Dreamweaver, Wolfheart [best fiction books of all time .txt] 📗

to reveal that my companion had fetched it for me.
“Drink lots of water after you inhale smoke.”
“Thanks.” I croaked, lapping the water up slowly.
“Not all of it at once!” He purred. “You’ll cough it all back up!”
“Really? How do you know?”
“Didn’t your mother tell you?”
I shook my head. “No. She told me about all sorts of other things. I can hunt pretty well when I try hard enough.”
“So you’re a hunter?” He sounded doubtful. “I don’t know…you seem more of the scout type…”
“What are talking about?” I lapped more water, trying to get my throat to stop scratching and hurting.
“Well…you could be a hunter…”
“I can hunt. But I can defend myself too.”
He looked shocked. “You mean tucks and dodges, right?”
“Well…that works if you’re fast enough and just trying get away, I’m sure. But my mother taught me how to stand my ground.”
“So you hunt and fight?”
“…I only fight when I have to. Like, once, I protected some kittens under the house from a crow. That wasn’t fun at all! I had to see the vet and take medicine!”
“Is the vet your Priestess?”
“No. They make your wounds better.” I purred. “Humans aren’t smart enough to believe in spirits!”
Again, he looked embarrassed. “So it’s a human?”
“Yeah.” This was weird. Every cat knew what a vet was…
“So you only fight when there’s a reason?”
“Yes.”
“So you are a scout?”
I blinked. “I don’t even know what that is!”
The growl that had rose with my temper made me cough again. I laid my head down afterwards and sighed through my nose.
“I’m sorry.” Falling Sun said quietly, suddenly. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m just trying to figure out what you do.”
I was quiet for a while. “I used to listen to my mother tell stories…about wild cats…who lived in a group. They support one another, under the guidance of a Priestess…”
“Lots of cats hear it. We tell it, and show many cats our lives. Most of them stay here, but visit their family and old friends on new moons. There aren’t any duties on the day of a new moon. It’s a day of celebration.”
“Wouldn’t you guys starve?”
“No. We work extra hard the previous day.” He yawned, but didn’t even sit down. “And we only completely skip all duties when there’s enough food and clean bedding. Of course, there will always be a guard. I mean training and patrol just don’t happen.”
“Patrols?”
“It’s when we look around for cats like you, or foxes that den in our area.”
There was a lapse of quiet. I was falling asleep when he spoke again.
“So all you do is defend kittens and listen to stories?” He sounded like he was trying to tease.
“I don’t listen to them anymore…my mother passed on a few months ago…”
“Oh…” He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
I let the formality be. He didn’t know her…
“I only picked hunting back up after she died. I’m really good at hunting birds and mice.”
“That’s good. But why didn’t you hunt before?”
“Because we don’t have to hunt like forest cats; humans give us food, shelter, water and bedding.”
“Really? Why would you want handouts?”
I shrugged. “I never thought about it. Hunting didn’t interest me until after she left me.”
“Why did you it then? You have food.”
“But it was a memory of her. That’s the only time her and I spent together…”
Why was he quizzing me?
“Oh.” He really did sound like regretted this.
“I’m sleepy.”
“I’d bet. I’ll keep watch; go ahead and sleep. It’ll be until dawn that they come back.”
He lay next to me to keep me warm, and I let myself fall asleep.


 

Chapter Two
Welcomed

Around dawn, I woke to the sound of hushed voices. I picked up – vaguely, through my damaged senses – the three cats who’d helped me last night. Relief was washed away by horror as I realized that it wasn’t a dream; I had no home, and no humans. I was injured and at the mercy of three very strange, very unfamiliar and powerful forest cats I knew nothing about. Except that they could or could not actually be Dreamweaver’s Clan.
“So that’s why she’s out here all alone. I wondered how a cat so young was alone at all. She can’t be more than four moons old!” It was the grumpy old cat’s hiss.
“That’s quite enough. I believe we’ve heard about this poor cat. We need to wake her and get her to the camp. All that smoke in her lungs is a problem, let alone that leg; it may be badly damaged.”
Feeling the stiffness in my leg, and the difficultly to breath or taste and smell didn’t help me feel confident her words were wrong. I gave a mew of a greeting, one that hurt yet was barely audible. They turned with some surprise to face me. In the light of the dawn, I saw them more clearly.
I knew the second I looked at the shadow of the female who kept giving orders was Dreamweaver, the Priestess of the forest, and felt instantly guilty for not believing them in the first place. No cat had her eyes and demeanor.
“Can you stand, stranger?”
Slowly and carefully, I proved even to myself I could.
“White Fox will support you. We’ll move slowly so you can keep up. Oh.”
She pawed yellow plants to me. “Eat these.”
“Tansy?” I asked, trying to remember why she would do that.
Her surprise made me wonder if my mother’s teachings were so normal after all.
Come to think of it, none of the other kittens ever knew the plants, and I was always too good at play fighting for them to want to play games…

