The Barn Cat

Chapter Twelve

      Uncomfortable, Mistfoot padded over to the ladder with her clanmates. "Those cats smell funny," a small, light-brown tabby kit meowed to a white she-cat with black paws. Must be the kit's mother. Mistfoot could see two other kits, a dark and light gray tom and a mostly gray she-kit with half a brown face. "How are we supposed to get up this?" Brightshade mewed grumpily. "It's not too hard," a sleek light tan tabby she-cat with white mouth, paws, stomach, and tail tip who looked no older than Ivypaw came padding up. "I don't need to be shown how to do it," Mistfoot grunted, then hauled herself smoothly up the ladder. "You can show me how to do it," Mistfoot heard Ivypaw mew, "it'd be a lot of help, Kaya." These cats have weird names. Mistfoot padded over to where a sleek, black tom was sitting on a pile of hay, his green eyes burning into her fur. "You must be Courage." Mistfoot sat down, keeping her expression as flat as she could whilst staring at the tom. The tom nodded, "that's what I go by." Mistfoot licked her paw, "we heard about you on our way here. Not by anyone outside of this.." she paused, "group. By one of your rogues, Blaze." "Tribe," Courage corrected her, "this is my tribe." "Okay, tribe," Mistfoot mewed.

    "Courage?" Leafstride's familiar mew came from behind Mistfoot, letting her relax knowing that there was another warrior here with her now. Courage dipped his head in a greeting, to which Leafstride did the same. "We've come a long way to meet you," Leafstride's mew was friendly, like he's known this tom his whole life. Courage's was just as friendly though when he replied, "so you knew I knew you were coming?" Confusion lit up Leafstride's face. "I had a dream of five cats who would eventually come here," Courage nodded toward Leafstride and Mistfoot, "and here you are. I was told you would need me to help you, and then you would help me in return." The tom jumped off his hay pile as Palepaw's, Brightshade's, and Ivypaw's scents filled Mistfoot's nose. They must be up here by now, standing behind her. "The only problem is," Courage continued as he padded over to them, "I don't know what you or I would need help with." "Our ancestors told us that there is a great darkness that will destroy our clans without your help," Mistfoot mewed, getting to her paws. Courage was a little bit taller than her, but if they needed to battle she could win. "Do you even know what the clans are?" Palepaw asked shyly. Courage nodded, his gaze warming as he looked at Ivypaw, "we've been told a little about them while we were waiting for your arrival. We knew of them before you came though, we have two clan blooded cats that live here."

     "What do you mean?" Brightshade pushed himself to the front. Mistfoot was impressed when Courage didn't flinch when a tom twice his size got up in his face. "I mean, two of our cats had a mother from the clans." Courage nodded down to a black tom with some white and a sleek-white she-cat. "Sparrow, Flake," Courage called and the two cats looked up, "what were your warrior names again? And which clan were you from?" "We never became warriors," the black tom called, "but I was Sparrowkit and she was Flakekit. We were around two moons old when our mother brought us here." "Which clan were you from?" Brightshade called back down. "Fogclan," Flake called up to them. "Sounds like what Fogclan would do, mate with a rogue and run away," Brighsthade snorted. Mistfoot could see Ivypaw's hackles rising, clearly irritated that the foolish tom would say that right in front of a Fogclan apprentice. "Who was your mother?" Leafstride asked, curiosity edging his mew. "Her name is Lightnose." "Lightnose!" Ivypaw's mew was suprised, "Lightnose is your mother?" "Yes, our father was a black tom named Tangle," Sparrow mewed back, "do you know her?" "She's in my clan," Ivypaw walked over to the edge and stuck his head down to give a good look at the two cats speaking to him, "she told us that a tom in Starclan, Spiderfur, was the father to her kits. She said a rogue took you in her sleep." Flake shook her head sadly, "our father didn't want us growing in the clans, but Lightnose refused to leave. They decided it would be best for us to live out here, since we're only half-blood."

