guiding pawsteps [closed]

The moon sat high, pallad rays illuminating the navy skylight above. It was speckled with stars throughout in a dazzling blanket. Iniko had yet to find a place to settle down for the night. Admittedly, this made him miss the greenery of the forest, at least the places that had not been touched by fire. His pads were irritated ever so slightly despite their experienced callousness. Just over the horizon, the calico tom caught a flicker of movement. Curiosity pressed back exhaustion. He padded forward, quickly realizing what he had seen was the shadow of another cat. No,cats. The other figures were far smaller, less imposing than the one that loosely guided them forward. These were kits, and young ones at that. It appeared they were traveling with what could only be their father. No she-cat was in sight. In his usual manner, the loner approached with his head dipped and a light meow of greeting, "My name is Iniko... is everything alright here?"

They had been travelling for the day. It was midnight, or nearly so. He had alternated carrying kits on his back. They had short amounts of stamina. He wanted to keep going. Now that he was on a journey to find his Clan, it was hard to make him stop. However, even Redfall recognized that they were too tired to go on. I suppose we can’t go on forever.

SkyClan had left the Twolegplace. The forest they would have returned to was still too bleak, occasionally dotted with fires. No prey would have been found. They were just… gone. No scent trails, nothing. Just signs of makeshift nests in the Old Twolegplace where they had been. He was scouring the edge of the fence, peering out at the fire. Redfall didn’t know what to do. The kits were resting, little bodies almost immediately asleep. He brushed a few pieces of moss around them, deciding their body heat would keep them warm. He needed to hunt for the coming day, and for himself. After doing so much work, the ginger warrior was tired. He stifled a yawn and pricked his ears. The putrid scent of Twolegplace and ash was usual now, and it was easier to distinguish scents in. He caught the scent of a stray mouse and cat.

His tiredness eased as he spotted the cat walking towards him and the kits. Some sort of fatherly instinct kicked in as he immediately lifted his hackles, though the cat didn’t seem particularly aggressive. But if there was one thing his time as a rogue had taught him, it was that cats were always hiding things. His claws unsheathed as a warning sign. “Fine.”

Redfall shifted his weight restlessly as another thought occurred. “Humor my curiosity. There was a large group of cats from the burnt forest that came in here. Few sunrises or so ago they went out. You know where?” His voice was brusque and to the point. “And if ya don’t, leave, because I have hunting to do and kits to guard.”

As expected, the ginger tom took up a defensive gait. Iniko merely twitched his tail at this. The loner and his kits seemed as inexperience in this world as they seemed lost. At the mention of the forest group, his eyes lit with curiosity. Immediately he know what this cat sought and the place he'd come from. Something was obvious in the stance, those powerful hindlegs... it reminded him of Bloodstrike and Spottedstar. He stood abruptly but held back from drawing any closer, "You're seeking Skyclan. I know where they went, and I can take you." Perhaps it was strange for a loner to know such things, but he had grown used to being saturated in obscure knowledge. After speaking, the calico dipped down to meet the expressions of the five little kits, "Don't worry, we will get you somewhere safe soon." Despite the exhaustion across their little faces, the tom knew it would be best to get them back to the forest, where there were at least less dangerous creatures, and only dangers of another sort.

Maple was curled up among her siblings, tired beyond belief and blinking her eyes steadily to keep them open. Even though it was the first time in her life she had not slept beside her mother, and Redfall had only pushed some moss around the heap of kittens before going to stand guard, Maple had been deep asleep when she woke to Redfall’s brusque tone. He had walked the siblings so far she no longer knew which direction home was. The hard ground had scraped her delicate pads until they bled, and though Redfall had thankfully carried them on his broad ginger back in turns, her paws had stung, ached, then deadened, and the tang of her bloody paws was only hidden by the smell, that made her eyes smart and water, of the smouldering forest. So it couldn’t have surprised Maple more that what they were walking to was a group of cats from the forest. Who could have survived such devastation? …And why so many cats together? There were a lot of cats in the town, but hardly ever a group of house-cats or feral cats together outside of family. 
There was that word again, SkyClan. The strange calico tom spoke patiently in a soothingly smooth and calm voice, but Maple’s heart sank and she lay her head back into her littermates’ pelts with a tiny, inaudible sigh. “Will we have to keep walking?” she asked in a wavering voice, her shredded, gravel-laced pads throbbing at the thought as she tried to be brave.

