Hey there! Sorry this chapter took so long to put up, but it's longer than the other ones so I hope the can make up for it. As always, please review, it will only take at most 30 seconds of your life but it will make my day! I hope you enjoy this chapter... But I am starting school next week so updates might be slower than they all ready are. Sorry.
.:Review Response:.
ThePaintedKittyKat: Aww stop it you're making me blush!
Cloudjumper Kat: Here they are, live on the fanfiction site. Doesn't work as well does it?
Badgerkit- Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. *Evil grin*
Fire lily: Yup! He has a black pelt and so does Night and I realized that I didn't have a father for the two girls. Crane was the perfect fit.
The Albino Wolf: Hahaha! :3
Chapter 2: Arrow's POV
Arrow yawned, still tiered from being on the dawn patrol this morning. His mentor; Kitsune, had insisted that if Arrow made a habit of getting up early, he would not regret it. She would then tell Arrow stories of how she and her brother Flame, who was now leader of the Pack of the Plains, would get up at the creak of dawn every morning to watch that sunrise.
A pretty pale grey vixen smiled at Arrow and padded towards him. Arrow smiled back, but it wasn't her looks that snapped him out of his thoughts, it was the scent of the small rabbit she was holding in her jaws. And after all, Doe was his sister, so any other feeling that sibling love would be just weird.
"Hey Arrow!" Doe said, her fluffy grey speckled tail waving behind her as she smiled at her brother. Arrow dipped his head in greetings. Doe dropped the rabbit between them and took the first bite, ripping away one of the rabbit's hind leg. She tossed it in the air and caught it in her jaws again.
Arrow took a bite out of the rabbit's stomach, spitting the brown fur out of his mouth. Doe narrowed her eyes at Arrow, as he was always as playful as she was when it came to food.
"Why so glum, chum?" Doe asked, nudging Arrow with her shoulder. Arrow took an other bite of the rabbit, a bit of blood staining the fur near his bottom jaw.
"Kitsune dragged me on the dawn patrol again." Arrow said with a sigh. Doe let out a small laugh before realize Arrow was serious.
"Again? Didn't you two go yesterday? And that day before before yesterday?" Doe asked, tilting her head to the side. Arrow nodded, his eye lids drooping a little. Doe flattened her ears to her head and whispered,"Ouch."
"Maybe you should go rest. Kitsune won't make you go on the sunhigh patrol right?" Doe suggested. Arrow let out an other long sigh and shook his head. "I am on the evening hunting party though." Arrow told her. Doe smiled and shoved him towards the apprentice's tunnel.
"What are you waiting for then? You got nothing to do, go on!" Doe said with a playful smile. Arrow nodded and walked to the apprentice's tunnel, his paws rubbing the ground as he made his way to a good power nap.
Silently he slipped into the apprentices' tunnel. It was dark and cool, the dirt under his paws soft from being dug out and stepped on many times. At first the tunnel was simply a slightly narrow tunnel but then suddenly it opened up to an underground clearing. Moss, feathers and torn up grass padded the area, making it a great place for apprentices.
Arrow shook his head as he spotted his brother, Hiccup gently snoring as he peacefully slept on his side. Arrow opened his mouth to wake him up, angry that he had to get up early every morning and go on patrols while his brother simply slept for half the day. But then Arrow remembered that Hiccup had been on the Moon-high patrol. Arrow shut his mouth and quietly lay down on spot in the clearing that had thicker moss.
Every time Arrow looked or though bout Hiccup about a million questions fluttered in his mind like flies on a carcass. Hiccup wasn't his and Doe's real brother but when their father found him almost dead at the edge of the territory, their mother had no choice but to take him in. Both Arrow's parents had retired to the elders den now. Arrow, Doe and Hiccup had been their last litter.
Fallow and Tall had first given birth to Swoop and Dusk. When they were apprentices, Fallow and Tall tried for an other litter but were unsuccessful as their only kit of that litter was a stillborn. Then, not to long after Swoop was named deputy Fallow gave birth to Doe and Arrow. The medicine cat, Dapple, thought that the elderly queen would never make it but Fallow surprised everyone but giving birth to three strong kits. But on the third night, one of the kits caught a terrible fever from the cold. He died on his fifth day.
