"Your leader seems very friendly," Haskin said, smiling slightly. He and Munkustrap were now alone in the throne room.
"He always was, even before he went to the Heaviside Layer," the tabby replied. "He's like a grandfather to everyone. Or at least he was. Now it seems like he's everyone's kitten or brother."
"How did you say Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were related to Old Deuteronomy?"
"Their mother is his only kit. Her name is Jennyanydots; she couldn't come because of some personal business she had to take care of." Little white lie, he thought to himself sheepishly.
"Why is it, Munkustrap, that after all these years of the Yaltas and the Jellicles having next to no contact, you decide to make us allies now?" Haskin asked, jumping up onto his throne.
"Old Deuteronomy made plans to befriend you himself before he went to the Heaviside Layer, but it was right before he began to get weaker, and he didn't have time," Munkustrap said, dropping to his haunches before the leader.
"Ah, of course, of course. I believe you told me that once already. Cancer, wasn't it? An awful thing. But you said your leader is a healer," the brown tom said, raising an eyebrow.
"He was in a late stage of his disease before it came to his attention," he said, nearly grimacing as another lie came forth. "There was nothing he could do but send himself to the Heaviside Layer. I thought that in the condition he is in now, he would appreciate it if I could do what he meant to do."
"Old Deuteronomy always loved peace, didn't he?" Haskin said, smiling a bit. "My grandfather met him once; he said he was one of the kindest toms he had ever met. He was a kitten then, too. He had just returned from the Heaviside Layer weeks before. He had his memories that time, however."
"Yes, he really is a rarity," Munkustrap admitted. "He found me on the street, half drowned and nearly frozen. He took me back to his house, he lived with an old lady then who let me stay. He got me back on my paws, and finally decided to train me as his successor."
"I suppose blood doesn't determine who inherits the throne among Jellicles, does it?"
"No, skill does."
"Let us get directly to the point, Munkustrap," the brown cat said hurriedly, avoiding the tabby's stare. "Both Macavity and the Pollicles are threats to both of our tribes. You do not have the numbers to defend yourselves, and we do not have the magic. If there was ever a war, we would both be finished. But if we swear an allegiance, we could overthrow them when, if, the attack comes."
"I agree," nodded the silver tabby. "I want to make it clear that we will not simply attack the Pollicles or Macavity. We will defend ourselves, but we will not attack him first."
"That is clear," smiled Haskin. "Care to discuss the details up in the lookout? There's a wonderful view from up there, and we will have privacy."
"Of course."
Old Deuteronomy trotted up the hall, and poked his head through the hole leading outside. It was a corner of the Yalta junkyard, where the fence met. A hole was in a section of the wire, and two poorly-kept tom cats were slinking through it.
The larger of the two, a bulky light grey tom, looked towards him. "Hey, Flea! It's a little kitty cat!"
The cat who must have been Flea laughed. He was small and his entire coat was black. "What are you doing so far from your momma, little Yalta? Shouldn't you be safe within your tunnel walls? Hey, Rat, let's show him."
The large grey cat grinned, baring his sharp teeth. "We'll show you what happened when Yalta kitties get in our way."
"I'm not a Yalta," Deuteronomy growled. "I'm a Jellicle!"
"A Jellicle!" exclaimed Rat. "Well that changed everything! When we thought you were a Yalta, we were just going to rough you up a bit. Now that we know you're a Jellicle, we're going to kill you."
"Why have the Jellicles and the Yaltas never been allies before?" Munkustrap questioned, looking around from the high lookout point.
"Lack of need, really," Haskin shrugged. "And to tell the truth, I think my father was always afraid Old Deuteronomy would blame the Yaltas for what happened with Macavity."
"Why in Heaviside would we blame the Yaltas?" asked the tabby, frowning.
"Oh, I thought you knew," the brown tom said, looking uncomfortable. "Macavity was a Yalta."
