Aster Wood and the Blackburn Son by J B Cantwell Page B

pile of branches on the forest floor. He dropped from the trees and approached the mound, both curious and wary at once. And when he removed the downed foliage from the spot, looking up at him was a lone panther cub. But it wasn’t any ordinary beast. It glowed with the same white Sacha had seen coming off the snows in winter, and it looked at him with knowing, yet desperate, eyes.”
    I gasped, looking around to see if anyone else had caught that particular detail in the story in the same way I had, the mention of the white, glowing animal. Jade had described the great white wolf who had saved me from the snow planet as being of The White Guard. And Erod, too, had glowed with a power that hinted at more than the simple magic Jade or Kiron had. Had these men heard the same legends? Had they, too, been visited by the animals when they found themselves in times of struggle? I studied their faces, looking for signs of recognition, but the men were unaffected, their attention on Zacharias as he went on.  
    The encounters, it seemed, were mine alone. I sat up now to listen, to take in every detail about the creatures I had been visited by.  
    “Sacha gathered the cub into his little arms, and the cat rubbed his face against his chin in gratitude. In the strange purrs and nudges from the animal, Sacha understood that he must assist him. Looking down, he bestowed upon him the name Pahana, or lost white brother . And so that evening he walked from the grove and carried his found friend home.
    “When he arrived, however, his father was not pleased. There were too many others to feed, he argued. And a monster like this, while small now, would not stay that way. It would soon become hungry, first feasting on the littlest and least able of the family before moving onto the larger, more cunning prey. He ordered Sacha to return him to the woods, and forbade him from ever setting foot there again.
    “Sacha was distraught, for he knew that if he obeyed his father, the little animal would starve. No mother panther had shown herself in the woods, you see, and he was certain that the cub was quite alone in the world.  
    “But the next day, he cowered beneath his father’s outstretched finger pointing him down into the wooded valley below, and he nestled the animal into the nook of his arm and set off away from the house.  
    “When he reached the pile of branches he had found the little one beneath, however, he found he could not leave him. The animal looked deep into his eyes, piercing his very soul with their light, and his mind, and spirit, were changed. He stayed in the grove that day, but when he returned in the evening he hid the cub in his satchel, intending to hide him in the workmen’s shed behind the cottage.  
    “Sacha’s father, while simple, was not a fool. He saw the squirming within the satchel upon his son’s return, and when he discovered the white cub still inside, still on his land, he was livid with anger. That night, Sacha’s backside burned bright with the red welts left by his father’s belt, and the boy was made to swear that the next day he would return the cub to the woods.
    “But he did not. In the dark of night, while the family slept, Sacha crawled from his bed and found Pahana, caged now behind the cottage. He broke the lock with the back of an ax and, freeing the cub from his mean prison, set out to hide him. The village was a busy place, but the church lay forgotten while the people prepared for the onslaught. Within the sacred room, he housed the animal.  
    “Each night, during the deepest black, he stole food from his family’s table and brought it to Pahana while they slept. The gashes on his back had healed well enough by now, and the cub was growing at an astounding rate. So, too, grew their bond, until one night the agitation of the young panther was so intense that Sacha chose to free his friend from the church.  
    “The cub was now no longer a baby. He stood a full head taller than