Ailouros Tails book 4: The Return

Chapter 10~ Rangers Inquiry

As promised Halt woke Nico just before Dawn deciding to let Am get some more sleep. "So what are you going to try Nico?" He asked while sipping his coffee.

Nico sipped his own mug of coffee. "I'm going to try getting her out of the ice by going inside and coming out with her.

"Okay. Just be careful. She's going to be unwell from all the power she has used. Be quick we need to get away from here. There should be a village close by that we can take shelter in."

Nico headed to the ice after finishing his coffee. After a deep breath, he stepped into the shadows of the ice and emerged in the ice shell. Ailouros was huddled in a ranger cloak shivering. Nico gently picked her up. "It's okay Ailouros. I have you. You're safe now." He said gently to her then gathered up his courage, as Am would probably kill him if she found out, and softly kissed Ailouros lips.

***

I heard Nico's voice. It helped me calm the terrorizing thoughts that I had been unable to control. He held me quietly in his arms and held me close. He was nice and warm. Just before I tried to speak I felt his lips brush against mine. I could feel myself blushing.

After the kiss, I felt Nico shadow travel us somewhere warmer. I rested my head against his chest just before he stumbled from exhaustion. I still couldn't open my eyes but felt someone catch Nico and me before we could hit the ground.

"Let's get going and get them to safety." it sounded like Amaterasu.

Struggling I tried to make my eyes open. I wasn't fighting the panic as badly as I had been before, though it was still there deep inside.

"It's okay kitty. We've got you now." Will whispered in my ear holding me close. He then asked the others, "Where are we taking them?"

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes before an unfamiliar voice responded, "The Weasleys are close by. They are nice people who can be trusted." The stranger sounded like a boy.

Frustrated, I kept trying to open my eyes to see who it was. The voice sounded like an old forgotten memory. Curiously I tried to remember who it was and why they sounded so familiar. Now moving I started to slip into my mind to sleepily sort out the memory. The others were talking but it sounded far away as I started to slip into a memory of the long-forgotten past.

I was sitting in a tree as an apprentice in a new clan once again. Looking at the trees I could tell it was in my time with Thunderclan. Leaf fall was here and the ground was frosty as light flurries fell. I could hear my mentor Songbird calling my name. She was one of the few who were really nice but I could see pity in her eyes as she looked at me.

"Shadowedpaw! Come on out. It's too cold for you to be out here" She called from under the tree I was in.

I had previously been in Riverclan as an apprentice until it got too cold then I had been moved to Thunderclan as soon as the first frost showed.

The other apprentices were untrusting of me aside from one ginger and white one who had kept glancing at me. She had helped me make a makeshift nest at the back of the apprentices' den. She was off training with her own mentor leaving me with the other apprentices who were calling me names again. I had climbed up the tree to get away from the other apprentices.

My tail brushed against a dead leaf dropping it on top of Songbird making her look upward. "There you are. Are you doing okay?" She meowed heaving herself up onto the branches.

I kept quiet. She perched on the branch below mine and stood with her white front paws on my branch. Ahs looked at me with her amber eyes. "The snow is beautiful isn't it." She said looking at the falling flakes.