Lost Hope: Book 5: Forest of Vipers

Chapter 15

Foxflame had seen little more of Vixen after initially meeting her a couple days ago. Every time their guards switched he would look for her specifically. He couldn't get her out of his head. She was stuck there somehow like a burr. But he wasn't sure he actually wanted to get rid of it.

    Lilacsnow had caught onto this. "She's a rogue, Foxflame," she said more than once "get your head out of the clouds and come back down to the ground."

    "My head isn't in the clouds," he grumbled back.

    "No, I suppose it's just full of clouds," Lilacsnow amended.

    Foxflame sighed dramatically and went back to watching the entrance. He wasn't in love with a rogue, surely, he just found her really interesting, that's all.

***

Foxflame had begun to pay more attention to the schedule of the cats who swapped places every so often to guard Foxflame and Lilacsnow.

    At dawn, new cats came to swap places with Foxflame and Lilacsnow's guards. A little later, some cat came with meager food offerings that Foxflame and his sister ate as slowly as they could. At sunhigh, the guards changed again, and then again at dusk. Foxflame once stayed awake the whole night and found they changed at midnight as well. And then repeat.

    He was having a hard time finding weaknesses in the schedule. He would just have to wait for some random mishap where someone forgot their shift or their was a miscommunication of some kind. Although, knowing Viperfang and Dogtooth, that would be hard to come by.

    And then, the opportune moment presented itself.

    Just before sunset, a tortoiseshell head poked into their compartment. "Want to go for a walk?"

    "Vixen?" Foxflame said, his heart rate picking up the longer he looked at her.

    "That is my name, yes," she said, giving him an amused look. "Are you coming?"

    "Is this a trap?" Lilacsnow asked warily.

    "Eh, probably not," Vixen said airily.

    "Probably not?" Foxflame's sister didn't look amused by the charming she-cat.

    "Probably not. High probability that it is not," Vixen said. "What about that?"

    "Lilacsnow," Foxflame whispered. "This might be our best chance to escape."

    Lilacsnow pondered this for a few moments, narrowing her eyes at Vixen, and then at Foxflame. "Alright, fine," she sighed. "This better not be a trap though."

    Vixen just smiled and then beckoned with her tail for them to come out of the compartment. Foxflame eagerly obeyed and looked around. There were no cats posted outside, everyone was sleeping in the stacks of hay which Foxflame thought was a little strange since it wasn't quite night yet. Rogues were strange though. But then why wasn't Vixen asleep? Why was she helping them sneak out? Maybe Lilacsnow was right and this was a trap.

    Foxflame followed the tortoiseshell she-cat out of the barn and out onto the farmland as he'd heard it called. It was such a beautiful sunset outside, various shades of pink, purple and blue with yellow tinged clouds wafting about. He wasn't sure if he'd seen a more lovely sky.

    "So," Vixen said. "You two are forest cats, correct?"

    "Yes," Lilacnsow said. "Although I would've thought you already knew that."

    "I did, just checking to make sure you did," Vixen said loftily, her tail sweeping back and forth behind her in an almost lazy motion as she led them around the fences.

    Lilacsnow bristled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

    "I'm teasing you," Vixen said, chuckling. "Although I would've thought you already knew that."

    "Oh, touché," Foxflame laughed. Lilacnsow sent him a fierce glance and he shut up.

    "What's it like in the Clans?" Vixen asked.

    "Much better than here," Lilacsnow said gruffly.

    "I'm sure of it," Vixen said. "Do you actually like it there though?"

    "Of course," Foxflame said. "The Clans protect their Clanmates at all costs. And with all of us working together, we're able to hunt food and protect our borders easily."

    "Sounds lovely," Vixen said, but she didn't seem to care much for his answer, which made his tail droop slightly, although he wasn't sure why.

    Lilacnsow nudged his shoulder with her nose and he twitched his ear questioningly.

    "Go. Now," she mouthed.

    "Why?" he mouthed back.

    She rolled her eyes. 'Because I said so,' her gaze seemed to say. "Just do it!" She mouthed and took off toward the trees. Foxflame threw Vixen a regretful look and turned to follow his sister. What surprised him most though was that Vixen didn't even call for him, for them. She didn't seemed shocked that they were running when he turned around to glance at her briefly.

    And then he was tackled to the ground.

    Lilacnsnow had been right. It was a trap.