"Russetfur! I'm hungry!" Snowkit cried pouncing on her stomach. The ginger she-cat rolled her eyes and sighed. "What? It's not my fault that my stomach is empty." he said snootily, nose in the air.
The she-cat got to her paws and calmly replied, "It isn't empty, Snowkit. You had a mouse past sunhigh. It's not even moonrise!" she shook her head in disdain, but stretched to leave the tunnel anyway, stepping delicately over the snoozing Poppyfeather, a bandaged Falconkit curled at her stomach between Grasskit and Hazelkit.
"I'm growing!" the white tom said indignantly, before scrabbling to the area in front of her. "Can I come with you? You can teach me how to hunt, so you don't have to do it all by yourself." He ruined the kind gesture by adding, "I could probably do better than you anyway. You're not very good at hunting, are you."
The red-furred warrior glowered at him silently for a moment, then muttered, "Gee, thanks." and turned to leave.
"Please can I come with you, Russetfur? Please please please please please!" he begged, dancing about by her paws. "I'll be good! I'll catch on real fast, I promise. Hunting doesn't seem very difficult to me..." The kit's pleading, bright yellow eyes bored into her mind.
Her brain battled with itself for a few seconds before she acquiesced. "Fine! But once we get back to the Clan, you're not to tell anyone. I shouldn't be teaching you before you're an apprentice. Okay?" THe kit grinned and nodded, dashing out of the tunnel without looking back. Russetfur nudged the queen awake. "I'm going out hunting, and taking Snowkit along. We'll be back soon." Poppyfeather dipped her head drowsily and returned to her nap.
The warrior exited the den only to be pounced on again by Snowkit. "You take forever! No wonder you're a bad hunter!" he mewed, running about and letting the words spill out of his mouth without thinking, as per usual.
"Thanks." Russetfur said sourly, then started off, Snowkit running behind her to catch up. The two of them did not speak as they traveled over the cold ground. Finally, they came upon a grove of small shrubs, and Russetfur breathed, "Okay, follow me. We need to get downwind of those frogs." she nodded at a pair of small frogs crouching beneath the branches of a shrub, their lower halves invisible in the murky puddle water. The two cats circled silently around to the other side, the light breeze now blowing the frogs' scent right at them.
"Okay, now, copy my crouch." Snowkit mimicked the hunting crouch to a T, which made the older cat smile as she reminded him, "Remember to always check for other prey or predators around. The last thing you want is to pounce on a mouse and then get carried off by a crow. or to catch a scrawny mouse while scaring off a big lizard." He obediently looked all around, but Russetfur scanned the environment as well, just in case the young tom missed something. When she turned her gaze to the sky, she saw the moon, luminous silver-white against a navy background."Oh no..." she cried, making the two frogs leap away. "Come on, Snowkit, we have to go!" the red warrior urged, dashing back the way they came.
"What about the frogs?" the kit panted, confused. He had to near-sprint to keep up with the older feline.
Russetfur, seeing that he was falling behind, grabbed him by the scruff and deposited him on her back, then speeding up her pace. "The moon, Snowkit! The Gathering is tonight!" Panic edged into her voice, and she moved her legs even faster.
"So?" the white-furred tom inquired, still bewildered. A moment later, the answer to his own question came to him. They had to get Poppyfeather and the kits out of the tunnel, before they were discovered! With the tunnel just in sight, Snowkit flung himself off of Russetfur's back and sprinted the rest of the way there, edging ahead of the older cat, due to her fatigue. "Poppyfeather, wake up!"
Russetfur tore apart the nests, leaving a scattering of grass and moss that hardly hinted of their presence. "What's going on?" the tortoiseshell queen asked groggily.
"The Gathering!" Russetfur meowed, whereupon the queen's eyes grew wide. "Get the kits out, to the juniper patch just over the rise. Do you know what I'm talking about?"
Poppyfeather dipped her head, hastily putting the frail Grasskit on her back and leading Snowkit and Hazelkit out, paws moving quickly. Russetfur very gently scooped up Falconkit in her jaws, glancing back at their temporary home, and ran to the group of juniper plants. She set the injured kit down by Poppyfeather, who was crouched fearfully under one of the bushes, kits huddled around her with wide eyes. As Russetfur tasted the fear-scent Grasskit and Hazelkit were exuding, she flattened her ears against her head. "Our scent!" she hissed, turning to dash back to the tunnel.
"No, Russetfur, it's too late!" Poppyfeather hissed. "I can hear them!"
