After a superb lunch, Fleck met up with the other guards once again. This time, as usual, they were going to go into the woods to hunt. All of the cats had, of course, already mastered the art of hunting, but there was no harm in practicing. Besides, the pray store was in need of supply if the kingdom was to last the coming winter.
“Alright, then,” Fleck said, doing a mental head count of the guards that stood before her. It appeared as though they were all present, but just for good measure she called out, “Are we all here?”
“Yeah!” all thirteen of the guards called back to her.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Fleck asked them. “Let’s hunt!”
All of the cats rushed foreword, lead by Fleck, into the woods. Soon, they had spread out all over the woods in search of prey. It was getting harder and harder to fill the food stores, even though they still had a lot of salted prey still in there. Still, with the newly expanded kingdom, it was taking more to fill everyone’s bellies. Then again, they were lucky to have all of the new land at their disposal.
The hunt was fairly successful, as in the end, the guards had each caught at least one article of prey. Fleck called off the hunt a little earlier then usual so that they would have a bit more time for training. Fleck was almost as exited to teach as her apprentices were to learn.
They went to the training grounds, where Fleck taught her two eager pupils how to anticipate it when their opponent was about to strike.
“You see, when they shift their body weight even a little, it most likely means that they are about to attack,” Fleck began to explain. “Depending on how they arrange themselves, you can roughly figure out what their about to do. If they are putting more weight into their hind legs, they’re probably going to rear up or leap. If they do this, then it is best for you to wait until the right moment comes and strike them in the stomach or pounce on them from above.
“If your enemy is putting more weight into her front legs, then she’s is going to kick out with her hind legs. You should back up and close your eyes, perhaps even turn around, to avoid the attack. A shift to the left may mean that the cat’s going to strike with one of their right paws, probably the front one. And vice versa. You can evade their blows by dodging to the opposite side or backing up. As you can see, anticipating your adversary’s attacks can be a life saver. I would like you two to practice this for today. You can do regular battle practice, but try to use the hind leg attacks and defenses that we did today and to try to anticipate the other’s attacks before the occur.”
“Okay!” the pair chirped back to her.
After battle training, Fleck decided not to go down into the tunnels and see what the scientists were up to just yet. First, she wanted to have a talk about training with her friends Ginger, Jade and Sparrow.
“So how’s Coal working out for you?” Fleck asked addressing Sparrow first.
Sparrow shrugged. “I think that he’s doing pretty good.” The young tom sounded unsure. “But I can’t really tell. I’m only a little more then an apprentice myself. Although, I know for certain that he’s at least making progress.”
Fleck nodded in agreement. “In my opinion, he’s to shy and modest to show off his full potential.”
“Unlike a certain braggart that I just so happen to know,” Jade snorted. “Seriously, Fleck. Why did you have to dump Blizzard on me? He’s not learning a thing. Just today he argued with me about how to do at least three things correctly. And honestly, I must say so myself, I’m pretty sure that I was the one doing it the right way. But no. He just has to be right about everything.”
“I know how you feel,” Ginger sighed with a shake of her head. “Except instead, Cherry decides that I’m the enemy and she won’t listen to a word that I say. Seriously, I might not be sane after her and GoldenSunn if it weren’t for Lark. She’s the perfect opposite of my other apprentices, at least as far as brains go. She’s a good listener and friend. I find it difficult to believe that she wasn’t one of us her whole life and was living in the same kingdom with brainless scum like Cherry and Blizzard.”
“I don’t,” Sparrow chimed.
“What was that, insect?” Ginger snarled, rounding on him with her ears flattened and her teeth bared.
Sparrow fearfully shrank away, trembling. “N-nothing,” he stuttered as he tried to get as far away from ferocious Ginger.
Fleck stepped in. “What he’s saying is that she’s still a little hostile to the rest of us, even if she isn’t the same way to you. But I’m sure that Lark will warm up to the rest of us as she has with you with time. Isn’t that right Sparrow?” Fleck’s tone was light enough, but the look that she gave Sparrow was as hard as stone.