Then Tall found Hiccup and thought that it would help her get over the loss of their kit, but Fallow never fully recovered after his death. After Doe, Arrow and Hiccup became apprentices the queen retired to the elders den as did Tall, wanting to stay with his mate.
With all these thoughts and memories going through Arrow's head he quickly dozed off with realizing it.
. . .
Arrow was awaken by someone poking him. He opened his right eye with a grunt and saw Breeze standing before him. Breeze poked him again making Arrow slowly rise up to his feet.
"Alright, alright, I'm awake." Arrow muttered trying to blink the sleepiness from his eyes. Breeze smiled, "Good, cause we are going on a hunting party. It's almost sunset, come on." Breeze urged on. Arrow nodded and padded after her. Waiting not far from the entrance of the apprentices' tunnel stood Kitsune, Breeze's mentor; Heather and small pale brown fox known as Scamper. Arrow guessed that this was the hunting party.
Heather dipped her head to Arrow and Breeze while Kitsune and Scamper seemed to have a small argument about prey. Heather toss the one of the three mice that were in front of her to Breeze. "Share." Heather ordered to Breeze, flicking her tail towards Arrow. Breeze dipped her head o her mentor and then turned to Arrow.
Breeze took the first bite as Arrow nibbled at the mouse's back. Arrow finally took a full bite and then pushed the mouse towards Breeze. Breeze looked at Arrow in confusion before taking an other bite.
"You can have the rest," Arrow told her. Breeze flicked her ear. "I already ate." He admitted. As soon as Breeze finished that mouse the hunting party took off.
Arrow smelled the air in search for any scent left behind by mouse, rabbit or maybe even birds but there was nothing. The sun was setting and the smaller prey would be going away to their dens by now.
The five foxes padded in silence until Kitsune turned on them to tell the two apprentices what would be going down.
"Alright! Today we will be working on a very important skill if you are to be part of a pack! Teamwork! Breeze and Heather; you will be working together and myself, Arrow and Scamper will be working together! The ground who brings back the most prey will get to skip a day of cleaning the elders' den." Kitsune announced, knowing that having a day off of boring duties would make the two apprentices work harder.
Arrow shrugged, he didn't really mind cleaning out the elders' den, at least not as much as the other apprentices. This was because the elders were his parents and he felt that it was better for his parents to be sleeping on fresh moss and feather.
"Go!" Kitsune shouted. Breeze and Heather took off, heading west and Arrow followed Scamper as he led the way to the opposite direction that the other two vixens were going.
Arrow smelled the wind one more time but this time he caught the scent of a vole. "There should be a vole not to far south from here." Arrow advised. Kitsune nodded, "Very good Arrow. Now Arrow will creep up behind it and me and Scamper will go on either side if Arrow fails to kill it first." Kitsune ordered the two younger foxes.
Arrow creeped forward, carefully making sure that he was in a spot that the wind wouldn't drift his scent over to the vole. Soon, the little rodent came into view. Silently he crouched and began moving closer and closer towards it. He went very slowly as a sudden movement could scare the vole away in an instant.
When he was close enough Arrow shot forward, pinning the small creature down with one paw. He bit down on it's head, taking it life quickly.
"Good kill Arrow." Scamper purred as he padded forward. Arrow turned around to face Scamper but as he did he spotted something in the distance. It was what seemed like silhouettes of many foxes, and all of them heading to where The Pack of Plains camp was located.
"Look!" Arrow cried out, his voice slightly muffled by the vole he was holding in his jaws. Kitsune's eyes widened and she sprinted ahead. Arrow and Scamper had no choice but to chase after her.
"Hurry, it could be a raid!" Kitsune yelled as she ran, quickly glancing over her shoulder. Arrow considered it at first, but then he realized that they were coming from The Pack of Forest territory, and they hadn't done anything to them. They had battled The Pack of the River a few weeks back but The Pack of the Forest?
Curiosity pushed Arrow to go faster. They got to camp just a few moments later then the large group of foxes and he dropped his vole as he realized that it was The Pack of the Forest. But not just a couple warriors. The whole Pack of the Forest. He could feel Scamper's pale brown fur spike up in alarm next to him.
