The Forest Was Big.
All three kits squealed in delight as they leapt onto every rock and squeezed throught every hollows of the pine trees. Silverkit trailed at the back as time passed, no longer feeling enthusiastic when she realized that they were far from the camp walls that were no longer can be seen from where they were, but then because she was so slow Minnowkit pushed her ahead. But instead of going forward, she gets pushed to the ground.
"Oof, what was that for?!" The silver kit hissed.
"Sorry," she apologized "you were too slow."
"I don't feel comfortable out here.." Silverkit admitted, her back fur bristling in fear. "Maybe we should go back to the nu--"
"Absolutely not!" Salmonkit cutted her off. "We finally got a chance to see the forest so that we can learn the places before we're apprentices and now you're chickening out."
"What's a chicken?" Minnowkit looked at her brother.
He let out an amused yet intentional teasing grin "Midnight told me that chickens are big birds who can't fly. They jump and scream at whatever surprises them, they're cowards." he chuckled.
Silverkit's fur bristled even more, her teeth bared in anger "I'm not a coward.." she hissed.
He just waved her off with his tail, looking at Minnowkit "Where do you think is the river?"
Minnowkit looked around the trees, trying to find a well walked on path "Plumppelt said it should be North of here. So, we go North."
"Which is where?"
The silver-gray she-kit pointed with her tail the path ahead. "Well, we are facing this way, which means North is ahead."
Salmonkit had a playful smile to Minnowkit "let's see who the bravest is to whoever gets to the river first."
I'm brave, look at me Salmonkit! Silverkit felt anger bubble within her when her brother ignored the mews from behind.
I'll show you who's brave..
Crouching low, she bunched her muscles, waggled her haunches, as if she were doing a Thunderclan hunting crouch. With a high leap, her legs felt energetic, when paws hit the grassy forest floor, claws gripped at the earth as she pulled them towards her, gaining a boost of speed.
"Silverkit, don't..wait!!" Salmonkit's panicked yowl came from behind but was drowned by the sound of her thundering paws and the soft breeze she whizzed past.
In just a blink of an eye, she was far ahead, dissappearing into the distance..
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Silverkit Started Regretting Her Decision.
Pine trees were so many in this area, all of them seeming to be closing in on each other, blocking the sunlight. Birds have ceased from singing their songs, the silence was too loud in this area.
No twigs were on the forest floor, her white fluffy paws were as silent as a hunting patrol even if she wasn't trying. The forest seemed to go on forever! This did not boost her positivity.
I've been walking for ages! But I still can't see the river..
She wasn't joking when she had been walking for what felt like hours. The sun no longer shined so bright and from the cracks in between the leaves of the trees she can see shades of orange & yellow paint the sky. The forest became colder, making her teeth chatter loudly. The shadows were not as dark as it was but since the sun is slowly dissappearing the forest is loosing its source of light, making the whole area dark instead.
I should have just stayed behind, now I don't know where I am.
She dragged herself on, trying to look for somewhere to rest instead of finding her way home. The sky has fully washed out the beautiful colors and was replaced with dark blue, other various shades of blue staining the heavens as well, making hundreds of stars stand out. A half circle of white took the sun's place in the sky, illuminating the forest.
Silverkit was about to just lie down and call the grass a bed till she saw a clearing in the distance. And a gray thing that looked like a very big stone was the only thing there, with a dark hole in the middle.
It's a den!
She ran as fast as her tired legs can take her, her icy blue eyes gleamed with hope that she will be safe for the night.
She did not realize that she had left the pine forest and into unknown territory. The clouds covered the moon, maybe it was Starclan that tried to avoid her from coming there. It was too dark and Silverkit stopped in her tracks, not daring to move forward till she can clearly see.
Growl.
Snap.
Clack.
