Captain of the Guards- Chapter Twenty-Three- Forever Sleep

Ember had given Fleck the dagger that she had requested. It was surprisingly beautiful and she had no idea where her king had gotten it. It was a short blue crystal dagger that was chipped to a point. On it’s hilt was tied a soft brown piece of thick string, secured to which were two beautiful and intricate violet beads.

Fleck had asked for a dagger because she didn’t know if any of the guards or if Slate would recognize her dagger if she had to leave it in the body for some reason. In addition, she would have to clean her dagger afterwards and she didn’t know if she would have heart enough left to do that. Fleck decided that she would wipe the blood off of the crystal dagger and onto the grass, as not to leave a trail. Then she would stash it away someplace safe where she would be able to find it later on. She actually kind of liked it and her dagger, FoeFlayer, was a little plain.

But right now was not the time to think about daggers. It was a few minutes past midnight, and Fleck had a job to do. The treacherous task would not be pleasant, but she was sure that Ember had meant it when he had said that it was either Ob or her. Anyway, she wasn’t supposed to be connected to these cats. They were the enemy, whether she liked it or not.

As Fleck approached the hollow ash tree, she felt like backing out of this  horrible mission. She didn’t want to commit such a treasonous action. She wished that she could just quit being a spy. Then she would truly be one of Slate’s cats and life would be so much less confusing. But she was trapped and couldn’t stay as a normal and loyal cat on either side.

Soundlessly, Fleck inched foreword, step by step. Heart pounding, she entered the once-welcoming guards’ den. It now seemed like a shadowy heaven where death and despair lurked. All she could do now was wait for it to consume her.

Fleck was now inches away from Ob’s barely breathing body. She poised her dagger to strike, right above the tom’s bloodied chest. She bit her lip, unable to bring herself to do it. Her eyes snapped shut and the dagger, glinting in the silvery half-light of the crescent moon, came down onto Ob’s chest.

Fleck felt great pity weigh down her heart. “Now you can finally be at rest, my friend. Suspended in forever sleep.”

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The next morning, when Fleck awoke, she remembered the events of last night. At first, she wondered if it had merely been a nightmare. Perhaps the mission and maybe even the battle had been part of the horrible dream, too. But when she got up, she could she the deep scarlet mark in motionless Ob’s chest that told her that it had all not been a dream.

Fleck glanced around, griping the ground with her needle-like claws and biting her lip until it bled to keep from weeping for her poor lost friend. No one else was awake, so no one had yet seen the bloody mark on Ob’s chest. Fleck decided that it would probably be best if she feigned sleep until someone else did. That way she could avoid many awkward questions and be as unlikely a suspect as any of the other guards.

Fleck must have fallen back asleep at one point, because a little later she was awoken by someone vigorously nudging her side. Sparrow’s voice was frantically calling to her.

“Wake up! Oh please oh please wake up!” He sounded extremely anxious.

“What, do you want to be woken up to that?” Jade snarled at the over-exited young tom.  “I still say that we should let her wake up on her own. Then we can tell her.”

Fleck shot up like a bullet, startling Sparrow. “Tell me what?” She already knew the answer, but she had to make this look real.

Jade was unfazed. She looked slightly worried, like she figured that Fleck would take the upcoming news hard.“Ob was murdered in his sleep. The dirty scum. It’s just like Stinger. They’d only kill a cat if the cat couldn’t fight back. He was badly injured and sleeping. What kind of a murder is that? I would never be able to sink to such a low level, but obviously they aren’t like any of us.”

Fleck snarled and raked the ground with unsheathed claws. If Jade thought that she was going to take it hard, then she would. “Ugh! They make me sick! Why can’t they fight like honest cats instead of solving their problems by murdering others in the dead of night!”

“I know!” Sparrow looked both sad and horrified. “It’s horrible.”

“Anyway, I wonder why they didn’t kill they rest of us,” Jade said aloud, deep in thought. “They were armed and we were all asleep. They could have ended the war right then and there. So why didn’t they?” This statement sent poor Sparrow into a fit of violent shivers.

Fleck rolled her eyes haughtily. If I was truly loyal to Ember, Fleck thought, I probably would have. “Why do they do anything?”

“Anyway, we buried him in secret and told dumb old Slate that we ‘left him for the crows.’” Jade laughed mirthlessly. “Boy, he sure is gullible.”

“Yeah,” Fleck said with a dry laugh, giving a small nod. “Anyway, what are we going to do now? We’re down two cats, and a pair of us are training two apprentices each. Do you think that we should try to get another, more experienced cat to become a guard? You know, like Stinger?”

