The cats and the moon - I/ TWO TRIBES

17. Kittens on an excursion

A couple of days later, the Moonlit kittens decided to leave the yard and go exploring. Anukari glanced over then allowed them to go as long as Chormarelle and Artemis promised to take care of the others. Artemis sheepishly nodded and rounded up her troops. Edinson was out hunting, which left Celestiara alone, so the ginger kitten just sat on a box watching them.

"Isn't Tiara coming with you?" Kerrybimble suddenly called to Artemis. "Don't you want to go exploring?" she added to Tiara.

Tiara was actually dying to go, but she knew perfectly well Artemis wouldn't let her. Regardless, she jumped off the box and walked towards the others.

"Yes, of course!"

"Well, that's settled", Kerry said happily, but there was something in her eye that warned Artemis not to protest.

Artemis deeply disliked Tiara, and since she was the leader of the kittens, everyone else followed. However, she would never have let this on in front of the adults. Edinson alone knew, but he had only come of age a year before, and his using to be part of the group of kittens explained why he was still so good at noticing things the other mature cats didn't. In his absence, however, and the presence of Kerry, Artemis had no choice but to accept Tiara in their exploring party. She took the lead, signaling for everyone else to follow.

"Tiara, you take the rear", she said. "Make sure no one's missing. Nobody's allowed to get behind you."

Celestiara didn't like that idea very much but she didn't argue. Artemis was everyone's favourite kitten, anyway, being the eldest of Lady Felegrine's grandchildren. She was even showing signs that she might have received some of her incredible magical powers. Protesting was no good, Tiara knew.

Quite predictably, as soon as they were out of sight, Artemis set off at a run and the other kittens followed, leaving Celestiara alone. Tiara couldn't run as well as the others because of a slight pain that remained in her paw since the day Macavity had attacked her, and Artemis knew this perfectly well. Besides, she had already been unreasonable with that paw a few nights ago in the junkyard, because she had been so eager to be normal and to play with the other kittens. She had ignored the pain and pushed her limits more and more, and now it hurt too much for her to keep up with the other kittens. She could hear them giggling in the distance, delighted with the trick they had played on her.

The worst bit was that if Kerry asked her about anything, she wouldn't be able to answer and it would be obvious that something had gone wrong. And Artemis was sure to make it sound like she, Tiara, had been the faultive one. Tiara sighed. She had to find them now, or else she would be in trouble. Sniffing the air, she easily picked up their scent and followed their trail.

It led her all over town for a while, then finally to a hill outside of town where trees had grown along a small river. The five kittens were playing by the river, happily chasing each other. Tiara sighed. Her attempt to run along with the others, and the long walk, had made her paw hurt quite a lot, and she was in no shape to play along with them. And anyway, they didn't want her around.

"Why did I bother again?" she muttered to herself.

So that Artemis couldn't make it sound as though she had run away from them, she remembered, and get her in trouble. Very well then. Artemis had wanted her to get told off by the adult cats? She would give her a little surprise. She climbed up a tree and settled down on a branch. From there, she could watch everything that was going on, without being too exposed to being noticed. She lay down and waited for the right moment to come out.

The kittens' attention, meanwhile, had now been drawn to the river. They were bent over it, hesitantly extending their paws to touch the surface. Chormarelle was the first to put in a paw, a look of bravado on his face as he turned to Artemis.

"Impressed?" he asked her.

"I'll be when you swim through", she replied.

Chormarelle had always been eager to impress the tortoiseshell kit. He accepted the dare with a nod and jumped into the water, under Artemis' amazed eyes. Clearly she hadn't really meant it.

Chormarelle swam fairly well for a moment, but there was strong current and he was soon swept away. The kittens ran along, laughing.

"Come on, Chorm! Get to the other side!" they encouraged him.

But Chormarelle's head was bobbing in and out of the water, and tended to stay underwater for longer and longer periods of time. Tiara was the first to realise what was going on. Jumping off her branch, she ran to the other kittens.

"Can't you see something's wrong?" she cried. "He's drowning!"

Artemis mockingly mimicked her, in an intentionally high voice.

"He's drowning! He's drowning! Oh, poor little baby Tiara's so afraid of water she thinks everyone else is!"

Tiara glared at her. She was very tempted to walk away to get as far as she could from Artemis' sass, but this was about Chormarelle. As much as she may dislike the kitten, he was still one of her tribe. Thankfully, Maerissa, who was more open than her sister and the only one who could get Artemis to actually listen, noticed as well.

"I think she's right, Arty", she said anxiously. "Chorm!" she called, still running along. "Hold on, we're going to get you out of there!"

"I'll go for help!", Tiara decided in a flash, and set off running, ignoring the pain in her paw.

Artemis watched her go.

"Now she's running... She was probably faking it all along, just to get us in trouble."