"Holy crap!"
"No need to be negative just because its gonna kick our arses."
Reajin shot a glance in the tuxedo tom's direction, half-smiled. "You're completely barmy, you know, Wolf. And the encouragement thing...you really have to work on that." The black and white tom smirked. "So...here's what we do..."
Following the ginger tom's gestures and whispered directions, the four other felines spread around the clearing, moving as silently as they could. The soft breeze rustling the trees and muffling the sounds of their paws was a blessing.
Muddy green eyes focused on the massive, cow-like beast. Reajin shifted his paws warily, his tail whipping back and forth, a clear sign of his uneasiness. His claws slid out as he flexed his tangled fur-coated paws.
Oblivious to the danger it was in or the danger it created, the huge beast snuffled at the long tangles of grass, its gaping jaws opening up and tearing up huge crops of the fading green plantlife.
Shadow whistled softly. "Look at the size of those legs." He breathed, saw Wolfgang nod in acknowledgement. Whatever the thing was, its six rippling, muscular legs clearly posed the biggest threat.
Following another gesture from the ginger tom, they edged in closer, unnoticed amid the shadows and tangles of the shrubbery surrounding them.
Exchanging glances with the two felines on the opposite side of the clearing, Reajin nodded once, all five exploding from the bush and launching themselves at the startled beast, which started bellowing.
Wrapping her arms and legs around the animal's forelegs, Siah pressed her eyes shut. Her head raised as high as she could manage, she sank her teeth into the shaggy chest and held on for dear life.
Reajin had launched himself onto the bucking beast's back, his jaw locked onto its neck, both paws under its chin, jerking its massive head back. His toe claws plunged into the shoulders of it's forelegs, its blood splashing on his fur.
Bellowing with fury and pain, the other three toms were unfortunate enough to be in the aim region of the surprisingly fierce bison-like creature's hind legs.
A hoof skimming his hip, Plato hissed, diving to one side and knocking Shadow with him. The flailing hind hooves whistled dangerously close to where their heads had been, both toms panting heavily.
"I-I-I-I-I..." Shuddering with each punding step of the giant hooves on the ground, Siah's voice jolted. "Th-i-ink...s-s-s-some...h-h-h-help...w-would...be...n-n-n-nice..." She didn't sound very scared, but her body betrayed her, arms tightening around the huge legs.
"Plato..." Shadow gestured to the beast's back. The brown and white tom nodded an affirmative, weaving his paws together. The grey tom placed one hind paw in the other tom's cupped paws, using a combination of leverage from both of them to launch himself up behind Reajin on the bison's back. "Hey, man."
The ginger tom barely nodded, his mouth still latched onto the animal's thick throat. On the other side of them, Wolfgang was stabbing at the widely spaced ribs with a makeshift spear, blood running in ruby rivulets down the matted fur.
"The ribs, Shadow." Ducking under another sweeping blow of the hind hooves, the tuxedo gestured to the action he had been making. The sooty tom nodded, his paws loosening their grip on the rug-like fur and dropping swiftly to the animal's side, claws snapping out and through the flesh, which wasn't nearly as tough as the hide across the back.
The tri-horned bison bellowed with pain, a spurt of blood erupting from its spittle-flecked mouth and spraying over the black queen who was clinging to its forelegs.
With a kick that seemed almost supernatural in its strength, both Shadow and Reajin were tossed from the broad back, the beast's small, black eyes focusing immediately on the two toms sprawled on the ground.
Swinging its hooves up, Plato flew backwards behind the creature and smashed into the trunk of a tree, falling in a heap at the base of the trunk. A trickle of blood curled from his lips, his eyes closed.
Wolfgang's spear was suddenly ineffectual, the bison's desire to survive blocking out any pain it must have been feeling. Massive hooves carved up chunks of turf, bloody bellows of challenge aimed at the toms before him, the young queen doing her best to prevent it moving.
The huge, shaggy head swung downwards, the broad jaw smashing her across the temple, her grip wavering.
"Don't mess with the fur, bitch." The black queen hissed between her grit teeth, forcing her claws deeper into the muscles of the legs. She shot a helpless glance in the direction of Wolfgang, who was still diving in and stabbing at the thick hide.
