Note: For those of you who have a memory as good as mine, you may remember that Grumbuskin had some catnip back in Chapter 3. I originally intended to have his fondness of catnip to be a type of running gag throughout this fic, but I put the idea aside for some reason. Right now I'm wondering if I should go back and add that bit in. It'd only add it in a few chapters, such as Chapter 8 (right after the meeting with Baltrow), Chapter 11 (before the massacre at Chelsea), Chapter 12 (after the massacre), Chapter 16 (before the Battle of Southwark), and Chapter 21 (just before he performs in the Mariner's Gala).What's your opinion on that idea? If you think it'd be too much a flaw on his character, then I'll leave those chapters as they are.
Farios sat in the corner of the brig on the Demagogue. He was trying to settle down, but his mind was still haunted by what had happened at the Mariners' Gala.
When he had woken up in the brig, he had demanded to know what was going on. Bill Bailey had been on guard duty at the time, and the Security Chief explained everything.
Farios was shocked when Bill Bailey told him that he had tried to rape Jemima and beat Tumblebrutus. He had only seen the two of them for a moment on the ship earlier that night, and he had merely acknowledged that Jemima was a beautiful queen. But he knew his place; he knew that she was Tumblebrutus' queenfriend and that she was too young for him.
His actions during his drunken state proved otherwise.
Once Bill Bailey confirmed that Farios did not pose a threat to anyone, Growltiger came to confront him for his actions.
"What exactly happened?" Growltiger asked him, trying to suppress a furious glare.
"I… I don't really know, sir," Farios had responded, "One moment, he had been drinking with a few of his friends from some of the other vessels. Then, my mind partly blacked out. I felt my body move, and I heard voices, but I could not understand what was going on."
"You attacked a senior officer and his guest," Growltiger stated bluntly, "That is why you are in the brig."
"Sir, I know you're not going to believe me," Farios told his Captain, "But I have no idea how that happened. It was as if I was not in control of my own body for a while."
"You are correct, Farios," said Growltiger, "I do not believe you."
Farios sighed and leaned back against the corner. He did not know how many drinks he had that night, but he was certain that he had not consumed enough to bring out his latent feelings about Tumblebrutus and Jemima.
Farios looked at Growltiger and asked him "What punitive actions are being taken against me?"
"I decided to let Tumblebrutus determine your sentence," Growltiger told him, "He suggested keeping you in here for ten days and demoting you one grade. If you ask me, that is a generous punishment."
Farios sighed again and stayed seated in the corner. Growltiger told him "I want your assurance that this will never happen again. Ever."
"It will not, sir," Farios replied, "I'll spend the next nine days thinking about what happened."
Growltiger nodded, said "Good," and left the brig.
Farios leaned up against the wall, resting his arms against the cold metal. Just then, he recoiled and grasped his left arm just above the elbow. A bandage had been tied to that part of his arm.
Earlier, Growltiger had ordered Najalim and Quaftil to go to the brig while Farios was unconscious and withdraw a sample of his blood. He wanted them to use it to determine just how much alcohol Farios had in his system when he and his friends attacked Tumblebrutus and Jemima. Growltiger also wanted to have his blood tested for drugs like catnip or anything else that would explain his behavior.
The bandage had remained to clot the bleeding. But Farios felt so much self-loathing for what he had done that he felt he did not even deserve the privilege of a bandage. He just sat in that corner of the brig, thinking to himself.
Almost two days later, Farios had barely moved at all, except to go to the door when the guards brought him food. He felt that even once his sentence was over, he would not feel comfortable. The others would probably give him hostile glares or condemn him for his actions.
Farios ultimately decided that he would deserve to be treated this way. He felt no sympathy or respect for himself at that time. All he could do was wonder What happened that night? What could have possibly motivated me to behave in such a barbaric manner?
…
At Macavity's warehouse, Flash had just returned from a night of spying. He met up with Sharpie and Cyclops to share his findings with them.
