Captain of the Guards- Chapter Thirty-Six- The Plan

Fleck winced as a sharp thorn pierced the tender skin on her pad. She stopped momentarily to pull it out, causing another sharp burst of pain. She ignored it and continued forewords, headed back towards Slate’s kingdom. As she went, she thought of plans to cleverly tell King Slate about the ‘new location of Ember’s kingdom’ without him finding out that she was a spy or knowing that it was her who had started the rumor. But she couldn’t come up with a thing.

Fleck caught a couple of mice, but her hunt was less successful then usual, as her heart just wasn’t in it. She soon entered Slate’s kingdom, where she was greeted back by Cinder.

“Hey, there!” Cinder said cheerfully as she slashed at imaginary enemies with her short amethyst dagger.

“Hi, Cinder,” Fleck murmured with a degree less enthusiasm. She was always happy to see the playful little kitten and her brother, but right now she had a lot on her mind. “What are you doing up so early? It’s really early for anyone but me to be up. A lot of you guys sleep in until midmorning.”

Cinder stretched her tiny misty-gray hind legs and yawned with her eyes tightly shut at the mention of sleep. Then her eyes snapped open and she looked awake as ever. “Well, I woke up and felt like practicing a tad, if you know what I mean. What were you doing at this hour?”

“Just doing a little hunting,” Fleck replied, holding up the two measly mice. It wasn’t the whole truth, but she knew that she couldn’t tell Cinder everything that had happened this morning even though she hated lying. “I didn’t get as much as I usually do. There was scarcely any prey out.”

“Huh,” Cinder grunted skeptically. “Maybe it was Sparrow’s great hunt yesterday. Ha! You should have seen that mountain of stuff! I bet you that there was enough food in that pile to feed all of the Commoners for a whole year!”

“Wow,” Fleck said without much enthusiasm. She nodded, even though she knew that the little apprentice was exaggerating. Then a thought cam to her mind. “Hey, where’s Ash? I rarely ever see you two apart.”

“Oh, he’s just sleeping,” Cinder scoffed with a hypocritical laugh. “He’s always been really lazy and I should know. As you said, we’re almost always together and I have to deal with a lot of his laziness.”

“Ha!” Fleck couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re one to talk. You are almost never awake before him.”

“Whatever,” Cinder snorted dismissively. “Anyway, why were you limping?”

“I stepped on a thorn while I was hunting in the forest,” Fleck replied carelessly, waving away the matter. Se didn’t want Cinder to say something typical like -you should have the Commoners patch that up’ or ‘be sure not to walk on that or you’ll get an infection’ or something of the sort.

“Cool,” Cinder breathed. “Can I look at it? Does it have puss?”

Well, that’s original, Fleck told herself, mildly amused. “Yah, I guess that you can see it. And no, I don’t think that it has puss. At least it didn’t when I last looked at it.”

Fleck showed Cinder her pad, which was now smeared with blood. It was covered with dirt from the forest floor. Cinder craned her neck foreword to get a better view, her tiny gray nose almost touching Fleck’s pad. She seemed entranced, and Fleck felt quite awkward as she waited for the tiny she-cat to get her fill of the sight. When it became clear that she wasn’t going to any time soon, Fleck placed the paw back on the ground with a sigh of both amusement and exasperation.

“That’s enough, Cinder,” Fleck said with a little laugh. “Honestly, you’re going to end up like Jade.”

“And just what makes you think that I don’t want to be like her?” Cinder sniffed indignantly.

“Yeah,” murmured a dry and bored voice that came from the shadows nearby, “why wouldn’t she want to be like Jade?” Jade then stepped out of the shadows, a large, sly grin on her face.

Fleck remanned apparently unfazed. She crouched down in a playful position with a teasing smile and her hazel eyes alight and laughed, “Because then she’d be a violent snob that none of the other guards liked, that’s why.”

“Hey!” Jade snarled with feigned indigence. She gave Fleck a playful cuff on the shoulder and added hotly, “What she really needs to watch out for is ending up like you!”

Fleck stuck out her tongue; a juvenile gesture of indifferent indigence.

“Hi!” Sparrow happily purred in his squeaky way, greeting Fleck. “What are you three doing?”

“Nothing,” Jade replied, giving him a crocodile grin.

