Lionblaze stood on a bare path between the twoleg place and a decaying forest. He inhaled deeply, trying to find the scent of prey but all he got was the stretch of twoleg and thunderpath. It made his lip curl. Why are twolegs so gross?
A nearby bush rustled. Dovewing pushed out of the undergrowth. "Have you found anything?"
Lionblaze shook his head. "Nothing. Not even a scent or droppings."
Dovewing sighed and looked off into the distance toward the twoleg place. "You know, when I was a kit and my parents and the elders would tell me about the old forest and I'd always wonder why the clans left. But now..."
"It makes sense," Lionblaze finished.
Dovewing looked back at him. "Yeah."
Lionblaze took another sniff. "There's gotta be something around here."
"Hey guys!" Crane's Wing called as he dashed up to them. He had a crow in his mouth. Dovewing and Lionblaze stared up at him for a moment.
"I don't know whether to be impressed that he found prey or disgusted that its a crow," Lionblaze stated.
"What's wrong with crows?" Crane's Wing asked, setting his prey down. "They're just like normal birds, just bigger and harder to catch."
"And they eat crowfood," Dovewing added.
"Duh. What else would they eat? They're crows."
"Crowfood is- you know what?- nevermind."
"Did you guys catch anything?" Crane's Wing asked.
The two ThunderClan cats shook their heads. "Not even a scent."
"We should just head back to the barn," Lionblaze said. "Barley said there were mice there. We should've just listened to him, this is a waste of time."
The two grey cats nodded. Crane's Wing picked up his crow and they trio began heading back to the farm.
They didn't make it far when the cats heard an ear splitting screech.
Dovewing let out a yelp while Lionblaze instinctively unsheathed his claws. Crane's Wing looked around with wild eyes. "Uh oh."
"What?" Lionblaze asked, trying to spot the source of the sound. He glanced at Crane's Wing. The tom was staring up at the sky with a fearful look. Lionblaze followed his gaze. "Great StarClan!"
Dovewing looked up and let out a gasp. The sky was covered in black with its natural color bleeding out from behind the forms in the sky. The air was filled with angry cries.
"Crows!" Crane's Wing cried out. He dropped his prey. "Run!"
Lionblaze watched Crane's Wing turn tail and take off with confusion. Why is he running? They're only birds.
Lionblaze glanced back at the sky. It was filled with the dark animals. A huge flock. More birds than he'd ever seen in one place in his entire life. Still not enough to make him run like a coward. Maybe I overestimated Crane's Wing…
A screech suddenly stood out from the rest. The birds were almost overhead. A crow shot out from the flock and dived down, talons out, right at the cats.
Lionblaze yowled in surprise and reared back to nail the bird with a forepaw slash. His claws grazed the bird's wing but didn't injure it as much as he'd of liked. The bird let out another screech and flapped noisily away.
Lionblaze heard a cry of pain come from behind him. He turned and saw two crows hovering beside Dovewing, clawing at her flank with their talons and pecking at her head with their sharp beaks. With a hiss, Lionblaze lunged at the birds but they flew away before he could strike one down.
"Thanks. We should go," Dovewing said. Lionblaze eyed the sky and nodded. Several more birds were raining down towards them. The two clancats took off in a dead sprint after their friend.
As they ran, the crows kept coming down on them. It was hard to run and fight but with their sheer numbers, Lionblaze knew they couldn't stop to fight them. Through his confusion and adrenaline, he mentally cursed at Crane's Wing and their attackers. Why would you hunt a crow? And why are we running from prey?
"Guys! In here!" a voice called.
Lionblaze glanced over to see Crane's Wing's head sticking out of a hole in the ground. His blue eyes shone with urgency as he wave his tail to get their attention. Without another thought, Lionblaze veered from his path and jumped down into the hole with Dovewing close behind.
The moment they were in, Crane's Wing jumped out of the hole and dragged a large branch over the entrance of the hole before dropping back in. A crow shot out at them and ran into the branch. It fell back, dazed, then let out another screech before taking off back to the sky.
"Good thinking," Dovewing said.
"I'm sorry!" Crane's Wing apologize. "I didn't know there were so many!"
"I'm guessing you've dealt with something like this before?" Lionblaze asked. Crane's Wing had run quickly and knew how to hide, it only made sense.
Crane's Wing nodded. "Sort of. We sometimes eat crows back home. They're fun to hunt. While I was traveling, I'd catch them sometimes. I found a crow's nest one time and took some of the eggs. The crows chased me all over the forest!"
Dovewing chuckled with amusement. Lionblaze stifled a laugh. Imagining that was hilarious.
"So, how do we get out of here?" Dovewing asked after a moment.
Lionblaze looked to Crane's Wing for an answer. Crane's Wing just stared back at him. Realizing that the golden tom didn't have any more of a plan than he did, Crane's Wing looked down at his paws. "Um, I didn't think that far ahead."
Lionblaze let out a sigh and looked around the hole. It seemed to be an abandoned badger den. It was old enough to have lost all badger scent but it had claw marks on the walls.
A crow suddenly rammed into the branch, startling him. Lionblaze hissed in the direction of the entrance and watched the crow stumble away. Another crow slammed into the blockage a moment later. Lionblaze sighed. It was going to be a long wait.
Author's Note: I honestly don't know what I was thinking with the crow thing. I needed some kind of filler and I was like 'hey do you know what would be cool? crows."
Reviews-
Darth Jay- I think all of us died a little on the inside while reading Ravenpaw's Farewell. I really needed Barley to have some closure. Glad you're enjoying.
Wormy- Glad to here you're still around and enjoying the story.