Fern woke reluctantly. The light of dawn forced it's way over the tops of the twoleg nests. The light brown tabby she-cat sighed. Another day of scavenging like foxes. She shrugged and looked around the shaded space behind her. Her friends were curled up with one another, just out of reach from the light. Fern glared at them. They needed food if they were to continue travelling. Fern and her friends were kittypets that es-caped from their cruel twoleg nests. They had been travelling for many moons, speaking to loners and rogues, asking if there were large groups of cat families.
Fern sighed. They heard great stories of cats in groups called Clans that lived and hunted together. Battling for food, survival and territory. According to some, Fern would have been called Fernpaw, for she was the age of an apprentice.
Blinking away her daydream, the tabby turned away from the dawn light and prodded a pale gray tabby tom.
Bending down, she hissed, "Dusk, get up!" The tom blinked his amber eyes at her and yawned. Just as reluctantly as she had, Dusk got up and licked his lips.
"Better wake up Willow and Night," remarked the tom, gesturing with his tail to the solid gray she-cat curled up beside the black tom. The black cat suddenly blinked open his eyes and extended his paws, each of which were white.
"No need for me, Dusk," murmured Night sleepily. He gently kicked Willow with his hind paw.
The she-cat made an annoyed muffled groaning sound. Sighing as her dreams left her, the gray she-cat stood and looked at her companions with piercing blue eyes the colour of the sky.
"Well, I suppose we must get some breakfast," she muttered irritably. Yawning still, she brushed past Fern and Dusk, raising her head to taste the air.
Fern exchanged an amused look with Dusk before following her out. Opening her jaws, Fern let the scents of the twolegplace rush into her scent glands on the roof of her mouth. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as the ranic smell of the Thunderpaths flowed into her mouth.
"Yuck!" she spat. "Twolegs! We've been wandering through here for a moon and I still haven't gotten used to this stench!"
Dusk looked at her sympathetically. "We'll get to those so-called Clans soon enough, Fern." Shrugging, he added, "We've got to be patient."
Willow let out a low hiss as the roar of a twoleg monster drew close. "Everyone down!" the gray she-cat growled and slipped under a neatly trimmed shrub.
Fern followed her. Settling herself down beside Willow, she licked a paw and began washing her head. The other cat glared out from the bush, eyes narrowed as the monster rushed past.
"We're good."
Fern slid out after Willow and shook scraps of leaf mold from her pelt.
"We should get a move on," Dusk bounded over to them with Night at his heels. "I'm sure we're almost out."
Fern hoped he was right. The everlasting stench of the twolegs and their monsters never became stale. Fresh scents covered all their black hard paths and even the grass was oily and disgusting. She couldn't wait until she felt the soft touch of wild grass beneath her paws and the smell of plump mice scuffling under the brambles. Still relishing the thought, she didn't notice Dusk meowing to her.
"Fern? Fern!" the tom growled under his breath as she shook her head from the dream. "Are you going to stand there all day waiting for a twoleg to come for you? I think not! Let's go."
Fern rolled her eyes at Willow but followed the two toms as they stalked up to the side of the Thunderpath. On the opposite side a twoleg clasped firmly onto a lead attached to a yipping dog. It strained against the twoleg, leaping onto it's hindpaws to scrabble hopelessly at the air. Fern turned to her companions. Dusk was glaring at the dog, curling his lip into a snarl. Night was beside him, lashing his tail about like the dog would go loose any moment. Willow, like Fern, found no threat in the whining pitiful dog, so they pricked their ears to listen for monsters before setting off across the Thunderpath.
The she-cats' pawsteps pattered quietly along the hard black surface. The dog's bark grew fainter as the twoleg rounded a corner and disapeared beyond the large neat hedgerows. Fern gratefully reached the other side as the roar of a monster sounded in the distance. She looked to the side where the dog went and saw the monster halt briefly at a big red thing.
"Hurry," she hissed at the toms while Willow leaped up onto the side path and stood beside her.
