The Forest Again
Tiny was walking on the fence at night when he heard Rusty and his friend, Smudge, talking, not too far away. The black cat hid himself near the fence.
"You're not going into the woods, are you?
"Just for a look."
"You won't get me in there. It's dangerous! Henry said he went into the woods once."
"That fat old tabby never went into the woods! He's hardly been beyond his own garden since his trip to the vet. All he wants to do is to eat and sleep."
"No, really. He caught a robin there."
"Well, if he did, that was before the vet. Now he complains about birds because they disturb his dozing."
"Well, anyway, Henry told me there are all sorts of dangerous animals out there. Huge wildcats who eat live rabbits for breakfast and sharpen their claws on old bones!"
"I'm only going for a look around. I won't stay long."
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you!"
Tiny can hear the black and white cat jump off clumsily. He peeked out at Rusty, who seem nervous and scared, was padding out to the forest. Something inside him screamed to stop his brother from going, but a part of him also didn't want to control someone again. Tiny decided to follow the orange tom. He climbed up a tree and started to jump from branch to branch.
He watched as Rusty dropped to a hunting crouch, surprised. Where in the world did he know how to hunt? The tom put his pads forward carefully, getting closer to a mouse. Tiny suddenly scented a group of cats. A blue-gray she-cat, a golden yellow tom and a bit away, a gray cat with a dark stripe down his back about Rusty's size. Wait, there was another scent. He saw an oddly fox-like tom, who suddenly looked and smelled just like a fox.
The sudden change of the creature's size made a loud group of cracking twigs and crunching leaves. Rusty instantly sat up, his bell ringing and alarmed. He noticed the red white-tipped tail and creep to it.
"No! Rusty! What are you doing?!"
The young gray cat shot forward, making a lot of noises. Rusty flicked his ears to it but continued concentrating on the tail.
"You mouse-brain!"
The cat slammed its paws on Rusty, causing him to be thrown sideways. The other one immediately launched onto his brother's back, making him squirm under the weight. Tiny was about to step in when Rusty froze then flipped on his back, trapping the attacker. He thrashed free and and ran to the housefolk nests, Tiny following above.
Rusty skidded to a stop, turned and faced the other cat. The kittens crashed, knocking both of them out. Rusty regained his footing and waited. The other cat sat up, licked his forepaw and started talking. Tiny could not hear the conservation from so far up. However, he could see his brother questioning the cat and the cat answering. Then two scents wafted up to his nose.
The blue cat and yellow tom was about to step in when they scented it too. A small black cat with a white tipped tail padded into the clearing with a large, muscular, scared, brown tabby following behind.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" the large cat purred.
Tiny would never forget that voice, even though deeper in tone, and pelt.
"Tigerpaw."