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The morning light soaked Goosekit's eyes. He yawned, stretching out and curling his tail. His gray fur shone nicely in the humid dawn light.
He got up, looking around. He'd forgotten what has happened the previous morning. He shook dead leaves off of himself and blinked. Where was the coyote?
Maybe it left me alone, he thought in both relief and fear. Finally, no freaky dogs were at his hind, but he also had no protection.
He clambered over the large roots and began to trot through the forest, unsure of where to go and where he was even going.
He lifted his nose to taste the air, trying to catch familiar scents. All that caught him was the coyote's scent, which was a bit far away. He sighed. He decided to travel alone.
The forest wasn't that scary in the daylight. Trees rustled in the wind, their fragile leaves gently swaying and swirling down to the earth. Little yellow butterflies swarmed a large patch of tiny purple flowers. In the distance he saw a hare, chewing at some clovers before it saw him and sprinted off.
He watched the way the clouds moved across the sky and how the ferns and underbrush would grow in clumps around certain areas. He never noticed how precious the world actually could be, cooped up in a nursery he longed to escape.
He couldn't wait until a few nights, when he would turn Four moons old. Although that wasn't really too old, he thought of it as a new checkpoint.
He heard a bit of rustling behind him and saw the coyote trot out after him. He gasped a little, but it only came and sniffed him curiously, picking him up with a look, like it was saying, 'Why in StarClan did did you run off?'
It took him to a little clump of dirt. It dropped him before digging the clump back up to reveal a hole of dead fresh kill. There were rabbits and a vole, and they smelled fresh. He swallowed hungrily and accepted the offer, taking the vole casually as if it was the fresh kill pile back home.
Back home,
He'd completely forgotten about his home, the clan camp. Littleminnow must've been so worried. He thought about Troutkit, Silverkit, and Cloverkit. He thought about his friends in the nursery, and Bearclaw, and Specklestep, and Poolstar.
He took a bite of the vole, forgetting how hungry he was a split moment before digging in to the rodent. He wolfed it down and threw the bones away carelessly. The coyote had taken a rabbit for itself. Sometimes it would look at him and yip, but he never understood what it tried to tell him, which made him feel a little guilty.
He got up and shook out his speckled coat. Glancing at the coyote, and inhaled, thinking of what to do now.
He wanted to make it home. But would the coyote miss him?
It's a dumb dogspawn! A part of him told himself. It doesn't matter. It stole you and ran away. Big deal if it cares.
But it did save you from the other coyotes, give you food and let you sleep in its nest. Maybe it cares; it thinks you are its offspring. A louder part of his mind retaliated. He looked at the coyote again.
"Curse my sensitive heart." He said, and the coyote looked at him. It just stared, ears pricked and eyes steady. It mimicked Goosekit's tone with a yip, which sounded almost like "Heart".
Goosekit shivered but he didn't know why. Coyotes learning a cat language - cool or scary? He didn't know. He sighed again, turning and padding off. The coyote made a surprised huff and nudged its half-eaten rabbit back into the hole, covering it.
It got up and followed him, matching his little paws' pace. It began to repeat the yip from earlier. "Heart, heart, heart,"...
Goosekit kept on going, trying to find his way home but somewhat taking his time. He liked the forest, the nature and animals and scenery.
At one point, it became dusk. The sun was low and the sky was a big messy mix of orange and blotches of red and yellow.
The coyote yipped something at him and turned back, running the opposite direction, probably to its den. He exhaled helplessly. Did it just leave him? Was he alone for the night? He didn't know.
He kept padding, getting tired. Finally he decided to make a makeshift nest for himself. He dragged a bunch of underbrush under a cluster of berry bushes. He curled up under the bushes and fell asleep quickly.
But while he fell asleep, the distant sound of howling filled his ears.
YOU ARE READING
Book One: Dog Borne
Fanfic"It trotted off warily, leaving the kit in the nest, but if Goosekit learned anything in his time, it was that new adventure awaited if you didn't listen - which was a terrible moral but he decided it was an exciting one to live by." Goosekit had...