“Sorry, but I don’t think that that’s a good idea,” Jade said with a shake of her head. “Think about how long it took for Slate to find Stinger. He was looking ever since--even though I hate to say his name--Oatmeal died. Plus, depending on the cat we get, we might just end up with another apprentice to train.”

Fleck nodded in agreement. “You’re right. Anyway, how did Slate take the news.”

“Okay,” Jade replied with a shrug. “He was mad at us for not ‘sleeping lightly enough’ and ‘not being responsible enough to post a guard.’” Jade rolled her eyes as she quoted their king.

“Ugh,” Fleck spat in disgust. “Like it’s our fault that he doesn’t provide us with proper protection. His just to proud to admit that he was in the wrong and the he’s the one that made the mistake, not us.”

“Anyway, I think that we should probably train right around now,” Jade sighed. “I mean, I love Cinder and Ash, but I’m really not in the mood for training right now.”

“Me too,” Fleck agreed, nodding. “I’ll see you in a minute, I just wait to get a drink from the river before we train.”

“Bye, Fleck,” Jade said with a wave of her tail.

“I’ll see you soon!” Sparrow chirped gleefully, obviously exited to train.

When Fleck reached the river, she immediately called out, looking in the direction of the bushes by the riverbank. “Ember! Ember, it’s me, Fleck.”

Ember emerged from the very bushes that Fleck had been staring at. He was carrying a long, curved sword. It was the one he had used to kill Stinger at this very river. His gaze was stern and serious. “Did you complete your mission or did you fail?” One paw rested in a threatening way on the hilt of the sword.

“I killed Ob,” Fleck reported blandly, glaring at Ember with such intensity that he was forced to look away. “Although I really don’t see how that helped us to win the war. There have been three known attempted assassinations, and Slate might be getting wise. He’ll probably put up a sentry now, so you can say good-bye to my secret missions and every-other-day reports. I know that it’s ‘one guards less’, but Ob might have died on his own, anyway.”

“Whatever,” Ember said gleefully, completely ignoring her. He had stopped listening after she had said that she didn’t see how this would help them win the war. “Anyway, I think that I might have another mission for you.” He thrust out a paw, in which was clasped a vile of clear liquid that looked much like water but was quite thick and sticky looking.

“What is that?” Fleck asked disinterestedly, completely unfazed.

“This is a flask of poison,” Ember replied braggingly. “And you are going to use it to kill King Slate.”

“Already to failed attempts on his life,” Fleck sighed, “and you think that I can do it the third time? What, do I arrange a dinner with the other guards and the king and toss some poison into his food when he isn’t looking?” Fleck gave a dry laugh.

“Sure!” Ember cried, nodding brightly.

He dropped the flask into Fleck’s paws and happily skipped off, heading back towards his kingdom.

“Great,” Fleck muttered. “Another mission.”

______________________________________________________________________

-KittyLover8

© 2013

Captain of the Guards- Chapter Twenty-Two- The New Mission

Fleck and the other guards came back to the kingdom looking bloodied and disheveled and carrying two unmoving comrades. They were greeted by a mob of curious Commoners and fuming King Slate.

“Again?” he snarled, baring his sharp fangs at them. “You retreated again? We could have finished this useless war with this battle! Why did you retreat, scum?”

Fleck answered in a calm and even tone. “One of our own was killed and the other is on the verge of death. We had to retreat--if we hadn’t Ob would have died and we would have been short of two good cats.”

“You’ll meet things far worse then death once I’m finished with you,” Slate growled darkly. But Fleck knew that it was an empty threat. He didn’t have very many guards as it was, especially as fully trained and able-bodied guards. “Anyway, leave the dead one out here and put the wounded one in your den. I’ll be in my chambers if you need to report anything to me.”

He left before any of the guards could say another word. They lovingly lay Mudsplash’s body down onto the grass. There was no arguing with King Slate. He was probably watching them quite closely right around now. They would hold kind Mudsplash always in their hearts.

The little group then carried limp Ob to the guards’ den, lying him down with care onto the softest-looking bit of dirt. Once they were one with this, they licked their wounds. A group of silent Commoners hurried over and began to treat the more serious casualties, such as Ginger’s tattered ears and Ob’s multiple wounds. Several hurried over to Fleck and began to fuss over her, but she shooed them away. There were far to many other, more serious wounds that needed to be treated other then her’s.

“What did you think of the battle?” Jade asked offhandedly. “You know, other then Mudsplash and Ob.”

Fleck blinked. Why would Jade ask her this? She then shrugged. “It was okay, I guess.”

Jade gave a small, dry laugh. “I thought that it was kind of fun.”

