Chapter One- Lies.
A calico tom skittered across the edges of an alleyway, wary of any Pollicles that might be looking for a bite. He took a quick glance behind himself just to reassure his wracked nerves that he wasn't being followed. Two particular Pollicles had been hunting the poor tom for two days, allowing him no period of rest, but he wasn't in the mood to become a dog's meal.
"Whoohgh…" he sighed a breath of relief when he came to his normal hiding spot, a wrecked TV that was thrown out a window quite some time ago.
"Hi there, little bite." came a half snarling voice from over the calico's shoulder.
He whipped around to come face to jaws with one of the rather large Pollicles. He instinctively launched himself backwards towards his little safe house, but another Pollicle was waiting in front of it.
"Cripes, don' you damned Pollicles 'ave somewhere else t' be?!" he yelled in frustration and fear, bolting away from the two lumbering beasts.
The dogs ran in pursuit of him into a street at the mouth of the alley. The calico heard a loud "Roowwrr!" and a sickening thud behind him. He turned about and saw a human racing out of a car over to one of the Pollicles, who was lying twisted on the asphalt road and the other looking furiously at the tom.
"HA!" he shouted triumphantly at the still living Pollicle. "I'm jus' too good fer ya! You'll nevah catch me!" he managed to say between his laborious breaths of the sprint.
But, strangely enough, the living Pollicle was smirking at him. He slowly shifted his head to the right to see a truck roaring at him with no indication of slowing. He wanted to run, but his legs just couldn't find the will for another dash. The calico tom just stood in the face of death, paralyzed with fear.
Suddenly, a ginger cat leapt out of a garbage pile on the Pollicle's side of the street. He grabbed the stunned tom and vaulted to the other alleyway, narrowly missing the truck's rampage.
"Eeyow!" the calico cried as the truck missed his tail by millimeters.
Once the two landed on the other side of the street, the ginger tried to set the tom down, but he had a death grip on the other tom's shoulders.
"You can let go now, young tom." said the ginger cat in a reassuring voice.
"Huh?" replied the calico, still shocked from his near death encounter. "Oh, yeah. Sorry bou' that." He slowly let go of his savior's shoulders and set his paws gently on the ground.
The ginger cat sat down on a folded-up newspaper that was lying on the pavement. "So," started the ginger, "You are?"
"Me, sir?" asked the calico. "I'm Mungojerrie. An' you?"
"I'm Macavity." the ginger replied simply.
"You say tha' as if I'm s'posed t' know who you are."
Macavity let loose a hideously cracked laugh, as though he hadn't had water for several days. "Well, I'm certainly surprised you don't know that one. Let's see…" The ginger stroked his chin for a second, as if to emphasize a point. "How about 'The Hidden Paw'?" Mungojerrie slowly shook his head.
"Damn," groaned Macavity. "Not even 'The Napoleon of Crime'?"
Mungojerrie thought for a second, then suddenly brightened as he nodded and said, "Yeah, yeah, I know that 'un!" He paused, and then turned to stare at Macavity for a moment, nonplussed. "Are you sayin' that I was jus' saved by the most notorious cat-napper in all o' London?"
"I mean to say," replied Macavity.
Mungojerrie blinked twice, then fell over onto a pile of rubbish, asleep as two days of exhaustion finally caught up with him. Macavity chuckled to himself and hoisted the young tom over his shoulder, walking further into the alleyway.
"It's about time I found a kit that I can use," Macavity whispered, grinning to himself.
Mungojerrie woke up in a partially comfortable bed. It was only partially comfortable because of the scratchy covers. But the softness of the mat was acceptable and he thanked the Everlasting Cat that he was able to sleep peacefully. He looked onto a small pile of rubble, probably from the skylight that brightened his room. The tom noticed a piece of paper on top of the rubble and read it.
If you're awake, come to the main hall and talk to me. I'll be waiting.
Macavity
Mungojerrie stared at the letter for several moments, trying to interpret the scrawled note. When he was able to read it (which took quite some time), he scratched his head in confusion. Why would Macavity wan' t' talk with me? he wondered.
"Oh, well," he mumbled. "I'd migh' as well go down and talk with 'im. I mean, he did save me life, and then gave me a place t' sleep."
