Clay leaned against a barrel looking at the rough map he had gouged out with his thick claws. He was in a passing foul mood. The town couldn't be taken. At least not with the small band he had. It wasn't the mice, the cats, or even the dogs. It was the humans.
Clay bared his long thick fangs. The damn humans who encroached more and more on the land caring little that they were running off the rightful inhabitants. Soon there wouldn't be enough land for him to hunt on and he'd have to leave. Well he'd leave a fare thee well for the damn humans.
The part of the town inhabited by the mice and cats and stray dogs was largely abandoned. The newer town featured a newer cleaner saloon. A food store. An animal supply store. A smithy and more. Now some homes were squashed together but pushing ever closer to the wilderness that knocked on their door. Clay looked up at the boxes marked TNT. He had the beginnings of a plan. The boom sticks and blasting sticks were powerful weapons that the humans used vigorously against each other and the wildlife they were stealing from. It would be divine karma if these things were suddenly used against them.
There were whistles and purrs as Moonlight walked in her face so composed it could have belonged to a carving in the rock face of the desert. A goddess on the prow of the wilderness. Clay merely twitched an ear in greeting, Some of his men had disfigured faces and one or two had lost an eye thanks to his sister. The cougar, the largest feline of any of them was one of the few that watched her hungrily knowing she didn't have the strength to fight him off. Clay payed little mind to such things. This was the desert. Either you fought and won or you fought and lost. He had told his sister when she was young and still trying to learn her way around the world they lived in that she either fought off males or she would be hurt.
She had been confused. He had knocked her down and invited a friend of his to have at her. She had been frozen in shock which had simply made way for another male to mount her. To Clay's amusement it had taken five males before she had let loose her anger and began fighting back.
Now very few were able to take from her and Clay patted himself on the back for making her tough so young. She smelled of the lake nearby and he wrinkled his nose unable to understand her insistence on constant cleanliness. The thought she might be unconsciously trying to scrub the taint of so many abuses from her body did not cross his mind because he had been hurt plenty of times himself and it had made him tougher and meaner. They were not house cats. They were wild like the land and had to be as wild as the land to survive.
She placed a quick dry kiss on his cheek and leaned her head briefly against his shoulder. The thought she might be memorizing his every move never crossed his mind. Not only was she wild...she was female. Her world was to settle down have kittens, guard the den, and feed her mate. In fact she was getting a little old and he was beginning to wonder when she would settle down and get off his hands. He had a nasty feeling she was eating a certain plant to keep her from quickening with kittens. He didn't have time to deal with her now. If she grew too old to settle she'd just die in the desert and he'd be rid of her either way.
She moved gracefully to the end of the cave ignoring the hissed threats and purred invitations. and settled in a nook her back facing the wall and began stretching some leather.
The cougar watched her and she already knew that he would have her. Tonight. Tomorrow. However many times he wished. He could kill her and would no doubt if she fought too much. She had to fight some. He liked it that way She had a strong survival instinct. There were some fights not worth fighting. Somethings had to be endured until one could plan an escape to hopefully a better life.
The town Clay was so obsessed with was a mystery to her. They lived off the land. Most of the cats with Clay were feral and had learned to live off the land without humans, yet suddenly because there were pampered felines living in a town that had been rundown and almost off the map Clay seemed obsessed with making them pay for some imagined slights. Especially Cat R. Waul. He hated Cat R. Waul with such passion she was surprised he didn't explode with his fury and yet she didn't understand why the British feline inspired such anger. Clay had never met him until he had confronted Waul in his territory.
Moonlight smiled to herself. After Clay had gone out to hunt she had listened with awe while the other cats talked about Waul. They had whispered that he had stood Clay down. Had outdrawn a gun on him and had turned his back and walked away with no fear at all of the Lynx. Some of the cats who had been in with Waul shivered as they remembered the anger and cruelty Cat had displayed. Even the biggest one didn't dare get on Waul's bad side. Apparently Waul had a uncanny capacity to pull off revenge without killing his revel which just left scared felines alive to pass stories about him. Which was actually the idea. The one thing Waul knew a scared cat was more useful then a dead one.
She purred softly listening to stories about how so and so's BIG brother had gotten into a fight with the genteel feline and had literally been beaten into the ground. Waul displayed cunning moves and was fast and quite a bit stronger then he looked. No doubt he had learned the art of looking weak while being strong to keep his enemies and men under control when they tried to get rowdy.
Then she frowned as the conversation turned to the Diva. That was how she was referred to with a capital D. The Diva. Apparently the Diva had the power to unman the British gent with her singing. In fact she had actually captivated most of those who heard her sing. She was amazing. With a voice like an angel. For a mouse she wasn't bad looking and stood out from the the other mice innocent and full of dreams. Dreams that Waul apparently made come true.
Waul was in love with her. It was sick sounding but apparently widely accepted. She had been his downfall he had been willing to let go of his whole empire to save her. She was the reason the British feline had been run out of town. Not her brother. Not the cat named Tiger. Not even Whily Burp. The Diva had been his down fall and supposedly he was nursing a broken heart as well as a broken spirit somewhere on a ranch.
Moonlight's soft lips quirked in amusement. She had been taken down by Waul. A domesticated cat. She had been pinned to the ground faster and with more finesse then she ever had before. Yet he hadn't hurt her. He could have easily. She grinned secretly to herself. Waul did not have the look of a cat suffering either from a broken heart or a broken spirit. If anything his spirit was a strong as an eagles and something in his eyes was just as wild though banked by civility.
" What the hell are you grinning at? "
Moonlight stopped what she was doing and turned a calm face to the cougar. He had no name he would give them and he was wild and moody as well as dangerous.
" My thoughts are my own. Leave me be to my work." She started to work on the leather again when she felt his large paw on her shoulder.
" Walk with me."
Moonlight sighed irritated. Then decided best to get it over with so she could bathe and get back to work. She slipped off her dress ignoring the whistles and cat calls. She was tired of ripped dresses and started just taking them off when she knew she was going to be fighting for the tattered threads of her virtue. Luckily she had hurt enough of them they didn't all pounce on her anymore. Only three more hitched up their belts grinned slyly and whistled as they prepared to follow them out.
Moonlight paused at the door scraped her claws for a few minutes sharpening them up. One cat froze at the sight of those long sharp nails. Deciding he wanted to keep his eyes more then he wanted a female he sat back down.
Moonlight met Clay's eyes for a moment as he watched her followed by three males who were going to rape her if they could and he did nothing. Not for the first time Moonlight wondered did he hate her as much as she hated him? Did he know she was working on her own personal plans? The blasting sticks would kill some humans in a town...but they would kill every feline in this cave.
She wondered if Clay had ever thought of THAT? Did he think she would care if she was one of them?
She didn't. Not at all. Head high shoulders back the lovely curve of her spine accented by the black fur going down her back to her gently rounded hunches she walked out like a queen being followed by servants instead of a female abused and alone fighting for what was left of her spirit.