Ivory coughed. Water was soaked so deep in her pelt it felt like it was touching her very bones. She shuddered, then coughed again.
What is this? She tried to look up, but dizziness took over and she fell limp again. What brought me here?
She heard pawsteps near her, and she flinched. It's probably going to be another cat who thinks she's dead. A force nudged her and she sneezed.
"That's something," the cat muttered. "What's a pretty critter like her doing all wet?" It seemed like she was talking to herself, since she hasn't addressed the beige and ginger tabby directly yet.
"What?" Ivory managed to rasp. She needed to get this she-cat's attention if she wanted to see daylight again.
The she-cat turned, and Ivory could now see the markings of her possible saver. It was a white cat with dark gray marks on her nose, chest, paws, and tail. Her muted blue eyes were as bright as the sky, at least that's how Ivory saw it. "Yes?"
"I need. . . help," the beige and ginger she-cat croaked. She was being a little overdramatic, but anything goes when you're trying to survive. "Please."
The white and gray she-cat pursed her lips. "Alright. Come with me." She flicked her tail toward her left.
Ivory reluctantly got up and followed. She was starting to wonder if she had made the right choice. All her life, she was told not to follow cats she didn't know, even if she was lost. But it was just a story to scare kits into following their mothers, and she wasn't a kit anymore.
"Are you hurt?" The new she-cat paused.
"No. I'm just a little slow to start, that's all," the beige and ginger she-cat lied. The reason why she was slow was because she was thinking about her, but she couldn't tell her that or she might lose her. Or die. Or have to have an entire conversation about it. Or die.
The she-cat shrugged and they continued their travelling.
~~~
The white and gray she-cat stopped under a large oak tree. Its leaves were almost all on the ground, along with the orange, red, and browns, of the others.
"Why are we stopping here? I thought you had a den," Ivory asked.
"It's close to the camps of the three groups," her saver answered. "They're a little too close to each other, but of course they won't listen to little old Singe."
"Singe?" Ivory yelped. Is this really the evil Rogue who started the wars in the first place? She was lucky to have lived this far. Everyone was lucky that Snow-Season were the peaceful times for them, and it's nearing it already.
"No, no. I'm not who you're thinking of," Singe reassured. "I'm just named after her."
"You're a Rogue!" The beige and ginger she-cat's fur was standing on end.
Singe tilted her head. "Weren't Rogues allowed to mentor kits before the test?" She rested her tail over Ivory's. "Put a little trust in your veins, will you?"
The beige and ginger she-cat sighed. "You're right." She shook her head. "Why are you bringing me here?"
"No reason." The white and gray she-cat's smile was the furthest from friendly. Her tail swept away from her paws, revealing blood red berries. "Eat this."
Ivory was shocked. "But aren't those—"
Singe's tail brushed the beige cat's mouth. "No. They're mistaken for those. I know the difference."
"Why should I trust you?" she snapped.
"I guess I'll leave now, if you don't want my help," the other she-cat snapped back. "See how long you'll survive then." She flicked her tail, sweeping the berries under the leaves, then left.
Ivory sat there for a while, frozen with the thought that she could've died, did she not stand up for herself.
Her ginger ears perked up and the sound of rustling leaves, and she whipped herself around to see a cat with a sandy colored pelt and dark brown paws, banded by a stripe of hazel. His eyes were a soft green color, and she saw a red feather tied near his ear.
A Feather-Lifter, she thought frantically. He might think I'm a Rogue. She looked around, probably seeming more suspicious than she wanted to be, until the tom spoke.
"What brings you here?" He didn't seem like the 'Get-Out-of-my-Territory' cats she had encountered before.
"Well, someone brought me here," Ivory reluctantly answered.
"I know. Singe, that snake." He hissed the word 'snake', which startled the beige she-cat.
"How do you. . ." she trailed off.
The tom scraped his claws on a nearby rock. "I was watching. I see you aren't as trustworthy as I would've thought." He looked up. "I like that."
"Who are you; why are you being so nice to me?" Ivory was still shocked that a Feather-Lifter was willing to speak with her. "Don't you think I'm a Rogue?"
"You're clearly too young to choose." The brown and gold tom wrinkled his snout.
"What is your name?" the beige and ginger she-cat hissed. "I'm Ivory."
The Feather-Lifter stopped scraping his claw against the rock and tilted his head. "My name is Robin. Negotiator and traveller. At your service."
YOU ARE READING
Spirit
Fantasy"TO FULFILL THE DESIRE OF A NEW AGE. . ." Ivory didn't know what was coming for her. The Claw-Bearers didn't expect an ambush from the Rogues, sending them into Seasons and Seasons of war. The she-cat who started it all saved her life, and she was q...
