The Urbem (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Traitor

 (Nephele) 

I knew she couldn't be trusted; I just knew it! The moment I saw her, I knew she would be more trouble than she's worth.. But Lyra disagreed and, of course, because Lyra's the boss around here, Stella got to stay. It was a dark and chilly night, not exactly a Russian winter but, for Europe it was below average. For some reason the constant cold feeling kept me awake. I kept tossing and turning much to Imara's distaste who, thanks to the reinforced stairs, was curled on the floor at the end of my bed. 

'Will you relax, Nephele? Some of us need our sleep,'  he complained, stretching his paws out and burrowing his head under one of them. 

"I cant relax. I don't trust her," I sighed, pulling the covers over my head. 

'She's probably as trustworthy as you were, so cut the girl some slack.' 

I grunted and rolled over; sure I may have been untrustworthy, but I had cautions put in place to make sure I didn't betray them. This girl, however, was allowed to wander around with nothing but my suspicion to keep an eye on her. I folded my arms across my chest and slammed my eyes shut, hoping the forced darkness would get me to sleep, but I had no luck. I think I must have laid there for an hour; even Imara's gentle snoring was not soothing me. 

I decided I needed some fresh air, so I got up and wandered outside, the tree's canopy inches above my head and the cool night breeze wrapping its icy fingers around me. I suppose the thin cloth shorts and shirt that I wore at night did not help warm me, but I just liked sleeping in shorts; it was my thing. Unexpectedly, I heard Imara rise up and come plodding slowly towards me, his head, as always, a perfect five feet above mine.  Out of habit, I reached up and rubbed behind his ears. He started to purr.

"Aw, Imara, you're just a big kitten, aren't you?" 

'A big, scary-looking kitten,' he added, pushing his head further into my palm. I laughed and shook my head slightly. We stood like that for quite some time, just really enjoying the peace and quiet.  Yawning, I decided that I should try again to get some rest so I turned and went back inside, not noticing something was wrong until I realised Imara did not follow. 

'Someone's moving out there,' he stated.  In an instant my lethargic feeling left me and I was back outside, crouching down beside my liger, who, evidently, was doing the same and moving his body lower to the ground.

'Where are you looking?'

'Left trees by the burnt-out fire.' 

My eyes followed his directions and I started to watch the tree line for any unnatural movements. At first, nothing happened, but it wasn't long before a human figure darted from left to right. Before Imara could protest, I ran back into my house, grabbed a rope, my knuckledusters, and a blade then came back to him and pulled myself onto his back, laying down flat.

"Alright, let's go and see what's going on," I whispered. 

Imara did not need telling twice. I wondered to myself just how similar Imara and I were; anyone else would refuse to go down their in case it was a trap or something, but Imara loved a challenge as much as I did, and, once his curiosity gets spiked, it won't go away until we douse it. 

He slinked down the stairs silently, his breaths slow, his ears constantly twitching, and his stare focused. I loved watching Imara hunt, even more so when I was part of it; there was just something deadly yet magnificent about it. We got to the camp floor, and, instead of going straight to where the movement was, he instead veered off to the right and into the trees, just next to where the movement occurred so we could observe without being spotted.