Chapter 34- first time in Gandalf's base and trouble already
Meanwhile, back at Gandalf's base
Kushanku sat disgruntledly in a chair, being checked over for any injuries by Mensa the Skvader. However, the Nekomata was restless and refused to keep still. As Mensa was inspecting his head for any cuts, Kushanku suddenly snapped his gaze in one direction.
"Keep your head still, will you!" said Mensa in annoyance as Kushanku returned his head to its usual position but before she could return to inspecting the area again, Kushanku snapped his gaze in the direction of some Talking Beasts, among them Blaze the Phoenix, Brina the Roc, Shadewing the Bat, Emberflame the Pyro and also Nyarth, Satoshi (whose broken arm had been fixed by the healing fire-flower juice cordial and was now functioning again), Akira and Sandstorm, Kushanku's biological and adopted siblings, as they walked in, causing Mensa to throw her paws down in irritation. Amongst the group was Cygnus the Swan and he was carrying some sort of bottle full of deep red liquid which Kushanku had recognised as the healing fire-flower cordial like the small amount Gellert the Elf had and had used to heal Cumulonimbus the Thunderbird's injuries.
"Has that Nekomata any serious injuries as a result of the skirmish with that Eagle beast, Mensa?" asked Shadewing. At this, Mensa quickly finished examining Kushanku's head and backed away.
"No but he does have a few bruises," said the Bird-Rabbit, before she returned her gaze at Kushanku and looked at him with immense surprise but also with outrage as well, "however, he had been terribly reckless in throwing himself at that Eagle beast. He could have been killed."
"That monster was about to kill Miss Brina and Snowwing," snapped the Nekomata defiantly, "If I hadn't intervened, those two could have been possibly turned into a meal by that thing…"
"Well, you were still very reckless and foolish, young Nekomata," snapped Mensa fiercely and with a paw point jab into Kushanku's chest, making the Nekomata flinch with a defiant frown. At this, Cygnus stepped in to break up the argument.
"Stop it, both of you;" said the Swan, his glare flashing from Mensa to Kushanku, "Arguing about this is not going to solve anything."
At this, Mensa and Kushanku cooled down and watched Cygnus as he backed away to allow Blaze to take his place, flashing the Swan a nod as the two birds passed by each other.
"Thanks, Cygnus," said the Phoenix, before resuming the matter by shooting Kushanku a furious look.
"Right then, Kushanku, tell me; how did that Eagle beast turn up and attack us just as we were arriving outside one of the hidden entrances to Gandalf and Kyukon's base?" demanded Blaze.
"Yeah, the skirmish had drawn in the unwanted attention from some of Jadis's cronies and they very nearly found the entrance," put in Cygnus with an equally outraged look on his face. At this, Kushanku shot the Swan and the Phoenix an astonished and confused look while Brina, Shadewing, Mensa, Emberflame and Nyarth, Satoshi, Akira and Sandstorm stood back, looking on.
"I-I-I didn't do anything," began Kushanku but Shadewing cut him off.
"According to Belladonna who's in the adjacent room being treated for her injuries," said the Bat, "You've attracted the attention of the Eagle beast and provoked it in to flying towards us and attacking us, starting with flying towards Snowwing, Mensa's son," he flashed a glance at the furious Mensa. As the Bat spoke, Nyarth shot Satoshi, Sandstorm and Akira a disagreeing look and shook his head while Brina and Emberflame wore equally disagreeing frowns.
"Honestly, Kushanku," shouted Mensa fiercely, "That monster nearly devoured my only son AND almost severely injured or even killed Brina as well. Now tell us, did you provoke the beast into attacking us or not?"
Kushanku, at this, did not answer for he was swamped with confusion but when he remembered where he was when the monster first appeared and attacked Snowwing, he shook his head.
"No," he said.
