- Sep 13, 2022
- 101
- 75
- 28
Yewberry had found himself daring to move closer to Windclan territory, hoping he could catch a glimpse of Echolight and her kits. They would be apprentices now. He felt ashamed, he missed their ceremony....
His claws dug into the dirt below him. He hadn't stopped criticizing himself since the day he fled. He should have kept quiet. Or at the very least, stopped backpedaling. He said he was for the raid, but he was more for subterfuge than an all out attack. They had to get their catmint somewhere, surely they could have found it too.
But Windclan was bloodthirsty, and they went to war. He got angry, and snapped. It cost him everything.
He hung by the barn, watching and listening. Perhaps he can find a way to get closer to the border unseen, but that would be difficult. Perhaps there was a way on top of the barn....?
"Howdy."
A voice made his hair raise. He spun to look behind him to see a cat that looked.....Just like him? The surprise was apparent on both their faces.
"Uh- Hi.... I'm just visiting, not here to cause trouble." Yew explained, eying the other curiously.
Tickbite chewed on the bone between his jaws as he studied Yewberry. He wasn't stupid, he knew what was going on here. He had stumbled away from his mother's freezing corpse and his freezing siblings. He didn't know what happened to them after that.
And now, a guy comes along who looks just like him? Come on. Obviously this is one of his siblings, right?
"I see.... You got a name, stranger?" He asked.
Yewberry was hesitant to answer. Should he give him his name? He couldn't be working with Windclan, they hated anyone who wasn't one of them, and even then that's stretching it. They hated their own, to.
"Yewberry...." He said.
"Nice t'meet ya, Yewberry. My name's Tickbite, 'cause I'm small and annoying, they say." Tickbite said with a polite dip of his head.
Yewberry chuckled. "You don't seem that bad...."
"Oh, you haven't gotten to know me yet!" Tickbite replied with a laugh. "Come on inside, it's gettin' dark out and sometimes coyotes like to creep around." He said, gesturing to the barn door which was cracked open just enough for them to squeeze in.
Yewberry had never been in a barn before. He looked around curiously. His paws met soft hay, and he noticed even more of it in stacks off to the side. There were so many things he'd never seen before in here.
Tickbite led him up some stairs to a loft. More hay was stored up here, but not as much as below.
"I was never one to hang out in barns, but this one's pretty decent." Tickbite said. "The twolegs bring food, but there's plenty of mice around here for the cats who live here."
"Kittypet food is terrible..." Yewberry said, shaking his head.
"Right!? You'd think they would catch on, but they think we actually enjoy the stuff!"
"What do you do with it?"
"I just leave it, but sometimes one of the cats here will hide it and make it seem like it was eaten. Somethin' about not hurtin' the twolegs feelings."
"Huh...."
Yewberry never considered the feelings of twolegs before. They were always the enemy in his eyes.
"So.... Yewberry. We must both be thinkin' it by now....." Tickbite started, settling down and tucking his paws. "Do you......... " How should he ask this..... "You have any siblings?"
Yewberry knew the question was coming, but he still..... Was it even possible? Did someone else in his litter survive? It was so cold that night... Even their mother didn't make it.
"Yeah.... They froze in the winter.... With our mother. I was the only one who made it." He said. "A cat named Amanita found me and took me in."
"Well Yewberry, that seems to be my story too, aside from being found. I wandered off, see. Found myself in a twoleg den that had a hole in the door. " Tickbite explained.
Yewberry's eyes brightened. "So- so you must be one of my siblings!?"
"Must be! We look exactly alike and have the same story, so it only seems logical that we've happened upon each other."
"Wow...." Yewberry hopped over to Tickbite and bumped heads with him.
Tickbite chuckled as he tolerated the touch, it was a momentous occasion, he could deal with it. He never expected this either. Part of him wondered if he should feel more excited.
Yewberry wasn't having such a problem, though. He was overjoyed. " I can't believe we made it!"
"It is rather incredible, isn't it? Though I do wonder..... What about our other two siblings? There were four of us, if you remember." Tickbite said. He was the first to wander off, and he remembered three other bodies.
Yew shook his head. "I don't remember... Amanita said I was the only one she found."
"Then either they wandered off too... Or got picked off by predators."
"Or both."
"Or both, yes." Tickbite had to admit, that was the most likely possibility. "How about.... You stay here for a while? We can catch up." He invited.
Yewberry shuffled nervously. "I don't know..... I'm not.....Well liked by Windclan."
"Those moor cats? Yeah, seem like a real friendly bunch." Tickbite said sarcastically. That one cat called him ugly, he was still bitter about it. It was petty. He didn't care.
"You don't understand...They want me dead."
"Seems easy to do. How about we talk about it over mice?"
"We'll need multiple."