Lillyheart's Secret

Chapter Two

"Please don't hurt me!" Lilly squeaked. It was less than dignified of her, but it was the only thing she could think of to buy time. "I promise didn't mean to trespass! I was just trying to sleep! I'll leave, I'll leave right now! And you can have my sparrow, you can have anything you want! Just please don't hurt me!" Her breath came in gulps, and Lilly wanted nothing more than to disappear.

"Calm down kit, I'm not going to attack you. I'm not Tigerstar you know." Lilly cocked her head in confusion, and the she-cat continued. "It's against the code to hurt kits, so there's only one thing left to do." She leaned in close to Lilly. "You must come back to camp with us."

"Us? Um... I don't know if... that is... Is it truly ok if I come?" Lilly hesitated, afraid to hope. The she-cat nodded solemnly, and Lilly crawled out of the bush. The she-cat was about to turn away when Lilly called out. "Wait! What's your name?"

"My name?" The she-cat paused. "My name is Wavecloud. I'm a warrior."

"A warrior! You mean you're one of those vicious, territorial..." Lilly stopped, realizing what she was saying. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Wavecloud smiled briefly, then motioned for Lilly to follow her. "I do have a question for you though." Lilly looked up from grabbing her sparrow, and meowed something incoherent. "Why is a young kit like you out here all on your own?"

Lilly plopped on the ground, fidgeting with a feather before answering. "I'd rather not say..." Wavecloud have her a pointed look, and Lilly looked away. "The truth is, I have no idea where home is." Tears filled her eyes, and Lilly struggled to keep her voice from quivering. "But that's all all the past, right?"

"Right... Well, the others must be back with fresh kill by now, so we should get going. Hurry up." Wavecloud swept her tail around, beckoning Lilly forward. They kept a brisk pace as they made their way to the willow trees, where two cats were waiting anxiously in the grove.

"Wavecloud!" The yellow tabby leaped up from next to her prey. "Where were you? We thought something had happened to you." Her tail thrashed, and the brown tom nodded.

"Well, something did happen." Wavecloud stepped to the side, and Lilly shifted uncomfortably under the warriors' gaze.

"Look at the size of that sparrow!" The tom exclaimed, receiving a hiss from the she-cat. "What? That's just a really big sparrow." He ducked from her outstretched paw. "Yes I see the kit holding the sparrow. Wait, a kit?" He glared at Wavecloud. "Wavecloud, you know what Creekstar said. All violators of the borders must be promptly chased out! And here you are wandering around with a kit!"

"She doesn't have a home!" Wavecloud hissed. "And she's a kit! She shouldn't even be out of the camp at this age! The least we can do is take her back to camp for now! Stop being so stubborn and think for once, Mossfang!" Her fur raised along her spine, and Lilly shifted behind the grey she-cat.

The yellow tabby shook her head. "I agree with Mossfang. Creekstar did give us orders, and right now you're disobeying them! Just get rid of the kit so we can go back to camp!"

"I don't care what you two say, I'm going back to camp, and I will personally discuss this matter with Creekstar. Come on kit, we're going back to camp." Wavecloud grabbed the sparrow from the ground, and ran upstream. Lilly scurried on behind her, but she was running out of energy. I

"Can we please... Slow... Down?" Lilly huffed, then collapsed on the grass, panting with every breath.

Wavecloud halted, than raced back to Lilly. "Hurry up kit, we need to get back before Fallowsong and Mossfang." She grabbed Lilly by the scruff and hauled her up.

"My name... is Lilly," Lilly puffed. "And I won't be able to go anywhere if you don't slow down!" She stumbled on a rock, and hissed in annoyance.

Wavecloud helped her up. "Well Lilly, I'm sorry if I came off as cold, but we need to get there first that way we can speak to Creekstar." She motioned to the bend in the stream. "The camp is just past there, it's not much farther now. Come along."

Lilly sighed, but got up and started walking. She lifted her eyes to the reeds in front of her and waited until Wavecloud passed through the brittle stems. Lilly pushed her way through the entrance, unprepared for the stares.