Strapping the bundles of wiry grass together with thin leather thong, Genghis raised his paw to shield his eyes as he gazed up the roof, where Grumbuskin waited.
"Here!" He tossed the bundle through one of the wider gaps in the broken ceiling, grinning as Grumbuskin gave a yell of surprise, the bundle smacking him square in the belly. Carefully placing it on one of the beams, the silvery tom tightened the cord around the spar, straightening it alongside the other bundle to add to the thatching on the roof.
"How's it looking?" He called back down to Genghis and Bill Bailey as they patiently tied more bundles, sitting on the partially-restored floor of the tower.
Leaning back, his paw-like hands on his hips, Bill Bailey nodded in admiration. "Looking good, Grum." Raising a thumb, he grinned cheekily. "We just have to see if it can withstand the rain if it comes."
"He's right." McDuff remarked, approaching from the stairs. "It may look like it's strong, but it's not waterproof. We have to find some kind of waterproof material to coat it…tar or something like that."
"Wait a minute," Bill Bailey waved his hands, halting all work. "What do you mean 'He's right'? I'm never right!"
"Things change, shorty." Grumbuskin chuckled at the little tom's incredulous expression.
Shrugging, the smallest of the toms hefted a massive heap of knotted-together reeds onto his shoulder, walking over and easily tossing it up to the waiting Grumbuskin.
Two weeks of being a feline had changed all of them a great deal. Their new bodies were physically hardier, stronger. While they had been well toned as dancers, their muscles were developing even more as felines.
Any fat that they had on their bodies was burned up easily by the savage and rough lifestyle they were forced to become accustomed to. Hunting was still a challenge, but they grew stronger by the day and seemed to be fitter and more resilient than they had been as humans.
Little Dragon especially had felt the change. Quite often, as Ariadne, she had gotten tired and weak from the slightest suggestion of a cold, but here, nothing seemed to affect her, her immune system working at least one hundred percent better than it ever had as an ill human girl. She had – at first – worried about not having her prescriptions, lest she get ill, but gradually, as she had forgotten much of her old life, she forgot all about ever having been ill.
Wrapping his legs around a new girder of wood, Grumbuskin leaned back, to force the new bundle along to the larger break in the roof.
"You be careful!" Griddlebone yelled from the ground far below. "We don't have anything to fix you with!"
"I'd rather not be fixed!" He yelled back, sticking his tongue out naughtily at the pretty white queen, who huffed impatiently and stalked away to join the other two queens in butchering the latest carcass from one of their hunts.
With so few of them in the group, the meat from a single pig-creature kept the stocked up with food for several days at the very least. At the moment, several hides were stretched out on spikes of wood on the outer walls of the building that was their present home, the skin drying out to produce a good source of useful and pliable leather.
"Want to see a trick my father taught me?" Little Dragon was pulling the steaming mass of vital organs out of the beast's chest cavity, the long rope of the intestines looped around her thin arms. "It might give us something different to eat if it works…"
"Why not?" Blaze and Griddlebone smiled indulgently, as the little queen leapt down to the bank of the river, taking a long coil of intestine with her.
Trailing it in the water, all the mucus and digestive liquids streamed out, running through the tissues and removing all the unused and left over slime.
Knotting the end of the practically transparent sheath, the slim Siamese leapt back up, carefully laying the sheath of skin on a rock as she turned her attention to the other organs. Shredding the heart up quickly with her claws, she mixed it with tiny pieces of the more tasty flesh. Carefully and gently pushing the meaty paste into the filmy coil of the intestines, she skilfully twisted the length into smaller sections, until there were about two dozen fat, round-ended rectangles joined end to end.
"Well?" Holding up the home-made string of sausages, the queen grinned at her two companions. "How do you like this?"
"I'm impressed!" Griddlebone laughed. "I never thought we would have normal foods again. All we need now is chips!"
"That's pushing it a bit!" Blaze playfully punched Griddlebone on the arm. "We can't have high cholesterol again, can we? It would go straight to yer thighs!"
