Fleck awoke, only half-conscious and still in a fog of sleep. Abut, she still managed to push herself to her paws, knowing that she had a mission at hand. She left the tree hollow that was the guards’ den and gazed up at the midnight moon, which was only a claw at the moment. This and the stars were all that lit her path as she darted through the half-darkness, following the path that she still remembered quite well from her trek behind Stinger.
Once she came across the small cave entrance, Fleck pressed a speckled ear to the stone directly beside the hole, listening for any sounds of awake activity of snores. With a start of joy, she heard the rhythmic tremor of several cats snoring. Feeling a wave of relief, Fleck pushed the brown sack through the tunnel entrance, still listening closely to the sounds of it sliding down the rough stone with fair ease. It was obviously undetected as the only sounds from the cave were the undisturbed snores of the sentries.
Once she heard the sack softly plunk to the cave floor, Fleck shoved herself through the hole. With difficulty, she squirmed and pushed and wormed her way through the tunnel. Soon she landed uncomfortably but unscathed onto the roughly hewn sack.
She glanced around the cave, waiting as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the almost complete darkness. It turned out that all of the sleep deprived, untrained Commoner sentries were sleeping soundly, slumped against the cave walls with their spears in hand. It also became clear that the cave was much bigger then Fleck had ever dared expect. There were rows after rows of worktables and benches, most of which covered in machine parts and brilliant, half-finished weapons.
There were also countless columns of shelves, laden with weapons--small, easily concealed throw-daggers; breath-taking guns, some of which Fleck recognized; assorted grenades; and swords and daggers of all sorts. Fleck was amazed at this brilliant display, but decided not to dawdle. If any of the sentries awoke, they would warn all of the others, and Fleck would surely be killed then and there, mission left incomplete.
Creeping silently across the cold stone floor, Fleck made her way through the cave. Every sound she made, no matter how quite or muffled it was, echoed dangerously throughout the cave.
She searched as many of the shelves and worktables as she could, but to no avail. Fleck had previously guessed that The Motherlord ammunition wouldn’t be among the endless shelves and tables. This ammo had to be quite big and take up a lot of room, seeing as the gun itself was so large. But where? It could be anywhere, and possibly not even here at all. The timid ginger she-cat’s gossip could have been inaccurate.
But soon, Fleck came across some plain wooden crates. They were huge and filled to the brim with assorted weapons such as sheathed knives, wicked-looking guns, and numberless others. The crates were lined up against the wall and were many in number. Each one was labeled in a neat hand according to what it held. But there were only a few that Fleck paid close attention to. These were helpfully labeled ‘Motherlord Ammunition.’ Bingo! Fleck thought, brimming with happiness.
She began picking up the heavy medal spheres and carefully placing them in her sack. Fleck had already decided on only using one crateful of the ammunition, as she needed to keep her sack light and thin enough to push back through the cave’s entrance.
As she had been engrossed in her thoughts, Fleck didn’t pay as careful attention to her work as she should have. With a loud, resounding clink, a medal ball dropped from Fleck’s paw and on top of the rest of the ammo. At this, Fleck winced and froze, not daring to breathe. All seemed just fine. Everyone was still asleep.
Everyone, that is, save Amber.
Amber was a petite orange-and-white tabby she-cat. And a scientist, at that. She had just been woken by a loud clink. Curious and slightly frightened, Amber tiptoed out of the small sub-cave that she and her two fellow scientists slept within. She knew that it was no use attempting vainly to awaken her comrades; those toms were the deepest sleepers there were!
Although Amber was quite as a mouse as she crept into the larger cave, Fleck’s sensitive ears missed nothing. Fleck knew that there was a cat approaching and that she needed a way to silence it immediately, otherwise she and an entire kingdom of cats would fall.
A plan had already formed in Fleck’s mind. It was a pity that it had to be done like this, but there was no other way.
Fleck waited mutely for the owner of the soft, shuffled footsteps to appear, and soon she did. Amber stepped into the faint lighting, still blind in the darkness, and called out in a hushed whisper.
“Who’s there? What are you doing here?” Amber asked fretfully, walking sightlessly deeper into the cave, eyes squinting in vain.
In one smooth move, not replying to Amber’s desperate calls, Fleck slipped a knife from its sheath and lashed out with the deadly weapon, giving poor Amber no time to cry out. The knife met its mark, piercing deep into Amber’s unguarded chest. Amber gave a single sharp gasp of pain and fell, lifeless, to the icy stone floor. A pool of blood was gathering around the slain she-cat, and Fleck knew that it wouldn’t be long before the sentries awoke to the pungent stench of blood.
Quickly as she could, Fleck scooped up the rest of the orb-shaped ammunition and about half a dozen guns, shoved them into the sack and drew the strings tight. As she stepped over the body of unfortunate Amber, Fleck regretted her recently committed murder. But it was to late, now and the cruel world had no reset button.
Fleck dashed across the expanse of the cave and scrambled through the narrow cave exit, pushing her heavy bag in front of her. Behind her, Fleck could hear the grumbling and snuffling sounds of the sentries awakening. Once out of the tunnel, Fleck darted towards the bramble bush that she used to conceal her earpiece. She stuffed the bag underneath the bush, also, deciding that she would have to hurry back into her bed before any of the Commoners sounded the alarm.
Fleck speed into the guards den, taking great care in being quiet. She had only just settled into her bed when her hear the sounds of floorboards creaking and muffled voices that were only half-audible arguing above. The sentries had already reported Amber’s death.
Fleck shut her eyes and faked sleep. She resisted the temptation to twitch her ear foreword at the sound of her king jumping down from his den and enter the the guards’ much more humble one. She heard him shuffle quietly past her little cove, examining her before he was sure that she was fast asleep. It appeared that he was doing this to every guard present, even Mudsplash, who was still recovering.
Eventually, Fleck drifted into a fitful sleep, dreaming of the tiny tabby she-cat coming to haunt her and Slate executing her for her bloody betrayal.
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-KittyLover8
© 2013
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