~Swankit's POV~
Jolting awake from a nap, Swankit realized that a disgusting, little paw slithered down her curled-up spine, one that she was going to rip to shreds. She quickly uncurled and leaped to her paws, her eyes filled with blatant rage. “Which one of you mousebrains touched my back?” She surveyed all of the other kits in the nursery, Foxkit, Nightkit, Icekit, Jaykit, Lionkit and Hollykit.
“Foxkit, Nightkit and Icekit didn’t do it,” Jaykit stated the obvious, his pupils pointed towards the two young kits, “I didn’t do it either.”
Swankit knew for a fact that her brother on the edge of the nursery walls was being honest. She glanced behind her quickly to see Lionkit sprawled out and sleeping, facing away from her. She knocked out him for being a potential suspect. She pointed her head towards her sister, Hollykit. Swankit knew that she knew that she was a suspect, and the only suspect as that.
"I didn’t do it, it was Jaykit!” Hollykit yowled, “Don’t attack me, attack him!”
“I don’t believe you,” Swankit’s eyes narrowed onto Hollykit, and she began to growl. She quickly thrusted herself forwards, stretching her front paws forwards and drawing out her puny claws. Her paws slammed against Hollykit’s flank as they started to tumble over to the bramble walls of the nursery. She could hear Hollykit yowling in distress. Swankit shoved Hollykit against the nursery walls with a loud hiss.
“Ferncloud!” Hollykit yelled, closing her eyes tightly.
Swankit pushed her into the bramble wall tighter, making her claws enter Hollykit’s flank. Swankit could hear Hollykit screaming, until she slackened her legs and loosened her claws. Hollykit flopped to the ground. She turned around to see Squirrelflight, Ferncloud, Brambleclaw, Brook and Ashfur, all watching in both horror, surprise and anxiety, except for Ashfur, he watched in awe.
“Why did you do that?” Squirrelflight barked, storming up to Swankit. “You should know better than to attack a blind cat.”
Swankit responded with a deep growl, “She stroked my back with her paw. I have told her to not do it many times before!” She was looking at Hollykit, who was getting up. Blood oozed out of the claw marks that she had made on her.
“I did not!” Hollykit growled.
“That is no reason to attack Hollykit,” Squirrelflight said, steam coming out if her ears.
“Yes it is,” Swankit hissed.
“You will be taking care of the elders for the next moon.”
Swankit slammed one of her paws on the ground and grunted.
“Go, Swankit.”
She flattened her ears and crawled through the nursery entrance, and she went through the small stretch of camp in between the nursery and elder’s den. She went entered the elder’s den. Mousefur and Longtail sat next to each other, talking about things that Swankit didn’t quite understand.
Mousefur automatically noticed Swankit, who had entered through the side that she and Longtail were facing. She stared at Swankit and blinked. “Oh, you’ve finally came over for a story, Swankit?” Mousefur asked, purring slightly.
“No,” Swankit hissed, “I’m here to take care of you.”
“I could use some more bedding, okay?” Longtail commanded, “It can’t be wet.”
Mousefur spoke as softly as water dripping on moss, “Please get us a piece of prey to eat, a rabbit, please.”
She nodded, veered around and left. She went back into the nursery and padded over to a group of unused nests. They were for the next she-cat that would be expecting. She quickly started to gather up some moss.
“I heard you got in trouble,” said a voice she automatically identified to be her sandy-yellow brother, Lionkit.
“So?” Swankit said, peering towards Lionkit for a heartbeat. She bent down and picked up the moss with her jaw.
“I don’t know.”
Swankit walked out of the nursery, the moss in jaw. She went back under the hazel bush that was the elder’s den, looking bored. “I did your task, Longtail.”
“Good,” Longtail replied, “give it to me.”
She scooted across the ground to the tabby tom. She dropped the moss onto his paws.
“Now, you’re going to help me put it into my nest, okay?” Longtail commanded again.
“Get out of your nest.”
“Okay,” Longtail said, taking a few steps out.
She picked up the moss and put it on the nest and moved it so that it was distributed across the nest. “I’m done.”
“Good, now do as Mousefur told you to do.”
Swankit walked out of the elder’s den and over to the fresh-kill pile. She saw a plump brown rabbit as one of the things at the top. She grabbed its leg with her jaw and dragged it to the elder’s den. She quickly threw it in and stuck her tongue out for a second before running back into the nursery.
