Chapter 2

Before Furkit could finish talking, Blizzardkit was already screaming in panic.

"It's a snake! A snake! Run!"

Without hesitating, Blizzardkit ran off in a random direction and at the same moment, the snake lunged at Furkit with a wide open mouth. He jumped aside just in time and the snake landed heavily on the ground. Now Furkit got a close look at the snake. It was gigantic. He had heard many stories about snakes from elders, but none of them mentioned a snake this big. One of the elders even told him that they had killed a snake and that looked impossible with this one. Shaking away his thoughts, Furkit ran away also. He desperately searched for any signs of Blizzardkit but he was nowhere to be found. Running was very hard in this forest and he tried his to avoid tripping over loose tree roots. Suddenly he saw a glimpse of Blizzardkit's light brown pelt disappearing in what looked like a burrow. He quickly followed until he stood near the entrance of the burrow. Then he turned around to see if the snake was still following and was surprise it still was. What's with the snake?! Ugh, I must block the entrance quickly! He looked around and almost immediately saw a tiny boulder near the entrance. Knowing he could never pull that in front of the entrance, he walked behind the boulder and pushed with all his strength. I hate my tiny paws! The mixture of anger and adrenaline gave Furkit the tiny bit of extra strength he needed to shove the boulder out of place and slowly it started rolling. Furkit made a tiny jump of accomplishment and then quickly raced into the burrow before the boulder rolled in place, perfectly in front of the entrance. He couldn't see much but he felt that this was actually a pretty big burrow. It kind a felt like a tiny cave system. At some points he had to be careful not to bump his head, but other than that he had enough space to walk around.

"Blizzardkit, are you there?"

A grunt coming from the right was enough to conclude that Blizzardkit was safe and sound. Furkit felt like boasting.
"Hey… did you see what I did just now? Pretty cool huh… with the boulder and stuff…"

He didn't heard a response and he suddenly realized that Blizzardkit must feel really sad now that he had to be saved by him so he decided to change the subject.

"I'm not sure how we are going to get out now though… any ideas?"

This time Blizzardkit responded, he still sounded a little sad.
"We can just go through the other entrance…"

"Ah ofcourse. Good thinking, Blizzardkit!"

Praising him must cheer him up, Furkit thought. Suddenly his eyes widened as he came to a realization.

"Wait, there is another entrance?! What about the snake?!"

As if talking about the snake summoned it, sounds of pebbles falling on the ground along with silent hissing announced that the snake had found the other entrace. Furkit was terrified now, he couldn't see the snake. He could only hear the slithering of the snake as it crept closer and closer. He knew that Blizzardkit was terrified too as he was trembling beside him.

"Quick, help me move the boulder!" Furkit shouted in panic and became pushing the boulder. Blizzardkit quickly helped but it wasnt no use. The boulder was stuck in place.

This is the end. This is totally the end for me and Blizzardkit….


Nettlesting was leading Softbelly and his apprentice Pebblepaw out of the giant forest as they headed back towards their camp. Nettlesting had decided it should be him who would tell the clan about the discovery of the forest.

"And who is going to say we lost the kits…..?" Pebblepaw asked dryly.

"Let's not mention them… maybe they won't suspect"

"Oh yeah that sounds like a pretty mousebrained idea" Softbelly replied sarcastically.

"You think they would just forget about them?!

Nettlesting didn't care what Softbelly said. He just shrugged and walked further. Nobody spoke during the rest of the walk to the camp. They are probably worried about the kits, Nettlesting thought, it's not like we've lost a great warrior or something. When they finally reached the camp, two cats quickly ran up to them. It was Darkwind and Condorscar. Nettlesting rolled his eyes. Oh dear…. their fathers.
"Have you seen our kits?" Darkwind was the first one to speak, he looked worried.

Nettlesting shook his head and silently walked past them towards the spot where Ebonystar was eating a tiny sparrow. Before he started talking to her, Nettlesting turned his head to see if Pebblepaw and Softbelly were talking to the fathers of the lost kits. They were. He narrowed his eyes. Don't say anything… he thought and then turned his head towards Ebonystar.
"Greetings Ebonystar. I have important news to share with you, if I have the permission"

Ebonystar nodded her head in approval but didn't stop eating. She hasn't eaten anything in a while, prey was scarce around here and she always made sure the rest of the clan ate first. Nettlestinf started talking about how they were patrolling and stumpled upon the great forest. He told her about the pond, the scents, the plants and the noises of many different kinds of prey. He didn't speak about the kits. After she thought for a while, and ate for a while, Ebonystar stood up.

"Ask Silverleap to organize a patrol to head into that forest. We must see if it is really suitable to live in. And when you're done with that you ca-"

Her voice was cut off by a panicked Skybreeze.
"Ebonystar! Kits. Scent trail. Forest!"
She was way to panicked to talk normally, so Ebonystart waiting for her to calm down. Skybreeze breathed in and out and started to speak again. "Darkwind was looking for Furkit and he found a scent trail leading to some giant forest…. but the scents got mixed up there and we couldn't smell it anymore…. oh, Ebonystar I'm so worried about Furkit. We think Blizzardkit might have gone in there too since they always play together"

Ebonystar wasn't sure what to do at first, but quickly came up with an idea. "Don't worry Skybreeze, I will organize a patrol to search for the kits. And I'm sure they are fine right now…"


"It's gonna eat us!" Blizzardkit was desperately looking for an exit while occasionally yelling in terror. The yelling wasn't helping Furkit trying not to stress. He couldn't think straight anymore, so he began desperately clawing the walls with his tiny claws. The impact of his claw on the wall wasn't causing much damage, but Furkit could see tiny pebbles falling from the roof. This gave him an idea. He began pulling all lose stones and roots. The snake was very close now, it wouldn't be long before it would start lunging again. But then as Furkit pulled a root on the roof, a rain of dirt and sand came down upon the snakes head, stunning it for a few heartbearts.

"Now, Blizzardkit! Run your paws off!" Furkit let out a battle screech as he jumped on the snakes head. Blizzardkit did the same and together they jumped off the snake toward the spot where daylight came from. They ran at record speed out of the burrow and they just kept running. We're already lost, Furkit thought, we might as well be lost in safety. Furkit's belly growled. He was hungry, exhausted and lost. He looked up and saw that it was getting darker. He saw that Blizzardkit was sitting with his head low, sobbing. Furkit padded up to hIm and nuzzled him.

"It's gonna be alright. We will be found soon and then we can rest"

Suddenly they heard rustling in the bushes nearby. Please, don't let it be the snake..

"I think I heard something coming from here!"

Furkit's ears perked. That wasn't a snake. He recognized that voice, it was Silverleap the deputy. He was right, at that moment Silverleap padded out of the bushes along with 2 other cats. Furkit was too exhausted to see who the others were. When he tried to stand up, he got very dizzy and collapsed on the ground...