The Path (A Warrior Cat Story) (Book 2)

Chapter 3: Feeling Better

He looked at me a bit confused but when he saw what I was pointing at he began hopping around. I had done my best to tell them what it looked like before, but now, it was so much more beautiful... I looked at him, he was smiling and I was happy to see him happy.
"That's the lake! Thats amazing! I cant wait... Let's go check it out..." He said to me. I looked at the lake for a few seconds and thought about what he had said. Once I thought back on Mint and Oister in the ditch, I changed my mind and I shook my head at him.
He looked at me a bit disappointed and he lowered his head to the ground and nodded his understanding.
"We can't, that is a lot further than it looks, we need to go hunt for Oister and Mint." I said to him. He looked at me and nodded, he was fully comprehending what I was telling him. I was happy with it, normally he would want to do the opposite of what I would say. It always annoyed me.
"You go that way, I'll go this way..." He said to me. He pointed towards the lake, for a few moments I thought about telling him no. But I doubt he was going to actually go to the lake with his mate and Mint at the ditch. There was no way he would get back by tonight.
I nodded to him and then began walking in the direction in the woods, it was not my favorite place to hunt, I often walked into an animal before I could actually catch its scent, I did prefer the grounds, I could see more and I could often see before I smelled something.
Windclan was my favorite place, and the more land around it was just absolutely beautiful. It was not like the Thunderclan area when the cold time of the year was about to begin I had heard, but the Windclan was like this all year long.
The cold time of the year was coming near, I could feel it in the air, and when I had woken up it had been a bit chilly. It was fine now, but it seemed like the hot season was nearly over. That was always the best time of the year to hunt as well, it was going to be hard trying to get cat's to join us when it starts getting cold.
I sniffed around in the air, I did not smell anything for a few moments but I managed to catch the drift of a squirrel. With the Wind being the way it was it was kind of hard for me. Onestar said if I really wanted to join Windclan, I would have to get used to it, and I could also use that to my andvantage.
If we got in a skirmish with another clan, or something else along those lines we could use the wind to guide their scent towards us and manage to sneak up on them. I did not want to think about fighting clans already, I shook my head and began walking over to the squirrel.
Once I saw it in the woods, I lowered my body for it. I remember back when Tristan told me not to ever kill an animal or anything of that sort, they were just trying to live their life like us, I knew it, and the Starclan cats told me all the time about that.
"Each prey you catch, spread your thanks to Starclan, every life is precious." Firestar had said to me. I looked at the squirrel, I felt bad for it, it was sitting on the ground grabbing a nut and biting into it.
For a few moments I thought about to catching it but Firestar had also told me, they are made so that cats can live. I needed to head back to Mint with something anyways... I shook my head and began sneaking up on the squirrel.
Slowly but surely, each step making sure I was not stepping onto anything like a stick. Once I was close enough I ran, the squirrel heard me and instantly began trying to run up on the nearest tree.
To be truthful, I had gone after it a bit too early. I was fast enough, not quite as fast as Mint was though, to catch up on at and jump on it as it began climbing up on the tree. I grabbed it and then quickly finished it off so that it did not have to suffer.
I looked at its dead body, and its eyes staring back at me and I shook it off, I had to think about the cats around me before I could think about other animals. Besides, my owners often gave me meat before anyways.
I would much rather prefer a life out here than a life as a kittypet. I shook my head and then I scratched into the ground and dropped the squirrel in the small little spot I had made for it. Then I put dirt over it, to hide it from anything that tried sneaking up on it and stealing it from me.
Once I was sure I was good to head off and catch something else, I smelt the air and I smelt the scent of a rabbit from not too far away, right on the edge of the forest, I was surprised that a rabbit would ever think it was a good idea to head into the forest.
Maybe the rabbit was not thinking at all. I laughed it off and then I began walking over to where I had caught the smell, once I was there I looked around for it, but I saw no such luck. I sniffed again and then realized that it had snuck back into the moorlands.
I slowly began walking towards it again, once I saw it I lowered my head. I made sure that it did not see me, I made sure that I was going in the opposite way the it was looking. Once I was there I lowered myself once again, thinking of the best way to catch it.
Once I was ready, I nodded to myself. Then I ran up on it, I easily caught it right before it had time to run and I snapped its neck before it had a chance to fight back on me. Kettle told me that he was always afraid of rabbits, he had gone blind in one of his eyes because of one when he was just around my age.
