OK...I think I'mma start getting back into the habit of updating regularly, so (I hope!) you'll be seeing me around a lot more!
Chapter 10
The next morning, Kite awoke just before dawn. The air was heavy with the scent of rain. Kite screened through the overwhelming scent, trying to focus on the scent of prey. She smelled nothing. Stretching and rising to her paws, the she-cat returned to the Gathering place.
As she had hoped, the clearing was entirely deserted. Just to be sure, she sniffed the air one last time before plunging down into the area in which the Clan cats gathered at every full moon. The boulder behind which she had napped smelled strongly of each Clan. Kite guessed that the leaders stood on it. Gathering all her strength, she leapt onto the side of the boulder, just barely a whisker length from the top, and clawed her way up until she stood on the smooth, slightly rounded surface of the top of the boulder. A light breeze whisked through the four oaks, ruffling Kite's fur. A feeling of pride swelled within her. She felt like a true leader. She turned around on the boulder, looking out through the trees at the rest of the forest. To the west was ShadowClan's territory. Slightly northeast was WindClan. Directly south was ThunderClan, and southeast was RiverClan.
The sudden scuffling of prey in the bushes startled Kite. She clawed her way back down the boulder and headed back toward the Thunderpath, deciding that she was going to put off eating for as long as she could stand it. She needed to put as much distance between herself and...Glacierpelt...as possible. The thought of the young tom's new warrior name made Kite shudder. She resented her father for welcoming a cat like him into his Clan. StarClan knew how many she-cats he would force to bear his kits. Pity struck the loner's heart, and for a moment, she was tempted to turn around, head back to ThunderClan, and warn them about what Glacierpelt was capable of.
No, Kite told herself. I've been in this forest long enough. I need to leave. Now. With that, she trotted off once more.
Once she was at the edge of the Thunderpath once more, she allowed herself to let her guard down. The path was empty. She set first one paw, then two, then all four onto the putrid smelling path and darted across, hurtling herself into a nearby clump of bushes. She knew she was past ShadowClan territory now. It would take Glacierpelt quite some time to find her, if he did decide he only wanted her. Kite stayed in the shrub for a while, waiting for her gurgling stomach to settle down. After a long while, she decided she would hunt for something to eat.
By the time sunhigh had passed, Kite had gorged herself with enough food to feed seven famished warriors. Once she was satisfied she continued along the path at a steady trot.
It was just past sunset when Kite had reached her destination. Odin had been correct. Even without knowing exactly where she was, she knew that she was at Mothermouth. She settled herself down on a nearby boulder and gazed up at the cave. She was exhausted after a day's worth of traveling, and rain had begun to fall again. She leapt down from her perch and padded toward the cave. She sniffed the air warily. It tasted stale, holding the scents of each Clan. This frightened her, but her instincts told her no cat had been here in moons. And it was so cold outside. Without another glance behind her the she-cat plunged into the darkness.