He meandered through the corridors of Macavity's lair, trying to find the 'Throne Room' he had heard about from other cats' stories about the Napoleon of Crime. He glanced down a hallway to his right, and saw Macavity sitting, seemingly asleep, at the end of it on a chair adorned with golden strands of metal, in accord with pearls and silver. Wow, Mungojerrie thought. Tha' cat really has things working for 'im.
He swiftly walked into the main hall and stared into the enticing space. A massive table was set out in front of the throne upon which Macavity sat. The table was large enough to hold a dozen, nay, a score of cats. And upon it was large juicy steaks, steaming potatoes, pot roasted chicken, fresh tuna, all the comforts of royalty. The scent overwhelmed Mungojerrie's senses and sent his stomach into flips.
"So I see you'd like some lunch." said Macavity unexpectedly, sending Mungojerrie into a five foot leap into the air.
"Umm…" stuttered Mungojerrie, still recovering from his near heart failure. "If you don' mind?" he replied, his face quickly turning into the most innocent grin he had ever done.
"No, no, of course I don't mind," chuckled Macavity. "Help yourself."
Mungojerrie quickly grabbed a piece of steak and bit into it. He drooled over the piece he held after swallowing the first one. "Now this is what I call steak!" he lavished over the meat, and quickly had another bite.
"I'm glad you like it. And I must admit, it does look rather appetizing, other than the fact that it's poisoned." informed Macavity.
Mungojerrie's eyes immediately widened and he spit the piece he was chewing out and started trying to regurgitate the piece he had already swallowed.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" roared Macavity. "You fell for it! Oh, that was so worth the wait! HAHA!" Macavity almost rolled out of his throne from laughing so hard. "It's not poisoned, you imbecile! Why would I save someone just to poison them, if I could use them?! Haahaha!"
Macavity continued maniacally laughing as Mungojerrie picked himself off the floor. Macavity's convulsions from the insane joke slowly died down as Mungojerrie stared at him with a stern face.
"What?" Macavity asked, almost innocently. "You have to admit that was hilarious! Ha!"
"Yes, quite funny," responded Mungojerrie, not amused at all by the crime lord's joke.
"Alright, I can see that you aren't in a good mood," said Macavity, as if he was talking to a kitten. "Go ahead eat up. I am sure that you are extremely hungry."
Mungojerrie finished his steak cautiously. He put down the bone and looked at Macavity. "Tha' was good," he said quietly. "My compliments t' the chef."
"Why, thank you," replied a voice from the back hall.
Mungojerrie glanced over to the darkened walkway. A black cat with a white patch of fur over her left eye appeared from the hallway.
"Ahhh, yes," Macavity sighed. "Mungojerrie, please meet Hera, my chef."
Mungojerrie stared at the chef once she moved into better light. His jaw dropped to the floor as he saw the queen slide gracefully to his side to gather up the plate he had used.
"See Macavity?" she stated. "Lots of people like my food, not just the prisoners."
"That's only because he hasn't eaten in six days," Macavity grumbled and crossed his arms. "It still tastes like Pollicle shite to me."
"Nice t' make your acquaintance, Miss. And I must say, this is the best food I've ever had in my life," Mungojerrie said as he bowed and kissed her hand, ignoring Macavity's comment.
"Macavity, you picked up such a gentleman," said Hera seductively, as she gracefully skated around his throne.
"Yes, fine, just get back to your job, kitten," he hissed at her.
Hera bit her thumb at him, then smiled and waved slightly at Mungojerrie, waltzing back into the kitchen.
"And now, I have something to ask you, Mungojerrie," piped up Macavity, getting Mungojerrie's attention away from Hera.
"Anything, sir," he replied, averting his gaze back to Macavity.
Macavity motioned to a guard in the left corridor. The guard scuttled down the hall, and Mungojerrie heard a terrified scream.
The guard reappeared with a small calico queen whose eyes were wider than that of Mungojerrie's when Macavity played the joke on him.
"Have you ever seen this little queen before?" Macavity asked quite sincerely.
