Animal Instincts, Chapter 6 Chapter 6: Initiation


Rubena wiped her sweating palms on her thighs. The time when she had to face The Challenge had arrived. The Jellicle tribe's elders had heard of her request to be tested on fire magic, and had come up with a suitable test: speed and accuracy. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, two cats notorious for their "'orrible deids", had looted a human toy store of all its toy aeroplane propellors for the occasion.

The tigress forced herself to breathe more slowly. This was no time to lose her head. She could practically feel the adrenaline flooding her system, making her super-alert. The propellors which had been stolen from the toy store were to be thrown through the air like boomerangs - Rubena had to hit each and every one with a small firebolt. She would also have to conserve her energy, since she was nowhere near fully recovered. She could barely stand properly, and endurance was a fairly important part of the test.

Rubena's eyes rested on Jennyanydots, who would throw the propellors any second from now. The adrenaline-flooded queen began to focus on a tiny little ball of yellow-orange fire in her mind. Slowly, a small wisp of a flame appeared between her thumb and index finger. She was ready to fire it at the slightest movement of the propellor in the Gumbie cat's hand.

There! The yellow piece of plastic flew towards her like a tiny frisbee. Not wasting any time, Rubena threw the coil of fire straight into the propellor's trajectory. The little toy didn't even have a chance to be knocked off course - it was instantly devoured by the tiny flame, leaving behind only an unpleasant smell.

The tigress heard a small cheer behind her, but didn't dare to look who it came from. Already another tuft of fire had appeared between her fingers. Immediately, a second disk of plastic flew towards her. Rubena hurled her second flame at it, which incinerated the toy.

Suddenly, Jennyanydots hurled three propellors at once. Rubena desperately conjured three flaming coils and threw them at the flying objects - the last one was hit just in time before it would have collided with her. Now the tigress was sweating heavily. She had to think of something fast! There was no way she could hit more than four disks with the technique she had been using! Jenny was already getting ready to toss a set of five more propellors.

Rubena's brows knitted together in a scowl as a small flaming discus appeared an inch over her palm. Please let this work, she prayed. The flaming weapon was humming next to her ear, waiting to be thrown. There they went! The five propellors were airborne. Sending another silent prayer to any helpful entity which might be listening, the tigress let her discus fly. The thin slice of fire seared through its first target before homing in on the second one. A trickle of sweat threatened to run into Rubena's eyes as she willed her weapon to move faster. Her concentration was rewarded by the sound of the five propellors hitting the ground, each one of the neatly seared in half. The discus came to rest above her thumb and index finger once more.

The tigress didn't hear the appreciative mutters going through the small crowd behind her. Already the next set of targets was flying through the air. She sent her new tool flying again, slicing the pieces of plastic in half for a second time.

More flurries of targets where thrown at the tired feline, slowly wearing her out. She didn't know how much longer she could last! She peered at Jennyanydots and realised in shock that the Gumbie cat was getting ready to throw the whole remainder of the propellors which were still whole - about twenty or so, Rubena guessed. That's it, she thought. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

Rubena poured all the power she had left into a set of four disks of fire. Her short fur was already soaked in more sweat than she had ever thought she could produce in one go; her left knee buckled under her as a reminder that her pulled muscle hadn't healed up yet. Her eyes were stinging with sweat she didn't dare to wipe away, making it hard to focus them properly. The twenty or so propellors flew towards her at an incredible speed - she briefly berated herself for even considering such a test before sending her four flaming disks on their way. Her eyes unable to see through the curtain of liquid running into them, she breathlessly counted the thuds on the ground as the halved propellors hit the floor - eighteen, nineteen... silence. The last pair of plastic halves didn't fall to the ground! Rubena braced herself for the last propellor which was bound to hit any split second now... it never came. Instead, her ears were filled with the cheering of thirty or so cats. Confused, she blinked the sweat out of her eyes before opening them. Just in front of her lay two damaged, but still whole, plastic toys. The disks of fire hadn't managed to slice those two in half before burning up.

The tigress looked up as a group of three cats - Jellylorum, Alyzria, and, most surprisingly, Old Deutoronomy, rushed towards her. The healer and the Siamese beamed at her while the Jellicle leader chose a more mature smile as Rubena was practically carted away from the spot where she had collapsed fron exhaustion and dumped onto a reasonably soft patch of grass before finding herself thoroughly dried off.

"That was great!"

Alyzria could hardly contain her glee. Rubena, however, really just wanted to lie down and never get up again. Still, Alyzria managed to chase those fantasies away.

"Come on," she urged, pulling the tigress to her feet. "It's nearly dawn, you've still got to be officially made a Jellicle!"

Rubena found herself half-steered, half-carried in front of the Jellicle leader. She barely heard him chant whatever he was chanting while smearing a red line of clay-like paint on her face to emphasise the tiger-stripes which went along her cheekbones.

She could dimly remember being steered through the cheering Jellicle crowd before being lowered back onto the pile of rags which had served her as a bed since her arrival in Jellylorum's den.

I could learn to hate that old pile, she thought grumpily as she drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep.