Featherlight's lover

Chapter 11

           Featherpaw's belly growled in hunger. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 Her belly kept grumbling, loud enough for her prison guards to hear. She caught Ajax casting glances at her and looking away when she caught his eye. What's up with him? Featherpaw didn't care. She laid on the stone, imagining her being in the camp, eating plump fresh-kill. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 She felt homesick. "Ugh what am I going to do?" she groaned softly. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. Featherpaw lifted her head, trying to look through the thick brambles. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. Must be tortured as Featherpaw is. Featherpaw lost count of how many moons it had been. Was her clan going to come and help her and Clara? 

         Then, she thought she heard soft scuffling behind her. She immediately got up and looked toward the sound. Featherpaw looked back at the guards. They seem to have no idea of the quiet scuffling. So, Featherpaw crept quietly and slowly. It was coming from behind the large roots of the giant sequoia tree. She jumped as she heard a soft groan. Then a scent came to her nose. Fresh-kill? The moving sounds stopped and it was just pure silence. Featherpaw saw a whole dug out in a root. She dabbed her paw in the hole and felt something soft like fur. It was warm too. Featherpaw got excited and snatched it out. She almost squealed out loud from happiness. 𝑨 𝒇𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒍! It was freshly caught from the warm scent. It came with a tuft of brown fur. She thought she saw it somewhere but couldn't remember. But she didn't care. Featherpaw ate the squirrel within a few seconds. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒚. She prayed happily with relief. "Hey. What are you doing back there flea pelt?" Crusher snarled. Ajax looked at him and Featherpaw saw his fur lifting up slightly but made it flat. "Why do you even mind Crusher? Let her be." Ajax answered for Featherpaw and sat back down. Featherpaw laid near the entrance, hoping for some fresh air while Crusher looked angry.  Crusher hissed at him. "Oh, because we're her prison guards? What, are you defending her?" he sneered. Ajax glared at him threateningly and looked away. Crusher looked ready to snap at him until Viper came. "Crusher, what are you doing?" Viper asked him questionly. Crusher looked at him and flattened his ears to his head. "N-No Viper. Everything's fine." he stammered. Viper looked satisfied to see him scared and left. "Scaredy-cat. Imagine being mean but turn frightened by the time your leader asks you something." Featherpaw muttered. Ajax leaned closer to her. "He acts like a kit." he murmured back to her. Featherpaw lifted her head up. "Uh uh, I'll be going to take a nap." she chuckled nervously and walked to the back and laid down, resting her tail on her nose. Deep inside, Featherpaw felt her heart pounding with excitement. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔? 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.....𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? Ajax looked at her confused anf shrugged. He smiled a bit, this time he made sure not to hide it from Featherpaw. Now her heart was beating even faster. 𝑵𝒐, 𝑭𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒂𝒘 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆! 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑱𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒂𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒕! Featherpaw complained to herself forcefully. But still, deep in her gut, her feelings started to leave for Jasperpaw as she was away from him.  𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆! 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎. Featherpaw kept convincing herself about her and Ajax until she got tired and dozed off to sleep.

           "Walk faster mouse-brain!" a rogue growled. Featherpaw woke up and looked outside. There, she couldn't believe her eyes. "Spotflower!" she yowled surprisingly and ran up and looked between the brambles. Spotflower spotted her and yowled back at her too. "Featherpaw! I'm so glad you're okay!-" she cried with joy but she got shoved hardly by a tom. "Get a move on! This isn't a place for sharing tongues with your so-called 'clanmate'." he yowled at her ear harshly. Spotflower ducked her head glumly. Featherpaw bristled her fur. "Hey! Don't you dare be mean to her you flea-pelt!" she hissed at her clanmmate's defense. Ajax pushed the brambles gently but hard enough for Featherpaw to stumble backwards. "Be quiet will you?" he hissed softly. "Don't be disrespectful to any cat here or this will go to Viper!" Featherpaw scoffed at him angrily and sat down, eyeing Spotflower carefully.