Oriolekit jerked awake, feeling as if something was chasing her. She waited for the feeling of jaws to bite her, waited for pain, but nothing happened. Her sides heaved. The moss nest around her was scattered and her claws were out, digging into what was left under her. She lurched to her feet, looking around wildly in the nursery.
The faint form of a gray cat sat next to her. She stared at it, confused, and for a brief moment she thought the shape was her mother. Then, from behind her, Darkgaze piped up, mewing, "Oriolekit?" in a sleepy voice.
The gray cat that wasn't her mother looked past her, at the exit to the tunnel, and Oriolekit was up and barreling out of the nursery, ignoring the cries of her mother and the annoyed tone of Briarflower, displaced over the tiny squeaks of her recently-born kits.
Oriolekit didn't stop. She ran as hard as she could down the tunnel, feeling the ghostly sensations of something behind her, chasing her, snapping its teeth. It would catch her, if she wasn't fast enough.
A sob bubbled in her throat. "Crowpaw!" she wailed. "Honeypaw!" She turned a corner, only barely managing to skid so that she didn't run into the tunnel wall. She broke out into the antechamber and swerved around the Turtle Steps pond. Her feet slid on damp stone but she didn't stop, just scrambled for her footing and kept going. "Crowpaw! Honeypaw!" she wailed again.
Her friends were at the tunnel exit with their mentors. They were obviously just about to leave. Oriolekit's heart hammered in her chest. "Wait!" she yowled over the sound of Darkgaze calling her name behind her.
"Oriolekit?" Honeypaw mewed, face twisting in confusion. "What is it?"
She stopped in front of them, sides heaving. She had to force herself to keep from bolting. It was still behind her, waiting to hurt her, chasing her- "Don't go," she begged. "Don't go! You can't go! Stay here!"
'What are you talking about?" Crowpaw mewed. She was beginning to look annoyed. "You know we have a hunting patrol."
"No!" Oriolekit wailed. "No, no!"
"Oriolekit! What are you doing!" Darkgaze demanded, finally catching up. She looked at Sedgestripe and Larchpelt, mewing, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what's gotten into her."
"Tell them they can't go," Oriolekit pleaded with her mother. "They have to stay here. With me. Please, Darkgaze. Please tell them they can't go." Darkgaze would understand. She wouldn't let them go. She'd know.
But Darkgaze only shook her head. "They have their duties," she scolded. Oriolekit's heart sank.
"No!" she wailed. "They have to stay!" She whipped around, throwing herself at the surprised Crowpaw and Honeypaw's feet. "Don't go!"
They refused. She begged. They refused again, and she begged more. Darkgaze tried to pull her away, and Oriolekit wiggled free. They tried to go anyway; she threw herself in front of them and sobbed.
"Fine!" Crowpaw snarled. "You get your way, you snake-heart!"
Oriolekit cowered from the anger she saw on her friend's faces, but she didn't relent. Larchpelt, obviously annoyed, ordered, "Clean the elder's den," and Sedgestripe ordered the same.
"You'll help them," Darkgaze mewed. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but it's unacceptable, Oriolekit. You won't ever do this again, or I'll have Batstar postpone making you an apprentice."
Oriolekit nodded mutely. She didn't say another word, just kept her head down and followed the irate Crowpaw and Honeypaw down the tunnel that led to the elder's den.
They didn't speak to her. They didn't even look at her as they rolled up Patchfur and Lizardfang's musty old bedding. When Patchfur asked what the matter was, Honeypaw sneered, "Oriolekit wouldn't let us leave." She didn't bother to stick up for herself. The feeling of teeth an inch from her throat remained, though she didn't know what it meant.
She carried old moss and grass to the antechamber and left it at the front for Crowpaw and Honeypaw to carry out. Though she was in trouble, she still couldn't leave the camp, even to get rid of the old bedding.
Oriolekit was just returning to get the new moss Honeypaw had left at the entrance for her when a commotion happened. A flurry of motion whirled in the tunnel as Larchpelt and Sedgestripe stumbled in, Larchpelt supporting a flagging Sedgestripe.
"Get Cactusleaf," Larchpelt ordered hoarsely. Then he fell to the side, Sedgestripe with him. Their paws were leaving streaks of blood, Oriolekit saw.
Crowpaw, emerging from the tunnel, ran to join Honeypaw, who had already reached his mentor's side. "Larchpelt, what happened?" Crowpaw demanded. "Great Starclan, are you okay?"
