The dancing stopped abruptly though the music went on, taking on a sinister tone. All heads turned to see a tall male Coricat with unkempt fur striped jaggedly with ginger and black, jump up behind Munkustrap and knock him aside. Then he roughly shoved Old Dutironomy into the waiting arms of two other unfamiliar male cats. As they hustled the old cat out of the hall, the ginger male turned and waved his paws at the Jellicles in a mind-numbing pattern. Eliot clutched at his head as a stab of pain shot through. The others were similarly assaulted.
When the attack finally ceased, the invaders were gone, and Old Dutironomy with them. With a strangled cry in Coricus, Munkustrap leaped to his feet and sprinted off in pursuit, closely followed by most of the other males as the caslikoh-song turned apprehensive.
"Who the hell was that?" Eliot gasped.
Demeetar let out her breath in a long, shuddering sigh before she replied, "Macavity, the leader of our rivals."
"Rivals?" Pavel said in surprise. "What rivals?"
"The Tyghurss tribe," Bombalurina supplied. "They've been our enemies for as long as any of us can remember."
"Man, can he channel!" Eliot mumbled, rubbing his temples. "I've only ever tried that trick once or twice, and then it was just on a few people."
Eliot realized that Pavel and Jabez were staring at him in shock and silently cursed his loose tongue. Jabez found his voice first, "Are you saying…that you are also a channeler?"
Eliot glared at his crewmates' incredulous faces. "Yes, I am a channeler," he growled through his teeth. "But it's not really something I want to be known in the underworld, okay?"
Pavel and Jabez mutely nodded their understanding.
"I wonder if this is what Grizabella was trying to warn us about last night," Vyktorea said suddenly.
There was a shocked silence then Skimbleshanks spoke up, "Why would she want to warn us about an attack by the Tyghurss tribe? She betrayed us to them after all."
"Oh, is that what she did?" Vyktorea said slyly.
Skimbleshanks realized his slip and looked briefly annoyed with himself. "Yes, all right, let me tell you the whole story," he sighed. "Many years ago, when your parents were still kittens, Grizabella, then a Jellicle, became friends with some cats from the Tyghurss tribe, including their chief. Our chief, Martus, was not happy when he found out; he was also Grizabella's mate and Munkustrap's father."
There was a collective gasp from the kittens as they made the connection, and Eliot mumbled, "I thought so!" under his breath.
"You don't need to know the details," Skimbleshanks went on, "but in the end, there was a fight in which Martus was killed. Since then, Grizabella is no longer welcome in the Jellicle tribe."
"Do you really think you should have told the kittens all that, Skimble?" Jenyenidahts reprimanded her mate.
"They have to know sometime," Skimbleshanks sighed. "We can't hide the truth from them forever."
As he spoke, several of the males began trickling back into the hall. "We couldn't keep up with him," Munkustrap panted as he put his arms around a shivering Demeetar. In the stress of the moment, he spoke in Coricus, his knowledge of Terran temporarily forgotten. "He took such an odd path, it almost seemed as if he was trying to circle back."
Munkustrap paused and sniffed the air, his ears twitching this way and that. Was Macavity near?
"What will we do now?" asked a voice that sounded like Bombalurina's.
"We have to get Old Dutironomy back," Munkustrap told her.
"Of course we do," Bombalurina blinked in surprise. She thought it was Rhimara who had spoken.
"Are we all here?" Munkustrap queried. "Who's missing?"
"Admeetus hasn't come back yet," Bombalurina replied.
"Nor has Tughar," Cazondra added, rubbing nervously against Alahnso.
"Or Plaetoh," Vyktorea said quietly.
"Our toughest fighters, of course," Munkustrap muttered cynically.
"Should we wait for them to return?" asked a voice like Alahnso's.
"The longer we wait, the harder Macavity will be to find," Munkustrap said.
"I agree," said Alahnso, who thought Coricopat had spoken.
"Then why did you just say we should wait?" Munkustrap demanded.
"I didn't!" Alahnso insisted.
"Then who--?"
"I think it was him!" Demeetar said in a trembling voice, pointing to a Coricat who slowly unfolded himself, revealing himself to be…
"Macavity!" the cats all screamed and scrambled to get away from their enemy. But at a call from their leader fifteen Tyghurss stormed into the hall and began their attack on the Jellicles.
Munkustrap stood in front of Demeetar, looking around frantically as his cats fought for their lives. Then Macavity backhanded the Jellicle chief and grabbed Demeetar, attempting to carry her off. But Munkustrap grabbed his mate's leg and played a dangerous game of tug-of-war, with Demeetar as the rope and prize, until Alahnso jumped between them and carried Demeetar off to safety.
Or tried to. One Tyghurss attacked the black and white male while another grabbed the female he had been trying to save.
But Eliot's attention was quickly drawn back to the rival chiefs who were circling each other warily. Macavity swiped Munkustrap across the face and Munkustrap swiped back. The way they circled, then grappled and leaped back, then circled again, was almost like a dance, albeit a very deadly one.
Macavity launched himself at Munkustrap, but the smaller chief turned so that the ginger-striped cat landed on his back, then he easily threw him off. Munkustrap turned again and pounced on his momentarily stunned opponent. For a few awful moments there was just a blur of red, grey, and black fur as the two chiefs turned over and over on the ground, tearing at fur and flesh with tooth and claw.
Munkustrap yowled loudly as Macavity sank his teeth into his side. He threw the ginger cat off and raked his claws across his belly, producing a terrible howl from the larger male. They grappled for a moment, ripping at each other with their claws, then Macavity flipped Munkustrap over his shoulder. The grey and black Coricat barely managed to land on his feet, but collapsed almost immediately.
"No!" cried Rumplteezer and Elektra together. They crawled to their father's side and tried to lick his many bleeding wounds.
Macavity barely had a chance to catch his breath before Carbukety jumped in and smacked him across the chest with the back of his paw. Macavity fell to his knees, winded, but forced himself up to swipe Carbukety across the face. A vengeful Mungojery was quick to take his place, though, and Pouncival was right behind him. In fact, all of the Jellicles, seeing their fallen leader, were ganging up on Macavity who was weary of the fight. He backed away, clutching his scratched belly, and gave a guttural call to the other Tyghurss. They followed their chief and retreated from the hall with their prisoners. Before the Jellicles could follow, Macavity brought his paws together over his head; there was a bright flash of light, a terrific thunderclap, and the Jellicles fell to the ground, stunned.
©1999 Delilah