Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 36- Spirit: First Training

Fallan stomped through the water with her big paws, causing it to spray me and my nerves almost take a snap at her. She must've seen my angry expression, though, because she muttered a sorry and headed back over to Hannah and Blaze.

I picked my way carefully across the shallow stream, wincing as the cold water licked my belly fur.

"This is freezing," Midnight huffed as she thrusted with her paws through the channel of water, her black head sticking out above the small lapping waves. I grabbed her scruff and heaved her soaked body on to my back, sighing in relief as we reached the other side.

"Can we fish?" Diamond meowed up to me as Hannah dropped her on the bank of the small stream, and I already knew what my answer would be. Last time we'd stopped to fish, the day after that the wolves had caught up to us.

"No, Diamond. I'm sorry but it's too cold, and we have to keep traveling."

"But I'm tired," the little calico kit protested, and I raised my head up to see the darkening Skycat's pelt, judging how much farther we could make it before dark.

"We'll stop to rest in a few," I said and licked her ear, and the little kit turned back to Hannah for compfort. Before I turned around I saw Blaze give me an expressionless look, but paid no attention to it.

Now I wondered why he would've wanted to join the pride... There seemed to be no particular reason- Perhaps he was in it for the protection and peace of mind that he had other cheetahs by his side?

Could he have seen the dreams too? I thought, and then I didn't believe that was true more than I thought it could be. He hadn't been in any of the dreams, as far as I knew, which that was different from what Midnight had seen... Her dream had been in her own paw-steps, though, so I imagined she could have seen him from a different point of view, when I hadn't.

Another hour passed of me walking with the others and thinking, trying to figure things out. When I was finally forced to let the others stop, they plopped down on their haunches while I realized I hadn't found out anything new from when I'd started thinking on everything. It's just made me have more questions, and I laid down to groom my pelt and healing wound from the boar a few days earlier.

Nobody bothered me, thankfully, as I laid a bit farther from the others, until I heard Midnight approaching.

"They're complaining that they're hungry," Midnight meowed, and I guessed it was Hannah and Blaze since they'd only had a small morsel today. Oh, and Fallan, because, you know, she was always hungry.

I decided to let them go and hunt only because I knew Diamond was probably starving herself; The kit had an appetite, and was usually wanting something else to eat every few hours. I couldn't blame her; walking this far was a lot for a little kit, and burned up all her energy. She didn't even play as much as she used to.

"Tell them they can hunt if they want, but in pairs of two. I'll stay here to watch Diamond."

Her purple eyes watched me for a second, then she turned and meowed over her shoulder as she walked away.

"I'll tell Storm to catch us something."

I wondered if she had any particular reason to want to stay here with me, then figured it was to talk about something. The older kit almost never passed up the opportunity to hunt, being exceptionally well at it and actually enjoying it, as far as I could tell.

She approached again with Diamond by her side, and I noticed that the kit with the white diamond on her forehead marking had her tail and ears down, and was dragging her too-big-for-her-body paws.