They shifted enough for Oriolekit to see what they were fretting over; Sedgestripe's tail was a bloody mess, trailing limply on the floor.
"Coyotes," Sedgestripe grunted in pain as Cactusleaf bustled up to their side, herbs in jaw. "Two of them! Chased us down."
"We should have been there!" Crowpaw mewed furiously. Honeypaw shot Oriolekit a furious look, and she cowed.
"No!" Larchpelt snapped. "We only barely got away. We've been warriors for ages- You haven't. You wouldn't have had the stamina to escape."
"We could have helped!" Honeypaw insisted.
"You would have died," Sedgestripe snarled. Cactusleaf shushed them. Quietly, fear creeping into their voice, Sedgestripe repeated, "You would have died."
Honeypaw and Crowpaw glanced at each other, but didn't say anything.
"What is happening?" Batstar mewed. Oriolekit hadn't even seen him come in. Quickly, a cat Oriolekit recognized as Tanagerfoot spoke up and explained. Batstar nodded, and didn't even hesitate as he said, "Take a patrol, Tanagerfoot. At least five warriors. Chase them out. Where did you see them last, Larchpelt?" Information was exchanged, and Tanagerfoot and their patrol left, careful to avoid the smears of blood Larchpelt and Sedgestripe had left.
The teeth pressing in on Oriolekit's neck lessened and then faded until the chased down feeling was just a horrible memory. She stared hard at her paws and began to back away until her haunches hit the cave wall. She slid into a sitting position and listened as Cactusleaf fixed Sedgestripe up and murmured that the damage wasn't too bad, their tail would be fine.
Larchpelt was fine too, besides the damage to both his and Sedgestripe's paws. Cactusleaf sent them to rest with promises to check in on them, and they limped away, supported by Crowpaw and Honeypaw.
Oriolekit shuffled her front paws for a moment after the antechamber had calmed down. Then, hesitantly, Oriolekit stood up to retrieve more of the fresh moss. The elder's den still needed the bedding changed, after all, and she hadn't been left off the hook. She was carrying a slightly-too-big ball of moss when Crowpaw and Honeypaw appeared in the warrior's den's exit.
"You knew," Crowpaw mewed. Her voice wasn't accusatory, or anything at all, really. It wasn't even a question. Oriolekit lowered her eyes and nodded slightly. Crowpaw wavered a moment, and then mewed, "Thank you." She and her brother hung back to let Oriolekit edge past to the elder's den.
"What was all the noise about?" Lizardfang asked, curious.
"Larchpelt and Sedgestripe got attacked by coyotes," Oriolekit explained, pulling apart the moss ball and tucking it into Patchfur's half-formed nest.
"Oh dear," Patchfur mewed. "Are they alright?" Oriolekit assured him they were, and then went to fetch more moss.
Batstar was waiting for her. Crowpaw and Honeypaw stood nearby, odd expressions on their faces. "We'll take care of the rest," Honeypaw mewed, nodding at the moss. Oriolekit nodded back and walked past, to where Batstar beckoned her.
"Mind if I talk to you?" he asked. His mew was kind. Oriolekit mewed a tiny assent, and sat down. "Your friends told me that you made quite a scene getting them to stay this morning."
"They couldn't go," Oriolekit mewed, her voice tiny.
"No, and it's a good thing they listened. Did you know, Oriolekit?"
"Know what?" Oriolekit mewed, just to be contrary. Her paws pricked in discomfort.
"About the coyotes," Batstar mewed. Not even a touch of impatience colored his voice. Oriolekit was grateful for that. She looked over his shoulder and saw her mothers, watching in trepidation.
"I knew something would happen," Oriolekit mewed, avoiding the real question. "But before you ask, I don't know how."
"Did anyone tell you?" Batstar asked anyway. She shook her head, and he sighed. She didn't like that sound. It sounded like she'd disappointed him.
She said, "I woke up and I knew. It felt like something was chasing me. But I knew it wasn't me. It was Crowpaw and Honeypaw. You believe me, don't you?"
"Of course I do," he assured her. "I know you wouldn't lie to me. Thank you for talking with me, Oriolekit. You can go now." Oriolekit watched him for another moment and then slunk away, to where Darkgaze and Astertail were waiting.
"Are you okay, little bird?" Astertail asked anxiously.
"I'm fine," Oriolekit mewed. "I'm just kind of tired. Can I go take a nap?"
"Of course," Astertail and Darkgaze said together. They exchanged brief affection, and then Darkgaze led her daughter to the nursery.
