| Chapter 3 The opportunity for Adria and her gathering of cat women for fighting would come at an instant. Not long after Adria had collected and trained her young women, a small disaster had come to the cat warrior kingdom. Early one evening, three of Mekes's guards on patrolled the edge of the forest when they noticed that by the shore of the island an army was gathering in the sand. They were the dreaded wolfmen, the barbaric race who had enslaved them so long ago, returning to destroy the kingdom again. Immediately, upon seeing the large wolfman war party and their families, the three cat guards fled the beach. When they informed Mekes of the arrival of wolfmen, he declared a state of emergency in the kingdom, the first in generations. Immediately the cat warriors able to fight assembled, and children were hidden with the elders. All the men gathered in the middle of the kingdom, as did the women. In all, there were close to 1,500 cat warriors, slightly more men than women. Even Caleb was present; he left baby Sator with his mother. One of the cat warrior generals for the men was Dar. He was a tall, rough-looking tiger, truly built for fighting. The moment he saw Adria's group of cat women come over the hill to the center of the village, he sneered. "Well, here comes Adria," he laughed. He then turned to his fellow warriors. "Now, brothers, let's be on our best behavior." Some of the men started laughing. Caleb was displeased with his comments; even other cat warriors present started to make lewd comments about the fact that they would be joined in battle with women. "Oh, we'll show you," Adria said. "We can fight, and we're good at what we do." All the cat warriors laughed and laughed. "Are you going to save my life or something?" Dar taunted. "As loathsome as you are," Adria said, smirking, "I just might have to if the opportunity arises." The time had come for all the cat warriors to line up for battle. There were even numbers of wolfmen and cat warriors, approximately, which Adria loved; for her, it was an insult to Dar because he didn't want the women to fight. The two rival armies lined up, ready and waiting to fight. A great cry of hatred went up from the wolfman army, and with it followed a twisted scream from the cat warriors. The two forces began to charge almost at the same instant, and the battle was on. Both forces ran at blistering speeds. The cat warrior women ran just behind the men, both sexes screaming and shouting to try distract the enemies. The wolfmen cried as well; burning hatred was everywhere. The two lines of cat warriors were almost ready to collide, but at the last moment, the line of men split in half, with the women running down the middle to fill the gap. With a crash of armor, both armies were splattered with blood of wolfmen and cat warriors alike. The cat women barreled into the front of the wolfman forces at full forces, swords spinning and legs kicking. Adria was the first to strike; she clawed out a wolfman's throat with the claws on her own right foot and decapitated a second with one of her short swords. The men pushed against the wolfman line, slicing bones and armor, even as the wolfmen hacked back at them in desperation. Only a few minutes into the fight, the cat warriors began to obtain the upper hand. The cat women had breached the first wave of wolfmen, and almost found themselves climbing over heaps of bodies to get to the next line. They were furious fighters; often they wildly swung their swords in blurry dances and emitted twisted, morbid screams to frighten their oppressors. Some of them got a running start and hurdled over their male allies to aid the men on the other side of the line, severing heads and limbs and spraying all who were near with blood. The battle raged on for many more minutes until the wolfmen generals realized that they were losing, at which time they ordered a retreat. The wolfmen all fled the field, trampling over their own dead. The cat warriors, however, all rallied and decided to pursue. The women and men ran over the bodies strewn about the forest in an attempt to cut down the fleeing army. Some threw their weapons to try to hit them; some even succeeded. But Adria refused to stop running; she disappeared into the fog that had smothered the kingdom during the battle to pursue her enemy. She caught up with many wolfmen and cut them down as they ran; she even ran to the neighboring villages and killed a few women and children. Adria couldn't stop running; a few wolfman soldiers still pursued her, hoping to capture her. "Don't let her get away!" one shouted. "She must be captured!" As Adria ran all over the beach, she decided in a blink of an eye to go back towards the forest. She made a quick turn back towards the woodland and towards the trees. But just as she was about to reach the edge of the woods, a large branch came from nowhere, hitting her squarely in the forehead, knocking her unconcious. Adria's body fell to the ground, coming to rest on the sand. A wolfman stepped out from behind the first tree Adria passed. "Is she out?" he asked his fellow soldiers. "I think so," another said. "Either way, I won't wait to find out. Help me gather her up and take her away." Chapter 3, part 2 |