Splashflight's Mistake (book one)

Chapter 5

Splashkit cowered back into the nursery, his eyes wide in horror and shock. He ran to the hole in the back and dug into the ferns behind with shaking paws, and lay there trembling. He had a clear view to the nursery entrance, so he could see shadows falling over the opening in the little bramble cave, but that was it, he could see no further. He heard screeches of surprise and anger, but he just stayed in his hidey-hole, shaking and sweating in fear.

Suddenly, a large scarred tom crashed into the nursery, growling. He locked eyes with Splashkit in his hiding place, and he gave a killer smile, clawing at the bracken of the woven nursery wall, woven by long-worked claws piece by piece. His claws were whiskers away from Splashkits nose, and he waited for them to strike his muzzle. But it never happened, and Splashkit began to relax when he saw that the tom could not break through the tough wall of bracken to get to him. When the tom realized he made no progress towards chipping away at the walls, he stuck his large paw into the hold, missing Splashkit's whiskers by a heartbeat.

Splashkit's eyes widened and he backed further into the bush, concealing himself in the shadows. Finally, the big tom gave up, grumbling as he ran back to the battle. Splashkit heard screams of fear and pain, and he itched to get into the battle. But he knew he would never stand a chance; he was so small he'd be instantly crushed.

This thought reminded him of Brightkit, all alone in the middle of camp. A new wave of worry washed over his little head, and he poked his head up ever so slightly out of his hidey hole to see another angry looking cat just outside the nursery with a snarl on his face, leaping at the little kit. Splashkit shrank back instantly, narrowly missing the shredding claws swiping at his nose. The cat cackled, and left immediayely, his goal of frightening Splashkit out of his wits fufilled. 

The screeches bore on until Splashkit felt he would never hear clearly again, the ringing growing louder in his ears as each agonizingly long heartbeat dragged on until finally, there was a howl of defeat, and a screech of victory as the bracken crumbled and the attackers fled. Splashkit bolted out into the camp without hesitation and ran straight to the entrance where a mangled body lay in a heap. "Brightkit!" He was almost afraid to look, imagining the worst.

Brightkit looked up at him with her eye. While Splashkit desperately nosed her up, her wide eye opened wider and she whispered, "Are they gone? They trampled me!" She shivered with fright. "They would have killed me if I hadn't played dead!" She looked around at the camp, which was littered with tufts of fur and blood, and a few bodies.

"Oh no!" Splashkit cried with horror when he saw a pair of familiar bodies, one hairless and almost too tiny to see. Hunched over them was Spottedfern, screeching with agonized wails of grief.

"No! Please come back! NO!" She was sobbing over and over again into their fur, rocking back and fourth on her paws.

"No, no no no!" Whispered Brightkit behind him, and she gave a breathy gasp, in and out faster and faster as they moved slowly closer. "No!" She cried. Suddenly they couldn't take it, and they both looked at each other. Together, they bolted to the two clumps of skin, and Splashkit's fears were confirmed. Laying in a mangled, bloody heap, was Dustykit and Thistleshine.

*****

It was moonhigh. Splashkit lay nestled beside Brightkit and Fallingkit, breathing in the last scents of his friends' family with them. Thistleshine's body lay in a clumped, bloody mess, his eyes fixed in fear at a point in front of him. His mouth was frozen in a call of warning, his ears flattened. He was stiff and awkward, reeking of death and fear and blood, his original scent far far from the regular world. Spottedfern's wails had subsided, turning into antagonized whimpers of grief, and she was still rocking on her toes as she dug herself into the fur of her mate and the skin of her hairless son, while Poppystem soothed her with a poppy every so often.

The world was drooping with stars when moonhigh passed, and suddenly, heavy with fatigue, Splashkit was unable to keep himself from dozing off. He slumped into Brightkit's fur with a thump.