CHAPTER 41-What Sad Eyes You Have

"Is this enough?" I asked, dropping a couple of mice at Dewstep's paws.

He nodded. "Yeah. Let's head back."

The sun was just dipping below the horizon as we finished hunting for the day. I welcomed the warm spring breeze, feeling its gentle fingers glide and ruffle my fur. The sky was beginning to grow violet as the first stars appeared in the night sky. I paused to stare upward at the heavens. Dewstep followed my gaze.

"They're pretty, aren't they?" he meowed. He was going to say something else when the bushes suddenly rustled. We whirled around, our claws unsheathed. Whatever it was, it was too big to be prey.

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Ember stared at the two cats from her hiding place, quickly freezing up when she accidently made the bushes rustle. She cursed in her mind. What was she thinking? She began to regret her actions.

The young fox had excused herself from training a few hours ago. The daily vigorous exercise that she was forced to participate in had left her muscles shrieking in complaint. It had been like this for over a moon now, and finally, she decided that she would get a break today, whether or not Fang liked it.

And so, she had finally dared to sneak out of the tunnels on her own. Scarlet and Titus and the others had warned her not to go out there. Especially Lark. Her mother told her of the dangers in the outside world, of monsters that blew out suffocating steam and had huge, heavy black paws, of snakes that could poison you within seconds of being bitten, and of Twolegs that wandered around the Lake. Most of all, Lark had warned her of the cats.

As Ember glared at the two cats before her, one black and one dark grey, she felt a rich anger boiling inside her. Her mother was dead because of the Clans. She clacked her teeth gently, wanting so much to sink them into flesh, but she knew that she had to restrain herself. She was still young, not a pup anymore but not yet an adult, and she had no idea how strong these cats were. She had to hide herself.

She tensed up when the cats approached the bushes. The black female meowed something to her companion, her tone mingled with worry. The tom said something else to her.

Ember couldn't understand what they were saying. Fang had told her that it was mandatory for every fox in the pack learn the cat language. He had spied on the Clans for so many moons that he had been able to speak in their tongue, but Ember was just a beginner who knew only a few snippets of the words. She scolded herself for not paying attention when he was lecturing.

The cats were approaching. They knew she was there. She debated on whether or not she could outrun them, when abruptly, one of the felines growled, "Show yourself!"

She understood that sentence. The fox stood up from the bushes with her shoulders stiff and glared at the cats. Fang had told her to never show fear, to never back down and to keep her head held high.

She could almost hear his whisper prickling the back of her neck.

The black she-cat immediately stiffened and shuffled a few paces behind the tom.

Ember heard her leader's voice in her mind. "Fear is good, Ember. With fear alone, you can command whole armies."

Ember grinned inside her mind. The black cat feared her. Fear was good.

The grey tom spat out some more phrases, the words all foreign and mixed up to her. She did understand a few of the words, though: 'Flea-brain', 'go away', and 'fox-hearted coward'. She narrowed her eyes. This tom was practically begging her to rip out his heart.

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Back to Shadefrost's POV

The fox growled at us warningly, its yellow eyes glittering at us like stars.

Dewstep spat at it, "What, are you just going to stand there? Just fight me already!"

I place a paw on his shoulder, urging him back. "Stop, Dewstep. Just look at her. She's smaller than us, so she won't be much of a threat."

Dewstep relaxed slightly, but still kept his claws out. "What should we do with it?" he growled.

I shrugged. "We could just chase her out of our territory."

We looked back at the intruder. She was snarling, her eyes narrowed in rage, and the fur on her back bristling like so many porcupine quills. It was obvious that it wouldn't be easy to just drive her away.

And then I noticed something else. The detail was so slight that I wasn't sure if I actually saw it or not, but as the moon let down its dry light, I could tell that it was there. The fox was scared. The fear was almost drowned out completely by the anger and rage emanating from her, but I could tell by her eyes. We were nearly twice her size, with our claws like needles and hers only like rose thorns.

I slowly crouched down and crept forward, one step at a time.

Dewstep gazed at me questioningly, but he said nothing.

I whispered to the fox, "Hey. You don't have to be scared of us. Just leave this place in peace, and we won't have to fight."

