The Third Time is the Charm

[Cheshire Fox]

The ever-present roar of the sea remained unbroken save by the shifting sounds of paws on the sand. A lone figure trudged across the beachhead, her long, serpentine tail swaying behind her with each well-tempered step. She stopped atop one particularly tall dune and looked back the way she had come. Paw prints trailed off into the distance, save where the high tide had seen fit to wash them away.  The feline turned back towards her destination: a great, looming fortress-mountain.  Donning an expression of determination, she pressed on once more.

Twice before she had walked this path, and twice before had she met the same result. Twice had she sought to make war on fools and blind beasts, and twice she had fallen back to lick her wounds and marshal her forces.  However, she had studied her errors, and worked to correct her mistakes. This time, she would not put her hopes in the paws of less-trustworthy beasts. There would be no triumvirate to fall apart at the first sign of strife.  There would only be her, the hopefully reasonable new Lord Badger, and fate.  And, should the badger prove to be as difficult as the last ones, she would wear them down with time. Fighting beasts were easy enough to find, and a will once broken was impossible to reforge.

The wildcat remained silent as the sands turned to the scrubland around the impressive demesne.  She was certain she had been spotted, though the lack of a challenge thus far made her question things. Perhaps someone else had succeeded where she had failed? Regardless, she stopped to gaze up at the mighty peak.  Heterochromatic eyes scanned the surface, but she expected to not see any beasts.  They had been wise to conceal their look-outs.  Steeling her resolve, she inhaled deeply to let out a loud cry. “PARLEY!” She waited for a brief moment, ears swiveling on her head for even the faintest of responses. “PARLEY!” she shouted again, after a few moments.  The wildcat was certain this was far from pointless, though, despite how history had recorded the last meetings.

Besides, she had learned from her defeats.  This time, it was victory first, then justice.