Thanks to Creek, Rose, and Guest for your reviews! They're all very encouraging and helpful to me as a writer. I'd also like to thank all those who read the story without leaving a comment. As much as I love feedback, views are just as important. I'm sorry for the wait, and without further ado, here's the next chapter.
Blade- calico she-cat with bright green eyes
One-Eye- ginger tabby tom with a white belly and paws and one green eye
Sky- blue-gray she-kit with a deformed hind paw and pale green eyes
Dapple- tortoiseshell she-cat with missing teeth on one side of her jaw and golden eyes
Minnow- silver tabby she-cat with black stripes, deformed pads on one paw, and blue eyes
Hawk- dark brown tabby tom with a missing ear and amber eyes
?- dappled gray tom with a scar on his chest and pale green eyes
Chapter Two: A Night in the City
Blade sat atop the stone fence in her twolegs' yard, gazing out thoughtfully across the Thunderpath as monsters raced by. One might assume she was just watching them rush past in the fascination that the kittypets who had only recently been allowed to go outside sometimes did, but Thunderpaths and monsters were not new to her. She would twitch one ear every so often if a particularly loud one went by, but other than that she sat very still, her eyes distant. The calico kittypet needed to hear familiar sounds nearby in order to think properly; she tended to be alert and suspicious whenever there was complete silence. There was never any kind of silence in the city unless something was lurking around, whether it was twoleg or rogue or predator.
Blade's jaws parted in a yawn. She had been waiting for One-Eye for a while, but the old ginger tabby cat was nowhere to be found. Where is that wily old rogue? she wondered, but she couldn't really be annoyed when the night was so dry and warm.
The calico kittypet tipped her head back to look up at the sky, which was as pitch-dark as a black cat's pelt. The many lights from the city below blocked out the stars, leaving it unmarked. Blade hadn't always lived in the city, and found it odd that there were so many stars away from the twoleg settlements, yet they could not be seen at all in the city skies. But lights dazzled her eyes from the city itself; she vividly recalled gazing down at the many things happening there from atop her twolegs' roof. Perhaps the lights from the twoleg dens were the stars of the city.
Blade's ear twitched slightly as a sound alerted her to the presence of another cat, and she tensed, ready to attack if necessary. But to her relief, she saw a single green eye glinting in the darkness, and recognized the scent of the tabby rogue she had met earlier that day. "It's about time," she meowed, with a façade of impatience, but the fur on the back of her neck smoothed as her unease faded.
One-Eye strolled across the ground beneath the fence, yawning. "Hunting takes patience," he replied, but didn't look concerned. "If you're already getting all snippy, you might as well just go home." The plump ginger cat sat down to regard her with a glint of an unreadable expression in his one green eye.
"This is my home," Blade pointed out, tucking her paws under her chest. "In any case, I think I'll be sticking around for quite a while—I've got the time to learn."
A purr rumbled in the old tom's throat as he washed one paw. "You've got some spunk, kittypet. We should start our lesson now, before we lose the whole night trading petty words. I have a few friends I want you to meet before I take you hunting. If any of them come strolling around here in the future, it wouldn't be nice of you to chase them off. It's far better to share mutual friends than have different enemies."
"I agree," Blade replied, her tone sharp. She had to make it clear to One-Eye that even though he was her teacher now, she knew just as much about living alone as he did. She was not some pampered kittypet who had never known the outside world, despite her current allegiance to her twolegs and the safety that the walls of their den provided. Besides, she did not want One-Eye to see any weakness in her; a meeting with "friends" sounded like an ambush lying in wait, and her new acquaintance certainly seemed clever enough to be up to something of the sort. "Where do these friends of yours live?"
"Here and there," One-Eye replied, waving his battered ginger tail to indicate that she should follow him as he strode off through the yard. "They're often loitering in the alleys like a bunch of fat crows. We share stories with one another, and sometimes food, but mostly advice about living in the city. You see, all of us have something in common, and it's good to share tricks when we can help each other out."
Blade got to her paws, but hesitated to leap down from the fence. "What is it that you have in common?" she asked, tail-tip flicking warily.