Seeing the shocked looks on his clan mates's faces a dark flame coloured fox with russet legs, tail and a white underbelly leapt onto a rock ledge that was just poking out of the rock wall at the edge of camp.
He was a strong and powerful fox, muscles could be seen flexing under his coat as he easily jump onto the ledge. It was a little under a meter over the ground and he had no trouble at all.
"Pack of the Plains!" He shouted. Most of the pack was already out of their dens so the was no need to wait. "As you may or may not have heard, the hunters that have been tracking the Pack of the Forest have found their camp and viciously murdered many foxes of the Pack of the Forest without mercy. We are sorry for your losses." The flame coloured fox announced as he dipped his head to the large group of foxes huddled together.
Several warriors of Arrow's pack dipped their heads and muttered to each other, but Arrow stayed stiff and silent. His yellow eyes flashed towards a sobbing black and white vixen. Next to her was an other vixen. The second one was of a very light ginger and had white paws, white muzzle and a white tail tip. Arrow also noticed that one of her eye was cloudy instead of a gleaming amber.
Bright, Arrow thought. He had heard of her when he was just a kit. The warrior who had lost her sight to hunter. That was when the Pack of the Forest realized they were being hunted. The bullet had been slowed down by a thick waterfall, sparing Bright's life.
Bright was nuzzled the sobbing vixen, a few tears falling from her own eyes. Arrow's attention then turned to a tall red fox stepping forward. He had a white patch on his chest and bright yellow eyes. Arrow recognized the fox from gatherings. He was the proud leader of the Pack of the Forest, Flash, and he had quite a legacy, but that was a whole other story.
Flash's usually powerful and strong vibe was replaced by a look of sadness, grief, pain and misery. He must of lost someone close, as Flash was usually a very tough and proud fox. Many others in their pack had the same look on their faces. Something really bad must of went down in their territory, after all, they were all hiding in the Pack of the Plain's territory.
The fox on the ledge continued, "Their territory is no longer available to them. The hunters have also situated their camp... Which is why they will be stay with us until they feel that the hunters have given up." He announced.
Arrow's pack let out howls and cries of protest. A red fox with a orange underbelly leapt forward. "How will we feed our selfs? We barely have enough for us!" He cried out.
"Yah!" Cheered some warriors, obviously not pleased with the thought of an other pack staying with them. A dark brown fox with white ear tips then jumped to the red and orange fox's side.
"How long will they be staying here, slurping away at our food and water, lying around will we work our claws off trying to feed not one but two packs?" He snarled at two foxes of the opposite pack. One was a slender dark russet vixen that Arrow knew as Torch. He knew he because of getting into a fight at the gathering with his older brother, Dusk. The fox next to her was her brother, Grass.
Torch wrinkled her nose and bared her fangs at the dark brown fox. Arrow guessed that Tunnel probably didn't like the Pack of the Forest, as he wasn't usually the one to pick fights.
"Diablo, Tunnel, that's enough!" The flame coloured fox growled sternly before turning back to the foxes huddled in the middle of camp. "Please make yourselves at home. Flash, Utopia, Swoop, we can meet in my den. Dapple, help Shade will the healing please. Let's see..."
Flash dipped his head and muttered, "Thanks Flame."
Flame dipped his head back before continuing; "Heart, will you show the warriors of the Pack of the Forest around?" Flame asked the queen, clearly he wasn't going to assign any of his warriors to go to close to the Pack of the Forest after the sudden outburst. But he wasn't going to leave his own warriors doing nothing.
"I need Blood, Dusk, Scamper and Leap to enlarge the warriors' tunnel. Willow, Morning and Hiccup, you enlarge the apprentices' tunnel. Kitsune and Diablo, you take care of the elders' pine. The nursery is large enough as it is." Flame ordered. If the Pack of the Forest was going to stay with them, Flame wouldn't just let them sleep out in the cold, especially with leaf-fall coming.
"Wait, but how will we know how much bigger it has to be?" Asked a soft voice. Flame turned his head to look down at a pale ginger vixen with soft yellow eyes.
Flame gave Morning a small smile, "You can figure it out." He told her. She sighed and padded back to where the ret of the apprentices were.
"Arrow, you will show the kits, queens and apprentices around." Flame ordered. Arrow was a bit in shock at first but he then gulped and nodded. Flame smiled at the young fox.
