Chapter Eight: Tall Pine
A coarse bird call split the tranquil dawn air. Tall Pine leaped to his paws, on high alert as the call had yanked him out of a restless sleep. "What was that?"
The soft gray light of predawn filtered in through the opening, but inside, the small wooden structure was still shadowy. The Clan cats huddled in a large cluster in the center they had the night before. Most cats raised their heads or stood up, roused as well by the unusual bird call. They murmured to each other in confusion and alarm, but no one seemed to know what it could be.
Yellow Sky stood and shook out her pelt. "It's almost dawn. Everyone's awake, so we might as well start moving."
No one objected, so the cats piled out of the twoleg structure, most of them glad to leave the strange thing behind. The patrol started on their way again across the vast expanse of open meadows. The storm from the night before had long passed, and the sun rose as they walked, brightening a clear blue sky. Tall Pine's heart twinged with longing as he gazed behind him at the foothills and the mountains kissed by the golden sunlight. He turned his eyes to the horizon ahead, where the flat land stretched as far as he could see, lone clumps of trees or shrubs sticking up here and there like sore claws.
The patrol made excellent time as they trekked across the level earth, not hindered by a thick forest or a rugged mountain slope. Tall Pine noted that the soft grass and even ground was easier on everyone's paws, especially Spotted Owl's.
Halfway to sunhigh, the Clan cats reached yet another unusual sight; tall finely cut sections of wood stuck into the ground and connected by other pieces that corralled in the more animals they'd never seen before. The animals were huge, much larger than dogs, but smaller than monsters. Their black and white patched fur was short and thick, and they had long and thin tails ending with tufts of hair. They all stood lazily around in the field, so intent on eating grass that they didn't even notice the cat's presence.
"What are those?" Blossom Dust wondered aloud. She cocked her head curiously.
"I don't know." Tall Pine shrugged. "But they don't seem that dangerous, nor smart for that matter."
"I've heard the elders in my Clan tell stories about animals like those," Duck Flight, a cat from the Clan of the Flowing Waters who stood nearby, said. He wrinkled his muzzle in concentration. "I think they're sheep, or maybe horses."
"I think you look a lot like them with your black and white fur." Blossom Dust glanced at him, her yellow eyes sparkling humorously. "Maybe you should join those animals. If you stood and ate grass all day, you would fit right in!"
"No thanks." Tall Pine shook his head vigorously, but he had to chuckle a little.
"Let's keep moving," Owl Eye decided. His tail flicked impatiently. The one-eyed tom strode forward and slipped under the low piece of wood.
One by one, the rest of the patrol followed Owl Eye's lead and entered the pasture. The cats eyed the animals warily as they crept passed them since every other new thing they had encountered so far had posed a danger. A few of the animals flicked an ear or raised their head, but they paid very little mind to the cats and went about their business grazing on the grass.
The Clan cats made their way as best as they could across the large rectangular pasture, skirting the hulking creatures as they went. The reached the wooden boundary on the other side and slipped underneath.
A dense wall of green plants in orderly rows greeted them on the other side. The tufted tops stretched high above Tall Pine's head. While the stalks were thick, they seemed flimsy and easily bendable.
"Should we go through or around?" One of the cats asked aloud.
Rabbit Nose stepped forward, cautiously sniffing the leaves. "They don't smell like anything I've smelled before."
"Are we rabbits or are we Clan cats?" Owl Eyes demanded. He from side to side at the patrol around him. "These are plants; they can't be dangerous. It'll take too much time to go around. Let's go." He marched into the strange forest.
The rest of the patrol followed Owl Eye, through they were little more cautious. They wove their way between the rows, the thin but sharp leaves scraping at their fur. Tall Pine's pelt prickled a little as he gazed around himself at the bare ground deep in shadow beneath the leaves of the tree-like plants.
There's no reason to be afraid. He reminded himself. As Owl Eye said, plants can't be dangerous. Not everything in the outside world poses a threat, though it may seem so.
The thick field of plants stretched on and on, and soon it felt like had been walking for days in this maze. Tall Pine began to zone out when he started as he almost walked straight into Quick Clouds who had halted in front of him.
