Tallstar’s Revenge

The trees here were younger and thicker, their leaf-bare branches jutting low to the ground. Talltail had to keep low, ducking one branch and leaping another like a squirrel. He heard wood crack and split as Jake blundered after him. Talltail stopped and turned, breathless, as they reached a clearing.

“This is tough going—” Jake’s gaze flashed with alarm. “Look out!” He barged past Talltail, his orange pelt bushing out.

Where are you going? Talltail whipped around. A dark russet shape was blazing toward them. Fox!

Jake hurled himself in its path as the fox lunged at Talltail. The kittypet reared up and slashed at the fox’s muzzle. The fox ducked away, showing its sharp, yellow teeth, then sprang at Jake again. Quick as a bird, Talltail shot forward, slicing the fox’s muzzle. The fox yelped, eyes sparking with rage. Talltail felt fur brush his flank. Jake was beside him. Talltail reared up on his hind legs as the fox attacked again. Jake reared up too. Talltail launched a flurry of blows at the fox and Jake joined in.

The fox snapped at them—one side, then the other. Talltail’s claws hooked flesh, and he felt blood spurt against his cheek. The fox yelped, then growled, its eyes narrowing. Talltail’s heart lurched. We’re just making it angry! He glanced sideways at Jake. Eyes narrow, ears flat, Jake was hissing as viciously as any warrior. He slammed a front paw against the fox’s muzzle. Talltail matched his blow. They fell into a steady rhythm, lashing out at the fox with relentless fury. Then Talltail stumbled over a fallen twig. He lost his balance and dropped onto all fours. Jake dropped beside him. Talltail let the momentum take him down to the ground and rolled all the way over. Jake rolled with him, and they leaped to their paws beside the fox’s flank and began swiping again. The fox shrieked.

“He can’t fight us both!” Talltail yowled with a rush of triumph.

“Can you hold him while I go for his tail?” Jake called back.

“Not for long.” Talltail gritted his teeth and lashed out even more fiercely as Jake darted toward the fox’s haunches and clamped his teeth around the base of its tail. Talltail heard a crunch as Jake bit down hard. The fox writhed, yelping, and as Jake let go, it tore past Talltail and fled away through the trees. Talltail dropped onto all fours, panting. His forepaw stung where the fox’s teeth had grazed it.

“Did it hurt you?” Jake was at his side in a moment, sniffing for wounds.

“Just a scratch.” Talltail showed him the scrape along his paw. “Not deep. Barkface would treat it with dock.”

“I’ll find some.” Jake trotted away past the ferns. He was back a few moments later with a wad of dock in his jaws. He dropped it at Talltail’s paws. Lumps of fur were sticking out around Jake’s neck, and his orange pelt was darkened with spots of blood.

Talltail sat down. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve had worse wounds from next door’s tom.” He dipped his head to show Talltail a long-healed nick in his ear.

Talltail sniffed it, a rush of gratitude sweeping through him as Jake’s warm scent touched his nose. “Thank you, Jake,” he murmured.

“What for?” Jake straightened up.

“You saved my life.” Talltail paused. “Again.”

Jake purred. “No problem.” He sniffed the dock. “Do you wrap this around your paw or what?”

“You chew it and lick it into the wound,” Talltail told him. Jake wrinkled his nose. Talltail’s whiskers twitched with amusement. “It’s okay. I can do it myself.” He grabbed a leaf in his jaws and began chewing.

Jake watched as he pulped it and worked it into the scratch with his tongue. “Will that really make it better?”

“It’ll stop the wound from going bad,” Talltail meowed.

Jake waited until Talltail had used up all of the leaf. “Can you walk?” he asked.

Talltail’s wound stung and his hind leg ached where he’d strained it, rearing up. But he wanted to keep following the rogues’ scent. A heavy shower might wash it away. “I’m fine,” he insisted. He limped across the clearing, sniffing the ground, his tail twitching as he picked up Reena’s scent. Algernon’s and Sparrow’s mingled with it, and he could smell Bess and Mole, too. He followed the trail through a hawthorn bush and past a gorse thicket, stumbling as leaves slid beneath his paws. Jake darted to his side, pressing against him.

“Lean on me,” he ordered.

“I’m okay,” Talltail meowed, but he let some of his weight rest against Jake’s soft shoulder. They padded on through the forest, Talltail sniffing for scent, Jake watching the ground for twigs and ruts. Talltail slowed as he saw the forest lighten ahead. They must be near the edge.

Jake stiffened beside him. “Can you hear that?”

Talltail pricked his ears. A buzzing, like swarming bees, hummed in the distance. “What is it?” A Thunderpath stench touched his nose, but the noise was too whiny to be monsters.

“It sounds like a grass-cutter,” Jake told him.

Talltail blinked at him. “A what?”

“The Twolegs use them to shave the grass.”