The War of .Zip (Working Title)

Chapter 8: Story time.

Jasper sat by the fire and watched the faces in the fire come and go.

The other three were out securing the perimeter and, whilst he was supposed to be doing the same, he'd finished early on the account that the only thing he'd seen had been a butterfly being slowly ripped apart by a spider.

Stephanie swooped in next to him and stood there for a minute.

The fire crackled and embers flew into the air.

''How far away are we now?'' she asked Jasper.

Jasper stayed seated on the ground and shrugged. It was hard to know how fast an army was moving and even harder to guess which way they were coming.

The twins had forced them both to go towards the burnt bush as, according to their knowledge of rodents, ''they wouldn't dilly dally''.

Jasper agreed with their hypothesis.

If you had an army, you needed to use it, not let it waste away.

The twins appeared a minute later. Brigitte was now completely healed from their previous sparing but Julian wasn't letting her forget about her complete and utter defeat.

The twins sat on the opposite side of the fire in silence.

It was a peaceful bliss whilst it lasted, but Julian broke it.

''So, how about a story then?'' he said, his eyes darting from one member of the troop to the other.

Stephanie and Brigitte looked towards jasper in unison.

''All right then.'' Jasper said, his voice more gravely than usual due to the warm air. ''If you'd like, I can tell you of the last meeting of the cats.''

Stephanie sat down a little further away from the fire but never adverted her gaze from Jasper, as in fear of loosing a word to the wind.

Jasper closed his eyes and the memory filled his mind.

''It was my second life and I was the apprentice of the great Sir Tong.

He was known for many a thing.

His literary works were adored in every city for fields around.

His skill with a blade was legendary. Some said that he once dueled a god and won, so they gave him golden eyes and a mane of silver fur so that he stood out.

But it was his kindness that made his a legend.

If every anyone was in trouble and he could help, he would.

That's how he'd taken me, a poor orphan with nothing but a hate filled heart, as his apprentice.

He saw something in me and, because he saw it, I began to see it too.

Anyway, on the ninth year of my apprenticeship, Sir Tong brought me to the House of Lives.

The House of Lives was where cats from all over the fields could gather and exchange information, gifts or even genes.

It was as big as the Crown. Bigger, some say.

I'd say it was.

Sir Tong took me inside and we were escorted up to the top of the House and then into a small chamber.

There, twelve cats stood, one for each of the main cat beliefs that existed back then: Lords of Love, the Hunt, Sciences, Magic. You name it, it was probably tied to one of these beliefs.