Warriors: Kinship by Exile (Cobrasparks Decline)

Chapter 3

Weeks had passed, the kits growing stronger and older every given second. Looking less and less like their newborn selves and more like adult cats.

I stared up at my mother, asking, "is dada okay?" Her pelt pricked, and her hackles raised slightly, staring down at me and my sister Jadekit, "Cobrakit, that's not something you should be caring about right now. Go play with your brother." I looked at her with annoyance, I had noticed his distance from us, his short temper.
"But I want to know! I'm nearly a moon old mama!"
"Go play with your brother."
"No! Never! He's too stupid! He hardly pays attention to anything!"
My mother's eyes grew larger, and saddened, "he's just acting like you should be. A kit, not a nosy, gossiping queen. I will say it one more time Cobrakit. Go play with him..." I could sense the worry and repressed stress from her and my ears flattened, realising I should listen to her. Despite my yearning to prove to her how ready I was to know, I just nodded and pattered over to Lionkit- Jadekit following behind me. Her pawsteps light, I felt my heart quicken as I thought of the daily cocktail of herbs she had to eat just to get through the day. It was like she was taking a journey all the way to the moonstone, everyday, from the amount of medicine she ate. Lionkit stared at me, "hello Coberkit!" He mewed. I chuckled dryly, muttering, "hey, Lionkit. Wanna play anything?" His ears perked, large, fluffy tail erect and high in the air from excitement, "of course bro! What about hunter and mouse?" I nodded half-heartedly, "Sure. I guess, should we-" a large kit then landed with a thump in front of us, hitting the ground loudly- I squeaked in fright, quickly feeling my pelt prick with heat as he stared at me with a smirk, "hey scaredy-mouse," he mrrowed, "Are you really gonna play hunter and mouse?" He asked teasingly, his posture straightening into a more battle-ready position, his muscles rippling under his ginger fur. "Of course not! Lionkit was the one wanting to." I huffed with embarrassment, heart quickening with self-consciousness, "I was wanting to play warrior!" The older kit howled with laughter, snickering, "you were wanting to play warrior? You think that's any less kit-like than hunter and mouse? You're sounding like a newborn, and look like one too shorty- I'm practicing fighting! But of course you couldn't join in, you're too sensitive. You would go crying to your mummy the second you joined in!" I felt defencelessness overcome me as I stared up at the tom, was he right? I shook off the embarrassment coating my fur and tried to mask the fear-scent wafting from me, "no I wouldn't!" I protested, "I'm just as strong as any three moon old kit! My dad is one of the strongest cats in the clan so of course I could take it!" He rolled his eyes, tail flicking and paw raising with alertness, "sure." He groaned before bounding away to the opposite end of the nursery- his claws digging into the soft dirt underfoot as to not slip on any of the loose gravel, he then leapt and plummeted down onto his brother, Wheatkit. "Just ignore Viperkit." I heard a voice sound behind me and whipped my head around, looking up at my sister, "he just wants attention." My eyebrows furrowed and nose wrinkled, growling, "no, he's just mean and stupid!" I ended my sentence with a wail, racing away from the group and skidding to a halt next to Tawnyflower. "Mama why is Viperkit so mean!?" I asked with a sniff, she stared down at me, letting her gaze soften, "he just wants to show how strong he is and get attention." She murmured back, though I was not convinced. I thought, "no he just thinks I'm weak! I'll show him... I'll show him."

The moon glinted down on camp, painting it silver and casting everything a dark indigo with shadow. Further into our territory I heard the distant scathing of bark, straining my ears to hear the caws of birds and hasty scuttling of prey. I felt trapped as I lay next to my mothers side, the walls of the nursery looming over me- darkness in the corners seeming to grow larger and try to consume me. I buried my head in my paws, before an idea struck me. My eyes trailed to the narrow entrance of the den, holding the large world- presumably large world, what could be outside the camp boundaries? Mice? Foxes? My heart quickened as I thought of the possibilities, then I thought, "if I sneak out of camp, Viperkit will be sure to respect me and think I'm strong then! Who should I bring with me...?" I glanced around, eyes laying on Lionkit, though I just thought of his loud pawsteps stomping through the forest and him letting the whole clan know about his trip into ShadowClan territory. No, not a good pick. I then stared at Jadekit, she was quiet and would be sure to keep a secret, "she's too weak though," a thought pressed, but I shook it off, thinking, "we'll be safe. As long as we're inside ShadowClan we're safe."

