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

Chapter 7: Good Job

I sat there for the longest time, just enjoying the sun rising in the horizon. I figured I would let me friends get a bit more rest before they woke up this morning. We were near the end, I had not noticed how tired I was until now, I almost fell asleep a couple of times while I was on guard duty.
The sun was nice and warm, but I could feel a slight breeze in the air which was telling me that this was the last I was going to see from the warm times from here on out. I smiled, it had been a while since I had pulled that one out of me.
Mint always was smiling, but at the same time she was always lowering herself compared to the cats all around us. Mint had been through the worst on this entire journey, she needed the rest more than any of us. She had not been sleeping well, but that was the least of her worries.
I felt upset at myself for the day that she had gone unconscious, I had felt something that exact morning that she was not okay, but I shook my head on it and we just kept on going. I only was doing it because it seemed like the starclan cats were rushing me a bit.
I felt bad for them as well, all the stories that I had been told, they had lost all of what they had, it was a bit like me, but like them, I got many things back, and if I succeeded on this quest then they would have their clans back as well.
I looked at Kettle, he had been telling me for a while that Mint was not ready, I always kind of shook it off, but at the same time I knew that he was right. I then looked at Mint, I was happy that she was okay, much less that she was even alive. Starclan had blessed me with that, that was for sure.
They had blessed me with her, I would not have made it far on my own. I had thought deeply into living with the mountain cats, they lived in a safe little tribe and they were all happy. That is exactly what I was hoping for when I was to rebuild the clans.
I knew that it was not going to be easy, Squirrelflight, and Firestar had both told me it seemed simple but I would have to rebuild every single clan. If I was only going to lead 1 clan then how would I lead the other 4? I shook my head and I just continued staring at the beautiful sun.
I loved the sun, it calmed me and made me feel more relaxed. It made me think more but it did not make me think in a bad way like I just was. I smiled to myself, I could not wait to tell the others about the cats that I had seen last night.
I heard one of the cats grumble and then shift before finally getting up. I did not look to see who it was, because I already knew who it was. I sat there and just kept staring at the sun as the cat that had woken up walked over and then sat down beside me.
"Hey Moon... You sleep well?" Kettle said to me. I sat there for a few moments letting the warmth hit me for a bit longer, then I looked over at Kettle and then smiled at him. Then I nodded to his question.
I never understood how Kettle could just so easily make it through the day with very little sleep. He was always so happy and energetic. He always managed to bring a positive energy to our little group.
"Indeed I did... However, I saw some cats in my dream, I think they are new the Shadowclan area, it is on the opposite side of the lake, it will take a while to go find them." I said to Kettle. He looked at me for a few moments and then he smiled. He then had an excited look on his face.
It confused me a bit, but I did not ask any questions, Kettle was always happy and excited. He always managed to think of good ideas, but he also did have some bad ideas as well. I always managed to sort out the differences though.
"Oh! After Mint is fully healed and we see them, maybe they are meant to lead Shadowclan, that could be a part of it." Kettle said to me. I looked at him for a few moments and then smiled at him. I had not even thought about that being the case, maybe we were getting somewhere.
But then I realized one thing that was wrong with that. I then shook my head at him a bit sadly. He looked at me a slight bit confused but then he nodded for me to talk, whatever it was that was on my mind, I was the one that had the dream after all.
"The problem is... The cats, their kits are very sick. I was going to tell them the remedies to treat them but I ran out of time. I don't want to rush Mint though." I said to Kettle. He looked at me for a few moments, he then nodded to me. I knew that he would understand, he knew what it was like to have a mate.
You had to put everything above her, Squirrelflight told me to do that, unless it meant saving the clan. I knew that I to do that if it came to that, but the coans did not even exist yet. So I was not too worried about that, I was just more worried about my mate.
Kettle sat there for a few moments and then he got up and then began walking in circles to try and clear up all of his thoughts, it was a good idea, he was trying to think. I could not think right now, nor did I even want to think in the first place.
He then stopped himself and then sat there for a few moments, I looked at him a bit confused as to what he might be thinking about, then he smiled at me and quickly flew over to me panting a little bit because of how fast he had been walking in those circles.
"How about this... After we meet this cat that you were talking about... You and Oister go find those cats, I will stay back and make sure that you are all okay." Kettle said to me. I looked at him for a few moments and then I nodded.
I was a bit surprised, it was a great idea, but I did not think that he would be that quick to trust me with his mate. I smiled at him, I was happy that all of us were beginning to trust each other, if we were both to lead clans, I'm sure our clans would be close allies.
"Thank you Kettle... I trust you with my mate as well. Lets go ahead and get up the other cats, I don't know how much long I have to save the kits..." I said to Kettle. He looked at me and then he smiled, he then nodded to me.
We both walked over and nudged the other cats that were with us. Mint looked up at me and then she smiled when she saw my face. She got up and nudged against me, I saw Limp smile from behind her. Limp was such a good young cat, I saw a lot of potential in her.
Maybe not much as a hunter or a warrior, but she seemed to be a cat that would be very loyal to her clan, I hoped she would choose mine, I would happily take her by my side. But I would not be too upset if she ended up choosing another clan.
I had this feeling that Kettle would want to lead his own clan, but if not, I would happily take him as a deputy by my side. I smiled and then I walked around for a few moments to make sure the area that we were in was safe.