"Well, Belladonna honestly said that you did," said Shadewing in disagreement, "and now that we know that you can fly by spinning your forked tail, to our immense surprise," Kushanku flinched at this and gazed at his bifurcating tail as the Bat swept on, "Belladonna said she saw you fly into the air while Snowwing was hovering above us looking for her and you provoked the Eagle beast flying past into flying towards you and you sent it flying towards Snowwing…"
"I did NOT fly up and provoke the monster!" snapped Kushanku furiously, "And besides that, I would NEVER endanger the lives of anyone else! I only flew up to help save Miss Brina and Snowwing…"
As he said this, Satoshi stepped in while Brina and Emberflame began to talk with each other. They obviously knew that Kushanku, reckless as though he was at times, would never provoke a dangerous monster into attacking himself or anyone else, much less do it deliberately.
"Yeah, he's been with us the whole time when we heard the beast's cries," said the brother of Kushanku. Sandstorm, Nyarth and Akira also stepped in and stood around Kushanku, agreeing looks on their faces as they backed Kushanku up.
"But Belladonna had been missing," added Akira, "When Troodon came and asked us where she was, I assumed that she was on the other side of the group. That is why Snowwing flew up to look for her from above..."
"Have you tried asking Snowwing himself?" asked Sandstorm.
"He's too badly traumatised from the ordeal to speak," said Mensa with an angry frown, "It's gonna take him hours to overcome the extreme shock…"
As they were speaking, a Centaur and two Fauns arrived.
"Gandalf and Kyukon are on their way to meet you guys," said the Centaur named Perseus. At this, Cygnus turned and gazed at the trio.
"Alright, thanks, Perseus," said the Swan. Perseus and the two Fauns nodded and left, leaving Cygnus to turn to face Kushanku and his siblings once again.
"We'll sort this out with Gandalf and Kyukon but in the meantime," said the Swan, "You guys, especially you, Kushanku, are to be confined here until this matter is dealt with."
"WHAAART!?" snapped Kushanku.
"You heard him," said Shadewing in agreement to Cygnus's penalty. Then Brina and Emberflame spoke up.
"We'll look after the four Nekomata and the Cheetah cub," said Brina.
"Yes, you guys go and see to the other group members and meet with Gandalf and his mate," put in Emberflame. Shadewing, Blaze, Cygnus and Mensa nodded, turned round and left. After the four had left, Kushanku stood up from his chair, whirled round and stormed off towards one of the walls, a furious and distraught look on his face.
"It's not FAIR!" howled the Nekomata tearfully with a paw swipe at the wall before harshly slamming his backside onto the floor as he fiercely sat down, exasperated, "I didn't do ANYTHING!"
"I know you didn't" said Emberflame gently, much to the shock of Kushanku, snapping him out of his tantrum and pulling his gaze towards the fiery sprite as Brina, Nyarth, Satoshi, Akira and Sandstorm stood around her.
"You believe me?" asked the Nekomata with surprise.
"You were with us the entire time when that beast appeared," said Sandstorm.
"And you also saved my and Snowwing's life by throwing yourself at the beast to distract it to allow me to escape to the safety of the burrow entrance with Snowwing," put in Brina, before she moved on to Kushanku's rather intruding ability, "By the way, I had no idea that you could fly. It's an extremely rare ability amongst Nekomata…"
"I only noticed it a few days ago," said Emberflame, "and when I did, I was utterly surprised."
Brina turned to Emberflanme with a smile on her beak, "I think we ought to train Kushanku to utilise that ability during the training sessions in combat, basic survival, medicine and other essential topics once his group and the other migrating Narnians had settled into here. It might prove very useful in the future," but then the Roc's face fell slightly, "But I don't think we have any teachers specialised in training Nekomata able to fly by spinning their tails here for it is such a rare ability…"
As she said this, Kushanku looked on and then moved his gaze to his forked tail. He then twisted the forks into a helix-like spiral and saw that he was able to voluntarily do this. This was extremely rare, for the majority of Nekomata did not have such prehensile control over both their tail branches. Nyarth, Akira and Satoshi were amongst that large group, thus they were not likely to possess the ability Kushanku had, though Nyarth did have the ability to deftly jump from one branch or tree trunk to another, and Akira and Satoshi possibly had some talents of their own, though they were yet to come to the surface in the future. While Kushanku was gazing at the dexterity of his tail branches, a knock came on the door.
