Stolen (Book 1 of the Outcast Quartet)

Chapter 16 (Jadepaw)

I sat near the edge of the camp, watching my Clanmates silently as they went about doing their duties. I sighed, feeling an uneasy loneliness that I wished would just go away but instead it lay like a heavy rock in my gut.

            “Catch me if you can!” Sagekit, a golden kit with brown stripes and green eyes, complained. She was the only daughter of Palestripe and Leafrustle while her brothers were Rowankit, a dark brown tom with reddish spots, and Kestrelkit, a golden-brown tabby tom.

            The small kit dashed about the clearing as her two brothers bolted after her, in her mouth she clutched a small moss ball. She leapt away as Rowankit lunged at her, resulting in him face planting onto the ground. Prancing away, she let out a yelp as Kestrelkit suddenly grabbed her tail and yanked her back. The ball fell to the ground and her brother eagerly scooped it up.

            My thoughts wondered back to the time when Yellowpaw and I were still with Mother, when we were a tightly  knit family with no rifts between the three of us. Now Mother was gone and Yellowpaw was more distant than ever. Speaking of Yellowpaw, I watched as she returned from herb gathering with Maplepaw and Cloverpaw. Sensing my presence, my sister turned her blind gaze towards me before snorting and looking away.

            “Still hasn’t forgiven you?” Owl rumbled softly as he padded up to me.

            “Not yet…” I mumbled while glancing away in an attempt to hide my pain. “I’m okay though since I know she’ll get over it eventually.”

            “Let’s go hunting,” Owl exclaimed. “It’s about time you did something.”

            “Fine,” I shrugged while standing up, my paws ached to go outside again and I was soon eagerly trotting towards the camp entrance which was a small tunnel, just barely the size of a cat, going through the brush surrounding the camp.

            “Come on Loon,” Owl called and the strange tom scuttled over to us. “We’re going hunting.”

            “Loon likes hunting!” he purred, his tail curling excitedly.

            Owl didn’t respond as he disappeared into the tunnel, his tail rustling the surrounding leaves. With a final glance back at Yellowpaw, who had purposely sat with her back to me, I slipped out of the camp. Loon followed behind me, chattering away about how he hoped to catch a mouse or something like that.

            “Loon you do remember that hunting requires you to I don’t know, shut up,” I snapped upon leaving the tunnel.

            “Loon knows,” the black-and-white tom assured and for a blessed couple of heart beats he stayed quiet. It was nice to walk in complete silence, even though it lasted so shortly, for soon Loon was chattering away again. I stifled the rising growl in my throat and wished I could stuff moss in my ears to block him out.   

            Owl suddenly stopped and I practically bumped into him, the burly tom was stiff as he cautiously sniffed the air. His hackles rose and a snarl emitted from him. Loon walked up beside Owl, his large curious eyes looking around him. “What is it Owl, what is it?” he asked but Owl didn’t respond. Instead he crouched down behind a bush and gestured for us to do the same. Sharing a confused look with Loon, we dropped down beside him.

            “We need to be very quiet,” Owl murmured while he stuck his tail into Loon’s mouth. “Don’t let them know were here.”

            I obeyed but questions tumbled through my mind, the main one being who was Owl talking about. I was taunted to ask, to speak the question but the loud paw steps of someone approaching kept me silent. Pressing closer to the ground, my ears flattened and my eyes widened as I watched from my hiding place.

            “Are you sure you heard someone?” a gruff voice asked and a set of silver paws, paws that seemed to be the biggest paws I’ve seen, stopped in front of our hiding spot.

            “I’m fairly certain, sir,” another voice exclaimed.

            “Do you think we’ve been discovered? Maybe we should head back…” another wondered but the silver pawed cat hissed back at them, silencing them.

            “We’ll continue moving, a bunch of weak saps like them won’t be able to overpower us,” the silver pawed cat then briskly started forward and after a moment’s hesitation, a bunch of others followed. I felt the ground shake as they passed, so many cats… and was it possible that they were heading for the adoption center?

            Owl, once he believed it would be safe, pulled his tail away from Loon’s mouth and sat up. “Jadepaw, we must warn the camp,” he meowed. “If we’re quick enough, we should have enough time to get the kits away before they arrive.”

            “Owl who were they?” I asked, refusing to move until I got an answer.

            “Thieves, that’s who they are,” Owl sighed. “They’re part of a notorious group known as BrambleClan, and their leader is Thornscar who was the silver tom from before.”

            “We must warn everyone!” I quickly rushed to my paws. “We have to hurry, if we don’t…” I shivered at the thought, how many of the kits would be taken from us if we didn’t get there in time?

            Without responding, Owl stood and started towards the camp’s location. With each step his pace grew faster before he disappeared into the surrounding brush. “Come on Loon,” I meowed and dashed after the mottled brown tom. I sped through the woods with urgency, we had to make it in time. We had to or so many would end up suffering. But would it make a difference? The unwanted question surfaced into my mind, after all these cats knew what they were doing. Even if we managed to warn everyone, even if we were prepared, they could still easily overpower us, wouldn’t they?

            No I can’t think like that… shaking my head I poured on more speed, and tore through the rest of the woods. I was panting heavily by the time I reached our well hidden camp but I didn’t pause to catch my breath as I dove through the tunnel and entered the camp. Owl was already there talking to Talia with urgency.

            Talia listened in horror, her eyes wide, as Owl delivered the message. Glancing at me, her eyes prodded me to tell her if this was true and not some sick joke Owl had made up. I held her gaze and she let out a shaky sigh. “Everyone!” she howled loudly, catching the attention of our camp members. Curious as to what was going they gathered around us, all watching Talia with interest. “We have been targeted by thieves…” shocked gasps rippled through the assembled crowd and they started to murmur fearfully. Talia plowed on, forcing her voice to be heard above the clamor. “We are being targeted by BrambleClan, but we must not falter! The safety of the kits must come first, so I have decided that they shall be taken out of the camp. Avia along with Yellowpaw and Maplepaw will take the kits to the underground caverns where they will be safe until this is over.”

            “What should the rest of us do? Is there something we can do before they come?” someone asked.

            “All we can do is pretend we haven’t been alerted, we must not raise alarm among the BrambleClan cats,” Talia meowed. “They are a talented Clan that has been thriving for moons upon moons. They are practically legend among other rogues and other Clans while they are the idols of inspiring thief Clans. Most likely they will be weary and will know if we are alerted. If that’s the case, they’d probably search for the kits before attacking us.”

            “We should hurry and get the kits out,” Ava meowed and she started to round up the kits with Yellowpaw and Maplepaw’s help. I watched as the slowly slipped out of the camp, using the dirt place tunnel as their exit. I felt a quick relief at knowing Yellowpaw wouldn’t be here in the fight, she would be safely hidden with the others. The relief was shortly lived when a loud, bloodcurdling battle cry rose into the silent forest. Everyone turned towards the camp entrance as cats started to slip through the tunnel. It started to widen as cats eagerly ripped at the foliage, and more poured into our camp.

            So many… glancing over at my camp members I couldn’t help but wonder. If we won, how many would end up dead from this?