ShadedOak's Story

Chapter Seven

ShadedOak sat up in a tree, patiently stalking a bird. Bluespark waited below, amber eyes glowing. She slowly padded up the branch, silent as the wind. The thrush unfolded its wings, getting ready to fly away. As it started to fly off, she leaped forward, slamming a paw down on its neck.

Snatching it up in her jaws, she landed neatly in another tree, then climbed down to where her daughter was waiting. She set it down with a purr.

"Good catch!" Bluespark purred, "Too bad Frostshadow didn't stay with us long enough for you to teach him to hunt like that."

Frostshadow had decided to go back to SkyClan, curious about his father and mother's clan. His mother had told him the directions to reach it, wishing him well. Before that, he had gone with his mother, who was in search of her new home. ShadowClan had wished them well, and Echostar understood why her family had to leave.

"Let's share this then keep going," She glanced up at the sky, seeing that it was sun-high, "We'll be able to make good time if we move fast. I'll teach you as we go."

"Alright," Bluespark took a bite of thrush, after taking out some of the feathers. When they had finished, they buried the bones, and kept moving.

The air was filled with the scent of prey and growth. It was warm, and that was something ShadedOak was thankful for. If she had been traveling in leaf-bare, she would have likely gone hungry a lot more than she did in ShadowClan.

A rustling in the grass made her fur spike up, imeadiatly alert for any threat. A voice drifted over to her from where the rustling was.

"I can smell other cats," The voice broke off for a moment, "And no, I'm not lying! See?" A tan tom with dark-brown tabby stripes emerged from the grass, a dark-gray tom following him.

ShadedOak stared warily at him, eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"

"I'm Nettle, a loner that lives near DuskClan. And you?" Nettle replied. "and that's Bramble," He flicked his tail at the dark-gray tom.

"There's other clans?" She stared in shock.

He laughed, "I have no idea if there's 'other clans.' All the clans I know about are DuskClan, IceClan, and ShadeClan."

She shook out her pelt, relaxing. "I'm ShadedOak, and that's my daughter Bluespark." She had the feeling she could trust these cats.

Nettle narrowed his eyes in thought, "You must be clan cats, judging by your names." He glanced up, his green eyes warm, "Why are you here anyways?"

Her mother's words echoed in her mind in that second, you will rise within the dusk. Did DuskClan have something to do with this?

Bramble stared at them warily, fur on end. He glanced over at his friend, exasperated, "You should really be more careful, Nettle. What if you try to make friends with cats who want to kill you?"'

"Calm down, Bramble. I think I know friendly cats when I see them. And I can tell these cats aren't going to kill me," Nettle laughed. "Unless they're really good at hiding it."

ShadedOak smothered a laugh, he had practically known her best talent, hiding her true motives. Her eyes turned hard as a scent touched her nose.

"Thorn's rogues..." She hissed, tail lashing. Bluespark's eyes flashed angrily.

"Will they ever leave us alone?!" She snarled. Nettle looked over at her in confusion.

"Who's Thorn?" His question was cut off as a black tom leaped out at him, knocking the breath out of him.

"No!" She lunged, eyes blazing, "Get away from him, Raven!" She grabbed the rogues paw, tossing him towards Bluespark.

A silver she-cat jumped at ShadedOak, but she was ready. As she was bowled over, she used the impact to get the she-cat underneath her. Raking her claws across the rogue's belly, she then kicked the silver she-cat away, who ran off.

The other rogues ran as well, seeing they couldn't beat them. "Ugh! Will Thorn ever leave us alone?" ShadedOak hissed, annoyed.

"Ok, before I ask any more questions, I want to know who Thorn is." Nettle flicked his tail, pine-green eyes glinting, "and we should get somewhere safe before we get attacked again."

Bluespark nodded, and she and mother followed the two toms. They followed a well-worn, but well hidden, path. Herbs lined it, burdock and other healing herbs. Most of the herb scent drowned out any cat scent, a welcome thing for one hiding.

The group emerged into a clearing surrounded by thick brambles, and a small stream running across the right side. There were several dens within the brambles, which looked like they were warm in leaf-bare.

"Alright, now that we've made it to our camp, we can talk," Nettle announced.

"Now that we can talk...I'll tell you a bit about Thorn. He's a cruel, vicious cat with no heart. And he's annoyingly persistant too." The she-cat explained.

"Who are they?" A red-orange tom poked his head out of one of the dens, eyes glinting with curiosity. "And why were they allowed in our camp?"

"Oh, hi Red," Bramble greeted his friend, "That's ShadedOak and Bluespark. Nettle seems intent on trusting them right away. Even though we've just met them." He shot a meaningful look at the tan tom.

"I can just tell they can be trusted! Would you calm down, Bramble?" Nettle exclaimed. "I wouldn't just invite anyone here, and you know that."

"We can be trusted, I assure you that," ShadedOak looked over at Red and Bramble.

"Well...it that case, I guess we could maybe let them stay awhile?" Red looked pleadingly at Bramble.

The dark-gray tom sighed, seeming unable to resist the young cats request. "Fine...but only for a while."

ShadedOak chuckled, glancing over at Bluespark, "I've heard that before!" She laughed, "And that cat grew fond of me."

"Anyways, let's get you two some nests to sleep in," Nettle let the way to an empty den, where there were empty hollows where there would be nests.

          "We will be grateful that you allowed us to stay here. Also, can you show us where those clans are? I'm curious about what their like," The small warrior asked Nettle.

He nodded, answering with a purr, "I'd love to show you. These clans might be the same though. But what do I know? I'm not a clan cat."