*****
"Is there any way around it? There seems to be a lot of Top-walkers around here, and you know how I feel about them." Bunnytail muttered.
"No, actually I don`t because I don`t care about you." Snowfeather hissed angrily to the black she cat. The eight were sitting at the edge of a white washed fence, a Black-sheet was on their other side, cars stormed past on it at abnormal speeds, splashing Snowfeather`s fur a light brown.
"I hate cars!" She snarled, shaking her pelt free of the dirty water, ignoring the snickers from the other clan cats. "Come on!" She hissed slipping under the fence just as another car came down the Black-sheet.
As the others slipped in they began to notice how much greener things were on the other side of the fence. The grass was long and the green hills were dotted with small black objects, "What are they?" Hawkpaw asked nervously about the animals grazing in the distance.
"Probably baby cows, or maybe even horses." Sunstar replied logically, "But we don`t have time for this right now, it`s getting late and we need to find shelter." He added.
"For once a Dayclan warrior makes an educated comment." Oakpaw snorted.
"Listen you stuck up little apprentice…!" Sunstar hissed spitefully before being interrupted by Bunnytail.
"Guys can we stop fighting?" She spat to the other felines.
"Oh, shut-up Bunnytail, what kind of name is that anyway? Bunny tail, how tough does that name sound?" Snowfeather hissed, jumping on the Dayclan warrior, who let out a surprised yelp.
Hawkpaw tried to jump to his mother's aid but was stopped by a fighting Hawkpaw, who was locked in combat with the older warrior, Wildeyes. Batshadow soon found himself in the fight too, and soon on the bottom of Snowfeather, "You killed Featherpaw and Blackpaw!" She hissed in the toms ear evilly.
"Your sister and brother?" He asked back, trying to claw at her stomach.
"Yes! They were defenseless!" She snarled back to him.
Batshadow stared at her wide eyed, "No, I didn`t, it was another warrior, and it was a fair duel!" He retorted frantically trying to throw her.
"I don`t care, what`s one Desertclan from another to me?" She smiled back, raising her paw in vengeance.
"Who yous?" A voice said, startling the cats from their battle.
Each cat separated themselves from each other and stared at the creature before them, it was like none that they have ever seen before. It was about the size of a cow calf, which gave Wildeyes the idea that it was one of the creatures that had been grazing.
It was light grey and each of its four toes had three hove like things, it had two oval like ears that was attached to a long face. Its` eyes were small and watery, place on each side of its head, and a pointy nose. Its legs were short and stocky and its body was armored with thick skin. But the most noticeable thing about it was its single small horn sprouting from his nose.
"What are you?" Snowfeather asked.
"I a rhinoceros, you a small lion." She stuttered, she had to be less than a year old, despite her size and looks.
"We`re not lions, but thanks for thinking so." Bunnytail told the calve.
"Do you understand us?" Wildeyes asked it.
"Yes, me understand lion." She nodded happily.
Oakpaw sighed, "We`re cats, not lions." The rhinoceros nodded again.
"Do you have a name?" Starflower asked her.
Once again she nodded, "Humans call me Delta. Me real name Brokenspirit." She replied choppily.
"The humans?" Snowfeather said in question.
"Walk on two legs, no hair, not speak." She explained, describing Up-walkers perfectly, humans must have been their real names. "Late, come show friends, sleep." She ordered, walking away from the group.
The cats reluctantly followed the young rhino named Delta/Brokenspirit to a barn.
*****
"Disk is Laststand, or Theta, as da humans call er." She explained, flicking her tail to a smaller rhino calve in a stale.
"Ello lions." Theta smiled.
"Thy Crossinghorn and Speakingwind, ugh… Omega and Upsilon." She motioned, flicking her tail to a male and female calve who were eating out of a wooden grain bin. "Dast is Deepscar (Alpha)." She finished pointing to a male with scars going down his whole body.
She then led the group to a stable where fresh hay laid. "Lay, dere room." She smiled, nodding her heavy head forward.
"Where are your parents?" Starflower asked when they had all settled.
Delta`s black eyes dropped, "My moder dwas Wildgrass, she dwas killed by humans, so dwas my fader." She replied sadly. "All of ours dwas." She added, flicking her head to the other rhinos.
"Then… how did you get here?" Wildeyes questioned.
"We dwas darving and nicer humans came dand got us." Delta answered, still not lifting her head in obvious grief. "We ared our own family you know?" She answered, "We are lucky, and so are you for havin each oder." Delta said with a slight happy smile at the eight.
She was obviously a very different animal, and not just by her speech and looks. She had lost all her family, yet she still managed to be happy, nobody dared to tell her that they were not a family or a group. "How about you?" She asked them.
"We need to get over the mountain, our clans… our big family… are going to be very sick." Batshadow explained as simply as he could.
"Are dere moders in your family?" Delta asked coarsely.
"Yes many…" Oakpaw nodded. Delta got a faraway look in her glossy black eyes.
"I hope dey will be fine…" She whispered sadly.
*****
*Helper, champion of sorrow, tell them about the rhinos.*
*Very well then Elemental, I have a whole speech.*
*Can we make this a little shorter?*
*Delta is like so many rhino calves in the world, their mothers are poached and killed for their horn, and the hunters leave their bodies, they kill only for the horns. The calves are then abandoned and starve, get sick, die, and some lucky ones are taken in by humans. But not even the calves are safe in these sanctuaries, poachers break into these areas, and there are too little helpers to prevent them being killed. There are five rhino species in the world, all of which are endangered, as a matter of fact, at about 10 left in the wild the Javan rhino is the most endangered in the world. You can stop this by donating to rhino organizations, a rhino is calling for your help…*
*That was… OK…*
*OK?*
*Poor rhino calves*
*Yeah*
*Go onto google and look at rhino calves aren`t they cute?*
*BUT they`re dying*
*and only you can help.*