"Excuse me?" said the knocker, pulling the attention of the group to her. To the group's surprise, but to Nyarth's suspicious frown and Kushanku's hostile glare, Belladonna had appeared in the circular doorway. As the black-purple Kitsune stood, Akira and Sandstorm examined her front paw and her left flank. To their surprise, the scratches were absent and the injured front paw looked totally healed. It was obvious that Cygnus had used the cordial he had on him to heal Belladonna's injuries.
"What do you want, Belladonna?" asked Brina sternly, "Don't you know that these five are confined to here to await Gandalf and Kyukon's arrival?"
"I just want to check on them to make sure they are okay," said Belladonna as she walked in. She flashed a frown, and then a sweet smile, at Kushanku, as she approached group, making Kushanku wince disgustedly, before returning her gaze on the Roc and the Pyro, an angry frown having formed on her face, "but I sure hope Kushanku gets punished for bringing in that Eagle beast to attack us…"
"Look, Bella," said Emberflame brusquely, "We will sort this out when Gandalf and Kyukon turn up, okay? For now, let's leave it and focus on settling here, okay?"
However, as she spoke, unease was welling within the Pyro for she clearly disliked the Kitsune, and Brina was no different. Then Satoshi began to complain and placed his paw, the one that had been injured but was now healed, onto his stomach.
"I'm hungry," he said in a low voice. At this, Brina shot the Nekomata a slightly annoyed look. Then Kushanku, Nyarth, Sandstorm and Akira began to complain of hunger. Giving in, the Roc left to find some food.
"Will you be alright with the Nekomata, Belladonna and Sandstorm until I get back with some nuts, veg and fruit?" Brina asked Emberflame. Emberflame nodded and with that, the Roc disappeared through the circular doorway.
"Mind you, I'm feeling peckish myself," said Belladonna calmly, her paw on her belly as well. Then Emberflame turned to her and the other five.
"Well, you six sit down and wait for Brina to return," said the Pyro, "I'm going to check on Snowwing through there."
And with that, she left, her flames dancing behind her as she floated away. Belladonna turned to the four Nekomata and Sandstorm.
"You sure have a nice, motherly Pyro there, don't you, Cats?" she said with a smile, before removing it, "mind you, Pyros and other fiery beings seem to be very rare these days since the Witch's wintery curse over Narnia has made the frigid air so deadly to them…"
"She's known us since we were kits and cubs," said Sandstorm as he sat in front of Kushanku, possibly to prevent any tension forming between him and Belladonna for he could sense how imminent that was since the Kitsune and the Nekomata were both in the room, and Belladonna still had a sour attitude towards Kushanku.
"I see," said Belladonna with intrigue, "I guess she's like a nanny to you?"
"In a way," said Akira, "She's helped to raise us four, and Sandstorm and his siblings Amberpaw and Gingerfur, to give our mother and father a break."
"She was also a nanny to Dahlia, the Jackalope kit; Snowwing the Skvader kit and Crystal the Parrot chick," added Satoshi as he sat against the wall, "And also our tutor. She taught us how to read and write, and also astronomy, biology and maths."
"That sounds awesome," said Belladonna with a smile, "Despite the hardships caused by the Witch's wintery curse and tyranny afflicting everyone in this country, you seemed to have had a fruitful education during your younger years…"
"Yeah but then all that fell apart when Gingerfur was forcibly selected to participate in the so-called Fighting League," said Sandstorm sadly. Belladonna flashed a smile but then immediately shook her head in shock.
"You lost one of your siblings to the Massacre Event Jadis has created to celebrate her seizing the throne once every ten years?" she said. Sandstorm, Nyarth, Akira and Satoshi nodded but Kushanku remained silent and shot her a bitter glare. He was clearly exasperated from Belladonna's getting him in trouble time and time again. Then Nyarth interrupted.
"Well, that's enough about our past. It's too painful," said he, "I can see Sandstorm's starting to weep over the loss of Gingerfur and it's not helping us four either. Let's just relax and prepare to settle into here. It's been a very long and difficult journey and some of us had suffered quite some traumatic experiences throughout."
"Okay then," said Belladonna slightly irritably and sat with her back against the wall. There was a moment of silence at first but then Nyarth broke it, a suspicious frown forming on his face.
