Warriors AU: Skyclan's Destiny

Chapter 31

Haze jumped onto the top of the wall and looked down into the Twoleg yard. His pelt prickled with uneasiness. The place should have been familiar, but it had been a long time since he had come this way, and he was unsettled by how much had changed.

That bush has grown much bigger, he thought, jumping at the unexpected throaty bark of a dog from the next garden. And that dog was a yapping little puppy.

Haze parted his jaws to taste the air and realized regretfully that the clump of catmint that once grew beside the door of the Twoleg nest had vanished. It was the catmint that brought me here in the first place. He had followed the scent and jumped down from the rough stone wall to bury his nose in the leaves. And a voice, quiet and wary, had spoken behind him...

"Why have you come here?" It was the same voice, but harsher than Haze remembered. A sleek, brown-furred she-cat had emerged from the nest and stood looking up at him, every hair on her pelt oozing hostility, her lips drawn back in a snarl.

Haze leaped down from the wall and faced her. "It's Harper."

The brown she-cat gave him a cautious look. "Is she all right?"

"She's fine, I think."

"What do you mean, you think?" The she-cat's claws slid out. "You promised you would look after her."

"Twig, I didn't come here to fight," Haze mewed wearily. "I know you made your choice, but our daughter needs our help."

Twig paused for a heartbeat, then waved her tail toward the low-growing branches of a bush. "Okay, come under here. I don't want my housefolk seeing you."

Haze pressed his belly to the ground and slid underneath the bush behind Twig. Memories pressed around him, clutched in the thick leafy scents. "Do you remember catching your first mouse here? You said you'd never tasted anything so good."

Twig flicked her ears. "That was a long time ago."

"I know. And then you made me go into your nest and try your Twoleg food, and you thought it was so funny when I spat it out." Haze let out a faint sigh. "How did we grow so far apart?"

"We share our daughter, nothing else," Twig replied coldly. "I thought you came to talk about her?"

"I did. There's a problem." As briefly as he could, Haze told his former mate about Swift and her followers, how they had moved into his part of the Twolegplace and were terrorizing the other cats, not allowing them to hunt. While he was talking, he looked in vain for any spark of sympathy in Twig's eyes.

"You chose to live like that, fighting for your food like foxes," she meowed when Haze had finished. "You can't stop other cats from moving in."

"That's not the point!" Haze snapped. "I'd be willing to share prey in a fair fight, but these cats seem intent on taking everything. Including Harper."

Twig's eyes stretched wide. "Have they stolen her?"

"Not exactly. But I think that Harper has become... attached... to one of Swift's cats."

"You mean she's fallen in love with a cat who lives by a different set of rules?" Mockery glittered in Twig's yellow eyes. "You wouldn't dream of doing anything like that, would you?"

Haze felt his fur prickle along his spine. "It's more than that. I think Harper helped those cats to plan a Twoleg attack on the alley where we sleep."

"Harper would never do that!" Twig hissed. Haze wasn't sure; he knew his doubt must have shown in his eyes, because the brown she-cat went on, "Being in love doesn't change who you are! Do you distrust your own daughter, just because she had feelings?" More gently, she added, "Haze, you and I stayed true to ourselves, didn't we? I never told you I would give up my home for you, but that didn't mean I didn't love you. I gave you our daughter, remember?"