Kiru, Chocolatemeerkat [microsoft ebook reader .TXT] 📗

The lighting crawled across the sky. Uruba had never seen a storm this mighty in all his years of being leader of the Garsha. Maybe this was a sign, or just a natural storm passing by. Atleast the Tanji weren't demanding his land. That was a first. Uruba then stopped watching the storm and turned his attention to his friends and family. They were all asleep. Silent as mice. Nothing could be heard, apart from the storm. The old leader was suprised that they were all sleeping peacefully through the deafening sound of lighting. He sat on the ledge, looking at the lighting. It had been going non-stop for about an hour. Surely this was a sign from the sprits of the dead? Uruba lifted his head up and called for the spirts. "Sprits, hear me as I chant this words below you!" He cried. "What are you trying to show me?" The old dragon waited for a reply. But nothing came. Uruba was concerned now. Why had the sprits ignored him? Suddenly, a mighty flash appeared, more brighter than the lighting. In front of Uruba appeared a tall dragon, but his skin was invisable. The only thing visable was a white outline around his body, face and claws. He was one of the sprits of the dead that lived in the clouds. Uruba jumped back, shocked by the sudden appearence.
"Uruba, we have summoned you." The sprit said gravely. "For bad news."
"Why?" Uruba questioned. The dead dragon gave a small sigh. "The Tanji have grown too strong for the Garsha. You may have to surrender." Uruba's eyes blazed angrily. "We Garsha never back down! We fight until death gets the better of us!"
"You must learn to control your temper, Uruba. You will never win with a monster temper." The spirt reminded him gently. "And besides, I hadn't finished." Uruba glared at him. "Go on."
"As I was saying, you may

have to surrender. But a prophecy has come. If you will actually listen to me instead of getting fiesty, then I will spill the beans."
"I'm listening now."
"8 dragons from the Garsha will join up to fight the Tanji and win. However, they don't know who they are. They will have to find the power in themselves."
"Wait, hold on. I lost you there. What power?"
"You'll find out soon enough." The sprit then started to fly up and fade into the sky, which was now a starry blanket. Uruba was confused. Who were the mystery 8 that were the answer to his problem?

