CHAPTER VIII – THE OBSTACLES
Both freshly gathered parties were now travelling towards Zakopane to meet there and regroup. But their journey was not that quick and overly pleasant, unfortunately. After all, Polish lands were surprisingly full of mysteries, it was a haven for adventurers.
Bożena was riding through a mediocre-densed forest on the horse at a slow pace during the afternoon. Her new party member Filemon was walking on his all fours just in front of her. He varied much from Bożena at this moment, he did not have any belt, any cape, not even boots. Moreover, his only mean of transport were his own paws which thankfully did not even begin to ache yet.
„How are you so sure where we are going now?" Bożena asked out of curiosity.
„What?" Filemon got snapped out of his thoughts and wondered.
„You deaf or what? Why are you playing smart and being that confident?"
„Because I've been to this place, 'kay?" He answered her. „I've been travellin' from North to South due to boredom."
„Yea," Bożena interrupted. „You're one of those cats who don't have a home and just wander through the whole country while picking up the females, aren't ya?!"
„Ya can say that." Filemon admitted and smiled sincerely. „Look, we've been walking for quite a while, you sure we don't need a rest?"
„Rest?" Bożena asked while looking down at him from her horse. „I am not tired at all."
„Please, panno!" He pleaded but then something caught his eye. There was a small stream of water not so far away from them. After spotting it, he asked Bożena: „There is something I wanna let you see there!"
At first, Bożena felt uneasy and even irritated that he dared to try and stop her journey. But then she looked in Filemon's direction and saw it – a decent stream of water was dripping down the forest creek. She waved the reins, making her horse move faster to the location. Once she got a clearer view of it, she dismounted and followed Filemon further into the forest.
„Is… Is this what you wanted to show me? Just a creek?" Bożena asked in disbelief.
„I am sure ya need a drink." Filemon smiled and bent towards the water to take a few sips from it with his tongue.
At this time, Bożena looked around in search for any threat. She got sure she found nothing before crouching down too.
Bożena looked straight at the water and noticed the perfect reflection of her beautiful appearance. She took a glimpse of Filemon who was hydrating himself and eventually lowered down to drink for herself too. In all honesty, it was the best drinking experience, hands down. One would say that two cats from two different social spheres were relatively drinking healthily as equals.
But this beautiful moment unfortunately ended quite soon. Bożena felt a tug on her saber, as if somebody or something tried to take it from her. She instantly looked around and gave a hefty kick right where she tough the tugger was. Her mouth soon let out a gasp in shock as she realized it was nothing other than a red fox which had been evidentially sent a few feet backwards by the impact of her kick.
The red fox was a little more massive and larger than Bożena, that was for sure. Even though it stood on all fours and had no weapons on itself, it still proved to be a dangerous foe for these two cats. Filemon immediately got his fight or flight reflex kicked in just as he saw the fox.
„WOAH, KURWA! IT'S A FOX!" He shouted in panic and hopped off to run to a nearby tree.
But Bożena did not seem to give up as easily as that.
With the wind's speed, she drew her saber from her sheathe with a familiar sound. The fox eventually got on its all fours and began gekkering loudly while trying to show all of its teeth by opening its jaw widely. Bożena gripped her saber harder and put her left hind paw behind just as she stared right in the fox's eyes. She hopped on her paws lightly a few times to get the adrenaline pumping in her veins.
„Śmiało, kurwa!" Bożena shouted in her language with pure anger and hatred.
The fox then launched at her, clasping its jaws where her neck was, but despite all the best efforts and great agility, its target moved away with immense speed. Right afterward, Bożena slashed the fox's left eye with the speed of light, which resulted in the fox yelping from pain and going back. But Bożena was not done yet. Not longer than a second after that, she charged at the wounded fox and with a lot of powerful slashes at its neck, she killed it without mercy.
Soon, Bożena was staring at nothing more than a corpse of a fox with its throat slashed open lying on the grass painted red with blood. She smiled and picked the fox up by the scruff of its neck, despite its head being a little larger than hers.
„You can stop hiding, you f*** coward." Bożena called out to the trees in front of her. „I took care of the thief!"
Slowly albeit steadily, Filemon emerged from one of the trees. His eyes were as wide as saucepans while he stared at the object of his fears being completely innocent at this moment. The fox, once powerful and might, a danger for the two cats, was now degraded to a rug and dead.
„How?" Filemon asked in disbelief. „Why?… When?"
Bożena quickly answered him while smiling: „He tried to steal my saber, so he died from it. I don't know why you were so scared of such a fluffy rug."
But Filemon was only staring at her with his eyes wide and pointing his paws at the fox. After he got out of his shock, he sighed deeply and asked:
„Alright, panno, but what are we goin' to do with him?"
