Blood and Snow

Goodbye

Image by Spookkit

Snow knew there was no use putting up a fight. She knew she still had a sense of loyalty to her friends, especially since she knew the cat whispering in her ear had been lying to her.

"Okay. I will go back, but we must hurry. When does the battle start?" she asked. Carmen began to walk forward at a brisk pace before she replied.

"Let's walk and talk. I think it was to be tonight. They were going to surround the camp and corner them in the middle." she described to her as they padded through the dense undergrowth. Snow frowned at the plan Shrike had made to drive these cats out.

"What happens after they surround them in the middle?" Carmen's eyes grew dark and confused as she said this.

"He never finished after that... Everyone just started cheering and didn't think about it." then it dawned on them. Both glanced at each other, eyes wide with alarm and fear.

"We have to get back before something terrible happens!" Snow exclaimed. She began to dash off in the direction she supposed was right. Carmen followed right behind her. Once they were side by side, the heather she-cat panted something to her.

"My scent trail- we can follow it- back to the group." the she-cat told her as they ran. Snow nodded, too breathless to reply. She knew they could not keep running forever. It was over a day's journey back to the Horizon's camp. They would need to stop before they collapsed from exhaustion.

They tore through the forest, and brambles became tangled in their fur. Snow could hear Carmen wince as they charged through spiked vines. Breathless, she stopped. "Snow, I can't." she breathed between gasps of air. "We need to stop." Snow skidded to a stop and her legs buckled under her. The pair had been running through the woods for a while now. It made her chuckle at their thoughtlessness.

"Why did we think sprinting back to camp would work?" she giggled. Snow settled her head on her paws and took in deep breaths. Carmen smiled back at her and shrugged.

"Well, I guess we were just worried." her heather-furred friend sighed as she fell to the ground.

"Whatever, we thought it was dumb. Because now we are too tired to go any further." Snow flicked her tail irritably. She glanced around where they were at. They were enclosed around long grass in the bushy forest. The air had strong smells of the new-leaf fresh kill, and luckily for them, no signs of predators.

"At least I get to sleep now," Carmen replied as she curled up into a tight ball of fluff. Snow wished she felt the same, but her worry about the Horizons grew stronger.

"Don't you get it?" she hissed. "We won't make it back in time to stop the battle. It takes over a day to make it back. It's past sun high now and they will be getting ready to attack."

"I know, I realized that earlier before. But we will make it back after and we can expose Shrike's treachery to the entire group and throw him out."

"Yeah, but after how many cats die?" Silence spread between the two she-cats. Carmen bit her lip.

"You never struck me as one to care so much about strangers, Snow." her friend murmured. Snow turned to her, guilt washed over her face.

"I just don't want to see anyone else die."

"But you love to fight! You told me that yourself!"

"I do love to fight, but for something that I know is right. Cats shouldn't die in vain or for ambition. They should die around their loved ones for something honorable or of old age after they have known they lived a complete life. But these innocent cats won't. They will watch their world crumble around them tonight. And the secret, the cat Thunderstorm relied on to stop the war, has failed once again!" Snow hissed.