Jayhaven Chronicles

For a moment Rapid thought his heart had stopped.

These things were huge.

More huge than any owl he had even seen, even Kiirion. They burst through the rock barrier like savage foxes tearing through a bramble. They towered above the haphazard rock wall they had just crushed beneath their large, clumsy paws, and the jagged stones did little more than tickle them as their giant jaws snapped and frothed. Rapid felt frozen with shock and terror as the stench of these things flooded his snout.

He felt claws grip his shoulders and drag him back as a huge, pointy snouted black and brown brute opened it’s jaws and bore down on him. Rapid stumbled backwards and came to, and ran.

He had never run this fast. He was half aware of Hawk’s frantic strides beside him, and on the other side, Peak limping along, horrified. But then the brown tom began to fall behind, his lame paw catching with every bound.

Rapid’s own fear scent was overpowering the scent of dog as he stopped and turned to see Peak under the paw of a lean, delicately faced dog who was slobbering intensely. Peak flailed helplessly as Hawk flung himself at the thin framed beast.

“Get away from my brother!” Hawk was obviously trying to sound brave, but failing. At the same time Rapid felt gnarled teeth snag his scruff, and realized with another wave of horror that he had been idle for too long.

The Jayhaven border was lined with small shops that sold goods to traveling Scouts and Providers, but Rapid feared they would never open again. Dogs were everywhere. There were hundreds of them, and yet more were still streaming through the pitiful barrier the trio of cats had set up. Rapid’s gaze began to haze with pain as the dog holding him by the neck began to claw deeper into him, breaking past his scruff and nearing his throat. Rapid reached up a paw and swiped in vain at his captor, but he couldn’t grip the massive white, fold faced dog that was relentlessly holding on as Rapid flailed.

The dog then suddenly hit Rapid upside the head with it’s free paw, making the rough bodies of it’s fellow dogs swirl in front of Rapid’s eyes. He felt increasingly dizzier until his vision went dark.

The rest of the world sounded like it was being submerged in water. Rapid heard a series of coarse, triumphant barks from the horrible creatures, chanting, “Blood! Blood!” and heard a painful wail from a few tail lengths away from him. Rapid collected his thoughts enough to know it was Peak. But the darkness was almost inviting. Peaceful even. Rapid let himself go limp. Mother? Father? Are you there?

But like the marsh, their voices didn’t come. Deadly silence was the only thing that occupied his mind. But the harder Rapid thought, the more he realized. I don’t need them.

It pained him to think of them like that, to push away all the memories he had left of them, but he knew it was true. I am a Battler! All I need is my comrades beside me! And Rapid, you mouse brain, if you don’t act now your comrades will die!

The blackness cleared from his gaze. He looked up at his captor and spat at him. He muttered around the dog’s claw at his throat, “You rotting-hearted piles of mud better leave now. Villains never win.” Then he reached up and slashed the dog right across the jaw. It spurted blood.

The fold faced dog winced, and gave him a glare of death. He whipped around, drops of blood spattering onto Rapid’s face, and snapped at a smaller, wiry Citymate who wore a frightened expression. “Cali! Fetch my claws.”

His claws? Did dogs have removable weapons they carried around?

The dog called Cali grabbed a twisted looking sharp thing from an even smaller dog and returned to its commander.

He picked up the things he called his ‘claws’ with his mouth and awkwardly slided them onto his paws. Rapid hissed softly in disgust.

“We like to have a little ceremony with all of our guests.” Fold face started. “Where we give them a mark they never forget. Usually across the face.” The huge dog growled softly, raising his enforced paw to Rapid’s head. “Soon you will be screaming my name. Soon all will shout the name, Howl!” Peak gave a, “No!” But his guard-dog silenced him again. Rapid’s heart thrummed again, and he knew this was it. So many near death situations in one life, he thought. But this was it. Rapid squeezed his eyes shut, and braced himself. Silently he pleaded, World, give me a chance.

“Hey mud brains!”

Rapid opened his eyes and tried to crane his head to see where the noise had come from. Howl let Rapid go for a split second, and that was enough time to squirm away. Panting heavily, he blindly ran towards the sound that had saved him. But the sight in front of his face took away what little breath he had.

Every single cat in Jayhaven had formed a defensive line, scowling and spitting with rage. Rapid ran to them and saw Onyx at the front, Beckoning for him to join them. It seemed as though Peak and Hawk’s captors had also let go, for they soon joined Rapid in bounding towards their City. Rapid took his place besides a tortoiseshell and looked back at the dogs.

Howl smirked. “Oh look, a mini army. How cute. Dogs, into battle formation!”

The massive animals formed a ragged line, growling with hostility, some forced and some genuine.

Onyx gave a smug smirk. “How many of there are you? A few hundred? We have thousands!”

Howl returned the smirk. “You pathetic felines are a third of our size. Quality over quantity, is what they say.”

From within the ranks flashed silver fur. Sedge?

She stepped forward with a hiss, her eyes cold, her body framed in a way not like an eight moon old student, but like a strong, capable warrior. “We are strong in the true way. Together!”

And with that, the battle began.