"Bee! Jag! Where are you?" she called.
"Coming, Mama!" Jag yowled back, taking the lead as they ran back home.
The kits ran as fast as they could, but this was no race. There was no sweet scent joy, excitement or happiness in the air as they pushed their way though the undergrowth. Just the sharp, sour tang of fear and anticipation clinging to their pelts.
"Mama!" the kittens mewed loudly the moment they burst into the hollow weeping willow tree where they and their mother lived.
"Were where you two? You've been gone for a quarter of a sun-breath*!" Icy River scolded. "And what is it you wanted to ask me?"
"We were deeper in the forest and this cat came along and he was really scary and her threatened us and then he ran away and that's when we came hear to tell you about him and he headed to the stream!" Bee and Jag gasped at the same time.
"Wait--a cat? Heading for the stream? What did this cat look like?" Ice questioned, narrowing her eyes with anticipation as she spoke.
"He was a great big tom with a black and white pelt and brown eyes," Jag meowed hurriedly.
"Hm....Do you know what his name is?" Ice asked, worry flashing in her eyes.
"Well, her called himself the warrior of the Blood-Flames," Bee mewed in a small voice, shuffling her paws nervously at the sound of his name.
"The warrior of the Blood-Flames? I don't think that I've ever heard of that. Maybe Orb will." Orb was the leader of their tribe.
The kits exchanged surprised glances. Didn't Mama know the answers to everything?
Then Ice quickly looked up. "Are either of you hurt?"
"No, just a couple of bramble scratches," Jagged Rock meowed.
Bumble Bee shook her head.
"Okay, then. You two can get our dusk meal. I'll talk with Orb about this warrior of the Blood-Flames," Ice called over her shoulder as she darted out of the hollow tree.
The four-month-old kittens crept out from the cover of the hollow tree and out into the treacherous forest.
*****
Bee pounced. Claws outstretched, she held the furry body of a mouse beneath her paws. Then, with a swift bite to the neck, she proudly held her kill tight in her jaws.
"Look, Jag! Look at what I got!" Bee meowed happily, her cry slightly muffled by the warm brown body of the mouse.
Jag purred. "Wait 'til you see my catch! I caught a hole sparrow!" All feelings of fear had vanished senses earlier.
"Well, I'm going to get a fish! Mama said that I need to work on my fish hunting skills. I bet that I'll catch a whopper!" Bee exclaimed excitedly.
"Bet ya won't!" Jag teased. "'Cause I'm going to catch the biggest fish that the tribe has ever seen!"
The two dashed through the greenery, pushing their way through the undergrowth and dogging massive trees. At last, they reached the stream, the sound of calm water lapping smooth rocks whispering in their ears, Danger. Danger is near. Danger.
For a second, an unseen sign shaped like a misshapen figure eight blazed above Jag's head in a red glow. Then it disappeared. Jag's ear flicked. "Did you hear that?" he asked his sister, who was trying to catch a minnow.
"Hear what?" she asked, tilting her head in question.
"That--that voice. It sounded like it was saying 'danger'. Didn't you hear it?" Jag meowed, confused.
"I heard nothing," Bee meowed as her minnow darted away upstream in a flash of silver. "Ugh! You distracted me!"
"Sorry," her brother mumbled, shuffling his paws. "But are you sure that you didn't hear a whisper?"
"Yes. I'm sure. Come on. Let's go farther downstream. I think that I saw a big fat salmon over there," Bee suggested, eagerly starting her way over.
Run. Run while you have the chance. Run, the voices whispered.
"No! It's not safe over there! We've got to go," Jag warned.
"Fine," Bee sighed.
Then, on hurried paws, the two headed back into the forest to collect their catches. Leaving the voices far behind.
*****
A pair of blood-thirsty eyes watched the kits leave the muddied banks of the calm stream.
"So," he whispered. "The black-and-white kit has discovered his power. The power to hear the warnings of the Earth. He has not harnessed it, or even elicited the limitless power that he can unleash."
The eyes had seen the insignia.
______________________________________________________________________
-KittyLover8
© 2012
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