Shedding the deadly dog's teeth, Patches put Nightpaw through her paces and had to admit, her fighting techniques were good. Basic and a few advanced moves; her form was nearly perfect. Her clan had different techniques than Starclan's and she proved to be both swift and wily. She tumbled him over more than once, despite being built much more lightly than he was.
"Excellent." Patches approved, and her eyes glowed as she sat back. "Now, I'm going to show you some moves the clans do not teach their warriors."
So saying, he lunged forward and wrapped both of his powerful forelegs around her smaller neck and dug his claws into the scruff.
Nightpaw gasped, feeling sharp claws jabbing from behind and realizing that her face was directly exposed to his powerful jaws in front. For an instant, she panicked. Jerking back she was promptly arrested by the claws. She clawed at him with her front paws but only got fur as the thick fur on his chest acted as a buffer against her frantic scrabbling. Wriggling, she managed to twist around, only to have her vulnerable throat pressed tightly against the deadly points and leaving her scruff exposed to his jaws, where he could bite and hold.
"Nightpaw, Nightpaw stop."
The apprentice hesitated, pupils dilated in alarm.
"Turn around."
Legs trembling she wriggled again and turned back to face the powerful tom.
Yellow eyes locked with hers, calm and steady. "Nightpaw, this is an advanced move. I do not expect you to master it between one heartbeat and the next. Take a deep breath and let it out. Now listen to me."
She closed her eyes, dragged in a deep, ragged breath, and let it out slowly. When her eyes opened again, she felt calmer.
"This is called the Suffocate Hold. Because I can do this." Patches large jaws gaped wide and clamped lightly onto Nightpaw's muzzle, trapping her nose and jaws in an airless mouth. He held only for a single heartbeat and quickly let go, allowing her breathing to resume with only a light hitch.
Her expression was both awed and frightened.
"Good, you understand. Now I will show you how to escape it. When you are grabbed, duck low. Lower. Lower. Now thrust your head down and under my front legs so you slip out to the side." Patches' front paws thudded down onto the ground as Nightpaw ducked the grip and slipped to the side. With a hiss she raked her claws down his unprotected side, careful only to rake fur.
"Very good. Again. Only this time, be quick."
They practiced the move over and over as the sky slowly began to lighten. By the time Patches called a stop for the day, she was well on her way to being skilled in ducking the Loner's paws. She practiced also the grip technique he showed her.
"It calls for balance and leverage, not strength." He advised, as she stumbled through the first few grabs. "Plant your hind legs flat as though you are sitting. Now wrap your front legs as far about my neck as you can and grab my muzzle in your mouth."
Patches' muzzle was too wide, and Nightpaw's mouth too small for a proper hold, but she found a good mock chomp to the end of his muzzle proved that any cat's nose was sensitive to needle sharp teeth.
"You're small now, but you will grow." He assured her gently when her jaws slipped yet again from their hold.
They made nests under a bush as the sky began to lighten and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.
The day was at its warmest, drowsiest time when the bush exploded inward. Foul breath slammed straight into Patches' irate face as massive jaws filled with horribly familiar looking teeth thrust into their nest.
Nightpaw gave a shriek of terror as the jaws clamped down on her neck and dragged her bodily out into the open.
"Let go of her!" Patches thundered, and shot out of the nest almost before he was aware he was on his paws.
Out in the open, his heart sank to the pads of his paws. A massive black dog had Nightpaw by the scruff of her neck and carried her into a patch of trampled grass. With a loud snort, it plopped the frantic apprentice down and pinned her beneath wide black paws.
Cursing his ill luck, Patches realized that the deadly dog's teeth were only effective if he could get close to the monstrous beast.
Nightpaw writhed like an eel, twisting this way and that with a flexibility that Patches admired, even as the massive dog easily scooped up the apprentice and pinned her again and again. Growling, the fur along his spine lifting almost of its own accord, Patches charged the dog's face. If he went for the eyes…
With a 'snorf' sound, the dog thrust a sweeping paw out and bowled the large tom off his feet. He was on his feet in an instant and charging again. This time the dog's jaws plunged down, snatched up Nightpaw, and sprinted away across the field; it's long, stiff tail held high like a flag.