Once I figured that we all were safe I nodded to each of the cats to make sure that they were safe and ready as well. I was hungry to be perfectly honest, I think we needed to eat first before we went to find out who that cat was that was in all of my dreams.
"Kettle, will you take Mint and hunt with her, I will take Oister and Limp, maybe I can try to teach Limp a couple of things." I said to Kettle and the others that were around us. Each cat nodded, Kettle smiled at me since I was trusting him with my mate finally.
Once each cat was ready we all hopped over the fences and began walking in opposite directions of each other. I watched Mint go, I did want to talk to her a bit later, but I wanted her to get to know Kettle a bit better. She still was not too ready to trust them.
Oister then nodded to me to make sure that I was ready, I nodded back to her and then all 3 of us began walking away from the twoleg place to find some things to eat. I was so hungry, I could eat Limp right now, I did not say that because it was meant as a joke and I wasn't sure how she would handle those quite yet.
"Moon... I'm going to split off, I am going to see if I can find something in the Riverclan area, you take care of Limp, I will be okay... Don't tell Kettle." Oister said to me. I was going to tell her that it might not be the best idea til she said the last part.
I did not want to lose Kettles trust so soon. I looked at her for a few moments, then I nodded to her, she smiled at me thanking me for trusting her and then she headed off to the riverclan territory. I knew that she was going to try and catch a fish, she said she had caught one before in one of those mountain rivers.
I wondered why Mistystar had never taught me how to catch one. I was supposed to teach all of the clans, I had heard that riverclan ate lots of fish. I now knew why Mistystar had not taught me, they already knew I guess that I was going to meet Kettle and Oister.
I had eaten fish before, but it was kind of nasty, Mistystar had told me that the fish they caught was nothing like the ones that my owners used to give me, but I would have to taste it to believe it. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and then I nodded to Limp.
"Alright Limp, I am going to catch a rabbit, I smell one nearby." I said to her. She looked at me really excited for a few moments, I smiled at her seeing the look on her face. She hopped up and began sniffing the air a slight bit confused.
"Here... I will catch it, you watch what I do and then we can try and catch another one after that." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments as if she was going to say something to me. But then she nodded and pointed in the wrong direction of the rabbit to get me to show her.
I nodded back to her and began walking towards the rabbit. She spun a bit surprised and then she began following me towards the prey. I looked at her and then smiled. Then I stopped her once we were near the rabbit.
"Is that the rabbit there?" She said to me queitly. I looked at the rabbit for a few moments, my mind was on the prey but I nodded to her realizing what she had said to me. I then remembered that I was supposed to teach her like Squirrelflight had said.
"You need to sneak up on it, you don't need to be as careful as the wood animals, but you need to make sure it does not see you. Once you are close to it then you run." I said to her. She looked at me, her eyes for wide open she was paying full attention to what I was saying.
"Can I try?" She asked me. For a few moments I was about to tell her yes, but then I decided not too, this might be our only chance to catch food. Probably not because it was a good part of the year, but I did not want to make Oister wait too long for us back near the twoleg place.
"How about, I catch this, and then on the way back if we smell another one we can try it, a rabbit is enough to feed 2 and more on the hard seasons. We need to get back to talk to the other cat." I said to Limp. She looked at me, she did not say anything about it to me, she instead nodded her understanding.
I then looked back over at the rabbit, luckily it was still in the same spot, it was just eating some grass. I slowly began sneaking up to it, making sure that it did not see me. Then once I was close I began running towards it. Right when I was right up on it and about to catch it, I slipped on a little rabbit hole that was on the ground.
The rabbit quickly ran away from me, I picked myself up, but at that point it was a bit too late to catch the rabbit. I cursed myself for not paying attention to the ground. It was not like stepping on a stick on the woods but you always had to be weary of those as well.
I walked over to where Limp was and I noticed that she was smiling at me. I looked at her a bit confused as to why she would be like that after I had failed to catch the rabbit. Then through the tall grass i spotted the dead rabbit sitting beside her.
"How did you catch that?" I asked her. She looked at me happy to see that I was surprised that she had caught it. She then lowered her head trying to be a bit humble at the same time.
"It ran right at me, I just jumped on it and then I finished it, just like my mom had told me how to kill a rabbit." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, a bit surprised still but then I nodded to her.
My mind was spinning, thinking so many cool ways of catching rabbits that I had not ever thought of before. Maybe Onestar could have taught be them, he might have just not had enough time. I did not blame him, maybe it was a cool idea that no other cat had thought of as well.
There were big groups of rabbits some times. Since the grass was high up in most areas, what if we had a bunch of cats hide in front of the rabbits. While one cat sneaks from behind and runs all of the rabbits towards the cats the were hiding in the tall grass.
I kept it in my head and then me and Limp began walking back to the twoleg place, Limp was carrying the rabbit by her side the whole way. I was happy for her, it was not the correct way to catch a rabbit, but she head been a bit sad about losing her whole family, it was good to see her thinking about something else.
On the way back I saw that Oister was walking up to us as well, she was carrying a large fish in her mouth, she looked happy and a bit like she was bragging about it when I saw her. I saw Kettle sitting beside Mint, Mint had a small little vole sitting in her hands.
Kettle looked at us, he then dropped the squirrel that was sitting in his hand when he saw that Limp was carrying a rabbit with her. He smiled at her and then he headed closer towards all 3 of us.
"Wow Limp! Good job!"