...alone...

[sandfire]

[atrb=border,0,true][cs=7][bg=white] The wind roared from high above, swirling around the rocky mountains. A few pebbles shifted and tumbled down a sheer cliff, and the sound of a nervous cat’s breath quickened. The little blades of grass that grew here were nothing like the home of the white and black cat that stood at the edge of death. She shook in her paws, still not used to where she was living. All she wanted to do was go home. Starclan wasn’t here. Her BROTHER wasn’t here. She could have yowled right then and there, but the sound of wild dogs- wolves, were they called?- made her pelt prickle and her press against the ground. The slight shift in the ground made her heart race. For all she knew, she could have been on a rock about to snap, break, and drop her to her death. She leapt off the little pillar she was on to the more solid ground, and bolted towards the small clearing. She knew very well that it was here that the Tribe would hunt. They would be furious to find her here, especially since she to was about to hunt. But spring was coming, hawks and eagles were nesting now. Hatchlings were being born. She shivered, the winter air still clinging to the area. In the distance, her sharp ears could hear the roar of the waterfall, as ice and snow melted. She padded over to a patch of snow and took shelter there, where she looked more like a rock in the white mound. Her yellow eyes stayed closed, as her other senses searched for the sound of anything she could possibly hunt here. The wind carried the scent of an eagle that just gone by. She sighed, feeling miserable. She knew there weren’t any rabbits here, and she’d be lucky if she ever caught a bird. The last thing she wanted to do was attack a patrol. She wasn’t a rogue… Well… she was here, she supposed. Frowning, she shuttered again against the cold. How she had survived Leafbare was a miracle in itself. In fact, she had been eating nothing but crowfood- feeding off the animals that couldn’t live through the cold themselves, and the little mice she could- all winter. She was surprised she didn’t drop dead from disease. She hated it here, though. And all she wanted was to go back home again. Why did they have to move? Why did Fireclan have to attack? Why couldn’t they defend themselves…? The scuffling of a mouse snapped her away from her self pity. She bolted towards it without a thought, her speed catching it off guard. She was eating it almost before it was even dead, and left nothing worth noting. She buried the little remains in snow, and sighed, shivering. Frozen mud and snow clung to her pelt, but as far as she could tell that was a good thing in the mountains. She settled down where she was, enjoying the slight flash of pride she got from her kill. She still felt miserable though- and all she wanted was her clan. Even if she felt a bit outcasted at times… Well, Twilightstar and her rogue-accepting, warrior code-breaking ways would have to go sometime. It didn’t matter anymore though, she wasn’t there. She just hoped she would find them eventually. Maybe they knew she wasn’t dead. Twilightstar couldn’t give up on her…! At the end of the season she would be three newleaves. She had no family, no clan, and no ancestors watching over her. She merely had her life. Everything had slipped through her claws… It didn’t matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be remembered and she knew it. The clan probably didn’t even miss her. She shuttered, trying to avoid wishing them death. That wasn’t something a cat should wish on any one… she had to remind herself of that constantly. “Hey!” She nearly jumped out of her skin at the mewl of another cat. There would have been others there, and she would be dead for trespassing and hunting on their territory, she just knew it. Her yellow eyes trained on the small, muddy she-cat. “Who’re you?” She had been here for quite the while, and she was sure the tribe was a bit annoyed for her stealing their prey and being so cowardly. But this she-cat, with her light yellow-green eyes, held no look of anger. “I-I…” The prey-theif she-cat stepped back, and glanced down the path she had came from. The muddy mountain cat took a step forward. The little cat seemed to be nothing more than a young cat- an apprentice… She shivered, trying to catch the scent of the rest of the tribe. There was no other scent she could smell. The she-cat seemed oblivious. “I’m Feather of Eagle’s Nest.” She seemed to keep pressing on getting a name, her tail flicking with a bit of impatience. The older cat saw very little harm in giving out her name, but for a slight moment she had nearly forgotten it. “Snowpatch!” She growled. “My name’s Snowpatch! Please, I’m sorry, I’m starving, I’m lost-” The little she-cat flicked her tail for silence, and smiled so softly. The kindness in her eyes was almost unknown to Snowpatch… The only cat she could recall with such a look might have been Twilightstar. Her pelt prickled. Lies. This cat was lying. “That’s a weird name.” She tilted her head. “Sounds like one of those weird cl-” Snowpatch’s ears caught the sound of a patrol, and she slunk away. "Where are you-" "They're here!" Snowpatch hissed. "Your tribe! I have to go!" The small she-cat looked a bit hurt by this. "Wait," she mewed, catching the eye of the tuxedo cat. "I'll meet you by the Treerock." The elder she-cat was sure she didn't know what this meant, but she nodded. Anything to make her happy. She bolted away again, down the same way she came. ~~~ "Snowpatch... Snowpatch!" A quiet mew disturbed Snowpatch's sleep as she rested under a rock with a tree hung over it for protection. "There you are Snowpatch!" "Sanctu... no..." The she-cat shook her head as she sat up, her bleary, bloodshot yellow eyes staring around quietly. What? Who? Oh, it was that little helpful she-cat. The mud drentched cat padded up to her and touched black noses with her. The elder cat's ears flicked back and she sighed, rearing her head away. "Hello." "Come on, I'm here to help you. You lost your clan, didn't you?" Snowpatch's ears twitched. How did she figure out so much? "The Elders told stories to us kits about you. I was too little to meet you when the clans first came by. But I can show you which way they went. Come on! I'll help you homeway." The bitter, abandonned she-cat couldn't refuse... They left that night, with unknown stars above her head. Windclan, she could only pray, was still in one piece. [[//The end was a bit BS'd. Appologies. I "had to get this done"... I has very little muse though so ehhh --;; //]]