One-Eye glanced over his shoulder. "We're all maimed." With that, he trotted off into the shadows of the night, leaving Blade to choose whether to follow him or stay with her twolegs, in the safety of their den. The calico kittypet licked her chops uncertainly for a moment, but then made her decision; she wasn't afraid of a bunch of crippled cats. Blade leapt nimbly to the ground, bounding a few paces to catch up with One-Eye before padding confidently at his side. The old ginger tom let out a satisfied purr, seeming glad that she'd decided to come, but said nothing more.
Blade halted, scenting the air suspiciously as they reached the dark opening of an alley between two of the uniformly-built twoleg dens. Each den had a yard behind it and a stone wall on each side, and between the walls there was a small space that seemed just big enough for a cat to fit through; she wouldn't have even noticed it if One-Eye had not stopped there. The old ginger tom glanced at Blade with a cool glimmer in his eye, seeming slightly bothered by her suspicion, before squeezing his bulk into the opening. Blade waited until his tail had disappeared completely into the darkness before pressing in after him. The walls on either side of her pressed uncomfortably on her whiskers, but she was able to fit through without getting trapped in the small, dark space.
The narrow alley soon widened into a hidden area blocked in on all four sides by stone walls. On the side they had come in through, and the one directly opposite them, small alleyways branched off of the main area. The other sides were long, study-looking surfaces, unbroken by any way through. Pale, watery moonlight streamed down into the square only from the opening at the top, making the space seem a little crowded, but the area was well-hidden by the twoleg dens, and looked rather easy to defend. It was no wonder that One-Eye's friends liked it here, especially since their disabilities would give them a distinct disadvantage against cats that were fitter for fighting.
Several unfamiliar scents tickled Blade's nostrils as glittering pairs of eyes studied her from the darkness. Her own eyes adjusted quickly to the dim lighting of the hideout, and the young kittypet made out the shapes of cats crouched in the shadows. Glancing around warily for One-Eye, she found the sturdy ginger tom perched on a pile of neatly-stacked rocks in one corner of the camp, looking unconcerned.
There was a moment of somewhat tense silence between all of them before a cat that was considerably smaller than the others scampered up curiously to sniff Blade. In the darkness, which was unreached by the streetlights, it was difficult to tell the color of the cat's pelt, but she was obviously still a young kit. The kitten balanced on three legs—the forth was hunched oddly against her belly—but she seemed nimble nevertheless, and Blade guessed with a pang of sympathy for the poor creature that she had been born that way. As she sniffed the kit in return, the other cats came forward curiously as well.
There were three others: a rather skittish-looking tortoiseshell with missing teeth on one side of her jaw, a more outgoing silver tabby she-cat with malformed pads on one forepaw, and a mellow dark tabby tom with a missing ear. None of them seemed to be hostile towards her, which was rather surprising to Blade, but it was a welcome change from the suspicion she was used to receiving from other cats.
"Neat place, isn't it?" the silver tabby purred proudly as Blade glanced around the hideout curiously, giving her black-striped tail a cheerful wave. "There are secret places like this at every corner, where two Thunderpaths meet. The back wall of the garden on the very end of the block—the one facing the Thunderpath going horizontal—makes up the longest wall, and the alleys lead to the vertical Thunderpaths on either side."
"Don't give away all our secrets, Minnow," the dark brown tabby with the missing ear meowed, but his tone was too affable for him to be really chastising the she-cat. His amber eyes glittered with amusement at her enthusiasm.
"I wasn't," the silver tabby protested with an indignant flourish of her tail, before seeming to realize the brown tom was joking as his whiskers twitched in amusement. Seeming embarrassed at appearing so gullible in front of the newcomer, she added, "It's not like we have any secrets anyway."
The tom still seemed to find it funny, however, so she pounced on him to get him to stop laughing at her, and they began to wrestle on the stone floor of the hideout. The silver tabby eventually leapt away so the tom could get back to his paws, surprisingly gracefully considering her maimed paw pads. One-Eye rolled his single green eye at the pair, seeming exasperated but fond of them nonetheless.
Slightly emboldened by the antics of Minnow and the tabby tom with the missing ear, the tortoiseshell padded forward to sniff Blade again. The feisty calico kittypet was far from comfortable at being scrutinized, but she didn't want to be hostile towards One-Eye's friends when they seemed to be welcoming her in their own way.
