A couple of hours later, Demeter was awakened by a rustling sound. She
opened her eyes slightly and squinted at Macavity. His face was only
inches form hers and both his arms were tucked around her. As she
turned, he sighed and pulled her closer.

Beside the black queen lay Niameh, cuddled up with Tanocor, much the
way Demeter and Macavity lay. Demeter grinned at the sight of her best
friend.

"How cozy!" A malicious voice exclaimed.

Demeter looked up in shock as the three others began to wake up.
Munkustrap was hovering over them, staring at them with cold gray eyes.

Niameh gasped as she saw the young Jellicle leader and his companions.
As Macavity and Tanocor woke up and realized the danger, Plato and
Tumblebrutus pounced on them and held them down. Alonzo and Tugger
roughly grabbed the two queens and yanked them away from the toms.
Meanwhile Munkustrap, Skimbleshanks, Plato and Tumblebrutus were
barely holding down Macavity and Tanocor.

"Get off of me," Niameh sneered and tried to scratch Alonzo. He just
laughed and hit her across the face. Demeter tried to kick Tugger, but to
no avail. He too used violence to hold the young queen still. The two toms
put up quite a fight, but the outcome was inevitably not in their favor.
Admetus and Asparagus turned up with rope to tie the four felines and
soon the Jellicles were dragging them off.

Back at the Jellicle lodge, many of the Jellicles had already turned up to
see the defeated toms. They cheered, as Munkustrap lead his fighting
force into the lodge, dragging Macavity and Tanocor, who were
unconscious. The Jellicles had beaten up the two toms, ignoring the cries
for mercy from Demeter and Niameh. Alonzo and Tugger were carrying
the two queens on their shoulder, as they had refused to walk voluntarily.

The Jellicles scratched and kicked at the unconscious toms and sneered at
the queens. The older cats had returned with the kittens, when they'd
heard of the catch. Now the kittens curiously sneaked closer, wanting to
see what was happening. The older cats pulled back the kittens,
threatening them with a beating, if they didn't behave themselves. The
kittens drew back, not wanting to attract any punishment. Two of the
kittens sneaked forward, though. Etcetera and Jemima had joined paws
and sneaked up to the two queens, who had been laid on the ground. They
reached out to greet their friends, but Munkustrap saw them and took a
swipe at them.

"Is that the only way you know?" Macavity asked with venom in his voice.
He had woken up in time to see the treatment, the kittens got. He fought
furiously with his ropes, as did Tanocor, both wanting to get up and fight
these Jellicles, who had hurt Niameh and Demeter so.

The Jellicle toms grabbed the brothers roughly and threw them in an
empty shelter. The young queens were taken to their own shelter, where
some of the older queens of the tribe were waiting for them. Jellylorum
looked spitefully at them, as they were pushed inside.
"Well, well," she said, "I always knew you two would become
troublemakers."
The two other queens looked at Demeter and Niameh with compassion.
Bombalurina and Tantomile had been much like the two young queens
, when they were younger, but they had never had the courage to stand up
to the tribe. Now they wanted to help Niameh and Demeter, but were too
scared to act.

Demeter and Niameh had been untied and left alone in their shelter. One
of the toms was outside to guard them, but at least they could talk in peace.
"We have to do something," Niameh said, her green eyes sparkling with
anger.
The black and golden queen agreed, "We must find some way to escape
the tribe. I just can't see how to do that."

Some commotion was heard outside and then a light voice, "Why don't
you go and get some sleep, Alonzo. I will look after them."
Alonzo said something incomprehensible and then left. A moment later,
Bombalurina's head peeked inside the shelter.
"Do you want to get out of here?" She asked with badly hidden fear in her
eyes.
The two queens jumped up.
"What do you have in mind?" Demeter whispered.
Now Tantomile peeked in too, "Come on. We've freed your toms.
They're waiting outside. But hurry, or they'll notice us."

The four queens quietly excited the shelter and sneaked across the lodge
, heading for the entrance. When they were nearly there, Bombalurina
turned to Tantomile, "Go back to Coricopat now. I'll handle the rest."
The red queen turned to Demeter and Niameh, "She'll be having kittens
in a short while. She and Coricopat might leave the tribe, and I'll go with
them then."
Tantomile smiled at the two young queens, took their paws and said
goodbye. Then she sneaked back to her shelter.

The other three continued out of the lodge, until they heard a piercing shout
behind them. They turned and saw Tumblebrutus, "So you're leaving
again, huh? And you, Bomb, you're a traitor too!"
He jumped at the red queen and slashed her violently, causing her to fall to
the ground, badly wounded. The two young queens tried to help, but the
lodge was now buzzing with outraged voices, as the Jellicles appeared.
Macavity and Tanocor ran into the lodge again, slashing down
Tumblebrutus and assuming a fighting stance…