Chapter 2

Lostkit squeaked in surprise as she was pounced upon by a happy Dovekit, who had grown bored waiting for everyone to wake up so decided to force her closest friend – and her sister – awake. Blinking sleepily, Lostkit sat up and looked at Dovekit in confusion, unlike Ivykit who was busy glaring at her sister's back.

"What Dovekit?" Lostkit yawned.

"I'm bored, let's go out and explore!" Dovekit exclaimed quietly, so as not to wake the queens.

"It's not even dawn; go back to sleep, sis." Ivykit grumbled, lying back down and rolling over so her back was facing her sister. Dovekit frowned and looked at Lostkit pleadingly; Lostkit stared back at her for a few heartbeats before caving, she was awake now and she could never get back to sleep once she was awake.

"Fine, but we're not going too far; remember Sandstorm said she smelt fox on her patrol a couple of days ago." Lostkit said and let Dovekit lead the way outside.

"Yeah I know, but that was two days ago; it's probably gotten bored and moved on now to worry one of the other clans." Dovekit told her friend confidently, creeping around the edge of the camp; Lostkit wondered if she knew that her creeping was so bad that the sound her paws made on the ground didn't change at all, but decided not to bring it up so just kept padding normally along behind her.

Dovekit paused beside the camp entrance and looked around to see if any of the warriors were waking up yet, Lostkit looked around half-heartedly to make it seem like she was at least slightly enthusiastic about following Dovekit into the forest where who-knows-what could get them and restrained a sigh when Dovekit flicked her tail to signal all was clear.

The two were almost at the mouth of the entrance to camp when Dovekit walked into the back leg of the warrior on duty: Thornclaw. At the impact, the golden furred warrior turned his leg and Lostkit smiled nervously up at the warrior when he frowned at them both.

"And what do you two think you're doing?" He asked but waited for no answer. "Do you know how worried your mother...the queens would be if they found you missing?" Lostkit looked away at a bramble thorn on the camp wall when Thornclaw corrected himself, remembering that one of the kits he was facing didn't have a real mother anymore.

"But we wanted to explore!" Dovekit mewed, tail drooping in disappointment; Lostkit didn't bother to correct Dovekit that she hadn't wanted to go exploring; only Dovekit did.

"You're too young to be out in the forest on your own; besides, that fox could still be out there and it could turn two kits like you into carrion." Thornclaw told them both firmly.

"I could take on a mangy old fox!" Dovekit exclaimed defiantly, puffing out her chest.

"No." Thornclaw repeated and nudged the two back through the entrance and into camp. "Now go back to the nursery; I'll be watching you both until you do so don't try to sneak out another way." Dovekit pouted but did as she was told, Lostkit walking along beside her; the brown tabby looked back over her shoulder at Thornclaw, who was staring firmly after them, doing what he said he would do and watching them both until they went into the nursery.

Once both kits had padded, Dovekit rather reluctantly, back into the sheltered den Lostkit settled immediately back down on Daisy's nest, trying not to shift the moss beneath her to much so as not to wake the cream furred queen. She heard Dovekit settle down on her mother's nest beside her sister with a loud huff, and Lostkit cracked open one eye to glance at Dovekit before shutting it again and attempting to get a few more hours of sleep before she was woken up by the stirring queens.

In the morning, Ivykit said nothing about Dovekit and Lostkit leaving the nursery to go exploring and thankfully Thornclaw kept quiet too; but he sent knowing, disapproving looks to both kits when he passed them on his way out of camp on a hunting patrol. Rosepaw and Toadpaw emerged from the apprentice den, happy-faced and lively as they bounded across camp to find their mentors who would be taking them on a border patrol that morning; the two apprentices waved their tails at their mother when they spotted her outside the nursery and she waved her tail in reply, smiling proudly.

Briarkit, Bumblekit and Blossomkit were ecstatic that morning after realising - once they had woken up - that their own apprentice ceremonies were less than 1 moon away. They play-fought with extra vigour that morning, Bumblekit even winning a scuffle against his older sister, Briarkit, for the first time.

Puffing his chest out in his pride as the other kits cheered for him, Bumblekit ruined his winning image by running to Millie and acting like a half moon old kit again as he told her about his win, even though she had seen it from where she was sat 3 tail lengths away. Briarkit licked down her ruffled chest fur and sat off to the side with Dovekit and Ivykit whilst Lostkit and Blossomkit paced forward began their play-scuffle, rolling around on the warming ground, a few shoots of new grass being crushed underneath the kits weight.

Batting Blossomkit over the muzzle, being careful not to hit her too hard, Lostkit managed to knock the older kit off of her and regain her footing, almost slipping back down on a damp patch of mud. Blossomkit came at her again and tackled her back to the ground, Lostkit was unable to find an opening and was stuck rolling around the area around the nursery with Blossomkit, both competing for the final blow that would win them the play-fight.

Lostkit wasn't sure what happened next but Blossomkit had let out a short cry of pain and let go of Lostkit, rolling back onto her paws and turning to face her mother who had rushed over with the other two queens and the other kits the moment Blossomkit had cried out. Lostkit stood as still as the rock walls surrounding camp, wondering if it was her fault that Blossomkit had gotten hurt and if she would get told off and lose her friends.

"What happened, what did you do?" Millie asked her kit, who held up her right forepaw and mewed tearfully:

"I hurt my paw on a stone. It was really sharp and it hurt."

Millie licked her daughter's paw and, to save her the pain of walking, picked her up by her scruff and carried her to Jayfeather's den to get her hurt paw looked at. Lostkit, although she was relieved at not being the one who hurt Blossomkit, didn't have the same enthusiasm as she did before and opted to watch the other kits have an all-versus-all play-fight against one another instead.