The sudden noises were followed by a really loud 'yelp'. A deadly crunching sound made Silverkit jump almost a tail length or two high in the air. She arched her back, tail puffed up as well as her pelt, making the kit look double in size. She let out a warning hiss at the direction of the sounds. Her iris was wide, claws are unsheathed and her teeth were bared.
"Who are you?!" She snarled "Come out and show yourself."
Taking only a few steps forward, she was ready to swipe and make a run back to the forest. The scent was very unusual and Silverkit did not know what the thing was and whether it was harmful or not.
That is what scared her.
The clouds moved slowly, only revealing a part of the moon. It was still dim but her eyes adjusted to the dark because of her ShadowClan trait, she sees a fluffy tail moving side to side.
So it was an animal. But what kind?
She cautiously went around it, making sure she kept a safe distance to the creature. It jerked suddenly and violently, making her back off. It jerked again but seemed to be rooted in place.
She felt a hot breath fan her muzzle, meaning that she was face to face with it. The scent of rabbit was on its breath, meaning it had caught it as prey not so long ago.
Maybe it's a cat. Lionstripe is big, but not as big as this..but it also eats rabbit, so its a cat.
Silverkit stupidly touched noses with the 'cat', its nose was dry and cold "Don't worry," she mewed softly "I'm here.."
She waited for time to pass by, for the clouds to remove themselves off the moon. She sat down in front of her companion, no longer flinching when it jerked or growled.
This cat has a weird growl.. She thought. It's loud and scary, I hope my mentor teaches me this.
She used a paw to caress the cat's muzzle, only to feel it being large and long.
"You're a big cat. How old are you?"
Her paws trailed down the muzzle, reaching the mouth. It opened as she felt it move, biting down on the confident kit. She let out a yowl of pain as she used her other paw to scratch its nose, making it yelp and retract her paw.
"Why did you do that?!" She hissed in pain, her paw feeling like it was crushed by a million rocks.
Timing was bad for the little kit, as te clouds moved away from the moon. A howl of a wolf can be heard in the distance, bringing an eerie aura to the situation. When she glared at the cat, her breathing stopped, fur bristled as it fluffed instinctively, and claws unsheathed without her command.
The animal had fresh blood around it, she did not notice it at all because of the stench of its fur that covered it. The red furred creature growled as it wiggled but couldn't. The moon shone down on the silver thing that had held the animal in its deadly embrace, the teeth of the silver thing gleamed dangerously, blood staining it in splatters as its sharp tips dug within the captive's throat. The fur on the animal's throat were scraped off somehow by the sudden force she guessed when the silver teeth chomped down. A mushy, soft surface can be seen with the tips going deep in it, making blood ooze out like it was a waterfall. Sharp, yellow teeth were bared as dark eyes stared at hers, the life slowly draining out of it. A piece of bitten bloody rabbit meat was on the side, must have been the bait to lure the creature to its doom.
"Be aware of foxes by the way.." Claweye warned. "They look exactly like Foxkit, with fur varying from orange to dark russet, sometimes even white. They have pointed muzzles and their bites hurt worse than a claw!"
Plumpelt shuddered "Tawnystar and every other ShadowClan leader had always lost a life to those beasts. If you see one that's bigger than you, you're crow food.."
Fox.
Silverkit snarled "Get away from me!!"
She backed up in a rush, but put her bitten paw down by accident. Her reflexes triggered as she raised it quickly, loosing her balance and falling down on her butt.
Her fluffy tail landed shortly after, a thud on the ground supposed to happen after.
Snap.
Clack.
Hiss.
"Aaaghh!!"
Silverkit screamed at the top of her lungs, a burning pain on her tail that felt a thousand times worse than every scrape or accidentally claw scratch she had received in her life. Warm liquid somehow covered her tail as little droplets of it splattered the rest of her body. Her body felt weak and didn't want to stand and run away back to the pines, back to the safety of the shadows.