Sparrow gave a shudder and chimed in on the conversation. “I think that it was horrible,” he said. “And what did King Slate mean when he that we’d meet things far worse then death when he’s finished with us?”

Fleck shook her head. “Nothing. He’s just trying to scare us, but he’d never actually do anything to hurt us. He needs us to win the war.”

Sparrow nodded, but did not look comforted at all. “Poor Mudsplash.”

“I know.” Fleck hung her head. “Who’s going to train Tigger, now?”

Ginger stepped foreword. “Not me. I’ve already got a half-cat dummy that I have to train, and I don’t need another one.”

Slate slunk into the light of the den, right where Fleck had guessed he had been. “Actually, Ginger,” he spat out her name with great contempt. “you will. You are the guard who has been here the longest, so you have more responsibility. Anyway, Jade has two apprentices, so I’m sure that you of all cats can handle just one more apprentice, hm?”

“What are you, his favorite now?” Ginger asked, turning to Jade.

“Huh,” Jade said flatly. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“A bad thing,” Ginger replied with an agreeable nod, turning away from her friend. “For you, that is.”

Slate slunk away, probably to pout in his den. The mocking laughter of his guards rang out from below him, increasing his immense humiliation. His guards were far two... uncontrolled. They needed to truly fear him for him to be considered a good ruler. And yet they didn’t. He would have to try to figure something out. But what?

______________________________________________________________________

Fleck was out hunting with Sparrow. The pair were both doing well, catching a good amount of prey for Slate’s food stores. As they continued hunting, Fleck heard a hushed voice whisper her name from inside of a bush. To her great surprise, it sounded like Ember. But even he wouldn’t be stupid enough to personally come here in the middle of the day while she was hunting with an enemy cat. Or would he?

Fleck slipped soundlessly into the bush. There, she was greeted by Ember, much to her disappointment. He really was that stupid.

“Ember!” Fleck hissed under her breath. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I just wanted you to give me a report on what happened durning the battle,” Ember whispered brightly, ignoring the anger in Fleck’s dangerous tone. “And plus, I think that you should report to me like this every other day.”

Fleck bit her lip to control her rage. “One cat, Mudsplash, died because of the Motherlord. Another, Ob, is half-alive from his horrible wounds that he received during the battle. The Motherlord was destroyed by the guards durning the battle and it looks like there might be no hope of repairing it. All of us other guards received only minor wounds, but Ginger got some nasty scars on her ears.”

“Hm,” Ember said slyly. “I have a new mission for you.”

“Oh?” Fleck said disinterestedly.

“Yes!” Ember whispered loudly. “Your new mission is to kill this... ‘Ob’ cat tonight.”

“What?” Fleck gasped. No, no, no, no! she thought, horrified. She didn’t want to have to go through the horror of killing one of her friends again. Even Ob, who she wasn’t as close to as she was with most of the other guards, was still her friend.

“Isn’t it brilliant?” Ember thrilled, mistaking the horror in Fleck’s voice for excitement. “He’s on the verge of death, anyway. You will kill him, won’t you? You are truly loyal to me and only me, right?” Ember’s tone was full of such dark menace that even Fleck decided that it would probably be best if she just did it.

“Fine,” Fleck spat. “I’ll play your game. But why do you want to kill him, anyway?”

“Because that will be one less guard.” Came the impudent answer.

“Ugh. You disgust me,” Fleck snarled with obvious rage. “But if you are going to make me kill him, I’ll need a good dagger.”

“Okay, meet you by the river in the morning, then,” Ember said happily. His tone darkened as he added, “But he’d better be dead by then, or I know someone else who will be, instead.”

______________________________________________________________________

-KittyLover8

© 2013

Chapter Twenty-One- Bloodlust

Day after day Fleck attempted to take her leave and report back to Ember, but each and every time she failed. It was far to busy in this life--training the apprentices, catching prey and preparing for battle--without having to worry about her other life, where she was a spy. It was only a day until the battle, and Fleck knew that it was now or never. If she didn’t report to Ember soon, she would never be able to give him the information that he needed. And that was the whole reason why she was even here: to tell her king when something like this was about to happen.

Fleck looked at the sun, which hovered menacingly over her head in the immediate center of the sky. She sighed and looked down at her paws. She had spent all morning teaching Sparrow battle moves, and now she had to teach him how to hunt. This was just what she needed. She’d probably spend an hour or so training him and catching a decent amount of prey for Slate’s food stores. And then what? It would probably be more training. She knew that the extra muscle from the apprentices would be helpful during battle, but did she really want that? Anyway, all of this training was taking up a lot of her time, and she needed to get an open moment where she could go to Ember’s kingdom.

