| The next day was what the cat warriors hoped to be the last day of fighting, even though only the second. The wolfmen gathered on the field to fight, a smaller force of only about 900; the cat warriors outnumbered them with a force of close to 1,500. Dar and Jast led the cat warriors force, and they were accompanied by Caleb, who once more left now-orphaned baby Sator with the cat warrior elders. The wolfmen cried aloud, and the cat warriors all cried back even louder, and soon the great charge was on. The cat warrior men clashed first and blood sprayed everywhere upon collision. The ardent fighters of the cat warriors slashed furiously, slicing off limbs and heads in an attempt to breach the wolfman line. They pinned wolfmen to the ground and stabbed them in the chest and neck to dispose of them. Even the cat women were overtaking them greatly; sometimes shoulder-to-shoulder with the wolfmen, they screamed at deafening volumes, even so much as to drive some enemies to the brink of insanity. The twisted chorus of moans and shrieks sent wolfmen fleeing from the battlefield. Jast and her army of cat women spun their blades and weaved a fabric of terror upon the wolfmen; they soon found themselves climbing over a carpet of bodies of wolfmen to wreak terror on the next wave. Only a few minutes into the battle, the cat warriors had only seven soldiers, while the wolfmen had already suffered tremendous losses, even so much as losing three of their five generals. In desperation, they began to retreat. Dar picked his head up. "After them!!" he screamed, at the top of his lungs. "Don't let them escape; they must die!!" The cat warriors all howled loudly and chased the wolfmen through the forest toward the beach. They ran at blistering speeds all over the forest, slashing down wolfmen at the legs and chest, then stabbing them in the throat to assure death. Finally, the army saw the wolfman encampment; Dar and Jast directed the rampaging army towards it. Within minutes the village was overrun by cat warriors. Dar and his half of the army rushed through it, cutting down women, men, and children; Jast and her half ravaged through homes and murdered everyone in their sight. It was a most victorious day for the cat warriors; in less than 15 minutes, the cat warrior army had flattened the encampment. No homes were left standing, and dead wolfmen and children were all over the sand. A few remaining wolfmen fled the island in a small boat, with cat warriors in close pursuit; some even ran through the water to kill more wolfmen trying to escape. Not long after the battle, after the cat warriors buried their dead and disposed of enemy corpses, they returned to their peaceful way of life once more. Caleb sat outside his home one day, holding Sator, who was wrapped in a little blanket. Jast passed by him and decided to visit. "How is Sator?" she asked. "Did the elders take good care of him?" "Yes, they did," Caleb replied. "I will be his father; I alone will take care of him and raise him until adulthood." "One day he may achieve greatness as well," Jast said. "And what will happen to the cat warrior women, hmm?" "I will lead them. Adria taught me many things when I trained with her. She told me to be a physically and emotionally strong woman, and told me to live a better life than she did. I will do exactly as she said; she was my role model. And if everyone can learn to be like Adria, and triumph over all odds, we can all be better cat warriors." Epilogue |