Two Birds/Chapter 4

Talonpaw's POV
Talonpaw padded light as a feather through the long grass of PebbleClan's hilly territory. She kept her gaze fixed on the prize winning prey only fox-lengths away.
A huge brown hare, just a bit smaller than herself. She cursed inwardly. She loved being a muscular fluffy cotten ball and all... but it would be *great* to be slender and thin, with no long fur weighing her down.
A picture of Creekpaw's lean and graceful body appeared in her mind. Sometimes she wished she was like him. The thought of her brother left a bitter taste in the speckled tabby's mouth.
Talonpaw stepped on a twig hidden within the grass, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Crap!" she howled when the hare bolted, already a distant blur.
"We don't even have trees in this part of the territory! How did a dumb twig get here?" Talonpaw demanded to the cloudless sky, kicking the twig with a large forepaw.
"Ha! Nice one, Talonpaw!" Falconpaw's stupid, cocky, sarcastic voice sounded behind her, along with a few giggles.
Talonpaw closed her eyes and cursed some more. Of course Falconpaw and his buddies had to show up this very moment.
Talonpaw turned to them with dark eyes. Falconpaw stood a tail-length away with a crooked smile and a lopsided ear, along with the little brown Hawkpaw who looked at her sympathy and Flightpaw who tried to stop himself from cracking up.
"It was just bad luck, Talonpaw," Hawkpaw padded over to the towering she-cat and laid his tail reassuringly on her puffy flank. He gave her a sweet, but shy smile. "There's always another hiding in the meadows."
Talonpaw knew he was trying to make her feel better, which made her more angry, but guilty for getting mad. Hawkpaw was quiet, but he always tried to help others as much as he could. Talonpaw turned her head away swiftly, making Hawkpaw jerk back with surprise, and muttered, "whatever."
Hawkpaw went back to his friends, looking slightly down, which made Talonpaw feel more guilty, but she stubbornly pushed it away.
There were some shrill shrieks in the distance, some sounded like cats, but one didn't mix. The apprentices sat bolt upright, exchanged excited and wary glances, then raced to the trouble. Talonpaw bounded along with them, her eyes closed tightly.
Maybe this would be her chance to show she was strong again, something must be attacking someone out there... she could rescue them, much like Creekpaw did with the dog.
But a long time before they reached the cries, they had faded, and when they did get there; an open field with oddly short grass, stood Creekpaw with a large lump of feathers under his front paws.
Wisppaw crouched next to him with a stupid look, like she just realized she had a tail. "Whoa, a hawk!" Flightpaw gasped and raced toward the pair, followed by Hawkpaw and Falconpaw.
Talonpaw followed more slowly, feeling a little shock grip her chest.
Creekpaw couldn't have caught a hawk! It had barely been a few days since he led the dog away from Wisppaw and Stonepaw.
*Everyone will be bowing to him at this point!*
She growled at her Clan's stupidity, then pounded to a stop next to the hawk. It wasn't big, to Talonpaw's relief, but it was still a hawk, with long tawny feathers, perfect for nests.
"Creekpaw caught it by himself!" Wisppaw reported, gold eyes shining up at the tall black tom.
Trying to hide his face, Creekpaw ducked his head with embarrassment. "No I didn't! You helped pin it down, Wisppaw."
"You flew into the air and snatched it right from the clouds!" Wisppaw went on, a dreamy expression on her plump face. "Then you gave it the cleanest bite to the neck I've ever seen"
Talonpaw stopped herself from making some sarcastic hacking noise. Wisppaw was being a little dramatic on the details, which were making things worse for Talonpaw.
Anger boiled in her heart, making her face turn red; she was quite sure smoke would come out of her nose and ears any moment.
To her dismay, Creekpaw turned to her, his face almost as happy as the night the Clan had the feast. Creekpaw had always been an outcast within PebbleClan. But now that was changing, terribly fast. And it appeared someone was taking his place as a loner. Talonpaw.
"What do you think?" he asked, anxious to get his sisters approval. "Do you think I did well? I didn't exactly do everything Wisppaw claimed, but I think I did ok."
Talonpaw stared intently into Creekpaw's eyes, which looked gray rather than blue now. She wanted him to stay happy... but... perhaps not too prideful.
"You did *all right.*" Talonpaw said stiffly, her voice cool. She turned to the little hawk at her brothers paws and inspected in by placing a paw on top of its flank and digging her claws deep down.
"A bit tough... it's old, and it was slow. That's probably how you caught it." She gave Creekpaw a quick sidelong glance out the corner of her eye, he looked a little disappointed.
"I could catch better. But this is still prey, not like we're going to leave it here to waste," she finished, with a light sigh.
"Uh-huh," Falconpaw said, giving her an odd look through slitted eyes. "Well, let's get this back to camp."
Creekpaw leaned down, gripped the hawks broken neck in his jaws, then followed the other apprentices as they ventured out of the open. Talonpaw remained where she stood, little thought and emotion going on in her head.
After a long time of her thoughts still being dead, she padded away from the clearing and went through some long grass that towered over her head.
She had no idea where she was going, but her paws guided her down to a sandy path that split through the earth.
