The Rising Storm

Chapter 14: Enemies

        When Storm awoke he just stared numbly at the wall of moss that shaped his den, memories of what happened before he had fallen asleep flooded into his mind. Uneasiness began to prick at his pelt and he quickly forced himself to his paws to try and erase it from his mind. Glancing towards Silver and Dark's nest he noticed that his two denmates were nowhere to be seen. Slowly he walked over to their nests and he sniffed each one, he felt his concern for them grow when he noticed that their scents were very stale. Instantly he pictured two small shapes, one silver and the other a dark gray, both blurry against a painful brightness that was nearly blinding to him. Stop it! He thought fiercly to himself, gritting his teeth to stop himself from yelling. That was not them... it couldn't be them... Whipping around he stalked over to the den entrance and out into the clearing. He halted with an inward groan when he heard a furious yowl sound from behind him.

        "How dare you just leave you arrogent, disrespectful, excuse of scrap!" Turning around he saw Ivy marching towards him with her fur bristling and her eyes glistening with hate. Her voice was scathing as though she loved having this chance to lecture him. "You should be ashamed of yourself for cutting on your duties! You're just as bad as you-"

        "Enough!" Storm spun around in surprise while Ivy just flattened her ears and growled. Behind him stood a black and white tom that seemed to be only a few moons older then him. Shock overwhelmed him and he couldn't help but gasp, he knew this cat, he had seen him somewhere before. Frantically he began trying to think of a name and couldn't help but twitch his ear in frustration when he failed to recall it. As the black and white tom continued to speak his frustration continued to grow. "You know perfectly well that Storm did not neglect his duties." The tom stepped forward so that he was nose to nose with the prickly elder, Storm nearly flinched when he saw the coldness in the toms eyes. Ivy just hissed at the tom and spun around and stalked away, her tail lashing in fury. 

        Storm felt the toms gaze switch to him and he forced himself to meet the cats gaze. "Thank you for helping me," he meowed politely. Trying not to give away how unnerved he felt when he had seen the toms cold face. 

        The black and white tom just nodded curtly at Storm, "you don't need to thank me. However I have come to tell you that you will be given a new mentor."

        Storm couldn't help but look at the black and white tom with shock, "what! Why?" Instantly a image of Shadow's rage entered his mind and how he had turned on Night and Moon after he had been saved from the strange white tom. His fur began to bristle at the thought that she might be punished for what happened and he he mewed, ears flattening, "is she alright?"

        The black and white tom looked at him and flicked his tail dimissively "calm down, Night is perfectly fine. The fact is, she is needed elsewhere and we cannot allow your training be halted while she is busy."

        "Then who is my new mentor?" Storm asked cautiously. 

        The tom just narrowed his eyes at Storm, a look entered the large toms eyes that Storm was unable to read but he just meowed. "Your new mentor has yet to be decided, however I would suggest checking in with Moon, since you do appear to have nothing else to do then you should see if there is something he wants you to do." With that the tom gave a cold nod then began to walk away before pausing and giving him a warning look. "Be careful, your about to walk down a difficult path, make sure you keep your kin close."

        Storm's eyes widened "my kin, so doe-" he cut off seeing that the black and white tom was already gone. Standing there alone he felt question begin to boil up inside him. He knew that he was born here so he must have kin here but so far nobody had actually came up to him and made themselves known. In fact, Storm only really knew Dark, Silver, Night, Shadow and Moon, no other cat had ever came up to him and introduced themselves. Keeping that in mind he slowly began to walk across the clearing to Moon, aware of all the stares that followed him with each step he took. When he reached the group leader he felt multiple gazes burn into him making his fur feel like he was on fire. When he spoke his voice sounded steady, "a cat came and told me I will be given a new mentor," as he finished speaking he heard murmurs start to spread from the cats around him.