Noting that this was a sign to go no further on the subject, Sparrow timidly obliged and sidestepped Jade. Ash had come out with Sparrow and the two siblings were already having a playful little tiff. Jade looked at the two of them with affectionate amusement. Fleck observed that the twins were extremely good fighters, even when they were only playing.They darted away from the other before they could land a single blow, their instincts were lightning-fast and the two were just a little more then a gray blur.

“You’re apprentices have really progressed,” Fleck murmured to her friend, obviously impressed.

“You’re apprentice isn’t to shabby, either, you know,” Jade said with a grin, nodding her thanks to Fleck.

“Yeah,” Fleck agreed, eyes shining with pride. After a long pause she added, “Where’s Ginger and GoldenSunn? I thought that they would be out by now.”

“Hey, me too,” Jade replied with a small nod. “When I left, I think that Ginger was trying to murder him. Or wake him up. The way she does it, there really isn’t any difference between the two.”

“Yeah,” Fleck agreed with a laugh. “Either way, he’ll end up dead. But I suppose that we should cut her some slack. We’ve got really good apprentices that are far easier to train. She, meanwhile, has to deal with that lazy cat every single day.”

“Huh,” Jade grunted. “I think that Cinder and Ash know pretty much all that they need to.  Every time we train these days, I struggle to think of anything new that I could teach them. Usually, it’s just review.”

“You, too?” Fleck asked, surprised. The twins were far younger then Sparrow and had less previous experience. “I think that Sparrow’s got nothing else to learn.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a while. We trained them everyday for the longest time, didn’t we?” Jade said with a small smile. “Anyway, I’d better go help Ginger wake up GoldenSunn, which is, believe me, one of the harder things I’ve ever done. When he’s asleep, he’s just a lump.”

“When he’s awake, too,” Fleck commented sarcastically. “Anyway, good luck.”

“I’ll need it,” Jade snorted as she disappeared into the hollow ash tree that served as the guards’ den.

Fleck sat there, deep in thought. She was trying desperately to think up of a plan that she could ensure that no one knew that it was her feeding Slate the false information. But how could she do that? After a couple dozen minutes, Ginger and Jade emerged from the entrance of the hollow tree, looking exhausted and dragging GoldenSunn not far behind them.

“How was it?” Fleck asked with exaggerated concern.

“A nightmare,” Ginger growled through gritted teeth, glaring at her drooling apprentice. “I mean, seriously, what is wrong with him? You’d think that he was hibernating, the way he sleeps.”

“What have we got to do today?” Sparrow asked brightly. He had been play-fighting with Cinder and Ash and was currently attempting to disentangle himself from the twins.

“You’re fighting a losing battle there,” Jade laughed as she watched the three.

Ginger answered Sparrow’s question, ignoring her sarcastic friend. “Pompous King Slate told me last night that he wants us to guard him. He said that he can’t take any chances and that, hopefully, if anyone tries to poison him, one of us will take it instead like Tiger. Can you believe him?”

“No, I can’t,” Fleck murmured in a kind of trance. An idea had just popped into her head and she had to suppress a sly smile from creeping across her face. “Did he say whose going to guard him at breakfast?”

“No, he--” Ginger began to explain.

“Then I volunteer,” Fleck interrupted. “I might as well. We’ll probably alternate and it’s better to jut get it over with, you know?”

“Yeah,” Jade said with a nod. “I think that I’ll do lunch.”

“Okay, then,” Fleck said with a smile. “What time does Slate usually have his breakfast, anyway?”

“Oh, I’m not really sure,” Ginger answered, examining the sun’s position in the sky. “Although, I think that it might be around now. If you want to be the first to guard him, I’d advise you to go now.”

“All right,” Fleck said decisively. I’ll see you guys in what, half an hour?”

“That sounds about right,” Ginger nodded. “See you then. And good luck. I hope for your sake that Slate’s in a good mood this morning. I know for a fact that he was sour last night when I was talking to him.”

As Fleck headed away, Jade shouted after her, “Use the back door! The other one leads straight to his living room!”

“Okay!” Fleck called back over her shoulder, although she wasn’t really listening and this information wasn’t exactly new to her. She now had a plan that would work all because of her new guard shift. It wasn’t one of the best of her plans, but it would work and that was all that she needed.

The door was right in front of her now. She grinned a cunning smile and murmured slyly underneath her breath, “Slate, I’m gonna end the war, one way or another, and I’ll owe it all to you.”

