Warriors: Silent

33

       "So, you received visions to bring her home?" Smudge asked Frostcloud. His voice carried some skepticism, and it made Frostcloud's pelt burn in embarrassment. It did seem unlikely she would be the cat in all of PineClan that StarClan would choose to bring Whitefur home.

  Frostcloud gave a shy twitch of her whiskers, "Dreams, but yes." She corrected. Whitefur, for the first time since meeting Frostcloud, didn't stay attached to her flank. Instead, she lagged a little behind, with Buckheart and Duskpaw. Smudge and Frostcloud lead the group.

  "Well, it's kind of you to bring her home." Smudge mewed, looking back at the deaf cat. She met his gaze with curious blue eyes.

  "Well... we might not even be taking her to the right barn." Frostcloud went on, "There's another barn, Wheat Barn, outside of ValleyClan territory."

  "Why are you bringing her to this barn, then?" Smudge asked.

  "It's closer to our territory," Frostcloud explained, "we don't think she would have survived a journey from Wheat Barn to PineClan."

  "Have you been to Red Barn before?" Buckheart asked.

  Smudge shrugged, "I've stopped by. The cats there let me stay in the barn during storms, or hunt during winter."

  "Have you seen Whitefur before?" Frostcloud asked.

  Smudge shook his head, "Not that I remember. But she may live in the house."

  Frostcloud looked over her shoulder, catching Buckheart's eye. Winter? House? An odd vocabulary.

  "Gopher!" Frostcloud whispered to the cats upon catching the rodents scent, lashing her tail and ordering a stop.

  Frostcloud dropped into a hunters crouch, keeping her belly far above the ground as to keep her fur from brushing the dirt.

  She cracked open her mouth, tasting the air and locating the source of the prey-scent. A scuffle of movement caught her eye, and she spotted the gopher watching the sky. She thanked StarClan its back was towards her.

  Frostcloud began to creep forward, but the gravel shuffled beneath her. The gopher shot around and let out a cry, and Frostcloud charged forward.

  She jumped and her claws stretched out in front of her. The gopher began to run, but was cut short by Smudge snagging its skin in his teeth. Startled, Frostcloud worked to change her aim in mid-air. She was just barely able to miss Smudge, tumbling on the earth just a rabbit-length away.

  The gopher screamed, and Smudge was quick to break it's neck. Frostcloud got to her feet and shook out her fur, her pelt becoming hot in embarrassment. "Are you okay?" Buckheart asked, bounding to Frostcloud and giving her a sniff.

  "I'm fine." She said, giving an awkward lick to the front of her chest.

  "Why did you steal her kill?" Buckheart demanded to Smudge, who set down the gopher in front of Duskpaw and Whitefur.

  "It was going to get away." Smudge said like it was obvious, "I've never seen a cat stalk like that."

  "What was wrong with my hunters crouch?" Frostcloud asked, almost defensive.

  "It looked like you were trying to crawl over garbage." Smudge almost purred, "You can't creep so far above the ground."

  Frostcloud flicked her tail. "Does he mean undergrowth?" She asked Buckheart. She'd always learned to stay above the ground when hunting, her belly high enough as to not rustle the PineClan forest floor.