The ginger she-cat ignored her. I can make it back in time. I have to make it back in time... She thought, sprinting back to the tunnel. She ran through it to the other side, where a patch of strong smelling weeds grew. She tore a bunch from their stems with her teeth, earning herself two or three thin cuts in her mouth from the sharp edges.
She sprinkled the plants through the tunnel, and tore the remains of Poppyfeather's nest to bits, heart racing. Voices came from very near the tunnel as she stepped to leave, and the russet warrior cursed under her breath, dashing out the wrong end of the tunnel and burying herself in the same patch of smelly weeds. Water pooled around her paws unpleasantly as she strained to hear.
"Why have you brought your cats onto ShadowClan land?" Nightstar's voice filtered through. Who is he talking to? Russetfur wondered, hackles rising.
A familiar yet foreign voice replied, "In these floods, it was the only way to reach Fourtrees. We mean no harm, Nightstar. You know there's a truce for the Gathering." She strained to hear the last of the sentence, her brain burning to find out who was on their territory. Yet as she looked around her, she saw the she was perched on the highest bit of earth around, and her paws were still soaked halfway up her leg. ThunderClan's land was flooded. Bluestar! she realized. That's Bluestar's voice!
"The truce holds at Fourtrees." came Nightstar's voice again, hostile. "There is no truce here." Russetfur's heart sped up again. Was Nightstar really going to attack ThunderClan on the night of a Gathering?Did they stand a chance, in their weakened state?
Bluestar's voice sounded again, a hint of desperation in it. "I'm sorry, Nightstar. We would never trespass on your territory without good reason. Please let us pass." Russetfur couldn't make out what was said next, until the last voice she wanted to hear piped up.
"Spy? What can we spy on here? We're nowhere near your camp!" Tigerclaw growled, making the ginger she-cat sink her claws into the soggy earth while simultaneously beginning to well up with grief.
A few moments later, after a bit of indiscernable banter, she heard Nightstar growl, "Keep back. We'll let them pass. I want ThunderClan cats at this Gathering." The leader paused. "We'll even give you an escort. Just to make sure you get to Fourtrees safely. We wouldn't want ThunderClan to be scared off by an angry mouse, would we?" he added scathingly.
That was the last of what Russsetfur heard, as the ShadowClan patrol did not lead them through the tunnel. It was a long-guarded secret, and it was going to stay that way, apparently. After minutes of crouching in the frigid water, Russetfur crept back through the tunnel, ears pricked for any residual warriors. When it seemed safe, she sprinted to the juniper bush, being as quiet as she could. "You're safe!" Snowkit cried.
"Shhh!" Poppyfeather scolded, lashing her tail back and forth. turning to Russetfur, she asked urgently, "Did you hear what happened with ThunderClan?"
Russetfur nodded. "Yes. I couldn't make it back, so I was hiding just on the ThunderClan side of the Thunderpath. I heard almost everything."
Poppyfeather shuddered. "They were almost on top of us. I thought every second that they would find us. It was awful..." she looked down. "I can't believe that ThunderClan had the nerve to trespass! I wish Nightstar would have had them torn to pieces. We outnumbered their patrol two to one! We would have won easily." she meowed bitterly, narrowing her eyes.
"I didn't realize you would be so adamant about this." The tortoiseshell looked up threateningly. "Not that I don't agree. I just thought that kittypets were afr- against battles." She amended.
Poppyfeather stood up. "I lived with Twolegs for ten suns, when they locked me in so I couldn't escape and had the Cutter stab me with metal sticks." She spat. "I'm no fat, soft kittypet."
"I'm sorry-" Russetfur began, only to be cut short.
"Don't bother! Half the cats in ShadowClan don't respect me because they think of me as a soft, pregnant kittypet who wouldn't know a belly rake from an upright lock. Don't assume things about other cats when you have no idea what the real story is." Poppyfeather growled condescendingly.
Normally too stubborn to admit fault, Russetfur simply accepted it. She had assumed that Poppyfeather was just a soft kittypet. And she was wrong in doing so. Poppyfeather turned away from her and scraped a hollow in the ground beneath the bush, completely hidden. "Come on, kits. Let's get some rest." she said more gently. Russetfur, guilt sinking it's toxic fangs into her heart, made her own scrape under a different juniper plant and huddled down, branches poking her while the scent of juniper filled her nostrils.
A/N: Hello! I've been busy with finals (ick) but I'm back. Sorry this chapter was so short, but the next one will be double long to make up for it. Also, !IMPORTANT! I'm adding mini-stories after the Allegiances chapters in order to keep up with FFN rules. I have the first one, in Chapter 9, up already. Check it out while I work on the next chapter!