______________________________________________________________________

-KittyLover8

© 2013

Captain of the Guards- Chapter Thirty-Five- The Request

When Fleck woke up early in the morning, she took a little time to enjoy the beauty of the new day. The birds sang their cheerful greeting, dozens of songs melding together to make a bright and harmonious medley. A light, cool breeze rifled through the fading tree leaves, a reminder of the coming colder seasons. The leaves of ancient oaks, tall ash trees and young birch saplings were changing color. Now they were a summery green splashed with bright scarlet and rusty orange.

The morning dew clung desperately onto the leaves of the plants in sparkling droplets, several falling noiselessly to the ground when the light breeze whisked past. The grass waved to and fro sleepily, glistening with dew. The soft dawn sunlight light the dew, making them a thousand sparkling stars. All of the flowers dipped their heads, heavy with the sunlit droplets of dew.

Fleck walked drowsily out of the hollow ash tree. The bright green stalks of grass bent beneath her paws. She could feel the cool moisture of the dew on her pads and the mild roughness of the early autumn grass. She breathed in a deep breath of the fresh morning air. It was cool, crisp and smelled of nothing but the pleasant and mild scents of greenery and dew. This was slightly tainted by the foul stench of slate’s factories, but in her bliss, Fleck ignored this.

Deciding that this would be a good chance to do so, Fleck headed towards Ember’s kingdom at a brisk walk. She enjoyed the sights of the forest as she went. It was full of fast-flowing rivers and shallow creeks. The forest floor had a messy look to it that Fleck found pleasant; strewn with faded tree leaves and scattered with countless paw prints headed in all directions. The leaves of the tall forest trees cast dappled shadows riddled with spots of mellow, pale gold sunlight.

Once Fleck had reached Ember’s kingdom, she went straight to his home. She ventured  a timid knock on the large black door, not wanting to startle the king. He was probably still on edge from the events of last night.

When his maid peeked through a crack in the door, Fleck knew for sure that he was. Katrina, the maid, was tense and only opened the door by the tiniest degree. When she saw who it was, she relaxed, gestured for he to come inside, and offered her a cup of hot peppermint tea.

“No thanks,” Fleck declined. “But thank you for the most generous offer.”

Katrina gave her a polite nod and a flash of a smile, which dissipated quickly. Then she turned away and called to Ember, announcing his guest.

Ember hurried down a scarlet-colored flight of stairs that Fleck hadn’t noticed before. Evidently, wherever they led was where he resided for the night, which explained why he was up there. He probably felt safer and more secure the farther away the door was from him.

“Hello, Ember!” Fleck greeted him warmly and with fairly inappropriate merriment. She was in a fine mood this morning and her tone was how she felt--cheerful and carelessly happy.

“Hello,” Ember murmured distractedly, absently fingering the wound on his neck that he had received last night.

“Let me see that,” Fleck suggested, joy expressed in a slightly more suppressed manner. She walked over to him with a long and purposeful stride. The wound was actually quite deep and probably irritated. It looked like it had recently been reopened, as there were a few half-dried trails of blood in his soft fur. “You really shouldn’t scratch it, or it’ll never heal. You might have a scar as it is, so let’s not make it any worse, okay? The longer it takes for it to heal the more likely you are to get an infection. Scratching won’t help prevent infection in itself.”

“But I can’t help it,” Ember whined, pawing pathetically at the wound.

“Stop it!” Fleck instructed harshly. After a short pause she asked, far more calmly, “Does it hurt when you eat or swallow?”

“Yes,” Ember replied after hesitation, “but only a little. By when do you think that it will heal?”

“Probably about five days,” Fleck answered, studying the wound. She didn’t know why he was treating her like a professional doctor and why she was acting like one (more or less), but that was her guess. “Anyway, what are you going to do about last night? You know, safety measures to make sure that that kind of thing doesn’t happen again.” She didn’t really want to talk about it, but it had to be done.

“I’m going to stay inside, always have my maid, Katrina, answer the door, stay away from any windows and not trust a single cat in the world.” At this statement, he narrowed his eyes at her and visually searched her for a weapon.

Fleck rolled her eyes and sighed with exasperation. “I was thinking more along the lines of real safety measures. You know, like keeping your door locked, posting guards by your door and by the weapon shed and the entrance of your empire. Guards at all of the entrances and exits would make it so that Quince wou--”

Ember covered his ears with his paws and shouted, “Don’t say that name! She tried to kill me and I don’t want to have to think about her!”