"What?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"His father was banished from the tribe for attempted murder. He was ordered to leave Macavity and his other kitten behind, but he stole them away. The younger one died, he wasn't weaned and he starved without milk, but Macavity was then raised on the streets and taught the life of crime. The rest, as they say, is history."
"I never knew that," Munkustrap mused, regaining his composure. "And here I was thinking he was a Jellicle."
"I guess first reaction when someone like Macavity shows up is to…" Haskin paused, squinting out at a cleared section by the fence corner.
"Trouble?"
"There are two toms over by that fence," he said, pointing with his nose. "Wait, someone's coming out of the tunnel. A grey kit… Oh dear."
Munkustrap was nearly sick. It was Old Deuteronomy, and the two toms getting closer.
The grey kitten's eyes widened. He backed towards the hole he had come up from, but Flea quickly jumped between him and his escape. Deuteronomy turned to face the larger tom.
"Say your prayers to your Everlasting Cat, kit," he sneered, and brought his heavy paw down.
Deuteronomy jumped out of the way, but the tom's claws had caught him across the cheek, spilling blood onto his face. He dodged another blow, and another, and another. He hoped to lure Flea away from the exit. But he stayed put, and Rat was getting closer.
The Jellicle leader was finally backed against a wall; there was no where he could run. He was trapped. He looked up to see the large tom grinning down at him.
Rat brought up his paw, and brought it down to strike. But before it made impact, something tacked him and knocked him to the ground. A silver something.
A brown streak tore out of the hole, and directly into Flea, who gave a loud yowl. It was Haskin, easily pinning the smaller cat. But Flea wriggled out of his grasp, and dashed out the open patch in the fence. Rat kicked his attacker off of him, and followed him companion.
Deuteronomy couldn't help it. He cried. He dropped to his haunches, and tears began to flow.
Munkustrap, who had been the one who had gotten Rat, hurried over to him and nuzzled him comfortingly. "Don't cry, Deuteronomy. They're gone, they can't get you. You're bleeding!"
"It's just a scratch," he sniffed, wiping at his face but managing only to smear the blood.
"We saw you from the lookout," Haskin said, pointing towards a crow's nest-like addition on the roof of the tunnelled junk piles. "We came as fast as we could."
"Were these cats your warriors?" Munkustrap asked sharply, looking up from the sobbing kit.
The brown tom shook his head. "No. My warriors would never attack a cat without a reason, and they would never harm a kitten. I have never seen those two before."
"They said their names were Rat and Flea," Deuteronomy said tearfully.
"Only one 'tribe' could have names like that," the silver tabby muttered, swallowing hard. "They must have been from Macavity's circle. Did they know who you were?"
The kit shook his head. "I said I was a Jellicle, not a Yalta, and then they said they were going to kill me. I don't think they knew I was the Jellicle leader."
Jabirus and the Jellicle guests scrambled out of the hole.
"We heard the scream," Rumpelteazer panted. "Granddad! Everlasting Cat, what happened to you?"
"A couple of Macavity's thugs," Munkustrap scowled, licking the blood away from the kitten's face. "There were two of them against him, and they cornered him. The wound's not as bad as it looks, though."
"You okay, kit?" the Rum Tum Tugger asked, actual concern on his face.
The kitten nodded, trying to compose himself. "It doesn't hurt that much, I was just scared."
"We should get you back and have Jenny take a look at you," Munkustrap said, glancing back over to the Yalta leader. "Is there a chance we could finish this at a later date?"
Haskin nodded. "Of course. I'll send a messenger to your junkyard."
"Come on, Deuteronomy, let's go," the silver tabby said, urging the kit to his paws. The six were guided through the tunnels and back onto the main street by Jabirus.
"Ow! Ow! Jenny, it stings!"
"That means it's working. Now hold still or I'll get this stuff all over the place."
Rumpelteazer and Mungojerrie had brought their grandfather back to their house in Victoria Grove to have their mother clean his cut properly. He wasn't taking it well.