"Come to think of it," he muttered, "it is clear that during two of those incidences, the one with Yuki-onna and the most recent one with the Eagle beast, someone must have been behind trying to get someone killed in both of those incidences AND land someone else," he flashed a glance at one particular Nekomata who sat behind Sandstorm, "into trouble with the elders, including Mr Blaze the Phoenix…"
At this, Belladonna shot Nyarth a curious look.
"Someone must have been behind the Eagle beast and the Yuki-onna incidences?" asked the Kitsune.
"When those two incidences happened, someone had been involved and had been absent during their occurrence," hissed Nyarth in reply.
"Oh, I was just terrified," said Belladonna nonchalantly, "You know what I'm like. I just don't like getting involved with life-threatening situations…"
"Well what about when that Eagle beast attacked Troodon whom you have befriended?" asked Nyarth in a low voice, "How come you weren't there when he was almost dragged away from the burrow entrance and killed by that thing?"
Belladonna, at first, was lost for words but finally she found something to say.
"I-I-I was rooted to the spot with extreme fear," she said.
"I don't think you were," said Nyarth with narrowed, unconvinced eyes.
"No, h-h-honestly, I was," said Belladonna, "That thing terrified me…"
Suddenly, Satoshi interrupted.
"Miss Emberflame and Miss Brina are returning," he said. At this, Nyarth and Belladonna broke off their argument and looked up at the Pyro and the Roc as they floated and walked in respectively, the latter carrying some fruit, veg and nuts of various varieties, though they were of a basic selection and not the advanced selection the Witch and her cronies had at the palace. At this, the Kitsune and Nekomata returned to their seats as Brina and Emberflame approached them with the former setting down the fruit, veg and nuts. Sandstorm, Nyarth, Akira, Satoshi, Kushanku and Belladonna's eyes widened at the food and all six of them hurried over and began to dig in. However, as the group seized the first apples, bananas and nuts, Belladonna 'accidentally' bumped into Kushanku's side while everyone else's eyes were turned away from them. Kushanku released a shriek of shock and was sent careening into Brina, stepping onto her foot and then bowling into the Roc, making the Ice Bird shout in pain and then seize the Nekomata in her wings before the two could crash into the floor.
"Careful, Kushanku!" shouted Brina in irritation and pain, "What are you trying to do? Knock me over?"
"I'm sorry but I didn't do anything! I must have got bumped during the rush," Kushanku replied as the Roc set him back on his feet with Emberflame's help.
"Just get some food inside you, Kushanku," said Emberflame gently and with that, the Pyro helped Kushanku to the pile of fruit, veg and nuts and helped him choose from the food pile. As Kushanku then sat down to eat, Belladonna snickered at the Nekomata as she ate an apple but Kushanku was too engrossed in beginning to eat his meal to notice, much to the Kitsune's spiteful dismay. As the group ate, Nyarth smiled.
"Now THAT'S what I call a proper meal," he said as he ate an apple.
"Don't talk with your mouthful," rebuked Akira before she took a bite out of a carrot. Nyarth just shrugged and continued eating, his cheeks full of apple as he chewed on it.
"Back in Green Leaf, we barely had enough to eat because of the Witch's unfair demands that we give ninety percent of our food delivery and crops to her and her cronies," said Sandstorm.
"That's why we are here, Sandy," said Emberflame, "It is to help rescue as many Narnians as possible from starvation from the Witch's perverse laws on food."
"Yes, Gandalf and Kyukon and their helpers have large crops and livestock of dumb animals being raised for food in some of their base compartments to provide the evacuees, such as yourself, with enough food during your stay," said Brina. At this, Belladonna's eyes lit up in fascination.
"How's Snowwing by the way?" asked Akira after she had swallowed a lump of carrot.
"He's still very badly traumatised but he's fine," said Brina, before the Roc shuddered herself as she remembered the trauma of almost getting killed by the Eagle beast, "it was a close shave, honestly. If it wasn't for Kushanku," the Roc shot said Nekomata a proud gaze, which Belladonna noticed, much to the Kitsune's glare, "we would have died, and Mensa would have lost her only son."
"I reckon his tail-spinning flight ability would prove useful in helping with aerial combat," said Sandstorm proudly. Kushanku just gazed at his adopted Cheetah brother and said nothing as he ate his apple. Emberflame was about to speak when Blaze's voice sounded at the doorway.
