Warriors: Underneath the Silver Light

Chapter 18

Fawnbriar awakens to the sound of loud yapping from a distance. The she-cat's blue eyes widen as she looks over at her clanmates. They are all giving each other the same expression.

"Run!" Mistystorm exclaims as the patrol scatters and separates. Fawnbriar spots a nearby tree and climbs up it for her life. She stops at one of the lower branches, looking down to see a fox trying to climb up after her. She her eyes widen in fear. She had never encountered a fox before. Fawnbriar lets out a sigh once she realizes that foxes cannot climb.

"Hey!" Fawnbriar yells down at the fox. "You can't climb! Stop trying you furball!" She hisses. Not feeling threatened by the fox at all, the brown tabby leaps down from the tree boldly and lands on top of the fox, knocking it down to the ground. She notices that she has caught the fox by surprise and uses this to her advantage. She swiftly sinks her fangs into the fox's neck. The fox lets out a whimper as it slowly goes limp. Fawnbriar looks up proudly, looking at nearby trees to see if any of her clanmates had watched her. She looks into one tree and spots Frostpath looking down at her, his eyes larger than stones.

"You just killed a fox!" Frostpath yells. "The other foxes are going to come after you! You better climb right back up that tree now!"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Fawnbriar yells right back. "You're not my dad!"

"I am your dad!" Frostpath yells back shakily. "Now climb back up that tree!" He yowls. "I don't want you to get attacked by the other foxes!"

"No, I can take them down." Fawnbriar responds. "You're not my dad. I know that for a fact."

"I am your dad!" Frostpath yowls. "Now climb back up that tree!"

"No." Fawnbriar simply replies.

"Okay. If you want to be crowfood, that's not my problem." Frostpath responds.

I've never seen this side of him! Fawnbriar thinks. She looks around to notice that no other foxes are going after her right now, so she sits patiently, waiting for the other foxes to give up. And, eventually, they did once they realized that their targets were not coming down from their trees. Fawnbriar goes unnoticed.

Fawnbriar stands up proudly, her chest fur fluffing up. She grabs the fox by the scruff and begins to drag it in the direction her clanmates dashed off.

Once Mistystorm and Cinderlight spotted the dead fox, they were speeches.

"How did you do that?" Mistystorm asks with concern.

"It wasn't that hard. I just had to catch it by surprise and bite its neck." Fawnbriar answers with her head up high.

"That's... kind of scary of you, Fawnbriar." Cinderlight meows shakily. "I had no idea you were that dangerous. I knew you were good at battling, but wow. It's good that we're on your good side then!" She meows to her sister.

"This is a good accomplishment and all, Fawnbriar, but you still disobeyed me. You're lucky you're not dead right now." Frostpath meows.

"Why are you such a downer all of a sudden?" Fawnbriar asks. "You used to be more chill."

"I'm only like this because I care about you, Fawnbriar. I don't want to lose you." Frostpath answers, looking into her eyes sadly.

"If you're trying to make me regret it, isn't not working." Fawnbriar meows. "Let's get moving, shall we?" She meows. "Unless you think we should eat the fox?"

"Eat a fox?!" Cinderlight responds. "Are you crazy?!"

"Very crazy." Fawnbriar meows with a purr of amusement. "It's no different than any other fresh-kill, just much bigger. If we eat it, we won't be hungry for days!"

"I guess Fawnbriar does have a point here. I don't think we should leave it out here for the buzzards." Mistystorm meows.

"Then, we should leave it and let the other foxes come back and bury it!" Cinderlight replies. "I bet the other foxes cared about it!"

"If they actually cared about it, they would've fought me for revenge." Fawnbriar grumbles, getting a little annoyed by Cinderlight. "Besides, it's leaf-bare. It will be difficult for us to find any prey otherwise."

"I think we should eat it." Frostpath meows. "It's unusual, but we can manage. Like Fawnbriar mentioned, it's leaf-bare. If you don't want to eat it, you might just end up starving." He meows.

"Fine, I'm not eating any of it though." Cinderlight meows. Fawnbriar rolls her eyes and takes her first bite.

"This is actually pretty good!" Fawnbriar meows in between chews. Cinderlight lets out a sigh and then joins in.

"I knew you would start eating it at some point." Mistystorm meows. Then, the four cats eat until they can't no longer.

"I just want to nap now!" Cinderlight exclaims with a yawn.

"No," Fawnbriar meows. "We just woke up, we have to keep moving." She meows.

"She's right, lets go." Mistystorm meows. Then, the four ShadowClan warriors continue their journey.