"All injured are to be treated by Shade and Dapple. Screech, show the elders around. I think that's about it. Alright, now hurry along." Flame ordered then leapt down the the ledge only to leapt back a few moments later and disappear into the large crack in the rock wall behind the ledge followed by Flash, Utopia and Swoop.
Arrow bit his tongue and padded towards the foxes from the Pack of the Forest. He cleared his throat.
"Um, hey! I'm Arrow and I'll be showing the queens, kits and apprentices around. Come with me!" Arrow said awkwardly, flicking his tail in his direction.
A few cats padded forward, a silver queen with two pups, one pure black with silver and white speckles and the other one pale grey with silver and white speckles. There was also an albino vixen with pinkish-red eyes. He recognized her as Icicle. Next to Icicle was a light brown fox with a red undertone. Feather was his name if Arrow was not mistaken. Behind the silver queen was an other queen but this one was a dusty brown and a white underbelly and nice green eyes. Four kits were running circles around her, jumping and battling each other playfully.
"This way." Arrow barked shyly, being around this many foxes from the other pack was a bit stressing. Arrow looked around camp. No one was showing the nursery to anyone yet, so Arrow decided to start there.
The nursery was a deep tunnel much like the apprentices' tunnel but instead of one big underground clearing, there was one big clearing with a few other little sections connected to it. The little sectors were just smaller hollows and that was where the kits and queen slept.
"This is the nursery!" Arrow announced once he reached the big clearing. Arrow heard a queen tell her kits that this was where they would be sleeping for a while. This made Arrow's fur prickle. He realized that the Pack of the Forest really was going to stay.
Arrow led his group of cats out of the nursery and towards the warriors' tunnel. This one was a lot like the apprentices' just a lot larger and it was connected to the nursery.
On the other side of camp was the apprentices' tunnel but in between the apprentices' tunnel and the warriors' was the fresh-kill pile.
It was a bit low and Arrow was a bit embarrassed as he flicked his tail towards it. He didn't want the foxes from the Pack of the Forest to think they were bad hunters. Arrow heard Icicle snort and mutter something to Feather. Arrow narrowed his eyes and flicked his ear before continuing towards the apprentices' tunnel.
"This is the apprentices' tunnel! You two will be sleeping here with us." Arrow said specifically to Icicle and Feather. Arrow padded into the apprentices' tunnel and he purred a greeting to Doe, Morning and Willow. Doe's pelt was dirty from digging and there was dirt on the moss and feathers.
Arrow heard Icicle hiss in disgust making him flatten his ears to his head.
"Why is it so dirty? No wonder you smell so bad." Icicle sneered to Arrow. Arrow narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth, but he had his back turned to her so she couldn't see, but Willow certainly did and the older apprentice quickly stepped forward.
"Actually, it's only dirty because we are making the tunnel larger. What we are doing is digging so there will be dirt at first but we are going to put fresh moss and feather above so you won't notice the dirt. As for how we smell..." Willow barked swiftly before Arrow could get himself in trouble, but Doe cut Willow off before he could finish.
"As for the smell, we could say the same thing about you." Doe growled. Icicle narrowed her eyes and flattened her ears to her head but said nothing.
Arrow finally turned around and padded out of the tunnel, looking over his shoulder to signal the two Pack of the Forest apprentices that is was time to leave. The rest of the group had waited outside, not really needing to have a look inside.
Arrow glanced at the sky, the sun had just set and stars were slowly beginning to dot the sky. Arrow sighed, he need to hurry if he wanted to show the rest of the foxes around the whole camp.
"That big pine with the rock next to is the elders' pine. We made it the elders' because it's one of the oldes- most experienced things we have in our territory. It keeps them warm during leaf-bare and shelters them. Of course, we built extra around it to make sure they were safe, and they have the thickest moss and the most feathers, so don't worry about them." Arrow barked his tail wagging.
"The ledge you saw Flame speak to us from earlier is his den. Well, the crack in back of it is. Next to that you'll see an other crack in the rock wall, only larger. That's were the healers and sick and injured foxes sleep. Oh, and that's the dirt tunnel!" Arrow barked as he flicked his tail towards a deep hole in the ground near the nursery.
