Echo and Lark

Made by ~Patchfeather~

## Prologue

Rain poured down as a tiny pale gray she-kit stood in front of the bodies of her family. She tried to save them but failed. Blood welled from their necks and made the tips of her toes wet with their blood. Howling pounded into her ears as the dog that did this saw her and began to run to her with savage snarling jaws full of sharp yellow teeth. She turned to the forest and ran as fast as her small legs could carry her. She tripped over a rock and felt the hot breath of the dog wash over her tail and a sharp pain stabbed it. She screamed and hit the dog in the eye. He howled in fury and pain. She took the chance and ran under an arching maple tree root.

She sat there shivering as the dog prowled around it must not have had a good sense of smell because it stopped it's huge white paws right by her face and didn't look under the root. After a little while, it gave up and went back onto the open land. The she-kit slightly came out from under the root. She got a look at where she was. She was by a tall maple tree with smooth bark with some sap dripping from it. Around her, more maple trees stood with some oak tree mixed in here and there.

The sky above her was dark and cloudy with rain pouring onto her freezing pelt, making the cream spots on it turn to a brown color. The ground beneath her paws was a bit muddy from the rain and the forest looked dark and unwelcoming. Bracken thickets were scattered around in a few places making it look even darker with their dark green leaves. She sniffed and came out a bit more.

A dim light hit her face and she saw the outline of a cat. "Hello?" it called, it sounded like a she-cat around her own age. The cat stopped and looked right at her. The pale gray one gasped and ran back under the root. "Why are you running away?" asked the other she-cat in a somewhat far away voice. She suddenly turned up looking at her from the edge of maple tree the pale one was hiding under. She tried to move back farther but couldn't get any farther back.

The she-cat was a very pale gray, almost white with faint stripes and very pale olive green eyes. "Hi, my names Lark." she mewed and sat down right next to the root. The other she-cat didn't move or reply, she was frozen with fear. Lark jumped up and ran off. The she-cat under the root still didn't move, she didn't even dare blink. Lark reappeared a few moments later with leaves in her mouth.

Lark sat the leaves down in front of the tree, water began to flood on them and they made the she-cat's mouths feel dry. "Eat them." Lark said gleefully pushing the leaves closer to her. The she-kit backed away. Lark rolled her beautiful eyes. "They aren't gonna kill you, they will help your shock." she meowed and pushed them right into the she-kits face. A few heart beats passed and the she-kit at last nibbled on the leaves and let the water flood into her mouth.

"Now don't you feel better?" asked Lark, her face said she already knew the answer. The she-kit relaxed and let herself slid out a bit. "What's your name?" Lark asked as the other she-kit's tail began to crawl out from under the root. "My names... Echo." the she-cat said in a quiet shy voice. "That's a pretty name." Lark purred. Echo came out all the way. She was about the same size as Lark. The same age. But the only thing that wasn't the same about them was their pelt color and eyes.

Echo stood watching Lark for a moment. Lark got to her paws and turned around and began to leave. Echo sprang to her paws, she somehow felt... drawn to the molly. "Wait, your leaving me?" Echo asked in a somewhat disappointed tone. Lark shook her head. "Of course not, *your* coming with *me."* Lark smiled and headed off. Echo bounded after her and they trailed away side by side and disappeared into the forest.

## Chapter 1

Dim, cool sunlight shone down into a willows roots, beneath it was a nest that held the sleeping form of Echo. She sniffed and blinked at the light and covered her eyes with a paw. It got brighter so with a hiss, she got up and walked out from under it and looked around, her pale gray pelt ruffled and bristled. Where was Lark? They always woke together and only together, one never got up before the other. Something bd must have happened for her to leave like this and leave Echo alone without a word.

She looked around their marshy home, frantic. They lived by a small marsh in a clutch of willows, this was the wettest place in the forest so it would probably be the safest since foxes and badgers didn't seem to like water. She hopped up a tree they played in a lot. "Lark?" she called to be answered by the swishing of leaves in the wind. She sprang down and looked back into their nest. "Lark?" she called once again and went under them and dug through the moss and bracken, still, Lark wasn't there.

What if a fox did come here and it took her? She jumped out from the nest and spun around and around again three times. "Lark!" she cried. She was hit in the face. She landed in the muddy ground and flecked her amber eyes up. Lark's faint gray form stood over her with a paw resting lightly on her chest. "What?" she asked sliding off her. Echo struggled to her paws and looked at her

"Why did you leave me? I thought we agreed to never leave each other." Echo said, looking away from Lark's face, she couldn't look at her, Lark had hurt her too much. Lark scrapped her paws along the wet earth. "I smelled something and I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fox or another cat who would hurt us." Lark stated, her eyes flickered with guilt. "I'm sorry, I should've woken you, but I didn't want you to get hurt." she meowed, crouching low with her eyes flinching. "Can you forgive me?" she asked shifting closer to Echo's side.

Echo sighed. *She could have died for me.* "Okay... I forgive you, but don't do it again." she mewed, her eyes closed tightly and her tail wrapped around her paws at the thought of Lark dying that morning and she would have never seen her again and not known what happened to her. "Great! so what should we eat today?" Lark squealed suddenly leaping from her crouch and skipped around their willow tree.

Echo flecked her tail. "I don't know, maybe fish?" she asked, licking her lips. They hadn't eaten fish in awhile, and it was their favorite food, they hadn't tried fishing in awhile since the stream dried up during the heat of Greenleaf, but now it was leaf-fall so with it cooling down and raining more, they might as well try.

"Yes! good thinking!" Lark squealed and flew over a root that stuck out of the ground that was in her path. She landed with no noise and scrambled off to to the river. Echo turned to follow her. They hopped small, muddy streams, logs, and bracken. Echo's eyes locked on Lark's tail, Lark always seemed to be in the lead and faster. Lark was strange but amazingly wonderful, she was super kind, never said no, always happy, a great playmate, wonderful! But she had a strangeness to her, she seemed sort of.... faint...

More coming soon