Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 61- Spirit: Better Days Ahead... Or So I Thought

The next day was sunny with a light sprinkling of rain to top it off. I didn't like the way it made the air feel colder and threw my thoughts back to the cold, crisp air of the mountains- each time a shiver had threatened to rock my body. Clenching my teeth had proved insufficient and painful, so I looked at the scene around us to think of something else.

Every cat had been forced to wake up at dawn and I'd took almost the whole night shift myself in a worry about the mountain cats. Nothing had appeared in the night, though- so for now my worries were pushes aside.

Fallan's ankle was basically healed and I had asked her if she'd wanted to join in the training for today. My sister declined and chose instead to keep Diamond occupied by lifting the kit up and sticking her to a tree.

"You can't be a real cat if you never learn how to climb trees!" She'd gasped mockingly in good humor. This had brought the idea to my mind that every cat learning a bit of basic tree-climbing skills would be more than helpful. After all, trees could be your best ally when faced with danger.

Grudgingly, I put Blaze in charge of that.

"He knows how to climb trees really well," Hannah had boasted.

"I've even seen him catch prey by leaping from one branch to another without falling." Rolling my eyes and turning away with annoyance settled in my belly that only made it worse while recalling the memory.

Many nights ago before we'd came to the mountains Blaze had followed me into the night and revealed himself only while I'd been leaping from tree to tree, enjoying my own company up in the tall oaks of a moonlit forest.

Well, after Blaze had appeared and offered to teach me a few new lessons let's just say I hadn't been enjoying myself anymore. The action had felt like an invasion of privacy and kind of weirded me out, wondering what caused a cat to come following me into a tree the dead of night.

So, yes, I knew that he had some natural skills at tree climbing and that had forced me to put the tufty tan cheetah in charge of it.

He wasn't going to be training me, though; as I'd offered everyone a battle lesson instead. How to be swift, strong and smart all at the same time when defending yourself. I hoped that my tiredness would not affect the training negatively, and had chose to practice defensive moves on my behalf instead.

Storm had recommended that I split everyone into two groups so we didn't waste as much time, to which I'd agreed was a good idea. Now Hannah and Aspen were over by Blaze listening to instructions on the best way to get up a tree as fast as possible. Storm and Midnight stood in front of me now, looking enthusiastic about the whole ordeal.

"Attack me," I'd said without much thought which was the best way to figure out what each cat needed to learn most.

Storm jumped forward eagerly while Midnight darted to my back legs to fake-rake them across my legs. Then the burly tom brought his front paws up in an offensive move just as I rolled sideways to escape both advances.

Both of them looked at me surprisingly so I flicked my tail, bothered.

"What are you doing? Keep trying!"

This time both cats sprang at the same time and Midnight landed on my flank ferociously biting and clawing with unsheathed paws and a gentler jaw-hold. Thankful that her class weren't out, I prepared to shake the black cat off but was barreled into instead.

Storm's large head knocked me off my paws instantly and I reeled from the strength behind his head-butt, struggling to my paws with my head ringing.

Both cats reined blows around my face and flanks, to which I struck out to try and dodge each time. Backed against a tree, I kicked out all four paws and caught Midnight with one across the shoulder. She went tumbling away instantly, to which I sprang through the open space, faced Storm and then turned back towards them to retaliate with my body crouched. Then, blinking water out of my eyes, I stood up.