Nightcloud's Escape: A Short Story Fanfiction from Crowfeather's Trial

The Accidental Distraction

     Nightcloud lay in a sprawling, unnatural position, so as not to appear alive. She closed her eyes so her blinking wasn't revealed and took increasingly faster, more ragged, narrower breaths which died down to almost nothing. The stoat looked behind itself. It saw her position, and before it had time to react, a shrill, haunting shriek sliced effortlessly through the damp underground air. She recognized it at once. It was her son, Breezepelt. In an enraged disposition, Breezepelt clawed stoat after stoat, and she caught a glimpse of him before the mound of writhing slender bodies enveloped him. Wanting more than anything to help her son, she knew, with a sinking spirit, that this was the opportunity she needed. As she ran into the tunnels, her despair tugged her backwards increasingly the farther she went as all her motherly instincts cried not to abandon her son.