Sparrow was looking at Fleck as if she were some kind of angelic fairy godmother or something. He shook himself out of his daze and then said, “Yes, of cause she will. Er, with time, that is.”
Fleck tried not to laugh. There was a moment of silence before she said to them abruptly, “I’m just not cut out to be a queen.”
“What?” Ginger and Jade gasped simultaneously. Sparrow was to stunned to speak at all.
“But you’ve done a fine job running the kingdom so far,” Ginger argued.
“Maybe,” Fleck said with a defeated-sounding sigh. “But I don’t really want to be a queen. I would much rather be captain of the guards. We haven’t had one of those since Stinger!”
Jade sighed and shook her head. “Yeah. But how would we get another queen? Or I suppose maybe a king. Anyway, where would we get a new ruler? None of the other Commoners were worthy enough to even become guards. There’s no way any of them could ever amount to being a king or queen. And seriously, I don’t think that any of us guards would ever make good rulers, either.”
“I suppose not,” Fleck shrugged. “And I do have the right to queenship seeing as I was the one that killed Slate, but I can’t go on as a queen. Sure, there are more then enough perks, but I’d much rather be a guard.” Fleck shook her head sadly, feeling trapped.
“Well, maybe we could try to look for a queen,” Ginger suggested hopelessly. “I know that it seems a little unpractical, but what else could we do?”
“Wait a second!” Fleck cried. “Just because someone doesn't qualify to be a guard doesn’t mean that they can’t be a ruler. Those are to completely different positions. Someone has to be brave, bighearted, selfless and authoritative to become the ruler of an empire. A guard, meanwhile must be strong, athletic, and fearless. Why don’t we at least try to find one?”
“There’s no harm in trying,” Ginger agreed with a shrug.
“I guess that if that doesn’t work, we can always use Ginger’s idea as a Plan B,” Jade added.
“Then it’s decided!” Fleck announced happily.
They then combed through the Commoners in the township. They found only two cats that could possibly ever become a queen. There was a large modeled silver she-cat with huge blue eyes that always gave the impression that she was startled. The there was a brown, gray and white calico she-cat with warm brown eyes.
“Okay,” Fleck said, pacing in front of the two of them, Ginger, Sparrow and Jade standing nearby, all unarmed to paint a more friendly picture. “When we’re done, one of the two of you will become queen. I am fed up with the throne and would rather not be the ruler of this queendom. So I will judge you both to see how would make the better queen of the two of you. In the end, one will be crowned the royal queen and the other will remain a bottom-rung Commoner.”
The two she-cats shifted from paw to paw, their eyes darting around nervously like they were expecting the guards to tackle them. Fleck stalked over to them and examined their expressions. The calico she-cat was the one that she examined first. She seemed timid, selfless, kind and caring. Fleck knew that she was a good cat, but it was the timid part that worried her. Queens had to be, as she had said before, authoritative, and that was the only thing that the calico was missing.
Then Fleck turned to the silvery she-cat next. She had a bigger build and could possibly be a guard. She seemed to be passionate and tender, yet a tad too fancy and self-absorbed. These were unexpected traits for a Commoner and ones that would be hard to accept for the cat to make the crown.
“Names?” Fleck asked the two cats as she mauled everything over, trying desperately to come to a good decision.
“Tilla,” relied the calico in a slightly trembly voice. That wouldn’t do at all. If Fleck decided that Tilla was going to be a queen, she’d have to get her to lose that pathetic, quaking whisper.
“Azalea,” the modeled silver she-cat said graciously and importantly, raising a paw with a flourish. Now that was more like it! Even if Azalea didn’t end up making queen, she could teach Tilla a thing or two.
Fleck darted swiftly over to Ginger and Jade, telling them all she knew about the pair of she-cats’ temperament.
After she had finished, she added in a whisper, “I was thinking that Azalea may be the one that we’re looking for, even if she is a tad bigheaded. What about you guys?”
