No reviews again T.T I do kind of like them, you know! I've just checked my story traffic, and the last two chapters (you know, the ones with no reviews) have had a total of twenty visitors. And no reviews. Can you do no better? ? ? ? ? (wholly unnecessary use of question marks) Anyhow, say hello to chapter sixteen.

DISCLAIMER: Warriors is property of the Erins. The geniuses. =grumbles=

Sixteen

It was when Chicory was in a fitful doze later the same day - at least, she thought it was the same day - that the opening to the nest she was trapped in swung wide open, hitting the wall with a rather loud bang.

Startled, Chicory tried to sit up straight and promptly smacked the back of her head into the hard mesh above her. "Ouch," she muttered.

Light had spilled into the nest when the piece of wall had flown open. Screwing up her eyes at the sudden brightness, Chicory could just make out the silhouette of a young Twoleg, around whose back paws skulked-

"You're the cat who told us to come here!" Ivy mewed, almost accusingly. The brown tabby looked up at him with large eyes.

"You didn't come back. I was worried."

"So you brought your Twoleg here to gloat?" Ivy's tone was scathing.

"No!" mewed Chance, deeply shocked.

"What's going on?" Snapdragon's high-pitched mew joined the fray.

All the while, Chance's Twoleg stood in the rectangle of light, front paws clasped behind her back as she shifted from back paw to back paw awkwardly. She was large in cat terms but from the Twolegs Chicory had seen, she deduced that this Twoleg was of the smaller variety.

"What do you want us to do?" Pine called.

Chance's head swivelled in his direction. "My Twoleg has the keys," she mewed proudly. "She can free you!"

Chicory surveyed Chance's Twoleg again. With her long, well-groomed brown head-fur and her open, innocent eyes, she certainly didn't look particularly bad, but... could they afford to take any chances?

You trust Chrys.

"Let's go for it."

All it took from Chance was a fretful mew and a paw at one of the mesh cages to get the Twoleg to do her bidding.

"You certainly have it well trained." Ivy sounded grudgingly impressed as the Twoleg set about fiddling with the so-called 'keys' and the catch of Snapdragon's cage.

"It's simple if you know what you're doing," responded Chance loftily. She clearly hadn't forgotten the tortoiseshell tom's earlier remarks.

With a click, Snapdragon's freedom was granted. Squealing, the ginger tom dashed out and started capering excitedly around the room.

"Stop that!" Chicory hissed frantically. "Do you want that big Twoleg to come and find us?"

As Snapdragon fell silent and Chance's Twoleg started to work on Pine's cage, Chicory idly marvelled at how they all seemed to heed her at her word, even though she was the most timid of the lot and couldn't say a word in front of a crowd.

But am I so timid now? After all, when she had decided to trust Chance's young Twoleg, she hadn't even stammered. But the only thing in my mind then was how to escape so we can get to Chrys...

Click. With another sharp little sound, Pine also sprang free.

"Oh, thank the stars!" he purred, padding out. His eyes shone as he looked at Chance. "Thank you!"

The tabby's whiskers twitched. "Y-you're welcome," she whispered, delicately embarrassed.

Now it was Chicory's turn to be freed. It was a little unnerving having a Twoleg face so close to hers, but not frightening. Chicory felt surprisingly relaxed, although itching to be released.

Click. The Twoleg looked up, its mouth turning up at the corners and a warm expression in its dark eyes. As the catch swung loose, Chicory knew that the Twoleg had felt the brief connection too.

Chance's Twoleg was perfectly good.

You were wrong, Holly. Not all Twolegs are evil. Chicory's whiskers trembled with amusement as Ivy drummed his paws impatiently. When the click finally came, the tomcat leapt out as though he had been stung with a cry of, "At last!" Some of them are quite nice, actually.

"Which way is out?" asked Chicory. Ivy purred indulgently and sidled up to her.

"Silly Chicory. The way we came in, of course."

Chicory dropped her head a fraction of a mouselength in embarrassment. "I was unconscious, though, remember?"

"And there's that bigger Twoleg that trapped us..." added Snapdragon, his brow creasing with worry.

Pine nudged him. "It'll be fine, Snap, don't worry." Three days with only Ivy and Snapdragon as company had obviously brought him closer to the younger tom than he cared to admit.

"We'll have to be careful..." Chance meowed. "But let's go quickly. It's creepy in here with just these empty cages." She shuddered.

The rest agreed, so the multi-species party swiftly headed out of the gap in the wall, led by Chance and her Twoleg - into another nest full of cages.

"There are more?" Chicory gasped quietly, averting her eyes from the haunted ones of the scrawny cats holed up here.

"We have to save them, too!" protested Snapdragon, his mew shrill.

Chicory was about to agree, before she remembered Chrys. "There isn't time."

The young ginger tom gave her such a disbelieving stare that Chicory had to look away.

"Chicory's right," agreed Ivy helpfully. "We need to keep moving."

The pale striped she-cat gave him a grateful glance for the support, and her brother contributed a mutter of assent, so they hurried through the nest of silent, almost lifeless creatures, Snapdragon now lagging along behind.

"Really, Chicory?" Hearing the terrifyingly dark murmur behind her, Chicory twisted her head around, but Snapdragon seemed mute, his eyes holding no light.

A thrill of foreboding gripped Chicory, but she pressed on, trying to dismiss it as nothing.

###

"What is that Twoleg doing?" asked Ivy, crouching low as Chance and her Twoleg stood near the exit of the entire nest itself, apparently deep in conversation. Their salvation was within touching distance.

"Isn't it obvious?" Pine whispered back. "They're creating a diversion. With any luck, we'll be able to slip past, right?"

"Oh. Right."

"We'd better do it in two rounds..." Chicory mused. "Um... Pine, you can go with Ivy, and I'll stick with Snapdragon."

"No, I want to go with you." Ivy disagreed.

Tutting, Pine mewed, "Fine, I'll go with Snapdragon." There was a moment's pause. "Er... where is Snapdragon?"

For the sake of all their fur, Chicory managed to swallow down her shriek, but it was a close thing. "What? How long has he been gone?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Pine. "I just noticed. Oh, dear, do you suppose he's been gone very long?"

"Who cares?" Ivy threw in. He, at least, seemed to be enjoying Snapdragon's absence.

Chicory was about to round on him when a terrible thought struck her. "You don't think he's gone back to try and set all those cats free, do you?"

Pine looked horrified. That was enough for Chicory.

"I'm going back," she meowed suddenly.

"What? Don't be mousebrained!" exclaimed Ivy, tail twitching erratically.

"We can't leave him, can we?"

"Why not?"

Chicory met his eyes steadily. "Caring for another cat is something I can't teach you, I'm afraid, Ivy."

Aah, this chapter was fairly long! For me. I was going to make it longer, but I decided to cut it into the next chapter. So, officially (I have the plot all figured out, aren't you proud?) there are four more chapters left of Torrent. Chapter twenty will be where it all ends :')