Fleck hadn’t realized just how helpful that transmitter had been. It’s true what they say, you don’t really appreciate things until they’re gone. Fleck knew that she had to get another earpiece when she was at Ember’s kingdom. But did he even have a spare one? Her old earpiece had been Sooty’s, which she had inherited when he had died as no one else had any need for it. But Sooty had gotten the transmitter when there was war, and the empire had had talented cats that could make such complicated devices. But now, there was no one like that left in Ember’s kingdom.

A voice broke through Fleck’s thoughts. “Hey, Fleck, aren’t we going out to hunt?” It was Sparrow. His tone was not obnoxious, he was just asking an innocent question.

Fleck lifted her head. “Oh, hello there, Sparrow.” She greeted him politely with a small nod of her head, which was a change from usual greeting. “And yes, we are going to go hunting. Right now, in fact. But first, you must know a couple of things. First of all, everything you catch has to go into Slate’s prey stores. He’s watching you up in that hollow ash tree and will probably kill you if you eat a single bite.”

“Um, what does Slate do with the all of the food in his stores, exactly?” Sparrow inquired with a small tilt of his head.

Fleck shrugged. “Well, he keeps in the freezing cold cellar and saves some of it for the winter, when we won’t be able to get as much food. Fall has come, and we need to prepare for the coming colder months. Anyway, a portion of the prey makes up the meals of the Commoners. Another fraction of it is our rations, which are each slightly larger then an individual Commoner’s meal. And the remaining prey is given to Slate. He can eat as much as he wants, the pig.”

Sparrow bopped his head up and down in an eager fashion and began to leap about the training grounds. “Now I see. So can we hunt now?”

Fleck shook her head and rolled her eyes at her student’s immense and slightly--in her opinion--exaggerated enthusiasm. “Yeah, we are, but could your to contain yourself a bit? You’re going scare all of the prey away with all that jumping around.”

“Okay,” Sparrow said obediently.

“Follow me,” Fleck instructed evenly.

Then they dashed off. Fleck had decided that it would be best to hunt in the forest near the stream, where prey would probably be most abundant and where there would be more cover. Once they were there, Fleck raised her head, mouth slightly open and eyes closed in concentration, trying to detect prey by scent. Sparrow copied her, breathing in deeply and scenting the cool forest air. Fleck could smell a robin, not far away from where they stood. Her eyes snapped open and her head jerked to the left, in the direction of the bird.

“Over there,” Fleck whispered as quietly as was possible, “there’a a robin. I’m going to show you how to catch birds in flight, now.”

“Okay,” Sparrow said in a bright but hushed tone.

Fleck indicated him to watch closely with her tail. She crept forward a few steps until the plump young robin was within view. She watched it closely with great anticipation. She wished that she could catch it the regular way, which took up less energy and wasn’t as risky, but she had to teach him this valuable hunting tactic.

“Now, when you aren’t teaching, you wouldn’t do this on purpose,” Fleck explained to Sparrow, not taking her eyes off of the nearby bird. “But since you might end up accidentally doing this, I need to show you.”

Fleck scanned the forest floor. She found a dry dead oak leaf sitting only half a foot away from her. She reached out a paw and brought it down onto the leaf, which made a nice loud crunching sound. The robin, alarmed, spread its wings and began its ascent skywards. Fleck flattened herself as low as she could then launched herself at the bird in flight. She leapt high into the air and came down a second later, gracefully landing on all four paws. She swept out a paw that was slightly curved inwards and held in it was the robin.

“You caught it?” Sparrow gasped, gaping at the bird, which Fleck was placing down on the ground.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Fleck said with a bored demeanor, much like Jade’s. She was looking down at the bird with something like pride. It had been, after all, a marvelous catch, and one that she had a right to brag about. “Now, you try to catch something,” Fleck advised, looking up from her catch.

“Like what?” Sparrow asked, a little foolishly.

“Like that mouse over there,” Fleck answered harshly, lashing her tail in the small grey rodent’s direction. “Honestly, Sparrow. Do you have any hunting experience whatsoever?”

“I do!” Sparrow retorted, blushing bright red and looking extremely embarrassed.

“If you did,” Fleck whispered knowingly, “then you’d have kept your voice down instead of shouting. You’re just lucky that that mouse didn’t hear you.”

Deciding that it would be best to get on with hunting to avoid further humiliation, Sparrow lowered himself as best he could, his belly fur almost touching the forest floor. Inch by inch, he crept forward, until he was close enough for an easy leap. Lashing his tail with excitement, he pounced with great enthusiasm. Fleck strode over to see if he had made the kill, only to find him sadly sitting there with empty paws.