"What's going on?"
Quick Clouds didn't answer as he craned his neck, trying to see what was happening further up in the patrol. Tall Pine peered around his instructor and saw Rabbit Nose, who was at the head of the patrol, stopped with his muzzle to the ground.
The brown tabby and white tom raised his head and looked back at the cats behind him. "I just noticed our scents from earlier, so I think we've passed by here already."
"Oh, perfect," Small Foot from the Clan of the High Peaks sighed. "We've been walking in circles."
"Oh, no, we're lost!" Another cat fretted.
"Hold on," Yellow Sky said. She took a step to one side so everyone could see her. "Worrying will do no good. We need to figure out—"
"Hey!" A hostile voice came from the shadows. "Who are you? What are you doing in my field?"
The Clan cats looked this way and that, trying to figure out where from the voice came. Tall Pine's eyes landed on a shape of a cat as a solid tom gray as the sky on cloudy days materialized from the shadows. He strode toward them, his yellow eyes fixed on them. The Clan cats stared back, no one quite sure of what to make of this strange cat. He was the first one of their kind they had seen in the world outside the Valley of Hidden Stars.
The tom stopped, his short gray fur fluffed up, but he eyed them warily now. "Who are you all? What is a large group like you doing here? I don't want any trouble, but this is my hunting ground, so I suggest you leave."
Melting River took a step toward the tom. He dipped his head slowly to the stranger. "We are travelers on a journey from far away. We are just passing through, and we do not pose any threat to you, or your Clan, or you whatever you call your group."
The gray tom blinked. "Okay. No problem. Continue on your way." He turned to leave, his long gray tail sweeping behind him.
"Wait!" Melting River called out.
The tom halted and looked cautiously over his shoulder.
Melting River shifted his paws awkwardly. "Could you lend us some aid? We can't find out way out of this forest of plants."
"Do you mean this cornfield?"
The Clan cats all looked at him blankly.
The gray tom chuckled dryly. He seemed to be more relaxed now. "I guess you aren't from around here; even kittypets know what a cornfield is. But sure, I can help you. I'm Slate."
"My name is Melting River," the Clan of the High Peaks tom replied. "This is Yellow Sky, Sun Splash, and Owl Eye. We are the leaders of this patrol."
"Nice to meet you," Slate meowed with a friendly smile. He flicked his tail in behind him. "Follow me. It's this way."
The Clan cats padded after Slate as he led the way through the field. Some of the cats hung back, muttering distrustfully to one another, but Tall Pine pushed his way to the front of the patrol. He was intrigued by Slate, and he liked friendly tom, despite the strange words he used. In hardly any time, they emerged from the cornfield into a short expanse of grass that stretched to a long bare patch of earth. Another wooden boundary ran along the dirt path until it reached a faded red twoleg structure in the distance. On the other side of boundary fluffy white animals smaller than the ones they'd seen earlier grazed on the lush grass.
Tall Pine angled his ears toward the animals. He glanced at Slate. "What are those animals?"
Slate blinked, looking surprised. "Oh, those are sheep, some of the farm animals. There's a group of twolegs that run this place called a farm, where they grow food like corn and keep animals like sheep."
"Wow." Tall Pine said, slightly daunted by how much he and the other Clan cats didn't know. "We saw some big black and white animals earlier, and we thought they might be sheep, but I guess not."
Slate stifled a snort of amusement. "Those were cows."
Melting River turned to Slate. He dipped his head again. "Thank you for your help, but we should be going."
"It's getting late, so you all would be welcome to stay the night," Slate offered with a meaningful glance at the sun as orange as marigold petals hovered not far above the horizon. "There is a lot of space in the barn, and plenty of mice and rats."
Melting River looked at the other Clan cats. A few cats muttered doubtfully, but the most murmured agreement that they should take Slate up on his kind offer for a night safe from threats and easy prey. "Thank you. We accept your offer." Melting River replied. "Now where's this 'barn' of your's?"
Slate nodded in the direction of the red twoleg structure. "That's the barn. Come on, let's go." He trotted lightly across the dirt path and began padding along the wooden boundary.