I grabbed it and then began carrying its heavy body back over to the squirrel, I heard a cat cough from behind me and I quickly turned around to make sure that it was not one of those rogues and that they had not been following us. I nodded luckily as a noticed it was Kettle, he had 2 mice he was carrying with him.
He was better at this, and he was faster. He had been doing this for a lot longer than I had as well though. He smiled and then he walked over to me and he dropped his mice beside me, he then nodded back at me.
Kettle was a good cat, if I had to choose the leader of the clans, I would happily choose Kettle to be one of those. But I also would not complain if he ended up choosing the live with me in whichever clan that I decided I wanted to live in. He would definitely make for a good deputy to have by my side, I knew that was one thing for sure.
"I have a squirrel further back in those woods, lets go after and get it, then we can head back and make sure that Mint and Oister are both okay." I said to him. He smiled to me and then he nodded to me and gave me 1 of the mice.
"Here, lets eat first that way it isn't hard for us to carry so much on us." He said to me. I looked at him and then I nodded, he was a very smart cat, I don't know how he could think, and plan out things so fast, if he decided he didn't want to be a leader, he would be a fantastic deputy to have by my side.
Me and him both began eating up our mice. I ate into it, it was not bad for me to eat a mice, but I much rather prefered rabbit, much like Mint. But I also knew, Mint needed something bigger to eat than I did, she was going to be really hungry when she woke up, if she hasn't already.
I'm glad that Kettle had thought through keeping Oister there to take care of her in case she woke up, Oister needed a good day of rest anyways, I could tell that all of the cats were exhausted after the journey so far.
I did not want to tell Mint that we were so close to the lake though, she would be so happy, and she would want to get there as soon as possible. That 1 cat, Ginger had been with us, but she decided she wanted to head back to the mountains cats before the first day was over.
I could not complain about it, Kettle told me she was a good cat, but I wasn't so sure if that was true. She had been complaining the whole day, eventually I told her just to go back, she didn't say anything, but by the time the night came she decided she wanted to head back that morning.
I knew Kettle was a bit disappointed, but I don't think that the rest of us were all that upset. Once we were up on the squirrel, I looked at the dirt spot that I had left it, but it was torn open and the squirrel was gone.
I held Kettle to a stop for a few moments, I wondered what it could have been that could have gotten the squirrel, Kettle looked at me a bit confused as too what was going on. But he was a smart enough cat to see the dirt spot that I had left the squirrel.
"Be on the look out, something to our squirrel, it could be a dog or something." I said to Kettle. He looked at me and then he nodded. I sniffed the air trying to catch some scents and make sure that they were not following our trail back to Mint and Oister.
I did not smell a dog anywhere nearby, but instead I cought the smell of a cat. I could tell that Kettle smelt it as well as he hissed. It did not smell like one of those rogues so we were lucky on that part. I looked at Kettle and then I nodded at him.
"Well... The rabbit should be enough for both Mint and Oister. Whatever cat took it, if they were that desperate for food maybe they needed it more than us." I said to Kettle. He looked as if he had not heard for for a few moments, I looked at him a slight bit confused as too what he could be doing.
He then dropped the rabbit and then held me back to be quiet. Suddenly I heard what he was talking about, something was walking around nearby us. Obviously it was a cat, but not a very smart one by the sound and looks of it.
It was walking very loudly like it had never been, or even heard what it was like to live in the woods. I was not even that dumb when I had first gone into the woods. Kettle then ran after the cat once we both heard the exact direction the noise had been coming from.
I quickly followed Kettle, upset that the cat had taken our food, and was ready to fight for it if there was any left. Once I got there I saw that Kettle had a cat pinned down the ground and he looked at me, I nodded to Kettle.
I then realized as I looked at the cat that it was just a little kit, no more than 4 moons old and I pushed Kettle of the little kitten. Kettle looked at me a bit confused.
"What are you doing? You're just going to let this cat take our food?" He said to me. I looked at Kettle for a few moments and then I looked at the kitten that was still sitting on the ground with a bit of a scared look sitting on his face.
"Kettle... This cat is a little kit, look at it, do you think that it could get food for itself?" I said to Kettle. Kettle got off of me and he shook his head but he still looked a fair bit upset at the kitten.
"No... But we need that, Mint and Oister are both in bad condition." Kettle said to me. I nodded to him in agreement, the squirrel was still sitting on the ground beside the kit that was staring at both of us a bit scared.