“Touch luck,” Fleck said indifferently, shrugging. “There’s more prey that you can catch. Anyway, I’ve lost lots of catches. You’ll progress and get better. I know it.”

Sparrow brightened at her words of encouragement. “Really?”

Fleck nodded. “Really.”

They spent most of the rest of the day hunting, which was far longer then Fleck had previously assumed. But their efforts had yielded plenty of prey for the stores and Sparrow had done quite well. Fleck couldn’t help but feel proud of her enthusiastic apprentice.

______________________________________________________________________

That night, Fleck went to sleep with a heavy heart. What could she do now? She had not reported to Ember, and tomorrow was the day that the battle was to take place. How would she get this vital news to her king? Sighing, she fell asleep, but not without great difficulty. Yet she knew that she would have to rest up for the battle.

Minutes after Fleck had fallen asleep, the silhouette of a cat could be seen just outside of the guards’ den. The cat crept in as quietly as it could, it’s shadow falling across Fleck’s sleeping form like a spell of darkness. Closer and closer it came. In a moment the cat was at the edge of Fleck’s nest. It stood there, unmoving, for a few long seconds, as if waiting for something.

Fleck suddenly jolted awake, as if sensing the presence of the intruding cat. She whipped her head around to face the dark shadow of a cat. Her jaws parted in the beginning of a defensive hiss, when she was interrupted by the strange cat.

“Sh!” it whispered. “It’s me, Ember! Now quiet and follow me outside.”

Fleck hated being told what to do, but she obliged and followed Ember outside of the hollow ash tree. Once they were a good distance away from the den, Fleck flattened her ears and whirled on him.

“What is your problem!” she hissed. “What’s so important that you have to wake me up in the middle of the night? And this night, of all of them!”

Ember ignored the fiery rage in Fleck’s voice and instead cocked his head to one side in inquiry. “Why is this night so important?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked a tad ridiculous with his head tilted and his brow raised.

“There’s a battle that’s going to occur tomorrow,” Fleck replied calmly, washing a paw causally.

“What?” Ember stumbled back a little. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? When time is it going to happen?”

“Well,” Fleck began, momentarily stopping her washing, “my earpiece got soaked from the rain and broke, so I couldn’t contact you that way. I tried to give you the news personally, but things are really busy here, so I couldn’t slip away without getting caught. And it will be fairly early in the morning.”

“Wait--” Ember shoved his face into Fleck’s. “why do you have to rest up for the battle? Isn’t it better that you’re tired? You aren’t going to actually be doing any battling, right? So it doesn’t matter that I chose this night, does it?”

Fleck was inwardly prospering, but acted completely calm on the outside. “Well, I have to make it look realistic, don’t I? If I’m half-asleep and doing nothing at all, they’ll think that something’s up. I’m not going to do any damage, but I need to make them think that I am. Anyway, what are you doing here? You could have gotten caught! Then both of us would be killed.”

“I came here to check on you,” Ember replied indignantly, chin up. “You haven’t reported to me in over three weeks and I thought that they might have killed you.”

“Well, that’s nice,” Fleck said flatly. “Anyway, you shouldn’t have come in person. They’d immediately recognize you as the enemy. Oh, and by the way, I need you to give me a spare communicator? You know, if you have any.”

Ember shrugged, looking miffed. “I don’t.”

Fleck hissed to vent out her rage. She wasn’t angry at Ember... Much. He, being the king, should make sure that his empire had this kind of thing, especially as during a war. “You should get back to your kingdom,” she told him evenly, acting as though she hadn’t been hissing a moment before. “You have to prepare for the battle tomorrow morning, don’t you?”

Ember nodded obediently, much like a dog being instructed by it’s owner to fetch a stick. “Okay,” he said, and raced off.

“Good boy,” Fleck muttered smugly under her breath.

______________________________________________________________________

“All right, guards, we’re going to attack them right now!” King Slate announced.

Fleck felt slightly nauseous. Had Ember readied the battlements yet? She hoped so. And which side was she truly loyal to, anyway? Everything was so confusing. Who did she want to win the war? All she knew is that she was torn between the two empires and couldn’t find her way out of this horrible situation.

Fleck shook her head to clear it and dashed off with the other guards. On the way there, she talked to Sparrow and the other new guards, drilling them for battle.

“All you have to do is use that gun of yours,” Fleck told her apprentice. “I’ve seen you use it, and you have great aim. Make sure that you dodge the enemy’s bullets. And watch out for the Motherlord. It’s a pretty serious weapon and one of our own has fallen to it before. But I know that you can do this.” Fleck raised her voice so that the other cats could hear her better. “And all of you can, too!”

