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We climbed down to the valley floor and spent the night in the beautiful forest with the soothing sound of the river nearby. Morning came and we set out to the village. During the entire walk to the village all I could think about was, what am I supposed to do when I get there?

_ "You remain respectful and tell them who you are without lying"_ said Wolf in my head.

Thanks for the advice but can I have my head back to myself please? No reply came thankfully.

As we walked, the forest began to open up into a clearing and we could catch glimpses of the village. The village was filled with anthros in tribal clothing. It appeared as though they were just starting their day, for there were not that many outside of their huts. As we started to get closer, more and more began to emerge and I noticed that they were all wolves. Then one noticed us and there was a slight uproar as the males gathered weapons.

"Uh... Snow. Should we be running?" I asked.

"Normally I would say yes, but this is where Wolf told us to go right?" he replied as several warriors left the village and began to approach us rapidly with their spears ready.

"I would guess so, but maybe..."

"Yes or no, we need to make a decision now!"

My mind was scrambling and Snow was right it was now or never. "We stay" I finally said.

"I hope you are right."

"Me too."

We turned to face them head on as they encircled us, snarling but not saying a word. Then the bigger one in front of us finally snarled to us ferociously, "Who are you and why are you here?"

"We... We are travelers. I am Jazcal and this is Snow. The God, Wolf led us here" I whimpered.

The wolf, taken aback a bit by my reply gathered himself quickly and snarled back, "If the holy Wolf of the three hath led you here, then only the Svet may punish you if you lie. Come with us."

With that he turned and the wolves behind us grabbed our arms and began to drag us into the village up what appeared to be the main trail. The tribe gathered to watch as we passed by and they whimpered inaudible things to one another. Snow whispered to me to look ahead. When I did, I realized where we were heading. They were taking us to the platform in the middle of the village where two anthros in luxurious robes with massive head ornaments stood. In unison, they both howled a slow and long howl that rang throughout the village and the valley. It was the call that I had been following. I was relieved a little that we had made it to the right place, but we weren't out of danger yet. They finished their howl as we were thrown before the stairs leading up to the platform. The bigger wolf addressed them with respectful barks, "These two were found outside the village claiming to have been sent by the holy Wolf himself. I have brought them to you, sainted ones, to prove their intentions."

"Yes thank you Trug," barked one.

"Who are you two?" barked the other to us.

"I am Jazcal and this is Snow" I barked back.

"Where do you hail from?" barked the first.

"We are from New Tail, the city on the edge of the forest." I barked back.

They turned and growled to each other. The second barked over to us, "With whom did you speak with in New Tail?"

"A cat who called herself The Finder, she told me that the Gods had chosen me to be The Interpreter as she called it" I barked back. I was beginning to get nervous that they wouldn't believe me. What would happen to me if they thought I was lying? What would happen to poor Snow who couldn't understand any of what was going on?

"What about the other one? Is he stupid?" barked the first.

"No, he cannot understand any of what we are saying because I am supposedly the only one from modern anthro civilization that can understand the feral animal language" I barked back.

"Then there is only one god that can prove your story. The king of the Gods must come forth and avail us of this shroud, or we will hang you in it." They both howled into the sky.

I began to tremble. How should I know if a God, if he existed, would come and rescue me? I closed my eyes and hung my head down and prayed. I prayed asking Wolf to come and save us or to do something. But the voice was silent in my head. Instead, there was a new and deeper voice roaring out to me, "Do not pray to him boy, for it is I that must save you."

The roar shook me more than my own nerves. I looked up hesitantly and there was an anthro male lion standing on the platform in front of the Svet. He was a brilliant gold with a mane that flowed in the wind. Personally, I think he made it look like that, but I sure wasn't going to say anything. I just stayed knelt on the ground and stared up at him in awe.

"Rise! For you have nothing to fear yet" commanded the lion in normal anthro tongue.

I rose to my paws and I glanced over at Snow. He stood and was facing the lion, but his eyes were shut tight and his tail was tucked between his legs.

"Jazcal, you have followed the call well and have proven your willingness to serve to me. However, there is one more god that is still unsatisfied. Wolf has advised that all three of us need to be able to trust you as the Interpreter before we commit the fate of the animal world into your paws" said the lion.

