Thankies, Nameless Nightmare. Jeez, peoples, review!! Anyway...here's chap 8...enjoy.

Chapter Eight: Survival

Life on the Open Plains was difficult, but not impossible. Faolan kept his word and blood vow; though they separated during the day to catch more prey, they always met in the same place at dusk. Phaedra was beginning to like the black tom. He was perfectly honest and never used her name to his advantage.

At the end of seven days, she was at least a couple of pounds lighter than when she had entered the Open Plains. Hares were hard to catch, and mice had a lot of places to hide in the tall grass. The first few days, Faolan had offered to turn her claws to stone every morning (his effects apparently wore off at midnight) but she turned his offer down. It was harder to run with heavy stone claws, even if they helped with the actual catching of prey.

On the eighth morning, it was a particularly warm day. She found two mice sleeping in the grass within an hour, and returned to the hollow where they slept quite a bit earlier than usual. Faolan entered the hollow a few minutes after her, dragging a hare. He was a faster runner than her, and coped well with the stone claws. He had probably been using them all his life.

"Warm day today," he commented, tucking into the hare with a few swift bites.

"That's for sure," she responded. The mice were plump from feeding on the greenleaf seeds, and tasted delicious. "I'll be sorry when greenleaf is over."

"Yeah, me..." Faolan trailed off, raising his nose and tasting the air. His eyes widened in alarm and he backed up towards Phaedra.

"What's wrong?" she asked, unsettled.

"Run," he said hoarsely. "Run."

He took off through the long grass. She cast a regretful glance at the uneaten prey and followed him. It was harder than usual to catch up; Faolan was running as fast as he could, which was very fast. Phaedra had to push herself harder than ever before to keep pace with him. "Who's chasing us?" she panted. "Faolan, what's going on?"

"Did I fail to mention I've got enemies?" His dark blue eyes were filled with fear; an expression she'd never seen before on his face. "Just run."

His fear was contagious; she knew she had to resist, or she would simply break up and start panicking. It didn't help that Faolan looked on the verge of panic himself. "Should we split up?" she asked. It was getting hard to talk; her throat was constricting with fear.

"No," he managed to say. "Got to stick together."

She fervently wished she knew what they were running from; it was easier to fight off fear when you knew what you were afraid of. However, it didn't seem the time to ask. Both her and Faolan's breaths were coming short and fast, not good when you were on the verge of panicking. They tore through the long grass and over hills, until Phaedra was beginning to wonder if they had lost their pursuers. She didn't know if she could trust her voice, but she had to try. "F - Faolan?"

The black tom didn't answer; she didn't know if he had heard her. His eyes were wild with fear and he looked as if he wasn't aware of anything except the ground under his paws. "Faolan? C - can we stop?"

It took a few minutes for the words to register. Finally the black tom shook his head as if clearing the fear from his eyes, and slowed to a stop. He was still breathing fast and it took a while for both of them to calm down.

"Sorry," he finally said, his voice gradually returning to its old casual tone. "Old habits. I've seen what the BloodCats can do - when I smell them it all comes back."

"BloodCats? Are they like you...like ShadowCats?"

Faolan shook his head. "Remember when I told you there were cats who could make your blood run backwards? That's them. The BloodCats. Believe me, I'm a tame rabbit compared to them. Most of them are barely alive; they're eaten by revenge and hatred, and they'll do anything to know your name. When they do...that's why I told you to go under a different one."

Phaedra thought this over. By now, going under a different name sounded pretty good to her. "Okay. How about...Zaia?" Her Aunt Zaia had died at the beginning of her apprenticeship, of greencough.

"That'll do. Mine is Xixan. I've used it before, when the BloodCats were chasing me."

"Why are they chasing you?"

Faolan cast her one of those sideways glances she'd gotten used to over the past seven days. "I...I took something from one of them. Their leader. I would have given it back, but it was stolen from me too. They think I've still got it."

"Why don't you tell them someone stole it?"

He laughed briefly. "They would kill me before I had the chance. They can't use their abilities if they don't know my name, but they can sure as hell kill me the normal way."

"What was the thing you took?"

Faolan looked pained. "Look...you've got to trust me on this. I can't tell you. If I did, that would only put you in danger too. Believe me, you don't want to know what else the BloodCats can do."

No, she probably didn't. She hadn't been expecting an answer, anyway. "So I'm traveling with a marked cat."

"You can leave now, if you feel safer that way. I wouldn't blame you. The BloodCats aren't something to be fooled around with."

"I'm not going to leave! I'm involved now. If I left, I would never forgive myself. We're friends." She said the last sentence softly, but he heard it anyway and looked intrigued.

"You're a brave cat. I've met leaders who were more cowardly than you."

"On one condition," she said shortly. Faolan's ears pricked. "From now on, tell me everything. Every dangerous cat chasing you, everything you know. If I find out you've lied about anything, I'll leave in a heartbeat. Understand?"

"It's good to travel with another cat again," he said quietly. "Yes, I'll tell you everything. I haven't lied to you since we've met. And Phaedra..."

"What?"

"Thank you."