The Tongue Of Cats

Chapter Fifteen

Aspenfrost padded out of his den, glancing over his shoulder at Melonsong, who was staring blankly at the wall. The grief had set in even deeper with each news report, with every single showing of a Twoleg death on T.V. It was hurting her to see that—she didn't want revenge.

But Aspenfrost did.

He was jogging down a small dirt trail when his phone buzzed. Startled, Aspenfrost picked it up to see a chat request made by a government member from Viloci. 

Deernose: Everyone please meet in the Northern Plaza for a discussion. 

Luckily Aspenfrost had been heading there anyways, to buy some tuna for the family. Great, he thought to himself. Now it's going to be busier there. With a slight hint of remorse lingering in the back of his mind, the tom turned onto a small street, his claws clicking against the Twoleg-installed brick. The plaza was just ahead, and from the sound of it, the meeting had already begun. He checked the timestamp on the message—it had been sent out thirty minutes ago, but the slow service in the depths of the forest had prevented the message from arriving.

He could see Deernose standing on top of a haphazardly-constructed stage. She was getting ready to speak, from the looks of it. I arrived just on time, the tom thought to himself.

"I think it's time that we see things from a different perspective," she called out, her voice echoing through the clearing. "Couldn't this have been a misunderstanding? Have any of you taken a second glance at that video of the Twoleg—the one that started all these problems? The video of that Twoleg saying he was going to destroy Landong? It was glitchy and looked like something had gone wrong with the recording—has no one considered that this was all a misunderstanding?"

A black tom was first to speak up in the crowd. "They killed our kits!" he crowed loudly. "They killed our kits and our apprentices and our warriors, and we need to get revenge!" A wail of support joined him; cats scrambled to let out yowls that rung together in a cacophony of sound.

Aspenfrost stared at the ground. What if she is right? He couldn't bear to look up as the crowd swarmed around him, heading toward the stage with their claws unsheathed. What if this was just a misunderstanding? But he didn't voice his opinions—he could see what they were doing to Deernose, and he wasn't going to end up as a corpse sent home in a box to Melonsong.

The cats of the forest had decided already.

They wanted their revenge, and no matter who tried to oppose them—government official or public speaker or even a Twoleg army—they would get their way.

Written by Rio! I hope you enjoyed ⛈