“I’m with you,” Jade agreed with a shrug. “I mean, how could we even let someone like Tilla lead us? I would die of shame!” Jade laughed dryly at this, joined by Ginger. Once they had finished their merriment, Ginger and Sparrow nodded, making the decision final.
Fleck broke away and turned to Tilla and Azalea. “Okay, we’ve made a decision. Azalea, you are now crowned queen of this empire!”
“To bad we don’t have a crown,” Ginger muttered to Jade.
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With much unnecessary hustle (that is, in Fleck’s opinion), they got Queen Azalea into the part of the ash tree that served as a palace. Then they stuffed her into the royal bedroom, which was neat as a pin as always, and sat her down onto the beautifully made bed. After that, the four guards talked with her.
“Okay, so now that you’re the queen, you might want to make some necessary changes,” Fleck explained to Azalea. “While I was queen, I was trying to focus my efforts on keeping to food stores full and building homes for the new Commoners. I also gave all of the guards gourmet meals so that they got a feeling of fairness. I supervised training to see how everyone was progressing and came into the series of tunnels and caves and talk to the scientists about new things that their going to make or the they want to make or made. Also, my guards need a more organized way of being sorted. We used to have captains of the guard, but all of them died.”
“Well, then, I’ll have to make a few changes, won’t I?” Queen Azalea announced pompously.
“What do you mean?” Ginger challenged in a snarl.
“Ginger,” Fleck warned. “Azalea is our queen now. If I were you, I would show her a bit more respect.”
Ginger snorted. “Why should I?” she sneered. “I didn’t show Slate any respect.”
Queen Azalea intervened in the two cats’ conversation. “Well, um, as I was saying...Changes. Yes.” There was an awkward pause. Then Azalea continued, “Well, I’m not going to give the guards gourmet food. If the prey stores are thinning, then it would be best to conserve the food as best as we can by giving everyone rations.”
“Everyone, that is, except for you, I’m sure,” Jade hissed.
“But of course!” Azalea exclaimed, smiling broadly at them all. After a moment’s hesitation she added, “I will also have hunting patrols three times a day; one done by the guards and the other two by the Commoners.” Queen Azalea looked extremely pleased with herself, enormous blue eyes and plump little smile alight as she glanced around the room at the disgusted guards.
“Extra hunting parties!” Fleck exclaimed, horrified. “That’s not how it works! You’ll scare all of the prey away or kill everything off. Plus, you’ll exhaust all of the cats.” Fleck took a deep breath, turned her back on the new queen, shut her eyes and calmed herself for a few long moments. Then she released it and turned back to Azalea. “Would it be okay for me to give you some advise, my queen?”
A little startled and flattered at being called a queen by Fleck, Azalea replied, “Why of course! What is it that you would like to tell me?”
“You should only kill what you need and no more,” Fleck advised. “You should instead have one patrol a day. Perhaps you could even alternate; one day would have the Commoners hunt and the next the guards and so on.”
“Why,” Azalea murmured, dumbfounded and seeming to not be able to say anything else. Then her face lit up and she exclaimed, “What a wonderful idea! I will do that systematic method right away! Thank you very much, Fleck.”
“No problem,” Fleck muttered in reply.
“And what was that that you said about a... Captain of the guards?” Azalea inquired, tilting her silvery head.
“Yeah,” Fleck sighed. “The last one we had died months ago, and we haven’t had one ever since thanks to Slate.”
“Well, then!” Azalea proclaimed, startled. “Really? Well, that’s another thing that I must change. Fleck, you seem much like a leader. Would you like to be captain of the guards?”
“Really?” Fleck gasped. Then she calmed herself and said enthusiastically, “Of course! I’d love to.” Then she turned to her three friends. “What do you guys think?”
Their eager, positive replies made Fleck swell with pride. I suppose that now I’m right where I’ve been wanting to be, aren’t I? she thought, a hint of a sly smile playing on her lips.
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-KittyLover8
© 2013
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