Meowlin: Book One

Twenty Three

Twenty Three

Meowlin and Zach woke up fresh near the same time. Hank had fallen asleep after half of the night but they hadn't been attacked by anything. It was a few hours after sunrise and the snowstorm had settled. The sky was a clear blue with some clouds here and there. The temperature had increased a little bit above zero and the sun was shining. The fire had been put out halfway through the night so that their location wouldn't be given away.

Meowlin and Zach were still in pain but they chose to ignore it and get on with their day.

"Good morning," Meowlin said to Zach and Hank.

"Good morning," Zach replied.

Hank woke up from the noise and hoarsely said "Good morning" as well.

Hank had woken up somewhat fresh as well. The sorrowful aura of yesterday had generally faded and everyone had a hope for today and tomorrow.

"What's the plan today?" Zach asked Meowlin.

"We keep heading in the direction we're heading in and get away from the kingdom," Meowlin replied assertively.

"Let's eat first," Hank added.

"Alright Zach and I will go search for something while you stay here and reignite the fire," Meowlin said politely in a commanding voice.

"Okay," Hank replied as he started to get his firestarter out.

At night they could not see very far but now that the snowstorm had cleared it became apparent that they were near a large deciduous forest. They headed into the forest and looked around.

"We should look for any berries close to the ground," Zach said as his stomach rumbled.

They headed further and further into the forest but didn't find anything. The trees had barren leaves and there was not an animal in sight. Meowlin had been scratching trees so that they could find their way back.

After about another ten minutes they heard the sound of some sort of rushing water.

"Do you hear that?" Meowlin asked Zach excitedly.

"Yeah it sounds like a river." Zach replied, sharing the same amount of excitement as Meowlin.

They walked further and further and they finally saw the river. It had sky blue water and flowed southwest as well. There were a few trout trying to make their way upstream which was northeast.

"Grab the fish quickly Zach," Meowlin said quickly so that the fish wouldn't swim too far.

Zach and Meowlin both put their paws into the ice cold water and used their claws to gather two trout who tried to escape but Meowlin ended up throwing them into the snow while Zach held his sturdily. After a minute the two trouts died and Meowlin and Zach began to head back towards Hank. Meowlin swiftly picked up the trout she had killed and caught up to Zach who was a few meters ahead.

After about fifteen minutes of walking back through the snowy deciduous forest they got back to Hank and he had reignited the campfire.

"What took so long?" Hank asked in a demanding voice.

"We couldn't find any berries so we found fish instead." Meowlin replied in a calm voice.

Hank grabbed a couple sticks over the side and got the fish from Meowlin and Zach. He then skewered them and cooked them slowly over the fire with their skin on.

After another thirty minutes the fish had been properly cooked to the cat's likings and Hank split the two fish into twelve even pieces. The pieces of trout were half a foot long.