Captain of the Guards- Chapter Two- The Fight

Almost the moment Fleck emerged from the brambles, she dropped into a crouch--body flattened, ears flat, eyes intent, whiskers twitching, nose scenting, and tail flicking--convincingly making it look as though she were hunting. She did not have to keep this up for long; moments after she had emerged from the bramble bush, a hulking, well-muscled sandy-colored tom with a squashed-in and scarred muzzle, stiff limbs, barely a trace of a tail, and a suppressed sneer arrived. He was obviously a guard.

“What are you doing here?” the guard grunted in a voice so deep that it was difficult to decipher his words.

Fleck stood in a dignified stance, her chin held high. I daresay, she looked quite impressive, even compared to the hulking tomcat. “I have come here merely to hunt,” she retorted, adding under her breath, “Mongrel.”

“You think that you’re in a position where you can talk back to me?” the tom sneered, looking as though her where on the verge of laughter. “Why, I’ve eaten mice that look tougher then you!”

At this exclamation, her spat at sun-bleached grass at her feet.

“Oh yeah?” Fleck growled, using all of her willpower not to spring at the guard.

“Yeah,” he said, his brow creasing as he jutted his chin out and raised his head a little higher. “And what are you gonna do about it you weak little female.”

He said this as though it were the worst insult that he could come up with. Okay, that’s it, Fleck though with a hiss, her muscles tensioning as she prepared to spring at the repulsive guard, I’m gonna show this tom just what this ‘weak little female’ can do!

“What’s going on here?” demanded a voice that Fleck recognized as the king’s. Immediately, she straightened. As much as she would like to kill this tom right now, her job and her kingdom was far more important then getting even with him.

Slate studied Fleck. She realized that his remaining guards were all behind him, snarling at her with not a trace of welcome on their faces. Probably picturing me being maimed, Fleck thought miserably. It would be quite difficult to get such cats to allow her into the guards. That was her goal: to become a guard. Any battle plan would be shared with them and only them. They were the solders after all. Becoming a Commoner was worse then being thrown out entirely. She would be completely oblivious to any battle plans, and yet still be trapped in the empire. No, she had to prove herself worthy of becoming a guard.

A gray tabby guard, almost as big as the sandy tomcat, snarled as her claws tore at the earth, “Can I rip off her head?”

“What are you doing here?” Slate addressed her, ignoring the female guard.

“Well,” Fleck cleared her throat as she began telling him her well-rehearsed story. “I am a lone cat, you see, and have lived without any other cat ever sense I left my mother and siblings. Its a lonely life, being a rouge. I was just looking for a place that was inhabited by a group of cats. And, while I was hunting, I came across here. I was wondering if I could join... You are the leader, am I wrong?”

“It is true, I am the king of this empire,” Slate said, sticking out his chest a bit. “But why do you think that we will accept you as one of our own? What skills do you have to offer?”

“I can hunt well,” Fleck began. “I can also fight better then you may assume, and am no stranger to the use of the dagger.”

“Fight?” the king said, his eyebrows raising, suddenly much more interested. “Well then, why don’t we see if you are as good as you claim. You will fight my guard, here,” he said gesturing to the tom for whom she had already developed a great disliking, “and kill him, mind you, or you will die.”

Fleck swallowed the great lump of fear that had risen inside of her throat before she spoke once more, her eyebrows raised and not a trace of fear given away in her eyes. As she spoke she tilted her head. “Well, I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“No, you don’t,” Slate said, a wicked grin spreading across his merciless face. “I’m glad that you understand.”

At that, Fleck gave the king a jerky, determined nod, and turned to face her huge opponent.

Smile still lingering upon his lips, Slate called out, “Then let the battle begin!”

Quick as a wink, Fleck analyzed her foe. He was three times her size, easy, and strong. But this was also his weakness. A great disadvantage of his was his bulk, which made his slow and clumsy. Fleck snapped her gaze to his eyes, which were full of the gloating glow of a braggart. It took no expert to tell that this was overconfidence. But Fleck most surely couldn’t say that she wasn’t afraid that this cat would win this fight.

The guard lunged at her. Fleck dodged his attack and skidded to a halt at his side. She ran her claws across his flank. With a howl of agony, he whipped his head around to return her blow with a bite on her ear. It took much of her willpower not to wail in pain at this, but she couldn’t afford that. Blood was leaking fro her disheveled ear and into her eyes, obscuring her vision. Blinking it away and shaking scarlet droplets of blood off of her face, she turned to look at her wounded opponent.

Charging at him, Fleck put as much force into the bite as she could, clings to his foreleg with all of her might. Hissing and twisting madly, the guard attempted fruitlessly to shake her off, but her jaws clamped still tighter. All of her fear and anger this cat had given her  became energy. With one last, ferocious bite, she unclenched her jaw from his leg and took in great lungfuls of air.

The guard staggered in a drunken sort of way, trying as hard as he could to keep his weight of of his mauled leg. Fleck took this opportunity to slash at his hind leg on the same side. Her enemy’s blood was now in a poll at his paws, soaking his flank.

Fleck doubled back one last time and then luged at him, hitting him hard in the side with her shoulder. Staggering, her opponent fell, and she grasped his neck with her jaws until she felt his body relax. It was done; she had killed the guard.

Fleck turned to face the other cats, her knees felling as though they were going to collapse any moment now. The king’s jaw had dropped, the Commoners were shrieking in horror, and the guards had the same bored look that they had had when the fight had started.

“You--you killed him,” the king gasped, obviously shocked to find her not ripped to shreds. “You--killed--my--best--guard.”

The other guards surged forward a few steps, looking both confused and annoyed. They began to say:

“But I thought that I was your best guard!”

“You told me that I was!”

“No, he told me that I was!”

And every single guard seemed to have been told that they were the best of the bunch.

“I LIED TO YOU ALL!” the king shouted above the hubbub. He tone calmed a little as he said, addressing Fleck this time, “You certainly have deemed yourself worthy of becoming a guard.” At this, Fleck dipped her head in gratitude. “I never imagined that a cat as small as you would ever be able to kill Oatmeal.”

“Wait,” Fleck meowed, stifling a laugh, “you mean o tell me that this guard’s name is Oatmeal?”

“Yes,” murmured the king as he departed. He didn’t seem to find this very ironic.

“Now can we rip off her head?” Moaned the large gray tabby she-cat impatiently.

“No,” Slate called over his shoulder. At that, he climbed up the tree and entered his den.

The other guards, too, left the clearing. Fleck heard half-hearted mutterings of ‘welcome to the group’ as they left her alone with Oatmeal’s lifeless body.

Fleck felt a pang of regret. She had never actually killed a cat before, and, even when she found out that there was going to be a war, she had never dreamed of doing something like this. She pitied Oatmeal for having such a painful death, and wished that she could turn time around and undo his death.

But then she remembered his jeers and remarks about her gender. She couldn’t help but feel a little smug. Sweet dreams, Oatmeal, she thought with a small smirk. With that, she left the bloodstained clearing and curled up with the rest of the guards in their den, soon falling fast asleep.

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-KittyLover8
 2013