Rebels: A Warriors Tail

Chapter 2

Featherkit watches her brother and the unknown dark tabby that came to help them disappear from her sight as she falls over the edge. Stifling a yowl of terror and trying to block out her mother's, she grapples desperately at the wall, digging her thorn-sharp claws into the rock face. The tiny kit catches the edge and hangs in place for a second, relieved to stop falling and she ducks her head against the pebbles falling at her, wincing as they pelt her right foreleg. After a moment, she looks up to the top of the cliff face and sees the dark tom reaching down to grab her.

"It will be alright," he mewed in a soft, but urgent mew, his voice not nearly as deep as Sablefur's. "I'll help you back up."

He reaches carefully down as far as he can and wraps a paw around the tiny kit gently to guide her back up. Featherkit sighs in relief and scales the rest of the cliff carefully with his support, trying to help herself in some way. By the time they got back on steady ground, her mother reached the edge of the rock face and she took a singular massive leap from the ground to the top of the rock with no problem.

"Are you hurt?" Moonrunner asked frantically, nosing through her tortoiseshell fur for any scrapes or wounds with an intensely worried look in her eye. "Did you get scratched or bruised? Does anything hurt? Where does it hurt? Oh, my poor kits... I'm so sorry. I never should've let you off on your own when you're still so young. Are you alright?" As she rattles off the frenzied questions, she shifts her attention over to Snowkit, seemingly trying to check them both for wounds at the same time.

Featherkit, feeling overwhelmed, says nothing, though she is trembling slightly. She looks over the edge and notices that it isn't a very far drop; a full grown cat could stand on its hind legs and peer over the edge at them if it weren't for the still crumbling rocks. Embarrassed, the small kit looks over at her mother and Snowkit as the rose she-cat pads up to help assess both kits for injuries and the dark tabby tom tries to calm the light grey queen down.

"They're fine," he mewed gently, still looking at Featherkit, his eyes gleaming with amusement. "They've just had their first daring adventures out of the nursery as all kits are supposed to." He returns to Featherkit's side and looks down warmly at the tiny she-kit, who looks away nervously.

Moonrunner hurries over to Featherkit now that the she-cat was checking to make sure her brother was alright, Snowkit pushing her away with tiny paws so he could bound back onto the ground. Featherkit steps sideways to watch as the rose she-cat purred and followed him.

Moonrunner nods to the tom still standing next to the smallest kit, the queen's words bringing the tortoiseshell kit's attention back to her. "Thank you for helping them."

"Of course," he mewed, his whiskers still twitching in amusement as he politely nodded back. "It's nice to see them out of the nursery."

Moonrunner says nothing about this, just crouching down closer to Featherkit and still worriedly watching her every movement. Featherkit looks up at the tom again, her terror fading into curiosity before trying to walk a few pawsteps headed down the rock face towards her brother, her right foreleg still stinging from where the rocks scraped in during the tumble. Her mother stops her immediately when she starts limping and looks her over, finding several bleeding scratches on the injured leg. Moonrunner picks up her tiny kit by the scruff and runs across the camp, ignoring Featherkit's squeal of protest. The frantic queen only remembered that she had left her other kit when they were halfway across the clearing. Quickly she turns and starts to call back to the rose she-cat, her voice completely muffled through the kit's scruff.

"Don't worry about Snowkit," the she-cat called. "We'll watch over him while you're gone." Moonrunner purrs briefly in response, flicking her tail and turning to continue towards the medicine cat's den.