Chapter Two
"Nice catch, Slate!" Sleet nodded approvingly as her brother looked up, the robin she had chased toward him dangling from his jaws. She arched her back as Slate trotted over to her, enjoying the way the sunlight warmed her sore muscles and made her sleek coat shine like silver. The pair had both grown in the last three moons, losing their fluffy kit pelts and kit-like innocence as they became bigger, sleeker, and tougher.
We can handle anything as long as we're together, Sleet thought proudly, her heart soaring like a bird with confidence.
"Here we go." Slate dropped the robin at his sister's paws. "There's enough for both of us to fill our bellies."
"Good thing," Sleet meowed. "I'm ravenous!"
They settled at the roots of a beech tree and gobbled down their prey in mere moments. Once she finished, Sleet settled back in a pool of sunlight with a satisfied purr, warm and full. Slate picked the bones clean, then sat and used his paw to wash his face.
"Hey, Sleet." The dark gray she-cat raised her head to see Slate looking at her, his eyes glittering like sunlight on water with mischief. "Tag. You're the hunter!" He poked her shoulder before darting away as nimble as a squirrel.
"Aww, Slate," Sleet complained. She flopped back with a mock sigh. Slate paused a few tail-length away, titling his head. "I guess I'll have to get you, mouse!" Sleet sprung to her paws and raced after him. Slate squealed like a kit as she bowled him over and pinned him down triumphantly. "You're the hunter now!"
Slate grunted his sister leaped off of him. "You're too good." He heaved himself to his paws, and shook the crumpled leaves from his pelt.
Sleet couldn't help noticing how her brother's pelt had grown thick over his large frame with broad shoulders, and how his yellow eyes gleamed. Slate looks so much like him, she thought as memories flashed through her mind. The images of a large tom nearly identical to Slate, with warm yellow eyes and a jolly expression, next to a slender dappled gray she-cat with serious blue eyes but nothing but love for her family, appeared in her mind's eye. Sorrow crept around Sleet's carefully placed walls, curling around her heart. I still miss them.
Sleet jerked back to the present as Slate lunged at her. She rolled out of the way and sent her brother a teasing smile. "You're going to have to do better than that."
Slate whirled around and took off after Sleet. The dark gray she-cat wove between the trees, relishing the burning in her muscles and the way her agile body allowed her to twist and dodge with ease while Slate's bulky frame made it difficult for him to keep up. She sprang high over a fallen log and dashed through a thicket of hemlock saplings before her energy began to fade.
The siblings burst from the treeline into a grassy glade. The open ground allowed Slate to speed up, catching quickly up to his sister. "Aha! Got you!" He crowed, tackling Sleet to the ground.
Sleet groaned as Slate's weight crushed her against the ground. "Get off of me, you big furball."
"Sorry." Slate climbed off of her, looking concerned. "Did I hurt you?"
"Nope." Sleet jumped lightly to her paws and dove at her brother. She batted at his ears with soft paws. Slate grinned as he tried to use his shoulder ram into her side, but she danced out of his reach.
A joyful laugh bubbled to Sleet's lips as Slate swatted at her, and she dodged again. It felt good to play with her brother in the sunlit glade, carefree as the kits they had once been. The tough, serious mask she wore to stay strong and focused on survival melted away like snow in sunshine. For once, she was able to forget all of her worries, all of her sorrow.
Slate ducked his head as Sleet swung a blow at his muzzle. His swiped a paw at her forepaws, unbalancing her for a moment. Sleet slipped to the right, then bunched her muscles and leaped onto her brother's back, toppling him to the ground. The pair rolled over and over as they play-fought until they flopped onto the grass, panting with exhaustion.
"Life is good," Slate declared. He sighed with contentment as he stretched out on his side and shut his eyes.
"Mhmm," Sleet agreed. She lay on her back, watching the fluffy clouds coast by in the crystal-blue sky.
Slate turned his head toward his sister. "Do you think it will always be like this?"
Sleet met her brother's gaze with a frown. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think we'll always be together, hunting together, helping each other, watching each other's backs? Will it always just be us?"
Sleet reached out to nudge Slate with her nose. "Of course. You're my brother. Three moons ago, I promised that I would always protect you. I mean to keep that promise. Don't you think we'll always be together?"
Slate avoided her gaze, his ears pinned back. "Yeah. I guess so. But you know, someday I'd like to find a place to live permanently, so we don't have to always keep moving. I want to have a mate and kits one day."
Sleet stared at him, surprise churning through her. Then she laughed. "You have everything figured out, don't you?"
Sleet glanced at her. "Don't you have ideas for the future?"
"Nope." Sleet stood and shook out her fur. "I take things one day at a time. Besides, my place is with you. Come on, let's get going."
The siblings reentered the forest as they started on their way again. The trees cast long shadows as the sun sank in the sky. Fireflies sparked here and there like tiny stars, and crickets chirped, but Slate and Sleet traveled in silence.
Is Slate okay? Sleet wondered. She looked after her brother who walked a few tail-lengths ahead of her. He's been quiet ever since we left the glade. She picked up her pace, catching up to her brother. "Slate, is everything—"
"Well, what do we have here?" A haughty sneer interrupted Sleet. The siblings froze as four tall cats materialized out of the shadows. Their collective scent overpowered Sleet's nose. It wasn't like anything she could remember before, but it tugged at a buried memory, bringing with it tremors of bone-chilling fear.
"It looks like two little kits have wandered onto our territory, Hornet," another cat, a broad-shouldered pale gray and white tom said to the first, a reddish-brown tabby tom with dark green eyes.