The monster began to turn, the twoleg inside it's belly looking the other way, not noticing the cats crossing. Dusk and Night hesitated, but the roar of more monsters told them they'd better get moving. The toms darted across.
At that moment the monster turned and Fern yowled out at them urgently. The monster came closer, picking up speed as the twoleg chattered on a silver thing. Night and Dusk bounded across the black, but the monster was almost on top of them. Night pelted forward as he noticed the monster nearer with Dusk at his paws. The two managed to cross safely, the monster roaring past harmlessly.
Willow sighed in relief, but her eyes burned in fury. "What do you think you were doing? You should have followed us!"
Dusk growled. "I wasn't our fault twolegs are so stupid!"
Fern rolled her eyes as the two continued bickering. Without paying attention to them she turned toward the sunrise and padded off. Night trotted after her, leaving the two other cats to meow at each other. The black tom caught up to her and flicked her shoulder with his tail tip.
"I know, it's annoying when they do this," he meowed. "But thats how they are."
Fern shrugged and kept moving. A protestant yowl sounded from behind them, and she paused to let the gray she-cat and gray tabby to catch up.
"About time," she growled and set her pace to a brisk trot.
Her friends followed suit, and soon their were well on their way out of the Twolegplace. The sun was just beginning to dip behind the travelling cats when a sharp bark made Dusk leap beside Fern. The tom yowled in alarm as the dog scrambled under a broken piece in the fence.
"Run!"
Fern scrabbled at the rough twoleg rock and raced after Willow and Night. The two cats infront of her took a risk, pelting straight past the dog's twoleg nest. Fern forced herself to run after them. The dog was confused at the cats running past him, then scrunched his face in a growl and lunged.
Willow yowled as the dog snapped its jaws a mouse-length from her tail and ran faster. It's rank breath steamed on her tail tip and she sped forward, her muscles burning. Suddenly a high-pitched yowl reached Fern's ears as she hared beside Willow. Not risking a glance she ran even faster. The two she-cats swerved in a patch of mud and leaped into a thick bush. Fern pushed forward until she could see Night's outline.
"Where's Dusk?" she panted.
Night looked past her with wide eyes. Ears flattening at what she would see, Fern turned her head over her shoulder. Dusk was darting around the dog as it snapped at his tail. His eyes were stretched wide with terror. Fern's ears flicked forward, and with a determined face, she burst from the bush. Ignoring the low meows of protest from Willow and Night, she sprang to Dusk's aid.
The tabby she-cat bounded to the dog in a heartbeat and leaped onto his haunches. The dog barely seemed to notice Fern sink her claws in. She pulled herself up and jumped onto it's head, clamping her jaws on it's ear firmly. This time the dog noticed and let out a howl.
"Run!" Fern managed to mumble through the ear.
Dusk hesitated at the sight of Fern on the creature's head, but the dog saw it's chance and thunder to the tom. Fern's eyes stretched wide as she was sure the dog would pummel Dusk into the ground. Reaching her claw forward, she swiped the creature's eye, sending it veering off to the side.
Dusk then bounded away, glancing behind him as Fern hung on. Seeing the dog about to crash into a twoleg fence, she sprang and neatly landed on her paws. Immediately she bolted to Dusk's side and they slipped into the bush beside the other cats.
Dusk turned and began licking Fern's ears repeatedly. In between licks he cried, "Why'd you do that? You could've been killed, for StarClan's sake!" In the tales they heard of the Clan cats, the four had learned of StarClan, the warrior ancestors of the Clans. They had gotten used to using the name.
Fern rolled her eyes to Willow and Night who twitched their whiskers in amusement. Eventually Dusk stopped and pressed his side up against hers.
"Well, I suppose the dog is gone for now," Fern muttered. "Why don't we get going?"
Willow and Night murmured their agreement while Dusk just shrugged and eyed Fern for injuries. Fern glanced at him and brushed her muzzle against his before pushing her way out of the bush.