Warriors: High Tides

Chapter 10

Ivystream stretched her legs; she was the second of all the cats to wake up, the first having been Bramblefoot. She blinked when she found her mouth watering from a tantalizing scent; she looked at her paws and gaped.

There was a tiny trout sitting at her paws. Astonishment flashed through her. She looked over and noticed the other cats were waking up to freshkill as well. Gorsewhisker and Harekit were sharing a hare; Rookheart and Waspwhisker were nosing two fat frogs; Bramblefoot and Thistlepaw were just digging into a squirrel.

She looked back at her fish. It smelled thickly of her clanmates, as if all of them had gently rubbed against the scales one at a time. She smiled softly and snagged her teeth into the fish, ripping into it. As her nose grew close to it, she smelled another underlying scent: twolegs. So they took it from twolegs, she thought slyly. At least I know it wasn't stolen from another Clan or something.

As she dug in, she felt her strength returning. Twoleg scraps were nice- a bread crust here, an apple peel there, a banana later- but fish would never get old. Ever.

She stood and shook herself as her traveling mates got up. She smiled at Harekit, who grinned back. His kitten-fat was interrupted by his jutting ribs; her heart ached. If only the other Clans had the same twoleg exposure as RiverClan, she thought. They wouldn't be so starved.

Bramblefoot lead the way to the treebridge. As a Medicine Cat, she garnered the most respect out of all of them. At this thought, Ivystream spoke. "Won't ThunderClan need you, Bramblefoot?"

The brown tabby she-cat flicked her ear. "My apprentice Silverleaf is taking over for me." A flash of pain glowed in Bramblefoot's eyes, and Ivystream understood. Leaving a cat she'd taught everything to must be incredibly hard.

Her thoughts went to Stormkit, her former apprentice, her troublemaker. She put the entire Clan in danger, she reasoned angrily. I feel no remorse leaving her behind to make up for it!

She hopped off the treebridge and glanced back. She giggled at what she saw; Gorsewhisker was carrying his infant son on his back, like a tiny vole on the back of a great fox.

"What?" Gorsewhisker asked shortly, flicking his tail as he joined her on the marshy bank.

"He's cute." Ivystream purred, nudging Harekit's tail. The infant squealed and tried to kick her, but only managed to make her sneeze. "How old is he?"

"Two moons!" Harekit answered, peering over his lithe shoulder. "Daddy said no kits have ever been out of Camp as young as me. But I'm a big tom now, right, Daddy?"

Gorsewhisker's eyes grew softer. "That you are." He purred as he walked faster to catch up to Bramblefoot and Thistlepaw.

Ivystream looked over at Rookheart and Waspwhisker as they stepped off the bridge. Ivystream wondered what they were talking about; they were speaking in soft whispers and purrs. Waspwhisker's big belly made her think: who is the kits' father? Perhaps they were Rookheart's.

She walked, making a little line behind Gorsewhisker. She felt her heart hammering nervously; she was leaving RiverClan, and wouldn't come back until they'd found a brand new home, and even then she would only stay long enough to gather up cats to come with her, and then they would leave, and that time they would never return.

She looked up at their destination, feeling so far away; the two opened peaks, where the straight cloud had told them to go the night before. A shudder ran through her as the thought conjured the memory of the silver RiverClan StarClanner. He had been a handsome, strong looking tom; she felt connected to him, but she wasn't sure how.