I whispered with urgency, "Jadekit!" Her ears twitched, and her eyes slowly opened, "Cobrakit?" She mumbled, I shushed her quickly, letting a hiss-like sound out to end any sentence she may have said, "Shhhh. Come with me." I murmured, standing up slowly. I glanced around, eyes trying to detect any movement, despite my talent in detection not being too good I came to the conclusion that the den was asleep- I then quickly crept out of the den, scampering into camp while being followed by Jadekit. She stared at me, voice growing slightly louder as we left the presence of so many other cats. "Cobrakit. What do you want?" She asked, I blinked at her slowly, taking a deep breath before giving her my far-fetched idea, "I think. We should sneak out of camp and hunt a mouse!" I told her proudly, her soft gaze hardened into a glare, "What?" Her body turned towards the nursery, as if ready to race back into it any moment, "you know I can hardly run, definitely not travel ShadowClan territory with you! And anyway, that's totally against the rules Cobrakit. I can't believe you would even consider that! Of course I'm not going." My ears flattened as she berated me, taking in her harsh words. I begun to stir up some words to try to persuade her to join me, saying passionately with a hushed tone, "I know it sounds really bad! But trust me Jadekit, every kit in the nursery would respect us! And we might even be made apprentices early, did you hear me? Early! If you're so scared about being too weak to adventure with me I can sneak into the medicine den and get you some herbs. I'm sure I'll figure out which herbs are which. Please Jadekit! I need this, Viperkit will know how strong I am if I come back with a mouthful of prey!" She stared at her small paws, sighing, and thinking over my words, "Cobrakit- I... I guess if you can get some of the herbs I'll join you. If it means this much to you, I mean." I felt my body straighten with excitement, adrenaline beginning to rush through me as I thought of travelling through the dark pines and hearing the squelchy ground underfoot instead of hard, compressed dirt and gravel. "Yay! Thanks Jadekit. I promise this will be amazing!" I begun to trot towards the medicine den, before halting as Jadekit chuckled, "Uh. Do you even know what the herbs look like you bird-brain?" I glared at her, huffing, "of course! But if you neeeeed to tell me, what do they look like?" She scowled before responding, "you need to get burnet, it's a green leafy plant with some purple, spiky flowers, and chamomile which is like a daisy but with a big yellow part in the middle, and daisy leaves." I stared at her, eyes widening, "she knows so much about those!" I thought, but didn't let my amazement show, beginning to pad away- telling her with a cocky tone, "pff. I knew that, you didn't have to explain it." Before continuing towards the medicine den, heart pounding against my rib cage as if begging me to abandon my plans- but I had already convinced myself.

My pawsteps grew lighter, hardly tapping the ground underfoot as I stepped. I let my weight rest in my hips as I slowly snuck my way to the medicine den entrance, drawing in a long breath, stalling from entering. Thoughts rushed and a buzz rippled through me, coaxing me into entering, I slowly begun to sneak inside. I padded quietly into the den, blinking and letting my eyes adjust to the extremely dark den. I knew the medicine cat would be in the den attached right next to me, I glanced into the shadowy cave in the corner of the den and shuddered as I imagined getting caught. I shook off my fears and pelted carefully toward the herb storage- glancing around before my eyes lay on a leafy green herb, covered with little, prickly, purple flowers. I gently grasped it in my jaws, then noticing some daisies- grabbing a bunch, then quickly stole the daisy lookalikes with large centres looking like miniature suns and bolted back toward Jadekit. Skidding to a stop as I reached her, "I got them!" I smiled widely, mumbling through the herbs, dropping the plants and letting them flutter lightly to the ground. She gave me a nod, though it seemed halfhearted, as if she internally wished I had failed my mission. She stretched her neck down and sat, before shredding the leaves from the daisies and eating a concoction of all the herbs, her nose wrinkled as the bitter taste hit her tongue- sending bile rushing to her throat, but she pushed it back and kept on eating. I waited eagerly for her to finish eating, she finally swallowed and my ears perked, "Are you done?!" I asked with a grin, she nodded slowly, "great!" I purred, nosing the remaining herbs away and starting to bound toward the camp entrance. Jadekit followed with her tail dragging behind me. I felt vibrations ripple underneath me and my ears perked, glancing around in fear with wide eyes- like rain, adrenaline pelting down my spine... though in the darkness I couldn't find anything, eyes straining to try to scout out any movement. I then shrugged it off and begun to walk, step by step, slowly toward the entrance. I felt the presence of my sister behind me which comforted me exponentially. I took a long deep breath, drawing in air, it was as if taking the first bite of bitter travelling herbs- you have to brace yourself before you take the first bite, thinking it's a lot worse than it actually is. I then thought of how easily my sister got through that everyday, my heart racing as I slowly put my brown paw through the camp entrance. Staring off into the dark, pine forest.