Blade felt a prickle at her tail as the tortoiseshell backed away, and turned to see that the kit with the hunched paw had pounced on it, pinning it between her front claws. "Look, Hawk," the tiny she-kit mewed in an excited tone, waving her tail triumphantly at the dark brown tabby tom. "I caught a snake!"
Blade felt her whiskers twitch with silent laughter, and the defensive barriers that she put up whenever she encountered new cats slowly began to fade away. She glanced at the dark brown tabby to see how he would react to the kit's enthusiastic squeal, and saw her own amusement reflected in his amber eyes. "Great job, Sky," he purred.
Blade purred in agreement, gently whisking her tail out of the kit's grasp before her tiny claws could injure it by mistake. Sky batted at the kittypet's tail again, her pale green eyes sparkling with excitement at the new game she had discovered. Blade tipped her head to one side and held her tail up so it was deliberately out of reach. Undaunted, the kit leapt high in the air to swat at the white tip. Blade was surprised by the strength and accuracy of the leap, considering Sky's deformed paw. Maybe these cats weren't as crippled as she had thought.
Blade heard a voice call her name, and she glanced over sharply to see One-Eye beckoning to her with a flick of his tail. "I'd better go now," she meowed, detaching Sky from her tail and dipping her head politely to Hawk, who nodded back.
"You'll come back to play with me again, won't you?" Sky looked up at Blade with wide, hopeful eyes. It was impossible to resist the kitten's adorable face.
The calico kittypet purred. "Of course, little one," she promised.
One-Eye cat leapt down from the pile of rocks and stretched as Blade padded over to him, his hooked, untrimmed claws scratching against the stone floor of the hideout. "I'm glad you seem to get along with my friends," he purred smoothly as he brushed past her. "That means you've passed the first part of my test."
He spoke so casually that Blade almost missed his words, but the fur on the back of her neck bristled up warily once she'd realized what he's said. Every time I think this sly old cat doesn't have any more tricks in mind, I end up letting down my guard too soon! The calico she-cat gritted her teeth in frustration, lashing her tail.
"Don't give me that look, little kittypet," One-Eye purred, as sly as a snake. "You don't want to waste the whole night on pointless bickering, do you?"
"Of course not," Blade seethed, forcing her fur to lie flat.
"There's one more cat in our group," One-Eye told her, scratching at one ear with a matted hind paw, "but he doesn't seem to be hanging around at the moment. I'm sure you'll meet him soon enough, though," he added in what sounded like a reassuring tone, but did little to quell Blade's suspicions, as he led the way out to the sidewalk. "For now, I'd prefer to teach you alone, but one of the other cats will most likely come with us next time, so I wanted them to meet you anyway—you can quit bristling like a porcupine; I'm not lying to you. I might not have told you everything right away, but you can trust me most of the time. After all, I did tell you that I was testing you now, didn't I?"
She narrowed her eyes at him pointedly, causing him to give an exasperated snort before he continued on, meowing, "One of the other cats—Dapple, the tortoiseshell—is the best hunter of the bunch, so we'll probably hunt with her a lot."
"You hunt together?" Blade asked, unable to hide the twitch of her whiskers that betrayed her surprise. Cats were solitary hunters; she wouldn't have expected One-Eye's group to be an exception, even if they did get along.
One-Eye shrugged as if he didn't think much of it. "We look after each other," he replied simply, with a flick of his tabby-striped tail.
The old tom's ears suddenly swiveled forward as a scuffling noise from a twoleg contraption—which was filled up to the brim with seemingly random objects—caught his attention. One-Eye tensed, keeping very still as he scented the air. "Here's your chance to show me what you know about hunting," he whispered, indicating the twoleg object with a twitch of his ears. "There's prey scurrying around in that trash can."
Trash can? The phrase sounded odd, and Blade eyed the object rather dubiously. She sniffed the air nonetheless, and almost gagged at the stench that flooded over her scent glands. It was comparable to the dump she had grown up scavenging from, but it didn't smell like there was any live prey there. With an accusing glare at One-Eye, she hissed under her breath, "All I can smell is something dying in there, not any prey."