"W-what would you have me do... my Lord?" I asked hesitantly.

"The animals in the region and this village have been tormented by a poacher who kills mercilessly. He must be stopped so that the animals of the region can return to their natural state. Many warriors from this village have tried, none have succeeded nor returned. Do this, and you will have proven to all of us that you are worth the effort. But you will need a tool" he said. He held out his paws in front of him and a sword appeared on them. It was curved and it danced between glowing a brilliant orange to a vibrant gold and then to a stunning blue. "Come, take this weapon and wage war upon Our enemies with it. Take it and serve me with loyalty and honor."

I staggered up the steps slowly. As I got closer to him I could feel the power emanating from him like a torrent. It made me feel free and alive, but it also had an after feeling of, do not resist my will. I grasped the handle of the sword and a scabbard appeared around my waist perfectly fit. The sword itself felt perfectly balanced and not too heavy.

"Thank you my Lord, I will try my very best" I said to him.

"Do not try boy, for if you do not succeed but you still survive the poacher, you will not survive me" He replied in a very stern tone. "But I see that you have brought some help, well... he is useless to me now, but the anthros here can change that" he said turning towards the Svet. "Bring me the spear!" he roared.

They both turned and ran to the end of the platform. There, they moved some thing off to the side and they both lifted a spear. Together, they brought it and presented it before the god. He picked it up with one paw and called to Snow, "You there, come here now!"

Snow scrambled up the steps and he stood before the god, shaking. "Take this with the same oath Jazcal has taken. The anthros of this village made this spear and blessed it. It is said that only the strongest and ferocious of warriors can wield this spear. Now prove it to me" he said pushing it into Snow's paws. "You have one day to rest, then tomorrow you will follow the river to the poacher's hunting grounds and face him in mortal combat. Do not fail me."

With that the lion disappeared, leaving everyone in a haze as to what had happened. The worst looking one was Snow. He looked like the god had stabbed him with the spear instead of handing it to him. The Svet then ordered for us to be cared for. We were whisked away to a lavishly furnished hut where we were fed and bathed. We got our rations refilled and fresh loincloths while our clothes were being cleaned. It was getting late by the time the flood of servants stopped coming and we were finally left alone.

Snow and I were lounging on piles of animal skins for cushions and we were on opposite sides of a small, round table. I could see the finely toned muscles of his abs and chest. The smooth curves they created as he laid there. He was beautiful and I had all night to stare at him. But something was wrong. He was tense and staring into the flames of the fire in the corner of the hut with an empty gaze. Something was bothering him.

"Snow, how ya feeling?" I asked.

"I am fine, but..." his voice trailed off.

"What is wrong? Come on you can tell me."

"It's just" he paused and looked up at me. "It's just that you can talk to them and reason with them while I just sit there, clueless. It's just that I have never felt so helpless in my life. A-and when they captured us and drug us through the streets, I have never been so scared. I-"

"Hey" I interrupted with a soft tone, trying to calm him down. "I was scared too but we are safe now."

"I know, but you don't understand. I cannot interact with any of these anthros or with anything that is going on. That is until you tell me or a God decides to come along and speak a language I know. It confuses me and it keeps me on edge and nervous all the time when things like this happen. It is taking its toll on me Jaz" he finished wiping tears from his fur.

"Oh Snow, I am sorry. I get caught up in what is going on sometimes and I forget that you cannot understand" I admitted. I got up and walked over to him. I knelt down at his side and put an arm over his shoulder in a side hug. "I am truly sorry. It isn't fair and I should recognize that. I promise I will try harder in the future, really I do."

"Thanks" he sighed and leaned away, "we should get some sleep seeing how we have to go and save the forest tomorrow."

"Yeah" I said getting up and going to lie back down on my cushions. I had no idea that I left him like that and that is how he felt. I was glad he told me but it didn't help how I felt. I would have rather died at the platform instead of betraying his trust like that.

We woke early, ate, and got dressed in our clothes again. We left the village following the river before many had gotten up to start their day. We set out newly equipped with our weapons, even if we didn't know how to use them, to find a single poacher in a huge forest, just an average day in the confusion of all this Interpreter business.

