sabra giggles. "You are such a pain," she mumbles as she picks up Poison.

Sabra takes her friends and returns to The Storm Weavers' camp. Sabra quickly announces her kill. Cloe and Asiza try to scamper off to get first pick of the troll's belongings. Sabra tackles Cloe on her way by. Cloe growls and points out that Asiza is getting ahead of her. Sabra holds out her hand and taps her foot. Cloe reluctantly points to a tree, then races off to catch up with her sister. Sabra climbs up the tree and retrieves her bow. Sabra smiles, knowing she has found a home.