"Did you find out anything useful about the ship?" asked Sharpie.
"Not especially, no," replied Flash, "But I made a very interesting discovery about the crew."
"What would that be?" said Cyclops.
"Growltiger is sending a group of eight cats to Hampton," Flash explained, "Those cats left the ship at Westminster, and I followed them for about a mile."
"Did they see you?" said Sharpie.
"No, I made sure to keep enough distance between them and myself," Flash assured them, "Anyway, it looks like your theory was correct, Cy."
"What theory?" stated the one-eyed cat.
"There are Jellicles working for Growltiger," Flash replied, "I picked up a scent as I followed them. After just a moment of pondering, I knew it could only be the scent of a Jellicle."
"You found a Jellicle leaving for Hampton?" said Sharpie.
"Not one, but four." Flash corrected her.
"Four Jellicles?" Cyclops stated aloud.
"Yes, but that's not all," said Flash, "I went back to the docks at Westminster shortly after that to see if I could detect another Jellicle's scent. But I could not."
"So, you're saying that those four are the only Jellicles working for Growltiger?" Sharpie assumed.
"It would seem that way." Flash nodded.
"Why would Growltiger send the only four Jellicles in his crew on a mission to Hampton?" wondered Cyclops.
"I'm sure he has his reasons," stated Flash, "But we shouldn't concern ourselves with that matter. We have to focus on what is going on here in London. Did you guys get any update from the mole tonight?"
"Yes, we did, as a matter of fact," answered Sharpie, "Mungojerrie is expecting to receive a communiqué from Genghis very soon. The Siamese may have enough information to stage an attack against the Demagogue now."
"Already?" said Flash, "Just two days ago, we did not have anywhere near enough info for him."
"That is true," stated Cyclops, "But a while before you got back, we received a transmission from the mole. There was a massive amount of information attached to it."
"Really?" Flash whistled.
"Yep," said Sharpie, "We were almost overwhelmed by all its detail. Mungojerrie transmitted all the new data to Genghis. Genghis in turn put us on standby while he analyzed the information."
Flash nodded, trying to contain his amazement. He had no idea that their plan could have accelerated so much in just one night.
Right then, there was a knock on the door. The three henchcats turned to it, wondering who it could be.
"Come in," said Cyclops.
Mungojerrie came into the room. He looked at the other three and told them "Genghis is sending us his response. I think that you'll want to know what he has to say. "
The four of them went to the communications array and put the microphone on speaker. Soon, Genghis's message came through. According to its contents, the Siamese leader had determined that enough information about the Demagogue had been collected for him and his men to stage an attack against Growltiger.
"All that remains now is for us to plan when and where the assault will take place," stated Genghis.
"Ou'r mole on th'at ship info'med us th'at the Demagogue is makin' its w'ay ta West Molesey," Mungojerrie replied, "It shou'd be arrivin' th'ere within three o' fou' days."
"West Molesey is too far into hostile territory for us," Genghis stated, "We need somewhere closer to the city."
"Sorry, but th'at's the b'est we can do r'ight now," said Mungojerrie.
"What about your mole?" asked Genghis, "Couldn't they do something to force the ship to stop somewhere close to the city?"
"I don't kno' 'bout th'at," answered Mungo, "We'd 'ave ta discuss th'at with 'em. We'll tr'y as 'ard as we c'an."
"In that case, I'll start assembling the best in my fleet," said Genghis, "Notify me when the Demagogue comes to port somewhere closer to London than West Molesey."
"W'ill do," Mungojerrie agreed. He then switched off the line. After deleting the log entry of the transmission, he turned to face his colleagues. "Fl'ash, did ya f'ind out anythin' else a'bout the ship tonight."
"Well, Mungo, I probably should have told you about this before you spoke with Genghis," Flash began, "I found out that Growltiger is sending eight of his crew on a mission to Hampton."
