𝘼 𝙃𝘼𝙒𝙆'𝙎 𝙍𝙀𝙏𝙍𝙄𝘽𝙐𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉, warriors

──── 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞.

THE COOL AUTUMN grass tickled the kitten's nose as she moved with shocking grace toward her target, narrowing her blue eyes in deep concentration. Her ears were pinned back, and her tail still against the ground. One pawstep after the other, her belly fur brushing the soft earth, she moved ever closer. Her pink tongue ran over her muzzle as she paused, crouched down, waggled her hindquarters ever so slightly, and pounced.

     She drove her tiny claws into the ginger-and-white tail she had claimed as her prey, giggling when she heard a yelp of surprise. The tail belonged to a larger feline, who seemed less than pleased to have claws sinking through his fur.

     "Arch!" The big cat grunted, flicking his tail and sending the tiny kitten rolling away. He rose to his paws and shook out his patched fur of ginger and white, his pale blue eyes holding annoyance and exasperation. "I've told you to knock it off more than once now."

     Arch sat up and shook out her long brown fur. "But I'll never become a good hunter if I don't practice!"

     The older cat sighed and smoothed out his coat. "You will be a good hunter one day, my kitten. But it isn't fair to practice on me. You're tearing up my tail."

     The kitten huffed and glared at her father. "You weren't paying attention. I normally wouldn't be able to sneak up on you. So it's your fault for letting your guard down." She fluffed out her fur.

     Her father narrowed his eyes. "I was eating, and assumed you were doing the same."

     Arch snorted and waved her tail toward the den where she slept with her mother and sister. "Shadow Fox finished feeding us a while ago. She's resting with Jag."

     "Then why aren't you sleeping with them?" The ginger cat demanded. "It's midday. Nap time."

     The kitten dismissively flicked her tail. "I'm a whole month old. Naps are for newborns." She tilted her head up to the sky. "I thought I could practice hunting and impress Jag when she wakes up."

     Her father sat back and twitched his whiskers. "Your sister would be very impressed with you managing to sneak up on me, that’s for sure."

     Arch bounced on her paws gleefully. "Thank you, King!" She chirped, scampering away as she felt her fur warm up at her father's praise. King was a hard cat to earn approval from, especially when it came to hunting. Ever the blunt cat, she usually didn't mind, but even the smallest of praise from him was enough to warm her heart.

     She tumbled into a pile of tree litter and giggled delightedly as the red, gold, and orange leaves fluttered into the air, caught by a light autumn breeze that made her whiskers shiver. Scents filled her nose — warm prey scents as well as smells from the nearby farm where horses and cows left their smelly droppings. The kitten bounded through the undergrowth, her long fur rippling in the chilly breeze.

     The light brown molly skidded to a halt and inhaled the deep, cool scent of the wind, sitting down and closing her eyes. This place was her home, a thick stretch of undergrowth atop a wide hill, covered in oak trees. To one side, a vast expanse of moorland dominated the world, seeming to be like an endless green lake dotted with heather patches. To the other side, looming woods of oak and pine trees surrounded the lake, a huge body of water that was used by humans for many different things. Arch didn't know all about the strange hairless creatures that walked on two legs, but her father had told her what he knew from his time living with them. Shadow Fox, her mother, only spoke nasty comments about them, saying that they were cruel and that both of her daughters should stay well away from those monsters.

     Arch thought they smelled funny.

     She had seen them from a distance, but had never approached. Shadow Fox would punish both her and Jag if she found out her kittens went anywhere near humans like their father did. Arch was curious, because King always went to the ones near the lake for food and came back smelling strange. He always dismissed it as the human's scent, but Arch didn't like it at all. It made her feel sick, and the food he brought back was always hard and tasteless. She and Jag much rather preferred the freshly killed mice and sparrows that their mother brought back.