Starpool's Secret- Book 1

Chapter Twenty

[Chapter Twenty]

The camp smelled of rotting prey carcasses. It was nearly enough to make Flare gag. The abode in which these cats resided had holes in the top of the den, allowing anything to come through, such as light or rain. She looked at the ground. Humble dirt with a few strange blocks of rock occasionally sticking out from the ground, giving it an uneven surface. Flare shivered, hoping she wouldn't cut her paw on these as some were broken and left sharp ends behind. Lining the walls were all kinds of materials. Some were black and gray with age and others were moldy and had a terrible smell to them, but the insides of some were hollowed out. A place to stay, she thought, hurrying over to explore. Slowly, she sniffed the entrance. If anything was in there she couldn't detect it. All this horrible rotting smell is making my nose stop working! How can they live like this? She shook her head, deciding to go in anyway only to back out quickly. 

"Hey! I got this here piece of furniture first! Who are you huh? Never seen your pelt around here before!" A voice from inside snapped, coming out of the makeshift den in a defensive stance with their pelt bristling and their damaged claws unsheathed. 

Flare was taken aback by the cats' aggressiveness. In Thunderclan no one treated each other this way--she broke her train of thought. Forget your past, as King had told her. She took in the cats' appearance. A sturdy, muscular white she-cat with cold blue eyes. 

"Sorry for intruding," Flare meowed respectfully, "I'm Flare--I joined your group today," She added quickly, noticing the way this cat had a look saying that they wanted to chase her out. 

The cat relaxed slightly, "Well don't come back here unless you're given permission by me to enter my den," She meowed her voice still gruff, "I'm Sugar," she meowed. 

Flare was caught by surprise. Sugar? That doesn't sound like something I'd want to be called, much less if my appearance were like hers....she thought but didn't dare say so. Sugar seemed to have caught her surprise. 

"I was a kittypet before," she explained briefly, lashing her huge plumy tail, "I like the shock I get from cats--y'know, based on my appearance," She laughed.

"Are you scaring that softpaw?" A new, amused voice joined in. Flare looked up to see a cats' figure in a tree that had grown in near-center of the camp. The figure slid down the trunk gracefully and was soon beside them. It was a brown and white tabby tom with blue-green eyes, "Don't let her scare you," he was saying, "her bark is bigger than her bite," he chuckled. His short-furred tail lashed, "I'm Wood," he meowed cheerfully. 

"Er...a softpaw?" Flare asked, confused by the term. She'd never heard it before. 

"Oh! A softpaw is what we call new cats," He laughed before adding a bit more quietly, "We haven't had one in a while--" 

"Could you all keep it down?! I'm trying to sleep!" Another voice snapped, and a head poked out from the base of the tree. 

"Yea! We were up patrolling all night!" Another added and their head also poked out from the base of the tree. Both of their eyes gleamed with annoyance. 

"Oh, sorry!" Wood called, causing Sugar to roll her eyes in mixture of amusement and annoyance. Turning back to Flare he meowed, "See that light grey she-cat over there? And that ginger tom with the darker ginger socks? That's Night and Red," he explained. They were both staring at Flare, as if trying to identify her. Flare looked over at them out from around Wood, giving them a shy smile. 

Night and Red murmured something before retreating into their den again.

At that moment and cream and yellow tabby she-cat entered camp, followed by a small tortoiseshell she-cat with a stubby tail and bright green eyes, a red tom with an offset white paw and amber eyes, and a soft looking grey and white tabby tom with gentle blue eyes. The three looked the size of three moon old kits. The cream and yellow she-cat was carrying prey and the younger cats seemed to be carrying what looked like plants.