Chapter 5

Lusa's eyes widened with shock. "You mean, these "cats" want us to drive off Shoteka? And a bunch of other brown bears?"

It was now morning. The birds were chirping, and the morning mist had not yet been burned by the sun. The ground was wet and cold, so Lusa stayed in the tree, listening to Toklo's report about the dream.

"Yes." Toklo growled. "Our stupid ancestors want us to save a bunch of animals we don't even know."

"Well," Kallik spoke up. "Since Ujurak personally sent that message, it must be important. I say we first try to convince the cats that we're allies, not enemies."

"And we team up, join together, and chase them off." Yakone's growl rumbled deep in his chest. "Simple."

"But how do we communicate with them?" Lusa wondered aloud. "They don't know we're trying to help them."

"Yes, they do, Lusa." Toklo turned to face her. "Um… What was that creature's name? Spotleaf or something like that. She said she had sent another cat to tell the medicine cat or something from Thunderclan. They'll be expecting us at sunset."

"So…" Yakone summed up. "We turn up at their camp, and try to communicate them through sign language."

"Yes." Toklo pushed himself up onto his paws. "We'd better get going. Spotleaf said to travel around a lake, and stay two tail lengths from the forest."

"Tail-lengths?" Lusa turned to look at her small, furry lump of a tail. "That's impossible."

"Those cats have longer tails." Toklo explained exasperatedly. "Just stay close to the shoreline."

"Okay." Kallik looked up at Lusa. "Come on down. We'd better get going."

The sun was well up when they finally reached the lake-shore. "Spotleaf said we needed to find oak trees. Oak…" Toklo looked around, confused.

Lusa scrambled up a tall pine and stared at the view. The lake was huge, glistening in the sunlight, and half-bridges with flat-face water monsters off to one side. Lusa was in the middle of a pine forest that stretched out away from the lake. A wild moor was to the left, and an oak forest to the right. But there were clearly denser trees on the other side of the lake. Ferns and wild bushes cluttered the shore.

Lusa climbed down. "Good news: I found the place. Bad news: It's on the other side of the lake."

Toklo groaned good-naturedly. "Oh, well. Let's get it over with."

They started to walk along the shore. A strong smell of what must have been cats wafted towards Lusa's nose, mixed with pine needles and pine sap.

Toklo walked beside her, matching her paw for paw. "Spottedleaf's her name, not Spotleaf. I just remembered and this part of the forest belongs to Shadowclan."

Lusa tipped her head to the side. "Shadowclan?"

"The cats who live around here are split into four Clans." Toklo explained. "Thunderclan, Riverclan, Windclan, and Shadowclan. They're basically rivals. They have borders and stuff. And their ancestors are in Starclan. Spottedleaf died in Starclan, so that's how she could communicate with Ujurak."

"Wow." Lusa had never heard of such a complicated group. Bears like her usually stuck with their families. "So… what do Clans do?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Toklo huffed. "I'm not a cat. But they probably aren't subjects of suicide quests."

They walked on in silence.

By sun-down they had finally reached the dense oak forest. The cat-scent here was tinted with ferns and leaves. Lusa looked around uneasily. "Um…how are we supposed to find their camp?"

As if on cue, three animals slipped silently out of the bracken and stood, alert, in front of them. Toklo had explained what cats looked like, but nothing prepared Lusa for the real thing. The creatures had shorter fur than hers, with pink noses and long tails like the noses of "elephants" she had seen near Bear Bowl. Their lithe, slim bodies, had a graceful air about them, and Lusa was sure they would be as nimble as fish in water.

Lusa turned to Toklo. "Is this supposed to be our escort?"

"I suppose." Toklo snorted. "No wonder they stand no chance against Shoteka."

"Hey!" Kallik protested. "They tried their best!"

"Come on." Yakone nodded at the cats tersely. "I think they're in a hurry."

Lusa looked up. The cats were getting edgy now, whispering into one another's ears. "Okay. Let's go."

Sorry for the short chapter, but lots of things going on lately!