What is it doing? Patches thought in dismay. Does it think Nightpaw is a play thing to play 'keep away' with? I can't lose them!
Dismay sang through Patches' whole body as the long legged beast easily left the powerful tom behind. In a fight, Patches could beat any cat… and a number of dogs, on his own. But his solid, stocky body was not made for headlong flight.
Nightpaw's cries faded into the distance and the gasping tom was forced to slow to a walk. A broad trail reeking of dog made an easily followed path through the grass that waved high over the Loner's head.
Clan of the Skies, keep Nightpaw safe, he silently begged, even as he got the sinking feeling that they were beyond the reach of the warrior ancestors. Starclan, Clan of Nightpaw's Ancestors, look out for her, please! Patches wasn't finicky when it came to asking someone to keep the apprentice safe.
He was deep in the field now, and the only feature besides the hills in the distance was a sleeping monster looming not too far away. An indignant complaint made the Loner's ears snap to attention. Cautiously he crept forward and peered around a bend in the trail of smashed foliage. The massive dog was laying down in another circle of trampled grass with Nightpaw between its large paws.
Nightpaw complained again, not in terror or pain but in disgust, as a massive sloppy pink tongue snaked out and lapped the apprentice's fur the wrong direction. Her fur all but dripped with the dog's drool and had been stirred into drooping spikes by its tongue.
Caught between a purr of amusement and a mew of sympathetic disgust, Patches struggled to come up with a plan. If he charged, the dog would only snatch Nightpaw up and bolt away again. Maybe if he…
Patches stifled a gasp as a tall Twoleg tromped through the grass less than a foxlength away. The massive head lifted and the tail beat a rhythmic tattoo in the grass as the Twoleg made an inquiring noise at it. The inquisitive sounds turned to amusement as it scooped Nightpaw away from the dog, which whined a protest.
"She's with me!" Patches meowed loudly, striding into full view. "Let her go!"
The dog made another 'snorf' noise and got between the Twoleg and the Loner, growling in unmistakable menace at him. He lay his ears back and hissed in fury, flexing his claws and feeling the teeth bite hard into the soft soil. Nightpaw wriggled and stretched her neck toward Patches, not bothering to disguise the relief in her eyes. Uttering a plaintive mew at the Twoleg, she stretched a paw toward the big tom, who mewed back, wracking his brain for memories long past. He edged closer, calling plaintively, keeping a wary eye on the dog.
The Twoleg, strange creature though it was, seemed to understand. A firm command soon had the dog shut up inside the monster. Gently it lowered Nightpaw to the ground and Patches enthusiastically bumped against its paws, receiving a vigorous scratching along his spine.
"Yuck! I'm going to smell of dog and Twolegs for moons!" Nightpaw complained, rolling in the damp grass as the monster grumbled away. Then she paused and stared suspiciously at him. "Patches, you seemed to be able to communicate with that Twoleg quite well."
He flicked an ear in acknowledgement, "I should certainly hope so. I was a kittypet once."
Nightpaw froze in mid-roll and stared at him.
"I told you what Twolegs called my kind," he said mildly, glancing down his back toward his tail-less flank. "I am a Manx, a kind of cat rather popular among some Twolegs. Are you really that surprised?"
"I guess not." Nightpaw sat up and began to wash, grimacing in disgust at the taste. "It just never really registered. How long?"
"Nearly six moons. Then my Twolegs moved and left me. I stumbled into Starclan territory searching for food and they welcomed me. I trained with them for a further six moons before the prophecy sent me out to be a loner. I was a Loner for three moons before I found you."
"So… you would be a warrior by now." Nightpaw seemed to be doing some hard thinking.
"Most likely." Patches shrugged absently.
"You've had a full life. Do you know what the next step is? You've been a Kittypet, a Clan cat, and a Loner."
