Warrior Cats: The Wolfwalkers

Chapter 5

"Welp, you're better now. It never even happened. Bye."

Rusty's eyes flickered to the middle of the cave, where a large blue she-cat lied at the base of a brilliant blue crystal, etched with the elegant claw-made carvings of wolves and cats.

"Who's that?" He mewed curiously.

The wolfwalker perked his ears and spun around to face him. "Nobody a kittypet should be concerned with! Now go back to your twolegs. I don't want soft pets stickin' their snouts where they don't belong."

Rusty's fur puffed up defensively, and he raised himself up to look larger. "Hey! You don't own the forest!"

The scruffy wildcat looked at him, annoyed. A sudden glint of mischief shone in his round yellow eyes.

"Well, kittypet, if you're not gonna leave, I guess we'll just have to make ya!" He giggled.

"What?"

The wolves that had filled out the cave suddenly made themselves known, their footsteps echoing across the rock floor. They trotted around the wolfwalker obediently, and advanced menacingly towards Rusty.

He backed up, and the wolfwalker bounded towards him, biting the air. Like some sort of signal, the wolves barked and sped up, their claws clacking nosily against the stone as they lolled their tounges.

Rusty yelped, and turned tail out of the cave's exit. He kicked up dust as pebbles became displaced beneath him. The loud scramble of wild wolf paws followed soon after.

He dashed madly into the forest, thundered by the wolves and the wolfwalker, who lolled his tongue out like he was one himself.

"Haha! Run, kittypet! We're after ya'!" The grey tom barked, leaping over the wolves to Rusty's side.

"Why'd you come here in the first place, anyways?" He mewed curiously, though Rusty barely registered it through the adrenaline of being chased by several predators. 

"Hunting," he breathed out, urging his paws to run faster.

"Oh, a hunter? A pampered kitty like you?"

"You're a cat, too," Rusty muttered, more than miffed with having to deal with the mocking wild cat alongside the pack of wolves.

"I'm no cat, I'm a wolfwalker!" He growled, mischievously bumping into Rusty's side.

Beneath all that long fur, the wild cat had strong enough paws to knock Rusty off balance. The orange tom skidded downwards across the grass, scrambling to find a foothold that would let him regain control.

Before he could, however, he felt the muzzle of a wolf toss him into the air. He landed stomach-first onto its silky black back, the wind knocked out of him.

"When I sleep, I'm a wolf, when I'm awake, I'm me, Greypaw! Greypaw of Thunder Pack!" The wolfwalker yowled into the treetops, the wolves barking as if to prove his words. "What's your name, anyway?"

Rusty managed to pull himself upwards, though it was hard keeping all four legs steady on a moving wolf. 

"Rusty," he replied, panting.

Soon they came to the barrier of vines. Rusty knew it would open from his past encounter with its magical archways, but with a pack of wolves running full-speed, it stood no chance.

Vines lashed outwards in an explosion of yellow magic, and a black stream of wolves tumbled through the gaping hole they had created. Rusty managed to jump out of the way and land on his feet, but Greypaw was squashed beneath the ball of fur and panting jaws.

With a bark, the wolves jumped off him, licking at his messy fur with slobbering tounges. Not getting squished by wolves must be a wolfwalker thing, Rusty noted.

"Hey, you can't go out in the daytime where the twolegs might see you! Mammy said so. Go back to bed!" Greypaw grunted, and with disappointed whines the wolves swept back through the hole in the barrier.

Rusty blinked, without his wolf pack, Greypaw didn't seem so threatening. He looked to be about the same age as Rusty, and his ungroomed fur was full of leaves and flowers.

"Was the cat back in the cave your mom?" He asked cautiously.

"Who else would it be?" Greypaw chuckled.

"Are any of the other wolves, uh, wild cats too?" Rusty glanced at the hole in the vine barrier, which was slowly starting to repair itself with yellow magic.

"Packs of the stars! How big do ya' think my family is?" Greypaw mocked a gasp, pretending to be offended. "Only cats born in this forest with wild blood are wolfwalkers!" 

An awkward moment of silence passed over the two toms, unsure of what to do next.

"Technically, I'm not supposed to be out here," Rusty broke the tension. "If my housefolk- erm, twolegs saw me talking to a wild cat, they wouldn't be very happy. Smudge would freak out!"

"Great, It's my duty to get rid of a tresspasser, anyways. Close your eyes," Greypaw responded.

"What? Why?"

"Don't want you coming back to our den. It's secret."

Rusty stared at him blankly.

"I already found it, what's stopping me from going back?"

"Oh, just start walking," Greypaw grunted. "I'll make sure you stay at your Twolegplace."

Rusty stood still defiantly. "I came here to hunt, I'm not leaving until I catch something!"

Greypaw paused in thought for a moment.

"The wolves hunt really big animals that last us days, so I guess you could snag a bird or something. This way hunter-kittypet-Rusty cat!"

And with that, the two were off towards Twolegplace.