The pale white moon shone like a silver plate, spreading its sacred light onto a steep mountain
of Gobi Desert. On the remote part of the mountain, there was a moonlit place where a flat,
shimmering, pale blue-green stone was risen straight up from the middle of a round pool. On the
mountain, there were three felines. One was lying on the stone with its nose touching onto the
stone while the other two were sitting beside the pool. They had the same pelts which were pale
silver-gray tabby coat with huge, dark, round spots. They were snow leopards. Their appearances
were different although they had the same soft pelts.
The one on the stone was a tall, broad-shouldered, long-legged, lithe, slender, sturdy, sleek,
well-muscled and muscular male leopard. He had wide, pale, bright, stormy, brilliant, clear ice-
blue sapphire eyes, three rippling flame-coloured stripes running down from his head to tail and
an unusually long, winding, sleek, striped, plumy, bushy, thick tail.
One of those beside the pool was the youngest. He was big, broad-shouldered and battle-
scarred. He had one long, deep battle scar on his shoulder, dark, fierce amber eyes and long,
curved, and hooked, thorn-sharp claws.
The other snow leopard beside the pool was the oldest and the largest. He was huge, fluffy,
long-bodied, heavy and thick-furred with tufty ears, one of which is shredded, loyal, wise, warm
dark blue eyes and a distinctive, bushy, snow-white tail.
The three snow leopards didn’t say anything and it left an eerie silence.
After a while, the snow leopard with amber eyes broke the silence and asked the snow leopard
with a long tail, ‘Firestar,’ it said, ‘Did StarTribe send any omens to you?’
‘Yes, it did,’ the long-tailed snow leopard stood up from the place where he was lying and
replied, ‘Indeed there is, Brambleclaw. But the prophecy is far too complicated.’
‘Can you read it out, Firestar?’ asked the largest snow leopard.
‘Yes.’ replied Firestar. ‘The omen says “The son of the flame on an aspen is destined to save the
Gobi Desert.” Whitestorm, can you get what this prophecy meant?’ Firestar asked the largest one.
His blue eyes were confused.
‘I don’t really get it either,’ said Whitestorm, ‘because fire is the main enemies to us, but at
least one thing is sure that something can somehow save us from our hunters.’
Chapter 2 - Tragedy
A beam of pale golden sunlight broke through the window of a shaggy, little cottage which
lies near the foot of a mountain in Gobi Desert. The sunlight shone straight into a small, tidy
room. In the room, there was a handsome boy who was about six years old, sleeping on his hard,
small wooden bed with patchy bedclothes and was covered by a flimsy, tattered, wool blanket.
Then the bright sunlight woke the little boy up. He dressed in an old, tight Mongolian suit.
Then he got water from a pool and went out for food with his mother. Life was peaceful until one
day when he was nine years old. His mother was lying on her bed, with a very serious illness.
The boy’s mother was a beautiful American woman. She was Sasha Aspen, once a great camel
caravan tribe leader, Galen Tuimer Baryon’s wife, and the boy was Tiglon Baryon, who was the
baby that was sleeping in Sasha’s arms on the night when the bandits attacked.
Tiglon Baryon stepped into a dark, gloomy room. ‘Mum?’ he said when he arrived at the
entrance of the room.
‘Come here, Tiglon,’ said a weak, soft voice.
