Warriors: Impending Storm (ON PAUSE)

Chapter Seven - Part One

Standing beside him, Quail Feather felt as if her fur was on fire.

Pharaoh walked alongside her, oblivious to the electric charge that made her heart tremble in her rib cage, fluttering like a trapped bird in a thicket. Her paws felt like lead, carrying heavily as she walked, but she knew that she could not stop.

Behind her, behind Cloud Chaser and behind her mother and father, Waning Moon walked with them. Waning Moon...her littermate, her only sister, the cat who had hidden herself away for moons after the accident that had crippled her back leg. Waning Moon, who had retreated into herself, who had refused to rekindle the friendships she felt she had lost when she had to give up her training. She had not talked to Waning Moon in what felt like ages. And now here she was, padding, stiff-legged and solemn, alongside her Tribemates, dragging herself along without so much as a whimper or a whine. She kept her gaze ahead, avoiding the wandering eyes of the other cats, her pelt nearly touching that of Fish Catcher's as she stumbled alongside the massive gray tom. A purr rumbled in Quail Feather's throat, followed by a heavy stone that lodged in her windpipe and made her eyes feel wet with emotion. You came, she thought. I would have never thought you would've come, but I heard your voice. It was you. You came.

Quail Feather knew she should thank the Ancients for that. Her ancestors, sitting up in the night sky, cradled by the stars, had given her one of the greatest blessings she could have ever asked for: perhaps, just perhaps, her sister would return to the way she had been when they were still in the nursery. Perhaps Waning Moon would become as buoyant and excitable and hot-headed as she had once been, before the badger had ruined her leg, and ruined her chances at being a warrior or hunter. Perhaps she would be her friend again. Not just her sister, but her friend. Her one true, immutable best friend.

Her leader had taken a place behind Quail Feather and Pharaoh, walking closely behind them as Pharaoh led them farther and farther away from the Tribe's camp, to where his supposed kin nested near the border of the forest. According to Pharaoh, the trees ended at some point, opening up to wide and expansive moorland that seemed to carry on for ages and ages. It was from there, he stated, he and his kin had come. Quail Feather had been surprised that Cloud Chaser had agreed to Pharaoh's strange request to meet his kin-truly she had expected the Tribe leader to thank the young tom, retrieve her and her Tribemate Fox Tooth, and return to the camp, where he would make an announcement to the Tribe on the arrival of these strange cats. The fact that no cat had mentioned Fox Tooth at all did not sit well in her belly, but she had to assume that Cloud Chaser knew what he was doing. Perhaps he's assumed Fox Tooth had returned to camp already, she thought. Or maybe that we'd find him along the way. The badger is still out there somewhere, but with this many cats, it might not take a second chance at attacking.

Suddenly Quail Feather felt a light touch on her shoulder. Turning slightly, she came face-to-face with the gentle gaze of Golden Sun, her bright blue eyes gleaming in the half-light of the forest. "Are you excited, young one?" her mentor mewed softly, pulling her back a few pawsteps to allow Pharaoh to lead the procession alone. "This is your first expedition beyond Tribe territory."

Quail Feather had not thought of that. "I suppose you're right," she replied, tilting her head to one side. "I've never been farther than the Starpool before...but I'm only a novice, after all."

"None of the Tribe has ever been as far as Pharaoh has travelled," Golden Sun rumbled. "We have kept to our own lands, avoiding the edge of the forest and the moorland beyond. We have never had any need. Never before has a group of strange cats infiltrated our territory. This will be a learning experience for all of us. We must gauge these newcomers carefully: are they as strong and sleek as Pharaoh? Do they seem hostile? Could they outfight us if it came to tooth and claw?"