Blossomkit and Millie came back near to sunhigh, Blossomkit looking her same usual happy self and walking beside her mother with a bounce in her step; Millie smiled and said that Blossomkit hadn't hurt her paw too badly but Jayfeather had let her have a poppy seed to get rid of the pain.

"He's such a kind tom." Daisy purred, smiling as Blossomkit persuaded Lostkit to play with her and the other kits and the two of them bounced off to play.

"A very good medicine cat too." Whitewing added, watching her kits closely; Millie and Daisy agreed and began to chat casually about the various events that had happened in the clan, always keeping an eye on the kits.

It was just past sunhigh when the kits ran out of energy to keep play-fighting and had a quick meal before Dovekit brightly decided that they should all play Scent-and-seek*. All the kits agreed happily to that and played Ear-Tail-Paw* to see who would be seeking first; it took a few turns but eventually Bumblekit lost and he trotted into the nursery to count whilst the other kits scampered off to hide.

Lostkit had found a hiding place behind a clump of bracken and was surprised to find a small, cave-like area behind it; a rocky, unstable slope led up to a hole in the wall and Lostkit smelt the fresh scents of the forest wafting in. She was about to take a step forward when Dovekit barrelled into her and knocked her to the ground.

Both kits lay in a daze on the cold floor for a few heartbeats but soon staggered to their paws and looked at one another; well, Lostkit looked at Dovekit, but the younger she-kit was too busy staring up at the rocky slope and the opening above.

"A way out of camp!" She said aloud, eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Oh no." Lostkit shook her head. "No Dovekit, we can't leave camp; what about that fox?"

"It's probably moved on; come on, it'll be fun!" Dovekit beamed and bounded forward, barely hesitating as she scrambled onto the first rock which led up to the hole; Lostkit shuffled on her paws, torn between following her friend and staying in the safety of camp; but when she saw Dovekit was almost quarter of the way up the rocky ledge Lostkit huffed and followed after her, someone had to look after the adventurous younger she-kit didn't they? Sure, Lostkit was barely a moon older than Dovekit but still, she was still older and Dovekit felt like a younger sister to her and siblings looked after each other, even if they weren't related.

Pulling herself up onto the third rock, Lostkit felt it wobble slightly under her as she prepared to make a valiant leap for the fourth and froze, waiting until her heart stopped pounding so hard before jumping at the forth rock and scrabbling up on top of it. Her paws and legs were aching already, she should've rested more after her play-fighting matches; Dovekit was ¾ of the way up the rocky slope now and she paused to look back down at Lostkit.

"Come on! Almost there!" She beamed and carried on scrambling upwards. Lostkit sighed and pulled herself up onto the fifth rock, using a smaller stone to give herself a boost up; the sixth, seventh and eighth rocks were easier as the gaps between them were smaller and there were small stones piled up and poking between the gaps to make them easier to climb up.

Dovekit was waiting at the top of the slope, staring out at the forest beyond with wide-eyes, her mouth was open slightly in awe of the large outside world she hadn't seen before and Lostkit almost had to cuff her across the ear to get her attention. Dovekit grinned and shifted her weight from paw to paw with excitement.

"This is going to be so fun!" She exclaimed brightly.

"We're going to get in so much trouble when the queens find out." Lostkit answered, using Dovekit's bright tone.

"We'll be back before they begin to worry silly." Dovekit rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Let's go!" She leapt across the small gap that cut off the hole from the ledge and waited for Lostkit to jump over as well before bounding off, giggling insanely.

Lostkit did her best to keep up a good pace as she followed the younger she-kit but it was no use, she had to speed up just to keep Dovekit in sight whenever the kit veered off to the left or right in chase of something bright and colourful. True, the forest did intrigue Lostkit a lot and she wanted nothing more than to throw all her cares and worries about being found and told off away - like Dovekit had obviously done - and join her nursery-friend in frolicking about like a tom and she-cat who had just fallen in love; but she couldn't and when she almost had, the thought of the fox leapt into her mind. It had only been a half moon ago when it was last scented freshly again but Lostkit had heard enough stories about foxes stealing kits and killing them to be scared of them for a long time.

The tabby she-kit squeaked in surprise as she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a giddy Dovekit, who started batting her playfully with her paws. Batting the other kit back, Lostkit's thoughts of being told off were quickly replaced with just beating Dovekit in their playful scuffle and eventually were wiped from her mind completely. Thinking like a 2 moon old kit now, Lostkit began giggling and chased Dovekit through the forest, pouncing after colourful things that turned out to be blooming flowers and peering between tree roots to see if they could find any holes where rabbits might live.

When they had run out of breath, the two kits collapsed on the ground beneath the shaded branches of a large, bright Buddleia and worked on regaining their breath and cooling down, all their running and jumping having warmed their bodies up quite a bit. Lostkit rolled onto her belly after a while and was about to slide out from under the buddleia when a rank stench hit her nose; Dovekit must have smelt it too because she rolled onto her belly and tensed noticeably.

Creeping backwards to Dovekit's side, the two kits cowered on the ground as a large dog-like animal stalked into view, its head peering out first from behind a group of ferns and glinting amber eyes staring around the area. It stopped and stood still less than 5 dog lengths from them, ears pricked and white-tipped tail swishing slowly from side to side; Lostkit realised with a jolt that this creature they were staring at must be a fox.

Almost as if it had heard her thoughts, the fox's head snapped round and Dovekit and Lostkit froze like ice as amber eyes stared malevolently right where they were hiding.

Scent-and-seek = Hide-and-seek

Ear-tail-paw = Rock-paper-scissors