Stella's Story

Chapter 18 - In the Clear?

Salt purrs and says to his mother "Well, better go and spy on her again" and he gets in a battle stance. Princess chuckles "Go get 'er tiger." He sprints past me.
Still frozen in place, Princess looks at me. My mind drew a blank for a long time and then noticed that she was staring at me. I jumped a little bit in surprise and try to casually walk away.
"Charlie?" She says. Oh no. I turn around slowly "Yes p-princess?" I stutter. "How's the kids?" She padded over to me and asked. "Swell!" I reply immediately. She tilts her head. "Charlie.. Your acting different, dear." I gulp. "Uh- well I-... Um..." "It's ok darling, we're all sad about what happened to your brother.. Wait what? Just. Play along Stella. I look down.
"He was just strolling along in the woods, and BAM.-" she yelled 'bam'. "Your brother was attacked by a fox... We are all sorry for you Charlie..." Wow I thought. Princess actually cares about other cats... "Yeah.." I play along. "I miss him a lot."
Princess nuzzled me and some of the mud came off. I panic for a second. She hasn't seemed to notice yet- I quickly rub the mud around the spot where she rubbed against me. "W-well, anyway, I s-shoul probably head back to the kittens!" I said with a panicked tone in my voice.
She licks my ear and said "Be safe dear, we don't want another cat gone." Now that really made the mud disappear. She noticed it this time. Thankfully my real fur was stained from mud, otherwise I wouldn't been caught.
"Mud? Oh Charlie, what have the kids done to you?" She chuckles and pushes me. "Go take a bath silly." "Yes ma'am." I say and scurry off. Phew. That was close.
I start to walk out of the little town, but then was stopped by Salt. "Hey, you." He says with sass in his tone. "You're not fooling anyone. I can clearly see your wings." He said louder than the last sentence. I quickly pick him up by my jaw and try to calmly walk out.
I noticed a male cat staring at me. "Hehe.. Kids. Am I right?" I chuckle and see him smile. "Heh. Yeah." He continued cleaning his fur.
I walked out far from the clan, and suprisingly Salt hasn't said a word or tried to escape. I drop him somewhere far from the town, and ask "what do you mean? It's me! Charlie!" I say. "Hmph." He lifts his snout up. "You're the only cat who has wings, Stella." He says with a grin. "Pshh, who's this Stella?" I play it cool.
He pounced on me and started attacking "hey!" I yell and fight back. He managed to cut me here and there, but I kicked him off of me. "What are you doing?!" We both pant and then stops. "Hehehe.." I tilt my head in confusion. "What's so funny?" I say. "Just look at yourself." He grins.
I look down to see half the mud off my fur and see lots of deep cuts and bruises. Still panting, I asked "how'd you know it was me?" "I'm a trained warrior, I know a cat when I see them. No matter how clever the disguise is.