Chapter 1:
The small cross breed dog laid on the porch of her masters farm watching a wolf that had been coming around a lot lately. She was ready to spring up and chase him off if he got near her sheep, but he had come around for a week and had never even approached the sheep or the chickens or messed with the barn cat, he would just come around, wander a little bit, and leave. The mutt thought he might be scoping it out and may attack at any moment, but didn't know, so she just laid on the porch watching him, subconsciously admiring his silky silver coat.
"Hey, what's up pup?"
She looked up and the black cat sitting on the porch rail, whipping that blond tipped tail back and forth, highly tempting her to bite it and play with it... though knowing better than to do so. "He's back again..." She said staring intently at the wolf.
"Ohhhh, think he's going to attack?" The cat asked as she hopped down * shall we go chase him off?
"No," She yawned, "He just wanders the outskirts, he hasn't gone after anything..." She stopped and thought about it a moment, realizing a horrific fact about herself as she passed out of her puphood, "You don't think he can smell me all the way out there do you? I mean... I heard the farmer's wife about getting me spayed," she shuddered, "but what if he can smell it... and then he attacks me because I'm a different breed?" Then a more comical note came to her mind as she said, "Or maybe he knows there is a lazy cat here and he wants to use it as a chew toy."
"Hey, I'm not lazy! I keep the barn clear of mice and rats, that's a hard job!" The cat protested as
the young pup rolled on her back and gazed up at the cat, "Yes... and all those rodents haven't slowed you down, at all have they?" She snickered.
The cat glared down and snarled at her, "I do have claws you know, pup ...anyway ...have you seen that dark wild cat? I caught him near the duck coop yesterday…"
"Again? Man... if he kills so much as one duck... you know what I'll do?" She rolled over and stood up, stooping into a stalking posture, crouched low to the ground as if she would spring.
The cat didn't even think about what the pup could do, but merely laughed, "Ha! You against a cat?! Hahaha! He would tear you to bits, pup!"
The pup pouted a little, her pride hurt, before replying,"Uh huh... like this?" She sprung, biting the tantalizing tail swishing around and pulled the cat off the banister, then chased her across the fields barking and laughing wildly.
The cat ran and then climbed up a tree and hissed, "Hey, that wasn't funny!"The mutt sat down and laughed at the very edge of the farm, not noticing the wolf or the wild cat not too far away, "Are you kidding? That was hilarious! The way your fur stood on end! No chance against a cat indeed!" She barked and barked at the cat, running circles round the tree and playing as the wild cat stalked in naive pray.
"Knock it off, you're going to make me dizzy watching you go in circles…"
"Why? Don't you like circles?" She started chasing her tail playfully as the wild cat crept closer and closer through the tall grass, almost close enough to pounce. But the cat, being higher up and seeing the wildcat in the grass, jumped down almost landing on the wildcat.
"Hey stop!" She yowled, hissing and arching her back, "Get off my territory!"
The wild cat rushed, ignoring the cat and pouncing at the pup, landing square on her shoulders and digging its claws into her shoulder blades and biting her neck. She yelped and started howling, she ran around frantically, trying to get the wildcat off. She ran around, panicked, away from her friend and into the tall grass, close to the wolf.
"No," The cat ran after the pup, trying to keep up, "Stop! You're hurting her!"
The dog tried to roll over and knock the wild cat off, but it only sunk its claws in deeper and began biting her repeatedly, she ran and jumped and rolled and before her friend could get there, the wolf heard her howling in pain. He ran over and nipped the wild cat, sending it running. "Are you ok?"
The pup staggered a moment, dazed with adrenaline and fear with her tail between her legs, "Y-yeah.. I think I'm- " She tried to take a step and yelped with the pain in her shoulder.
The wolf moved forward, catching her on his shoulder as she almost collapsed, "You better sit down."