Reajin's shaky voice suddenly yelled indignantly, the black queen forcing her head up in time to see a multi-coloured blur drop from a tree above them and land squarely on the back of the animal she held, pinioned.
A black and a gold paw slid around the thick throat, along the jaw and gave one swift, hard jerk, the huge head yanked back with all the newcomer's strength. Something made a sickening crack, the body seizing up for a moment before sagging to it's knees and slumping forward. Siah jumped clear just in time.
Rising shakily on her knees in the dirt, her paws spread on her thighs, panting, she raised her head to their rescuer.
"Looked like you guys could use a paw." Dodger grinned widely, stepping easily off the carcass and dusting his fur down. "You all okay?"
"We were doing fine." Reajin was leaning heavily against a tree trunk, sepia eyes narrowed to slits. "You should have stayed with your party."
The striped taby raised his paws, stepped back. "Look, man, I just wanted to help. No harm, no foul, right? You're all alive and we got us one hell of a piece of meat there." Sinking to his knees, he crawled to Siah's side, brushed his cheek along hers. "You okay, lady?"
She nodded weakly, unable to find breath to speak.
"Dodger's right, Reajin." Wolfgang put in quietly. He was kneeling alongside the unconscious Plato, the taller tom's head cradled carefully in his arms. "If he hadn't come along, I don't know what we would have done."
The ginger tom's jaw locked, his eyes flicking from the tuxedo to the tabby. "Yeah." His voice was cold, clipped. "I guess you might be right. I screwed up this time." Stalking across to Wolfgang's side, he pointedly stared at Dodger as he said. "I won't do it again."
"Whatever." Shadow got to his paws and limped towards the carcass. "Um...guys...tell me something..." He pointed to a large, slime-coated heap on the ground. "Is that big, lumpy thing what I think that big lumpy thing is?" The aforementioned big, lumpy thing shifted. "I'll take that as a yes."
"What trouble have you guys been getting into?" Tiddles' large figure pushed through the brush, a reprimanding look shot in the kneeling Dodger's direction. "One minute, we were sniffing around the bushes and next thing we know, goldielocks there took off, yelling that you needed help."
Siah managed to wave at the carcass. "Bloody big cow..." She managed to say, raising a shaky hand to her bleeding temple. Tiddles was by her side in an instant, as the rest of his group filtered in.
"Are you okay?" He queried, brushing her soft quiff of black fur back from her eyes. She nodded, letting him draw her into a reassuringly warm and soft hug, her body aching from her ears to the tip of her tail.
"All she did was give it a hug." Dodger ran a paw soothingly down her smooth back. "Nice battle strategy, Siah."
"Not good as yours." She mumbled, head pillowed on Tiddles' chest, eyes closed tiredly.
"Question." Shadow waved from his position beside the carcass and lump. "Which of us was it that made the cow have a baby?"
Dodger raised his paws defensively. "Hey! Don't look at me! I don't work that fast! I have to be on first name terms first!" The black queen chuckled weakly, the tom receiving a cuff across the head from the black and gold queen. "What? He asked!"
"So...what we gonna do with a cow baby?" Shadow looked around helplessly. "I mean...its still moving...do we keep it?"
"You mean it really had a baby?" Estariolle looked over from where she had joined her mate and the stirring Plato. "You didn't do a caesarion on it did you? Or did it just fall out on its own? And you killed a pregnant cow? How could you?"
"Well, it did almost kill us."Wolfgang raised one paw to massage his mate's neck lightly. "I think we were justified."
"Do we keep it?"
"I guess so. Don't know how, but I suppose we could use it for something." Rubbing one hand over the dazed Plato's forehead, Wolfgang paused, his black eyes sinking closed. Seeming to jolt, he lifted his head, eyes glowing eerily. "We better butcher the mum and get it back to camp as soon as possible."
Plato nodded, suddenly strangely bright. "Sounds like a good idea, Wolf." Rolling onto his feet, the brown and white tom grinned, bouncing over to Shadow's side.
The black and white tom trembled slightly as he got to his feet, his motion only noticed by him red-furred mate. She frowned. "Wolfie, what did you do to him?"
"I don't know." Turning his paw over, he stared at the white ring of fur in the centre of his palm, shaking his head. "You don't think..."He lowered his voice, gazed at her. "You don't think I could be a magical cat...you know...like Mistoffelees?"