"Cheeky madam!" Howled the white queen in mock-outrage, throwing a soggy kidney at her sleek, black companion.
"Hey!"
"Blaze! Griddlebone!" Waving her paws desperately, Little Dragon fought to stifle a giggle as various organs flew back and forth. "Please! Don't play with your food!"
"What's goin…" There was a firm, wet splat as a wedge of muscle slapped across McDuff's face, sliding down his muzzle and dropping into his paws.
"Er…oops?" Griddlebone giggled madly as the massive tom charged at her, growling deep in his throat.
Wrestling her to the ground, he held her down, pinning her arms above her head, his eyes holding hers. "Oops?" He snarled wickedly. "Is that all you can say? Oops?"
Smirking, the white queen playfully batted her eyelashes at him, one paw pressed innocently to her lips. "I…I think that about covers it." She whispered, stroking his cheek teasingly. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Anything you say." He murmured back, neither of them noticing the two other queens exchanging furtive glances before subtly sneaking away from them. Inhaling her scent, he sniffed at her furry cheek gently.
"McDuff…" Lower than a whisper, she tried to say no, that she wanted Genghis, but the words wouldn't form as his lips tenderly covered hers in the briefest of kisses. Why was this wrong, she wondered. Genghis was her friend, but she needed a lover.
"I'm sorry." Pulling away, he shook his head. "I shouldn't have, Griddlebone." Taking her blood- and gore-stained paws, he gently started licking the mess off them, his eyes lowered, unable to meet hers.
"I know why you did." She whispered breathlessly, throwing her arms around him, her face buried in his fur, she held him tightly. "We both need someone, McDuff…we both lost our loved ones in the change…we need one another."
"It's not love." He whispered into her thick fur. "It's not love." A face rose before him. The image of the woman he had vowed to spend his life with…only now, she seemed to be more feline and white and Persian and…Griddlebone.
Feeling his arms around her, she nodded. "I know." She murmured thickly. Rising, she took his paws and softly asked. "Will you come to the river to help me bathe?"
"Of course." Scooping her up in his arms, he smiled kindly down at her, carrying her towards the river, to a small cove out of site of the tower.
As they rounded the corner, Griddlebone glanced back, catching site of Genghis watching from the tower. Lowering her face, she buried herself further into McDuff's embrace. She didn't care anymore. If he didn't intend to take her as his mate, why shouldn't she have someone else?
*
Lowering his eyes sadly, Genghis shook his head. It was inevitable. Still, he had plenty to keep himself busy and he didn't plan to ignore Griddlebone, in the way that Blaze and Grumbuskin had been ignoring each other. As long as she was happy.
"Hey, daydreamer, care to chuck me some more roof?" Pulling a small chunk of wood off the spar, Grumbuskin aimed it at Genghis' head, grinning as the Siamese tom grunted in annoyance. "Would you mind getting your head out of the clouds and back down here, where it belongs?"
Rubbing his head dramatically, Genghis sniffed in indignation. "You coulda killed me!" He picked up the chunk of wood and tossed it out of the window. "Really, Grum," He rounded on the silver tom with a fiendish smirk as a yowl echoed up from below. "You should be careful where you throw your things!"
"Who through the stick at me?" Blaze stormed up the stairs and balled her paws on her fists in aggravation. "You messed with the mane!"
"That would be him." Bill Bailey pointed at Grumbuskin, who shrugged in dissent, turning his attention back to the roof. The little tom frowned in bafflement, as the queen sighed, shook her head and trotted back down the stairs.
"What was that about?" He whispered to Genghis.
Beckoning the little tom over, Genghis murmured. "I think we have a feisty couple here, but neither is willing to admit that they like the other."
Chuckling, Bill Bailey shook his head. "You'll never see me going nuts like that over a queen." He giggled. "I'm not soppy."
"Not even about Little Dragon?" The Siamese tom raised a sceptical eyebrow, his voice a little louder now, allowing Grumbuskin the opportunity to join in with the conversation.
