Rise of Our Clans: Book 1: Parting Gift

9

  As the door cracked open, Sunflower limped into the clearing and lay on her side with a pitiful meow. The twoleg rushed to her, accidentally leaving the opening wall open.
  While the twoleg was distracted, Valley River and Shard bulleted out the door. Shard led the way through the passage to the clear opening wall. But this time, instead of staying closed stubbornly, the wall opened as Shard and Valley River approached.
  Her paws landed on hard rock, but the journey wasn't over yet. Shard continued to run, and Valley River to follow until they came to a safe space under the bushes. Shard noticed Valley River with him and his fur bushed out. "What are you doing?" He hissed. "I.. I assumed once we escaped you were coming with me to find my friends." The gray tabby said, flattening her ears.
  "And why would I do that? I'm a loner." Shard shook his head. "Well, I just thought we were friends now. Beside, I can't make the journey myself, not when I'm expecting kits." Valley River looked at her rounded belly, thinking of how she wouldn't be able to hunt or run as well as she used to. Even just the sprint to the bushes tired her out.
  Shard's pale eyes softened slightly. "Alright. I'll help you. But only because without me, you'd be hit by a monster or gobbled up by a fox in an instant!" He glared at Valley River. The gray kit-mother purred at Shard, and his ears flattened slightly. "What? What are you looking at me like that for?" He questioned nervously.
  "Thank you." Valley River breathed. "Don't mention it," Shard purred back with a smirk on his face. "Where are you going?" He asked. "I want to go to the river, the one that came from the mountains. Shard nodded slowly, furrowing his brow as though tracing the route in his mind. "Alright. I can take you there. If we hurry, we can be there by the full moon." He decided. "That's in five days." Valley River's eyes widened, remembering when she last saw the moon two nights ago.
  "And that's the quickest we can arrive at the mountains." Shard nodded. "Now let's go, we need to use all the daylight we have." Shard slunk around the bushes, careful to avoid open space. Valley River crawled after her, her pelt pricked at the sound of barking wolves, roaring monsters, and shouting twolegs. All these sounds, and all these smells, it was nearly too much for her.
  But she pressed on, for Mossy Oak. The two cats travelled quietly through twoleg place, avoiding the "thunderpath," as Shard called it, and staying in the shadows as much as possible. When the sun drifted lower in the sky, Shard decided it was time to find a place to spend the night. "We need to hole up before the foxes come out of their holes." He said.
  Valley River nodded, going with Shard to find a place to rest. She didn't know what they were looking for, all the bustling activity made it seem like there was no quietness at all. But Shard found a gap under a twoleg nest, and after deciding it was safe, let Valley River under. The dirt floor offered little comfort, but she could make a nest of leaves from a nearby bush.
  "You make us some nests, I'm going to hunt." Shard decided. Valley River nodded, to weary to hunt. She poked her head out at the bushes surrounding the gap, and pulled leaves from their stems and off the ground, forming them into thin nests.
  When Shard returned, he was carrying two birds in his mouth. They were gray with black banded wings and purple and green rings around their necks. "Pigeons." He meowed, dropping one bird in front of Valley River and settling into his nest beside her. The bird had the same acrid tang as the thunderpath, but it smelled fresh and it seemed rather plump under all those feathers. Good prey for the very beginning of life-weather.
  She gulped down the greasy bird hungrily, practically starving after two days of no real prey. Shard watched her and then turned back to his own meal, whiskers twitching.
  They continued their journey through twoleg place the next day, hunting in the morning before leaving the gap under the twoleg nest behind. At sunset they found a twoleg nest with nothing in it but what Shard called "gardening tools," but luckily no twolegs. The morning of day three, they couldn't leave because of the pouring rain mixed with hail.
  Normally Valley River would have braved the rain, but hearing the ice hailing on the roof of the nest, she had to agree with Shard and stay inside. Around sunhigh, Valley River heard a meow. "Oh, look at all those hailstones!" A cat purred excitedly. Valley River stepped from the twoleg nest to see a cat with some kind of unnaturally colored vine wrapped around her neck sitting on a stone ledge by a bigger twoleg nest, pawing at a chunk of ice.
  "Hello?" Valley River meowed. The red, gold, and white calico puffed up her fur and growled at Valley River. "Who are you? I've never seen you before!" She curled her lip into a threatening snarl. "I'm only passing through! No need for alarm." Valley River said.
  The calico sat down and stared at the former tribe cat. "What's your name?" She blinked. "Valley River, and you?" Valley River blinked back. "Whiskers." The calico stated. Whiskers? What an odd name! That's like if I was named toes! "It's nice to meet you, Whiskers. I'm going to the river from the mountains." She explained. "River? Mountains?" Whiskers tilted her head in confusion. She must be a kittypet.
  "A river, it's a large body of water that-"
  "No, I know what a river is. I just didn't know where was one nearby." Whiskers interrupted. "It's not nearby, kittypet." Shard approached from behind. "We still have two and a half more days of travel before we get there." He growled. "Can I come with you? I've never seen the forest before." Whiskers trilled.
  Like Sunflower. Valley River was reminded of the ginger she-cat who made her and Shard's escape possible. Without her, I would still be trapped as a kittypet!
  "Shard, I think we should let her." Valley River said. The black and white tom bristled. "But she's a kittypet! Kittypets aren't strong enough to live in the forest." He growled. "I'm strong!" Whisker's chirped, puffing out her spotted pelt.
  "Can you pin me down in a fight?" Shard challenged. "I don't know, I don't usually fight other cats..." Whiskers murmured. "But you can learn! Where I come from, you learn to pin down a hawk." Valley River purred. "Really? That sounds difficult... Last newleaf, a hawk took one of the other house cats living in the area. He was only a kitten, just let outside for the first time." She sighed.
   "Well, maybe you should stay here then? If you don't want to get snatched by a hawk too." Shard growled. "Or she could come with us, and learn to defend herself against a hawk?" Valley River growled back. "I really want to come with you to the forest." Whiskers begged. Shard looked at a loss for words. "Fine! What's one more cat on this quest!" He sighed tiredly. "It's too late to keep travelling today. We'll have to pick up tomorrow." He decided. "Thank you, Shard!" Valley River purred.
  "Thank you!" Whiskers echoed. "When we get to the river we'll find my friends, and my mate." Valley River said, looking in the direction of the lowering sun, ready to return to her group.