[OLD] Inna

Chapter 10

"Inna! Wake up!" I heard a voice saying.

"Where am I?" I rasped.

"You are-"

"Who are you?!"

"I am-"

"WHAT ARE YOU?!?!"

"SHUT UP FOR A SECOND AND I WILL TELL YOU!"

I shut my mouth and let the creature talk.

"What's your name?" it said, calming down.

"I don't know..."

"You are Inna, I am Isla, your friend. I am a fox." She told me.

She pointed to a white creature, a black creature, and a brown creature. They were very small.

"These are your cubs. The white one is Cream, the black one is Starfall, and the brown one is Wish. One of your cubs is dead."

All the memories came rushing back. Opie, Sparki, the caribou, everything!

"I remember everything!" I said.

"Even Sparki?" Isla frowned.

"Yep," I mewed.

"I understand."

As she said that, some more foxes came running up. Two light-furred foxes.

"Simmi! Tao!" Isla barked.

"Yeah! Get the lynx, Isla!" one of them yipped.

Isla looked confused.

"Oh," she laughed.

"I'm not attacking her."

The female cocked her head to one side.

"But isn't she attacking you?" she yelped.

"Nope." I put in.

"My name is Inna, and I wouldn't hurt you for anything. Well, at least I wouldn't try to."

The male fox padded in front of his sister.

"Is that so?"

I slinked backward.

"Yes. I would not hurt you on purpose..." I managed.

He growled and suddenly disappeared from view.

"I can see you!" I spat.

I couldn't see him.

I didn't know how to warp slimmering yet.

"Isla, help!" I mouthed.

She must have heard me because before I knew it, all I heard was a giant dog. It barked and snarled at the male fox to stop. As soon as he heard the ground-shaking bark, his concentration was broken, and he flickered back to view.

"Tao!" barked the female fox.

"That was very rude of you to do that! You're never going to hear the end of this!"

"I'm sorry," he whimpered.

The giant dog had lumbered back to a fox. I had been laughing the whole time.

"Inna, why are you laughing? Tao just tried to KILL you!!" asked Isla.

"Because..He...HAHAHA!!" I couldn't stop laughing.

"So this is Inna?" asked the female.

"Yep," I replied.

"Who is this?" I pointed at the small male hiding his maw with his black paws.

"This is Tao," she said as she pointed at the fox, "and I'm Simmi."

Just then, Gasu came back with deerskin and sap.

"This is for Starfall's wound." He said proudly.

Starfall smiled as Gasu rubbed the sap around her wound and laid the deer skin on it. I swear I even saw her blushing.

"Ow," she yelped.

"Hold still, I'm almost done," he said softly.

Gasu stepped back and smiled.

"Feel better?" he asked.

Starfall nodded. Isla walked up to Gasu and licked him. Her eyes lit up and she entered the den. She came back with a plump rabbit. Kosa's tail started wagging. She started to drool, but Isla dropped a leg by Gasu. Kosa let herself into a play bow. Isla rolled her eyes and gave Kosa a leg too.

"Follow me," Isla whispered to me.

I followed her into the den. She was almost invisible in the darkness.

"Or is she really invisible.." I thought.

She led me to a cache. She unburied it and it was the most amazing smell ever. I took a closer look.

It was a badger.

"Wait a second, aren't you guys supposed to be prey for these things?" I asked her, pointing at the badger carcass.

"I used foxcraft." She said at the same time I said, "Foxcraft?"

"Well?" she asked.

"What?"

"Are you going to eat any, or just stare at it like a concussed rabbit?"

I giggled and took a paw from the carcass. I took a bite and it was the best thing ever.

"Wow! I'm showing this to my cubs!" I said.

"NO!"

"Why?"

"I caught this yesterday," Isla told me.

"So?"

"Cubs can't eat anything except for caribou in the winter."

"Why?" I asked.

"Have you ever heard of winterbrook?" She said in disbelief.

"No.," I said nervously, looking out to the snow. There were fox cub and lynx cub paw prints.

"It's very dangerous. It comes from animals drinking bad water during the winter. Caribou don't do that, so we can eat them. Adults can and always survive it, but cubs never do. Something that helps you know if your cub is going to get winterbrook is if they are very hungry, after a big meal."

My eyes grew big. Something came to my mind.

"You guys still hungry?" I asked them.

"I am!" said Sparki.

"Ok!" I caught her a rabbit, and that was gone in seconds, only by Sparki.

"Wow, Sparki, you must have been really hungry, even after that caribou!" I mewed playfully.

I tripped over something.

"What the-Sparki!"

It was a small, cold, ginger-furred body, but somehow, it wasn't bleeding.

I stared at the wall in disbelief for a second.

"What?" Isla said, worried.

"Sparki, she.." I cried.

Isla walked up to me and licked my nose. It was comforting.

"She died of winterbrook."