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Patchpelt's hunting party had little success in catching any prey to bring back. The waters were too cold and the fish at the bottom of the lake. The freezing temperatures kept most rodents burrowed underground besides the occasional squirrel. "Maybe we should just dig up some worms?" Leafpaw suggested after he failed to catch a crow.
"The ground is too hard to dig." Patchpelt sighed. His young apprentice looked down at his paws. "It was a good suggestion," he said, trying to cheer him up, "but the ground has long been frozen solid." His stomach grumbled and he licked it quickly, as if to tell it to stop. We are going to all starve if we can't get enough food.
"What's that?" Rainpool's voice broke through his thoughts. The long-haired she-cat pressed her stomach down into the snow, nearly covering her muzzle. She began to stalk towards the nearby trees.
By now Leafpaw and Patchpelt had picked up on the sound too and joined Rainpool. "Help!" The cats looked around but could not find where the source of the call was coming from. A second time Leafpaw yelped, "There are two cats in the tree!" The older cats looked up and sure enough a black tuxedo tom and a pale she-cat were stranded up in an old pine tree.
Patchpelt lunged for the tree's base, digging his claws into the truck and slowly inched himself up. Leafpaw tried to join him but his mother pulled him off by the scruff of his neck. "I can't get her tail freed." The tom pointed to his companion when Patchpelt made it up to them. The female's tail was pinned by a heavy branch.
"Can you move your tail at all?" Patchpelt asked the she-cat. He looked up at her and met her ocean blue eyes. Wow, she's gorgeous. Patchpelt could feel his face begin to heat up. He averted his eyes back to her tail.
"A bit." She demonstrated, the end of her tail weakly moving side to side. Despite being in pain she spoke softly and sweetly. Patchpelt nearly lost his balance hearing her heavenly voice.
"I tried pushing the branch off her but I couldn't" The black tom explained.
"Leafpaw, Rainpool get away from the tree." Patchpelt warned to his clanmates below. The mother and son backed out of the way, still peering up, "We are going to try to push it off of her together." He placed his paws on the tree branch. The she-cat winced. "I'm sorry. It will be quick, I promise." The tom joined him and placed his paws next to his. Patchpelt took another look at the pretty cat. She was clawing the tree branch she was sitting on, trying to prevent yelling out in pain. I really hope this works. Otherwise we are going to have to chew off her tail.
Luckily the combined strength of both toms was enough to send the tree branch crashing down into the snow below. Leafpaw squealed in excitement. Patchpelt could hear his mother scold him as the three cats made it safety to the ground.
"Are you alright?" Rainpool looked at the she-cat's tail. It was still in one piece but it was discolored and misshapen.
"I am now, thanks to your friend." She smiled at Patchpelt.
