Warriors: Rising Secrets (Book 1)

Chapter Twelve; The Journey Begins

"Right," Dawnfire mewed as the cats around her woke. "we must find food and get going straight away. But be careful hunting because we are near RiverClan and WindClan."

"What about the apprentices?" Stormpelt asked as cats started to look for food.

"They will stay with the warriors that they came with." Dawnfire replied. Stormpelt just nodded his head and padded over to Kestrelwing to tell him.

Dawnfire padded off to hunt but she stayed well away from the border. She was walking past the entrance to the barn when the strong scent of mice flooded her senses. She looked through the hole at the bottom of the door and squeezed through the hole. The smell of mouse was overpowering. She decided to tell the others about this. She came out of the barn and padded back to where the others were. She noticed that Silverpebble tried to fish as her paws were wet.

"Are all of us here? What did you all catch?" Dawnfire asked the cats. They all nodded showing they were here but only one peice of prey sat in the clearing.

"All the prey is in the territories." Stormpelt mewed looking at the chuffinch.

"Well its just aswell I went into the barn, the smell of mice is strong so I'm guessing there are loads." Dawnfire mewed nodding her head in the direction of the barn.

"I'll have the bird." Rippletail mewed from where she was sitting beside Silverpebble. "Because I'm a medicine cat, I don't have the same skills as the rest of you, and there is no point wasting a perfectly good peice of prey."

That was true. "OK." Dawnfire mewed to her.

All the cats followed her as she led the way to the barn. Once they had all squeezed through the door Dawnfire started explaining what to do. "OK, I don't know how big the mice are so have one, and if that's not enough have two, don't fill your self up too much as we can stop for prey later. I do not want to spend to long here. When you are done wait at the door we just came in. When we are all there we shall set off. everyone got it?" The cats nodded their heads in agreement. "OK, then off-"

Dawnfire was interrupted by a hiss at the barn door. A cats head was poking through the hole. "Look what the cat dragged in!" A rusty voice came from the cat. He pushed himself through the hole and stood in front of the Clan cats. He was l small tabby with amber eyes. He didn't look much older than Redstar. "I'm sorry, what are you doing in ma barn?" He asked. He didn't sound hostile but she clearly guessed that he didn't like the cats' presence.

"Look we are sorry, but we are about to go on a journey and we need food. Is it allright if we hunt for a bit?" Dawnfire asked the old tom.

"Oh, go ahead. I'm out a lot myslef, so you might aswell have some and plus, I got me loads of mice anyway. Along with the food that my housefolk give to me. I never go hungry. My name is Tiger." The tom replied, loosing all his hostileness

"He's a kittypet?" Gorsepaw whispered in her ear.

Tiger seemed to of heard him and looked into Gorsepaws' eyes. "A what?"

"A kittypet." Kestrelwing mewed defending his Clanmate.

"And what on earth is a kittypet?" Tiger mewed sounding comfused.

"A cat who lives with Twolegs, I mean housefolk. Do you live with them?" Dawnfire said before Kestrelwing could reply.

"Aye, I do. But I mostly live in the barn. You see, we moved from the city. We had to move because my housefolk, or uh ... Twolegs got them some horses. As soon as I noticed mice in here, I claimed this place for myself. My house- I mean Twolegs come in here every day for hay for them horses but still leave me alone. I go in every now and then to see them, especially their kids. They love me." Tiger mewed.