Crowstar's Mission {COMPLETE}

Chapter 27

Crowpaw opened his eyes slowly, his mouth was dry and his head felt heavy. What happened to me? He remembered getting the catmint for Sabra, but after that his memory was fuzzy. He lifted his head slowly, he was in Ivy's den. Her scent was all around him, but she was nowhere in sight. Crowpaw forced himself to stand, his entire body ached. Crowpaw let out a yawn and stepped into the harsh sunlight.

The wind was blowing slowly and the ground was covered in a thin layer of snowy powder. The loners were all sheltering close together, Leo watched Finch and Buttercup play in the snow, but Crowpaw's eyes scanned for Ivy.

He finally spotted his mate leaving Flint and Sabra's den, she had a sad look in her eyes. She said something to the members inside the den then turned, instantly catching Crowpaw's eye. "Crowpaw!" She ran across the camp, kicking up snow in her path. She came to a stop but slid slightly on the snow, bumping into Crowpaw. She nuzzled all over his pelt and Crowpaw breathed in her sweet scent. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"What happened to me?" Crowpaw questioned, nuzzling Ivy in return.

"You collapsed and you were out for two days. You would wake up long enough to take some catmint, but then you would fall back asleep." She stepped back, dropping her head. "I was so scared I was going to lose you."

Crowpaw could hear the pain in her voice, he stepped forward and rested his muzzle on her head. "I'm not going anywhere. It's going to take a lot to take me away from you." Ivy lifted her head and touched her muzzle to Crowpaw's.

"Good. Cause I don't want to lose you, ever."

"You won't." Crowpaw purred.

Ivy's eyes sparkled once again. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore and thirsty, but I'm doing alright." Crowpaw assured her. "How is Sabra doing?"

"Much better thanks to the catmint." Ivy explained. "She should be back to herself in just a few short days."

"That's wonderful." Crowpaw mewed and looked around. He couldn't help but notice how painfully small the fresh-kill pile was. "Hunting still bad?"

Ivy nodded. "And with two of us out and me focusing on healing the two of you, it's been hard and what little prey we do have goes to the kits first."

"Understandable." Crowpaw nodded. "Do you think I'm well enough to go hunting?" He questioned.

"Maybe," Ivy looked over Crowpaw, touching her muzzle to his forehead. "You don't feel warm anymore, so you don't have a fever. Your eyes and nose are clear..." She rested her ear against his chest. "Breathe for me." Crowpaw took a feel deep breaths, they were strained but other than that he felt fine. "Your breathing sounds a little heavy, but you should be good."

"I want to get out hunting as soon as possible." Crowpaw mewed, and as he spoke he spotted Cooper, Rudy and Raindrop returning from camp. They had no prey and all looked incredibly disappointed.

"Nothing?" Leo lifted his broad head.

"No." Cooper sighed. "We need to figure something out, we have even more mouths to feed and--" He stopped himself when he spotted Crowpaw. "You're awake." He mewed and Crowpaw nodded.

"I'm better and I can get hunting as soon as possible."

Cooper shook his head slowly. "We should give the prey some time to come out, we nearly covered the entire forest from here to the twolegplace. Until then," Cooper raised his voice slightly. "We need to come up with a plan."

"Maybe we should try hunting farther out." Raindrop suggested. "There may be more prey, if we travel away from the twolegplace perhaps."

Leo shook his head. "That's where I came from, there's nothing but a big field for so long. Then there's another twolegplace."

"Wait--" Ivy stepped forward. "Isn't there a farm in that field?"

"What's a farm?" Crowpaw questioned.

"It's basically one twolegnest on a huge patch of land, they have all kinds of strange animals." Leo explained. "And yes, there is. What about it?"

"Drizzle took me to see that farm when I was younger." Ivy mewed. "There's chickens there, even during leaf-bare."

"Chickens?" Ivy was saying so many foregin words, Crowpaw had no idea what she was talking about.

"They're big, fat white birds. They're loud, but they don't do much. They can't really fly either."

"Why are you bringing this up, Ivy?" Cooper narrowed his eyes.

"Drizzle told me that cats would hunt those chickens and they provided great prey! If we got even one of them it would last us a whole moon!"

Crowpaw could see where Ivy was going with this, she wanted to hunt the chickens. "Is it safe?"

"I don't see why not." Ivy mewed with hope burning in her eyes. "If we go at night then the twolegs won't even see us! We get in, kill a chicken or two and get out."

"I don't know about this..." Cooper mewed, clearly concerned.

"I say we give it a shot." Crowpaw vouched for Ivy. "If it works, then it will be great food for all of us."

"And if it doesn't?" Cooper challenged.

"Then we'll just have to keep trying to hunt. Ivy said there's no danger, so we should give it a shot."

Cooper sighed heavily, but Leo stepped forward as well. "I think it's worth a try, Cooper. We could send out a hunting party tomorrow night to do some hunting."

"Do what you think is right." Cooper grumbled, twitching his ears in annoyance. "Decide your hunting party."

"I want to go." Crowpaw offered.

"Me too." Ivy put in, causing Cooper to tense.

"I'll go." Flint spoke up, stepping out of his and Sabra's den. "Sounds like a fun chase to me." His eyes sparkled.

"I'll go as well." Omega lifted his head.

"Me too!" Peach exclaimed from where she stood, eyes shimmering.

"I think we'll make a good party." Leo nodded. "I don't know much about chickens, but I know they're pretty big, about the size of a cat actually. If we work together we could take one down pretty quickly. They're gonna be heavy, so two of us should carry one together. This will be the easiest option. It should take the night to get it done, but when we get back, we should have plenty of prey."

"Are chickens dangerous?" Peach questioned.

"They have small beaks." Ivy replied. "They're sharp, but I doubt they could do much damage to us. Especially when we're so fast."'

"Then it's settled." Leo nodded. "We'll set out tomorrow night, everyone should get a good long rest, because tomorrow we'll be as well fed as a kittypet."