"I'm sorry... I'm just so hungry..." He said to both of us. I looked at the poor kit for a few moments and then I walked over and handed him the rest of the squirrel. Kettle looked at me a fair bit upset but he did not say anything about it thankfully, I'm sure that Mint and Oister would both happily take half a rabbit each anyways if they knew that it was to save a life of a kit.
"Where is your family little kit?" I said to the small little kitten. He sniffed his nose and then he lowered his head. It told me all that I really needed to know about what had happened with his family, but I waited for him to respond and tell me anyways.
"My mom is dead... I never knew my dad. My brother and my sister were with me..." The shekit said to me. I looked at her for a few moments. The little kit began bursting into tears and this time I could tell that Kettle was beginning to feel a bit bad about what he did.
"Do you need a home?" I said to the kit, she looked at me for a few moments. Then she looked at me with an excited look on her face and she nodded to me. I smiled at her and then I nudged myself against her just for her to make sure she knew that we were friendly cats even after the original encounter.
"Yes please... My brother ate a bad berry, and my sister starved to death... I cant make it much longer out here... Or... Or... Or I'll end up like my sister." She said to me. I looked at the small little kit, I could see her ribs from her under belly and I nodded to her my understanding.
"Stay with us, we have 2 other cats with us. We can take care of you, we are hear to rebuild a thing called clans, we might need your help, but if you decide a different path. We can take care of you for a while." I said to the cat. She looked at me and then she smiled. Kettle looked at me and smiled as well.
It was well spoken, I sat there for a few moments, and I let the little cat finish of the rest of the squirrel, and then I went and grabbed the rabbit that Kettle had left off, luckily there was not another cat that had stolen it this time.
"I was watching all of you for a few days, I was just scared to say anything. I saw your friend is she okay?" The little kit said to me. I looked at her for a few seconds. I noticed a big scratch on her foot and how she was wobbling with each step.
"Yes... She is okay. Get on Kettles back, he can help carry you." I said. I looked at Kettle to make sure that he was okay with it. Kettle nodded and she got on his back and then she began laughing happily as Kettle began giving her a ride.
"Oh this is fun! Hey... By the way... Those clans... My mother used to tell me stories about those. She said her parents were a part of them and told her stories as well." She said to me. As soon as she said it, both me and Kettle stopped ourselves.
I looked at the cat, was this the cat that Firestar told me about? He said it would tell me a lot that I needed to know about the falling of the clans. I had told Kettle about it as well. We both looked at each other, she looked at both of us a bit confused as to why we had stopped.
"Oh! That is cool! Tell us about it when we get back to our spot..." I said to her. She smiled and then nodded happily and I looked at Kettle and then nodded to him as well.
Then once we were all ready we began walking back over, the place was not too far away, we had not gone all that far in the end. Once we were there, Kettle dropped of the little kit and we all walked into the small little ditch.
Oister was sitting there, she was awake and she nodded to us as she saw the large rabbit when we walked in. She smiled to us and Kettle through it over to her.
I looked at Mint a bit sadly, she had not responded as we walked in so she was probably still unconscious. I nodded to Oister as she split the rabbit to where Mint was going to get more than she was.
I nodded to her gratefully as she began biting into the rabbit. She then looked at the little she kit a bit surprised to see that we had come back with another cat with us.
"I see you brought a friend... What's your name little one? I am Oister, those 2 that you came with our Kettle and Moon. That there is Mint, we are helping her, she was badly hurt." Oister said, pointing at each of us as she told her our names.
I nodded to her, she was very well spoken I always seemed to notice. She always seemed to make the cats around her more calm and cool. The she kit walked over to her and then nodded, she then smiled to Oister.
"Im Limp, my mother named be that because of my limp..." She said to Oister, I noticed it, I just thought it was because of the cut on her paw. But now that she had said something about it, I suppose it made since because she was limping in the back and not the front.
"Oh! Well look whos waking up!" She began saying to Limp, but then she noticed as Mint pulled herself up and she began stretching. She looked around a bit confused as she wondered was a kitten with us but then she nodded when she saw me.
"Hi Limp... Hey Moon... I'm sorry for slowing us down." She said to me. I looked at her and then I pushed myself against her. I always wish she didn't blame herself for everything that seemed to go wrong for us, most of the time it was my fault.
"Don't worry Mint... It's me and Kettles fault for pushing us too much." I began saying. Kettle lowered his head but he nodded his acknowledgement. I was glad that he knew that he was just pushing us too much now.
"Oh... Well... I think I will listen to you this time... Hopefully after a few days I will be feeling better..."