"Guys, I'm stuck," Snowkit rolled his eyes and pulled Nutkit out of the muck for the fifth time.
"Step on the grass," insisted Sorrelkit. Snowkit was still greatly disconcerted every time he looked at his littermate. She was halfway transparent, and glittered blue with stars. Nutkit took Sorrelkit's advice very seriously, taking care to place each paw on a clump of green, and squealing if even one of his claws missed its mark.
The three were traveling across StarClan territory at Tiger Night's instruction. They were going to meet her at some 'Moonstone' and travel back to their Clan. Once they got past the last three tree-lengths of this muddy swamp, then they'd still have to scale the side of a cliff, cross a bottomless chasm on a tree, and dash across ten tree-lengths of thorny grassland.
"Finally," Snowkit shook thick brown mud off his black paws. Nutkit had to give himself a full body grooming before he allowed them to continue.
"Oh, that's not high at all!" Sorrelkit exclaimed joyfully. She looked up the side of the cliff, which was only a bit taller then a young tree. The three kits scrambled up the side, their paws sending showers of loose pebbles down the side, and spraying clumps of dirt into a squirrel's eyes.
They all laughed when they reached the top. Snowkit lay down and panted, wishing for an icy cool drink of water from the camp stream. The three were in pretty high spirits, until they spotted the chasm stretching out before them. Looking down from the side you could see the yawning black mouth that would swallow anyone clumsy enough to slip into it and eternally be falling, never reaching the ground. An elegant silver fir tree spanned the width of the gorge, but Snowkit had doubts about its stability.
"Well, we'd better get going. No use standing here all day," commented Sorrelkit dryly. She led the way, balancing carefully on the spindly gray trunk. Nutkit placed his paw on the tree and poised himself to jump up, but even his slight weight adding pressure sent a thin fissure through the bark. He backed down with his fur on end.
"We'll go one at a time," decided Snowkit. Sorrelkit made it successfully to the other side, without the slightest mishap. Nutkit wobbled on the slender wood, and slowly inched his way along, light cracks spread out from under his paws like trickles of water. Finally, Nutkit reached the other side and jumped off, landing with a soft thud on the other side.
The tree creaked and groaned loudly when Snowkit, the largest of the three, put his weight on it. Snowkit carefully placed one paw in front of the other, jumping every time he heard a crack. He winced as lines formed around his paws, the wood protesting. Just when he was almost across the chasm, there was the loudest crack of all, and Snowkit felt himself falling through the air. He dug his claws into the soft bark of the tree.
"Ouch!" The tree trunk swung and collided with the side of the cliff, and Snowkit was left clinging to the peeling bark at a ninety degree angle.
"We've got you!" Nutkit's voice was muffled. Snowkit guessed he had a mouth full of fir bark. He tried to gain height, but when he attached his paw higher up, a shower of bark bits rained down on him, stinging his eyes and filling his mouth. He felt small tugs as his siblings tried to pull him back up, but he knew they weren't strong enough.
"Save your energy!" he called up to them. They obeyed and the tugging stopped. How was he ever going to get out of this one? The tree lurched and slid farther down into the dark. Snowkit peered up to see what was happening, but he couldn't see a thing in the blinding darkness.
"Hold on!" he heard Sorrelkit shout. "Nutkit's got you," she added. Only Nutkit was supporting the log? Why?
"Oof!" Something thick, heavy, and snake-like slapped his muzzle. "What the?" Oh, of course! Sorrelkit had dropped a vine.
"Grab on!" she shouted. Snowkit locked his teeth around the juicy vine.
"Ready!" he mumbled. The log dropped beside him, scraping the edge of stone as it plummeted eternally. Nutkit and Sorrelkit hauled him back up to the surface, and he collapsed, panting, on the side of the cliff.
