Chapter 12:

"A TwoLeg nest, Thornfrost?" Darkblaze hissed into his ear. Thornfrost tensed suddenly and turned away to look at the slowly passing trees. "Lucky for Tinypaw he's so small. We could have been trapped in that place for moons!"

"Well, we're safe now, and we could have left you there for a moon!" Thornfrost retorted. Darkblaze snorted as the kittypet felt his lip curl in anger. "What would you have done?" Thornfrost spat, his tail lashing side to side. "Those Tree-eaters would have crushed us if I didn't do anything!" Darkblaze flinched at the thought of being crushed by Tree-eaters. He thought for a moment then replied dryly, "We could have jumped over the fences!"

"Well we didn't."

"Kittypet," Thornfrost heard Darkblaze murmur.

He froze. "You scared, kittypet?" Darkblaze challenged louder. "You could run away right now to avoid being clawed to bits." Thornfrost's fur bristled.

How dare Darkblaze insult me! He thought, angrier than ever.

"Why didn't you jump? The fences weren't the problem! Anyway, I didn't want to get my fur pulled out by the wire!" There was no reply. Thornfrost whipped his head around.

He saw Darkblaze, who had his claws unsheathed and was gingerly looking at them. Then, he padded over to a large gray rock and ran his claws down it. It made a horrible squeaking noise and Thornfrost slightly flinched. Darkblaze did again and again until his claws were sharp.

Then, Darkblaze flipped himself over, showing his fluffy brown belly fur, and meowed, "Attack me." On command, Thornfrost found myself aim at Darkblaze's underbelly. But they never hit their target. Thornfrost felt a sharp claw rake over his muzzle as blood poured from it.

The small tabby tom staggered, then fell.

"See, you were never cut out for this life," Darkblaze meowed calmly. "Kittypets were never made for this life. They're overfed and lazy. That's no way to live a good life."

"That is not true," Thornfrost snarled, standing up slowly, wiping his paw over his wound. "Kittypets are equal to all other cats. I'm not scared. Your threat doesn't scare me." But Darkblaze's comment reminded him of the soft kittypet life.

The warm fire, the cozy bed and the warm hands of the owner. Thornfrost felt a sharp pang of sadness and guilt. His TwoLeg died of greencough and Thornfrost only choice was to find the Clan cats or he was left with nothing.

"But, I've given that up," Thornfrost thought aloud. Darkblaze let out a mmrrrreeeoooowwww of amusement. " You accept the challenge then?" Darkblaze mewed, the amusement still shining brightly in his eyes. "Yes, I do," Thornfrost snarled. He unsheathed his claws, ready for anything.

Thornfrost started by nipping Darkblaze on the left ear. Darkblaze turned around and kicked him up with his hind paws. Thornfrost thought that was a good idea for him; Darkblaze had very powerful hind legs.

Thornfrost was flung into the air as Darkblaze kicked him. As he soared, Darkblaze jumped up and ripped at his flesh. Thornfrost's eyes filled with terror, as Darkblaze and he fell. Thornfrost's bones crunched as they landed; Darkblaze had landed on all fours. Thornfrost slipped over his own paws and fell onto the damp ground again. Blood welled out onto the ground next to him as it soaked into Thornfrost's belly fur.

Thornfrost lashed out at Darkblaze's muzzle and flipped him on his back with needle sharp fangs. Darkblaze pushed Thornfrost off of him and pinned the tabby to the ground. "This battle is far from over, kittypet!" He snarled.

Darkblaze was dragged off of Thornfrost by Flamewing. Thornfrost thanked StarClan. Silently, Flamewing clawed at Darkblaze's and Thornfrost's muzzle. They both yipped, surprised.

Flamewing glared at the fighting toms. Her eyes were filled with anger as she meowed, "Darkblaze! Thornfrost!"

"Yes?" The toms glanced at each other, angry.

"Stop fighting all the time," Flamewing mewed crossly.

"But Darkblaze, he-" Thornfrost started to say. Flamewing shot him a look and he fell silent.

"Be quiet, Thornfrost!" Flamewing snapped. "Stop being such a mouse brain... Both of you. We're not here to fight each other. We are here to find dawn and save the Clans. We're not there, not yet at least. Start moving! We already set up a small camp."

Thornfrost slipped and the blood roared in Thornfrost' ears as he struggled to stand again.