Fleck bit her lip and continued. “She wouldn’t have been able to get in or out to report to Slate and request a new mission.”

Ember perked up. “Which reminds me, I’ve been meaning to give you another mission. I feel that I haven’t done that for a while and if we’re going to win this war, we’ll have to use excessive spy-work.”

“Spy-work? Seriously?” Fleck raised her eyebrows at her king, who grinned stupidly at her. Rolling her eyes, she questioned with more reluctance then interest, “What are you going to ask me to do?”

“Well, I was thinking that you should really tell me who is in this group of guards that you work near,” Ember suggested, smiling at her like a frog.

“Uh... Okay...” Fleck didn’t really know what to make of this. “There’s Ginger, Jade, Sparrow, Cinder and Ash. Why do you need to know?” Fleck narrowed her eyes and flattened her ears by a degree.

“I was wondering if you would assassinate some of them for me,” Ember continued to smile up at her, acting as though this was just a chummy little chat and not discussing killing cats.

“What?” Fleck snarled, baring glistening ivory-white fangs. “No way! First of all, it’s stupid and needless. And second of all, the security is topnotch! I wouldn’t even be able to raise a dagger there without being killed.”

“Oh,” Ember said, shrinking back a little. Katrina the maid retreated. “Wait--how did you murder that wounded cat? What was his name? Bob?”

“They installed the new security after that,” Fleck claimed, cooling off a little. “You can give me a mission, but that one’s off limits. And don’t even think about asking me to assassinate Slate.”

“Well, then, I’ll have to think about that,” Ember said. He sat down on his plump gray-blue couch and thought. After a long wait, he humped up and said, “I know it! You could feed them false information about us moving to a different place! Then, when they go to that place, we can ambush them and finish this war!”

“Ugh,” Fleck grunted with disapproval. “That sounds hard. But it might not be impossible. I’ll try, I guess.”

“Yes!” Ember cheered. “Good job. Now go back there and help us finish this war!”

______________________________________________________________________

-KittyLover8

© 2013

Captain of the Guards- Chapter Thirty-Four- Pulled Trigger

Fleck awoke to Sparrow shoving her side, yipping eagerly like an exited puppy.

“Could we please train today?” he asked, sounding a little strained and shooting her an enthusiastic but desperately exaggerated smile.

“No,” Fleck grumbled, turning her head away from him and trying to get some more sleep before hunger overcame her. “Go away.”

“Please?” Sparrow pressed, greatly distressed. “Lately, you’ve always been to tired to do much training with me. And when we do, you’re always distracted and the sessions are short because you always have to leave early to do something but you never tell me what!”

“Ugh,” Fleck grumbled, waving him away with a slow-moving paw like he was some kind of pest--and in here mind he was. “Could you please just leave me alone? You’ve just given me an instant headache.” Fleck pointed repeatedly at her forehead to illustrate the untrue statement, still turned away from her apprentice.

“But you’ve hardly taught me a thing the past week!” Sparrow complained, beginning to pace around the hollow ash tree as he moaned. “Cinder and Ash can now actually almost defeat Jade! And GoldenSunn has been drooling more then ever! Well, I don’t know if that’s exactly a compliment, but--”

“Sparrow!” Fleck snapped, turned towards him. “Just shut up! I know that they have all done a pretty good job and I’m... uh, proud of them. But I think that you’ve progressed enough that there is very little left that I know that I could teach you! Did I tell you that... What was it? Yesterday?”

“Yes...” Sparrow grumbled unhappily. “But I miss training with you.”

Fleck heaved a heavy sigh. “Fine. I’ll train you today.”

Sparrow perked up by such a degree that he looked like a different cat. “Really? You mean it?”

“Yes,” Fleck replied with a shrewd smile. “I do. Are you ready to train?”

“What?” Sparrow gasped in a squeaky voice that made him sound like an extremely happy baby mouse. “Right now? This instant? Really? Of course I want to! I’m up for anything and I’ll do it the best way I can and oh I’m so exited and I can’t wait to start and thank you so much!” After he spoke, Sparrow took a huge gulp of breath.

“You’re assignment is to...” Fleck trailed off for suspense. “Catch as much prey as you can!”

Sparrow deflated a little. “What?”

