Chapter 2: The Spotted Cat

"Erin," said the booming voice that had grown so much kinder to my ears since that fateful day. My owner, the giant wolf who I learned was named Duke, called out my name again. "Erin."

He allowed me to stay in one of the few undamaged houses of the town. I quickly ran out of the doors and into the main square, where the great wolf slept. He was spread out through the city, using one of the crumbled buildings as a pillow to rest his great head. We had both recovered since that night, and now his fur took on a healthy mixture of grey, white and black. When I ran out from between buildings, he sat up and lowered a paw in front of me. Happily, I climbed up and took a seat on the pad of his hand. No longer did he stink of death and blood. Either the stench had faded over the months, or I was used to it. "Did you sleep well?" I asked politely.

"Very," the great wolf said, yawning. I grabbed a strand of fur as his hot breathe almost blew me off his great paw.

"What shall we do today?" I asked.

Before he could answer, a different deep voice echoed over the horizon. While I had grown accustomed to the wolf's powerful tone, this new one sent shivers down my spine. I stood up on the paw and turned to face the leopard that now prowled over the ground. Aside from the obvious differences in fur, there was another significant distinction between the spotted cat and the patchy dog. The leopard was distinctly female. Her chest was much more defined than Duke's, and she possessed shapely hips and legs while the wolf's center of strength seemed to be in his upper body.

"You monster," the new beast roared. "I will kill you in the name of my great lord: Zanniber."

Duke yawned again. "We'll we could go out fishing," he suggested, his amber eyes always on me, not on the leopard that was equal to his colossal size.

The great cat was obviously infuriated at being ignored and roared louder this time. "I will kill you, do you hear me wolf? You dare to murder your god. You will die for that crime."

Duke's massive paw moved over to the roof of the church where he gently let me down. Then, he stood up and faced the leopard. "Why do you fight?" the wolf asked.

The leopard was confused by this and stuttered for words.

"Does your god hit you? My god hit me. Slapped me when I obeyed her, beat me when I didn't. Does your god act the same?"

The leopard growled loudly. "M-my god treats me well."

"Does he hit you?"

The leopard growled again, deeper this time as she lunged at Duke. In a swift move, my master grabbed the spotted cat's paw, twisted it around, kicked her legs out from beneath her, and pushed a foot into her head. He stood there, the leopard pinned down beneath him and unable to move without a shock surging through her arm. With one hand still holding the spotted cat's arm behind her, Duke bent down to stroked the fur on her back. "These wounds are fresh. Did he slap you around to get you riled up?"

"Let go of me so I can tear your heart out," the leopard roared.

Duke twisted her limb with a horrifying pop. She roared in pain as she crawled out from beneath his grip, her arm limp beside her. With her only useable claw, the leopard again lunged forward. This time Duke allowed her claws to tear deep into his chest. I screamed out in horror from my position on the roof, as blood drops the size of my body dripped down to the ground from the leopard's claw. Duke laughed the same laugh as when he slaughtered the town. Somehow, now, it didn't seem as frightening. "I've been hurt much worse by my god, that's why I killed her. Do you want to live as a toy to him your whole life, an insignificant subservient?"

The leopard was scared; you could see it in her huge bright emerald eyes. Confused and terrified, she took several steps back, tripping over a house. Weighing several hundred tons means that what ever you fall on will be decimated beneath you. In this case, it was the blacksmith's shop. The leopard's ample butt crushed the building into hundreds of splinters. There was a whelp of pain as she sprung into the air, several pieces of wood protruding form her upper thigh, lower back, and all the flesh in between. I couldn't help but laugh loudly.

"You think that's funny you little bitch," the leopard snarled approaching me, holding her limp arm in her free hand. That familiar feeling of fear swelled inside me. A fifty foot tall walking spotted cat was going to grab me and throw me in her mouth like a jelly bean. Worse, I couldn't even run. I was trapped on the roof of a three story tall building.

The leopard reached out, her paws ready to grab and crush me. Or maybe she wouldn't: maybe she'd just decimate the whole church beneath her massive hand. The only thing stopping her was Duke, who had grabbed her long slender tail and was pulling her away from me. "You won't touch her," the wolf growled, swinging her into a building. He grabbed her around her neck and threw her into the town square. The leopard let out a painful groan.

"You still haven't answered my question. Do you want to remain your god's slave forever?"

Tears swelled in the leopard's eyes as she sat up and leaned painfully against a store. "N-no," she whimpered, sitting up and leaning against the remains of the house.

"What's your name?"

"My, my master calls me San."

"Nice to meet you San, I'm Duke." The great wolf walked over to the church and I leapt onto his palm. "This is Erin," he said displaying me to her, and I made a small curtsy. He dropped me back to the ground a few yards from the sitting leopard. I wasn't scared anymore, I knew Duke would let no harm come to me. "I dislocated your arm San, it hurts, doesn't it?"

With tears in her eyes, the leopard nodded.

Duke took a chunk of wood, about my size, and handed it to the leopard. "Bite this," he whispered as he gently took her limp arm. "And this will hurt."

With a snap, crackle, and pop, Duke relocated San's arm. The pain was so extreme, the spotted cat couldn't muster a scream, but rather breathed a gasp of agony.

Duke sat down in front of San, his legs crossed under him, his tail wrapped around his waist. "If you want to be free San, you have to kill your god."

"I-I can't."
"Why?" Duke asked. "Are you afraid of him?"

"I-I don't know. He's my god, my master, I can't defy him."

"I thought that way once too. But I realized something. We don't need them, they need us. They need us to impose their will. They need us to protect their citadel, to convert new people. They abuse us, because they fear us."

It was odd, in all the months I had been living with Duke like this, he'd never told me why he suddenly turned on his lord.

"If you ever want to be free, you have to destroy his citadel and send him back to whence he came."

The leopard slowly began to stroke a deep wound she had on her neck. Duke hadn't inflicted that, everything he'd done was minor. They exception was dislocating her arm, which was much more painful that harmful. San looked up and rubbed her fur slowly. "Will you help me?" she asked.

"I will take care of his disciples, but you are the one who must deal the final blow. Otherwise you won't be free."

San nodded understanding.

The sun was setting and darkness was begging to take over the sky. Duke stretched and spread out: resting his head on his usual pillow of rubble. "Tomorrow we'll set you free San. Tonight, sleep; you'll need your strength."

The leopard slowly lowered to the ground and rested her head on the debris like the wolf. Hesitantly, she fell asleep, a purring snore filling the night. I hurried past her, the spotted giant, and went to sleep in one of the few unharmed houses that remained.