A warrior cats story: A Stone in the River of Life

Page 5

"Who was your father?" Stonepaw padded around a bush, "I might know him." Tiger stopped but didn't look back at him. "Don't put your paw there," she meowed, changing the subject. Stonepaw snorted as his head started to tilt down, he had been staring at the forest floor for their whole journey so far, of course he would've seen - down on the ground laid a prickly thistle with sharp thorns pointing up at him. Stonepaw steered clear of the thistle. "Um...thanks," he meowed. "Don't thank me," Tiger muttered. Stonepaw looked up at Tiger in confusion but instead of questioning, he just continued to follow her. "So, why are you leaving your pack of kitty-warriors anyway?" Tiger meowed. "I just wanted to find a way to get stronger than my littermates," Stonepaw explained. "Ah...," Tiger started as if she understood, "what you need to do is give your littermates a little cuff around the ear to show them who's boss." "Yeah, that might work for you since your littermates are younger than you," Stonepaw muttered. "Well, sure. But I bet I could beat you in a battle despite being younger," Tiger stated. "Okay," Stonepaw stopped, "Let's tussle." Tiger laughed, her aqua eyes glimmering with amusement. "First off, you can't beat me so don't be so willing to fight. Second off, even if I was desperate to fight, we must get out of my kin's hunting places before they find us," Tiger meowed. He didn't answer, but simply continued following the young she-cat. "So...who is your family?" Stonepaw tried to bring up a conversation to fight away the awkward silence, but failed. "Look," Tiger hissed, "you don't know a lot about me and trust me, you don't want to. I'm just here because I need a partner that I can blame if we get lost. So stop being so persistent, you annoying fur ball!" Tiger then turned around and continued walking. Stonepaw followed in stunned silence. Did I do something wrong? What provoked her to act that way? Is it something bad about her kin? StarClan answer me! he cried out in his mind. Stonepaw was so in depth in his thinking that he barely noticed the time slipping by. Suddenly, Stonepaw bumped into Tiger. "We're stopping here for tonight," Tiger meowed. "Should we make a small fresh-kill pile?" Stonepaw suggested. "I'll hunt, you find a place for us to sleep," Tiger ordered. She slipped away underneath a bush and disappeared through some shrubbery. Stonepaw shrugged, pretending that he didn't care if the younger cat took charge. He started sniffing around for shelter. His nose hit a tiny hole in the ground and he gently unearthed a tunnel. It smelled sturdy and clean, except for a strong odd scent that stung his nose. Stonepaw shrugged once more and agreed with himself that this was a good place to sleep for the night.

Tiger's POV

Tiger crouched down. Her hair was tickling her face, so she brushed it away. The smell of thrush wreathed around her and she slowly crept closer to where the bird was nibbling at some grasses. Then, Tiger pounced. Her long legs sent her flying paws first onto the thrush. She quickly killed it with a bite to the neck. I ought to get back to Stonefoot-or whatever his name is, Tiger thought. With a sigh, Tiger picked up the bird in her jaws and followed the strong smell of tom.