The Missing Clan

Chapter 17

❅

Lightpoppy stretched lazily, having nothing to do. She complained that to Turtle, the guard that was watching her for today's shift. He did nothing about that, only shrugged and turned away. Rude. 

Then again, the only kind cats in here that she knew was, Pea, and Pea took her for a walk and introduced her to Moth, a gray tabby. 

There was nothing to do but sleep, which Lightpoppy had been doing for the past three hours. She couldn't play a game, because, one: it's not fun to play with only yourself and two: playing was for kits! Lightpoppy was a totally mature warrior. 

She was looking forward to the cat that took the night shift, Aspen. Pea told her that Aspen was okay, but talks too much. Which was fine. Since the guards just ignored her, other than mealtimes. The sun was already moving steadily against the sky, but it had to move so slowly. 

She had been watching it move across the sky for the last fifteen minutes, and it moved, say, less than a claw-length. 

Turtle placed a robin by Lightpoppy's 'nest', and she tore into it hungrily, remembering to be polite and eat quietly. She finished the robin, licking her chops. She was jolted by Turtle, who was watching her. "Come on," he had meowed. "We're going to take a walk." 

Really!? We are? Lightpoppy just barely heard him say, "to the river." It was drinking time now, but couldn't they just fetch her a drippy moss ball? She examined the moss bedding that lined the fresh-kill pile. It was dirty and loose. They apparently don't know how to professionally claw moss. 

They came across the small river, and it sparkled, seeming to smile cheerfully at Lightpoppy. If only I could be happy! Lightpoppy thought sadly. Then this would be really nice. Her ears pricked, hearing the shuffling of leaves. She turned to look at Turtle. He had heard it too. 

His ears turned around in alert. Turtle was worried, Lightpoppy could smell the fear-scent betraying him. The air suddenly became hazy with stink. Ugh, Lightpoppy wrinkled her nose in disgust. What a smell! Smells like fox-dung, She thought. 

Lightpoppy didn't dare talk out loud, she knew that Turtle would retort, "I didn't ask for your opinion." It was annoyingly smart, because he didn't ask, and all Lightpoppy could do was snarl under her breath, while Turtle looked smug. 

And Lightpoppy didn't want to get outsmarted again, unless she came up with a good comeback. Now Lightpoppy had a lot of time to waste. She could think, until she got bored, look at the sun outline a circle in the sky. That was boring, too, now. Lightpoppy started to think of a good comeback when he first said that, but couldn't think of one.

Now wasn't a good time to think about that. While Turtle's ears swirled around, his head whipped back and forth alertly. "Let's go back, hurry, drink," he meowed gruffly, as if nothing troubled him. 

Ah, Lightpoppy thought while lapping up water. He doesn't want to act scared in front of me. How funny. What wasn't funny, was the fact that she couldn't even enjoy the cool, refreshing water, because Turtle tugged at her fur, muttering to get back to camp.

To get back to the safe, warm, cozy camp, right? she teased silently. Where there are a lot of cats to defend you? She finally was dragged away from the river. Thank StarClan it isn't that far from the entrance. 

Aspen was next to the den, glancing around nervously. "Oh, there you are!" she ran to Turtle. "I was worried a Clan cat caught you."

Turtle muttered, "Like it could." 

"Excuse me!" Lightpoppy meowed indignantly. "I am a Clan cat! You fox-hearted, mouse-brained, piece of fox-dung! No one insults my Clan!" 

Turtle snorted, "Who asked." But this time Lightpoppy was ready. "Why are you listening if you don't know who asked?" Turtle looked startled, as if he wasn't ready for Lightpoppy to shoot back something.

Aspen looked ready to laugh. "BURN," Aspen laughed, only to earn a glare from Turtle. But Turtle didn't do anything, just flicked his tail in the air and padded to the fresh-kill pile. 

"By the way, I'm Aspen," the blazing red she-cat meowed. "You are...?"

"Lightpoppy," Lightpoppy filled in helpfully. 

"So!" Aspen put on a talkative face. "What do ya wanna talk about?"  

Lightpoppy shrugged, "Your choice." And then things launched from there. They talked about the best prey, kits, what it's like as a Clan cat, and about their names. By then, the moon was nearly halfway through the sky. Lightpoppy yawned.

"Oops, I guess we talked too much," Aspen meowed. "You know what they say, 'time flies when you're having fun'! Well, I'll let you sleep 'till dawn." I'm not that tired, since I spent nearly the whole day sleeping, Lightpoppy thought. but I guess I'll go to sleep.

~ ⋅ ~ 

Lightpoppy woke to the sound of rustling. She jerked awake, wondering if she should warn Aspen. It could be Clan cats coming to rescue me, or it could be... Lightpoppy decided not to think about that. "Aspen," she called out softly. 

The bright red she-cat turned to look at Lightpoppy. "Yes?" she meowed. "If you heard the rustling, that's just the dawn hunting group going out."

"Oh," Lightpoppy felt a wave of relief. "Okay. That's good. I thought it was something dangerous. Aspen laughed. "Nothing dangerous can get in here! Not with all the guarding." Lightpoppy shifted uneasily, "What about the Clan camp?"

"Oh, I guess, we couldn't get in there," Aspen looked as if they were enemies, but didn't want to insult Lightpoppy. "Perhaps that's why we captured you outside of the camp." And then they fell silent, and Lightpoppy turned to watch the rising sun. 

What a pretty landscape, Lightpoppy thought. The reds and oranges mixed with the pink horizon made a pretty color. Almost as pretty as a galaxy. 

Aspen suddenly appeared in front of her, and Lightpoppy realized that she had left. "Here you go," Aspen nudged a squirrel. "It's time for breakfast." Lightpoppy tried to contentedly eat the squirrel, but she couldn't. Are they missing me? Are they going to try to rescue me? Lightpoppy's thoughts rushed in and out of her mind. 

Aspen must have knew that Lightpoppy didn't want to talk, because she kept quiet. Even so, Lightpoppy's head was too crowded to reply. They're probably not going to rescue me, the calico she-cat thought while chewing a chunk of the squirrel's forepaw. It's too dangerous. Besides, they can't afford to loose any more cats.

She thought of how small WaterClan was, how small the group that made the journey here. Yet Lightpoppy knew that they weren't like that. She knew that they would rather not make the journey than leave a cat behind. An alive cat, that is.

Lightpoppy was too busy thinking that she didn't notice that the guards had changed. She shoved the squirrel's remains aside, wondering if she was going to be there forever.