It didn't take long to clean up the new scratch. A couple of licks and I was on my way to the edge of twoleg place.

"Timber," I called looking around as I padded down the fence. "Where are you? Timber?" Cautiously, I leaped down from the fence, only to practically leap out of my fur when a tabby ginger tail wrapped around my neck. "AHHH!"

A ginger paw followed the tail. This time, it flew across my mouth. I winced as unsheathed claws nicked my cheeks. "Shut up," a hiss came from behind me. Timber. "Never scream. Not even with a real enemy. You'll give away your position."

I spat out the paw and pulled away from the tail. "Sorry," I whispered. Never scream, got it. "So what are we doing here? We always train in the alley ways."

Timber shook his head. "This isn't a normal training session. This is a raid."

I pricked my ears. "A raid? What's that?"

He rolled his eyes. "Kits," he grumbled under his breath. He pointed with his tail to a thick bush near the thunderpath. "Scourge has ordered us to 'collect' some new recruits. There's a mother named Molly in that bush with some young kits. The father is away so it shouldn't be so hard."

My eyes widened. "We're stealing kits," I hissed in surprise. I was horrified. We couldn't just steal someone's kits.

He nodded. "Don't worry. You won't have to really fight. I'll take care of the mother. You'll snatch the kits."

My heart dropped. I had to snatch the kits myself? I was still a kit myself. "But...b...but I-"

"I'm here, Timber. Ready for the raid?" I turned in surprise to see a solid, dark grey tom with amber eyes standing on the fence above us. Around his neck was a ragged blue collar with a few teeth poked in here and there. I backed up as he leaped down between us. His ears twitched as he spotted me. "Who's this?"

This ticked me off. "I could say the same about you," I shot back, puffing out my chest.

His eyes widened in surprise, then closed as his body shook with the effort to hold back laughter. "I suppose you could," he said warmly. His smile was contagious, because soon I had one too. Maybe he wasn't that bad?

Timber glanced from me to the stranger, then sighed. "This is Ice. The new cat Scourge has me training. Ice, this is Tally. He's Striker's older brother." My mood immediately dropped. "Really?"

Tally chuckled again, this time a little more softly. "Yup. So you're the kit I've been hearing so much about. Striker won't stop complaining about you, and Timber here keeps talking about all his big hopes and ideas for you." Timber shot him an angry look but Tally ignored it. Instead, he jokingly bumped him in the shoulder.

I was amazed. Timber bragging about me? This cat was crazy. Timber never seemed interested in anything I did unless I "passed" his lessons. Tally seemed very different from Striker.

Timber caught me gaping at Tally. "Wipe that look of your face and mind yourself, Ice," he snorted.

"Sorry," I whimpered and sat down.

"Good. Now we need to go over the plan to get these kits," Timber said, scratching some lines in the dirt. "Tally, you'll need to be over here when I launch an attack. Ice, you can come around the back of the bush while I'm taking care of the mother and…"

Timber's words faded as my eyes drifted over to Tally. Striker's brother eh? I suppose they were both grey with amber eyes, but Tally was definitely different. His eyes held a playful spark while hers had an angry fire. He looked older than her. About 16 moons compared to her 8. On top of that, his entire mood seemed laid back and carefree. Striker was an uptight, pompous stick in the muck.

"Any questions?" My thoughts came back to the task at hand as Timber ended his plan. From the corner of my eye, I saw Tally's eyes lock with my green eyes. A smile flickered across his face. Uh oh! He knew I wasn't paying attention!

"Got it all right here," Tally said, tapping his head with his tail.

"Good," Timber nodded. "Ice?"

"I.. Uh.." I stuttered. What do I say? I can't say I heard none of it. Timber would bite my head off for that.

"She'll do fine," Tally cut in. "Most of the plan is pretty basic, and chances are we'll have to do some improvising. You make things more complicated than they have to be."

DID HE JUST SAY THAT TO TIMBER?! My mouth dropped open. You don't talk back to Timber. You just don't. Even Bone had never said anything against the old tom.

To my further surprise, Timber smiled at the remark. Not just a twitching of the sides of his lips that seemed to take the place of a smile. A real smile. "Perhaps you are right." He glanced down at me. "You haven't let me down yet. Don't screw this one up."

My paws felt lighter than air. I was flooded by relief, and I took that as a compliment. "I won't," I promised, nodding. "Just you watch."

"I'll be doing just that," Timber rasped. The edges of his mouth twitched. He turned and started making his way through the shadows towards the bush. "Okay you two. Get into position," he whispered with the flick of his tail.

I sighed. Now the only problem was that I had no clue what I was doing. A blur of grey caught my eye as Tally darted off. Before he made it far, though, he stopped and turned to look at me. One amber eye disappeared momentarily with a quick wink. He motioned with his head to follow.

Unsure, I padded after him towards the back of the bush. To think, Tally is helping me when his sister would have helped Timber flay me.

I hope my next training session is with him.

I was hoping to get the raid into this chapter but it was just getting to long. I promise it will be in the next chapter though. ;)