Warriors: Salmonstar's Fate

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

                RiverClan’s territory felt small, almost too small. She felt that way because she’d made it to horse-place by sunhigh.

                Salmonkit paused at the border. She inhaled the scent of RiverClan one last time and stared at the Twoleg structures beyond. She had originally intended on going to the “barn” that Cinnamon had talked about, but was worried that RiverClan might search for her there.

                Horse-place was filled with strange animals that Salmonkit thought only existed in the elders’ stories. Animals called sheep looked like fluffy, white clouds and cows were black-and-white and made a deep sound that scared Salmonkit the first time she heard it. There were pigs, bright pink animals with no fur. And most frequently, there were large Twoleg structures often containing horses, dry grass that Cinnamon called “hay”, or in unused “barns”, there was the scent of loners.

                Salmonkit passed through another field of cows, who were peacefully grazing. She pushed her way through some bushes at the end of it and felt smooth stone beneath her paws.  She jumped back and trembled with fear as a massive creature with spinning black paws, an unnatural shiny pelt, and a really loud growl came towards her. It’s moving way faster than any cat could! And it’s so big! I didn’t think monsters and Thunderpaths were real!

                Salmonkit tensed her muscles and looked both ways. She dashed across the path and almost instantly, a monster was bearing down on her. She ran harder, feeling the hard stone scraping her pads. Desperately, she took a gigantic leap and waited for the pain of the monster crashing into her. It never came. She collapsed onto the grass at the side of the Thunderpath and felt the wind ruffle her fur as the monster rushed by her.

                Salmonkit waited until she’d regained her breath and climbed back to her aching paws. She didn’t want to eat land prey and she didn’t know how to catch it either, but her belly was growling nearly as loud as the monsters. She sniffed the ground hesitantly, but could scent nothing other than the stench of the monster.

                Another Thunderpath soon appeared, and Salmonkit did not want to risk crossing it again. I’ll follow it along the side…but which way will I go? Well, I guess when in doubt, you head towards the sun.

                Salmonkit turned to her left, where an orange ball of flame was sinking through the sky. She walked until the moon was high above her and finally decided to rest. She turned away from the Thunderpath, knowing she’d never be able to rest with the constant roaring of monsters passing by.

                Salmonkit stopped at the entrance to the forest. I wish I could sleep on an island near a river…then maybe it would feel more like home.

                Salmonkit had an appreciation for trees, and they were fun to climb as long as you were careful and didn’t go too high, but these trees were too close together. The leaves high above her head made her uncomfortable because they blocked almost all of the moon’s light and she couldn’t see her warrior ancestors shining brightly in the night sky. She was disappointed to be stopping, but she knew she’d made good progress. I’m far away from Clan territory, where no cat would think of searching for me. I made it through horse-place. And tomorrow, no matter what, I will find a river.

                She pulled some moss off of a tree and placed it between the giant oak’s roots. A cold breeze made her shiver and she couldn’t help but think about how much warmer RiverClan’s nursery was. It was only warm when Sandfur was sleeping there and Foxkit was next to me. Now Foxkit is dead and Sandfur hates me.

                Salmonkit closed her eyes and settled down in her temporary nest. The last thing she thought about before she drifted into sleep was that she’d always miss the sound of the river, even though it was the right choice to leave.

***       

                Salmonkit looked up through a small gap in the leaves above and was dismayed to realize it was already sunhigh when she woke up. She quickly scrambled up and set out towards the distant noise of the Thunderpath. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was out of the forest, and she had no intentions of looking back.

                Very shortly after the forest disappeared behind her, Salmonkit could see that the Thunderpath was leading to a cluster of small Twoleg dens surrounded by “fences” and a small patch of land. She took a deep breath and tried to imagine living there permanently. It’ll only be a short time. I’m just traveling through it.

                Salmonkit had reached a Twolegplace.

A/N: What do you think of Salmonkit's journey so far? :D

As always, hope you enjoyed and thank you so much for reading and being super awesome! :)