Thanks to WildCroconaw for reviewing!
DISCLAIMER: Yet again... I do NOT own Warriors.
Fourteen
It was when Chicory and Ivy were close to giving up when Ivy halted, nose quivering.
Before Chicory had a chance to ask what was wrong, Ivy had spat, "Foxdung!" and sprinted off, weaving in and out of the Twoleg nests.
"Wait!" Chicory screeched, and rushed after him before he disappeared out of sight. Even if he had, Chicory knew that she would still be able to find him - a trail of fear-scent marked clearly where he had been.
It wasn't a far run - Chicory only had a few heartbeats of fear for what could be going on before she turned the corner of yet another Twoleg nest and almost careered into Ivy.
The scene before the white she-cat took a few heartbeats to register - a tiny ginger kit, cringing on the ground, a sandy-furred fox bearing down on it, and Ivy crouching, ready to spring.
The fox clearly hadn't noticed them yet - it was too intent on the kit, who let out a whimper.
Chicory gasped. She recognised the kit. But it was ridiculous, impossible - he had left with all the other cats!
"Snapdragon!" she shrieked, throwing herself at him without thinking.
"Chicory, don't!" Ivy thundered, but Chicory only saw Snapdragon's tiny face light up with hope, and she only thought of protecting the young kit.
The palely striped she-cat hadn't thought of the fox. A guttural snarl ripped from behind her, and Snapdragon's tail bushed out in fear.
"Chicory, help me!" he squeaked, every syllable laced with terror.
Unthinking, Chicory whirled around to come face-to-face with a pair of fierce eyes. Fright made her mind sluggish for a heartbeat, before an urge to protect Snapdragon overwhelmed her. Without even realising it, she had arched her back and hissed at the animal.
Startled at her sudden display of aggression, the fox paused, confused - but a heartbeat's pause was all a waiting Ivy needed.
Hurtling out of nowhere, the tortoiseshell tom leapt onto the fox and sunk his claws into matted fur with a fearsome howl.
Realising she would be more use on the defensive, Chicory planted each of her four paws firmly on the hard ground, narrowed her eyes, and prepared to act as a shield to Snapdragon if the warring pair came too close.
A Twoleg shout behind then made both Chicory and Snapdragon jump. Chicory could feel Snapdragon's dismay - a Twoleg intervention was the last thing they wanted.
"Let's get out of the way," whispered the she-cat, motioning with her tail towards the Thunderpath. Snapdragon nodded his wide-eyed agreement and the pair hurried away from the fighting.
Just in time - a crash sounded behind them, a strange, tinkling crash as the Twoleg hurled something at them.
Snapdragon collapsed near the edge of the Thunderpath, breathing heavily. Despite the young tom's exhaustion, Chicory wasn't about to let him go without a questioning.
"How did you get here, Snapdragon? Are the others here? Did they come back? Do they need help?" Questions tumbled from Chicory's tongue, her face drawn and anxious for Snapdragon's answers as he gulped breaths of less-than-clean air.
Finally, he shook his head. "I ran away to find you, Chicory," he murmured, managing to sound rather pleased with himself.
"What?" Chicory gaped in disbelief.
"I thought you might need some help," insisted Snapdragon. "So I snuck away, and I got chased by that thing-" his mew shook, "-but now I've found you, and you can come home." He shut his eyes with a sigh of contentment.
His kit-like attitude, the belief that everything could be resolved so neatly and simply, along with the fact that Snapdragon had risked his life - and very nearly sacrificed it - to find her, made Chicory want to wail with the impossibility of it all.
"It's not that easy, Snapdragon," she began carefully, but before she could even shape the next words in her mind, a skittering of paws announced Ivy's return.
"I gave that fox a couple of nasty scratches," the tortoiseshell cat boasted before he had even slowed to a halt. "He won't forget me in a hurry." His gleeful expression faded slightly as he caught sight of Chicory's tail curled protectively around Snapdragon. "Who's this?"
Chicory wasn't delighted with the aggressive edge to his mew, but decided to ignore it. "This is Snapdragon," she replied, and as she did she saw a shadow of jealousy pass over Ivy's features.
"Hmm..." His mew was a low grumble in his throat. "You're the cat who got into trouble with that fox, am I right?"
Snapdragon nodded mutely. Chicory was reminded forcibly of herself when meeting other cats.
"He's coming with us to find Chrys and Pine," Chicory meowed, on a whim.
This revelation threw Ivy off-guard. "But... but Chic!" he whined, reverting back to kit-like and begging behaviour. "He'll slow us down!"
Snapdragon, on the other paw, was over the moon. "Really?" he gasped excitedly, his plumy tail sticking straight up. "Really and truly?"
Chicory nodded, much to Ivy's evident displeasure.
"Chicory...!"
###
When Pine was finally spotted, Chicory almost missed it.
"Come here, quick!" Ivy, whose complaints about Snapdragon had since simmered down into incoherent grumbles, yowled from the side of the Thunderpath.
"What?" A monster rushing past had temporarily deafened Chicory, and she had missed what Ivy had said.
"Come here!" bellowed Ivy frantically. "In this Twoleg monster - it's Pine, I could have sworn it!"
Pursued by Snapdragon, Chicory rushed over to where Ivy was, but the monster was too quick.
"It's gone," mewed Ivy, crestfallen. "It's way over there, see? The red one."
When she squinted, Chicory could make out the shape of a monster in the distance, stained a stinging shade of crimson.
"Can we follow it?" asked Snapdragon hopefully.
"Don't be mousebrained, it's too fast," Ivy snapped back patronisingly. Snapdragon fell silent.
Chicory was too overcome by a crushing disappointment to register the biting exchange. The glimpse of her brother had been so brief it was painful. "Where do you reckon it's going?" she asked dully.
The voice that replied belonged to neither of her companions. "Excuse me...? I beg your pardon, but I would hazard a guess that that housefolk machine is headed for an animal shelter."
Raising her head, Chicory saw that the speaker was a tubby brown tabby, perched precariously on the fence of a Twoleg nest.
"Animal shelter? What's that?" asked Ivy, stepping forward and tipping his head to one side.
"It's a place where they take stray cats. Cats who don't belong to any housefolk," the tabby she-cat continued, "are considered a nuisance. Housefolk take them away and lock them up."
Chicory wanted to exclaim, That's horrible! but the usual speech incapacity had overtaken her.
"Where's this 'animal shelter'?" Ivy demanded to know. The kittypet's eyes grew round.
"Oh, it's not far from here, but you wouldn't want to go there," she mewed hastily. "I've heard cats never get away."
"Tough," was Ivy's short reply. "It's her brother they've taken." He motioned towards Chicory, and then made a swish with his tail in the direction the monster had taken. "Just this way, yeah?"
The tabby still looked doubtful. "I suppose."
"Great." Ivy looked pleased. "Come on, Chic."
"I'm here too!" Snapdragon piped up, annoyed, as he hurried after Ivy. The tortoiseshell tom was already striding off.
Chicory blinked gratefully at the brown tabby. "I'm Chicory," she managed to say. "What's your name?"
Looking surprised, the she-cat mewed, "Me? Oh, I... never really had one, to be honest."
Never had one? "Well, you gave us a chance," mumbled Chicory bashfully, "so that's what I'm going to call you. Chance."