Chapter Fourteen

47 2 0
                                    

Dreamkit's pure white fur was shadowed by the darkness that spread across the caves she lived in nowadays. She was cuddled with her adopted brother Toadpaw and buried her tiny face into his warm pelt. He had just finished training with his new mentor and now he was ready for a nap. Dreamkit had been all by herself today. Her mama and papa had gone out to hunt and left her alone. She was allowed to converse with her true siblings before they did sacrifices each night. It was a tradition in the clan to leave a large piece of freshkill out for StarClan to take as an offering each night. It was thought that by doing this it would keep famine and sickness out of CoastClan. The ocean was too frigid to fish in anymore so that left all the cats to hunting on the forest stretch of territory which was fairly small. Toadpaw had been able to spend time with Sketchypaw now. They trained together and spent time together when they could. Dreamkit knew that Toadpaw hated leaving her alone because Dreamkit did not like being alone all day.

Now they were together and on the other side of the cave her siblings were playing with Sketchypaw. Dreamkit wished she could play too, but she was feeling sleepy and liked her time alone with Toadpaw. Normally they sat in silence, but sometimes Toadpaw would whisper to her how he had a chance to run into RisenClan territory to tell his mom where we were. Dreamkit never replied. She was nervous to leave. Her father Slickfoot had more of a hold on her than Hallowstorm did and she was afraid if she left he would come after her. It was that fear that kept even Toadpaw from running, but Dreamkit knew he was also worried that his mother would not want him back. In the distance she caught sight of her papa, Slickfoot speaking tensely to Lonestar. Dreamkit focused in on what they were saying.

"Are you sure it was RisenClan?" Lonestar asked Slickfoot.

"Yes, it had to be them. Their scent was fresh, but it was impossible to trace where they had gone. There are no pawprints, it is all ice over there."

"They probably just crossed in to chase freshkill and swerved back in. I am sure there won't be anything to worry about." Lonestar meowed to Slickfoot.

"You have to be right." Slickfoot purred.

Later in the evening after they had sacrificed a squirrel and every cat had eaten, Toadpaw licked the clamped dirt off Dreamkit's pelt as she purred softly. "Thank you Toadpaw." She meowed sweetly.

"Of course Dreamkit."

Dreamkit turned over to look at Slickfoot. He was on high alert and paced a bit as if he could feel tension in the air. Sketchypaw sat across the cave. Her nose was high in the sky, as if she had caught a whiff of a mouse and was trying to locate it. It was very often that Sketchypaw smelled something no one else could smell. She had a very good nose and could normally tell you what something was before she even got a good look at it. She rose from her feet and padded over to Toadpaw. Her face showed confusement and she quickly looked down and smiled at Dreamkit anyway. Toadpaw looked at his sister. 

"What is it?"

"I smell something." She stated.

"That's nice Sketchypaw. So do I. There are a whole bunch of cats in here."

Sketchypaw's eyes squinted. "No, Toadpaw!" She spat. "I smell something different. I recognize it too."

"Like what?" Toadpaw asked, rising to his paws to sniff the air.

"RisenClan?!" Dreamkit chimed in on cue. Sketchypaw dropped her eyes down to Dreamkit's. "Yes." She looked back to Toadpaw with her eyes wide in fear, someone seconded what she had said, and now she was sure. 

"That's impossible." Toadpaw meowed as he dug his claws into the rocks. "It's been moons. Why would they come back now?"

"Maybe something happened Toadpaw, maybe they could not find us. Come on." Sketchypaw said, tapping her tail on his shoulder. "My nose knows where to go. They are here. It has to be them."

RisenClan Book Two: EvermoreWhere stories live. Discover now