„Help me up, we're going to tie him to the horse." She ordered and began carrying the fox's torso.
„Ya serious?" Filemon questioned that but Bożena immediately cut him off:
„Tak, serious! NOW GET YOUR F*** ASS MOVING AND HELP ME, DAMNIT!"
The simple brown-furred cat felt his hair bristle on the back of his neck. Truth to be told, he was starting to be more afraid of her than ever. Nevertheless, he ran up to Bożena and helped her carry the fox. Once it was done, Bożena grabbed a rope tied it around the fox's neck before hanging it on her horse's saddle. That way, the fox was ready to be carried.
„Why would ya need a fox, panno Bożeno?" Filemon asked with still a bit of fear in his voice.
Bożena mounted her horse and told him: „Townsfolk give good pay for fox fur. Did you hydrate well?"
Filemon only gulped and spoke: „Tak, panno. I had my portion of drink."
„Do you still feel tired then?"
„...No."
„Then keep leading the way. If you didn't stop, perhaps this fox wouldn't try to steal my saber."
Filemon only shook his head and out of necessity he began walking down the path towards the South. Bożena soon followed him on her horse.
As they both walked, Filemon was getting back to his senses. In fact, she did not do anything wrong. She got rid of the animal when at the same time he escaped in fear. Therefore, perhaps having such a calico she-cat by his side was not a reason to fear, but reason to feel safe?
At about the same time, Paweł rode his horse forwards, having both Puss and Kitty on horseback right behind him. Soon enough, their road began to be thinner and thinner, along with the forestation being denser. It was obvious it was turning from a main road to a really remote one. Birds' singing and leaves' rustling were even louder than before.
„Have we just strayed from the road?" Puss asked and narrowed his eyes.
„No." Paweł answered. „This is just a narrow path on the way. It will end soon and we will be back on the main track."
And so the horse kept on walking down the path. However, soon Paweł raised his head, as if he found a familiar scent. He looked around in alert and then waved the reins further, making the horse move a little faster.
„Something's wrong, Senor?" Puss asked and tilted his head.
„Tak, something might make our journey longer if we aren't careful enough."
And there this something appeared right in front of our heroes on the narrow path. A brown, large bear, more or less common back in Poland in the 17th century. It was an animal practically as large as the mighty horse all three was riding on at the moment. Moreover, it had large jaws and powerful paws. And it just appeared on the path they were taking to reach their objective.
Puss at this time only felt a shock of sudden strong emotions. This time, however, fear was not a major presence. He knew that with help of Senor Paweł, he had a great advantage. Kitty, on the other paw, felt her head go dizzy once she saw the threat.
Paweł stopped in his tracks and patiently waited for the bear to come across and eventually move away. But the bear did not stop at all. Instead, it stood its ground right where it was.
It all seemed as though the cats have invaded this bear's personal territory. Unfortunately for them, bears were social animals and this one of such certainly wasn't going to forgive them for trespassing. It stared right at the horse and then at Paweł who was totally at the front. Paweł stared right into its eyes back, hoping to avoid confrontation. It did not work, unfortunately. The bear stood on its hind paws and showed its sharp teeth while growling.
At this time, Paweł knew that standing here was not the best idea. He quickly dismounted the horse and landed on his all fours. Puss did the same thing after a while of coming back to his senses and stood next to Paweł. He drew his rapier and pointed it at the beast.
„Move away!" Puss shouted. „Or I will gut you like a fish!"
But the bear did not listen. Instead, it showed its teeth even more and extracted his claws. Kitty hopped off of the saddle right afterwards and the horse gently moved aside, without any bigger haste. It seemed to have been trained in scenarios like these, which was nonetheless surprising.
Paweł slowly moved forward and drew his saber. He knew himself that this encounter will end with violence and only violence and he was ready for it with all his might and definitely wasn't going to give up, at least not now. However, fighting a bear was considerably more dangerous than fighting a human. But for some reason this fact wasn't frightening Paweł at all.
With a sigh, Paweł got himself into the fighting position, aiming his saber forwards and having his right boot in the front of his left. He made a false step forward, just to surprise the enemy and initiate the fight. The black bear, surprisingly, stepped back in fear, but after realizing what was going on, immediately charged at Paweł. Despite his old age for a cat, he managed to keep his distance and attack only when the bear was vulnerable and too focused with offensive.
Puss stood back for a while, thinking of a strategy to defeat the foe. What was the truth about Puss was that he could get out of any situation scot-free, yet this one was very different from what he had encountered so far. It was an over 6 feet tall bear! How could he defeat it? How could Paweł still fight it? He was the one to play it safe and that is why he nodded towards Kitty to come to her and she only smiled while approaching further.
