After just a few moments Nix got her head together and a thought occurred to her that brought her to a sharp halt. She dropped to one knee and exhaled a sharp hiss. Once on the ground she pulled off her shoe as if a rock had fouled her step and she rubbed at her foot, allowing Sampson and Garibaldi time to come to her hissed call. Their training worked and she slipped them some bits of dried chicken from her pocket. They wove around her legs, letting her scratch at them as they waited for instructions.
There were benefits of years working alone with a group of animals and people always underestimated the intellect of domesticated animals. Those facts combined to create a powerful secret weapon- you could train animals beyond the limits of what most humans imagined. A good horse would return home when told to do so. A herd of cattle or goats could be directed to a certain pasture with a few commands or the guidance of a dog. People thought cats were indolent and lazy, mostly because they had never bothered to understand them and how they, in kind, understood the world. In truth, cats were sharp at all ends and crafty in the middle. They could learn remarkable things when they saw a benefit from the knowledge.
"You are the very best boys" Nix crooned to them both, lavishing them with affection and likely boring any scouts watching this arrival trail. Both Garibaldi and Sampson sat, their attention riveted on the leader of their Pride. Nix said Garibaldi's name and his eyes snapped to her face, she pointed him to the wagon, signaling him to remain with her. They both slow blinked their eyes and the red cat hopped onto the wagon and stretched lavishly.
Clearing a bit of ground to bare dirt she drew two simple images. The first was a straight line with a circle on top, the most basic pictogram of a tree that could be drawn. The second was two curving lines that sketched out a claw. Sampson watched her draw each image. Pointing at the tree, Nix scratched the picture away with all of her fingers, using both hands. She repeated the gesture after pointing to the claw. Sampson stepped closer to the tree image and ran his right paw through it, claws out, multiple times and did the same thing with the scratched image of the claw and turned his solemn eyes up to hers.
Master, mother, friend, queen, protector, teacher, healer- Nix had been his world since she saved his tiny life. She offered the cat her fist and he rammed it with his massive head. Sampson, she hoped beyond hoping, understood the message that she had taken years teaching in case of a moment just like this. She grabbed both sides of his giant face, kissed the topped of his tabby head and whispered "Sampson, run and run back. Bring them. I love you."
She finished fixing her shoe and stood, taking hold of Cow and continuing her ridiculous wagon train down the path with Garibaldi laying atop her tarp covered goods, sprawled and rolling like a boneless sloth. As Nix looked back she watched Sampson finish taking a nice, steaming pee atop where the pictograms had been, kicking dirt over the top and heading off into the woods.
Their walking path had taken most of ten hours at the speed of a cow and wagon. They had used the paths that worked for moving goods, not the shortcuts. That cat would not take the long way. Sampson was smart. Not smart for a cat, but probably smarter than some people Nix had met. He was fast, and in a forest, he blended into the browns and seemed to disappear, just a motion at the corner of an eye.
When she found him, he was all of three weeks old and fit in her pocket. His survival had hinged upon being the biggest in a litter, yet not making a sound when his barn was found by the dead. Nix couldn't save his mom, but she saved him and since then, she had been his world. Now, she hoped, Sampson was going to be able to save her and everyone else she knew who was still alive.
Run, buddy. Run like the damned wind.
10. Sampson
No comments:
Post a Comment