The tabby tom smiled maliciously. "Are you lost, kitties?"
Slate frowned. "No, we know exactly where we are. This isn't your land. We were here a few days ago."
"Well, it is our territory now," a tortoiseshell she-cat retorted. She fixed Slate with a steely hazel glare that made him take a step back.
"You can't just claim this land." Though Slate's words were indignant and his stance was forceful, his twitching tail tip betrayed his uneasiness. "A lot of cats hunt here. It belongs to everyone."
"Yes, we can claim it." The gray and white tom shoved his face into Slate's. "We just did. You're not going to stop us."
Sleet's gaze never left the tabby tom as the argument between her brother and the other cats grew more heated. Something about this tom, Hornet, felt so familiar—and not in a good way. His unsheathed claws sent shivers down her spine. His green eyes made her body tremble involuntarily with frost-cold fear.
A sunny day appeared in front of Sleet's eyes. She was a kit again, squeaking with joy as she chased a butterfly with her brother. Two grown cats watched them fondly from outside a den woven from ivy and ferns. Shadows materialized from the trees, racing toward them, choking them in their dark grasp. Sticky blood pooled at her paws. She screamed at the top of her tiny lungs. A dark cat turned toward her, his tabby stripes like shadows. Blood stained his paws. His dark green eyes glinted as he reached for her—
That's it! Sleet snapped back to the present. Those eyes. It's him. Fury pounded through her veins, but fear overwhelmed her. "Slate—" She was ashamed by how much her voice quaked. "Slate, let's go. Let's just go."
Slate cast her a confused look, but he followed her as she turned to leave.
"You're not going anywhere." A new voice growled. The last cat, a ginger she-cat swung around to block their path. She bared her teeth at them before she looked up at her comrades. "Hornet, Freeze, Berry, what should we do with them?"
"I'm not sure, Vixen." The tortoiseshell she-cat, Berry, circled them, studying them closely.
"That one said that a lot of cats hunt here," Hornet noted, flicking his tail at Slate. He flexed his claws. "Maybe we should kill them and leave their bodies as a warning to other cats."
Sleet pressed close to her brother as he gulped. We have to get out of here. She could feel all of her confidence ebbing away like a tide, so all she wanted to do was run far away like a scaredy-kit.
Vixen tilted her head. "I don't know. They appear hearty and strong, and they're young enough to be molded into fine soldiers. They would make good recruits. The Sandy Hollow Camp could use more young cats."
Freeze nodded slowly, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"No!" Sleet blurted out. She clamped her jaw shut as all eyes turned to her. Slate looked like he was holding his breath, while the other cats all glared at her. "I mean, you wouldn't want to take us. We're a little more than scrawny kits and we can barely feed and protect ourselves. We would be horrible recruits."
"That can be changed," Vixen said.
"Also," Sleet continued, desperation in every word, "my brother is weak and cowardly. He's a big scaredy-kit and a burden because I have to take care of him all the time. You wouldn't want him."
"Well, then," Hornet purred sinisterly. "If that's all true, we should go with my plan." He slithered a few steps forward, but glanced back over his shoulder at Freeze. The gray and white tom gave a curt nod. As quick as a snake, Hornet pounced on Slate. He sank his claws into Slate's right foreleg. The dark gray tom let out a scream that made birds take flight from the trees around them.
He's hurting my brother! Fury roared in Sleet's chest. She snarled as she raked her claws across Hornet's left eye. Hornet yelped, and the other cats rushed to his side, giving Sleet the distraction she needed. She pulled Slate to his feet and shoved him in front of her as they fled.
After what seemed like moons had past, Sleet finally allowed herself to slow. The waxing moon bathed the forest in ghostly silver light as she peered between the trees back the way they had come. She focused her ears, but couldn't hear anything other than the rustle of wind in the leaves and the chirps of crickets. Thank goodness. Sleet released a tense breath.
"Slate," the dark gray she-cat called to her brother, who trailed a ways behind her. "We can stop now. I don't think we're being followed."
Slate merely grunted as he flopped down on the ground, using his tongue to wash his mangled foreleg sticky with dried blood.
Sleet cocked her head. "Is everything okay?"
The gray tom said nothing; continuing to clean his wound with rhythmic laps of his tongue.
"Slate, talk to me."
Slate raised his head, and his sister was shocked to see that his yellow eyes burned like little flames. "How could you?'
Sleet blinked. "How could I what?"
"How could you say those things about me?"
Sleet stepped back. "I said those things to save you."
"But was it necessary to call me weak and cowardly and a burden? You almost got me killed!"
"Well, maybe some of them are true. You need to toughen up a little because it's just us against all of the dangers in this world. I can't always protect you!"
Sleet clamped her mouth shut, regretting her words as soon as they'd flown out of her mouth. Slate stared at her as if she was a stranger. His eyes were pools of hurt shimmering with tears. "How could you?"
"Slate, I'm sorry." Sleet tired to nuzzle her brother but he scooted backward. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean anything I just said because I said it in anger. I was honestly trying to protect you back there. I'm sorry for that too."
Slate nodded hesitantly. This time, he let his sister press her nose to his forehead.
"I will always protect you," Sleet breathed, but inside she couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of resentment.
I hoped you enjoyed chapter two! There really isn't a schedule for updating right now, really just whenever I have time. These two have been interesting chapters for me to write because I've been exploring young Sleet and Slate as characters. If they're kind of boring for you, it's because they are setting up plot twists and conflicts to come. I would love to know your impressions of Sleet and Slate so far and any comments or constructive criticism in a review if you have time.
Reviews:
The Unnamed Guest - Thank you
- A Warrior At Heart