“Yep!” Fleck announced excitedly, finally sounding fully awake. “You’ll hunt all day long and bring it back to me at sunset. Then we’ll count it and she how much you caught. The point of this exercise is to test your survival skills. You’ll be exhausted by midday, but you’ll press foreword! You will hunt until the sun sinks behind the horizon and by then you will have caught enough prey to make rations for a meal for all of the Commoners!” Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating a little.

“I’ll do it!” Sparrow said determinedly. “But what do I eat?”

“With you, you’ll bring a pack of a day’s worth of rations,” Fleck explained. “When you get to the forest, where the prey is most abundant, you leave it by a memorable landmark. Whenever you get hungry, you go over to the pack and eat until you feel full, just leave enough for the next meal. Then, you’ll continue the hunt and so o until dusk. Got that?”

“Yes!” Sparrow cried happily. “I’ll go right now!”

He started off, but Fleck restrained him. “No, no, no,” Fleck said with a motherly demeanor. “You’ll have to request permission from Slate and receive a pack full of your rations for today.”

“Okay!” Sparrow agreed with a nod. “I’ll go and do that right now!”

Fleck watched him go. Once he was gone, she curled back up and enjoyed her sleep. Tonight, she would have to report to Ember for further developments on the strange spy and who knew how long that would take. She should enjoy the peace in Slate’s kingdom while she could.

______________________________________________________________________

Fleck slipped soundlessly out of the encampment by the cover of darkness late that night. This time, Fleck had brought a pistol for safety measures, seeing as there was an enemy on the lose. As Fleck darted through the forest, she was stopped by a sound: a soft rustling in the bushes behind her. Quick as a flash, Fleck dodged behind a particularly thick tree trunk for cover, drawing her weapon.

A light ginger paw emerged from the greenery, briefly followed by Ginger herself. When she was in the small forest clearing, she looked around for a few moments and then continued forward.

Fleck could her the she-cat muttering, “I know I saw someone leave the den and come here... But who was it?”

Fleck felt a rush of fear and waited a few long moments to let Ginger cover more ground. Then, she followed, but going by a different route. Next time, she would have to be more careful when leaving the guards’ den.

As Fleck made her way out of the forest, still a little shaken from nearly being stopped and found out. There, there was a meadow scattered with grassy hills. The moon cast a dim light upon the grass, making every blade sparkle silver. On one, there was the little weapon shed, which had seen more action the past two days then it normally did in two months. Even it, with it’s rusty roofing and blood stained side, was glorified in the rich autumn moonlight.

Once Fleck was out of the beautiful meadow, she entered the quiet little kingdom. Over the town was the hush of sleep. The drowsy veil of content ignorance to the world around it. Places like this were a rare treasure during a war. Yet the night before last night, Fleck recalled an eerie feeling that she was being watched. That gang members and crooks had stalked the streets and alleyways. But tonight was peaceful with not a waking soul in any one of these little houses and shops. Not one, that is, other then Ember’s.

Ember was bound to be awake, waiting for Fleck to come, as had been previously planned. All of the lights in the little windows of the houses were off for the night, leaving the room encased in a sleepy darkness. But one was on, that one plainly belonging to King Ember.

Fleck knocked softly, but no answer came. With a shrug, Fleck entered the house. What she was met by was a surprise and an unpleasant one, at that. Quince was there, a long silver knife glinting in the moonlight, pressed against Ember’s exposed neck. The blade had just pieced the skin, causing scarlet droplets of blood to run down the length of the knife and form a small pool on the dark wooden floorboards. Quince had a paw on Ember’s mouth, muffling his cries for help. In a second, Fleck had her pistol drawn and pointed straight at Quince’s heart.

“Drop that knife now, Quince,” Fleck directed steadily, gesturing to the floor with her pistol. “Or you’ll regret it.”

Quince immediately did as she had been told, not taking her eyes off of Fleck, nor did Fleck tare her eyes away from her.

“Now, why don’t you tell me just what you thought you were doing and just why you thought that you could get away with it?” Fleck’s question was not a mere request, but an order.

“Ha!” Quince laughed. “What do you think that I was trying to do? I was just about to kill you’re precious king. That’s right, I’ve been Slate’s secret spy all along and yet you fools trusted me! My stupid ‘master’ instructed me to assassinate Ember, ensuring that we win the war. But now it looks like I’ll just have to kill you, too.”

