Snowkit's eyes widened. "The mountains." He whispered. They rose oppressively, dark and mysterious; he wasn't looking forward to crossing them, if it came to that.

Valley looked at him, her golden eyes gleaming with adventure. "A quest." She murmured. Bell came up beside him, wincing slightly as her injured forepaw thudded the soft earth. "I heard from the Twolegplace rumors they're constantly covered with snow and food is nearly impossible to find much less catch-"

She stopped. Sparrow had butted in between them. "I dunno know 'bout you all," he grunted. "But I ain't looking forward much to crossing them mountains." Leaf and Hawk joined the conversation.

Leaf said something so quickly Snowkit didn't catch her lips moving, and he dropped out of the conversation. As he felt the excited meows and all the dawning birdsong, Valley's excitement was infectious. He started to feel hope dawn on him.

~~~~~~~~~~~
The mountains seemed no closer after walking till their paws ached, but one thing rose impressively on the horizon: The close Twolegplace. Bell was more nervous each paw step that took them closer. Soon she was jumping at the slightest things. Snowkit tried to turn a blind eye to these mishaps, but when it got to the point of her letting out a startled yowl when Valley tapped her shoulder, he confronted her.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"I... I don't know what you mean." She mumbled.

"You do. Jumping at the slightest things, shouting when Valley barely touched you..."

She murmured something his eyes didn't catch. "What?"

"It's a long story. I told you my Twolegs abandoned me... I never had Twolegs... I was just a common street cat. Easily replaceable, they told me... no one would miss me, they said... and they were right." Her orange eyes were bitter.

"Who told you this?"

"In Twolegplace, some cats have banded together to make a group. There are many, but two of them are fighting over a bit of land. I was in a group, and I was often sent as a spy to find out and report back where and when we would be attacked. But one time, I was caught listening in, and they chased me out after wounding me-" She held up her paw and he saw that a claw was missing.

"That they pulled out, as a warning. I fled back to my own group, but the leader punished me for failing my task. He chased me out, and told me never to return. He was brutal, but..." She trailed off. "Anyway, being so near here is making me awfully jumpy."

He nodded, dazed. How could someone be so brutal to her? She'd made a mistake; that was all, and he felt anger sear his chest. He shook his muzzle and pressed against her. "We'll protect you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twolegplace was definitely near; they would reach it in a day, likely. With Snowkit's reassurance, she was less frightened, and her eyes gleamed with determination.

They stopped under a towering oak, its branches arching protectively over them. Valley raised her tail. "We'll rest here for now; you'd best eat and sleep. We enter Twolegplace at midday tomorrow."

Snowkit tried to hunt, feeling the ground crunch. Many times a bird flew away or a mouse darted into a hole because he couldn't hear the noise he was producing. Just as he thought he had a vole in his grasp, it scuttled away. Snarling in frustration, he turned to go. But a paw prevented him from doing so. He turned and saw Hawk there, the vole hanging from his jaws. "Can't let prey escape, can we?"
Snowkit's jaw dropped: Hawk had a crow, three shrews, and a frog which Snowkit eyed distastefully.
He tossed the vole and two shrews to Snowkit, grasping the crow, other shrew, and frog.

Curling up with a full belly, he soon drifted off.

He was in a large clearing. Cats roamed, but though he was right in their midst, they strolled about as if he wasn't there. A tabby walked right through him. Soon a large ginger cat burst in, followed by a wild eyed grey tom and a few others. All the others looked at him curiously.

"We were on a patrol when a big monster came at us!" he began, "It tore down a few trees and then we had to go..."

Cats stared at him in shock, he, too, was confused...

But then he felt a sharp pain in his side and he flailed over, gasping...

"Wake up!"

A grumpy silver and cream face peered into his. "Wake up." She repeated as he blinked groggily. "We have to go, come on; the sun is already at its peak."

He scrambled to his paws and blinked. Valley was already waiting with Bell and Hawk, Leaf was in the process of prodding Sparrow awake as she had done to Snowkit.

Soon they were on the move. Twolegplace yielded a stench that wafted toward them on the breeze, making him gag. They entered Twolegplace; Thunderpaths and Twoleg dens stretching endlessly on before them.
Bell's confidence was wavering.
They were hardly into the winding place when a voice cackled behind them.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Officially OFF hiatus :-)