Chapter 7 - Cycle 12, March of the Third Year

"She hasn't arrived yet, the queen we've been expecting." Breathed Akna. She was surrounded by three cats, all with their heads bowed respectfully. Her voice echoed throughout the high canyon. It was dusk, the sky a creamy violet, tinged with orange around the western edges of the canyon. "I know not what to do. We must keep our oath with the White Whiskers to ensure our protection in Scowl, and our rights to our territory… however, she is nowhere to be seen."

"She must have kitted by now." Breathed Najak, a slender, dark tom whose pelt was ticked with a subtle ginger. "I don't know a thing about her, but judging by the time in which we heard about the pregnancy… it just wouldn't make sense."

Akna shook her head, peering solemnly at Najak, then at the other two. Sagada was a she-cat, as thin as Najak, a pretty, lilac ticked tortoiseshell. Her fur was almost blue in this light, all for the subtle flecks of orange and white.

The third was a Tom with a patchy, pale brown and white coat that was curly. He had rich, caramel coloured eyes. His name was Toko and he was the largest of the three, though not by much. The Alliance cats, even in the highest ranks, were typically lean kind, in between large hunts they fed off of wiry prey like snakes and canyon birds.

Toko inhaled quickly, fearful, slightly queasy. "Will we be punished?"

Akna shook her head, stoic and expressionless. She was a tall, large boned creature… elderly, but still muscular and strong. Her pelt was white and red, not ginger… but a deeper color. It lacked any striping, no tabby markings or spots, her pelt was simply patchy like Toko's. This evening, in the dimness of the high canyon, her markings could have been mistaken for blood.

"I'm not sure, my brave rulers, I fear our livelihood is at stake. Our treasures, our youth, and our blessed hunting grounds."

The three cats who Akna addressed breathed in sharply, almost at once, at her words.

"These are frightening times." She breathed. "The balance of our kingdom is at great unrest. I thought the pride cats would understand the importance of their duties as we do… it seems they may have failed us."

Sagada raised her head, narrowing her silver eyes to near slits. She spoke sternly to the red and white she-cat.

"I will not be punished by the white whiskers again." She hissed. The other cats tensed, as she drew attention to her front right paw, which was an ugly, pathetic thing. It looked like a gnarled root, her toes curled up into her paw pads, the fur on the knuckles of her paw worn completely bald from walking on it. "They maimed me for disobeying them years ago. I refuse to let them do it again."

"We've all been punished one way or another, my dear." Meowed Akna matter of factly, though empathy hung at the back of her tone like a stale scent. "They murdered my first litter of kits in front of my eyes."

Toko stomped. "They maimed my jaw." He breathed, turning his head to reveal exposed teeth on the left side of his face, though his mouth was completely shut.

Najak's eyes were locked on the floor, though he spoke with a strict certainty. "They turned my kin against me." He hissed.

"Over and over, we are punished, while the clan cats roam free." Akna summarized each of their anecdotes with that single statement. "However, we cannot resent them. We are a living reminder of their power and their rule. The pride cats live only at the fate of the cycle, while we are called to these canyons to live lives rich with duty. Cats from all over the kingdom are sent here to be our kin. Our lives are a constant punishment, my rulers, but it is also the most noble life a cat could ask for."

The three of her companions nodded.

"You're right, Akna." Sagada meowed respectfully, her tone having shifted from her original hostility. "I suppose we are just confused about this oath. They told us to welcome and protect the expecting queen, the one with the blue pelt and the healing kit." She blinked. "But now, with each passing day, we wonder how we can protect a cat who has not even presented herself to us yet."

Akna nodded. "I understand." She managed. "I am trying my best to find a solution. I worry something has already happened to her, but there is the possibility she gave birth somewhere along the way and had to stop."

"But how are we to know?" Toko spoke now, gruffly. "Should we search for her? Surely that would be fruitless."

Akna's golden eyes were slits now, seeming to peer through the three rulers, as if they were ghosts.

"We will not search for her." She muttered, blankly. "We must continue to wait. Perhaps we will be visited by a White Whisker. Things have gone wrong before, with their plans, not in a very long time…"

"And what happens when something goes wrong?" Toko interjected.

"Well…" The white and red she-cat shook out her fur. "If the White Whiskers cannot maintain their control through the cats of Scowl, they will have to make their presence greater."

"And what does that mean?" He continued.

"It means great change. Great unrest. An unthinkable amount of death."

"God…" Gulped Sagada. "It's all so frightening. We live in fear of their teeth."

"We do." Akna managed. "We live in fear of their teeth."

