☆ ── ᑕᒪᗩᑎ ᑕᒪᗩᑎLast Post - Last ReplyThe Fleeing group watched in amazement as Mallow rushed to the front of them all brandishing a large stick still alight with flames. Fig, who was previously eye to eye with the beast, had all intentions to stand his ground. Despite his obvious courage he was relieved when Mallow stepped foot in front of him, bringing the gaze of the dog off of him and onto her.
“I know where we must go.” A breathless Fig called out hoarsely towards Cauliflower who was shielding a kit underneath her front legs. “Someplace they will not follow us.”
Cauliflower had a knowing look on her face as her brow slumped forward with concern,despite this she gave a slow nod, reaching down to pick the kit up by its fur.
Fig nodded in return, turning towards everyone as mallow lunged at the beast, giving them an opportunity to escape and get further away.
“Follow me then everyone!”
Across the clearing they went, the opposite direction that the dog had come from, everyone keeping close to each other as the Warriors finally caught up to help Mallow only to see a fleeing form as they approached.
“Catch up with the others, get them somewhere safe. I'm going back after them.” Mallow groaned out, eyes trained on the flames burning the trees as a thick layer of smoke now covered almost everything in the area.
“Like hell you are, Mallow! Look around you! Do you think now is the time to pick another fight?” Flo called out, annoyance lacing her voice.
Viette went to say something before Flo spoke out over her-
“I don’t want to hear it Viette, We don’t need you encouraging her. We get everyone to safety then and ONLY then do we come up with a plan to retaliate. They cannot get away with this, I agree.”
Mallow winced at the intensity of her soft spoken friend's words, knowing she was right.
She knew better than to argue with her, especially when she got like this. She knew she was only trying to make up for the lack of Verum during this time, as Verum would have likely kept Mallow in check as well.
“Fine…Lets catch up then, I hope Fig knows where he’s taking us..”
- -
When Cauliflower first entered the portal that led her to Clan Clan she had wandered into a cave. It was the night before she met Fig, was introduced into the clan and started under him as a medicine cat apprentice. The cave seemed to go in pretty deep, and the further you got in the fouler the smell got. Crystals aligned the sides of the cave, scaling up hundreds of feet and illuminating the space around. She would have ventured deeper if her guttural instinct hadn’t told her to stop when she did. When she eventually found her way into Clan clan’s territory the morning after she was told about how that cave was off limits and a dangerous point of no return. That it was a void where time almost stood still and the creatures within were things straight out of your nightmares. Cauli was young and impressionable and believed every word to be true. She had no reason to believe otherwise at the time….
- -
“This is where we have to go” Fig announced, as the group fleeing stood now in front of a large cave mouth, hidden just barely beneath a canopy of trees and shrubbery.
“Everyone stick close to me, follow the path EXACTLY as I do and ... .prepare for the smell.” After saying that last part he stepped foot into the cave mouth, and as he did it was almost like time had stopped. Cauliflower rounded up the kits and gave them a quick pep talk making sure each one was still accounted for. That was when she realized that the small green prickly kit they had rescued was not here. She swore Mallow promised to retrieve her.
“Mallow!” Cauliflower called out, as she moved from the group back towards the warriors who were coming up to them. “The kit! Is she with you!? I can’t believe I forgot about her…everything was so crazy, I..I was trying to get everyone to safety and I just-.”
“Cauli, Cauli it’s okay! You did the best you could in an impossible situation.” Mallow tried to calm the frustrated she-cat in front of her. “I saw her fleeing when we left, we’ll find her once the flames die down, okay? It’ll be safer to search. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to her in time either.”
Cauli looked behind her friend towards their home that was burning down in the distance, her expression that of worry as she wished Tansy and Verum were here with them. She knew she could trust them to return but the kit…the kit she was worried her wounds would open and something would happen and…that was it.
Cauli pushed past mallow so quickly she was too late to even stop her, not expecting her to run off like that. Mallow looked mouth agape as that was so unlike cauliflower to be so reckless. She turned to Flo, who just gave a sigh and nodded her head towards cauli, before willing her legs to run after the healer. They were headed back towards the camp….
- -
The small green kit ran for as long as her little legs could carry her, barely making it halfway to the clearing that led to the border of the two clans. Her wounds were aching her with every step she took, the pain only acting as fuel for her to keep going. She had to keep going.
A small rock in her path unnoticed caused her to trip, falling forward and onto her face, a wince breaking her out of her concentration to just keep going.
She lie in pain there for what felt like an eternity, just wishing that she were stronger, before she transformed back into a squirrel.
Cauliflower wasted no time in getting around the flames, choking on the smoke that was thick in the air she was determined to get around and get to her lover and friends. She could not go into the cave without first finding them..she would not be okay until they were okay.
“Cauli! Stop! It’s too thick, the smoke! Its not safe!” Mallow choked out, easily catching up to her.
“We can’t leave without them!” She coughed out in response, ducking her head as she tried to minimize her breathing. Once she pushed through, with mallow hot on her trail, they both got out of the worst of it, coming out through the other side of the heavy smoke.
It was then that Cauli focused her attention to the ground, seeing if she could spot any disturbed areas where the small kit could have run off to. She wasn’t the best at tracking but she had someone with her that was.