"Nope." The young tom said firmly, even defiantly. "I'm never gonna have a queen and I'm never gonna have kittens or anything."
"I'll make a bet with ya." Grumbuskin leaned in through the gap in the ceiling. "If you have kittens within the next two years, you have to call it Skywalker."
Rolling his eyes, Bill Bailey remarked sarcastically. "Hail the conquering Star Wars freak. All right…" Stretching up on his toes, he shook Grumbuskin's outstretched paw. "If I have a mate and we have a kitten within two years, its gonna be called Skywalker, all right?"
"Prepare an explanation for your mate, shorty." The silver tom smirked smugly, a smug grin that made Bill Bailey feel suspicious. What did Grumbuskin know that he – Bill Bailey – didn't?
"There better not be any funny business." He threatened, wagging his finger at the tom. "If there is, all bets are off, got it?"
"Certainly sure." Grumbuskin winked at Genghis. "Heaven help yer mate and kitten with a name like that!"
Rolling his eyes, the little tomcat ran off down the stairs to join the two queens in preparing the meal for the night.
*
Watching the stars, Griddlebone felt McDuff's gentle paws massaging her taut shoulders. His tail twined around hers as she touched one of his paws gently.
"We should go back." She whispered softly, the refreshingly cool water lapping around their bodies, as he nuzzled her neck. Rubbing his chin on her soft shoulder, he reluctantly nodded, running his cheek up hers.
Turning around to face him, Griddlebone ran her forehead under his chin, licking his jaw teasingly. With a low groan, he drew her into his arms again, burying his face in his long fur, his arms tight around her waist.
"All this playing has made me hungry." He murmured, nibbling on her neck, enjoying hearing her giggle at his ticklish touch.
Pulling back, she smiled at him. "We should definitely go back then."
"Did I say it was that kind of hungry?" He purred, pulling her back into a crushing embrace, kissing her again. Returning the kiss, she purred, the purr throbbing between their joined lips and he broke off with a deep laugh. His face turned serious for a moment and he murmured. "What if you get pregnant, Griddlebone?"
Shrugging, she draped her arms sensuously over his broad shoulders, marvelling at how large the tom was, his muscles colossal in comparison to the other three toms. "I guess I'll have a kitten." She replied mildly, pulling herself up to lick his nose playfully.
"How would you take care of it?"
"The same way any mother would." She replied, her white fur rippling around her in the light current. "Don't worry about it, my lover. We have so much more to worry about. That, we would have time to plan for…now, we have each other to worry about…each other."
"Sounds good to me." he chuckled, gathering her in his arms again. He hadn't wanted this to mean anything – just a release, perhaps, but he knew it was deeper than that. No matter what he said, emotions always ran deeper than they seemed.
But, like she said, now was now. If they had to worry about tomorrow today, where would enjoyment and happiness fit into the equation? For him? For any of them?
*
"Where are McDuff and Griddle?" Grumbuskin asked vaguely as he trotted down the last few steps, his toe-claws clicking on the smooth stone.
Flipping a bursting, piping-hot sausage off the fire into his paws, Genghis quietly replied. "They went along the river together. They needed a break and they are the two oldest ones in the group, aren't they?"
Rolling onto her back, Little Dragon yawned, revealing her sharp little teeth. "They are good friends, Genghis." She murmured, pulling her right leg up to her, to clean some spots of swine fat off her fur.
"I know." The tom replied, grinning weakly, as Bill Bailey offered to help Little Dragon clean herself up. "I think they make a cute couple, don't they?"
Blaze nodded silently, staring briefly at Grumbuskin before curling up sleepily in her dark corner, as Little Dragon burst into giggles at Bill Bailey's first attempt to clean her dirt-matted chest in an un-ticklish manner.
"Things are gonna be interesting around here now." She murmured softly, as her former twin crept over and curled up beside her.
Snuggling up beside her as he often had as a frightened toddler, chewing thoughtfully on the sausage, he nodded. "You said it, sis. It most definitely is."