Looking at the ground, Darkblaze and the small tabby tom walked along with Flamewing behind, who was growling softly.

Once the party stopped so Flamewing could catch a mouse.

Thornfrost noted that her hunter's crouch was a little different the others. Then, he realized something that he hadn't noticed before...

After trudging onfor two sunrises, Tinypaw had found the one thing the cats needed the most. Water! The tired and hungry cats stared at the large pool of it. Flamewing licked her dry lips as her front pad bled harshly. Tinypaw tried as much as he could to treat it; Thornfrost had offered to licked Flamewing's wound but, Tinypaw said that it could heal without him licking it. A light rain fell from the sky and Flamewing suddenly wanted to go swimming. Flamewing slowly padded toward the water and stepped in.

The water felt cold on her hot back, just like the frozen river that Flamewing had drank from when she was a kit. My legs worked calmly in the water as the mud from my pelt drifted away. I sensed Darkblaze next to me, gently paddling his strong hind legs. His muzzle still had claw marks from Thornfrost, but thanks to Tinypaw, they were healing nicely. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to bring Tinypaw along with us. I thought. Lily has also been a good help, showing us the berries we should eat. Her TwoLeg must be worried! As I swam, Thornfrost called out, "Flamewing! How did you do that? You're not from LakeClan, Darkblaze is," I looked over at Thornfrost then started to swim back to shore. The lake wasn't very deep, so Tinypaw and Lily could stand in it. I pulled myself out and padded over to a patch of sun to dry off. Thornfrost came over to me."To answer your question Thornfrost, I don't know," I meowed "All I know is that my mother is from CloudClan and she ran away to NightClan."

"Wait," Thornfrost cut in. " Your mother is from CloudClan? Spread out your paws for a minute." I do so. Thornfrost's eyes widened. " What?" I demanded. I followed his gaze and saw that I had a thin layer of skin connected to my shoulder and ankle. How could I never have seen that before? I thought. "Follow me," Thornfrost meowed urgently. He dashed into the bushes.

I followed Thornfrost's bobbing tail and ran until we came into a small clearing with two large sized rocks standing about three fox lengths away from each other. "Step up on one," Thornfrost ordered. I scrambled up the nearest rock. "See if you can jump, or glide, over to the other rock." He told me. I hoped that he knew what he was doing, and Thornfrost saw my hesitation. "Like this," Thornfrost told me. Then, he too, climbed onto the rock. Thornfrost poised himself then jumped off. He spread out his legs and I saw that he also had a thin layer of skin. So that's why I couldn't do the hunter's crouch very well! I thought suddenly. Thornfrost landed gently on the farest rock and motioned for me to go. I prayed to StarClan that I wouldn't hurt myself or Thornfrost. I leaped off the rock and spread out my paws the way Thornfrost had done.

Soon, I felt the wind tickling my fur and my lightweight body gliding in thin air. I landed next to Thornfrost and blinked slowly. "Let's get back to the others," Thornfrost meowed quickly. We hurried through the bushes again and came out into the sun. I saw Darkblaze and Brightstorm sitting in a small patch of sun. When they saw us, Brightstorm meowed, " Tinypaw and Lily have gone hunting. They'll be back soon."

"Good," I mumbled. I was tired after all the swimming. I sat down next to Thornfrost, who began to wash himself. After a long silence, Tinypaw appeared with two rabbits and a mouse. He dropped one rabbit in front of Darkblaze and the other rabbit next to Brightstorm. "Lily will be back," Tinypaw mewed. "She's getting the rest." Tinypaw sat down and began eating his mouse.

Brightstorm looked at the rabbit and slowly took a bite. Darkblaze had ripped into the rabbit already. Thornfrost's mouth started to water at the sight of fresh-kill. I suddenly remembered that we hadn't eaten since the beginning of the quest, which was about a quarter moon ago. This also told my mouth to start to water. As Darkblaze was finishing his rabbit, Lily came back with the same Tinypaw came back with: two rabbits and a mouse. She gave the rabbits to Thornfrost and I and started to munch on her mouse.

I tore into the flesh of the prey and ate it quickly. My stomach slowly filled with rabbit. Thornfrost was almost finished when I was first tearing into the rabbit. He licked his lips as he finished the last morsel of prey. Soon I finished, hunger quenched. Darkblaze stood up and meowed, "What are we waiting for? Let's finish this quest!"