{"id":5006,"date":"2025-09-22T21:34:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/?p=5006"},"modified":"2025-09-22T21:39:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:39:33","slug":"meerkat-fiction-master-of-the-pack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/?p=5006","title":{"rendered":"Meerkat Fiction: Master of the Pack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This latest work is inspired by Master of the Pack<\/a>, by DusanMarkovic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stood before him, the great Tiger of the Southern Wastes, and I tried not to tremble, but I could not help but appear sheepish, troubled, by the ferocity in those blue eyes, eyes rightfully harden by years of war and turmoil. His guards remained impassive, but stood ready to introduce me to the sharp end of their large spears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou sought an audience, now what do you want?\u201d His gravelly voice rumbled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2026 I have come to\u2026 to strike a bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence greeted me. The clouds parted briefly to permit gleaming moonlight down upon us, striking a powerful glare across his mighty sword, which he drove into the ground and used to winch himself to his feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA bargain? What could you possibly have that could interest us?\u201d He snarled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could not help but take in how tall he stood. I wasn\u2019t exactly short \u2013 just over six foot in height \u2013 but he was a full head higher than myself. I did all I could to keep eye contact, to not show weakness, but I feared I was failing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInformation\u2026\u201d I began, praying my voice wouldn\u2019t crack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInformation? About what?\u201d He stepped closer, the heavy, ornate golden armour on his thick legs rattling, the razor-sharp claws on his feet clicking upon the cold stone ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur mutual enemy\u2026 they are on the march, they\u2026 they are coming for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was almost face to face with me now, nose to nose. The scar that ran across his right eye came into clear focus \u2013 red and angry, like the blood rushing through his veins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet them come. They cannot defeat us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey can\u2026 they have allies, help\u2026\u201d I closed my eyes briefly, before opening them again with a resolve I didn\u2019t know I had. \u201cSome of my<\/em> people are helping them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death was what I had expected, death from the extended claws on his hands, that I knew could shred even the toughest elephant hide, or perhaps death from his terrifying teeth, as he tore out my throat in an orgy of blood and flesh. Instead his gaze, his judging, intense stare, remained fixed upon my own eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTypical.\u201d Sneered the Tiger. \u201cTrust your<\/strong> kind to roll over so meekly for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot all of us.\u201d I replied hastily. \u201cNot all of us.\u201d I said again, more sombrely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tiger turned, took a step, grabbed his blade\u2019s hilt and casually spun it around. \u201cAllow me to guess, the wolf packs are not enamoured with their human masters?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, we are not.\u201d I replied. \u201cI know what they\u2019ve done to you, to other feline tribes\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know nothing!\u201d The blade was swung around, stopping at my neck. I stiffened, ears flattening and my tail drooping. The Tiger stepped back toward me and placed his big paw on my cheek. \u201cCanines have been in league with the humans since the days of our ancient ancestors. Whilst your kind were given warm homes and beds, plentiful food, love\u2026 my kind was hunted for our pelts, mutilated for medicines\u2026 you can never understand what they have done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith respect\u2026\u201d I began slowly. \u201cWolves share the fate of felines. We too were hunted, killed, butchered, and we have never forgotten. We won\u2019t fight for the humans, we will fight for you, and for our freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tiger lowered his weapon and his paw. \u201cAnd do you possess any information beyond platitudes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes.\u201d I steeled myself. This was now the realm of betrayal. \u201cThey seek to attack with two forces. One is an open siege of your capitol, at your northern wall. The other will be mostly a canine assault force, using their noses to sniff out any means of secret entry to your fortress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen does this attack begin?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn four days. The wolf packs will be part of the second attack force \u2013 when I give the signal, I will have them turn on the humans, and any canines that remain loyal to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there had been anger in the Tiger\u2019s eyes, was now a strange calm. \u201cI can smell deceit, deception, lies. I do not smell that upon you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I came. I have never\u2026 I\u2019ve never been good at concealing how I feel. It\u2019s a weakness of canines, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd ours is that we are too<\/em> good at it.\u201d The Tiger held out his paw. \u201cIf we truly join our forces, this will only be the beginning. The humans will never stop hunting you if you betray them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took his paw and shook it. It felt warm, and strong. \u201cThey have always hunted us, used us, abused us. Not anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Meerkat Fiction<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This latest work is inspired by Master of the Pack, by DusanMarkovic I stood before him, the great Tiger of the Southern Wastes, and I tried not to tremble, but I could not help but...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[120],"class_list":["post-5006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-stuff","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-92.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5009,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5006\/revisions\/5009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}