"Where does this monkey Peppo live?" he snarled at the other two knights. Silently they led him over rooftops to the home of some sleeping humans only fifteen minutes away form the dog's home. There, sleeping in a basket on the back porch of this house lay their future partner, Peppo, sound asleep.
Peppo awoke to face the meanest looking cat he had ever seen. It was watching him from the other side of the back porch screen.
"Be silent, little one, and listen and you won't get hurt," hissed the terrible face. "Our king has honored you by permitting you to aid us in carrying out his orders. Do you remember the big boxer dog named Flintface that chased you down the street a moon ago?"
The little monkey hissed and bared his teeth to show that he remembered the humiliating incident.
"He was warned for that, then committed an even more evil crime. The king has put out a contract on him, and we intend to collect it tomorrow morning. It must be done in a very public way to be a warning to other mutts not to step out of line, get the picture?"
The little monkey jumped up and down to show his excitement.
"I'm glad you approve," the big black cat said sarcastically, while the two other knights smirked to themselves in the shadows.
Then he continued, "You will come along with my two aides tomorrow morning early. Can you get out, or will I have to slash this screen for you?"
Peppo assured them he could open the simple screen door without any trouble.
"Good. You will go with them to Flintface's house, but be sure to stay outside the fence. If he is asleep, you will reach through the fence and unsnap his chain, understand?"
"You want to unleash that creature in our community?" the little monkey whispered with terror in his voice.
"Only long enough, little one, to take him to his place of execution. Do you remember what happened to the bulldog Ironjaw several moons ago?"
The monkey nodded affirmatively. "But that was an accident, or was it…?" and here his voice trailed off as he looked at the black cat's unblinking eyes. "What happens if he's awake?"
"Then my two knights will keep his attention until you can do your job, and little friend, do not fail us or the next time we see you…"He made a knifelike movement of one extended claw across his throat. If it had been possible for a monkey to turn pale, Peppo at that moment would have turned snow white!
If any humans had paid attention at 5:00 on Wednesday morning they would have seen an amazing sight, for every cat in Catasia surrounded the square in front of the local printshop. And each one moved into their chosen position without making a sound. The few humans moving about were too concerned with their early morning tasks to pay attention to the affairs of cats!
And though the visiting cortege of cats was burning up with curiosity about the method of execution of a beast so large, the host animals offered not the least bit of information. "Keep them in the dark until the last minute," had been their king's final order.
Greywhiskers led the visiting king to the second floor flower box of the house of the people who claimed to "own" him. He, with the wisdom of his race, merely permitted them the honor of feeding him, or providing shelter when the weather was bad, and he paid for that with a few purrs or an occasional dead mouse left on their doorstep. The box had a perfect view of the pavement in front of the printshop facing them.
"Nice view," King Blue-eyes remarked politely.
"Thank you," replied Greywhiskers equally politely. "The large warehouse to the right,is my private game preserve. If you'd like, we can go in there after the execution and have a hand at a rat killing."
Blue-eyes permitted a deep purr of anticipation and replied with gleaming eyes, "Why, thank you, now you are talking my language. I'd be delighted to accept your invitation!"
Talking your language indeed, fumed the host king! Why I'd drop dead before I spoke the sacred tongue with that Siamese accent!
Five-thirty sharp arrived, and right on schedule two large, powerful trucks backed up to the printshop doors. Few words were spoken by the humans as they began loading the large bundles of freshly printed newspapers onto the trucks. Unnoticed by the humans, a large black cat with a twitching stub of a tail stalked slowly down the center of the street. He looked like an old time western gunslinger about to "call out" an opponent. He was the picture of poise, confidence and… murder.
"My Royal Executioner," purred Greywhiskers proudly. "I taught him everything he knows. You are about to see poetry in action, and he never misses."
Blue-eyes kept his thoughts to himself. True, he had never seen a cat quite like the one below, but polishing off a dog the size of a boxer was not an easy task for a dozen cats! No, let the old goat brag, I'll try not to laugh in his face when this is all over!
But Sir Ex was not as confident as he appeared. As he heard the first truck pull away from the loading dock, he was wondering what was stopping his fellow knights.
Sir Fairhowl and Sir Strongheart did have a problem. While Peppo was safely protected outside the wrought iron fence, the dog was crowding close to it making it impossible for the little monkey to unsnap the chain. Further, the violent barking and growling of the dog might bring an irate human being into the picture at any moment.
With their natural inborn sense of timing, both knights realized now was the time to get the big dog moving. Both thought about having to explain their failure to Sir Ex. No way!
"Flank attack! Draw sabers, ho!" snarled Sir Fairhowl.
Both cats flashed in toward the dog's unprotected backside, both struck a flank simultaneously, their sharp claws cutting red trails of blood down his rear legs.
With a howl of rage and pain, Flintface spun to meet his attackers. This was the opening the little monkey was looking for; he rapidly reached through the fence and unsnapped the chain. He never looked back, for his job was done. Quickly Peppo leaped into a tree and sped for home.
There was a strangled roar from the dog as he dashed after the two cats. In his rage, he sounded just like he was strangling. Never questioning his sudden freedom, he dashed down the street pursuing his fleeing adversaries, his length of chain bouncing behind and kicking up sparks from the pavement. It never occurred to the stupid beast that the two fleeing felines could have escaped easily up a post or over a fence. This was war! Death to catdom!
Back at the king's observation box, the sound of the back doors on the second truck being slammed almost drowned out the distant sound of a very angry, baying dog chasing two fleeing cats. This was going to be close, Sir Ex reasoned.
As the truck slowly moved away from the loading dock, its headlights picked up the sight of two large alley cats racing across the road in front of them. They did not pick up the form of the larger black cat crouched facing the side road from which the other cats had just emerged. Sir Ex rose to his full height and moved gracefully to the center of the road.
The truck's headlights illuminated the scene like a stage production. There was Sir Ex in the classic feline challenge pose: mouth open, back arched, stub of a tail pointed skyward, right forepaw extended with claws shining, ears flattened close to the skull, and mouth issuing the insult no red-blooded dog could ignore.
"Mangy kitten killer! You who would run from the shadow of an adult cat! Come face the anger of Sir Ex!"
The enraged dog forgot the other knights and turned to face the challenger. At a normal time he would have thought twice about taking on this cat, but in the heat of the recent chase, all sanity seemed to have left him. He spun in his tracks and raced after the black cat fleeing directly into the path of the approaching truck.