Raiders | Book One | The Summer Flood

Chapter One: Finding Friends

It all started with a tasty bowl of fish. I had just gone out this morning in search of one of those fish markets. You know, the one where they'll give anything to a handsome cat like me. The fish though, as delicious as ever, had seemed to disappear, along with that flappy tent I always got my fur caught in. The big ovens, smoke pouring out of them like milk out of a container, always dripping as they please. I glanced around, finding others cats staring in dismay around the empty lot.

                 "You here for the fish too?" A meow surprised me as I spun around to see a young  queen.

              "I-if there's any left," I stammered shyly.

"Well, there has to be some other fish places around here, 'cause I ain't going nowhere," She huffed triumphantly. 

              "What is your name?" I sniffed, my eyes beginning to wilt with tiredness from waking up so early.

"Aaylah," She purred, "and yours?"

               "Xanthe,"  I began before barely stuttering the words out, "w-want to hang out with my friends and I? They'd just love to meet you."

"Sure!" She brushed against my pelt before racing off into the distance.

               "Wait Up!" I mewed, racing after exhaustively before catching a glance of my siblings along with my other friends and steered over to them. "Hey, guys!" I marched over, my eyes bright with happiness.

              "Xanthe, what up!" My brother, Dante screeched, just barely ripping off my ears and tackling me violently. My other two sisters had to yank him off, my eyes wide with fear as he snarled like a badger. Well, it wasn't sorta like that, more like a friendly snarl.

"Thank you, Lilac and Caroline," I got up, shaking my bristling pelt.

                  "Our pleasure," they both mewed, doing their what I call a ''Happy Face" and laid down. My other friends came down, blinking as they always do. They were all there, Frisky, Ethel, Clovertine, Marmalade, Acadia, Coventina and Jackdaw. Except for the cat I just met. But she was soon in sight as my accomplices headed off towards the old dock. I called her over, realizing her fur was bright as ever and seemed to have no one else with her.

                   "Whoa, are we going fishing?" She mewed, looking into the water.

"Who is she?" Marmalade asked, his loud meow echoing through the wooden beams under them as we padded farther and farther to the end of the dock. It was obvious that Marmalade wasn't the only cat who wanted to know.

                  "She's a...uh-" I started  "Aaylah! My name is Aaylah. Nice to meet you guys." She interrupted me! No one interrupts the great King of Taqqiqn. Suddenly, something in the water caught my eye. It was sort of pinkish, like flesh of salmon, but different. An unusually pink. I dipped my head into the water, trying to reach it but it seemed to just get farther and farther away. Forgetting I was under the water for so long, I began to stagger. My air had just ran out. I dug my head out of the water just in time. I heard wails of fear as I choked up the last bit of cold water.

            "Are you ok, Xanthe?" Frisky asked. He was the most fearful of us all. Whenever there was danger, he ran and hid without thinking. I couldn't forget that time when there was that rainstorm, Frisky hid under my people's beds for almost a week without food. Anyways, let's get back to the story. Ah...where was I, oh yes.

         "D-did you see that pink glow under the water?" I quickly held my breath, trying not to gasp for air.

"Don't be silly. There's nothing in the water!" Marmalade called, looking over the edge from where I put my head in the water and almost drowned. I nodded, figuring it was the Sun that was playing tricks with my eyes. I turned around to see the horrified faces on some of the cats. I sighed, feeling as if it was not big of a deal. But somehow Aaylah was one of the cats who looked like they'd just seen a ghost.