There were five of them. Five women who represented the greatest force their world had ever known. They were unremarkable looking, these women, with the exception possibly of Thala who was said to be of rare and stunning beauty. Their faces did not show the potential locked under their skins and the small tatoos that told of their powers were hidden under the thick fabric of their robes.

At the head of the table sat the most powerful of them. She was a plain woman with a serious face and fiercely intelligent eyes. Her eyes searched the faces of those around her.

"Thala, Mwrona, Kiaw, Delura," She spoke, "We are here as a council of war."

The others remained silent, staring back at her solemnity. Even Kiaw's usually glowing and smiling face was dim. They all knew what war would mean to their people.

"We of the lion offer our claws to rend," the speaker continued, starting the ritual that had began discussions of war for generations.

Thala nodded in acceptance, her green eyes showing reserves of great strength, "We of the snake offer our fangs to poison."

She glanced at Mwrona who continued quietly, "We of the deer offer our swiftness to stay ahead of the enemy."

Kiaw patted Mwrona's hand in sympathy because this was her first serious issue since becoming leader of The People of the Deer not six months before. Then she said, "We of the wolf offer our stealth to attack."

Delura's voice was clear and cold as she sealed all of their fates with the final line. "And we of the bear offer our strength to crush."

The leader of The People of the Lion searched all of their faces once more before giving a short nod.

"So be it."

The council members took their seats and gazed expectantly at Alanna, who met their stares with composure. This was no drill. It was no joke. A serious problem had erupted in their once-peaceful land. It was her duty, and that of the other women at this table, to see the problem eradicated.

Alanna reached for the rounded stone to her right and grasped it tightly. "I call the Council to order." She banged the stone on the table three times, then at last took her own seat. "The Land of the Beasts is in peril. The Elders of each Clan have all reached the same conclusion by now, so we must act quickly." Her eyes met each of the others', and the severity of this meeting was driven home to all.

"For many cycles, the Great Enemy of the Beasts has been encroaching on our land. That Enemy calls itself Civilized Man, though there is not much civility in them. They do not live in harmony with their land or each other, and they often seek to conquer new territory in the name of 'exploration'. Now they seek to conquer us. We must not let that happen."

Murmers of agreement met Alanna's words, but there seemed to be no surprise at her announcement. Perhaps, she reasoned, the Elders of their Clans had chosen to share their findings as her own had.

"Only by working together, as our Clans have done for centuries, can we combat this new foe."

Ziadin probably would have quite happily claimed his title as a "civilized man" and returned to civilization as quickly as possible. With a sigh, he mopped his face on his sleeve and cursed for the thousandth time this wretched land that seemed to fight him at every step. Like treacherous snakes, vines and roots seemed to creep across his path to trip him up. The ground would appear to shift and gape, as though trying to swallow him up into its depths. The very air around him shimmered with humid heat and choked in his lungs.

All that was bad enough, but Adana was the final straw. In the settle Nordenlunds she was considered a disgrace and an embarrassment. But here, in these wild overgrown plains she was as at home as a chicken in a coop.

"Zia, come to see!"

What was that damned girl up to now? He looked up to see her perched precariously on the limb of one of the squat, ugly trees that was all the larger plant-life this land seemed to be able to produce. Her legs were dangling, and her tunic was in complete disarray.

"Get down from there, you fool, before you break every bone in your body!"

She laughed and slid with aggravating lightness to the ground, holding her hands carefully clasped in front of her. "See!" She flattened her palms to reveal a tiny bird nestled against the base of her fingers. "Its...its..." she struggled for words. "The feather-arms,"

"Wings," he said.

"Wings," she repeated. "They are bad, you see?"

He leaned forward to examine the creature. She was right. The metacarpal in its right wing had been broken somehow. "Birds' wings break very easily, Adana," he explained. "They are pneumatic, I mean hollow, uh, filled with air spaces. Those connect to the respiratory system and let them breathe. It also makes them lighter to help them fly."

Ziadin was never quite sure exactly how much of his explanations Adana understood, but she always listened, wide-eyed and attentive.

"Make it good?"

"I'm not sure. I'll try to fix it, but no guarantees."

She nodded. "The sun is very up. We sleep."

"Good plan." Ziadin gratefully lowered his pack to the ground and removed his herb-bag and thought about what strange turns his life seemed to be taking lately. He and Adana had been chosen to be explorers because they fulfilled three criteria:

a) He was male and she was female, so there was no gender-bias.
b) He had been a veterinarian, in what seemed like a lifetime ago.
c) She had passed all necessary courses in outback-survival, with flying colors too.

The government was desperate to get this area explored and mapped, and was recruiting anyone they could. Inexperience and past... indiscretions... didn't matter.

"Come now, little fellow. Let's see if we can't get the wing back in shape."

He didn't notice the extended shape at his feet as the snake, which had been hiding in the grass for the last few minutes, suddenly moved.

Alanna watched the other women as they prepared to go. Each had a thoughtful look on her face, and Alanna knew that the decisions they had made weighed heavily on them. It was not easy for the Clans to go to war, especially the People of the Deer. Thinking this, she glanced at Mwrona, who was changing into her deer shape to make better time. She had been characteristically quiet during their talks, and Alanna hoped she had the power to control the people under her. As the Council was made up of leaders that were also magic users, the rest of the members of the Clans gave it respect, but they also expected it to perform miracles.

Nearby, Thala was putting up her hair and putting on her cloak. She would be running, in human form, back to her people. For some reason, though the People of the Wolf, the Bear, and the Lion had no problems with horses, the People of the Snake could not get near them. Even those that could not change or who, by mixed breeding, could change to another creature but had Snake clan blood could not approach a horse. Legend had it that at one time there had been a People of the Horse, but they were killed in a bitter Clan feud with the People of the Snake. Alanna was not sure how much credence to give this legend, as she had never come across an official record.

With this legend in mind, she bid good bye to both Thala and Mwrona. The other two women, Kiaw and Delura, did the same. Delura was waiting for Thala to part so that she could safely send for her horse. Delura, cousin to Alanna by marriage, would be staying the night. Her usually cheery face was grim, and it was clear that Alanna would be hearing her troubled thoughts before night's end.