Tyis awoke to the sound of wind whistling through the low canyon. It was early morning, and all of the cats he shared a den with were fast asleep. His fur prickled, a chill racing through his pelt, down to his skin and into his bones.

Isn't it supposed to be springtime?

He tucked himself closer to his neighbor, Mato, a larger brown Tom who emanated heat in the rocky sleeping hollow. He glanced around, keeping his head tucked on top of his paws. The shadows of the first common paw to hike the low canyon were tracing along the section of stone wall that was visible from his nest, just outside the entrance. He heard hushed voices.

"Akna has ventured to the thorny plain, just moments ago. Some hunters were gossiping about it while we ate. Frightening, isn't it? Something must be wrong." It was a she-cat's voice.

"Are the Whisker's unhappy?" The first voice was followed by a toms, a deep raspy voice. Tyis recognized this one as Aponi, one of his companions who had been assigned to the early shift. "Oh my, I pray they don't hurt her."

"They leave so much unclear to us." The she-cat whispered. "I don't blame her if she's just gone there to have a word with them."

The young Tom could hardly keep his eyes open in his nest. He wanted to keep eavesdropping, but with every passing moment he was being pushed farther into sleep. His eyes flickered shut, and he was pushed backwards into a dream world.

He awoke again when the sun was high enough to creep into the lowest parts of their territory. It slipped into the sleeping hollow, illuminating the stones a rich golden color. He felt a stiff paw prodding him in his side.

"Wake up, lizard face, we've got to go and kill some rats."

"More rats…?" He blinked open his eyes to see Dakota, a calico she-cat, and perhaps the member of the common paw he spent the most time with. Her hazel eyes were alert but a little hazy like she was forcing away the desire to just lay down and sleep.

"Yes. More rats. It's a goddamn infestation for the Whisker's sake!" She purred, comically. "You think those pieces of dirt are going to slaughter themselves?"

Tyis groaned loudly, grunting dramatically as he pulled himself out of bed. He ran his tongue through his black and white fur just a few times before shaking out the remaining bedding and following Dakota through the entrance of the sleeping hollow.

She walked in front of him down the narrow passageway, down to the water place where the infestation was most prevalent. Her long tail swayed back and forth in front of Tyis while he tried to blink the sleep from his eyes.

I'd be happy if I never had to hunt another rat. He thought to himself. What a life, killing vermin for the ruling class, paws always reeking of rat dung.

Then he remembered why he was here at all, and he cursed the she-cat that birthed him under his breath. Fox-hearted coward. Handing your kits over to be freed of your crimes.

He put the thought out of his mind. It was impossible to cope with his environment when he was thinking about the circumstances in which he got here.

Calm down. Take it one day at a time.

The passage opened up into a wider, rocky clearing that was home to the water place. It was named this because it was one of the only places in the entire cavern that wasn't as dry as bones. The center was a glimmering pool, and the floor was a soft, mossy 'shore' of sorts. The canyons walls stretched vast and tall above them. They were at the very bottom, not including some small caverns that exist sporadically below their paws. He could see the sleek pelts of the hunters trailing their way up the snowy incline, a natural staircase of sorts that lead to the service. They were leaving for a week. They always left for weeks at a time, returning with bounties of game for the Alliance to eat.

Of course, the Common paw were always the last to get a taste of the hunt, gnawing at the sinewy bones of dead hares, sometimes larger beasts like the rock deer that traveled over the rocky terrain during their migration. The hunters worked in groups, making them strong enough to take down things much larger than themselves. Somehow, they never brought back enough for everyone to be full. At least, that's what it felt like from the low canyons. Once, Tyis had been hungry enough to eat half a rat. It had been so disgusting he couldn't finish it, and had vomited violently right afterwards.

Despite the relative gloom of the low canyons, the water place was an area that held some semblance of beauty. The light reflected off of the water handsomely, and if you ever came at night, you could see the moon in it, maybe even some stars on a particular clear night. When it rained, the pool became animated with thousands of tiny splashes, glittering gorgeously. Today, as the snow began to melt, long trails of water traced down the canyon's walls and into the mossy earth, making it smell all the more rich and organic. Above, the blue sky could be seen, wide and inviting.

I wish I was a bird. Thought Tyis, hopelessly.

"Thank goodness you two are here." Mato boomed from across the clearing, immediately after spitting out a giant, screeching rat. It twitched on the ground in a pool of its own blood before going limp, all of the life draining from its body as it lost its last will to feel the touch of the living realm.

