Wings of Metal, Heart of a Predator
(Formally "Cats in the Air")
By Matthew W
2
Le-Gō had been soaring over the rice paddies, fields, hills and jungles for so long that she no longer felt the same exhilaration of being free and above the world. She was beginning to feel an acute pain in her hindquarters and an ache in her hands, but she knew that if she let go of the stick for a single second she would certainly end up in a flaming wreck on the ground.
About one hour and a worrying drop in the gas meter later, a downpour started It was so sudden that Le-Gō didn’t even notice the rain until she looked up to check the position of the sun. The rainfall steadily and relentlessly increased, to the point which Le-Gō thought that she was either going to not be able to see ahead of her and crash or drown from the fuselage’s leaks.
The fuel gauge needle inched over to the “E”, and the propeller appeared to slow. The speedometer slowly dialed back, without Le-Gō even touching the throttle.
“I’ve got to land as soon as possible,” Le-Gō thought.
She squinted through the rain but all she could see were hazy trees. The seconds ticked by and the little needle which her fate rested on slowly descended in the inky blackness toward the dreaded “E”.
And then it was on the “E”, the propeller finally ground to a halt and the plane's nose started to dip.
Le-Gō let out a “MMRRROOWW!!!” and pushed the elevation stick as far back as it would go
Just as she thought all was lost, a patch of light green appeared off of her right wingtip. She shoved the controls as hard as she could, and the plane ponderously turned right.
“A field !” she thought. “I’m saved!”
She struggled with the elevator and tried to squeeze as much lift out of the plane’s sinking wings as possible. She was almost upon the field.. And then she was there, barely scraping above the trees ringing the field. Her ears flattened against her head and her eyelids pulled back all the way as she saw she was going to hit the grass at a 90 degree angle.
BOOOM! THUD! THUD! THUD! Went the plane as it crashed into the earth and somehow bounced.
😾😾😾
Le-Gō blinked her eyes and they felt like they were moving through Ri-Ru’s fish sauce. She licked her lips and almost got lost in visions of fish platters…
“No!” She thought, and pushed the darkness away. “I must wake up!”
She was in the pilot’s chair, surrounded by all of the glass shards and pieces of twisted metal that littered the cockpit and the surrounding grass.
“NO! NO! NO!” she yowled, but no one was around to hear her.
Just one cat, trees, grass and a dead steel bird. Le-gō closed her eyes.
“Maybe when I open my eyes this will never have happened. I’ll still be on the rice paddies, with Ri-Ru and the long-nosed twins..” She thought.
She opened her eyes and nothing had changed. She groaned, and unbuckled her seatbelt. She heaved herself out of the cabin, being careful not to gouge her belly on the broken glass and twisted metal which was once her saviour from life as an outcast.
Her paws touched the wet grass and the rain hit her fur, plastering it to her skin.
“What will i do?” She thought. “I Might as well walk to the nearest town and see if i can get passage to Dragon Mountain City.”
She returned to the plane and pulled a map out from under one of the seats.
“Let’s see…” She said. “I was going in this direction… and was around here... Then turned this way.” Her paw came to rest on a spot on the map- the Northeast Forest. “I should be here.”
The only town nearby was Tavern-By-The-River.
Le-gō picked up a farmer’s bag, put the map and a compass in it, and slung it over her back. She hauled herself out of the plane and began her trek.
3
Le-Gō hopped over a stream (was it the river in the town’s name?) dragged her bag onto the town’s main road. It was one of those towns that pops out of the wilderness suddenly when you’re going by and by the time you’ve turned your head to look at it its already long gone.
The town was built in the classic style- one lantern lit street, lined with wood framed rice paper houses. The house were made of roughly hewn wood, and the rice paper looked cheap or homemade. A single telegraph wire held up by wooden poles ran overhead and into the distance. The only signs of life were noises coming from the largest building on the street.
She padded across the dusty street- a faded sign hanging over the door said “Purple Pheasant Tavern” in shaky symbols. Sounds of yowling spilled out through the cracks in the door. The door was mangrove, inexpensive and a rich brown in color. She nudged the door and went inside.
The dimly lit interior was raucous with must have been the whole town. There were about thirty felines in there, more than Le-Gō had ever seen in one place in her life. Much more than the paddies…
“Why did I leave? I wasn’t going to get into much trouble! I may even have replaced Za-Mu when they saw my skills!” she thought.
“Don’t just stand there like a scared kitten!” A voice from behind the bar boomed, fracturing her thoughts. “Tell me what I can get you!”