All the twins, Munkustrap, and Mistoffelees could do was sit there as the Gumbie Cat held him down and doused his face with disinfectant from her human's medicine cabinet. The Rum Tum Tugger had headed home as soon as possible.
"It's not as bad as it could have been," the marmalade queen sighed, wiping the foaming liquid off with her paw. "Still… Mistoffelees, maybe you should check for internal bleeding."
"They only hit me once!" Deuteronomy protested. "And it wasn't even that hard!"
"I don't think it's necessary, Jenny," agreed the tuxedoed tom. "He seems just fine. He's even got his energy back."
"How did the meeting go?" the Gumbie Cat asked, releasing her father, who instantly ran for cover behind Mistoffelees.
"Unless you count the fact that Old Deuteronomy was nearly beaten to a pulp, good," Munkustrap sighed. "He was well-behaved, something that shocked me. He's really becoming more mature. Which is more that I can say for Mungojerrie."
"Just 'cause I don't act like I've got milk up my nose…" the tom sniffed.
"Hey, Munkustrap, I'm going to take Deuteronomy to the junkyard for a magic lesson, okay?" Mistoffelees said. "We'll be there when you need to take him home."
"Might as well go with them before Mum decides to tackle us, too," Mungojerrie nodded. He and his sister following the two magical cats.
As soon as they were gone, the silver tabby shifted into questioning mode. "Did you know Macavity used to be a Yalta? Is that why you hate them so much?"
"There's a bit more to it then that," Jennyanydots frowned, replacing the cap on the bottle of disinfectant.
"You have to tell me, Jenny. I'm pretty sure whatever's eating you is what's giving Deuteronomy nightmares. He's woken up crying almost every night this week."
The Gumbie Cat bit her lip. "I guess you do need to know. After all, you are the Jellicle Protector. Just please, keep this between us."
"I will."
She sighed before starting. "I suppose I should start by saying I wasn't Old Deuteronomy's only kit. I had an older brother named Orion, and a much younger sister named Ramada…"
"Here she is, you two," Old Deuteronomy smiled proudly. "Your new sister."
The kitten's fur was orange, like her mother's, but it was the same light shade as Jenny's. Her eyes were a deep brown like her father's.
"I'm sorry you couldn't see her sooner, but we couldn't risk you passing that flu virus on to little Ramada," Heliotrope said, watching as her mate licked his latest progeny lovingly. "Still, twelve days is a long time to wait for something this special."
"She's beautiful," Orion smiled. He was a silvery-grey cat with broad shoulders and a muscular body. He was the Jellicle Protector, and there wasn't a cat in the junkyard who could defeat him in a wrestling match.
Jenny nuzzled the tiny kit, and then noticed something. "She hasn't got a tail."
"Yes, we too noticed that," her mother sighed. "It's a sort of birth defect. It's not overly common, but it's been known to happen. But the rest of her is perfect, and her mind is undamaged."
"She doesn't need a tail," the Jellicle Protector insisted. "Besides, it makes her unique."
Asparagus, the Theatre Cat's youngest son, poked his head in the car trunk Heliotrope used for a den. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Old Deuteronomy, but there are two cats out here who wish to become Jellicles."
The large grey tom got to his feet, and jumped out of the den. He winched slightly, his bones had been getting stiff recently.
Before him sat a muscular ginger tom and an almost-tom of the same colour and pattern.
Obviously related, the Jellicle leader thought. Probably father and son. Aloud, he said "Greetings. I am Old Deuteronomy, the leader of the Jellicle tribe. Who are you two?"
Both cats bowed respectively. "My name is Cronus," the older one said. "My son here is Macavity. We have been living on the streets since my son was small, and we would like to become Jellicles."
"Old Deuteronomy, I don't like the look of these two," Asparagus hissed into his leader's ear.
"We cannot judge them before we know them," he replied softly. To the newcomers, he said "You two can stay in the junkyard while I decide whether or not you can become permanent Jellicles."