But the shadows seemed to be her enemy as it hid the thing that had caught the fox as well. She turned to look at the silver trap that hid in the shadow that came from a pine tree, the moon shone down only to the top part, the teeth shone not so bright but seemed to be menacing. If the trap had eyes, it would have looked at her in mockery and winked. Rabbit meat was also within the trap, since her whole body did not get caught in it or had taken the bait, but she was caught regardless.
Starclan help me..
Her screams were drowned by the bats that squeaked, they paid no attention to the suffering kit and the dying fox. But the crows were all around she had noticed, some in the trees but others started to circle up in the sky, their dance of celebrating death happening.
Silverkit felt very weak as she screamed no more. The stench of blood both cat and fox stained the air. If Foxkit were here he would have made a bad joke about how maybe when you die on that spot your soul can see yourself dying on a different point of view. She also imagined his brother whacking him in the head and the warriors only the ones laughing at his joke.
Foxkit always had a dark sense of humor that warriors can only understand..
Tears trailed down her cheek, making her face fur wet. She let out weird choking sounds, maybe making her look like a helpless crykitty.
She did not care.
For she was really helpless.
And she really is a kit.
The pain never subsided, it kept burning as if the whole forest was on fire. Her eyes felt droopy, and waited for any Starclan cat to appear and take her to the starry hunting grounds.
Numerous pawsteps can be heard.
"There she is!"
Silverkit paid them no mind, as she just lay down, waiting for darkness.
"What in Starclan's name is that?! Look at what happened to my kit!" Lilypaw's voice cried, she imagined her mother just trembling in fear.
Someone had sniffed her pelt. "She's not dead. Imagine if she died though and can see her dead body at a different perspective.." a paw thud was heard followed by a hiss. Some warriors chuckled even in this dark situation.
"It's not funny, Foxpaw.." Thunderpaw hissed.
Lionstripe's scent came through her nose from the right. "Ravenfeather, should we open the jaws?"
Lilypaw had growled "Lionstripe! Why are you looking calm? What is this silver thing?!"
Ravenfeather's paw touched the burning part of Silverkit's tail. "No need Lionstripe," She sighed "Seems like it's too late."
"Too late?!" Lilypaw screeched at the ShadowClan cats "I don't know what's going on. All I know is that she needs a medicine cat to heal her."
Her mother's snarls and curses were the least of Silverkit's concern as she felt the darkness welcome her, the pain of her tail suddenly gone as she was no longer conscious..
If this is what I've known would happen when I ran off because Salmonkit called me a chicken,
then I would have just go home by myself and chicken out after all..
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Paws Poked Her Once Again.
"Silverkit.."
Silverkit growled lowly, "Salmonkit I swear, if you don't stop poking me I will feed you to the fox."
"I'm pretty sure the fox that you speak of won't be available," a different voice answered her.
Silverkit blinked her eyes open, golden eyes looked at her in the dark light. The cat's pelt was black too so it blended in the shadows.
"How do you feel Silverkit?" Ravenfeather asked.
I feel like dirt..
"Not okay..but a bit better." She admitted, the burning pain in her tail was no longer there, like it really was nonexsistent in the first place. Her right paw still had pains but now less than what she felt a while ago.
The black she cat nodded before going outside of the den "I'll be right back."
Unlike other territories, ShadowClan's medicine cat's den is one of the strongest and biggest dens in camp. Almost as high as the highstone, the rocks had been toppled over and had made two dens on top of each other. The bottom floor is where the herbs are stored, all within the little cracks of the rocks. The second floor above was created by what elders said had been StarClan cats of ShadowClan, pushing the big rocks using the help with the wind of a strong storm. The sick are the ones who stay there. The pool of water that seeps out of a crack in the leader's den actually had came from the stream in the medicine cat's 2nd floor den, apprentices don't need to go to the river to fetch water for them, but healthy cats as well as queens and kits are not allowed to drink directly there. The rooftop is where the medicine cats sleep, saying that they want the light of the stars and the moon shining down on them, that StarClan bonds to them even more.
