Legacy: Infinity (Book 3)

Chapter 21: Pawprints

Chapter 21: Pawprints

Low clouds drifted around the mountain tops as night crept closer, the last dim beams of light smothered by the low ceiling. The gray shadows lengthened on the eastern mountainside and the thick foliage cast darker shadows across the ground. Jay looked at the pawprint in apprehension, a fierce determination and fear battling within her for a few moments before clarity blew through.

She glanced up at Amelia to find the she-cat already watching her with a steady eye. "You go watch my kits, I'll track down this cat," Jay ordered shortly.

"Whoa! Not happening," the black she-cat interjected, waving her tail wildly in annoyance. "You watch your little furballs and I'll find this cat."

Jay didn't respond, irked at having her orders refuted and unable to project a coherent sentence for a few moments. "I want to handle this myself," Jay growled, keeping her eyes locked on the black murderess.

"No one cares about that, certainly not me," Amelia snapped, "However you look at it, I have far superior tracking skills and you'll be far more effective at protecting your own kits then I would should it be necessary. Who knows, I may even use the forest-rats as bait."

Jay knew Amelia wouldn't dare do something like that, but after taking a few deep breaths that calmed her anxiety she nodded curtly. "Fine, but if you haven't found anything by moon-high, I take over the task." The black she-cat gave an agreeable answer and then headed out into the shadows of the strange territory while Jay turned and walked around the pile of rocks that had separated the two of them from the middle of camp.

Ice was leading her brothers in an expedition around the camp, sniffing at the entrances of the rock dens and pawing at an odd piece of grass that had grown through the sand. Hail spotted her first and raced over to her, "Mom, Ice kept kicking sand in my eyes," he complained, glaring at his sister who turned her back on him with her nose in the air.

"Ice, come here," Jay ordered sternly, seeing that Hail's face was full of gritty sand that must be uncomfortable.

The blue gray kit didn't move for a moment but as the silence lengthened she slowly turned and reluctantly padded over to stand in front of Jay, her green eyes vibrantly defiant. Jay flicked her lightly over the ears with her tail, "I want you to now clean every bit of sand from your brother's face and I want all of you," she looked at all her kits now, "To be more careful in the future about what you fling at each other. You could blind each other if you get too much mud or sand in your eyes."

Her kits looked at each other solemnly, the didn't really know the meaning of blindness since they couldn't imagine not seeing anything, but they understood that a blind cat couldn't do what other cats did. "Now, I know you've had time to search this hideout over well enough, but for now, I want you to stay right here," Jay mewed, drawing a large circle in the sand around them. "And we're going to play a game."

"What sort of game?" Flint asked excitedly, his little ears twitching.

"A game called 'lookout.'"

"Is it fun?" Hail asked, staring at his siblings with reserve.

Jay nodded her head, "Oh, yes, very fun. The rules are very simple. You have to stay inside the circle and the three of you can't let anything cross the line."

"That doesn't sound fun," Ice muttered crossly, using her tiny paws to shake out the loose sand on Hail's face before she started using her tongue to awkwardly washing his face. "Quit moving," she hissed as he shrunk away from her efforts.

"You're being rough," Hail protested, pushing his sister away.

Jay ignored them as they started tussling in the sand together until Ice came out on top, quickly washing her brother's face with as rough of strokes as she cared. "Also, you have to watch the edges of the hideout from the circle, if something manages to creep up on you without you spotting it, you lose," Jay mewed. And dead.