Flame

Chapter Five

(As you remember, Flame was telling this story to Dovewing.) Dovewing stared through popping eyes at him. “And you were exiled? Just like that?” Flame nodded slowly, it was just beginning to dawn on him that he realy was exiled, and he had no place to go. “We need to go,” “Go? Go were?” “Away, we can’t stay here.” Dovewing looked at him with an odd look in her eye. “I had to do this to, you know.” Flame looked startled, “What? You were exiled?” “No, you mousebrain, it was different, but I will tell you to make the time go faster when we set out tomorrow. I know what you are thinking, we will need food in our bellies for the journey, and we will avoid stopping"They hunted and brought in a good catch from the bountiful forest, ultimately ‘filled their bellies’ just as Dovewing had suggested.

Flame padded through on the sand next to the shore, how bright the colors are today… he wondered absently. The waves came to and fro, with it’s soft murmur of spray. Around five tail-lengths away, stood the familiar caves of his tribe. Not my tribe anymore, he thought vaguely. Still, why he was here puzzled him. Suddenly he heard a scream coming from the tribe’s caves. Exiled or not, someone needs my help, he faintly thought as he rushed off. Running, running, running, that was all he thought about. Still, the caverns seemed no closer, all the time the screams were madding him to a mere frenzy of empathy. Finally, he reached the well known entrance and dashed inside. Bursting into the nursery, he stopped dead in his tracks. Sun? Kitting? he snorted in confusion and stepped closer. He peered into the small nest and stared at the bundle of creamy fur. He was hastily pushed aside by a younger version of Stoneteller. “Shouldn’t you be outside?” He snorted. “She’s in pain!” Came the tense reply. “Don’t you think I know that?” he spat. “You are doing more harm than good staying here, Feather.” Flame hardly heard him. Feather? Feather That Boldens The Hawk? My… Father? The same one that died in the Great Fight? His head reeling, he again peered into the nest. His suspicion was confirmed, there, in the crook of his mother’s belly, crouched a small black kitten with a white tipped tail and white paws. His head turned dizzy with confusion, had he really just seen his birth? The rest of the story was quite  familiar to him. The cream kit looked weak, and he knew that it would not survive the night. What fun he would have had with this sister if she had lived. But then he realized his decision about leaving the tribe would have been different, had he two loved ones to look after. In fact, he would’ve never even gone into the wood if he had a sister to amuse him. He looked back at his young mother. She was fading! In fact, the whole scene was fading into a green, gassy landscape! Just as Stoneteller, Sun and the two kits finished fading, he found himself in the middle of a stretch of grass, with the shore 5 tail-lengths away. Where am I now? He wondered. “Flame,” A silvery, masculine voice floated from behind him. He turned, and to his suprise, his jet-black Father stood behind him. "Flame, I have brought you here for a reson." he paused. "Flame, you have already relized why your sister had to die, and why you were brought here to witness it, and to open your eyes to The Tribe of Endless Hunting's planning for you." . . . Flame woke with a start. Was it just my imagination? Would my father actuly come and show me something? I guess he cares for me, and he is all I have.