The hulking figure of the Motherlord could be seen on the horizon, the golden light of the sun glinting of its keen black edge. When Sparrow saw it, towering over the homes of Ember’s cats with minuscule feline silhouettes operating it at its base, he inhaled sharply, obviously shocked by its immense size.

“Is that the Motherlord?” Sparrow gasped, nearly tripping over his own feet.

“Yep,” Fleck replied flatly. Although, she and the other guards were all surprised at its size, even though they had seen it before.

“It’s huge!” Cinder said, sounding oddly enough both shocked and pleased with facing such a worthy enemy.

“It looks so cool...” Ash trailed off, in love.

“Not as cool and big as my mussels,” Tigger bragged stupidly.

Everyone looked at him for a long, awkward moment, still dashing speedily in the direction of Ember’s kingdom.

“We’re gonna lose, aren’t we?” Sparrow whimpered meekly, not paying any attention to the other guards.

“No, we aren’t,” Fleck said determinedly, a sly smile playing on her lips, eyes narrowed. She had a cunning and sly demeanor about her that got the other guards’ attention. She meant it when she said they they weren’t going to lose. “We’re going to win, I know it. Because I have a plan. Everyone, do as I say.”

All of the guards nodded in harmony, not seeming to have a problem with Fleck assuming position as ‘leader.’ Fleck motioned for them to follow her and they obliged, copying her and keeping low to the ground as if they were stalking prey.

All of the sudden, a massive cannonball from the Motherlord thundered through the sky and landed, inches away from Fleck. They had been spotted. More missiles where shot their way, coming as frequently as rain during a storm. Fleck dodged any that headed her way and continued to stay low. Most of the other guards were doing the same, frantically dashing for their lives. As before, once they were close enough they would be out of the Motherlord’s range.

A horrible blast behind her sent a hail of scarlet droplets onto Fleck’s pelt. Blood. She turned her head to face behind her, continuing to run foreword, to see what had happened. What greeted her was poor Mudsplash’s mangled, lifeless body. No! she screamed inwardly. Not again!

Fleck shut her eyes tightly to prevent herself from crying. She felt a lump of sadness rising in her throat. But she had to keep on charging forward. She knew that Slate was watching them up in his tree and that he had been disappointed when they had stopped the battle early last time. She would have to make this one count. She had to avenge Mudsplash!

“Sparrow!” Fleck had to shout over the constant noise of the Motherlord. “Help me take the Motherlord apart!”

Sparrow nodded and leapt on top of the towering weapon, Fleck on his heels. Using her dagger, which had previously been secured to her belt, Fleck unscrewed the bolts. She used her gun to smash and crumple the medal, so that Ember’s cats would have a hard time putting the horrible weapon back together, causing fewer deaths.

Eventually, the fast-moving pair leapt off of the now diminished Motherlord. Fleck looked around her. Ob was doing quite well; the enemy bullets didn’t seen to effect him much. GoldenSunn was sitting and drooling like a dummy. Cinder and Ash were like a whirlwind of teeth and claws, working together in battle like they’d been doing it all of their lives. Ginger and Jade were causing mass destruction with their guns, as they were experts with battle. Tigger was actually doing okay, shooting and slashing with much ferocity. Sparrow was doing even better; he was both agile and strong, much like Fleck.

Fleck joined the battle, shooting at the enemy cats and summersaulting to dodge any blows or bullets. She didn’t really care where her bullets went anymore. She didn’t really know who’s side she was on, anyway. The whole mess was especially as confusing during battle.

Mostly, the fight was a blur. Fleck’s bad leg was causing her pain, but she wasn’t shot. The battle seemed to be going well for the guards, but Fleck didn’t know if she was supposed to be happy about that or not. Suddenly, Ginger was at her side. They were back-to-back and continued fighting as they talked.

“Ob’s hurt,” Ginger paused to soot, “bad.”

“What?” Fleck gasped. “It seemed like the enemy bullets weren’t really effecting him. Is it very serious?”

Ginger looked grim. “Yes, and we’ve already lost Mudsplash. Anyway, it seems like they were targeting him because he’s the most threatening guards in our group and was doing a lot of damage. I, personally, think that we should retreat. He’s on the verge of death and if we don’t get him out of here soon, he won’t make it.”

Fleck nodded. “We’d better get going, then. Tell everyone else. Can you tell me where Ob is? I’ll go and try to gather some cats on my way over.”

Ginger didn’t say a word, just pointed in the direction of the middle of the fray. Then she left and was gone as suddenly as she had come.

Fleck followed her friend’s example and got a move on. On her way to Ob, she encountered Jade. Time was of the essence, so Fleck tried to be as brief as possible, feeling anxious.