Tyis looked at his paws, he wasn't sure why, but interacting with the assertive tom sometimes made him nervous. He had no reason to be afraid of Mato, he had always been kind and gentle to the other Common Paws. That being said, he couldn't help but feel a rock in his stomach when he was around. He imagined it as a smooth, heavy rock. It wasn't painful, just weighed in Tyis's belly until it was all he could think about.

Mato flicked his tail, his brown fur was dirty with sand and little bits of moss. "They're fierce this morning. Two cats have already been sent to the medic for severe bites."

Tyis rolled his eyes. Perfect. He peered around at the water place, looking for wriggling, worm-like tails. He saw nothing. Maybe I'll just let one bite me in the face so I can go lay in the medic's hollow for the rest of that day, how lovely that would be compared to this…

"Wow… that's bad." Dakota replied to the large brown Tom. She was bristling subtlety, her hackles growing alive along her spine. Dakota hated rats almost as much as him. "Well, I guess all we can do is get to stalking them."

"You've got it." Smiled Mato. His amber eyes glimmered. "Maybe we can take care of them fast and be done early today, go and sun ourselves on the lower cliffs. I can feel a little bit of warmth in my fur."

Fat chance. Thought Tyis resentfully, padding left where the moss was thicker and there were even a few tendrils of water dwelling plants. He caught the scent of a rat in the air, and began following it. In the corner of his eye, he saw Dakota disappear into the darkness of the pond's edge, which was shaded by an overhanging slab of rock. The slab was thick and had pungent green moss hanging from it like the pelt of some strange, long furred cat.

When Dakota left, Tyis took it as his que to get to work as well. He lifted his ears, listening for the familiar sound of tiny footsteps, the soft squish when the creatures landed on this mossy patches, or their strange language echoing from the darkness in the form of squeaks and whistles.

Behind a boulder, he saw the pink, ropy tail he was looking for.

I've got you, dung eater.

He crouched low, his belly almost brushing the sandy, mossy floor. He kept his breathing slow and under control, placing one paw in front of the other as carefully as he could.

In a flurry of final movements, he lunged forwards, hearing the helpless screech of the fat, reeking creature. It wailed in pain and Tyis tasted the pungent blood that seeped into its oily pelt. He dropped it to the ground, still alive but unable to move, and stared at it. Its disgusting twitching nose, its strange teeth visible as it gasped for air. It was bleeding out. He narrowed his eyes and spit on it before biting hard onto the creature's neck. With a satisfying crack, it was dead. He wrinkled his nose.

"Foul beast." He muttered, out loud.

Mato eyed him from across the pool.

"That was fast, Tyis!" He yowled. "A big one too!"

Despite his grumpiness, his pelt warmed at Mato's praise. He flattened his ears, bashfully.

"It was easy." He said, coolly, though he didn't quite believe his own tone.

Mato chuckled. Suddenly, the sound of a cat cursing came from Dakota's direction, following by the scream of a rat. In nearly the same moment, Dakota crept out of the darkness dragging a dead rat by the tail through the sand. "This one tried to put up a little bit of a fight in the tunnel." She mewed, raising her leg to reveal a small patch of blood right above her paw. "Nasty little thing." She kicked the limp body and its head drooped into the shallows of the pool, mouth hanging open.

Pathetic.

Dakota dipped back beneath the overhang as quickly as she arrived.

"Your friend's a tough one." Mato exclaimed once she was out of earshot.

"She is!" Replied Tyis. "Makes me look like a vole." He laughed, dropping low as if to make himself look smaller.

The brown tabby rolled his eyes. "You're half alright, for your size."

Mato was closer to him now, amber eyes alive with mockery. It was a playful mockery, but it made the young Tom flush with embarrassment.

"Hey, I'm hardly full grown." He muttered. It was true, he was still less than a year old and had plenty of filling out to do, if he ever got to eat like a normal cat again.

"Oh Tyis I'm just teasing you." Mato cuffed him on the shoulder, and started to walk away. "We've got worse things to worry about down here then who's got the broadest shoulders."

Well for the record, it's you, Mato.

"Like what?" Sneered Tyis.

"Goddamn rats, you idiot." He muttered. "Speaking of which, I'd say you go down behind the waterfall. Think I heard some scurrying around there earlier, but I haven't checked it out yet."

Tyis groaned. "I hate hunting around the waterfall. I hate getting my fur wet."

"Okay princess," Mato teased. "You want me to come with you?"

"I'm not much fun to be around in the morning." He muttered.

"You're never fun to be around." Mato wrinkled his nose. Was he joking? "Now come on, let's go down there together."