Chapter Two - The Barn

Famished, Ebony ignored the boundary and leapt into the forest cats' territory to catch the mouse she heard scurrying nearby. She slid instinctively into a crouch, stalking swiftly across the barren ground, and pounced the small brown creature while it's back was turned. She made quick work of killing it, and them gobbled it down hungrily.

She was just running her pink tongue around her muzzle and contemplating going to catch the vole she heard close by when she caught the scent of cats on the air. Fear made her belly clench. Thankfully, Ebony was downwind so they had yet to scent her, but they were heading straight for her and it wouldn't be long before she was discovered. She sprang to her paws and bounded in the opposite direction.

Ebony sped up, terrified, and heard at least twelve sets of paws thundering after her. StarClan help me! she thought desperately. She veered to one side, praying that it was the right direction to exit the territory. She barely noticed when she barrelled past the scent-line, pounding across the ground at an incredible speed.

Next Ebony knew, she was standing in the clearing from her dream. She gasped. It was a real place! But then… had the dream been real? Had the meeting taken place here to let her know that this should be her new territory? She drank in the air and exhaled heavily. No, the scents of many cats surrounded her, letting her know that this territory was already owned.

She paused for a breather, however, and glanced back over her shoulder to look in the direction from which she'd come. To her horror, she realized that the cats that had been following her were now pouring down the incline. Mouth dry, she sprinted behind the boulder and crouched there. After taking a deep breath she peered around the rock, and she saw that cats were not only coming down from the incline from territory she'd been in, but also from two other directions.

Ebony ran blindly from the hollow, up a steeper incline and across the moor lands beyond. Her pads were bleeding again and her chest ached from her frantically pounding heart and gasping breaths, but she didn't slow. She was vaguely aware that she was in yet another territory, but only really registered it when she crossed the boundary on the way out.

She slowed her pace, limping along at a snail's-pace. She was exhausted, despite the fact that she'd slept not long ago; a dream with StarClan meant little rest, as she well know. She was also hungry. The mouse had done little to replenish her, and her mouth would've watered had it not been so dry from lack of water. That combined with her shredded pads and aching lungs made it impossible for her to go on.

Legs folding beneath her against her will, Ebony sunk to the ground. She tried to stand back up, but her body would not respond. Letting out a little cry of vexation, she allowed her head to fall onto the ground, closing her sore eyes and slipping into an odd state that was neither sleep nor consciousness, just white. It was maybe sunhigh by the time she heard and smelled the cat coming towards her from the field ahead.

She opened her eyes a crack to see a broad-shouldered, dark brown tom with black stripes emerge from the stalks of barely and peat. His amber eyes were filled with surprise and then concern as they fell on her. He bounded over and crouched by her side, sniffing her flank worriedly.

"Hmm… BloodClan… but what's she doing out here?" he growled to himself, seeming not only genuinely curious but deeply concerned.

"Running away?" Ebony offered half-heartedly, opening her eyes properly to take the stranger in.

She'd heard of loners, but had never expected to meet one. She'd also not expected them to be so muscular and lean. The tom was quite attractive, she decided after a moment. She then brushed the thought away. How did that silly thought help her situation? Answer: it didn't. She pushed herself to her paws and grimaced.

"Why were you running away?" the tom asked, bending his head to gently lift one of her paws. Ebony jerked her leg back and hissed at him, her fur puffed up.

"Why should I tell you anything?" she spat, suddenly on the defensive. "I don't know you, and I've no reason to trust you. You could be one of Bane's spies for all I know!" She gasped when she realized what she'd said. Great, now this stranger knew who she was running from. She shook her head; it didn't matter, she'd be gone soon anyway.

Ignoring her rude response, the tom turned and beckoned for Ebony to follow him with a flick of his tail. He stayed where she was, skeptical, but then her stomach growled and she forced to throbbing paws to work. Half-stumbling, she followed the tabby loner into the field, no doubt through it. She lost all sense of direction, and nearly went the wrong way twice.

When she was finally out, she found herself standing outside a run-down barn. The tom had disappeared, and Ebony hissed in agitation. Great, he'd ditched her! Now she'd have to follow her own scent back to where she'd come from and hope to find a place to sleep.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice meowed behind her as she turned to leave. She whipped around to see the tom looking out from the barn. "You coming or what?"

Ebony hesitated, but then collected her courage and traipsed over to him as proudly as she could despite her injured pads. Once she was inside, she collapsed on a pile of hay. To her astonishment and annoyance, instead of leaving her alone the tom came over and pressed his nose to the pad of her right forepaw.

"Your pads are infected," he informed her. "I'll be right back."

He then disappeared. Ebony was too weak to attempt to catch any of the mice she heard throughout the barn, and her paws ached too much to try it in any event. When the tom returned, he was carrying herbs in his mouth. He told Ebony that they were comfrey root to clean the wounds and poppy seeds to help her deal with the pain.