"Kiru! Pass the dang rock!" A small dragon groaned loudly. Kiru opened her eyes and looked up at the dragon. She snorted and rolled over a small rock. "Learn to actually control the rock, Jabam. Some dragons feel sorry for me that you're my brother." She complained, a sour look on her face. Jabam growled and picked up the rock in his jaws before throwing it across the den. However, he hit a small elder dragon, who had been sleeping peacefully since dawn. She got up and roared loudly. "Which one of you threw that at me?" Kiru pointed her muzzle at Jabam. "He did it." She mumbled grumpily. The elder roared and charged at Jabam, snarling. They rolled back and forth, wrestling.
"Stop that now!" A voice yelled. It was Uruba, the leader. He locked his jaws around Jabam's neck and dragged him off the elder. "You've caused too much trouble this week." Kiru sighed, knowing this was true. Her brother had already frightened the hatchlings with a gory horror story, tricked the second-in-command into thinking that the Tanji were attacking, almost allowed 2 eggs to tumble down the mountain, attacked one of the junior dragons and hit several elders with his rock. Uruba had nearly exploded due to this actions, and had tried to punish him. But these punishments were doing nothing. Kiru knew someone would die as a result of her brother's dangerous play, which he actually considered fun. Maybe even he would die because of it. Silently, she left the den and looked at the sun as it climbed the sky. Prehaps today would be a quiet day.
"Kiru? Where are you?" The little dragon turned her head around to see one of the hatchllings, Suma. "Your ma wants you. You might want to go and see her." Kiru scrambled down the ledge and flew up into the clouds. She could see all of the Garsha territory from the sky, along with the Tanji. The view was breathtaking. But Kiru had no time to gaze at the world beneath her feet. Remembering what Suma had told her, she swooped down and into a small cave. In here sat a large, yellow female dragon. She was sitting on 4 eggs and nursing 3 hatchlings. This was Kiru's mother- a determained dragon who would jump off a cliff to save her children. She had many, with Kiru as the 3rd and the only girl. Jabam was a couple of years older than Kiru, but this didn't bother her. Kiru gazed into her mother's kind, emerald eyes. "Suma told me that you wanted to see me." The tall female dragon sat up and nudged the hatchlings towards her. "Yes, I did." She said with a smile. "Didn't you want to find out about your new siblings?" Kiru nodded. Please let them be girls. She thought to herself. "Well?"
"1 girl and 3 boys. You have a sister." The female dragon replied cheerfully. "Isn't that great?" Kiru was over the moon. Finally! She actually had a sister! Just as her mother had finished speaking, a large shadow appeared at the entrance. It was only Bolla, Kiru's father. He came over to the female and smiled. "Hello, Colli." Kiru greeted her father by giving him a playful shove. Bolla was a good-hearted dragon as well as a fantastic father to her. He shoved her back, but one of the mothers caught him. "You be careful, Bolla. Kiru's only a ickle one, aren't you?" She said sternly. This was Suma's mother, Gankad. She was on the brink of death, but she lived her life like she was one of the hatchlings. However, she barely remembered everyone's ages, so she thought Kiru was still a hatchling, despite she was actually one of the main cave guards. This irritated her, but Colli had told her to say nothing to Gankad. After all, everyone knew what happened when you got on the wrong side of Gankad. She'd skin you alive. Kiru was shocked that Suma wasn't frightened of her mother. But this wasn't Gankad's own fault, as she had been a prisoner of the Tanji before she was rescued. Kiru decided to leave the den and check up on Jabam and her other brothers. She was one of 8, including the 3 hatchlings Colli was nursing. They were called Liki, Topran and Ushi. When she was off duty, Kiru taught them some battle moves. Topran was the best, but only because he was bigger than his two brothers. Kiru adored them all, and obviously didn't have a favourite. She treated them all equally. Colli wanted Kiru to mentor one of them when they became juniors, but Kiru had only been a den guard for half a year, and she needed 2 years experience before she could take on a junior. Jabam and her older brother Maljo already had taken on juniors. Maljo was a bit like Jabam in some ways, but he would never attempt some of the things Jabam did. Maljo was just loud and a bit bossy. When Kiru hatched, he had had rows with Colli, just because she was a girl, and according to his friend Soll, girls were useless and weaker than a hatchling. This wasn't true though, of course. Kiru had never liked him or Jabam, they were a bad influence on the younger ones.
"Kiruuuu!!!" A voice yelled from the ledge. Kiru swooped down and saw Janik, the 5th sibling. He was a junior, mentored by a small dragon called Falmen, one of Kiru's friends. Janik was loyal and considered the joker by several dragons, because he tried to make jokes and cheer everyone up. He hated fuss, like Kiru. In fact, anything to do with fuss or the Tanji. Janik would turn his nose up and say "What a load of hoo-ha! Humf!" This made Kiru laugh, and sometimes thankful that she had brothers. But with Jabam around, Kiru's life was difficult. Every day, all day, Jabam would be punished atleast twice for doing something stupid. Uruba said every time "You aren't going to get friends by acting stupid. Even the dumbest dragons actually know how to act sensiblely." Kiru was tired of this, as was everyone else. Some of the elders even said he should be exiled.
Of course, Kiru didn't just have 6 brothers. She had one more, Bandai. He was silent and barely spoke. Many dragons agreed that Bandai would make a good spy, because he was so quiet. Uruba rejcted this idea, simply because he had only been a hunter for 3 months and was too young and inexperienced. Only the best dragons were spies. Kiru knew she would never be a spy, but this never bothered her. She didn't want to be a spy anyways, she wanted to be either a cave guard or a fighter.
"Help! Someone help us!" Kiru stopped daydreaming and rushed up to the ledge. From where she was, she could see a small patrol of 3 Garsha dragons. They flew down and landed, panting. Uruba greeted them. "What happened?"
"It's the Tanji!" One of them panted. "They've killed one of the hatchlings!"

"Killed?" Uruba echoed. "Who? Why?" Kiru heart skipped a beat. Which innocent hatchling had died so soon? The smallest dragon coughed and looked up. "It was Helsa, Jankoo's daughter." He squeaked. "The Tanji have warned us to leave the mountains, or they'll kill us all!"
"That's not going to happen." A voice groaned from the den. It was Espian, the fortune teller and Kiru's best friend. "We're strong. And remember, Garsha are not chickens. We don't surrender. Right, Uruba?" The