“Mallow, we have to find her before they do, they could still be out here just lurking. We have to find her.”
- -
Verum wasn’t moving fast enough, she couldn’t. They were too far out and there was no way they could get to their camp in time to help out with whatever was going on. As panicked as she was, Tansy was even more so. Feeling helpless she allowed Verum to carry her along, knowing her legs could not keep up with hers in her transformed state.
Suddenly, Verum stopped, snapping Tansy out of her mind and into the reality in front of them
“Why are you stopping! Verum we have t-”
“Quiet.” She struggled to say with her mouth full of Tansies fur as she held the warrior up.
It was then that Tansy focused her gaze on the brush a mile from them. Fleeing forms, at least 20 of them, all rushed through the bramble trying to be unseen as they fled from the direction of their camp. They were fast..incredibly fast and Tansy would have missed them completely if Verum’s senses weren’t heightened enough to point them out.
She would set tansy down, transforming back into her cat self to become smaller and hopefully harder to see. “They did this. Mallow did this.”
Tansy looked over at her angry friend, wanting to defend Mallow, but she felt the same way. In the moment it was easy to blame their friend, bringing one of the outsiders kittens to their home…they had no idea the repercussions this would bring about. And Mallow was the one who brought her there.
- -
Meanwhile the rest of the group heading into the mouth of the cave were almost to their destination. The smell was awful and thick and the further they got in the worse it got.
“Almost there, keep steady everyone! The worst is about to pass!” Fig called out front, trying to keep the momentum going as he rallied his clanmates to keep on.
It was then that they rounded a corner, and a small light could be seen peeking out from what everyone assumed was the other side. And as promised, as they approached the ever growing light the smell died down, disappearing slowly as it began to become a memory one would want to forget.
A few more minutes of walking and they would emerge, from the mouth of the cave and into a place that looked naught like the one they had just come from. No longer were they surrounded by purple and green hued trees, but by large stalky brown trees. The grass that was once vibrant and full of flowers is now a muddied green and soaked wet with swamp water. Gentle croaks and bubbling
bloops could be heard all around as the area seemed to come alive the moment they stepped foot in.
A few elder cats looked on in
bumfuzzlement, taking in the sights ahead of them as the kits were just excited to finally have some place to run around. Fig sighed a sigh of relief before looking back towards the group. “All right everyone! We made it but our journey is not over! We need to seek higher ground to setup a new camp location. Please be careful, this place still has dangers.”
The group moved through the wet patched ground exiting the mouth of the cave, and into a thicker deeper part of the swamp, their legs almost completely submerged in the water. Those that could would pick up kits so as to not have them be fully submerged. It was quite a sight for
wandering eyes. A dirty and old bridge covered in moss and half rotted from the moist surrounding was a nice sight as the group made their way onto it and looked outwards as it led towards a large hill in the distance.
“There!” Fig called out “That's where we shall go!”
“Oh what's this, Bugs? Silly
pawsteps think they can step foot in wild one's home?”
A bubbling voice came from the swamp water below as a geiser went off in the distance, startling some kits.
“Are these
pawsteps the one we have
beef with, Pria?” A chuckled came from the other side of the bridge, before the form submerged back into the swamp water, disappearing from view.
“Mmm~ They do not smell the same to me.” The first voice would speak out again.
Fig held his ground on the bridge, as the waters below them bubbled with amusement as the two voices taunted them. He silently guided the kits to the center of the group as the more capable cats took the outside in case whoever or whatever these were decided to attack.
Harsh splashes of water every so often came down upon them, soaking their fur as laughter rang out from all around, making it difficult to pinpoint the source.
“Oh forget this!” One of the cats spoke out before making a run for the end of the bridge, towards the hill. It was then that they were grabbed and dragged under the swamp water.
Everyone stood still, too stunned to make a move as they watched their clanmate get dragged in by some dark green blur.
Moments later
bright orange eyes peeked out of the water, large vines covering the top of their head as they stared down the group a few feet away above them.
“Boo!”
ᗯOᖇᗪ ᑕOᑌᑎT: 2,068
Notes; Used words for Inktober are
Bolded beef,Bloops,Bumfuzzlement,pawsteps and Wandering.
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EXP & LvL: 387/500 LVL 4 -----------------Death Opt In-----------------ᑕᖇEᗩTᑌᖇEᔕ:Default
IᑎᐯEᑎTOᖇY:Broom x1
Catcheweed x1
Chervil x1
Comfey Root x1
Fennel x2
Lovage x1
Marigold x1
Ragwort x1
Stick x1
Tansey x1
Thyme x1
Willow Leaves x1
Scraps x1
Bugs x2
Mouse x2
Squirrel x1
Rabbit x1
Bird x3
-----------------Oᑎ ᑭᗩTᖇOᒪ:Joining the "Patrol"
Green kit HP 100% HUP 0% - - -Scared, Desperate, Injured
Cauliflower HP 100% HUP 0% - - - Panicked, Caring, Reckless
Already on "Patrol"
Mallowsweet HP 95% HUP 20% - - - Concentrated, Scared
Tansy HP 95% HUP 20% - - - Worried, Scared, Exhausted
Verum HP 95% HUP 20% - - - Angry, Exhausted, Frustrated
Leaving "Patrol"
Flo HP 100% HUP 20% - - -
