Warriors: High Tides

Chapter 19

It had been a week since Ivystream hadn't come home. Ice had made a bad habit of pacing wildly outside the communal den, eyes wide.

Bramblefoot walked out, her eyes soft with concern. "Ice," She meowed, "I'm sure Ivystream has a reason to be away."

Ice moaned. "But this is a place none of us have been before! What if she's injured or got lost?" He asked, eyes wide. If I let one of the Clan cats die or get injury, it'll shame the entire Tribe.

Bramblefoot smiled softly at him. "In the Clans, we have patrols - we could organize a patrol together to figure out where she is."

Ice sighed and looked around. "Just you and me? Wouldn't it make sense if Rookheart came along instead?"

Bramblefoot huffed. "Rookheart wants to stay with Waspwhisker just in case she gives birth. He loves her so much, he just doesn't want to say it." She chuckled.

Ice flicked his ear. He still couldn't wrap his head around the concept of 'love' that the Clans had. In the Tribe, you chose a partner each year and mated with them. But it seemed the Clans were different: they chose one partner for life. It was odd.

"Well, let's see if we can find her," Ice relented, stepping onto the sidewalk. A few twolegs walked along the path, the banks of the great big black 'river.'

"Let's go," Bramblefoot urged gently, walking forward. "Before the Twolegs get too rowdy."

Ice nodded and followed the knowledgeable she-cat. She reminded him of Stoneteller, intertwined deeply with their Ancestors and willing to help and heal. Perhaps that's why she and Sun got on so well, he thought, remembering how the tabby had shared a nest with Sun the night the Clan Cats had dwelled in their cave.

As they walked, Ice watched as a few strangers shifted and stalked on the other side of the Thunderpath. He felt their eyes briefly meet his, before they skittered into the safety of the dark alleyways.

"Who do you think they are?" Ice asked absently.

"Your worst nightmare."

Ice and Bramblefoot whirled around in terror and came face-to-face with a hefty white cat with a vicious scar running across his face, and the tip of his ear was snipped off.

"Who are you?" Bramblefoot asked calmly, stepping forward.

"The owner of this Upwalker Center," The tom said. "We know who you are and what you want."

Ice bristled. "You can't possibly."

"You're here to take our cats away, one by one!" Another voice sounded from Ice's left; a skinny brown and white tabby stood there, looking scabby and matted.

"We're not," Ice said, lashing his tail. "We're just passing through."

"Wrong!" The big white tom howled, slashing his claws across Bramblefoot's angular face, throwing her back and causing her to stumble.

Ice bristled in horror. "How dare you!" He yeowled, bristling and arching his back. "She told the truth! We're just passing through!"

"Lies!" The skinny tom snarled, batting at Bramblefoot's flank.

"Stop!" The brown tabby cried. Ice could see blood oozing down her face as three long clawmarks grew visible on her face, hardly missing her eye and cutting her nose in half diagonally.

Ice growled and suddenly realized that meeting aggression with aggression didn't work. If only there were other Tribes in the mountains, he thought huffily, I would know how to deal with altercations!

"What can we do to leave us alone?" He asked, forcing himself to calm, breathing slowly in-and-out.

The white tom blinked, apparently surprised by the sudden change of heart.

"Shall I dispatch them now?" The brown tabby hissed, scoring his claws into the concrete.

"No," The white tom said. "I may hate trespassers, but I ain't ruthless, you hateful rench." He turned to Ice and Bramblefoot, lashing his tail. "You and your cat-stealing group must leave."

Suddenly it occured to Ice that it might have been Gorsewhisker that had given them the misconception of cat stealing. That idiot tom, he thought. He put the entire group in danger!

"Fine," He sighed. "Give us three days, and we'll be absolutely gone."

The white tom narrowed his deep amber eyes. "Two. Final offer."

Ice bristled a little. Was that enough time to gather up the necessary foodstuffs and get out? Especially with Waspwhisker so close to labor, he thought, eyes wide. What if she gives birth while on the move?

He sighed and nodded. "Two days." He relented, sitting down. "We'll be gone by sunup of the third day."

The snowy cat grinned and licked his lips. "Good boy," He purred, lashing his tail.

Ice lashed his tail as he and Bramblefoot were allowed through. They quickly went back to the Den, muttering angrily at themselves and each other.

"Did you notice the scent of that tomcat? The white one?" Bramblefoot mewed, looking at him.

Ice cringed as he noticed the streams of blood coming down her face, the topmost one dribbling down her nose and off her chin; the lowest running down her white chest and leaving little droplets. How deep did that cat's claws go?

"No," He said quickly, reminding himself not to stare at her new wound. "We were downwind of him, right? We weren't in the right position?"

"No, we were upwind," She meowed. "He had no scent."

The statement hit him incredibly hard. Had no scent? How would he have no scent? What would cause that? He shuddered immediately. The idea that someone out there was scentless felt...

... wrong. Incredibly, incredibly wrong.

"That can't be," He meowed. "You must be mistaken." He meowed, flicking his dark brown tail. Scentless cats didn't exist... Did they?

Once they reached the Den and announced the news, it was taken terribly.

"But we can't go," Thistlepaw cried out, "Waspwhisker's so close to having her kittens. We can't just leave!"

"We don't know what this cat is capable of," Bramblefoot said softly. "They could be extremely dangerous."

"Where will we go?" Waspwhisker meowed, between licking at her swollen belly and watching the other cats.

"Maybe keep following this road," Bramblefoot nodded to the alleyway that lead outward from the main one. "See where that leads us."

Thistlepaw sighed. "But we still haven't found Ivystream," She said. "We can't just... leave her."

"Maybe she wants to stay," Waspwhisker meowed. "Maybe she found something she likes here."

"But she wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye, would she?" Rookheart asked.

"She seemed like an introvert," Ice reasoned. "Maybe she was nervous we'd be upset with her."

"Maybe," Bramblefoot sighed. "Well, we have two whole days... So I say we rest up and eat as much as we can."

Ice nodded, sitting down and curling his tail around him. Where could Ivystream have gone that we couldn't find her? he wondered. Is she staying hidden on purpose?

He stared at the wall, unsure what to think.