Quince drew a Purple-Plasma Pistol from her belt, pointing it at Fleck and smiling shrewdly. “It’s really a pity. You would’ve made a good friend if you just weren’t on the wrong side.”

“I thought that you were loyal!” Ember croaked, rubbing the wound on his throat, which looked fairly deep.

“You were stupid!” Quince laughed mockingly turning ever so slightly towards the cowardly king. “It was easier to get in here then any spy could have dreamed. All thanks to you, Ember, my dear dead king.”

In that moment Fleck shot her pistol, sending the Purple-Plasma Pistol skidding five yards away from Quince. She had aimed for her adversary’s right paw, as to knock the gun out of her grasp.

Quince gasped in pain and held her bleeding paw. It was a nasty-looking wound, but it had saved two lives. Fleck continued to point her gun at the orange tabby she-cat, at the ready.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Quince snarled. “You don’t have the guts.”

“Try me,” Fleck spat in reply.

Ember trembled and curled in a corner of the room. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he looked scared out of his skin. For a long time, the two spies stared intimidatingly at each other, neither one moving in the slightest. Then, suddenly, Quince lunged for her pistol. Fleck shot her own gun, Ember screamed with horror and everything happened to fast for anyone to immediately register.

Quince was lying on the ground, blood streaming out of a bad wound in her side. Her death had been almost instant. Fleck didn’t know whether or not she regretted that gunshot. But what was done was done and there was no undoing the pulled trigger.

______________________________________________________________________

-KittyLover8

© 2013

Captain of the Guards- Chapter Thirty-Three- The Writing

Fleck felt a rush of the midnight breeze in her ears as she ran. Her paws flew beneath her and her whiskers were pressed back against the wind. Her jaws were slightly open to intake breath. She was dashing across the forest floor with immense speed, hoping to get the weapons to Ember, then go back to Slate’s kingdom and be back in bed in time to get a decent night’s sleep. Although, she told herself with an inward sigh, that is quite a bit to wish for in this war.

Once Fleck was out of the woods, she slowed down by a degree, into more of a fast walk. She wanted to catch her breath and regain some energy for the run back to King Slate’s kingdom. Soon, the weapon shed was in view. Fleck decided on dropping the weapons off their and then reporting to Ember. After all, it was a long and needless walk to lug around the heavy sack of weaponry.

So Fleck started up the hill to the worn-looking shed. As she got closer, she noticed that there was an orange cat there, right next to the side of the sad little shed. The cat was moving slightly and looking at the side of the shed. When Fleck got closer, she saw that the cat was tracing or writing something on the side of the shed. Perhaps to occupy its time? There was only one way to find out...

“Hey, there!” Fleck called to the cat, tilting her head trying to see who it was as she approached. The cat had its back turned to her and she couldn’t see its face. “What are you doing and who are you?”

The cat turned, revealing that it was Quince. Her expression was panic-stricken and startled. “Fleck!” she said, more out of surprise then welcome.

“Quince!” Fleck said with a happy smile, now almost at her destination. “I’m so happy that Ember took my advice and posted a guard here. I mean, honestly, what did he think was going to happen? Does he really believe that Slate’s cats are that stupid that they can’t even pick a lock? Especially as this one. It’s pathetic, really.”

“No, he didn’t post a guard,” Quince explained, still looking shaken. “I came here to check things out, you know, what with what happened last night. And I found... I found this written here.”

Quince stepped aside to reveal a message written in blood on the cave wall. The scarlet words read, You shall all fall to Slate’s rule. Surender before it is too late... There are some things that are worse then death.

Fleck shuddered after she read the menacing message. “We’d better report this to Ember.”

Quince nodded without a sound and headed off. Fleck quickly picked the lock on the weapon shed, shoved the bag of weapons and ammo inside, locked the padlock behind her and dashed after Quince. Once the pair of she-cats had arrived at Ember’s chamber, they burst inside, not bothering to knock.

Ember greeted them warmly with immense hospitality. “Quince! Fleck! How are you? Would you like to enjoy a cup of tea with me? It’s hibiscus and black cherry. I take back what I said before. My maid can whip up the best hibiscus and cherry tea you’ve ever had. In fact, I could get her to make us ginger, too. Oh, you haven’t lived until you’ve had her ginger tea. I don’t know what she does to food, but she just makes it perfectly delectable.” He laughed good-naturally. “Sometimes, I wonder if she has a little bag of pixie dust and sprinkles a little pinch of the delightful stuff onto every single thing that she--”

“Ember,” Fleck interrupted flatly.