"Brina, Emberflame," called the Phoenix, "Kyukon is coming. Can you come and meet her with us please?"
The Phoenix's gaze then travelled to Kushanku and transformed into a stern glare, "And I hope she can help us to sort out the incident regarding the Eagle beast attack that almost killed some of us such as Snowwing and Brina."
Kushanku just gazed at Blaze and continued eating while Sandstorm, Nyarth, Satoshi and Akira shot Blaze an angry glare and Belladonna just smiled slightly. Brina and Emberflame got up and walked or floated over to Blaze.
"You guys behave while we meet Gandalf's mate, you six," said Emberflame firmly. Kushanku and the other five including Belladonna nodded obediently. After this, the Pyro disappeared through the round doorway after Brina and Blaze to meet Kyukon.
Sometime after Emberflame and Brina left with Blaze, the six began to talk once again while eating.
"I can't wait to meet Mr Gandalf's mate," said Akira excitedly as she held a potato in her paws, "According to Mr Blaze, she is the mother of the entire Kitsune species, isn't she?"
"She is the first Kitsune to exist, alongside Mr Gandalf, shortly after Narnia's creation by Aslan," said Nyarth as he chewed on some grapes, "And has been tasked with being the parents of the Kitsune species, chronicling the events of Narnia and presumably playing a vital role in helping the Narnians during this dreadful Eternal Winter time."
"She and Mr Gandalf are also fully matured nine-tailed Kitsune as well, so they will likely be awesome experts in a lot of areas," put in Satoshi excitedly, "especially if they have been collecting knowledge for over 900 years."
"The Kitsune must be an amazing Taking Beast species," said Sandstorm, before his face turned dark, "but they also can be amazing in being cunning tricksters and pranksters as well, according to Dad."
"Regular Talking Foxes are also cunning at times though never to the same extent as their multi-tailed counterparts and cousins," said Satoshi. As he spoke, Belladonna slowly crept away from the talking quartet and moved over to Kushanku while he continued to miserably and disgruntledly eat. Akira, Nyarth and Sandstorm nodded in agreement. However, none of the four noticed Belladonna leave to approach their brother as he sat by himself and ate and as soon as the purple-black Kitsune was close to Kushanku, she lashed out a paw, seized the rest of Kushanku's food and shoved them greedily into her mouth, before turning to the apple Kushanku had in his paw and snatched it right out of his paw and ate that as well. Kushanku, at this, shot Belladonna an outraged glare as she greedily munched on his meal.
"HEY, that was MY MEAL!" shouted the Nekomata, drawing the attention of Nyarth, Sandstorm, Akira and Satoshi. Belladonna, in response and with her cheeks stuffed to capacity of food like a hamster or squirrel's, then put on a taunting look as she gazed at Kushanku and with her paws, gave the Nekomata with the most VULGAR paw gestures in all of Narnia to provoke Kushanku further. As she did that, the Kitsune said with her mouth stuffed with food, "I hope Jadis comes along, catches, kills and eats ya, you, most vulgar word in Narnia!" and following this, the Kitsune spat her entire mouthful of chewed food right back into Kushanku's face, splattering the Nekomata with a disgusting concoction of chewed up nuts, carrots, apple and whatever else he had selected for his meal and covering him with a disgusting mess. That did it; the volcano of anger within Kushanku blew its top off like how Mt St Helens erupted in our world. With an extremely loud screech and a second thought, Kushanku leaped at Belladonna and the two began to fight like a pair of cats. Sandstorm, Akira, Satoshi and Nyarth let loose horrified cat cries and rushed in top help as the Kitsune and Nekomata rolled in a whirlwind of metallic powder blue, white, grey, and purple-black, claws and teeth sinking into each other's skin and tearing out fur resulting in it flying everywhere, accompanied by corrosive and caustic words flying the brawlers' mouths at each other. Sandstorm tried to jump in to break the brawling Kushanku and Belladonna apart but Kushanku's tail came in and swatted him across the face as he rolled with Belladonna and tore into her pelage. Sandstorm was thrown aside and crashed into a heap near a wall. Nyarth tried his luck. As soon as Belladonna and Kushanku were upright, their faces saturated with pure wrath and their paws on each other's throats in an attempt to strangle each other, Nyarth rushed in and wrapped his paws around Belladonna's chest to pull her away from his younger brother while Akira and Satoshi seized Kushanku to do the same to him.
