A gust of wind swirled around his feet and he shivered, glancing over his shoulder back at the tower where he could see his mate watching from the high window.
What he would give to be there, with his beautiful mate and adorable kitten, rather than trudging across the hills in search off food.
"Hey! Grum…" Genghis jabbed him sharply on the rump with the tip of his spear. "Get your head back where it should be…we have work to do, my friend…no time for daydreaming out here, ya know."
Grinning sheepishly, Grumbuskin rubbed his derriere with a soft chuckle. "I can't help it, Genghis…I mean, I have a kid! Me! I'm a daddy! I just can't get over it…can you? Can you believe it?"
"Well, considering that you haven't shut up about it for a week, I think I had realised before now." Genghis replied amiambly, clapping the tom on his shoulder. "But you were the one that said we should stock up on meat for winter…not daydream…"
Nodding, Grumbuskin cast one final glance over his shoulder. "I did notice that the animals seemed to be disappearing…" He mused. "You, know, Genghis, I say we move south…I mean, when Hope's old enough to travel. We should go where its warmer."
"Well, well." Genghis laughed as they slid into the undergrowth. "You're becoming quite the Yeahlika leader…must be a silver tabby thing…"
Grumbuskin frowned. "Do you think so?" Ducking behind a tree, as silent as a shadow, he glanced at his companion. "I dunno…we seem to be managing pretty well…"
"And yet, when anything important comes up, you always know what the best thing to do is."
"I'm no leader." Grumbuskin argued defiantly. "I don't have the brains or initiative …the looks, maybe, but nothing else."
"I wouldn't say that." Genghis gave him one of his quiet smiles. "You're protective of the group. You're trustworthy. You're strong and tough. You look like Munkustrap did…before. Dragon comes to you when Charumcah needs to know how the group are feeling. I'd say that you're our appointed leader."
"And watch my ego get so big it depletes our oxygen supply and we all die." Grumbuskin mumbled, diving into the shadows and out of sight. This was not what he wanted to be told. He would have been happy simply being the father and hunter...he could be a leader, but that was so much more than he had imagined.
Running a hand over his head, Genghis smiled to himself. The silver tabby would recognise his destiny. Just as they all would.
*
"Sunlight through the trees in summer, endless masquerading…" Blaze's haunting voice rose and fell as she stroked her suckling kitten's smooth fur with a contented smile, the feel of the tiny body pressed against hers more overwhelming than anything she could imagine.
Little Dragon joined in, singing the lines that had lead up to Grizabella's. "Like a flower, when the dawn is breaking…"
And as one they sang, their voices rising to a spine-thrilling crescendo. "The Memory is fading! Touch me…"
Immediately, little Hope broke off from her feed and gave a startlingly loud belch of indignation at the deafening distraction her mother and aunt were providing.
"Now that's just charming, young lady!" Laughing, Griddlebone looked over from across the room, where she sat braiding some more reeds to weave into baskets, her fingers moving skilfully in and out of the bunches of reed.
Lifting the week-old kitten with a smile, Blaze held her against her shoulder, gently rubbing the silky, black back until another loud blast of wind erupted from her, this time from the alternative end, but with equal ferocity.
"That's better, isn't it, beautiful?" The black queen shifted the kitten back to her breast, chuckling as one tiny black- and silver-striped hand wound around her black-furred finger, gripping it tightly.
Hope gave a muffled "Meowpf." Of agreement, milk dribbling down her chin and dripping onto her thick fur.
Squatting beside Blaze, Little Dragon giggled. "You should really make a bib for her. Shes making such a mess on her pretty fur."
"Here." Tossing over a scrap of hide, Griddlebone smiled. "At least it'll keep her semi-clean, won't it?"
"She's very cute." Bill Bailey was sitting beside Dragon and peered over her shoulder at the kitten with a grin. "Can she see yet?"
McDuff rumbled a laugh. "I don't exactly hear her saying 'Oh, by the way mummy I can see a hairy, funny-faced guy staring at me' do you, Billy?"
Sticking his tongue out indignantly, Bill folded his arms around Little Dragon who arched her back against his chest and smiled. "Can't wait til we have kittens." She murmured, rubbing the top of her head under his chin playfully.
"Uh...excuse me?" Bill Bailey blinked sheepishly. "You don't intend that to happen any time soon do you?"
"You mean you don't want kittens?" Little Dragon's face fell.
"No! I mean...yes...Yes I do want kittens, but not yet...I mean...uh...." With the dopiest smile he could muster, he mumbled. "I love you, sweetpea."