Talonpaw relished the feeling of the grainy sand submerging her toes and carried on the path. Soon she past the border, past any of the other Clans terriotries, into the unclaimed land.
*This is the area me and Creekpaw were found.* She silently remarked, eyeing the lush bracken thicket which she and her brother had hid under that night so many moons ago.
Most cats wouldn't remember anything when they were that young. Creekpaw didn't, but Talonpaw did. She remembered everything.
Suddenly, she was back under the bracken, shivering in a cold dark forest. Snow fell softly, the flakes becoming fatter as the mintues passed.
It would have been peaceful if they didn't think they were dying.
Beside Talonpaw was the only warm thing, Creekkit shivering with a tiny bloody paw. "Your paw is hurt," Talonpaw remarked, but the squeaky voice that came out spooked her.
"No it's not," Creekkit mumbled, tucking his paw underneath him.
"I'm not stupid!" Talonpaw huffed, shifting towards his bloody paw. Creekkit let out a whimper and pulled out his paw from under him, revealing a bloody thorn embedded in his pad.
Talonpaw let out a high-pitched grunt, clutching her little teeth around the big bad thorn and pulled it free. Creekkit gasped in surprise. "T-thanks, Talonkit."
The snowflakes stopped, went on again, got bigger, then Talonpaw heard more voices. Then she realized she wasn't under the bracken anymore, but standing a tail-length away watching, but the snow swirled around her as there were shrill screeches then the memory faded.
Talonpaw was back in the forest on the cloudless hot day, still staring mindlessly at the bracken.
After feeling nothing for so long, it was a bit of a shock to feel the sadness the weighed her shoulders down. Times had been tough then, but she wished everything could be like that again, where Creekpaw was tiny and needed her.
Where he was just an outcast with only Talonpaw to be his friend. Where he wasn't promised the things she was.
*You'll be a future deputy one day.*
Ravenstar's words to Creekpaw flooded Talonpaw's ears, repeating in her head like the constant drip drop of water on stone.
Suddenly, like a dam breaking, all of Talonpaw's hidden emotions came raging out. Digging her claws in the ground she clentched her teeth so hard it hurt.
She squeezed her eyes tight shut to stop the tears from coming out, but it was no use, her fluffy face was plastered to her skin with wet streams.
Talonpaw wanted everything back the way it was. She wanted Creekpaw to be little again, in need of her protecting. She wanted to be a cool kid in the Clan who always got praised for her skills. She wanted to be deputy one day.
*Ravenstar told me I'd be deputy one day. H-he promised! I trusted him! H-how could he go behind my back like that? He said it was my destiny to be a leader, Applepad said so too! He got an omen saying I'd be a deputy then leader one day! I'd go down in history!*
But now Creekpaw stole the spotlight. Ravenstar said he'd be deputy one day, maybe even leader. Creekpaw was the one who got praised now, he was the cool kid... he didn't need her anymore, but now he was ruining her life plans.
*I can't let my future changed! I've been thinking about it so much recently, I made myself believe it would all happen, and now look; Creekpaw's ruining it. I-I hate him! I - he's ruining my life! I-I have to stop him!*
*I do something to halt everything... I can do something. What should I do? I can tell him that I'll take care of his chores, then not do it, he'll get in trouble... ugh, just a stern smack on the nose. Something harsher! Something that'll change everyone's opinion on him, something that'll make them never call him a hero again.*
*What could that be? What's something so big, so great, that'll he'll never be trusted again? I could tell him to take the kits out of camp, then set up a trap, have one of them get hurt. That'll raise some heads! Ugh... but it's not good enough! It'll blow over in a few days!*
*...What if I framed him? What if I did the dirty work, then... I don't know, get something with his scent on it, then put it around the area...? That sounds interesting... What could I frame him for?*
Talonpaw froze, her pale eyes wide with shock and she whimpered. How could she even be thinking like this? *What's wrong with me? Its just... I feel so helpless... everything I dreamed of could be stripped away anytime now...*
Talonpaw shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She had to stop. She had to be happy for Creekpaw. His whole life he was bullied and weaker than everyone, this was his chance to shine!
But the more postive Talonpaw tried to be, the more upset she felt and no matter how hard she tried to shut her thoughts out, they kept coming.
*I can follow one of our denmates to a 'privite' part of the territory. I can hurt them. I can put tufts of Creekpaw's fur around the area... But what if they wake up and tell them the truth? That Creekpaw didn't do it. They'd blab everything out.*
*I... I'd have to do more than hurt them.* She realized what she was thinking again and started sobbing harder. *Shut up! Stop thinking it! I'm not listening! I have to be loyal, I need to be a good sister!*
*But what about my future? What then? The one thing I want more than anything... gone...*
Talonpaw inhaled and exhaled to calm down. *I don't know what to do...*
The gray flecked apprentice paced in circles for awhile under the trees until it grew dark and the stars of Silverpelt dappled the sky.
She had stopped crying long ago and now wore a blank expression with dark eyes. Her legs and paws ached from pacing so long.
