Warriors A Tale Of Two Brothers
Chapter 4
"Dawn, Oak, Speckle! Where are you?" Oak woke to hear his mother calling out his name. He looked around and saw Speckle curled up beside him with Dawn wrapped up in a tight ball with his back to him. He gave each of them a gentle nudge and they began to stir.
"I didn't steal the prey, I swear…" Dawn muttered before fully waking and looking at his brother then at Speckle, who was still sleeping with her tail wrapped over her nose. Oak gave her another nudge and she rose her head up.
"Our parents are calling us," Oak explained. Speckle sat up and stretched her paws out in front of her, and then she sat up and began to clean her pelt.
"You can actually see, when its day in here," Dawn admired. He looked around the cave so Oak did the same. It was a lot bigger than he had interpreted last night and the roof had small holes in it that were guarded by a bush to conceal the cave.
"We can't let anyone find this!" Oak fretted. Speckle stopped cleaning and began to look around as well, she locked her gaze on a dark pathway that seemed to lead upwards.
"There, we can head out through that tunnel and say we went out after dark," Speckle advised. Oak and Dawn nodded but they both looked worried.
"What are our parents going to say? You know the rules," Dawn whimpered. They all sat in silence for a bit, remembering what had happened a few moons ago.
"We'll say we heard something or got confused, it'll be fine, trust me," Speckle mewed eventually, soothing the two tom kits. They both nodded in agreement and headed through the tunnel that sloped upwards. When they go to the top of the tunnel, there was flat grass around the opening and then dense trees and bushes were sheltering a clearing. Their camp's scent was close so they weren't that far from it. They made it back and when they arrived they were instantly greeted by worried parents who smothered them in swift licks all over.
"Are you hurt? Where were you?" Wisp mewed quizzaciously to her sons, who were overwhelmed by her questions. Oak scrunched up his nose and jumped away from his mother. He stood away from her with his fur puffed out, she looked surprised along with Dawn.
"Why does it matter? I'm not a kit anymore!" He spat at his mother. Dawn looked at him with shock. Oak didn't care though. He had wanted to defy himself for a few sunrises but never had a chance, he was sick of his mother treating him like a kit.
"You'll always be a kit to me, my sweet Oak," Wisp replied calmly. Oak's face dropped, he was both relieved and surprised about his mother's response. He drew a few circles in the ground beneath his right paw with his claw in awkwardness, he then looked up at his mother and smiled.
"We went out last night, an odd scent hit our noses so we went to scope it out," Dawn pointed out, interrupting the unbearable silence. He breathed a sigh of relief and then nodded at his brother, Dawn did the same.
"What? You know the rules, you could have been hurt or worse!" Wisp urged. Dawn and Oak lowered their heads in shame. Wisp took a deep breath and wrapped her tail around the two kits.
"…it wasn't their fault! I went willingly!" Speckle's defiant meow sounded from behind them. Oak looked over and saw his friend scowling at her father, her neck fur raised. Dirt, her father, looked furious. No matter how much Speckle puffed her fur out, he was still two times the size of her, his large muscles and missing patches of fur from previous battles clearly overstepping Speckles neat pelt.
"Exactly! You went with them; you could have been killed!" Dirt growled.
Speckle looked about ready to burst with tears and anger but she didn't. Instead, she bared her teeth and snapped a harsh retort back at her father. The tom leaped back in shock, then stepped closer to his daughter. He raised his left paw into the air and unsheathed his claws. Oak instantly split away from his mother and pelted towards the two. Speckle whimpered to the ground, her eyes filled with terror. Oak ran as fast as he could but he was too late. Dirt's paw collided with Speckle's tiny body and she went flying over to the other side of the clearing, her body limp. Oak slid to a stop and watched her slam onto the ground. He saw his mother bolt past him and collapsed beside Speckle. Oak made sure she was all right before storming towards Dirt. He eventually got in front of the tom and arched his back at him.
"How dare you?" Oak hissed. Dirt whipped his head around to face him. Oak cowered down to the ground in terror. Dirt's eyes were wide and he looked insane. Dirt opened his jaw slightly and saliva started pooling out of it. Oak slammed his eyes shut and waited for Dirt to attack him but he heard a loud thud instead. He opened his eyes and saw his mother spitting and hissing at a startled Dirt, she was twice her size and Dirt actually looked scared but he stood up and hissed at her. Wisp didn't budge.
"Dirt! What did you do?" Poppy, Speckle's mother had returned from her hunting trip and she looked horrified by the scene in front of her. Her kit was limp on the ground with Dawn and Spirit, comforting her while her friend Wisp hissed and growled at her mate.
Oak looked at Dirt who looked deeply ashamed, but he quickly raised his head and began laughing. Wisp stood back, disturbed. This cat was insane. Suddenly Bark, the deputy of Roaring Cliffs, appeared and pounced on Dirt who shook about underneath her trying to set himself free.
"Calm down, Dirt!" Bark shouted, but Dirt just laughed louder. Bark groaned in annoyance and bit down hard on Dirt's neck, blood started to pool out and Dirt had stopped laughing.
"Bark, please!" Dirt screeched. Obviously back to himself so Bark let go and allowed him to stand up. Dirt shook himself off and looked around, almost confused. Oak had no idea what he had just witnessed but he definitely knew one thing, he wasn't sleeping tonight.