“Jade! Ob’s badly hurt and we’ve got to retreat. Follow me!” Fleck dashed off, Jade tailing her.

When the two came to Ob, they were shocked at just how bad he looked. He was covered in sticky blood and it was pooled on the ground beneath him. He’d been shot a number of times and any other cat would have been dead long sense. He was not just any other cat, though.

Ginger arrived with all of the other guards and they worked together to carry Ob and Mudsplash back to camp. Fleck felt tears of both rage and depression slicing their way down her cheeks like hot knives. Many lives had been lost in this pointless battle of bloodshed and sadness.

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-KittyLover8

© 2013

Chapter Twenty- Trapped

When Fleck awoke early the next morning. She yawned and stretched lazily. With a start, she remembered the events of yesterday, and rushed out of the den. Once she reached the flowering bramble bush, she skidded to a halt and ducked beneath the cover of the thorny branches. With a sharp gasp, she saw that her earpiece was dripping wet. Luckily, the bramble’s wide-spreading branches had provided overall shelter for the delicate mechanism, but where she had last placed it had been, as there will, several large gaps in the cover. Desperately, she clipped it on and attempted to contact Ember.

“Ember! Ember come in,” Fleck said into the earpiece.

There was an immediate answer, but Fleck could barely hear it through the static. Ember’s voice was broken and faded by the water-clogged and poor connection. “I-that y-Fle-?

“What?” Fleck inquired, a little comically.

“Wha-did -say, Fle-?” Ember seemed to be having just as big a problem of hearing her as she was with him. Nevertheless, she had to at least try telling him about the upcoming battle.

“Ember! Listen, there’s going to be a battle in just under three weeks! Ember, can you here me?” Fleck felt stress and desperation pressing on her chest.

“Fle-ck, I ca-he-you!” Ember was shouting, trying to get her to respond as he wanted her too. “-what a-you tr-ing to s-?”

“Never mind!” Fleck yelled into the piece, flattening her ears in annoyance. “I’ll meet you at your empire as soon as I can!”

Fleck unclipped her earpiece, unwilling to struggle deciphering more of Ember’s garbled words. Feeling sudden exhaustion, Fleck shock her head. Life during a war was, as was expected, extremely stressful. She had to go over to Ember’s kingdom from now on, all because her stupid earpiece was wet.

Sighing heavily, she set off in the direction of her king’s empire. Fleck walked at a brisk pace, as to travel quickly and still conserve energy for the long walk back. She watched as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky and quickened her pace a little more. She had to move fast, or she’d be missed.

“Hey, Fleck,” a dry but slightly friendly voice sounded behind her. “What’s the rush?”

With a sharp gasp, Fleck spun around. She was greeted by Jade’s half-smile. Her friend was now directly in front of her, and was luckily alone. Fleck felt her heart beating a little faster as she tried to come up with something as quickly as possible.

“What--? Oh, I was just--walking! Yes, that’s what I was doing... Taking a brisk morning stroll, you know? We’ve got a long day ahead of us.” The strain was evident in Fleck’s voice.

Jade looked a little suspicious and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “A very brisk morning stroll, huh?”

“Uh... Yes! Very brisk!” Fleck sounded extremely anxious. Normally, she would have covered up quite smoothly, but she was feeling out-of-sorts today.

“Are you sure that everything’s okay? You seem, y’know, a bit stressed out.” Jade’s voice was filled with genuine concern.

Fleck was now recovering from her previous shock. With a sigh, she said longingly, “Yeah. It’s just a bit hard with all of this responsibility. We’ve got the war, the apprentices, the upcoming battle...” Not to mention the fact that I’m a spy with divided loyalties, Fleck added inwardly.

Jade nodded sympathetically. “Speaking of the little worms, I was actually looking for you because of training. Most of us woke up about a half hour ago, and were starting to worry about where you’d gone. So a couple of us went out to look. Ha! Look at what your morning stroll’s done to us!” Jade gave a dry--but good-humored--laugh and a realized smile. “I’m just glad that Ember and his team of boogies didn’t get to you before I did!”

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“So, today, you are going to show me what you know,” Fleck instructed in a flat and pointed manner, ears slightly pressed back. She was glaring at her slightly frightened-looking student, who was sitting only two yards away from her.

“What I... Know?” Sparrow asked anxiously. He seemed quite eager to prove himself to his mentor.

Fleck’s ears flatted further and her brow creased with impatience. “I have no time for your needless inquiries. Now, shut up and listen. All you have to do is show me whatever battle skills you have learned on your own. You have to have learned something in your entire life, right?” At this question, she raised one of her eyebrows in a bored and slightly mocking way.