The Clan cats hung back hesitantly for a moment, but one by one began to follow the tom. There was no use backing out now as they had accepted Slate's offer, and it couldn't be that dangerous as he seemed to sleep in it every night.
The red barn grew larger as the cats padded toward it. They stopped just outside the big opening in the front and gazed up at the massive structure of wood colored a faded red and white that towered almost as high as the trees. Smaller openings ringed in white were set about halfway up the barn's front wall. From inside, the delicious smell of prey wafted into the cats' noses.
Slate lifted his muzzle as he strode confidently inside, not bothered at all by the unnaturalness of the barn. "Harvest, Swallow, Chestnut! Come on down! We have guests."
Tall Pine followed his fellow patrol cats as they cautiously ventured inside. The inside of the barn was shrouded in soft gray shadows like dove feathers streaked with orange light spilling in from the openings. It was cavernous, unlike the other cramped structure they had slept in the night before. The roof stretched higher than many treetops, and the walls were dozens of tail-lengths long. A mountain of dried grass-like plants took up most of one of the sides. Two pieces of wood joined together by smaller ones connected the floor to a landing halfway up the wall.
As Tall Pine craned his neck to gaze at the ceiling, he noticed a tortoiseshell face peering over the side of the landing. The cat's eyes widened eyes as they looked down at the crowd below.
Slate swished his tail as he looked up. "Harvest! Come on down and bring the kits!"
The face disappeared, and a moment later, a beautiful tortoiseshell and white she-cat led two kits down the joined pieces of wood with swift and confident steps. The three cats hopped down the last little ledge and trotted over to greet Slate.
Slate affectionately touched noses the tortoiseshell and white she-cat and licked the two kits' ears, and then he turned to the Clan cats. "This is my family; Harvest is my mate, and Swallow and Chestnut are our kits. We all live here together."
Tall Pine gazed at the tortoiseshell and white she-cat, then at the very young pale gray she-kit and reddish-brown tom-kit who hung back shyly in their parents' shadows.
"Harvest," Slate said. He turned to his mate. "These are our guests, travelers from far away. I invited them to spend the night here."
"Welcome," Harvest meowed. She scanned the Clan cats. Her face broke into a warm smile. "We occasionally get a lone visitor or a few cats at a time, but we've never had a group as large as yours. Maybe you could share with us your story later. Our kits love to hear our visitors' tales."
Yellow Sky stepped forward and dipped her head to the farm cats. "Thank you for your hospitality, but we should hunt and then rest. We have traveled far, but we still have a long way to go that requires an early start tomorrow."
"Of course," Harvest replied. She said a cordial goodnight to the Clan cats and then took Swallow and Chestnut back up to the landing. Meanwhile, Slate showed the Clan cats how to hunt for the abundant mice and rats among the gigantic heap of dried grass, or hay as he dubbed it.
The moon had risen and a patch of twinkling stars was visible from one of the lower openings or 'window,' as Tall Pine curled up for the night in a soft bed of hay. The Clan cats had spread out around him, each cat pawing together some hay to make a warm nest. Spotted Owl and Blossom Dust lay a tail-length to his left, and their instructors weren't far to his right. Above him, Tall Pine could hear soft murmuring as their hosts, Slate and Harvest, put their kits to bed.
What an exciting day today was, Tall Pine reflected. A content smile spread across his face. He had learned a lot of new terms and met some cats outside the Clan for the first time who led a simple, but fulfilling life on the farm. I almost wish we could stay here with Slate and Harvest, and forget about all of our conflicts with the Bands. But that can't happen.
Tall Pine let out sigh and pushed his dark thoughts to the corner of his mind. His belly was full, and they were warm and safe from danger for at least one night. He tucked his nose under his tail, and let his tired body tug him into sleep.
Thank you for reading chapter eight! It was interesting to write the patrol's first encounter with cats outside the Clans. Did anyone make any connections with some hints I dropped in the conversation with Slate? What do you think of the farm cats? I came up with the name Harvest a while ago, and I think Harvest and Swallow (barn swallows) are perfect nakes for farm cats!
Please review, follow, and favorite!
- A Warrior At Heart
