Just a little note that in this chapter, there are references to human television and popular culture references. I will explain below :)
For MistFlame54: I meant to answer this question earlier, but I'm doing a new take on the inter-species communication thing. Basically, the idea is that all creatures can understand each other, in a limited manner. Just like we can read body language and kind of interpret other people's languages, it works the same way.
The idea is that animals that are more closely related can understand each other better—Mishka, for example, was very easily understood by Tiki, not just because Tiki knows Mishka, but also because they are of similar origins. A cat and a dog who do not know each other would be capable of understanding one another, but their speech might seem stilted to each other. Mishka's speech wasn't entirely grammatically correct, for example, because they do not speak the same language. Does that make sense?
I also want to mention that in the world of cat-prey interaction, there is virtually no understanding occurring between, say, a cat and a mouse. They are too far removed in their lifestyles to be able to communicate. On the contrary, a cat and a bobcat could communicate, because they are closely related. Additionally, cats and humans are capable of communicating with each other, to a very limited degree. Cats are better at understanding humans than the vice versa of the situation; mostly because they are used to communicating with different walks of life, while us humans... are not.
With that long segment out of the way, thank you for the reviews, and I hope you enjoy the chapter :)
Chapter 3
"Who are you, and what are you doing this deep in TreeClan territory?"
Tiki and Taika shivered in sync as they stood together, taking in the sight of the frightening tom. They had definitely found the group that Taika was looking for, but this cat was hostile, and most likely not receptive to their existence. At least not right now.
"Answer me," the black tom demanded, his tail flicking dangerously next to him, his claws unsheathed. His pupils constricted as he hissed.
Taika gulped and stepped forward a little, shielding a trembling Tiki with his long tail. "T-Tiki and T-Taika, er, sir," Taika stuttered, fear rendering him partially immobile. His claws were still unsheathed; in his state of terror it hadn't occurred to him to be passive. "We—that is to say, we're—we're looking for, uh…"
The tom scoffed. "Alright, kittypets, here's how this is going to go. You're going to sheath your claws, and then you'll step in front of me, slowly. I'm taking you to camp, under code 1.3."
Taika licked his lips nervously. "Y-you're going to read me my rights?" he joked feebly, already stepping forward. "I don't think t-this is legal if you don't."
The tom grinned; a wide, Cheshire cat grin full of sharp teeth. "Read you your rights? Hell no. You're not in your little kittypet world anymore."
Tiki, so far unnoticed in her place behind Taika, started to panic when he moved. She got to her paws hurriedly and attempted to sneak away; guilt was raging within her, but her self-preservation instinct was more powerful than ever. Teeth at the tip of her tail stopped her, though, and she was dragged backwards with a startled yelp. Whimpering, Tiki walked forward after Taika, watched by the tom with narrowed eyes.
"Taika, what are we going to do?" Tiki whispered, her eyes wide as she looked back at their pursuer. "I didn't sign up for this. I don't want to die."
Taika sighed, his yellow-green gaze piercing the heavens. "I don't know, Tiki. I'm sorry, I should never have dragged you here."
Tiki nudged his shoulder. "Hey. We're in this together, right? Where you go, I go?"
Taika smiled weakly. "Yeah. I guess so."
"We walk in silence!" The tom's deep voice snapped from behind them, startling the siblings out of the bubble that had formed around them. Tiki's jolt back to reality startled her again, and her ears flattened on her head.
She took a deep breath and the opportunity to find out where they were going presented itself. Tiki looked around at the tall aspens casting shadows on the forest floor, which was dusted with leaf litter. The ground was still muddy, a little, because the mud season had only just ended and the hot weather hadn't set in yet. Taika was ranting and raving for weeks about how the mud interrupted his exploration time. Well, before they left.
It seemed like wherever this "camp" was, it was a long way from their old home, which explained why Taika had never encountered this cat—or whatever group it came from—before. This journey was taking ages.
"Stop, now," the tom said from behind them. "We have reached the Circle."
Tiki wondered what the "Circle" was, but then they brushed past a piece of sagebrush, and she didn't think to question it, because it was clear at this point.
"Holy cow," Taika breathed out. Tiki was inclined to agree with him.
They were standing in a massive circle. The plant life had changed from tall, pale green grass dotted with equally green bushes of sagebrush to a cropped version of the grass. The sagebrush had vanished, and in this circle stood a dome erected from what appeared to be aspen branches, or perhaps scrub-oak.
"Through here," the tom commanded, brushing past the two cats to take the lead. He turned and stood next to a concealed hole in the dome, his thick tail reaching up to move a barely-perceptible curtain of sage to the side.
Tiki gulped and followed after Taika, who had taken the lead. She walked slowly towards the hole, knowing that beyond that little entrance lay either her doom or her… not-doom. She hadn't decided what that would be yet. Taika stopped in front of her, leveled a stare at the pitch-black tom, and stalked through, his gray-brown tail vanishing through the gap.
Tiki met the tom's eyes nervously, and his tail and ear flicked in sync. The message was clear: they didn't have all day. Tiki shivered one more time and walked through the gap, dipping her head and she entered the space.
And… she almost stopped breathing. The hole she had stepped through was a gateway to another dimension, clearly, because in no world could cats like her have made this place. It was… a city, for lack of a better term.
There were organized dens, fashioned in a sturdy manner from a base of stones. They spun, it seemed, because they had twirled thick, tall branches in a way very reminiscent of a whorl. There were various sizes of these, scattered along the edges of the dome very deliberately. Cats walked in and out of them, fluidly, as if they were on some sort of timetable. There were two other gaps in the dome, scattered at an equal distance from one another in a triangular pattern. Cats moved in and out of these, too, and Tiki couldn't help but wonder what they were doing beyond this utopia.
In the center of this fantastical place, there stood a single tree, tall and piercing the heavens. In it was built a treehouse, for crying out loud, and Tiki wondered what world she had stepped into where cats were capable of this sort of mathematical and pragmatic genius.
"Sparkstar!" the tom was calling, snapping Tiki out of her reverie. She forced herself to close her dropped jaw, and she made her way over to Taika, who it seemed was still in some kind of fascination-induced coma. She nudged his shoulder, directing his attention to where the black tom stood, at the base of the tree.
"Nightshade," a medium-pitched voice was saying from inside the structure. "You are back from your patrol." That sentence was only seconds ahead of the speaker, a massive pale brown tom with unique ginger markings, including a diamond on his chest. "What news do you bring me?"
Tiki was left gaping as the tom that had escorted them—Nightshade, was it?—effortlessly scaled the massive tree, climbing to the platform to stand beside the brown tom. Nightshade dipped his head in respect, Tiki noted. At least someone prompts that kind of response from him.
"Sparkstar," Nightshade greeted. "I come with two cats found trespassing in the Deep Field." He leveled them with a glare. "What would you like done?"
Tiki noticed the cats, who had once been fluidly carrying out their tasks, stop and gather around the area, halting their proceedings. She vaguely heard whispers of "Trespassing in the Deep Field?" and "Housecats?", and she flattened her ears, unwilling to hear anything more, in fear of derogatory comments.
"Who are you?" Sparkstar asked sternly. "You are trespassers, that's who you are. I want your reasoning for—" He stopped.
Tiki frightened green eyes met his baffled amber ones, and she noticed what appeared to be a flame in one eye and a light in the other. The tom gasped, and the spell was broken.
"Flame and light," he whispered. Tiki exchanged a confused glance with Taika.
"It's them. They've come at last."