She laid down in the grass, turning her head about and trying to lick the wound, but couldn't quite reach it to do so because it rode to close up her back to her neck. She felt a gentle licking at the wound and heard the smooth voice right behind her ears, "Those darn cats, now they are fighting... Oh well not my problem…"
She said nothing as she laid down her head and accepted his help. He was much bigger than her, almost twice as tall and much thicker in build, and a lot more muscle, built for fighting and hunting, where she was built for running and digging. But before long, she heard the farmer whistle, and sprung to her feet, ignoring the twingeing pain and darting across the field to her master's call. The wolf sat up, watching her run through the grass to the raced up to the farmer and started whimpering and turning around, taking a step towards the field and then turning back, desperately trying to get him to follow and go shoot the wild cat, but the farmer was tired and picked her up, taking her to the truck and putting her in the back. Driving away to go get her shots.
Meanwhile, the wild cat furiously wrestled his slightly smaller opponent, clawing and biting, trying to get her off for a hasty retreat, after all, he would never KILL another feline, no matter how infuriating.
The cat bit down into his fur and clawed down his back but her claw got caught in his fur and she got left hanging by one paw to him, "Ah! Mangy furball why did you attack us?"
He pinned her down, hissing angrily, "I didn't attack you! I just wanted the dog!" Then he leapt from her and tried to run back into the mountain forest. But she slid in front of him snarling, "I don't like other animals attacking my friends!" With that she jumped on him, trying to pin him again. He yowled and bit her, kicking his hind legs up against her soft belly fur, and threatened to rip her open, "Don't make me kill you! Just let me go, and we forget this ever happened!"
"No! You stay away from my home and my family!" And she bit down into his neck fur and tore chunk of fur and flesh yowled in pain and clawed furiously down her belly, not deep enough to spill her entrails, but enough to make her bleed horribly for a while. He then flipped her over and leaped away, fleeing into the woods.
After he was gone, the she-cat laid in the grass, a bit in shock at the pain in her belly and then passed out.
A while later, the mutt came home from the vet and wound up tearing a hole in the farmer's pants to get him to follow, and she sniffed around the tree and followed the scent to her feline friend, passed out. The farmer picked the cat up and took both animals back to and inside the farmhouse, patching the cat up and laying her cozily on the couch while he spoke to his wife.
The cat started to wake up a bit after half an hour or so, moaning, "Unnnn…"
"Shhh," the mutt muttered, listening intently to her laid on her paws, listening to her masters, though she could only understand about half of what they were saying, that half containing words like: "dog, cat, farm, sit, old girl, vet, honey, and dear."
"...What's going on?" The cat mewed softly.
The mutt never stopped watching her masters as she replied, "I'm not sure… But, I think they are leaving! they keep talking about a "city" what is that?"
"I don't know…" The cat whispered, almost in defeat over not knowing something this important.
"Honey keeps saying that they can't keep a fox in the city, and Dear keeps saying that he's not leaving the dog behind... then she usually answers that 'she's a wild animal and will be just fine...' then he says that he just can't part with the old girl…"
"I think they are leaving me behind and probably taking you with them…"
"No... they have talked about you already and said that the cat would do fine in the city, and there are lots of pests you could eat... I think there's something in their rules about foxes it sounds like? But aren't foxes those orange things that try to eat the chickens? I don't know why they are talkin' about those…"
"I think they are talking about you ...you are part fox you know."
"I am? I thought i was a shetland sheepdog? I thought that sheltie down the road was my momma?" The pup said in a worried voice.
"She is but your daddy was ...well ... a fox ... mind you a big fox but a fox…"
"Oh... but why can't they have me in this "city" place? Is it because I'm a fox?"
"I think so, yeah…"
"Oh..." She laid her ears back and laid down her head, still staring up at her masters intently. "Maybe they are going on a trip? Like when they went to see their cub? And they just need to know whether to find a kennel or not? I bet that's it, that makes sense..." Her ears perked a little again, "I like kennels..."
"Yeah, you would…" The cat rolled her eyes and began grooming herself.
"Kennels have sticks... and bones to chew... and balls to chase... and other dogs to play with and bark with aaaaaaaaall day."
"I always get left at home in the barn…"
"Well it sounds like they are taking you this time... maybe they found a kennel for cats... or maybe you're going to the vet for a while like Tiger... he's been on vacation for like, a whole year! That's almost my whole life!" She then became infatuated with a mosquito buzzing around her head and snapped a few times, then ate it.
"Mmm…" The cat then rolled over and fell asleep.