Panther's Eyes

The few sun rays let in by the jungle trees made her purple eyes shimmer, Eteran saw something in them. Eteran saw a panther, waiting to be let out. No, that couldn't be true. She was not a half panther and human like he was. She had long, wavy, and exotic black hair. Black like a panther's fur, but it couldn't be true, could it? She always spent more time in the jungle than in her own village. She was agile like his kind, yet still very human. And those dreams he had of her, she was a panther like he was... he had to know more. Just watching her would not answer his questions. Neither would talking to her, he knew she didn't know completely what she was. He would have to go to the chiefs of his people. He turned and began his journey to the territory of the clan where the chief of his kind resided.

* * *

Jayda sighed contently, another walk through the jungle. When she climbed the jungle trees, when she walked through the jungle, she felt whole. Like she was meant to be there. But Jayda knew it would not last long. Her wedding to one of the great warriors in village was a week from now. Garun was his name. He was handsome, but he was cruel. He had squinty brown eyes, always mean looking. Garun was not going to be her husband. She would not allow it. Jayda jogged back to the village swiftly, ducking under branches and around trees. She was nervous about her plan of escape, but she would not let it get to her.

* * *

Two days later, Eteran arrived into the clan where his peoples chief lived. "Great Cheif, I have a question." Eteran spoke aloud. The Chief came out of the forest in his panther form, padding slowly, every step showed his age and wisdom.

Eteran bowed low to the ground. "I have come to ask a question about a young woman... she lives with her human village inside my territory. She is like a panther..."

The Great Chief grunted, cutting him off in mid sentence and changing into his human form.

"I know who you speak of. She is half of our kind, half human."

Eteran eyes widened, this explained everything, why he was so attracted to her and why she was still all too human.

Eteran's mind began to churn, questions bubbling up and out of his mouth.

"How can she be half? Humans are not supposed to know about us..."

"He mother was human, her father was of out kind. They met when her mother saved her father from her village people and cared for him, that is how she found out who he was. She accepted her father and they fell in love. Her father died of disease and shortly after her mother in childbirth, however the baby, the girl you take interest in, survived. She cannot change into a panther... yet.

"What do you mean 'yet'" Eteran questioned.

The Chief laughed. "Let me finish. You see, half breeds only become panthers when they reach the age of 21 and then they become our kind the rest of their lives.."

Eteran heart jumped with glee. "She is around that age!"

"Does she know what she is and where she has come from?" The Great Chief asked.

"No... I don't think her village knows either."

The Chief's eyes furrowed with concern. "Go to her, you must tell her before she turns 21 because when it happens she will be confused and her village will kill her, thinking she is a panther."

Eteran did not hesitate, he was gleaming with excitement. Maybe they could court one another; he felt an attraction to her so strong he even had dreams about her. He hoped she would accept who she was. He hoped he could make it there in time.

* * *

"Hello Garun." She bowed with respect to her future husband, but her eyes showed that she was disgusted.

"Jayda, You will be timely next time or face the punishment."

She growled and glared at Garun.

A sting pierced her cheek when he slapped her. She was not surprised, he had done it before. She let out another growl.

"You are to be my wife, you will act like one." He commanded her.

"I will NOT become your wife." She stated defiantly. She prepared for another blow to her face, but it did not come. Instead he grabbed her long hair and dragged her into his hut. She shrieked but no one in the village paid heed, Garun was a respected warrior, they thought he deserved any wife he wanted, even if that meant taking her by force. Garun threw her on the floor of the hut. He sat on top of her pinning her down with his body. His weight crushed hers and she couldn't breathe.

"You will be my wife, and you will bear my children. It's time you learned where your place is as my wife."

She gasped for a breath and grunted "NO!"

The weight of his body was choking her. He began to grope her breast roughly until they became bruised. She knew what was going to happen next. But she had a plan. She had been planning this for weeks. When he bent over to pull off her shirt she kicked him square in the nose. He let out a groan and fell backwards. She stomped on his stomach with her foot.

"Never" she spat out at him was he laid groaning and clutching his broken nose.

Then she put her plan into action. She ran into the jungle and she went directly to the hollow tree she had picked out weeks before and put her hand inside and pulled out the pack she had made herself when she had planned this escape. Her heart pounded within her chest. The pack was light, it contained food and a knife which was all she needed to survive, the jungle was her safety. A rustling sound came behind her and she turned around to see Garun's face covered with blood when she had broken his nose. She jumped, she had not expected for him to get up so quickly. She began to run with Garun close behind. He was holding a knife. She knew she could out run him, but she didn't know what she would do if she threw his knife at her. She ducked under tree branches and leaped over roots, he was falling behind and Garun knew it. Garun threw the knife at her at a final attempt to stop her, or kill her. It pierced into her right shoulder blade and she let out a scream but kept running, the knife fell out of her back and onto the ground. Blood ran down her back. But she kept running. She ran a long time until she could run no more and collapsed into unconsciousness.

* * *

Eteran began to see signs of his territory, he was getting close! He could even smell her... he could smell her blood! His heart almost stopped. He ran even faster, until her found her. She was lying still. A puddle of blood surrounded her, but she was still alive. Her ragged breathes told him she needed help... fast. He morphed into his human form and picked her up gently. She was so small compared to him, he was 6"5 while she must have been a foot shorter. He carried her carefully, minding the deep wound in her shoulder blade. He noted the red hand mark on her face. He growled deep in his throat. A man had done this to her not long ago, a man not too far away because he could smell his scent in the wind.

* * *

Jayda awoke slowly. She breathed contently in. She had that dream again. She had been dreaming of him, the strange man. The tall man with those beautiful green eyes and that short black hair. She dreamed that he was holding her, purring and so was she. They were nuzzling... oh god. He heart jumped, she remembered what had happened. Her eyes shot open, expecting to see the tall trees looming over but instead she saw a wooden ceiling. She moaned. She thought she was back in the hut with Garun. Wait. Wooden ceiling? Her village huts did NOT have wooden ceilings. She looked around. 'Oh my god.' she thought 'Where am I?"