"Thank you very much, sir," Cronus said, sounding genuine. If Deuteronomy had been looking close enough, however, he would have seen a dangerous glint in his eye.
That night, Old Deuteronomy spent the night in the junkyard instead of at his newfound human's house. He didn't know why, but he was uneasy. He reasoned it was because the moon was almost full. He stargazed until he finally drifted into a restless sleep behind his tire throne.
He awoke several hours later to a great noise. The grey tom darted up, and saw Cronus on top of Othello, Gus's eldest. The ginger tom's claws were stained with blood, and several other bodies lay around him, their throats having been slit before they knew he was there. Deuteronomy identified them as Othello's mate, Grizabella's sister, and Jellylorum's mother and father.
The only thought that ran through his mind as he threw himself at the ginger tom was that Asparagus had been right. He had trusted those two, and they had played him for a fool. He tackled the cat, and pinned him to the ground.
Cronus was smaller than the Jellicle leader, but he was strong, and much younger. He kicked Deuteronomy in the stomach with his hind paws, and made a break in the opposite direction.
Free, he was free! But he wasn't familiar with the junkyard. He didn't know the side entrance led directly onto the road, as it was blocked from view by a large junk pile. It was dark, and he didn't see the road, nor did the car see him.
If Old Deuteronomy had stayed longer, he would have eventually have heard the screeching of brakes and a small thump… He bolted for his mate's den, where his son and young daughter also slept. Jennyanydots had taken up residence in Victoria Grove with her humans.
When he got there, he was nearly sick. There was blood everywhere, including on the still forms of his three family members. And there stood little Macavity, panting and grinning like a maniac.
The younger cat caught him in the shoulder, his claws unsheathed. Deuteronomy felt no pain. He tried to fight back, but grief and anger and disgust made him clumsy. Macavity finally knocked him off of his paws, and fled into the night.
"Everlasting Cat," Munkustrap said, once Jennyanydots had finished. "Everlasting Cat."
"No one ever mentioned that night again," the Gumbie Cat said, keeping her composure but not looking the tabby in the eye. "It was like an unspoken law."
"Wait, that's why Old Deuteronomy almost killed himself, isn't it?"
The queen nodded. "They found the bodies the next morning and came looking for him. They found him on the roof of the vicarage, just starring at the ground. But when they talked to him, he was calm and normal. He came down, and never said another word about it to the tribe. When we found out the two had been Yaltas, the proposed alliance shattered because most of the tribe thought they had been sent to murder Old Deuteronomy and his family. He told me the whole story a few months before he went to the Heaviside Layer."
"Cronus had been banished from his tribe," Munkustrap said. "Haskin told me today. Attempted murder, obviously."
"What had you been saying about Deuteronomy's nightmares?" Jennyanydots asked, quick to change the subject.
"Oh, he's been shaking in his sleep, and sometimes he sobs or even screams out loud. He always mumbles about blood and 'him', who's obviously Macavity."
"Poor kit," the Gumbie Cat sighed.
"Maybe that's why he came back without his memories!" he exclaimed. "It's like Rumpelteazer said, he put up a barrier so he wouldn't remember that one thing, and something went wrong."
"No, that's not how it works, Munkustrap," said Jenny. "My father told me much about the Heaviside Layer. No one can control it but the Everlasting Cat, not even Old Deuteronomy. If it was the Layer that blocked off his mind, it was the Everlasting Cat Herself who made it happen."
The tabby sighed heavily. "I'd better go to the junkyard. At least I can keep an eye on the little demon there."
"It'll all come round right eventually, Munkustrap," Jennyanydots said comfortingly.
"Thanks," he muttered, bounding up the basement stairs and out the cat door.
AN: This was a long one… Oh, and trust me, this isn't it for Deuteronomy's past. The motive, for example, is missing, and I just can't leave it at "Oh, they just hated him for some unexplained reason". And before anyone asks, yes, Haskin is weird. There is a reason for that. It's coming, okay? I'm only one writer…