"H'ampton?" said Mungo, "W'hy?"
"I'm not sure," answered Flash, "All I managed to overhear was that they would be there for about three or four days."
"Peculiar," said Sharpie, "That's the amount of time it will take the Demagogue to travel to West Moseley."
"And West Moseley is just a little south of Hampton," Cyclops added.
"Th'ey mus' be plannin' ta pick th'ose e'ight crewmemb'ers up at West Moseley," Mungojerrie concluded.
"What should we do about them, then?" asked Sharpie.
Mungojerrie sat thinking for a little while. He finally answered "Nothin'. Nothin' at all."
"What?" said Cyclops, "You're just going to let them get away?"
"Yes, but Ah h'ave good re'sons," Mungojerrie elucidated, "If th'ose e'ight crewmemb'ers rend'ezvous with t'he Demagogue wh'oile the Siamese a'ttack it, they'll be a'ble to see fo' th'emselves wh'at happens to those w'ho turn down ou'r Boss's inv'itations."
The other three thought about this idea, and they found it to be an ingenious one. Sharpie stated "That sounds like a brilliant, plan, Mungo.
"Who knows?" spoke Cyclops, "We may even pressure those eight into joining our group."
"Pe'haps," Mungo shrugged, "But fo' now, let's fo'cus on deve'loping ou'r all'iance with Genghis."
Several miles southwest of the city, the train running on the South Western Main Line shifted lanes onto the Hampton Court Branch Line. A couple minutes later, it arrived at the Hampton Court railway station. There, all the passengers – seventy-four humans and eight cats – got off the train.
Grumbuskin and the other members in the travelling party made sure to keep their distance between the humans. Once the coast was clear, Grumbuskin signaled to the others to get a move-on.
As they moved through the streets, Growltiger told them "We'll make camp tonight at Hampton Court. Then we'll make our way to Hampton in the morning."
"Why don't we just make our way there now?" asked Tumblebrutus.
"Because it's over a two 2-kilometer walk to Hampton itself," explained Grumbuskin, "And believe me, Tumble, you do not want to walk through the town of East Molesey late at night. Hampton Court is the safest place in this town for us to spend the night."
After travelling north through the city streets for about two hundred meters, the eight cats arrived at Hampton Court. The historical palace's main entrance – the Lion Gates – were sealed up tight, but all eight of the cats managed to squeeze underneath them and made their way to a cluster of trees off to the side.
There, they set up camp for the night. As everyone unrolled their sleeping bags, Dominev looked up and studied the sky for a moment. He announced "Looks like there is a possibility of rain tonight."
Placondgo looked up as well, and after he too examined the sky, stated "It would seem that way. Perhaps we should set up camp in a covered area."
"Good idea," Ralpharite agreed, "One can never really predict the weather."
Once the group got under a covered area, they started to get settled Dominev and Placondgo gathered a bunch of rocks and put them on the ground in a large circle. Then they gathered plenty of sticks and placed them in the circle. They then used a match to start a campfire.
"You think that's enough wood?" asked Placondgo.
"Yeah, the fire should last us through the night," stated Dominev.
While they did this, Grumbuskin sat down and helped himself to a bit of catnip. Ralpharite was still looking over his plans; Coricopat and Tantomile were meditating quietly. Tumblebrutus and Jemima were out lying in the grass, gazing up at the sky. It was pretty cloudy, but they could still see a few stars through in patches of the sky.
"The stars here are not as elegant as the stars back home," Jemima commented, "But the scenario definitely makes up for it. Lying here in the grass is much better than lying on top of some ruined car."
"I'm inclined to agree," Tumblebrutus remarked. There was silence, and then Tumble turned to Jemima and told her "I am glad that you're here, Jem."
She smiled and told him "I'm glad to be here with you, too."
A while later, Grumbuskin ordered everyone to get some rest, as they had a long day ahead of them.