One-Eye gave her a withering look in return, and Blade reluctantly began to stalk towards the "trash can". Her ears pricked as she heard the scuffling noise again, and she began to think rather grudgingly that the old ginger tabby had been right about the prey hiding there. Pausing to try to figure out what she had to do to catch it, Blade tucked her paws underneath her shoulders, with a questioning glance at One-Eye, who gave an encouraging nod. Blade tensed until she saw movement in the trash can, pinpointed its location and aimed for it, leaping nimbly over the mound of twoleg objects and knocking the prey off the top. Momentarily stunned as it hit the sidewalk on the other side, the animal didn't move. However, Blade froze as well, uncertain about what to do, and it quickly recovered, biting her paw.
Blade let out a yowl of shock and pain, leaping away from the prey. The creature, which looked like an enormous mouse with beady black eyes, scurried away into the shadows. "What was that?" Blade complained, licking the blood off her paw.
"It was a rat," One-Eye replied, his gaze narrowing to a single green slit. Blade's heart sank as she realized that this was another of his tests—and this one she had failed. Bracing herself for a scathing remark, she wasn't surprised when he added, "And you let it get away. You should have given it a quick death bite to the back of its neck, or at least pinned it down with your claws."
Blade's heart pounded rapidly in desperation, but she knew that she couldn't let him see her panic. "I'm a kittypet," she mewed in an attempt to act casual, although she knew that her excuse was far from convincing. "I'm not used to using my claws."
One-Eye looked skeptical, but said, "You'd better get used to it then."
"I'll try again," Blade reassured him confidently. "If you teach me how to track it, I know I'll be able to catch it this time." She flexed her paws, eager for a second chance. She knew she was the type of cat to learn quickly from her mistakes, and she wanted to prove to her teacher that she was capable of doing so.
"The rat will be more cautious now," warned the ginger tabby tom, with a flick of his battered tail. "But if you step very lightly, you should be able to sneak up on it again. Follow its scent trail—it should be easier to smell now that it's away from the trash can—and pounce from a distance. You certainly seem like a very good jumper, so you can just leap at it instead of creeping up; that'll minimize the chance of the rat noticing you."
Blade nodded, twitching her ears in acknowledgement of his advice. Instinctively falling into the hunter's crouch, she stalked forward lightly, scenting the air for any trace of the escaped prey. Although the tangle of city scents almost hid the trail, she was able to catch the tang of blood in the air—her blood on its fur from when it had bitten her. It seemed fitting to her that the wound it had inflicted would be the rat's downfall.
Blade followed the scent trail along the sidewalk and around the corner, where it became apparent that the rat had disappeared into one of the alleyways between two of the twoleg dens. Remembering the structure of One-Eye's hideout, Blade realized that it would be easy to corner it in the confined space. She prowled into the alley, taking each pawstep with great care not to alert the rat of her presence.
Blade noticed the rat as soon as she reached the open section of the hidden space; it was taking shelter in one of the corners bathed in shadow. She kept along the edges of the area as well, being careful not to reveal her presence to her prey. Once it was in pouncing range, she tucked in her haunches and sprang.
The rat let out a squeal as she struck it with her paws; it was not as easily stunned as it had been the first time, because it had not hit the ground as hard. Blade lunged to make the killing bite as quickly as she could, but the rat twisted nimbly in her grasp and scratched her nose. Flinching away instinctively from the stinging blow, the calico she-cat accidentally removed her paws from her catch, allowing it made a desperate attempt to scurry away again and make a more successful escape.
Oh, no you don't! Blade thought fiercely as she pounced again, barely managing to catch the rat's tail beneath her paws. It was impossible to bite its neck from the angle she was facing it from, so she instead sank her teeth into the rat's shoulder, hauling it towards her so she could pin it down more firmly. Thrashing wildly, the rat bit down on one of her ears, the closest part of her it could reach. With a growl, Blade shook it off, sending drops of blood flying through the air, and struck again with her powerful paws. This time she went straight for its neck, nipping it swiftly to break the rat's spine in a killing bite. The life drained quickly out of her prey, and when it was still, she picked it up by the tail, panting from the effort of making the catch.
One-Eye squeezed into the wider area from one of the alleys, his single green eye glittering proudly at Blade's achievement. The calico kittypet was breathing heavily, and blood trickled steadily from her sliced nose and a nicked ear, but her bright green eyes were shining with triumph. She had made her first kill.