She jumped a little, startled, but I didn't know if she could understand me or not. She barked a few times, but her tone was more questioning than furious.

I sheathed my claws, showing her that I wasn't a threat. She looked at me curiously, her fur still bristling.

I cooed to her gently, like trying to coax a new puppy out of its kennel. She wasn't much older than an apprentice. I didn't want to fight her. Maybe if I showed her that I was friendly, she would stop growling and leave.

"That's a good girl," I murmured. The fury slowly evaporated from her eyes, but she was still wary. She kept her ears pricked up and alert.

The fox cocked her head to one side, scrunching up her eyes and studying us carefully. I turned to look at Dewstep. "See? She's not going to attack us."

He looked away and muttered, "That's what you think. A fox is still a fox no matter what happens."

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Ember's POV

The black female whispered to me gently as if she was my mother.

But she wasn't my mother.

And yet, I couldn't seem to get angry again. The emotion just lifted up from my chest when she started murmuring to me. I couldn't really tell what she was saying, but judging from the few words that I could understand, I could tell that she didn't mean any harm.

"Good...quiet...hush now, dear..." were some of the words that sounded familiar to me. The tom looked away and grumbled something softly. I tensed. I would have to get rid of him when I got stronger.

The she-cat leaned down toward me and I caught myself staring up at the dark brown depths of her eyes. They were like deep pools of water, rippling every time she breathed, so full of emotion, so full of life. They looked so different from my mother's.

Doesn't this cat seem familiar, I asked myself. Did I meet her somewhere before...?

That's right. I remembered. I had met her when one of the Clans had attacked my den a long, long time ago. That was when Fang and his companions kidnapped one of the cats, a long-furred snow-white tom. What was his name again? Snow-something? The other felines had fought to get him back. That was when I had first met this black she-cat.

Wait. I suddenly stiffened. The cat seemed to sense it, for she stopped talking and was staring intently at me.

This cat. Her name was Ashley. I remembered Lark talking about her.

"She is the rottenest of them all, and her heart is as dark and twisted as the night. If we don't stop her soon, she will rise and become resilient, and the foxes will be no more. She is as evil as an adder, stronger than a bear, and more craftier than any weasel."

I blinked in confusion. Surely, Ashley wasn't the same cat that was standing before me, murmuring to me gently as a mother to her kit?

I observed her hazel eyes again and relaxed slightly. No, this cat could not be Ashley. These eyes were as peaceful and calm as the night sky.

I listened to her intently as she cooed again, her voice wrapping me in its melody, instantly making me sleepy.

I stretched, at ease, and pondered if I should go back to the tunnels or not. Fang would be in a rage when he realized that I had been gone. I shuddered at the thought.

But out here, where there was moonlight to bathe in and fresh air to breathe, I suddenly felt at home. How ironic, I thought. This most certainly wasn't home. I didn't belong here.

My stomach rumbled loudly and I blinked at the cats in embarrassment. Ashley—no, this wasn't Ashley, I reminded myself. They looked alike, but this cat was much too gentle to be Ashley—turned around and spoke some words to her companion. The grey cat hissed, obviously displeased, but after a lot of persuasion, he finally sighed and picked up a mouse from the pile of prey they had collected. He grudgingly tossed it toward me.

Eagerly, I lapped it up, relishing the taste of warm blood and meat on my tongue.

These cats were nice, I realized. Even the grey tom, although he was aggressive and moody, was as gentle as the she-cat underneath. The reality jolted me out of my thoughts in surprise. Had Fang been wrong about them all this time? Maybe the cats weren't as vicious as they seemed.

My gaze darkened. No. They killed Lark. They killed my mother. I couldn't forget my one and only goal: to avenge her death.

Maybe if I proved to these two that I could be nice and kind, they would let me roam around in their territory. Eventually, they would let me go closer and closer to their camp, and I would be able to somehow figure out the murderer that had killed Lark.

The plan seemed reasonable enough. I would gain their trust and use it to fulfill my goal. I didn't even want to go back to the tunnels anymore. The forest was calling out to me in its beauty, showering me with fireflies and tulips and stars that danced on the breath of the wind.

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Hope you liked this chapter! I hope it wasn't too confusing since the point of views kept jumping back and forth.