Crouching down beside her again, the tom began cleaning her pads with rhythmic, gentle rasps of his tongue. He then chewed the comfrey root and rubbed the paste over the gashes. Once that was done, he nudged the poppy seeds over so that they were in front of her nose. She sniffed them, but then lapped them up without complaint. By the time she'd finished them, the pain was easing and she felt like she could sleep for several moons and it still wouldn't be enough.

"That should take care of that," he purred, his soft voice pulling Ebony back from the brink of sleep. "Shall I get you something to eat?"

"I can catch my own prey, thanks," Ebony spat crossly, making an attempt to get to her paws. He pinned her down by placing a forepaw on her shoulder.

"You need to stay off of those," he chastened, nodding to her paws. "What I meant to say was, 'are you hungry'? I'll catch you something if you are."

Ebony felt a growl building in her chest, but then bit it down. He's only trying to help you, she reasoned with herself. After a moment she nodded. She watched him through barely opened eyes as he slunk off further into the barn and returned moments later with two mice clamped in his jaws. He dropped one in front of her, and then settled down a little ways away from her to devour his own. She shot him a contemptuous glare before tucking in.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked when they were both done, swiping her tongue around her muzzle.

"I don't like to see any cat in pain," he meowed, his tone soft but full of feeling. "Would you have preferred it if I'd left you there to starve?" Ebony looked away in annoyance, not wanting to admit how much she appreciated his help. "So what's your name, anyway? I'm Chase," he introduced himself.

"My name is Ebony," she mewed after a brief pause.

They didn't talk again for a while, and as Ebony felt herself drifting off to sleep she was aware of Chase shifting closer to her. Normally she would have protested, but she was too tired to care as much as usual. And besides, the warmth of his pelt was comforting. She was asleep within moments.

The next day, Ebony woke up feeling more refreshed and her paws barely hurt at all. She turned her head to look at Chase, who was still fast asleep beside her. Getting to her paws and arching her back in a luxurious stretch, she then prodded his flank with her forepaw.

"Wake up, you lazy furball," Ebony meowed, a slightly teasing edge to her voice. Though she didn't know him, he had helped her, and the least she could do was show him that the sharp side of her tongue wasn't the only side of her.

Chase's head snapped up and he blinked at her blearily. With a wide yawn, he rose to his paws and stretched. He then sat back down and began washing his face. Ebony decided to catch some fresh-kill for them, to prove that she could provide just as much as he could. After catching a couple of mice she came and seated herself beside him.

"Enjoy," she mewed brightly, bending down to take a mouthful of mouse. After murmuring a quick thanks, Chase gobbled his own mouse down and then the two of them stretched out in the hay to share tongues.

"So, why'd you run away from BloodClan?" Chase asked curiously as he ran his tongue over her shoulders.

Ebony froze for a moment, then continued licking his ears as she tried to collect her thoughts. She asked StarClan in her head if it was all right to tell him, but there was no response of any sort. So it was up to her, was it? Whichever way she went, she'd have to deal with the aftermath. Before she even consciously made the decision, she found herself pouring her whole life-story out to the loner.

"I was born in Twolegplace as a kittypet. I had only a sister and a brother. My sister and I looked exactly like our mother while our brother looked more like our father, or at least that's what our mother told us. I can't remember their names; my own was Ebony, and that's what I've gone by since.

"When I was only a couple of moons old, I received a dream from StarClan – you've heard of StarClan, right? – and my ancestors told me that my Twoleg nest wasn't safe anymore. I didn't believed it at first, assuming that it was just a silly nightmare. But after another few moons or so the dream reoccurred, and, scared, I ran away. I was raised by a friendly alley cat named Gale.

"Gale brought me up amongst her own kits, teaching me to fight and hunt. By the time she died, BloodClan had gotten a new leader. His name's Bane, and almost instantly he showed a fancy for me. I ignored him most of the time, but when he took things too far and swore to make me his mate if it was the last thing he did, I received another dream from StarClan telling me to leave. I knew better than to be needed to be told twice.

"I had heard of the forest cats, and thought that maybe if I came to join them they'd welcome me, understanding my predicament and taking pity. So I ran away from Twolegplace and to the forest, but instead of going in I skirted the trees, realizing they'd most definitely be as territorial as BloodClan. I rested in a tunnel under the Thunderpath, too exhausted to go on, and while I was sleeping StarClan came to me again.

"They told me how I was 'not supposed to have been born in Twolegplace', how they 'had a message' for me and that they would 'guide me'. But they didn't tell me the message, or explain how they'd guide me. They also didn't enlighten me as to why I wasn't meant to have been born in Twolegplace. I don't understand what they want from me, but whatever it is I'm not sure I'm ready for it."

Chase pressed himself consolingly against her side, and Ebony sunk into him appreciatively. Getting the whole story off her chest made her feel much lighter, like a very heavy burden had been removed from her shoulders. The two cats sat together and shared tongues for the rest of the morning, simply enjoying each other's company. For the first time in a long time, Ebony felt like she was at home.