"They sound like WindClan cats." Tawnystar had purred, "But then we heard that the other medicine cats sleep at the entrance of their dens or out of their dens just so that starlight shines on them..so I guess its also a medicine cat 'thing'."
Ravenfeather came back, the scent of herbs filling the air. Weird plant things must have fell to the ground because the rustling of leaves and bouncing of berries can be heard. The she-cat then started chewing on some leaves that had remained in her mouth. She spat it out on the ground, looking disgusting for the kit. Ravenfeather used a paw to scoop up the goop as she smeared all over Silverkit's paws, much to her dismay. She shuddered at the warm gooey thing, but did not complain since her paws seemed to soothe.
"I know it looks weird," Ravenfeather meowed "But this is one of the consequences you get for going out of the forest all alone."
Alone?..
"Why did you put..uh,"
"Coltsfoot," she meowed.
"Yeah, that herb."
Ravenfeather had finished applying all the chewed Coltsfoot and wiped her paw on the stone ground.
"Its for your sore pads, you've been walking the whole day after all. Do you remember what happened?"
Certain events flashed through her mind as slow and as long as she had been alone. It was if she was reliving it again.
Her proving her courage.
She felt her paws sweat, mixing with the Coltsfoot.
Being lost for the whole day.
Her teeth chattered by the sudden breeze that entered the den.
The beautiful clearing.
Her paws flexed, as she felt them ache.
The smell of blood.
Her fur bristled.
The fox and the bite..
Claws unsheathed, she growled unconsciously under her breath.
Snap.
Clack.
An ear raping sound filled the den. Silverkit's claws scraped the stone floors.
"Silverkit stop." Ravenfeather cringed at the sound of her claws.
Snap.
Clack.
Her fur was fully fluffed, she hissed at no one.
Snap.
Clack.
"Silverkit?"
Snap.
Clack.
Snap.
Clack.
Snap.
Clack.
"OPEN YOUR EYES!!" Silverkit felt Ravenfeather shake her violently with her paws.
She did not know her eyes had been closed the whole time. She sniffled.
Was I crying?..
The medicine cat sighed, pushing a bunch of herbs towards her.
"Choose one of these, they're all for your shock.."
Silverkit chose the okay scented one. She chewed it quickly because of the fear that it might be bitter.
"That's Chamomile, a wise choice."
The kit swallowed the medicine, "Where are Lilypaw and Lionstripe?" she longed for her parents.
The black she-cat calmed the kit by grooming her fur "I had Lionstripe patrol the area, making them close the traps. It was hard however to get Lilypaw away from you, she's madder than a fox in a fit." she said between licks.
The kit nodded as she yawned, still feeling tired. "Can you sleep with me tonight?"
Ravenfeather hesitated but in the end nodded "Do you want me to carry you or follow me?"
She was confused "What does that have to do with- oh!"
The black she-cat chuckled as she grabbed the kit by the scruff..at least tried to. "You habe a fery fick mang wike wyour faver."
Silverkit was a bit big already so she was rather dragged more than carried. She raised her paws with initiative thinking that the greenish goop in her paws might be removed and wasted.
They had reached the roof stone top of the big medicine den, a very large moss bed laid there. Ravenfeather dropped her softly on the bed, the kit muttering a thanks.
"I'll explain everything tomorrow," the she-cat yawned, laying down beside her.
"Okay." Silverkit said her goodnight to the tired cat, letting her companion's breathing be the only noise she can hear.
The sky was slowly becoming a pale orange-red, meaning that dawn is about to come. The kit felt bad for keeping the medicine cat awake all night.
She made herself comfortable as she will use her tail to cover her cold hind legs.
But her legs didn't feel warm, nor did it feel the familiar weight and fur.
Looking at her behind, realization hit her as tears began forming in her eyes. Now she knew what was the silver furred thing at the very end of the second floor den, the color that was really familiar but she had shrugged it off.
Her tail was no longer here..