“Uh... Okay! I will show you.” He paused, standing motionlessly. “What I know, I mean,” he addled hurriedly.

Sparrow sprung to his paws with a purposeful and energetic demeanor. He stood there, hesitating, excitement slowly fading from his eyes and energetic grin gradually drooping as the seconds ticked by. Then Sparrow’s crazed smile picked back up and his eyes lit up once more. Fleck’s eyebrow climbed a little higher, as if she was mildly amused by her apprentice’s odd behavior.

He launched himself at her in a sightly clumsy fashion but not to such extent that it could be considered badly executed. Fleck swiftly dodged the attack with a speedy jerk to the side. Sparrow landed on the pounded-dirt ground with a clumsy roll. Fleck couldn’t help but wince a little in quiet empathy for her unfortunate apprentice. But she straightened her expression and arranged her features so that she appeared bored and uninterested. Sparrow looked so embarrassed and disappointed in himself, that she felt compelled to say some words of encouragement.

“Listen, I wasn’t to bad,” Fleck explained gently. “I’m actually pretty impressed. Most wouldn’t be able to do half as good as you.” She waved a paw disinterestedly in the direction of the other guards with a slight smile. Ginger was snarling orders to GoldenSunn, who was cross-eyed and drooling; Jade was attempting to detach herself from the claws of Cinder and Ash (who were actually doing really good); and Mudsplash was trying and failing to explain to Tigger the art of modesty.

“Oh!” Sparrow chirped brightly, perking up quite a bit and smiling from ear to ear.

“Yep.” Fleck was grinning now. “And that’s why I picked you out of all of those Commoners to become a guard. Anyway, I’m hear to teach you. I didn’t expect you to know very much about battle tactics. Now, let’s really start training.”

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By the time training was over, Ginger had managed to make a GoldenSunn-sized whole in the group; Jade had received over thirty scratches; Mudsplash hadn’t achieved a thing; Ob had eaten almost sixty flowers (and had thrown up twice); and Fleck had taught Sparrow countless battle moves. But there was far more work to be done. While the other guards were heading to their den for a well-earned rest, Fleck began to creep away, hoping to deliver Ember the news of coming battle, catch a few mice or birds and return claiming to have been hunting the whole time.

“Where are you sneaking off to?” Ginger called playfully as Fleck neared the edge of the forest.

Fleck bit her lip and screwed up her face in rage. Why hadn’t she moved faster? Then she wouldn’t have been caught. There was still hope of giving Ember the news by the end of today, though. “Oh, I was just about to take a quick drink in the river.” She said this as casually as she could, not wanting to raise suspicion.

“Oh.” Ginger shrugged and nodded, not indicating any sign of incredulousness. “Okay, then, I’ll come, too.” It didn’t seem like a very imposing offer, just a harmless suggestion. At least in Ginger’s opinion.

Fleck felt like a deer in headlights: trapped. She struggled to figure some way out of this, but then decided that there was none. “Okay, then,” she said with a forced but still falsely warm smile.

They walked side-by-side in a chummy fashion, but Fleck provided an air of tension that seemed to kill her friend’s wonderful mood. Awkwardly, Ginger tried to brake the ice with some friendly conversation.

“So-o, what did you teach Sparrow today?” Ginger inquired in a way that would be appropriate for one trying to engage in a conversation with a particularly angry rattlesnake.

“What did you teach GoldenSunn?” Fleck asked tensely.

“Nothing,” Ginger moaned angrily. “All her does is sit there, drooling, while I’m trying to beat some sense into him.”

“Or are you trying to beat him senseless?” Fleck cut in, losing some of her previous tension. “Anyway, I see that you are listening to my advise.”

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Ginger sounded sincere. “but he just doesn’t listen. And it’s really annoying. I wonder if there’s something wrong with his ears. Or maybe some sort of mental deficiency. Anyway, I can’t help it but unleash my seething hatred for him physically. Honestly if he wants the drooling freak to live, Slate should have paired him up with someone else.”

“Not me,” Fleck backed away a little, grinning.

“You’d abandon a friend in need like that?” Ginger gasped, pretending to be appalled. “Shame on you, Fleck, shame on you.”

Ginger gave her friend a playful shove, which sent Fleck skidding a couple of feet before stopping. Fleck rose to her paws, only to fall over, laughing. They had a good time together the way there and back.

But by the time the two of them had both settled into their beds for the night, Fleck felt a sense of nausea in her stomach. She had to give Ember her message soon. I’ll have to tell him tomorrow, she thought to herself. But something told her that tomorrow would be just as useless as today.

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-KittyLover8

© 2013