The journey had been hard for all the kits, that much was clear. They were tired and weary, but most of all, confused. Everything they'd known had been taken from them in one fell swoop - their mother was gone, Redfall was now their caretaker, and they were on their way to live in the forest. After his initial questioning, Tigerkit had accepted all this with a quiet resolve. There was no use in whining or complaining about it, it simply was the way things were now, and he trusted that Sienna wouldn't have put them into a dangerous position despite her absence.

Throughout the trek, Tigerkit kept to himself. He refused to allow Redfall to carry him, choosing instead to allow the privilege to one of his siblings, and stayed near the back of their pack so he could watch his brothers and sister. When finally they got to rest, though, he was one of the first ones asleep, nestled into his siblings with a paw cupping the bridge of his nose. At first, the chatter between Redfall and Iniko was not enough to draw him from his slumber, but when Maplekit spoke up, his eyes opened, blearily taking in the moonlit sight of his father and the other cat. "Wha's goinon?" he said, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

"How in StarClan's name do you-" He broke off, glaring at the cat. "I don't even know your name, I have no reason to trust you. I don't see a motive for you to hurt my kits but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. Tell me where SkyClan went and we're going there together. If something bad happens to me it happens to all of us." He was sure whatever journey they had would go fine - the ginger rogue was confident in his abilities. Keeping the kits safe would be a problem, but the confident way the loner spoke almost convinced him to trust him... Almost. The streets were full of two-faced cats. "And as much as I'd like to believe you, why should I trust you?"

They were adorable, piping up with sleepy questions. Iniko was never particularly drawn to kits himself, but he quite enjoyed the youthful innocence about them. It was interesting in the way that cats like him had once been tiny, ignorant creatures as well. The loner looked over the warrior, tilting his head ever so lightly; This tom, now a father, was once a kit as well at some point. One blink and he dashed away the thoughts with a flick of his tail. There were more important manners at paw, he needed to help get this family back to their kin. Better to build the bond now, get to know Skyclan further.

He'd caught the glare from Redfall, dipping his head respectfully and began to meow a low response, "I can see why you'd be wary, I'm merely a loner who has been resting near the forest. It is for this reason I've met your clanmates. I witnessed the fire that drove them from their homelands and scented them around twolegplace. And, they have returned to the forest. I'll help take you there. And carry the kits. You can walk at my hindlegs if it makes you more comfortable." Iniko turned to face Maplekit and Tigerkit, "No need to worry about walking further kits, I can carry you on my back." There was a brief moment where he waited for permission, a response from the other cat, before gingerly gripping the scruff of the first kit, Maplekit, and placing her across his shoulders.

ooc; iniko is going to lead them to the riverclan border; sal- feel free to start a riverclan topic now and get these babies into Skyclan for real!

Maple’s green eyes glistened with gratitude and she limply let Iniko lift her up, almost slipping off his back before she found enough strength to cling on. Maple hadn’t questioned if the stranger was trustworthy, she had taken the appearance of a second strange tomcat for granted. The world she knew had fallen out from under her paws. Each step brought them all further from mum and closer to the forest, and Maple’s heart had ached with every step as much as her paws had. But Maple would never be more glad that Redfall was big and scary. He had carried them on his back with ease and now protected them instinctually. 

Tiger hadn’t let Redfall carry him even once, and she felt a confusing mixture of gratitude and guilt every time her turn had come one kitten early. Tiger could stand on his own four paws. He had been so strong. Some cats seemed made to be strong and there was a fear creeping up on Maple that she wasn’t one of them.

“Thank you, Iniko,” she mewed softly. Then whispered in a nervous rush, “what’s it like to be wild, and see everything, and…” be alone, she almost said. She would never know if the feral tom answered her – Maple had fallen asleep, still clinging to his back by a miracle.