Redstars Broken Trust

Chapter 2

   Red woke up, curled in a ball with her back pressed against the dips wall. She stretched, and heard the bush tremble as a massive figure push through. At first Red thought it was a fox, what her mother had talked about being vicious and loved digging holes. She then saw a pair of green eyes as Mischief slid obnoxiously into the hollow, unexperienced in undergrowth. Red squealed and dodged a massive Mischief paw as it slammed to the ground, not even an inch away from her. Instantly her sisters shot to their paws, startled. They realized it was Mischief and relaxed a bit, peering over Mischief's paw to check that Red was there. Once they were assured they settled to the ground again, blinking drowsily.

   "Is everybody okay?" Mischief asked in a stern voice, nuzzling each of her daughters. They all began to swarm around her paws, rubbing against her legs. Talon spoke for all three of them, "We're fine, thanks." and continued to rub against her mother.

   "We missed you!" Red whimpered, digging herself into her mothers fur.

   "Can we go now?" Frost asked, arching her back as she yawned her sleep away, her eyes blinking brightly.

All the kits grievanced in agreement to Frost, and whined when their mother said no. She flopped heavily onto her side and called her kits over to her with a flick of her tail. Red was the first to retreat into her mothers warm fur, and felt something different by the way she pressed against Mischief's side.

She gasped in horror, pulling her head back as she looked at her mothers flank, her eyes basically popping out of their sockets.

   "Mischief! Why do you have so many wounds!" instead of sounding more questionable, Red seemed to be screaming these words. She and her sisters then noticed the long cuts and unhealed wounds running all along her body, which made Red think back to earlier. She couldn't remember anything but glossy fur filling every possible area on her body.

   "What happeened to you mom!" it was Frost who spoke, astonished and nervousness edging her voice. Talon seemed to have been thinking the same thing as she went to open her mouth. Mischief didn't repond, her gaze trailed towards her kits as she looked at each one of them with a dull expression on her face. She seemed to be dozing off and looking straight through Red when her gaze reached her, before plopping her head onto the ground and falling asleep quickly.

   When every cat was fully awake and stretching, it was night and it was almost moonhigh. Red stretched her legs and arched her back, allowing her tiny spine to jut through her thin fur. She glanced up at the full moon and yawned, her sisters seeming to echo her. Mischief was already padding slowly to a bush on the farside, so Red stayed where she was, her sisters plopping down next to her clumsily as they looked at Mischief.

She seemed to be dropping into a crouch by now, her tail hovering over the ground as her shoulder blades lifted with each step forward, until finally she crashed through the bush and came back with a thrush in her jaws. Each kit stared at it in delight, almost drooling as they swarmed around their mother, begging for the first bite. Mischief dropped her prey and rolled it towards her kits as they began to savagely rip flesh from the bird. When the kits were quickly full, Mischief finished the leftovers and dug a deep hole, burying the bones and kicking dirt over them.

Talon was the first to get up after pampering her full stomach, followed relucantly by Frost and finally Red. The cats continued to travel through the bushes and finally came head on with a narrow path, surrounded by thick thorn bushes. The path seemed to squeeze and squeeze inward until finally it stopped. Mischief wrapped her long tail around her kits and headed in the opposite direction to find herself on a wide space of land. There was rolling hills and a gigantic ancient oak standing alone on one of the hills, while farther off were piled rocks with cracks and holes penetrating into them.

Red squealed and began to race over the springy grass, Talon and Frost catching up quickly with her as she tried making her goal to reach the oak. Of course she was the last because of her short legs and tiny body, while her sisters had grown long legs and more lithe bodies. Red reached the tree and panted, collapsing on a small dip enfolded by roots that she surpisingly slid into perfectely. Mischief finally showed up and sat by the oak, her flank vulnerable as each kit snuggled up in her fur. Red was in the middle and the warmest as a fresh breeze blew at them directly. She and her sisters fell asleep as Mischief kept watch.

   "Wake up." Red heard a voice whisper above her. She blinked her heavy eyes and looked up to see Mischief flicking her ears, nudging Frost while Talon groaned, snuggling deeper into her fur. Mischief prodded Talon with a paw until finally she blinked, sitting up and stretching. Frost groomed herself while Talon rolled in the grass, Red sitting there impatiently, her irritable mood distracted as she began to study her small claws, flexing them.

She suddenly had a vision, her claws drenched in blood as it pooled around her paws. Her paws as well were sticky and scarlet stained. She felt a warm liquid dripping from the side of her mouth and felt something tight squeezing her neck. She gasped for air and suddenly everything was normal, lush green grass beneath her white paws.

Red blinked, unable to keep the butterflies in her chest from fluttering. She felt startled, her heart racing and blinked. I'm just hallucinating... she became nervous, Red was never a fan of hallucination, she'd warn herself not to fall for the visions but they seemed so real, she was only basically warning herself to not believe anything she saw. Talon and Frost were snuggled together, sunk into their mothers side just a few moments ago, now they were bright and awake. Red picked herself up.. She shook out her fur, arching her back, stretching her front legs before plopping onto her rump. Red cocked her head, beginning to groom the fur on her chest and continuing until she was thoroughly washed.

   "I'll go hunting, I want you three to stay here. I'll be in sight, so just yell for me if you're in trouble." she trotted, developing a run quickly until she became a large dot on the moor. Red turned her head to watch her sisters drowsily plucking the grass with their claws, studying the blades with unnecessary interest.

   "So..." Frost tried to sound bright, her light voice carrying with the breeze as she struggled to begin a conversation. Talon echoed more dully,

   "So." and that was the end. One word, putting a beginning and end to a conversation. Red sat in silence, tilting her head back eventually to stare at the giagantic oak towering above her. It's shadows swallowed her entire body, it's peeling bark ruffled along the entire tree. It would be more than a million moons before this tree could detach its roots from the ground. Just then, Mischief came back with a giant hare in her mouth, dropping it in front of her daughters. Everyone began to eat, devouring the prey in delight before their bellies were satisfied.