territory

Rusty felt his head swimming as the two cats flanking him "escorted" him. He barely had any sense of where he was going. The excitement, the terror, the exhaustion...so many strong sensations for a house cat it was a wonder he knew which way was up.

His eyelids started drooping until Rusty felt a cat bump into him. "Stay awake kittypet, I'm not dragging you back to our camp by the scruff like a queen," snapped the cat on his left.

"Ease up Brownpaw," said the other. "It's not much further." Brownpaw dropped off into incoherent mumbles. Wetpaw, the other cat helping Rusty, looked up. "There's...

“What’s this?” asks Lightpoppy, putting a bitter smelling herb under my nose.
I think for a moment, the smell’s familiar. “Burdock?” I ask.
“Good job, Rosepaw!”
Then my sister, Poppypaw rushes in, panicked.
“What’s wrong, Poppypaw?” asks Lightpoppy in her calm voice.
“Lionpaw fell from a tree and broke his leg!” she yells, breathless. Just great, my brother has managed to get into trouble again. He just had to break his leg! And when I was learning, too!
“Oh my!” exclaims Lightpoppy. She turns to me and says, “Rosepaw, please get me some cobwebs and burdock while...

A cold feeling of anxiety flooded through me. Blood pounded in my ears as I ran along side the other cats. I quickly glanced to my left. The others were picking up their pace, eager to start the fight. I pushed harder with my legs, trying to gain speed, paws pounding hard on the ground. We had been chosen by our Clan Leader, a noble cat of many moons, to defend our borders at any cost. And we planned to obey his orders, to our dying breath if need be. But killing was not our first option. It was our last. We never kill, unless absolutely necessary.

We halted on the top of a gentle slope and...