Talonpaw flicked her ears and froze, alert at a faint mew. Blue eyes appeared in the darkness and out of the shadows melted her black brother.
Guilt and bitterness rose like bile in her throat at the sight of him. Creekpaw's face was worried and he flicked his tail as if asking her if he could approach.
Talonpaw twitched an ear and turned away from him, looking up at the white slit of the moon in the dark sky. She closed her eyes, pelt prickling with annoyance when she heard the rustling of Creekpaw lightly padding over to her, despite Talonpaw's clear sign to leave her alone.
But she said nothing when he sat down at her side and followed her gaze up to the clawscratch moon. He kept to himself a tail-length away, but Talonpaw could feel the faint warmth coming off his pelt and felt a little comfort.
"You've been gone for awhile Talonpaw. What have you been doing?" Creekpaw asked quietly after a long moment of silence.
Talonpaw didn't reply right away. Her head was tired, she couldn't think of a lie right away. "I was... I was just trying to hunt. I couldn't catch anything but was restless, so I started walking..."
Creekpaw flicked his tail with an unconvinced twitch of his whiskers, making her face feel hot. He knew her so well, he could tell when she was lying. Most of the time.
"We should get back to camp. You don't want to oversleep and have Featherheart bickering at you all morning."
Talonpaw wanted to argue, but she couldn't bring herself too. Creekpaw was probably right. *As always...*
Together, the pair walked along with moor with Creekpaw leading while Talonpaw trugged after him with her head hanging and feeling guilty once more for the things she had considered eariler.
Suddenly Creekpaw's fur was in Talonpaw's face as she bumped into him. He stood completely still with pricked ears and tense muscles. Letting out an annoyed hiss, she spat out. "What are you -"
She trailed off, following his gaze to three moonlit shapes walking among the heather. They were cats, but even from here Talonpaw could make out the much plumper bodies of kittypets.
Without a thought, Talonpaw charged towards them, teeth bared and claws unsheathed. The cats stood calmly waiting for her as she sped toward them.
When she was within distance, Talonpaw gave a mighty leap and landed heavily on a brown tabby's shoulders, making her collaspe to the ground.

The other two, a ginger tom and tabby she-cat lunged. Talonpaw raked the toms face, making him reel back with a screech. The tabby bit deep in Talonpaw's tail. Gritting her teeth against the haze of pain, Talonpaw spun around and nipped sharply at her ears, tearing the tip off and leaving a deep V.
The brown tabby, who was still underneath Talonpaw, lashed out and ripped out some of her belly fur. With a mad scream, Talonpaw's head zipped towards her throat and her jaws clamped down hard.
The she-cat let out a strangled yelp and blood began gushing out of her wound. She flailed her limbs desperately, and the other two ranked Talonpaw's flank in panic, but she refused to let go.
A battle-cry split the air and a powerful force blew into Talonpaw's side, knocking her off the brown tabby. Letting out a inraged hiss, Talonpaw looked around her, her heart plummeting.
Four more kittypets had appeared, four fresh cats to fight. Talonpaw could take on three softies, but seven? No way.
She turned to bolt, but they had surrounded her, growling and hissing. She glanced desperately to where Creekpaw had been a moment ago. No sign of him.
Talonpaw let out a frustrated growl. *Coward!*
The kittypets came closer, hackles raised and eyes hostile. Talonpaw closed her eyes, anger burning her pelt. How could Creekpaw just leave her to fight alone?
Then came yet another battle cry and over a slope came racing a patrol of PebbleClan warriors, Creekpaw among them.
The warriors and kittypets locked in battle, but it was dramaticly short. Despite PebbleClan's patrol being outnumbered, the kittypets were weaker. They realized this instantly and raced away, fear in their eyes.
The tabby she-cat Talonpaw had nicked the ear off turned back, spitting. "Don't think we're done. This isn't over!" she yowled, then bolted off with her friends while the PebbleClan patrol shared some quips and giggles.
"Psss, that was so easy it was sad!" one snorted. Featherheart was among them, stomping over to Talonpaw with a sour expression. "What did you do? You rushed off into battle without a thought!"
Talonpaw looked at the ground and muttered. "I was only thinking of the Clan."
"And look where that got you! You could have been killed! Kittypets are soft, but seven agaisnt one apprentice is much of a risk. You'll be taking care of the elders for a moon. I thought I taught you not to be so reckless," Featherheart huffed, while Talonpaw scowled.
Padding away, Featherheart muttered quietly, probably thinking Talonpaw couldn't hear. "Why can't you be more like your brother? The Clan is far safer in his paws! We were wrong about her..."
Talonpaw wouldn't have made it a big deal, but what Featherheart had said made the apprentices heart crack and her despair and anger rise again.
"Good job, Creekpaw!" Eagleclaw purred, while Creekpaw ducked his head, blushing. The patrol retreated back to camp, but Talonpaw fell behind and was left alone.
Grief peirced her heart and her head throbbed.
*I failed to prove myself again. I've show that I can't be a leader. I've shown I'm too reckless, I'm useless. But Creekpaw showed how great he is again. He's the hero again.*
*My life will be ruined unless I do something about it...*