"Clan leader probably," Patches' whiskers twitched at the thought. Leading cats was an amusing thought but hardly something he wanted. The ambition just wasn't there.
"Maybe we should turn our hours around," Nightpaw said, changing the subject. "I don't think dogs would be as dangerous if we were awake during the day." She hesitated then mewed, "I don't want to be startled awake like that ever again."
"Neither do I." Patches admitted. "Let's hunt something and see how much farther we can travel today."
If there's one good thing about that dog, Patches thought as evening training rolled around, it's that we're much closer to our goal.
Indeed, after looking around, the Loner realized they were among the low hills that had been so distant yesterday. Even better, there had been no sight of Twolegs or dogs or even monsters since their encounter.
Nightpaw was eager to practice, though her limbs felt heavy from the day's exertions. Patches too, seemed a bit slower; which served the apprentice well. The fourth or fifth time she escaped his grasp and thumped the air out of his lungs in a counter attack, he called a stop.
"I can't wait to see you show your skills off to your clan," he wheezed, feeling his ribs throb gently from the pummeling her paws had given him.
Pride shone in Nightpaw's eyes and she stood a little straighter. "Do you think so? Do you think I can be a warrior soon?"
The pride and hope in the young cat's gaze made Patches' heart almost ache with pride himself. Is this what it's like to have an apprentice? He wondered, Is her mentor aching every day at the loss of such a bright young cat?
"I would think so," he rumbled out loud, "I cannot speak for your Clan Leader, but he would be a flea brain not to welcome you as a loyal clan mate."
Weary after the long hard run that day, Patches looked about for a place to rest. A shadow stirred and caught his eye. Something long legged with a bushy tail almost oozed out of the shadows. The overwhelming scent of herbs flooded his nose, but it was the color of the creature's pelt that filled his gaze. It was a rusty red. A fox.
Russet red spills blood, and an ancient hate is washed away.
Russet red.
Energy seemed to flow into Patches' limbs and, eyes gleaming, he began to stalk the creature. It was large, but if he caught it by surprise…
"Patches! No!" Nightpaw hissed as loudly as she dared and tackled the tom, pressing him flat as those blazing eyes swept the tall grass, searching for the source of the rustle.
"Patches, please listen to me! There's more than one!"
The Loner froze in mid struggle, staring. The scent of herbs was even stronger now. The bigger one threw back her head and uttered a loud gleeful bark. A second fox oozed out of the shadows to join the first.
"Foxes don't hunt in packs." Patches whispered incredulously, starring in horror at the undeniable proof before him.
"These do." There was a forest of bitterness in Nightpaw's voice. "There were four of them when I left. They roll in Medicine Cat herbs to hide their scent and try to kill every cat they come across."
The vixen threw back her head and uttered a series of maliciously gleeful barks. The young dog fox answered her, and the two moved off. The racket they made was sure to drive prey deep into their holes for the entire night.
Wearily, Patches began to look for a place to sleep.
"Where are you going?" Fear made Nightpaw's voice shrill.
"Looking for some shelter. We can't go wandering about looking for your clan with those foxes on the loose." Patches tipped his head slightly at the sight of the serious young cat crouched, trembling in the shadows.
"But the foxes went that way." She protested, staring down the dirt path as though expecting a fox to come bursting around the bend.
"Yes they did. Which means they've already been this way and won't be coming back." Patches padded back and gave the apprentice a few soothing licks behind her ears.
Gently, he herded her along the path until they came to the shelter of a low Twoleg bridge. Her eyes were wide and haunted and she started every time she heard a bark.
Patches couldn't blame her. Seeing only two of the supposed four foxes put him on edge as well. Where were the other two? Lurking about out of sight?
Sleep came slowly to Nightpaw and even with her tail over her ears to muffle the sound; she slept fitfully. For the first time the Loner wished he had a tail to add over the apprentice's ears.
As he sank into a light sleep, the deadly teeth seemed to throb in his paws.
Soon, they seemed to whisper, Soon we will taste blood again.
Yes. Soon. Patches thought back. Soon you will be cleansed and I will be free of you.