“Y-yes. That’s right. You know herbs?”
“Some.” I stared at it, trying to remember. “That’s for my throat, right? What about the lungs? Wouldn’t they be hurt?”
“Cat mint is hard to find this soon after the snow melts. I have some in camp, though.”
She still looked amazed – and very impressed. I ate the flowers set down in front of me and gave myself a quick grooming to get the taste out of my mouth. Instead of the taste of tansy, I would walk around with the taste of leaf dust and dirt all day.
“Here’s some more moss.” Falling Sun offered. I lapped it up thirstily.
“Thanks, Falling Sun.” The pain in my leg would make walking difficult, but the distrust in White Fox’s eyes didn’t encourage me to lean on him. “I can walk on my own if I don’t go too fast.”
The leader nodded, looking a bit hesitant. “But if you’re in too much pain, don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. Being injured isn’t a weakness, especially in your case.”
No, it isn’t. But being stupid enough to trust every cat who lends a paw is.

But I nodded anyway. To say that was even denser.
They led on at a good pace – one that kept me constantly struggling to keep up with my aches and pains, but still manageable if I gritted my teeth and kept on. It wasn’t long before I was completely and utterly lost, however. This didn’t surprise me, because mother had explained how they kept their camp secrete from those who were outside the clan.
It made sense. Their numbers made enough cats nervous. The strays outside of the clan weren’t exactly the weak baby I was, I’m sure.
Soon the scent of cats washed over my mouth, becoming overwhelming. I could hear them clearly as they moved about in the undergrowth. But I couldn’t see them. Where were they?
Then the Priestess leapt through a barrier of weaved thorn and briar, shocking me. I stopped dead as White Fox followed her with complete confidence.
“Oh. You can’t jump the tunnel, can you?” Falling Sun sounded concerned. “That leg must make it difficult to move much – especially since you look so tired…”
I shook my head, letting him come to whatever conclusion he wanted to.
“That’s fine. I’ll go fetch Shadow Hunter. He should know a better way in for you.” The sleek cat disappeared through a gap, showing me a hole I’d not seen seconds before.
So that’s where it was.
I backed up carefully, aiming and judging my injuries. Then I ran as fast as my injuries allowed and leapt through the barrier. When I landed on the other side painfully, I held back a yowl of pain. The forest was suddenly open before my eyes.
I was on the edge of a clearing surrounded by woven briar and thorn bushes. In its center was a hallowed out stump with a hole dug between the dead roots. It smelled strongly of the Priestess and herbs. To my left was a pile of logs with kittens playing around it. They appeared to all of different ages. Lying on the rocks were three queens, watching them intently as they spoke quietly to one another. A short-haired black tom sat by the entrance, watching them carefully, but without joining them. I noticed Falling Sun was talking busily with him.
To my right was a thick patch of ferns. It stank of several cats. Just a few feet from it, a tom and she-cat sat and groomed one another. I could smell milk-scent and saw a small roundness to her belly. Both were muscular cats, and far bigger than me. In the back of the clearing some cats around my age were fighting or stalking leaves, twigs or pebbles and then pouncing on them.
This is crazy! Is there any order to these cats?!
“Oh. She’s already in.” It was Falling Sun’s voice, bringing my attention to my left again. “I’m sorry, Shadow Hunter. She looked like she was hurt too badly to jump.”
“That’s alright.” His voice was quiet and impassive. “I will take her to Priestess if she’s lost.”
“No, that’s all right. I’m supposed to show her around and all that.”
He purred as if amused. “Baby sitting the new cat again, eh?”
“It’s not funny! At least I passed the trial this time…”
“Third time’s the charm.” Shadow Hunter’s whiskers twitched as he followed his friend over to me. “So what’s your name?”
I looked down at my paws, not wanting to give away my name.
“Her throat must hurt still.” Falling Sun told him with a shrug. “She was badly tossed up by that fire.”
“The one in the human camp?”
“Yeah. It was her home, and her humans tossed her out to keep her safe.”
“Oh. I’m sorry about that. Hope you feel better.” He turned and went back to his spot by the nursery.
“Sorry. He’s not social.”
I shrugged. Then I got up and started for the Priestess’s stump. Falling Sun followed me. I could feel his surprise.
“It reeks of herbs, and smells like her.” I rasped. “Since she’s the healer, I would assume it’s her den.”
“You can sort all these smells?”
“I told you I can hunt.” I sighed as I carefully lay down just outside the gap.
Priestess appeared at that moment, with a mouthful of catmint and horsetail.
“For my chest and scratches?” I asked as she lay them down and sorted them.
“Yes. Lay still and I’ll put it on you.”
I blinked. “I can do that…”
She looked at me carefully and shook her head. “Eat the catmint. I will apply the horsetail so I can make sure nothing is infected or broken. Your leg is