"GET OFF KUSHANKU, BELLADONNA!" bellowed Nyarth as he began to yank Belladonna away from Kushanku. Belladonna, at this, snapped her volcanic glare at Nyarth and with all her might sank her teeth into his right arm, drawing blood in the process. Nyarth let loose an extremely loud screech of agony and released Belladonna, before seizing his bitten and bleeding arm as it sent drops of blood dripping onto the floor, his face twisted in extreme pain. When Kushanku saw this, he, despite Satoshi and Akira trying to pull him away, raised a paw, flared its claws and without hesitation brought it down onto Belladonna's face, slashing her cheek and inflicting a bleeding scratch. In retaliation, Belladonna lurched forward, clamped her jaws onto Kushanku's white head hair and began to pull with all her might. Kushanku let loose a screech of agony as Belladonna pulled on his hair and because his brother and sister were pulling on him from behind in the opposite direction, the white hair Belladonna had her teeth clamped into began to pull from Kushanku's scalp in a tear. Then after one massive rip, the hairs came free and Belladonna was flung back with some of Kushanku's head hair in her mouth. At the same time, Kushanku, Satoshi and Akira were thrown backwards against a wall where Satoshi and Akira banged their heads and slumped down, dazed. Belladonna, her cheek still bleeding from Kushanku's scratch, spat out the white hairs and glared murderously at Kushanku as he grasped his head where his hair had been torn out, his face twisted in pain and his eyes weeping tears, but before she could leap at the Nekomata to attack him again, a golden-orange blur mottled with spots appeared and tackled right into her side.
"YOU LEAVE KUSHANKU ALONE, you DISGUSTING FOX! I SAW WHAT YOU WERE DOING to MY ADOPTED BROTHER!" screeched Sandstorm as he did it, sending Belladonna flying towards the doorway where she crashed into… someone entering the room. Sandstorm looked on in utter horror as Belladonna and the newcomer, Brina the Roc, then collapsed into a heap on the floor. Kushanku, his eyes still weeping tears and his paws grasping his head where his hair had been torn out, also looked up as did Akira and Satoshi once they had come round from bashing their heads against the wall from pulling Kushanku from Belladonna, and Nyarth whose right arm was painfully bleeding with tooth marks piercing his skin. When they saw Brina rise to her feet and Belladonna begin to make up excuses for what had happened in here and that Kushanku started it, horror tore through the five of them.
"Miss Brina!" cried Sandstorm and with that, he rushed over to help the Roc to her feet but Belladonna drove him away.
"BACK OFF before you EVEN THINK ABOUT HURTING THIS ROC, CHEETAH!" shouted the Kitsune. Sandstorm glared at Belladonna volcanically as the latter helped Brina to her feet. As Brina rose to her feet with Belladonna's help, Emberflame appeared and examined the calamity. When the Pyro saw that Akira and Satoshi had bumps on their head where they had struck the wall, Nyarth with his bitten and bleeding right arm, Sandstorms glaring bitterly at Belladonna who had a scratch on her cheek, and Kushanku with some of his white head hair missing and weeping in addition to the scattered veg, nuts and fruit including some lumps of chewed up food scattered messily all over the floor of the room, the woman of fire finally lost patience when she arrived at one conclusion at what had happened.
"That does it, you six," she shouted angrily with a point of a fire hand at the group, "you will be put into separate rooms and kept there until you learn to behave and NOT fight, certainly NOT over food in a VERY IMPORTANT PLACE of a pair of HIGHLY RESPECTED NARNIANS ENTRUSTED with an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TASK by the GREAT LION!"
This made Kushanku, Nyarth, Sandstorm, Satoshi and Akira flinch in confusion and utter shame, while Belladonna looked on dumbfounded. However, five of the six knew who started this whole mess and they converged their outraged glares on the sixth one who only glared back at them with a furious glare of her own as if to say, "I hadn't started it!"