Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 57- Spirit: Unsettlment

"We should travel longer," I heard Midnight say as she stepped her paws down stiffly, as if her pads were sore or frozen.

Which if you could guess anything, you'd be able to guess that they were.

"I know, at least until-"

"Did I just hear you say we should travel longer?"

I hunched my shoulders hoping for a bit of relief from the wind and freezing ice-snow showering down harshly. Of course, it did nothing but cause my whiskers to be blown against my face more as annoyance erupted inside me.

What kind of rude nuisance would interrupt at a time like this?

If it would have been possible to tell, Hannah would've seen my neck-fur on end. Her green eyes seemed to glow through the cloudy haze of oncoming ice and snow, narrowed in anger.

Just seeing Hannah in a such state made my temper burn. This was not a state in which any cat had the right to start an argument- even me.

"Don't you know the wolves could be on our tail this very moment?" I almost hissed.

"They could be on our tails right now and-!"

"If they're on our tails right now, don't you think we might be leading them to the very place we're going?" Blaze moved forward and hesitated, before taking another decisive step forward and stiffly raising his tail.

I hesitated and held my claws as they threatened to un-sheath, way too taken aback.

When and why had Blaze gotten these thoughts? Out of all moments to speak up, why now? Staring at the tom made my throat hot with rage- why even say a thing like that!?

It almost made me feel a strange kind of humor alongside the annoyance, seeing him seething throughout such weather.

"Can't you see this isn't helping any cat? I'm leading, so get out of the way!"

Blaze's gaze still bore defiantly into mine, his dark tan fur matching the same burning color of his eyes.

"We have to make it through this storm before-"

"Spirit is right."

I turned and lashed my tail with anger coursing through my head, about to shove the next cat who had interrupted my words again, but-

It was Storm.

"We should trust Spirit to lead us. She's always worked her hardest to steer us away from trouble every turn it comes our way."

My heart thudded in my throat, so shocked from feeling rage turn into something else.

"She's leading us farther into an ice storm!" Hannah huffed, her gaze just as hateful as the one next to her. My pelt burned, full of shock and rage and a mix of emotions I couldn't comprehend.

Blaze started up his argument again, swishing his long tail this way and that. "Spirit just wants to stay away from the wolves, and-"

"We have all wanted to steer clear of the wolves and Spirit has kept it that way!" Midnight snarled from the mist, greeted with a sheer moment of silence.

I almost plaintively laughed, for none of the cats had thought of or seen her. Though I didn't know what to feel or say, my heart throbbed in my chest.

Midnight and Storm had spoken up for me, but what next?

It felt like I should let my pride decide their own overall opinion of my leadership. I couldn't just keep telling them what to do if no one wanted my leadership. All I knew was that I'd been trying my hardest to keep everyone safe.