Tales of Dawnbloom: chapter 6 - foxes

Instructions

TW: D3@th+bl00d My heart was frozen with fear. I tried to move deeper into the hole, but my legs got stuck. I felt warm breath on my face and I clawed. My paws hit fur and skin. A hiss split through the air, I growled. I felt a sudden grip on my back and I turned over, biting at the thing. An orange blur darted away, and I heard more hissing. Orange, Foxteeth, my mentor, but Foxteeth was fighting someone, someTHING. And she wasn’t fighting anymore, and she didn’t hiss like that. A swift claw grazed my cheek and I nipped at it. I tried to blink, trying to see past the bright blurs. Nothing seemed clear, all I could see was shapes, and orange. I looked hard at a spot higher than the other blurs. I saw a… circle. A face, and a thin snout. Shaking my head, I looked again. Too thin to be a cat’s, maybe… my mind flashed back to the stories Darkclaw told my as a kit, about “FOXES” I hissed. Suddendly, another voice ripped through the air, “NOW!” Two more blurs dropped from the sky. Both… darker. I saw one of the blurs near the entrance to the hole I dove into when Foxteeth told me to hide. “It’s me, Ebonypaw! Dawnpaw, you gotta get out of here! Can you climb?” An urgent voice asked. “Yes, I think so.” I wispered. I clambered out of the hole, the shape, Ebonypaw, guided me to a tree and pushed me up. “Un sheath your claws and climb up! I’m right behind you!” Ebonypaw mewed. I started climbing, finally I reached a part of the tree I coudl sit on. “How did you find me!” I asked, leaning into Ebonypaw. “I noticed you were gone, and Darkclaw tracked you here! Dawnpaw, it’s bad, really bad. You walked right into Foxtrees! It the place in Solclan that the fox dens are!” Ebonypaw said. Another shape suddendly landed next to us, I recognized Darkclaw’s voice. “Let’s go. The foxes won’t cross the thunderpath this late.” His voice was muffled and I heard Ebonypaw wimper. “We’ll get all this sorted out once we get away!” Darkclaw growled, we climbed down the tree. The foxes were waiting. “RUN!” We all followed darkclaw’s instructions, we would have even if he didn’t tell us. Far ahead I saw dark shaped roaring by on the thunderpath. Monsters ahead, foxes behind. We never paused or slowed pace as we neared the thunderpath. “GO QUICK AND DONT SWERVE!” Darkclaw ordered. Ebonypaw wrapped his tail around mine, and together we sprinted faster than we thought possible. Monsters screeched to a stop in front of us, we kept on running, running until our paws left the hot dark path. The rest of the way back to camp was silent. Darkclaw lead us, Ebonypaw watched every step I took, stopping me from losing my footing and falling. When we reached camp, there were gasps and moans. I paused, what was wrong? Ebonypaw seemed to know what I was thinking. “Foxteeth, she didn’t survive. She went to a fox den, she couldn’t have fought off that many foxes. I’m sorry Dawnpaw. Darkclaw grabbed her, but…” he trailed off. I whimpered and curled up. “What does she look like. Please tell me.” I mewed. Ebonypaw sighed but said yes. “She has, claw marks all over, and she’s bleeding. She looks like she fought really hard, and, well, that’s it.” Ebonypaw said. I nodded and stumbled over to Foxteeth’s b0dy, touching noses with her for the last time. I was angry at the foxes. Mad that they had k!ll3d my mentor! She did nothing, and the foxes, the foxes… “You can’t blame the foxes, they think we’re just prey. How do you know the rabbits don’t have clans like us, how do you know they don’t hate us?” Darkclaw said, I looked up. “Yeah, I guess. I just, I wish… I dunno, I hate that she d!3d!” I yowled. Tears fell down my face. Darkclaw gave me a soft lick. “I know, I… I lost littermates and friends to the foxes. I know what it’s like to lose someone, just like that.” He whispered. “You… oh, I’m so so sorry.” I said. I knew the foxes were in Solclan, but i never realized that meant Darkclaw might have some experience. “Yeah. I used to have 4 other littermates. I lost 3. Flamekit d!3d in a nursery raid, clawpaw d!3d on a patrol, and burnttail d!3d in his silent vigil when foxes attacked camp. None of them got to be a warrior, or at least, a warrior for more than a sunrise.” Darkclaw sighed. “One reason Solclan was so excited to join with another clan was because that meant we could leave the foxes. The idea of starting a new, larger clan away from the fear and sadness, well, that was a very big thing to turn away from. Nobody really worried about what would happen after we joined, it just meant we would get away.” Darkclaw sighed again. “I’m sorry you had to be the one to have the first great loss. I remember how I felt when I saw the foxes dropping flamekit’s body on the floor. And I made sure that fox NEVER hurt any other cat. I may have been a kit, but…” he trailed off. The grief in his voice had turned to soft anger and vicious pride. He looked at me and said quietly and caringly “I’ll mentor you, I will”