Warriors Secrets of the Shadows: Frozen Blood

Chapter 19

By the time Sleekpelt had gotten Emeraldeye, Jumpingwind, Beartooth, Sunfur, Appleheart, Archgaze, Silverwing, Brio, and Brightstripe, they all padded away from the camp. Goldenheart was in the lead. Brightstripe kept close to her daughter, her one eye scanning the territory. Goldenheart stopped by the lake. They all sat in a circle.
"Well?" Beartooth pressed, obviously impatient.
Goldenheart looked down. "We can't stay in the twoleg nest."
"What?" It was Jumpingwind who broke the heartbeat of silence.
"We can't. Twolegs will-" She was cut off.
"Twolegs in leaf-bare?" Frostwing snorted. "That's like cows jumping over the moon." The blue/gray she-cat's tail twitched.
"Or you learning to keep your mouth shut when my daughter's talking." Brightstripe mewed.
Appleheart looked confused. "What's a cow?" He asked.
"Goldenheart?" Silverwing mewed to her daughter.
"The twolegs will knock it down." She put in.
"Did Reedeye tell you?" Brio asked up. "Me and him talked. We fit peices together." Emeraldeye replied. The cats all nodded their heads.
"We need to tell everyone. So I need all of you to spread the word and get everyone into evacuation. We have until the next sunrise."
They all made their way back to camp. Emeraldeye walked into the leaders den. "Crimsonstar?" She meowed. The tom turned from Slatetooth to his great granddaughter. "Ah! Hello Goldenheart." He mewed.
"So shall I send out a patrol to scan the border?" Slatetooth asked.
Emeraldeye smiled slightly. "I need to talk to you." She mewed.
"Please." Crimsonstar meowed, his attention on Emeraldeye and Goldenheart.
Emeraldeye sat down her tail curled tightly around her paws. Goldenheart was next to her. Both she-cats in front of the leader.
Goldenheart sighed. "Crimsonstar. We need to evacuate." She told him.
"I was hoping some cat would notice." He meowed.
"We have until the next sunrise." Emeraldeye put in.
The leader blinked. Goldenheart dipped her head.
"Right. I need a patrol to scan the forest for suitable territories to make a camp on the double." The leader mewed.
"Yes Crimsonstar." The she-cat mewed and walked out.
"Get Shrewfur. I've heard he has good tracking skills as well as Sunfur. And Creamtail, Swiftfur, and Rapidshine know some of the reaches of the forest." Crimsonstar added. "Skyfoot as well. And Blizzardscar."
Goldenheart nodded. Emeraldeye dipped her head before begining to walk out.
"You two join in as well. I'll announce this to the clan." He mewed.

Emeraldeye followed the patrol to scan the area. She hadn't spoken since she heard the news.
Skyfoot kept to the front beside Thornfurl and Blazetoe.
"Anything?" Blazetoe mewed. Skyfoot sniffed the air. "Fox." Her tone grew hard and serious. Just a treelength away, a fox was digging his muzzle into the snow.
"We can take it. If we've been through wolves, we can take foxes." Slatooth mewed, bunching his muscles into a crouch.
Emeraldeye looked at it. "Is it just me or is its leg scared up?" She observed. "Wait that looks like the fox we rescued!" Skyfoot mewed.
They had remembered of Skyfoot telling them of rescuing a fox cub from a Twoleg trap. This was just three sunrises ago.
Skyfoot padded to the front of the group.
The fox cub brightened at the sight of the cats!
Skyfoot padded closer. "Hey you remember us?" She meowed softly. The fox sniffed at her ear and got in a playful stance.
Emeraldeye padded up beside Skyfoot. "What's it doing?" She whispered.
"Now I've seen everything." Slatetooth meowed softly to Jumpingwind. Emeraldeye looked at the fox cub. "I think it wants to," Skyfoot saw it pad towards a hole of brambles and branches.
"Wait! Isn't that a twoleg trap?!" Archgaze shrieked.
It dug away at the brambles to find it broken. The creature had broken it by itself. The fox pointed it's sharp snout to a circle like thing of fallen trees. Brightstripe sniffed the air. "There were foxes there once upon a time." She observed.
Emeraldeye took a deep breath and padded up next to the fox. It gently nosed her. The fox pawed down a branch for them to enter. Emeraldeye purred. She nodded for it to go first. It swiftly went through the hole. There was a great broad stretch of territory which had den like things made of rocks and a log.
Emeraldeye followed it. She gasped in awe. "Mom!" She called.
Blueheart padded in. "Great StarClan.." She murmured looking around. Blazetoe padded in next, looking into the log, going in. "This could make a good den! Not too deep into the ground to where it could collapse and not too unnecessary." She called from inside. Emeraldeye looked at the fox. "This is your home isn't it?" She asked it, curious if it could understand her. The fox licked her ear.
"But if you let us come into your home the rest of us will chase you out and..." Emeraldeye could picture it. It was terrible.
"He says he's fine with it." Meowed a voice, and a StarClan cat padded up to them. It was the same cat Goldenheart saw when Emperess tragically died.