Mungojerrie stared at the calico queen. She would be cute if it wasn't for her being frightened out of her skin. Her features were thin and bruised, and she needed a good bathing. Her coat was similar to that of his own, but slightly lighter in the base colour. He immediately wanted to try and get her out, but he knew Macavity would see through his lie, even if he tried to enforce it. He swallowed hard and answered honestly, "No sir, I have never seen her before, or not that I can recall."
"A pity." responded Macavity. "All right. Bring her to the execution room, Tamerang. I will be there shortly." he ordered the guard, whose name was Tamerang.
Tamerang shot an angry look to Mungojerrie, then said something softly to the queen, as if he was comforting her.
"WAIT!" shrieked Mungojerrie.
Macavity looked at the tom. "What is it? Have you seen her before?" he asked slyly.
Mungojerrie knew that he was done for, but he had to try if it meant the young queen would get out of it alive. He swallowed again and replied, "Yes sir, now tha' I got a good look at her, I do recall seein' her once."
"Where?" asked Macavity, inquisitively.
Mungojerrie knew he shouldn't have dug himself into a lie, and now he had to dig deeper. "In Kingston Square, sir. I think she went into an alleyway across the street from a house I was robbin', maybe ten days back?"
The queen's eyes darted from him to Macavity, and her eyes widened more, but in surprise, not fear. She stared at him, as if to say, What in the name of the Everlasting Cat are you doing?
Macavity chuckled. "I'm sure." He looked back to Tamerang. "Take her back to her cell." Tamerang left, patting the almost sobbing calico on the back as he led her back to her cell.
Macavity then turned to Mungojerrie. "Good lie," he stated flatly. "You almost had me convinced there, but when you added the ten days back, I knew you were lying."
"Huh?"
Macavity sighed. "Ten days ago, she was in a cell, and I was tracking you. You never robbed a house in that time. And she never escaped her cell. Very impressive to come up with that on such short notice though."
Mungojerrie looked to the floor, dejected. "So you are going t' kill her?"
"No." replied Macavity, surprisingly. "I think that I'll pair you two up as crime partners. The way you can play off of her is simply incredible."
"Wha'?" asked Mungojerrie, stunned. "How do you know tha' I could do tha' all the time?"
"I could kill her, though that would be wasting such a prospective young queen," Macavity sighed, stoking his chin and glancing at Mungojerrie.
"NO!" Mungojerrie cried. "Erm, I mean no, don't do tha'. She certainly is a fine piece of kit," he added in quickly, hoping to please Macavity.
"So you will pair up with her?" asked Macavity.
"Yessir, I will, sir," replied Mungojerrie in complete honesty. "But she does look like she needs some food and a good bath. And it quite possible tha' she needs to be taught how to steal efficiently," he added, trying very hard to sound informed.
"Yes, all right, then," agreed Macavity, rolling his eyes at all the young tom's 'demands'. "Hera will feed her some of the Pollicle shite that you seem to love so much, and you can clean her up. Go and tell Tamerang to let her out of her cell."
"Thank you, sir." Mungojerrie bowed and went to the cell corridor.
The black and white cat called Tamerang stood at the end of the hallway, right by the calico queen's cell door.
"So, you on the good side of Macavity yet?" asked Tamerang quietly as he tossed the keys to Mungojerrie.
Mungojerrie stopped in his tracks. "Why do you care?" he asked, perplexed.
"'Cause if you are, then you can talk him into giving better living conditions for these poor prisoners," Tamerang replied guiltlessly.
"And why would I do tha', considering tha' you probably beat this poor queen?" Mungojerrie asked Tamerang, narrowing his eyes as he pointed to the calico queen huddled in the corner of the cell.
"I did no such thing!" Tamerang hissed, ears flattening. "Macavity did that to her. I'm the only reason she lasted this long, giving her my evening meals and comforting her and all!"
The queen looked up and nodded her head, but did not say a word.
"Oh." Mungojerrie hushed quickly. "Sorry. I didn't know."
"Apology accepted," smiled Tamerang. "Now, let's get her down to Hera. Afterwards, I'll help you clean her up."
"That sounds good," agreed Mungojerrie. "Say, do you know her name?"
"No," replied Tamerang dimly.