Blood and Snow

Rising Darkness

The next morning, all of Snowpaw's muscles ached. Her legs felt so stiff, she almost couldn't get up at all. She gritted her teeth as she forced herself to get up. Snowpaw let out a whimper of pain as she did. Light peered through the bush, making her squint as she walked out, to be suddenly exposed to the bright sun.

Hunger seared through her stomach. Snowpaw looked out to the forest and licked her lips. As she began to walk forward, she felt her fur was clustered together and matted. Dried blood still flaked parts of her face and paws. The horrors seemed to flood back, and she shook her head in an effort to forget and remember what she had told herself. To keep going and stay strong. Nothing's stopping me! Besides, I didn't kill Thrushblaze; the amber-eyed cat did! Slowly, her dream came back, too.

After the calico she-cat had asked what she wanted to do, Snowpaw couldn't remember anything after that. Other than a bright light and then complete darkness until she woke up. Snowpaw snorted in confusion and laughter. The entire dream seemed almost silly to her for almost no reason. Her stomach began to grumble again, and Snowpaw was reminded of what she had gotten up for again.

She ran into the forest, hoping to spot a river or a stream to catch even the smallest minnow she could find. Snowpaw had wished that the amber-eyed cat had let her train a bit more, for she still had no idea how to catch land prey. And only the basics of fishing. Though reassurance filled her, if these cats were so keen to help her, they wouldn't let her die.

Snowpaw began to taste the air some more for any water source she hoped she could find, until out of the corner of her eye, she saw two slim cats watching her as they perched from a tree. One had very short chestnut brown fur and big ears. The other, is a fluffy white cat with many gray-brown streaks in its fur. Snowpaw narrowed her eyes as she saw the brown cat holding a squirrel in their jaws.

She bared her teeth at them to let the cats know she saw them.

"Hey, you two up there!" she called angrily. The two cats panicked and their eyes went wide. They looked at each other startled as if they had thought they were invisible. "Why are you watching me?" she yelled again. The brown one laughed and smiled nervously.

"Well, we didn't want you to fight us." the brown cat, Snowpaw realized now was a tom replied back nervously.

You're doing a horrible job to prevent a fight. she thought with a scowl. Her tail lashed.

"Those Clan cats don't play around these days." the tom added. Snowpaw frowned and flicked her tail.

"I mean, it's not that hard not to cross their borders if you are paying attention!" Snowpaw snapped back, and then realized what she said and clamped her mouth shut. Please don't say they hate Clan cats... The two cats looked confused. The fluffier cat snorted.

"You almost sound like you're one of 'em." the fluffy cat said, also a tom. His amber eyes narrowed. "You ain't one of 'em, are ya?" Snowpaw shook her head, for it was now true. Before she would have stood her ground and told them how great the Clans were, but now she was not even one of them. Why advertise anyways?

"Please, I was one of them until I was..." She got lost for words for a second. Hesitant on the word, 'exiled'. I do not need these cats in my business. "... until I decided to leave. I wanted to be free you know?" The fluffy tom rose his brow, looking unconvinced.

"If ya say so," he replied coolly, then glanced back to his companion. "Come on. We should get back to the group." The brown cat look at Snowpaw and then whispered something into the fluffy tom's ear.