Arrow looked around, he had pretty much covered it. Arrow smiled, he was proud of himself and he was sure his mentor would too. It was starting to get late and Arrow showed the queens and kits to their dens.
At the entrance of the tunnel, the silver queen stopped and pushed her two pups forward. One was a black pup with silver and grey specks while the other was light grey with silver and white specks. They both had a slightly lighter underbelly.
"Say thank you girls." The queen urged on. The black pup nodded to her mother before padding a bit closer to Arrow, the grey pup at her side. "Thanks." Said the black pup.
"For showing us around." The grey pup finished. The silver queen seemed pleased with her pups and she padded into the den, gently flicking her tail. Arrow smiled, they were sweet pups.
"No problem..." Arrow said but he realized that he didn't know their names. He waited for them to finish his sentence, and just like she had done before, the grey pup finished him of.
"Mint and Night." She said. Arrow guessed that Night was the black one as he was more fitting and Mint did have mint green eyes, but so did the black one. Arrow shrugged and padded back to the apprentices' tunnel. He felt the scent of the forest foxes flood into his nose as he entered. Icicle and Feather had curled up next to each other, far from the apprentices from the other pack.
Arrow padded forward and lay next to Doe, their pelts touching slightly. He quickly dozed off, knowing tomorrow would be a energy needing day.
. . .
Arrow woke up to a howl of distress. Arrow jumped to his feet and looked around the den. Every one else in the den seemed to also be awake. But not everyone was there. Breeze and Heather had never come back. Arrow glanced at Willow and at once the two foxes shot out of the tunnel. Willow was Breeze's brother and the two were very close. Especially after they lost their two siblings Coal and Soot to a bear when they ventured out of camp as kits.
The light was blinding as Arrow shot out of the den so quickly. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust before he saw Blood, a senior warrior, pulling Heather off of a forest fox. The fox got up and seemed to have no injuries but Heather had a cut on her shoulder and her flank and there was blood on her pelt. Behind her he spotted Breeze, she also had injuries and blood on her pelt. Surely that one fox couldn't of done all that damage and get away without a scratch.
Willow raced to Breeze, leaving Arrow to sprint to catch up.
"Breeze! What happened to you?" Willow asked. Breeze sat down, holding a possibly injured paw in the air so it wouldn't touch the ground.
"We were hunting... And all of a sudden Heather saw theses three figures. Rogues. We figured that we could take them so we attack. We chase them off but it was along battle. Now tell me, why is there a Pack of the Forest warrior in our camp?" Breeze insisted. Arrow and Willow winced then looked at each other.
Arrow turned back to Breeze, who had a puzzled look on her face.
"Well... Last night when you were out hunting and taken down rogues, Flash and two warriors came to our camp. They told Flame about how their territory had been invaded by hunters and that they had lost many foxes. They told Flame that they couldn't stay. And they asked if they could stay in our territory until it was safe enough to go back..." Arrow explained. Breeze seemed even more confused then before
"So, the whole Pack of the Forest is in our camp right now?" Breeze asked. Willow and Arrow nodded.
"Wow, and who-" Breeze was cut off by her mentor. "Come Breeze! We're going to get checked up by the healers..." Heather called, Blood having explained to her what had happened. Breeze bounced off then glanced over her shoulder.
"Catch you two later!" She shouted before disappearing into the healers' den.
. . .
At about sun-high, the two pups from yesterday bounced up to him. Arrow smiled to them and took a bite out off the small mouse lied between his paws.
"Hey Arrow!" Exclaimed the grey one, Mint. Night padded forward and swiped at Arrow's tail. Arrow narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"What are you doing?" He asked, a laugh bubbling up in his throat. Mint padded forward and sat in front of Arrow.
"We're bored." Night barked blankly. Arrow let out a small laugh, remembering how boring everything seemed to be when he was a kit. All he ever wanted to do was become an apprentice. And he was sure they did too. Arrow smirked, an idea popping up in his head. It could get him and lots of trouble, but he had enjoyed it when snuck out of camp with him.
"You two wanna go on an adventure?"
Hey, you there, please please review. Also, I think I'll have one question at the end of each chapter! So here is this the question for this chapter! :)
.:Question:. Which pack do you prefer?