„We stay together… And we fight." Puss spoke while gripping his rapier tighter and watching Paweł fight the beast.
„Or..." Kitty shrugged and he turned to see her.
At that moment, she was holding a folded rope with a slight smile. Puss couldn't believe his own eyes for a moment.
„How did you get it?" Puss asked definitely stressed out.
Kitty waved the rope in front of him and answered: „Sir Paweł really was prepared. It was in his saddle pouch after all."
Then, a bright idea shined in Puss' mind. He widened his eyes a little, put the rapier back in his belt and took the other end of the rope.
„Tie it to that tree!" Puss hollered as he went to the other side of the path.
The slices of Paweł's saber and the bear's roaring were constantly hearable for the time being. Puss hastily tied one end of the rope to the tree and Kitty did the same thing, but for the other side. Just as they made sure the rope is tight and straight, Paweł got clawed on his left shoulder by the huge bear and flew right above the rope and slid on the ground on his all fours for a few seconds. His wound did not look anyhow too bad thanks to the left shoulder pad supporting his black cape, yet at the same time it certainly did not look like a scratch.
With a hiss, Paweł stood up and again pointed the saber at his enemy, seemingly ignoring the gash on his shoulder. But the bear was still furious. That is why it charged with all its might at Paweł. The large animal was ready to kill the cats, but something else happened.
It tripped over the strong rope and its large mass and speed did the rest of the job and made it fall down on the ground with a loud THUD.
Paweł used this situation to his advantage and ran up to the beast. With all his might, he twisted the bear's head upwards and stabbed him right through the palate in his head. Soon enough, he pulled the blade out and sighed deeply with his mouth still open.
Puss only stared at him in shock, yet in Kitty's gaze there was a pinch of worry. They all have experienced something extraordinary on this journey. And they now realized they really do need one another.
„Your shoulder?" Puss suddenly cut the awkward pause and Paweł immediately looked at him.
„Excuse me?" He answered and tilted his head a little, while still panting from slight exhaustion.
„Your shoulder, it's… bleeding." Puss explained and this time pointed at his left shoulder which really was hurt.
Paweł turned his head to look at the shoulder. After examining it for a moment, he switched his gaze back at Puss.
„This but a scratch." He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. „Yet for real, I still have some alcohol on the horse." And he went for a tree stump to sit on it and tend to his wound.
Kitty held her paws behind her as Puss looked around to check where the horse was. Thankfully, it was patiently standing on the grass near the path and waiting with boredom for the whole scenario to end. Puss was about to go to the horse himself but then saw Kitty pulling her paws from behind her back and holding a green glass bottle full of some liquid. With a smile, she handed it to Paweł.
„You don't feel pain too much, do you, Senor?" Kitty asked him, trying to keep the conversation going a little.
„Not that much anymore." He answered as he grabbed the bottle.
Right after that, he opened the cork and, surprisingly, lifted it to his mouth and began drinking it. Instead of using it to tend his wounds, he drank most of the bottle's contents and then took a deep sigh. Later on he pulled out a piece of cloth from his satchel and, poured some alcohol on his wound next to his shoulder pad and then wrapped it in the cloth.
Seeing this, Puss sat right next to him and faced him: „You good, Pola- I mean, Senor Paweł?"
„Yes." He nodded once and soon turned his head right to face Puss: „Many thanks."
Kitty came right over and smiled: „Sounds we are an indestructible team, huh?"
„I've learnt it the hard way in my life that teamwork is key." Paweł spoke. „Needless to say, I am quite amazed to see you thinking clearly."
„And I am quite amazed to see you fighting, Senor!" Puss laughed and gently pushed Paweł's shoulder. „No doubt you must have been a great Hussarro in your youth, ha!"
„I've killed bigger and worse than that bear." Paweł began explaining this time. „But I haven't done such things for some time. It's good to hear that I haven't got out of practice."
„Senor?" Kitty asked. „I also just wanted to say that..."
Paweł raised his head to see Kitty. „Mhm?"
„That I think I like your country." That was when she smiled. „Even though it has a colder climate, this might be a land for adventurers."
At this comment, Puss turned her head to Kitty in a slight wonder and Paweł only nodded once and slowly. „I am glad you like it." The Polish cat concluded. „But we shall not waste our time. We have to move."
And so Paweł hid the bottle back in the saddle satchel and made his way to the bear corpse. Puss moved closer to Kitty and whispered:
„Glad you like these Eastern lands. Because we've had more adventures here than in our entire lifetimes."