     "Okay, we'll discuss that later," Mistfoot mewed grumpily, "we have more important things to discuss." Ivypaw padded over to Palepaw and sat down beside her, his tail twitching impatiently, wanting to go talk to his half-blooded clanmates. Courage nodded, "what is this dark evil that will destroy your clans without my help?" "We don't know," Mistfoot grunted, "we thought we'd get that information from you." "Me?" Courage gazed at the cats, clearly puzzled. "I guess we all thought we were supposed to help each other," Leafstride murmured, "so now what do we do?" "Easy," Palepaw padded over to join the warriors, "we stay here till we figure it out." "Stay here?" Frustration started burning in Mistfoot's belly. Did none of these cats miss their clans? Leafstride nodded thoughtfully, "I suppose we should do that. What good will it be to return to our clans more confused than we were when we left? Maybe we need to stay here and figure out what we need to do." "This is a mouse-brained idea." Mistfoot got to her paws and padded toward the ladder, tail lashing angrily. "Unlike all of you, I miss Fireclan. I miss hunting alongside my clanmates and playing with the kits." "Just because we don't act it doesn't mean we don't miss it, Mistfoot," Leafstride's mew was suddenly hostile, pushing Mistfoot's anger to the edge. "Well, you don't show your loyal to your clan at all, wanting to stay with a bunch of rogues," Mistfoot spat. "Tribe," Courage's calm correction was only burning the fire inside of Mistfoot more. She spun her gaze and fixed it on the group of clan cats behind her. "I am going home, whether or not you come with me is your decision, but I am leaving!" "Mistfoot!"

      The she-cat ignored the calls of her clan cats as she hurdled herself down the ladder, pushing her way out of the barn. Her pads were burning the ground every step she took, homesickness growing larger and larger every breath. "Hey." Mistfoot flung her head unround unsheathing her claws to face a fluffy white she-cat with light gray striped splotches and gentle blue eyes padding towards her. Her paw steps were light and made no sound, as if the she-cat was floating towards her. "I'm Echo, I'm the healer here." Echo dipped her head politely in greetings to Mistfoot, who was eyeing her down with hatred. "I know how much you miss your home," Echo mewed sympathetically, "I miss mine too." "Then go home," Mistfoot grunted. "I can't just abandon my family," Echo's mew was surprised, "would you?" "No," Mistfoot answered quickly, "that's why I'm going home." Echo nodded, "you're loyal to your clan." Mistfoot shrugged, "it's how clan cats are supposed to be." "But," Echo stared deep into Mistfoot's eyes, making Mistfoot take an uncomfortable step back. The white she-cat's eyes glittered with stars, even though the sun was out, like a medicine cat. Did these cats have ancestors their healers would speak with? "Would you rather go home now with no information to save your clan, or take a while longer but gain the information to save them?" Echo's mew was gentle, weirdly comforting to Mistfoot. "A better way to put it," Echo added, "would you rather return to your kin and watch them fall? Or take a bit longer to your kin and know how to help pick them up when they are slipping." Mistfoot shook her head sadly, "I just want to go home."

     "Oh I know," Echo took a step forward and placed her tail on Mistfoot's shoulder. "I think it would be best if you stayed here for a while, a day or two at least. Then you can make up your mind about if you'd like to stay longer or return home, that way you can at least know what's going on, right?" Mistfoot sighed, her shoulder's feeling heaving as she stared at her paws and sat on her haunches, "I guess that would be the smart thing to do." "Don't worry, we are all welcoming you in open arms," Echo mewed, "we'll figure this out together." "Yeah, okay," Mistfoot got to her paws. Together.

     "See? I told you she'd come back." Palepaw's confident mew filled the barn as Mistfoot stepped back inside, silence following afterwards. Curious eyes followed as Mistfoot pushed her way to a corner in the barn, sitting silently on the hay. "I guess you've decided to stay?" Courage mewed as he jumped from the ladder. "I didn't really have a choice," Mistfoot grunted, sending a glance at the Barn cat's fluffy, white she-cat healer. "Did Echo threaten you?" Courage asked, confused. Mistfoot shook her head, "no, she's just a better convincer than you." "Ignore her," Brightshade came padding up next to the black tom, double his size. "She's just hungry and tired." "You can have some food," Courage offered, sending a glance at the fresh kill pile. "I'll pass," Mistfoot placed her head on her paws. "We would be honored to help you hunt," Leafstride stepped in, eyes flashing sternly at Mistfoot. "We're just used to hunting for others, not others hunting for us." Annoyed, Mistfoot turned her head away and ducked under her tail. "But you're guests here?" A new tom's mew broke into the conversation. "Midnight is right," Courage mewed, "you're our guests, you shouldn't be hunting for us." "We would like to help though," Leafstride answered, "it will help our apprentices train in new terrain too, which would be very good for them." "If you say so," Courage shrugged, "but we don't need anymore groups out tonight, we just need some rest and sleep like your friend said. We'll discuss everything else tomorrow, for now, let's sleep."