"Nice try, Billy." McDuff grinned broadly with a yawn, scratching his thick greyish-ginger chest fur with a lazy hand, as Little Dragon huffily got to her feet and stomped away, out the front door of the tower.
"Hey," Bill shrugged with a grin. "Everyone knows what I'm like...why should Dragon get treated any different?"
Griddlebone and Blaze exchanged glances, the black queen shifting her infant awkwardly, as she regarded the little tomcat.
"That's just the thing, Billy." The White Persian murmured quietly, meeting his confused brown eyes. "You do have to treat her different...its the difference between being mates and between just being friends."
Gazing after his mate, the brown and white tom frowned pensively. "Do you think I should go after her?" He asked, rising to his feet as he spoke.
"I think you already know the answer to that, kitten." McDuff nodded towards the door. "Talk to her and don't forget to listen."
Nodding, the little tom ran off and Blaze turned to her companions. "Young love," She laughed with a bright smile. "Oy vey."
*
Sitting behind the tower, Little Dragon muttered the words of the Yeahlika songs, as she tore the meat into strips, venting her annoyance on the slashes of thick, tender meat. Skewering the meat with a stake, she hung it above one of the fires to be smoked.
Glancing at the massive stock-pile of smoky meat, she allowed herself a proud smile. They would have enough to get them through winter at the rates the toms were successfully hunting down the larger beasts.
A pile os skins were staked to various parts of the walls, drying out and Little Dragon knew several had been crafted into winter coats, lest their own fur coats were not thick enough to withstand the chill. She knew she a Genghis were the most likely candidates to use those coats, as the others had already started sprouting thick winter fur.
Smoothing the spotted fur, she sniffed the air and beyond the smoke, she knew that he was there, watching her.
"What do you want, Bill?" Not turning, she folded her arms.
"I just wanted to say I was sorry about what I said inside." He mumbled nervously, twisting his paws together shyly. "I just didn't know how to say it...it came out all wrong..." Stepping closer, he gently squeezed her shoulders. "I'm sorry if I upset you."
Lowering her head, Little Dragon tried to force back a smile. "I know you didn't mean it." She whispered. I just saw how happy Hope has made Blaze and Grumbuskin...I just want to be that happy too..."
"We will be." Bill Bailey smiled, nuzzling her smooth shoulder gently. "Just lets take a little time...just have some time on our own before we let a screaming kitten take over our lives...we are still young, Dragon."
Nodding, she whirled round and pinned him onto the thick heap of furs, purring against his lips as she kissed him hungrily.
"I thought you were in a bad mood with me." He remarked cheekily, running his hands up her body.
"I will be, if you don't shut up and behave." She murmured thickly, her hands pressing against his wiry, muscular shoulders.
Pulling her close, he sighed contentedly. "Me? Behave?" He shook his head, rolling over her and nuzzling down her body teasingly. "Can you imagine how you would cope if I did behave?"
"Heaviside help us." She replied, pulling him over her, as they sank into the soft warmth of the hide-pile.
*
Gently rocking the black kitten, McDuff glanced over at Griddlebone who was curled up beside Blaze, a lovely contrast of Blaze's unruly black and his mate's silky white fur mingling together.
For the hundredth time, he wondered why she stayed with him. He knew she loved another and – though he dearly loved her companionship – he didn't love her as a lover should.
Maybe they were just meant to be together…perhaps not.
Kissing the top of the kitten's downy head, he sighed, silently praying to Charumcah that if he and Griddlebone were not truly meant to be mates, something would happen so they would be shown their true mates faces.
Leaning down on his side, he laid the sleepy kitten on the thick fur rug beside him, smiling fondly at her.
Maybe one day he would have his own kittens and would have a precious little mate to take care of as well. And maybe Genghis and Griddlebone would stop being so blind and admit how they felt about each other.
All the rest of the group could see it and he knew they didn't mention it for fear of upsetting him. Maybe when they finally got away from this place, there would be some changes.
He had heard Grumbuskin mention a journey to the south. Maybe something would happen when they went that way. There were a lot of 'maybes' worrying him, but right now, there was nothing he could do about them.
Standing up, he moved to the window and gazed out, taking in the scenery with a deep sigh. It had all changed so much since their arrival.
Going on how long they had been there, he assumed it was mid-Autumn, possibly the equivalent of September. All the trees were being stripped bare of their leaves by the ever-harsher winds.
Winters looked like they were hard in this place: Long, hard and cold. It was a matter of
luck and blessing that would decide whether the little tribe of Yeahlika's would survive or not.
Leaning on the window-sill, McDuff sighed. Never a betting man, he would confidently have given a hundred to one odds on their survival had anyone asked.
But no one had asked, so it was up to them to survive.