The Chronicles of Koipaw

ix

Lasting Hibernation
word limit - 1500
points earned - 10

A sheet of desperation blanketed the inky granite cavern. The air was stale and musty, the suffocating worry crowded the cave. Drops of pure light seeped from small cracks in the stone wall, and from little punctures in bark from a sturdy tree that covered the entrance. Small crevices crammed with foul-smelling, wilted leaves and browning, syrupy berries dotted the far wall of the den. Alabaster bones messily littered the floor; chunks of rotting meat clung to the jagged remains. The dense, graphite-coloured stone walls were abrasively marked with shallow, violent grates, fuelled with desperation and fury. Seedy-looking felines with matted fur gathered along a rough redwood trunk, their flint claws blunt and unsheathed. Sharp merlot splinters were strewn around the cat's various sized paws, the pointed wooden edges creating potentially hazardous incidents. A melodic, woeful hymn spread throughout the porpoise-grey cave, followed by a low, submissive sigh.

Sitting stiffly beside a corner of shadows, a lithe, young she-cat with subdued cobalt eyes glanced at the sturdy barrier blanketing the small mouth of the cavern. Her ruffled marmalade, oil, and white fur were obscured with a thick layer of dust and grime. Beneath her paw's knotted fur lay raw, exposed paw-pads, bloodied and covered by thick crimson liquid. Putrid scents of sour urine radiated from the calico molly, an odorous reminder of a fitful nightmare. Methodical thumps sounded throughout her sensitive feline ears, the meticulous pump of blood running inside of her veins muting any other sound from the cavern. After every long moment, the young warrior would get rid of the glaze that masked her eyes, looking at the gathering of cats in front of her, yet her azure eyes would eventually glaze over again. Breezy thoughts drifted through the cat's mind like flowers in a gentle zephyr, her focus directed at daydreams, rather than reality. With a parched mouth and exhausted muscles, the tri-colour she-cat snapped out of her trance one final time as a large crash echoed within the slate stone den.

Only a few fox-lengths away were a group of five cats, each facing a garnet redwood tree. Like a two-leg machine, each one would scrape desperately at the hard wood, pause, and then continue the painful cycle again; each shallow blow bringing down thousands of tiny needle-like splinters of bark. The cat closest to the calico - a fuzzy, muscular Scottish Fold, with deep, admiral-blue orbs, thick mahogany socks, and an assortment of freckles dotted along his cheeks and spine - brung his grey claws across a loose piece of bark, sending the coarse chunk spiralling towards the dusty floor. Hissing in confusion and fright, the dappled she-cat abruptly jumped onto all-fours, her pale eyes narrowed. "Watch where you're tearing down that blasted tree!" she yowled in anger. Several large wood chips had lodged themselves into her pink skin, allowing syrupy blood to ooze from the abrasions. With her short, white fur standing on end, the calico warriors growled softly, uttering curses underneath her breath.

The tension in the air was palpable, not one cat dared to move. All eyes were swiftly directed at the pair, waiting to see the scene unfold. Hours had gone by, and the warriors struggled to free themselves from the cave. The lack of basic feline needs, such as food and fresh water, had clouded each individual's mind in some way, constructing a strained environment. "Not my fault, Koispash." The folded-ear tom-cat grunted indifferently. A tom-cat for few words, the sapphire-eyed warrior didn't bother to say anything more. His past sickness had left him too weak to argue with a fiery personality. Whipping his head around to stare at the group behind him, he stared for a long, hard moment, and then continued to rip away at the hard bark. Soon, the others followed, resuming their laborious work. Koisplash scoffed, letting her attention wander around the cave, boredom seeped through her mind like the sun's stale light shining through the hole in the cave's granite roof.

A spark of realising hit Koisplash more forcefully than a fallen tree, literally. Tearing away at the bark would take too much time, something that the cats were out of. The young calico whimpered in agony as she dragged her fluffy, tender paws across the cavern's basalt floor, yet the idea of an escape masked the pain. The blue-eyed she-cat surveyed the gap as an almost impossible idea came to mind. From base to crown, the den was roughly two cat-lengths, excluding ears and tail. Outrageous plans formulated in front of her, each step becoming visual. Perhaps dehydration and starvation had finally caught up with Koisplash's body, but the semi-hallucinations allowed her to see the execution of the idea. "Hey! Grizzlyfang!" the tricolour molly piped, her sight not leaving the flint cavity. "Stop wasting your time hacking at that bloody redwood tree. I have a plan." Pricking his grey ears in interest, the senior warrior turned and padded towards the calculating she-cat.