Chapter Eight

Near Future

And so we carried on.

After spending a few days in the little clearing Fox had shown us, we moved on. As I told Fox, I quickly got over my worry. I still felt that I was Wren's protector, but I accepted that Fox was her protector just as much as I was. He became a great friend. A great companion. And as our friendship grew, I noticed things. Like the habit Fox had of gently head-butting my shoulder after a good hunt. And how he and Wren no longer tried to hide their communal affection from me.

We were rarely bothered as we traveled through the twoleg's land. Dogs would bark at us, twolegs would look at us. There was one time when we were confronted by a group of cats only a few cats bigger than ours, but Fox and I managed to scare off most of them. Wren claimed to have helped, by fighting off one of the cats herself, but neither of us saw her.

(**)

I leapt, pinning the rabbit beneath me and taking its life with a quick bite to its neck. It was a young one, but still big enough to feed the three of us, especially if Wren and Fox caught something as well.

"That was an impressive catch."

I raised my head to see a black and white cat staring at me from a wooden platform.

"Thanks," I sensed that she wasn't a threat, so I picked up the rabbit and started to turn away.

"You now, this is my twoleg's land. So isn't that my rabbit?" the cat meowed.

I put the rabbit back down. "Last time I checked, prey belongs to the cat who caught it."

She seemed to think about that for a moment. "I guess so. I don't know what I'd do with it, anyway. And I certainly wouldn't want to fight you for it. Not that I can't fight, mind you... just, you're bigger than me." She trailed off and I almost picked the rabbit back up before she meowed again, "Where do you live? Maybe I could visit you."

"I'm just passing through."

"Oh. So you don't have a twoleg?"

I shook my head.

"Maybe you should get one. They're good to have."

Again I shook my head. "No, we're just heading through this area, and hoping to find somewhere with no twolegs."

"No twolegs? Well... not far from here the twoleg land stops. And then there are big huge fields. I've seen them, but I've never been in them. That's too scary. But there's a twoleg land on the other side of the fields, I've seen that, too, from the highest point on my nest." She glanced quickly at the twoleg den behind her, then back at me. Her eyes were suddenly wide with alarm. "But don't go there, to the other twoleg place. Cats come through here all the time, fleeing from that place."

"Why?"

"There's a group of cats there... called... well, I don't remember, but they call themselves a clan. And they're terrible. The hurt cats who don't belong to them, and..." she trailed off. "Well... that's what I've heard."

"Oh. Thank you for warning me." I picked up my rabbit and quickly walked off before she could meow anything else.

(***)

I was comfortably stretched out in a patch of warm sunlight when Wren meowed, "I wish things could stay like this forever..."

I opened my eyes and looked at her, the world upside down because of the way I had tipped back my head to sprawl in the sunlight. She was also stretched out, though on her stomach. Fox lay beside her, gently licking her smooth fur. "Like what?" I meowed. "Lazily sleeping while someone else cleans you?" I teased.

Fox purred in amusement. Wren flicked her tail, but I could tell she was not really angry. "No, Shatter. I wish you would lie there looking dead forever."

I nodded – or tried to nod, finding it hard to actually do in my position. "Oh, that. Yes, well I can see how that would be appealing."

"I wish we could stay like this forever, I mean. This relaxed... nothing to worry about. No dogs, no twolegs, no other cats. Just the three of us. Our own little family... with nothing to worry about."

"Just the three of us?" I rolled over on my stomach and lay my head on my paws.

"Don't you think Shatter might get a little lonely," Fox purred. "When you and I have kits, Wren, an-"

"Hey, no talk of kits. Not around me," I interrupted. Which only resulted in Wren purring loudly.

"Jealous?'

"Never. Of course not. No." I meowed; I closed my eyes and hoped I'd fall asleep.

"Maybe you should ask that pretty white and black cat to come live with us," Fox teased.

"Didn't she tell you something about fields, Shatter?" Wren meowed.

I nodded. "She said that the twoleg land ends not far from here, and then there are fields." I paused for a moment and opened my eyes. "Wait, Wren? You want this, forever? Maybe we could find a place to live in the fields. Apparently not many cats go out there to stay, but I can imagine it would be full of prey. We would just have a find a good den."

"Yes," Wren agreed instantly. "Yes, let's try that. I'm sure we could find a den. What do you think, Flare?"

Fox nodded, "I think we-" suddenly he had stopped and was on his feet, staring into the bushes. I was on my feet in an instant, standing squarely in between Wren and Fox, and the strange rustling sounds we had all heard in the bushes.

What emerged, however, was not what I was most afraid of it being. A dog. Instead, a tabby she-cat stepped through the bushes, and then froze when she noticed me standing in front of her. Her green eyes met mine for a moment, but then they locked onto something behind me.

"Fox?" she quietly meowed.

I blinked in surprised and turned to look at my friend, who was staring at the she-cat.

"Mother?"