Warriors: Empire's End ~Book 5 Series 3~

Chapter 20

Spectrum's POV:

She supposed Silvershy would have to wait. NoName's job would probably take up the entire afternoon. It was an annoyance, but Spectrum had promised herself she would help NoName. She needed to gain a good reputation after all.

So the black furred she cat set out on her journey, blinking far outside the Dark Forest's borders into a nearby twolegplace. The issue with blinking was that she could only teleport to places she had seen before, so she couldn't just blink to a completely random spot in the world. She was limited to the fairly large stretch of land across the coast. It was still a wide range, further than any normal cat could ever travel in a day's walk. It would do fine for the task that had been set for her.

Sniffing the tainted twolegplace air, Spectrum immediately caught the scent of feline. She found herself in a shadowed alleyway, filled with boxes everywhere. There were definitely some cats lurking in the darkness, she just had to find them. It was amazing how many rogues and loners roamed twolegplace, somehow scraping up enough food to survive. There was plenty of forest nearby, yet they seemed to find solace in the chaotic lifestyle among the twolegs.

"What a sweet little thing.." She heard a tomcat purr from the top of a large brown box. A simple-looking dark tabby with a stained white muzzle. He was underweight, just as most cats in twolegplace were. He looked barely over twelve moons old, but he held the stance of a wise old senior. Perhaps he was a leader of a group. Spectrum sighed at the thought of having to deal with a mangy group of rogues.

He spoke again. "What brings such a pretty she cat like you here?"

"E-Exploring." Spectrum responded with a deliberate stammer, letting herself fall into the role of a nervous kittypet who had gotten lost. She peered up at the rogue, her pale green eyes growing round. "Who are you?"

The dark furred tabby let himself drop from the box, landing neatly on the ground before her. Spectrum bent her legs slightly, falling into a gentle crouch to make herself appear smaller and weaker. She watched as his sickening smile grew. "Are you lost?" He asked, avoiding her question.

Spectrum shrugged and looked at her paws. "No... I told you I'm just exploring." Her voice trembled, making her words sound like an obvious lie.

"Don't worry, I'll help you.." The tom purred, leaning closer to Spectrum. "You're a kittypet, aren't you? Where's your collar?"

Spectrum couldn't think of a suitable answer and she quickly blurted. "L-Lost it."

"Lost it?" He chuckled. "How foolish of you. If it weren't for your beautifully groomed pelt I'd have mistaken you for a loner and killed you."

Yeah, of course you would. Spectrum sighed inwardly. "Well it was nice meeting you but I should get going..." She murmured, looking to see what his reaction would be to her departure.

He darted behind her, blocking the way out of the alleyway. "No, no. You should stay here. I'll keep you safe. It's dangerous out here, you know." He offered the black she cat a reassuring grin. Where is his backup? Spectrum wondered as she backed away from the tom cautiously. Besides her eyes, the rest of her senses were alert to any movements or sounds around her. The moment the other cats showed up, she'd launch her attack.

"Are you alone?" She decided to ask him herself.

Surprise appeared on his face and he stuttered. "Y-Yeah, of course. Do you see any other cats around here?" He laughed, quickly composing himself, but his lie was obvious. So obvious is physically hurt Spectrum to listen to him.

"Oh, okay then." Spectrum forced a sweet smile onto her lips, and relaxed her body. "Can you show me the way back home then?"

"Of course..." The tom started leading her deeper into the alleyway. "I know a short cut."

Spectrum ignored him and turned her full attention to the area around them. Whoever these friends of his were, they were good at being silent. She couldn't hear anything, and the twolegplace smells were too overwhelming for her to pick out specific feline scents from them. And of course she couldn't see anything either. She smiled slightly, these cats would be some good recruits for NoName. Hopefully they wouldn't be too hard to break.

She was so lost in thought that Spectrum barely even realised she was surrounded until there was a cat's screech above her head and something landed ontop of her. She hissed, frustrated that she had been caught by surprise, and let the weight of her attacker hold her down. She didn't think there was much need to waste her energy so early in the fight. The black she cat looked up at the rogue who had ambushed her, and blinked in shock as their eyes met. "Maple!"

Her act dropped immediately and she brushed the red and black she cat off her. The tom from before watched them in stunned silence, and Spectrum finally noticed the many pairs of eyes watching them from the darkness. But she didn't care about that anymore.

Spectrum turned on Maple, her eyes narrowed in anger. "What are you doing here?! I left you miles from this place, where it was safe!"

Maple hissed back at the Promethean. "You didn't think I was going to stay put did you?" The black and red she cat shook her thick, long fur to get the dust out of it.

"I thought you had common sense." The black she cat muttered back, lashing her tail. "But clearly you don't, since you ended up messing with rogue groups again. You know that's not good for you."

A look of hurt washed over Maple's face and she flattened her ears, yelling at Spectrum. "You have no right to start telling me what I should and shouldn't do. You abandoned me!"

"That was seasons ago." Spectrum snarled back, her pale eyes burning brighter. "I'm surprised you haven't ended up dead yet."

"I'm offended you think so little of me." The rogue growled, moving closer to Spectrum so that their muzzles nearly touched. "But I shouldn't be surprised, you promised you'd help me, and then you left me to fend for myself."

Spectrum struggled to respond as flashbacks of the argument she had had with Silvershy came rushing back to her. "I..."

Luckily, the tom interrupted, his tabby fur bristling with hostility. "What is going on here?!"

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