We walked along the river with wildlife abundant around us. All of them wishing us luck and telling us that if any anthro can do it, The Interpreter can. All encouraging stuff, but I still didn't know how we were going to do it. As we walked there became fewer and fewer animals around us and it became eerily quiet.

"Snow where did all of the animals go?" I whispered to him.

"Don't know, but I don't like this one bit" He whispered back taking his spear in both paws.

"Ah so this is who they send to come and kill me now huh? Two city-slickers who clearly are trying to get themselves killed" said a confident voice behind us.

We both swirled around, Snow pointing his spear and I drawing my sword. In front of us about 25 yards away stood an anthro raccoon on top of a rock. He had a bow in his paw and a quiver full of arrows over his shoulder.

"Ah, I see the jackal wields the blade of the Gods. This must mean that you are The Interpreter. Well interpret this. You can die now or die tired later. As for you, husky, I see the anthros put a lot of faith in you to succeed for that is their prized war spear. I thank you for bringing it to me, I have always needed a good melee weapon" he jeered. "Now make a choice," he said reaching for an arrow.

Snow broke out into a charge strait at the raccoon. The raccoon grinned and fired an arrow at him but Snow sidestepped and lunged up at the raccoon. The raccoon jumped off the rock as Snow sailed over. With the raccoon on my level, I charged at him. He drew his bow again and fired at me. I did the same as Snow and sidestepped, but I felt the wind of an arrow brush past my fur. The devil had fired two at the same time. As I closed in, the raccoon drew a club from his belt. I slashed but he easily sidestepped and countered with a swift smack in the side with the club. I was knocked down by this and out of breath as the raccoon towered over me.

"Pitiful, I would have thought that the Gods would have chosen a better warrior to do their fighting for them. Oh well" he snickered as he drew his bow back with a single arrow aimed at my face.

In a flash of grey and black, Snow ploughed into the raccoon, jarring the bow from his hands. I scrambled to my paws. The raccoon had somehow managed to maintain his footing and draw the club again. He swung at Snow who blocked it and pushed off, away from the raccoon and near me.

"Jazcal!" he called. "We'll do this together."

"Together" I nodded.

We both charged him from different sides. Snow got to him first and stabbed forward. The raccoon backed up just enough to avoid getting skewered and swung his club down, knocking the spear from Snow's paws. The raccoon quickly swung at Snow's head but Snow ducked and rolled away in time. I ran in and swung. But again the raccoon was too fast, allowing me only to cut the strap to his quiver, which fell to the ground without spilling its contents all over. He countered with lightning speed but this time I was ready as he swung down with tremendous force, I stepped aside and let the club plough into the ground. I quickly swung with equal force, cutting the club off mere inches from his paws. I didn't let him react as I used the side of the blade to give him an immediate blow to the stomach. He stumbled backwards towards the forest but he stopped and righted himself. Snow had recovered his spear and was at my side a few paws away. The raccoon was beaten.

"No mercy" said Snow.

"No mercy" I agreed.

Before either of us could make a move, a mighty roar shook the clearing and a flash of orange shot out from between Snow and me, right at the raccoon. It knocked him backwards into a bush where they both disappeared. Some feral sounds were made but not a single word from the raccoon.

The bush rustled and a mighty tiger emerged from the bush with fresh blood stains around its maw. It looked at us and spoke in a male voice, "I thank you two, Jazcal and Snow, for saving the animals of the forest and ridding this world of that fiend. You have proven yourselves to me and the other Gods."

"Whoa wait a minute. You are a God too?" asked Snow.

"Yes I am. You may call me Tiger, for that is what I am. I am the God of animals and of learning. But that is not the point. You two must take the poacher's bow back to the village and present it to them. Then you must return to your homes. You are not needed out here in the forest any longer. I need you Jazcal to open your clinic again, but to also start treating the wild animals with conditions that I deem in need of attention until further notice. But I warn you, the world you left behind has changed and a storm is brewing in the anthro world. You two must be there and willing to face it" finished Tiger.

"Yes my Lord, but why didn't you allow us to kill the poacher?" I asked.

"Because you will have plenty of killings of your own to do. Remember what killing does to the killed. Thank the animals you prey upon for their sacrifice and wish their souls safe passage to the afterlife. I urge you to never forget the meaning of death, because it keeps you mortal and moral" he said as he turned and disappeared into the forest.