„Puss… You know what I like." She pet his shoulder gently and they both went to the horse and stared at Paweł to see what he was doing.
He began skinning the bear with the knife he had. It was a more or less gory procedure, yet it eventually resulted in him having the whole black bear pelt cut out. He didn't forget to take the bear's fat too – it was a valuable component for medicine back in the day.
After it all happened, they all left the remainings of the bear on the path as it was. From now on, he would serve as a warning to any travelers who dared to follow this route. But also a sign that even though the forces of Polish nature are powerful, they are no match for an experienced and team-working company.
At the same time, Bożena was being led by Filemon straight to Zakopane. On their way, they passed by a village called Przeciszów. It was a settlement just like any other, yet this one was a little smaller than Katowice for sure. Bożena slowed down the pace and looked around to see anything interesting. And there it was – a simple tailor's hut. At this sight, she halted her horse and spoke to Filemon:
„You wait here, I'm gonna buy ourselves a tent."
„Thank goodness!" Filemon exhaled and flopped down on his side next to the hut.
She dismounted her horse in a quick pace and began untying the fox from her saddle: „Don't lay around, help me with this!"
With a scoff, Filemon got onto his paws back again and grabbed the fox corpse. Both he and Bożena carried it with a slight struggle into the hut, in which there was a shopkeeper counting money. Around him there were many coats, capes, and caps laid around. But what caught Bożena's eyes was one small tent on the corner.
„A'ight, I got it!" Bożena told Filemon with some frustration. „You can get the hell outta there and slack off!"
„My Lord, why do you have such a bad temper?" He held his head and slowly walked out of the hut, only later to lay on his back next to its entrance.
The shopkeeper turned his head to Bożena holding the dead fox by its neck.
„Oh!" He exclaimed. „Have you caught this creature all by yourself, kitty?"
Bożena then gave the finger to the tailor and responded:
„One more time I am being named like that and the cat will get your tongue, dumbass. I'm not a kitty or whatever. I'm Bożena Mieszkogradzka, I hope you recognize this name."
Tailor nodded his head once and then asked: „If you're really Mieszkogradzka… Then my humblest apologies. What are you doing with this fox, therefore?"
„I came to sell it." She answered.
„Ooooh, that's a good choice, panno. The fox will serve as a piece of good pelt for a fur cap. What would you want in exchange?"
„A tent." Bożena said without any explanation.
„A tent… Alright, let me get it real quick."
The tailor picked up the carcass of the fox carefully and placed it on the counter. He walked over to a wardrobe and picked out just a few sticks tied up with cloth. A smile formed on his face when he showed her that.
„The tent on the corner, a****le!" Bożena angrily narrowed her eyes and pointed right at the tent she had spotted earlier.
The tailor was now a bit stressed but he still went for the corner and promptly grabbed a small tent which would only contaiin a single human yet was perfect for a cat or two. Bożena picked it up and carried it in both of her paws.
„Finally. Was it that hard?" She scoffed at this purchase and made her way back out. The tailor was shocked by her inappropriate behavior, but later shook it off – he had more important matters after all.
Filemon raised his head as he was resting: „What did ye buy, panno?"
„Not your damn business." She answered and began tying up the rolled-up tent to her horse.
„Well, buying 'not my damn business' might have been expensive, aye?"
Bożena gave a deep inhale and equally great exhale while having her eyes closed. Her paws started shaking but then she stopped. She couldn't risk hurting her guide.
„I meant it's a tent."
„Why would we need tents?" The tom asked and tilted his head.
„Because I'm civilized, unlike you, you f***ing animal." She stared right into his eyes and finished tying up the tent. With one continuous hop, she mounted her horse again.
„Wait, are we goin' now?" Filemon slowly got up. „I barely had an ounce o' sleep."
Bożena gritted her lips and slowly smiled.
„Maybe sitting on the back of my horse would prove to be a good rest for ye."
He widened his eyes and opened his mouth, not believing what she just said. „Wait… Really?"
„Nah, just kidding." She smirked sarcastically. „Go on the ground and stop whining."
Filemon groaned from fatigue and began walking in front of her. But just as he took the position, Bożena spoke:
„On second thought, I think that guides should be seated."
„Is that another jest of yours?" He asked with slight irritation.
„I am not in the damn mood for jokes now!" She raised her voice at him and lowered down. „Now get your fat ass on the horse or I will kick it so much you won't be able to sit ANYWHERE for days!"
In a rush, Filemon boarded the saddle and sat down on it, right behind Bożena. His heart was still racing quite a bit, but at least now he found the comfort of being on horseback.
Bożena smiled. „Good cat. Now… Lead the way."
And so they moved on.
