The Nagual

Now Felia started to become frightened. "Does he kill people?"

"No, no, no." Wren said, eyeing Boeden. "Divus is a spirit, Felia. He sort of leads people to their end. Like an escort."

"He helps them along the way." Boeden said.

"But . . . he said that I found him because I wanted to find him." Felia said.

"When you were down there, did you lose hope?" Wren asked. "Did you think you wouldn't live again?"

"Yes . . . for a while, I did." Felia said. "But then I heard my father's voice and I just wanted to go to him."

"I know this sounds a bit rude, but Felia, your father is dead. If you wanted to go to him, you wanted to go to your death. That's how you were able to find Divus." Wren said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"So . . . does that mean that . . . I'll die soon?" Felia asked softly.

"I'm not sure, Felia." Wren admitted. "This is the strangest story of Divus appearing to someone that I've ever heard of before."

"Maybe . . ." Boeden started. "Maybe he brought her back to us in order to do something." When Wren and Felia only stared at him, he elaborated. "As in, maybe your time isn't quite finished here. Maybe there's something you have to do before, you know, you go."

"That's . . . not a bad idea, Boeden." Wren said. "In any case." she said, waving her hands. "We need to get to Sohrab."

"Fraus probably has him at feasting area by now." Boeden said.

"Then you two will have to morph into your animals. There's no way you can make it there in time on your human feet." Wren said.

"Where are you going to go?" Felia asked.

"I'll think of something. Now go." Wren told her, pushing her a little closer to the white stone path that lead away from her courtyard.

Within the next minute, Boeden had transformed with ease into a dark horse with a star on its head. Thinking quickly, Felia changed into the jaguar. Remembering the feeling of how the body of a jaguar felt, she was more comfortable in that state and didn't feel quite as nauseous.

Boeden, naturally tense around her because of her animal, lead the way up the path and the two of them ran at great speeds. The sky above them signaled a morning gray color and behind them it started to blush pink. It didn't take very long for them to reach the outskirts of where they had feasted the previous night. They stopped just behind a tree and heard a lot of angry voices. Boeden quickly changed into his human form.

"Felia." he turned to her. "Don't change back just yet." He smiled a little and said, "Let's give Fraus a little surprise, alright?" He placed a hand on her head before leaving the cover of the forest and joined the crowd.

"Boeden." Fraus said, quieting the crowd at the same time. "So glad you were finally able to join us."

"Glad to be had, Fraus." Boeden replied.

Fraus laughed with dark undertones and asked, "Come to watch your friend die, have you?"