The villagers that lived near the stream called Saloon had never seen a cat before, but they had heard stories. The tall murderous felines were the nightmares in the back of the mind of every mouse in every village near anything of any name. They were the greatest fear of all mice, a natural disaster in the form of whiskers and claws, but thankfully they were an insanely rare occurance.

In recent history, the only encounter was Old Lady Brenda’s recent ramblings about one she saw in the grass, but no one believed her. Old Lady Brenda had a penchant for making things up, last year she said she saw a rooster lay an egg, it was just a masculine hen, but the village never took her ramblings seriously. The first to notice the cat were the children: Angie, Tim, and Howard the same that told Ringly, Tim and Angie’s father, about the No Tail on farmer Josef’s cheese farm.

They were playing near the grass, where there parents had told them never to play, and suddenly Howard and Tim went missing. Angie thought they were hiding from her until she heard the mighty roar of the beast.

“MEOW!”

She ran to the village screaming.

After her father was able to calm her down they asked her to tell the story.

“We were playing near the g… gra… grass,” Angie stuttered.

“The grass!” Ringly snapped. “Did you take leave of your senses.”

“Where is my son?” Howard’s Mom, Susana, yelled.

“The c… cat took him,” Angie said.

“Cat!” Susana screamed and fainted, caught by her husband.

“Now, now,” Ringly tried to calm the crowd. “There is no cat.”

“He took Tim t… to… too,” Angie cried.

Ringly frowned. “I’m sure the boys are fine—

“Shut it Ringly!” Josef called from the back. “If there’s a cat we need to prepare.”

The villagers started to nod in agreement with Josef, to Ringly’s discontent.

“Are we going to listen to a No Tail sympathizer?” Ringly said, but no one in the crowd was paying attention to him anymore.

“What did the beast look like?” Josef asked.

“I saw him between the green blade of grass,” Angie said, calming a little under Josef’s caring gaze. “His fur was as white as snow, he had one eye that yellow, like the sun, but darker next to a scarred one. He carried Tim and Howard by their tails, barely breathing, then I ran, am I a coward?”

“No sweetheart,” Josef said. “Running from a cat isn’t cowardice, it’s—

“Smart,” Another voice said.

The crowd turned to see the No Tail, scars, blind eye, and all.

“What do you care?” Ringly asked.

The No Tail ignored him. “Which way was this?”

Angie pointed.

“What are you going to do?” Josef asked, but the No Tail was already running.

“No that’s a coward,” Ringly said, trying to win back the crowd, but they all noticed the direction he was running away, but toward.

The No Tail thought he was done with cats, but he had to hurry if he wanted to save the boys, assuming the cat was done toying with them. He also tried to keep the details of the cat in mind, white fur, one eye, it had to be her. Bast leader of the cat clan that destroyed the village near the rock called Henge, his home.

He reached the grass and found the paw prints that went deeper, he followed.

In a former snake hole that used to belong to a rattler rested Bast, former leader a cat clan, and her evening entertainment.

“Dance,” The cat demanded and Tim and Howard continued to dance odd little jigs trying not to break down crying.

Bast had a necklace made of string with a small rusted blade tied to the end. Howard and Tim stared at the blade, not out of any interest, but to avoid looking at the cat’s yellow eye and deadly smile.

Bast pointed at the blade with a long black claw. “Curious?”

“N… no sir,” Tim said.

“I’m a girl,” Bast snapped.

“Sorry miss.”

“Sit still a moment and I’ll tell you the story behind this blade.”

They sat and gulped back their fear as Bast leaned in close to whisper the tale.

“I used to be a leader of an entire clan of cats,” Bast began. “We would do as we wished where we wished when we wished. That mostly meant hunting and killing mice from village to vaillage, but we occasionally stalled and took rest here and there, until one day. The Black Mouse came.”

“The Black Mouse?” Tim asked, for a moment of curiosity in a child can still pop out in a moment of great fear.

“Surely you two wee mice know of the Black Mouse?”

The two gathered enough courage to shake their heads no.

“Oh, well you must have a different name for him then. He’s a being of great fear to cats. A mouse that’s stronger, smarter, and unkillable.”

“What happened?” Tim asked.

“We just finished destroying one of your tiny mouse villages near a big rock, when he came that night. He had a tiny sword in his tiny hand and he came at us head on. He cut through us like you mice cut through cheese. He was dancing a dance with death and we were merely spectators.”

“And then?” Howard asked, both boys forgot their predicament in a moment and had awe in their eyes.

Bast yawned, a long yawn. “I killed him.”

“What, but he killed your—

“Oh, I was lucky,” She said. “While he was killing my entire clan I swiped behind him and cut off his tail. He was off balanced then, so I knocked him into that big rock near the village and took his sword to wear as a prize. The little bugger had some fight in him though took my eye.”

Bast pointed to her scarred eye.

The boys would’ve cried if they had tears left, but they were busy staring at the figure in the doorway.

When Bast turned to see she hissed with anger.

“You!” Bast screamed. “I killed you.”

“You tried,” No Tail said.

They both jumped. Bast was right, Tim thought. It is a dance. The No Tail dodged the claws and jaws of Bast like a ballerina. Tim blinked and the blade around Bast’s neck disappeared and was in the hand of the No Hair.

The two fighters paused a moment to assess the other.

The No Tail looked at the boys. “Run!”

They didn’t need to be told twice.

Tim and Howard left the two beasts in the snake hole.

“Well, well,” Bast said. “Seems you still have a soft spot in you somewhere monster.”

The No Tail lunged and pierced the cat’s paw.

“You destroy my village and slay my family and call me monster,” The No Tail yelled.

The cat swiped at him with her good paw, but No Tail sliced that one too.

“You kidnap children, toy with them before you eat them, and you call me monster,” No Tail yelled.

Bast gave a last chance lunge, but the No Tail disabled him in a few swings.

“You cut off my tail, remove my honor, and you call me monster.”

The once fierce cat laid crippled, breathing, heavy. “Monster…”

The No Tail stared into Bast’s one good eye with his, “I’m what you made me.”

He struck.

Tim and Howard were trying to figure their way home when the No Tail caught up with them, without his sword.

They smiled at their hero. “You’re alive.”

“Are either of you hurt?”

“Tired,” Howard said. “But that monster didn’t try to kill us at all.”

The No Tail nodded and leaned down. “Hop on, I’ll carry you back.”

They did.

The village near the stream called Saloon was in sight when Tim asked the question.

“Hey Mr. No Tail?”

“Yes?”

“What’s your name?”

“Latimer,” He said.

The villagers welcomed the No Tail, now called Latimer, with open arms. Josef gave him a job at his farm again, Ringly was content with his only son not being dead so he didn’t complain to much, and Latimer lived happily ever after.