Jaykit rushed up to Swankit and immediately started to gossip, “Did you hear? There was a fox who was killed near the sky oak, and it has cubs!”
“No,” Swankit shook her head. She quickly noticed that Ferncloud and her kits were missing.
“Now you have,” Jaykit said, turning around to go back to his other two littermates.
Swankit noticed that her other two littermates were having a discussion. “We’ll be important one day!” Hollykit spoke loudly to Lionkit.
“The time to be important is now,” Lionkit spoke softly with a light growl, “we are going to chase those fox cubs off of ThunderClan territory ourselves.”
“But if we leave camp without permission we would be breaking the warrior code.”
“We are doing something for the good of our Clan, how can that be breaking the warrior code?”
“Not to mention, but we aren’t warriors- we aren’t even apprentices –so why would we need to follow the warrior code?” Jaykit broke in.
Swankit wanted to face-paw at her mousebrained littermates. Going against fox cubs as kits who didn’t know anything about fighting? That was a level of stupidity that marked off the charts.
Hollykit started to give off a light purr, “If we do scare them off, Foxkit, Icekit and Nightkit would be safe.”
“Exactly,” Lionkit concluded. He walked through the nursery’s entrance into the main camp area. It looked abandoned, except for Daisy and Ferncloud, who were eating prey and sharing tongues. Hollykit and Jaykit all followed him out of the nursery and over to the bramble wall. Lionkit slipped out through it, along with Jaykit and Hollykit. Swankit only stood in the background with her icy gaze.
~Jaykit’s POV~
Tree branches jingled in the soft breeze of the forest. The ground was rough and bumpy, much unlike camp’s ground. It hurt slightly up against Jaykit’s soft pads. The amount of ThunderClan scent had reduced dramatically. “We need to go to the sky oak, isn’t it near the lake?” Jaykit whispered, not wanting to be heard.
Hollykit nodded, “I feel a slight slope here,” she pointed her tail downhill, “the lake is that direction.
“It looks like it,” Lionkit commented, moving his head forwards and squinting. He started to lead his littermates down the hill. “Remember, stay low.” They soon came across a large sycamore tree. They swiftly hid underneath a root after scenting Spiderleg.
“Gross! What is that smell?” Hollykit yelled, referring to a musty scent that Jaykit could smell.
“I think that it could be the dead fox, so we must be near,” said Lionkit.
Hollykit gaged, “I also smell a milk trail.” She walked out from under the root and looked behind her, beckoning her siblings. “Follow me,” she stated as she started to walk away. Jaykit and Lionkit followed her. Hollykit led them up the hill and to a mound of dirt, “This is the den.”
“How can you be sure?” Jaykit asked.
“This is where the trail leads,” Hollykit confirmed, “and I can hear them crying for food.”
“Why, it is no bigger than a rabbit hole!” Lionkit yelled.
“It must be an escape route for them, just in case the main entrance breaks,” she explained. She started to crawl into the hole, followed by Lionkit before Jaykit joined in. It was pitch dark, Jaykit couldn’t see Lionkit’s tail, which was in his face. He used his paws to feel around at the damp soil around him. He tried to ignore the strong, horrible stank of the soil and foxes by breathing through his mouth, which helped him slightly. He felt as if he was suffocating with the dirt brushing against his pelt and the still, heavy air.
Jaykit soon entered a small chamber, light gently sprinkled in from the side they came in from. The foxes were a silhouette that was much bigger than he expected. They saw the three kits and automatically started to growl, bark, snarl and snap. Lionkit dashed out as quickly as a rabbit through the entrance that they came in from, yelling, “Run, Hollykit and Jaykit, run!” Jaykit’s eyes dilated as Hollykit zoomed out, after a second, Jaykit followed.
The foxes untwined each other and started to chase down Jaykit. He could feel the hot breath on his tail and he could hear their jaws snapping. He ran nimbly with grace in each step, he was careful not to fall. After all, he knew that if he did, he would be become a tasty snack. His vision was blurry as his heart raced. He suddenly realized that he was running straight into the hollow. He took a swift, ninety-degree turn, but his paws slipped. He scrambled to prevent himself from falling, however he failed and started to plunge to the ground. He twisted around so his paws were pointed downwards and braced for impact.
Crack!