“Yes?” Ember murmured into his cup of hibiscus and black cherry tea. “What is it, Fleck, my dear? Say it and it will be granted.”

“Shut up,” Fleck spat, ignoring Ember’s pleasant attitude. “Me and Quince have some very important news to give you and if you don’t shut your trap this instant I don’t think that you ever will.”

Quince stifled a laugh. Then she straightened herself and said, “On the weapon shed, written in blood, is a message. It basically states that Slate will undoubtably win the war and that if we don’t surrender we will meet things worse then death, whatever that means.”

“That is bad,” Ember agreed, sipping his steaming cup of tea. “What should we do about it?”

“I think that we should ignore it,” Fleck replied defiantly, looking completely unafraid. “All it is is some stupid writing--”

“In blood,” Ember cut in helpfully.

Fleck sighed in exasperation and continued. “--that is only there to scare us. It’s an empty threat. What could Slate do that’s worse then death by having us not surrender? In fact, I think that it would be worse then death the surrender to him and be met by whatever he plans on doing with those of us that are left.”

“Well, I think that we should--” Ember began, brow set in an argumentative way.

“You know, Slate will kill you first thing if you are defeated or surrender,” Fleck interrupted factually.

“Oh,” Ember said, sounding deflated. Then his voice rose into a more powerful and announcing one. “I was just about to say that I agree with you, Fleck, and that we should press onwards.”

“Oh, yeah, we all know that that’s the truth!” Fleck rolled her eyes and laughed with teasing sarcasm. Quince joined in the merriment and laughter.

“Well, it is!” Ember whined in his childish defense.

This made the two she-cats laugh even harder. Ember bit his lip to contain his growing rage and indignation.

“Quiet!” Ember shouted at the top of his lungs. “And that’s a direct order. I will not tolerate being mocked by you. I am your king! And I am your better. Furthermore, I would like to see this so-called ‘message’ on that weapon shed for myself. For all I know, it could just be some stupid prank you two are pulling on me.”

“Whatever,” Fleck snorted, unconcerned.

Quince and Fleck led the way with Ember not far behind. He was grumbling the all the way about how ‘this whole thing is a wild goose chase’ and how Quince and Fleck would ‘be sorry if this was a joke.’

But once they were there, the writing in blood proved them right. It was still there, an ominous threat made by an unknown cat. Ember stared at it, mouth agape in wonder and fear. His eyes were wide as he read the message for himself, once and then a second time for good measure. He didn’t seem to know what to make of it but to be afraid, which was exactly what Slate wanted.

Then, Ember straitened himself and stated decisively, “You must have done this yourselves.”

Quince and Fleck gasped with enraged indignation and said simultaneously, “What?”

“Are you crazy?” Fleck spat. “You know that me and Quince are both as loyal to you as any cat you could find in your kingdom, Ember. We would never do such a thing. In this war, we can’t accuse our comrades of betraying us, else we’ll tare ourselves apart. If we stand together, we’ll have a better chance of winning this war.”

Ember looked convinced for a moment. Then, he looked down at Quince’s paw and snarled accusingly, “Then why do you have a cut on your paw, Quince?”

If he had ever been right, it was now. When Fleck looked for herself, there was, in fact, a small but deep cut on Quince’s right paw. It looked fairly fresh, but was no longer bleeding.

“That doesn’t prove anything, Ember!” Quince hissed in her defense. “On my way over to this shed earlier, I cut myself on a stupid thorn. What, you think that I wrote that message? Ha! I would never do such a thing. And what did Fleck just say about standing together? Suspecting me just because I have a cut paw is merely out of desperation.”

“I suppose so,” Ember said, sighing with defeat.

“Look,” Fleck started reasonably, “we are all facing a very difficult time full of death and despair. We’re looking for someone to blame for all of this and we’re going to start loosing good friends because of that. Our real enemy is ourselves. But if we stay strong, we--”

Fleck stopped abruptly, staring at the silhouette in the trees by the faraway shooting range. Ember and Quince followed Fleck gaze and stared at the mysterious cat wit her. The cat stared back, jewl-like eyes reflecting the silvery moonlight and boring into the three cats watching from the hilltop.

Then, the cat turned away and darted into the trees. And just like that, it was gone.

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-KittyLover8

© 2013