She gave him a fond smile, helping him to remain upright. "You're always magic to me, Wolf, you know that." Rising on her toes, she rubbed her mottled red and white forehead against his. "But..." Her voice was low, barely more than a soft, warm breath that made his whiskers twitch. "You better be careful...don't want you damaging...parts..."
The look in her dark eyes made his stomach flip over and it was only Dodger's shout that brought them back to the reality.
"Oi! You two! Stop with the goo-goo eyes and help us chop up the dead cow!"
Estariolle chuckled wryly, returning her arm to her mate's waist, his chin resting lightly on the top of her head. "Nothing like a round of butchery to shatter the romance, eh, love?" She scratched the top of his tail, smiled.
"I'll have to make that up to you them." He murmured, her tail practically spasming with pleasure at the whispered promise. Exchanging small smiles, they made their way over to help in the butchering of the cow.
The sooner they got back to their part of the cave, the better.
*
"It smells weird." Peering at the carcass, Mercedes pulled a face. "And it looks weird too."
Carving a chunk of steaming flesh off the bone and tossing it to Tiddles, who had restoked the fire, Glory wagged a finger at the younger queen. "Don't be ungrateful, young lady." She cautioned fondly. "It'll look weirder once you've eaten it."
Misty prodded at the thick hide with her toe claws. "What we gonna use this for? Do we eat it?"
Dodger shook his head. "We can make coat out of it." He suggested, running one hand over the matted fur. "If we get the knots out of it, it could be warm for us to use during the winter. God only knows how cold it'll get."
"Sounds like a good idea." Curled on her side beside him, Callista yawned, her teeth glinting in the morning twilight. Rolling onto her back, she gazed up at the expanse of the sky. "What time of year do you think it is here?"
"Head's up!" A wedge of sizzling meat sailed through the air. Dodger sprang upwards, caught it mid-flight and landed neatly back down on his haunches. Tiddles grinned and turned back to the other chunks of meat balanced around the fire.
Accepting the meat from the young tom, Jinx smiled shyly. "I think its autumn." She answered his earlier question, before delicately tearing a strip of dripping flesh of the hunk of meat clasped in her striped hands. "I've seen some leaves falling..."
"So we arrived just in time for winter?" Siah pulled a face. "They could have at least given us a nice, sunny day or two to get started." Another lump of meat flew through the air, deftly caught by the black queen. "At least we know we got food though...and a baby cow with six legs..."
Tiddles whistled sharply, several of the other felines emerging from the caves to join the little group near the fire. "Well, I say we take each day as it comes. For all we know, we could be stuck here a very long time." His nostrils flared, taking in the soft scent of coming evening. "Not that that would be a bad thing."
"It's better than the city." Dropping down beside Glory, Reajin flicked his claws out, flashed a shy smile at the queen. Taking over her shreeding of the meat, he only paused to look around. "Where are Wolf and Estariolle?"
Glory gave the young tom a knowing nod. "They needed some...time alone."
*
In the shallows of the pool, Estariolle sighed contentedly as the cool water rippled around her hips. Her fur waved softly in the light current, Wolfgang's hand wrapping reassuringly around hers, leading her to the edge.
Raising her head, she gazed at the rapidly darkening sky, her grip on her mate's hand tightening a little. Above them, the glowing moon hung heavily, brilliant white against the velvet darkness of the night. "It's gorgeous."
"Like you." A purr thrummed through the black and white tom's dark body, his black eyes fixed on the red queen's lovely face. Drawing her closer, her body warm and damp against his, he brushed a light kiss over her lips, drawing back as she giggled. "What's so funny?"
One red paw batted his whiskers, making his nose twitch. "They tickle."
"Are you complaining?" Tumbling her onto the soft, springy grass, he nuzzled down her throat, his teeth nipping lightly at her neck.
Swatting at him lightly, she trailed her tongue up his cheek. "We should head back to camp now, Wolf." Black eyes met green, one red paw trailing up a muscular back. "The food...it'll probably be ready by now..."
His lips met hers in a hungry kiss. "I have all I want right here." He whispered, drawing his dazzling, red-furred mate into his arms, all thoughts of the rest of the tribe pushed to the farthest corners of his mind.
He could think of the rest of the tribe later.
For now, he had something far more important to take care of.
