The bat-creature flew through the night, seeking for a juicy, fat insect to eat. Its yellow eyes reflected the light of the bright full moon as they sought for the prey. Suddenly its eyes caught an unusually big butterfly, trying to find some warmth in the cold of the night. Quietly the bat-creature glided closer, making sure it wasn't noticed. The it dived straight at it. The butterfly never knew what hit it as the teeth of the bat-creature crushed its feeble little body. And neither did the bat-creature as a small blow dart penetrated its eye, killing it in an instant.

       Yuira picked the full moon bat from the ground. She could consider herself lucky to even see one. Most didn't ever see one even once in their life. Of course, most didn't look for them. At least not as passionately as Yuira had. But never the less she had found one, killed it and now she had the final ingredient for the spell. She had never in her life took so much caution in the preparation of a spell. The ingredients weren't the hard part. But keeping it all from the knowledge of her mother. Now that was another thing. She didn't dare to use any of the ingredients of her mother. Even the blowpipe in her paw wasn't hers, but a Tai'far's who had just happened to die while hunting. Nobody would miss the blowpipe. But even if the hiding out had been hard and tremendously time taking, it gave the things its own, odd and cunning excitement. She put the corpse of the bat-creature in one of the secret pockets of her robe and headed back to the Hidden Tower. Any longer and her mother might start suspecting something. On her way back Yuira passed an old log. It was covered with years old cuts of a knife.

       The forest was peaceful and silent. Along some bird singing there were only some metallic sounds and a few random grunts of pain. Blood ran along the blade of Yuira's knife as she had once again managed to cut herself with it. She felt that she would never get it right. She back off and held her hand. Her mother was watching her closely as she trained herself. She didn't look at her. She didn't want to see the reflection of her failure from her mothers face. So she just bit her teeth together, swallowed the frustration and decided to try again. She hid the knife in her sleave again and started casually walking towards the tree trunk that was supposed to be her enemy. When she was close enough to the trunk she quickly swang her hands and within a blink of an eye the knife was in her paw again and there was a deep cut in the tree trunk. If the enemy would have been a living being, it wouldn't have had any time to react. She looked the cut and smiled. She had finally managed to master the technique. A feeling of self satisfaction flowed through her. She wasn't anymore so dependant on her mother to survive in the Tai'Far tribe. She finally had some power. Then she looked at her mother and saw her smiling proudly. That was when she felt the Feeling again. She felt her mother pride over her.

       Just a single candle lighted Yuira's personal chamber as she worked in there, preparing her spell. She didn't know which was harder, getting the ingredients together and mixing them or painting the runes in the dagger with the "ink" created from the ingredients. It seemed to alway flow and even when it was painted on a leveled surface, it didn't hold still for a moment. She had already started over many times. But not too many. The difficulty of the work didn't put her down. On the contrary. She enjoyed the challenge. It made her feel that she was closer to the Feeling. The Feeling that she had last felt too long ago. And nothing could give the Feeling again except power. Incredible, unimaginable power. Of that she was certain. After hours of hard work she finally managed to make the runes stay. The spell was complete and waited to be unleashed. She carefully hid the dagger and left her chamber.
       Yuira moved silently along the corridors. They were mostly empty and quiet. Only a few weasels walked against her from time to time. They mostly evaded her. She evaded the strongest of them. Probably for the last time. The time of cover up was over and it was time to put his plan in action. She felt she was getting closer to the Feeling. Closer than for the longest time. Finally she arrived to the door of her mother's private chambers. There were guards at the door.

       Yuira listened carefully as her mother explained how all the potions and poisons worked. She listened, being absolutely fascinated. Her mother told her how the classic sleeping powder was made and how to use it most effectively. She told her which poisons were best to put on blades. Yuira listened. She felt that now she would be so close to the Feeling. She wanted to try it out so that her mother could be proud of her success again. Her mother also taught her how to make a strong poison work on an exact delay.

       As she walked towards the door, the guards drew their blades and there was a silent hissing sound when they crossed them in front of the door. So, her beloved mother was meditating, she taught. There was no other reason for the guards to prevent her from entering. She smiled quietly and closed her eyes as she bend her head down for a little, pretending to understand the message and honour the pease of her mother. Silently she step a couple of steps back. The guards thought that she was going to walk away. But then she stop. The guards were confused and didn't really know what to think. Usually she would just go away and come back later. Then again, they had no reason to suspect anything. Yuira stood there and waited. She just stood still and kept her eyes on the guards. Nothing happened for several minutes. Then the other guard just fell down. The other reacted quickly and bend down to see what had happened. His companion was dead. He started looking for a reason for this in and around him. By the time he also fell down dead, he hadn't found any. Yuira smiled satisfied.
       There was no sound when Yuira opened the door. No shadows were cast in. The only indication of any change was the slight movement of the candle fires. Once closed eyes of the meditating queen of Tai'Far were now wide open as she was distracted from her prays.
       "Who dares to disturb me?" No answer. Yuira was still standing in the doorway. The knife she had been preparing for the longest time was now in her paw. She was feeling quite insecure. Her mother was very powerful and she had been in too much of a hurry to put an end to her plan to figure out how exactly would she carry out the last part. Her mother turned her head away from the altar. It was no use for her to get back in her trance again anyways. Yuira quickly hid the knife to the folds of her cape.

       "Yuira. This better be important." she hissed to her daughter. Yuira got down on her knees when her mother looked at her.
       "Yes mother. It has came to my knowledge that your life is in threat. Somebody wants to kill you. Somebody from our own tribe." she said, trying her best to hide her smile. Right now she wished she would have a hood like everybody else.
       "Who dares? The know that they can't survive without my knowledge and magic."
       "That, my mother, makes the case even more sensitive. I have the identity of the one, but I dare not utter it out loud. Not even here. I will have to whisper it in your ear." she said, quite enjoying this improvised plan. As she was struggling with her face, carefully hiding every mark of her true feelings, her mother pondered the situation for a moment. Then she nodded and gestured her to come to her and whisper the name. She stood up and walked to her, silently reaching her paw to the knife hidden in the folds.

       Full of childish fascination Yuira looked at the small knife. It was the first thing her mother had given her. And it was beautiful. The torch light reflected so pretty from the blade. The leather smell of the handle filled her nostrils. She wanted to taste it. To do that she grabbed the blade. It cut her hand. It hurt and she started crying. Her mother was right there, but she didn't come to comfort her. She didn't come there to put bandages on the deep would on her paw and tell her that it was going to be alright. She just sat ther, looking at her, and sighed.

       She could never have thought that the kill would have been so hard thing to do. Not only had she been the queen of Tai'Far, which made her very powerful, but she had also been her mother. She was trained to hide her emotions, but this was too much. A single tear ran from her eye. She licked it away as it went along her muzzle. Then she opened the door and stepped out, over the bodies of the two guards. It seemed like nobody had noticed anything yet. That was soon going to change. But before that, there was still one thing to do before the spell was completed. She raised the bloody blade in front of her eyes and looked at it. The runes were still glowing faintly from under all the blood. Then she closed her eyes and licked the blade, trying her best not to think whose the blood was. Soon her mother's powers flowed in her and the taste of the blood filled her mouth. The taste was familiar, but she could point it out. She had already forgotten the taste of the tear.