Trapped - Pigeonpaw

[sammiboo]

Jaywing blinked open her bright blue eyes, heavy with sleep. She uncurled herself from a small nest of rabbit down and bracken. Being a WindClan cat, all warriors sleep outside, under the stars. One look at the sky told Jaywing sunrise was just past, and now the sun was climbing towards sunhigh. The clearing seemed oddly empty, until she noticed most of the warriors and apprentices clustered around Streamfur; patrols were being sent out. Raising herself to her paws, Jaywing began cleaning scraps of the soft rabbit fur that lined her nest from her gray tabby pelt. Quick, soft tongue strokes brought her pelt to a luminous shine.

Not wanting to miss out on a patrol, Jaywing trotted over to where the rest of the Clan was grouped together. She sat quietly on her haunches, waiting for Streamfur to notice her. Once the hunting and border patrols had been sent out, there were few cats left in the clearing. Feeling irked that Streamfur had forgotten about her, Jaywing decided to go hunting on her own.

The young warrior snatched up a large rabbit from the fresh-kill pile and gulped it down, in a hurry to leave camp. She wanted to hunt all day, and a rabbit that large would keep her strength up. Brushing her salmon-colored tongue around her muzzle to pick up the last traces of rabbit, Jaywing headed out of camp.

Following scent trails, Jaywing finally picked up the scent of a rabbit warren close to the abandoned badger set that was almost the size of the WindClan camp. Opening her jaws to draw air across her scent glands, Jaywing concluded that the rabbits were inside of the den. Dropping into a crouch, Jaywing drew herself forward stealthily, creeping towards the entrance of the set one paw in front of the other. She wasn't used to creeping up on her prey; all WindClan warriors chased rabbits across the moors to catch them. It's what made them the fastest and most agile cats in the forest.

Finally Jaywing was close enough to the entrance of the set to hear the rabbits scuffling around on the inside. Drawing air over her glands one more time, Jaywing identified the scents of around three rabbits. It would be difficult to catch them all, but it would be a feat few cats in the Clan could claim. Catching three rabbits at the same time? It was pretty much unheard of. Hissing in satisfaction, Jaywing leaped inside of the set, claws flashing.

She took the lives of two of the rabbits while they were cowering in the shadows, the third bolted for the entrance. She gave chase, snagging it with her claws as it closed in on the entrance. The she-cat dragged it to her and ended its life with a quick bite to the back of the neck.

A purr of satisfaction emanated from the tabby warrior. She clumped the rabbits together into a pile, unsure of how to carry them all back to the camp at once. It would be difficult, but luckily the camp wasn't too far away. While she was gloating over her kill, a strange scent began to fill Jaywing's nostrils. Distracting her focus from the overpowering scent of fresh-kill that made her mouth water, the young warrior narrowed her eyes and flattened her ears against her skull when she recognized the scent.

RiverClan!

[hedgie]

This wasn't right. The land felt too open and the sounds and smells of rushing water had left him. Either that, or he'd been the one to leave. But whatever the reason, Pigeonpaw was surely not on Riverclan soil any longer. The light brown tabby tom padded onward, seeming almost careless, as if his being on Windclan territory was perfectly...normal. In reality, he was confused and uneasy. Up here, the world felt to exposed, and he was afraid that if he stopped moving for more than a second, some bird of prey would fly down from the heavens and carry him away.

Hearing the shrieking sound of a hawk, Pigeonpaw broke out into a run until he felt, in his mind, that the horrid excuse of a predator was far enough away for him to continue on safely. You'd think a sensible cat like him would've turned tail and run back home the moment the territory had become unfamiliar. But for some reason, he'd kept on going. His stomach rumbled loudly and he decided that while he was here, he could at least grab a bite to eat.

The scent of fresh-kill wafted past him and he instinctively turned in it's direction, not caring if there was a cat involved in it's killing. Creeping closer towards the source, he crouched down, eyes flickering around uneasily.

"I am such an idiot. But then again, I'm a hungry, lost idiot. So I'll forgive myself for this later." He muttered, hidden by the scant brush surrounding the old set. "Mind helping a stranger out?' He called, popping his head out. Never had he been more grateful for his slightly-prominent ribs. They gave him that hungry, haven't eaten a decent meal for days look, despite the fact he was a well-fed Riverclanner.

"I noticed you've caught a bit more than you can chew on your own and I was wondering if you could help a poor lost soul out." So he might've been lying, seeing as he was far from poor, and not exactly lost. But he could at least try. He'd already be in trouble when he got back to camp, so why not dig the hole deeper?

[sammiboo]

Jaywing flattened herself to the ground, claws unsheathed, as the intruding scent came closer. "I noticed you've caught a bit more than you can chew on your own and I was wondering if you could help a poor lost soul out." The pure arrogance in the young tom's voice and words astonished Jaywing. Who did he think he was? A RiverClan cat trespassing on WindClan territory, and then simply asking for prey? Moving closer to the weak sunlight flooding through the entrance hole, the tabby warrior got a better look at the tom. He did look a bit hungry; his rips stuck out underneath his thin pelt. But that didn't make much sense. RiverClan was always the most well-fed of all the Clans.

Jaywing stretched up to her full height, keeping her claws unsheathed. "Who are you and what do you think you're doing on RiverClan territory?" Jaywing hissed. The tom was obviously young, probably about the same age as Jaywing herself. His light colored pelt was a cream color; tan or sandy, it was hard to tell. His eyes were the easiest to see- they were bright with humor and arrogance. It irked Jaywing, honestly. Stupid tomcats...

While waiting for the tom to respond, Jaywing sat on her haunches and wrapped her gray tabby tail across her front paws, hiding her claws that were ready to lash out in an instant.

Suddenly, the ground started to rumble. Jaywing leaped to her paws, confused and alarmed. The resounding grumble began to get louder and started to shake the whole ground. Jaywing's paws were frozen to the hard packed earth. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling and piling up in the entrance to the set and Jaywing finally found her paws. She scrambled to get out, but the stones and boulders were piling up too fast for her to exit. The she-cat clambered across the bedrock, her claws getting snagged every other pawstep.

Ultimately, a rock almost the size of Jaywing crashed into her chest, knocking her back to the hard earth. As she landed, the rock rolled, and settled itself on Jaywing's paw. A strangled caterwaul of pain was emitted from her jaws, sharp white teeth flaring into the air, the sunhigh light glinting off of them.

Jaywing, her ocean-blue eyes glazed with pain, noticed that the RiverClan tom was still standing there.

"Help me, you useless scrap of fur!" she screamed.

[hedgie]

He watched, secretly satisfied by the she-cat's reaction. He could tell she wasn't too much older than he was, maybe a moon or two. Not that big of a deal. He was surprised though. He watched her, bemused, as she flattened herself down and then rose up, tail wrapping around her paws. He'd expected for her to either attack or run for the hills to tattle about a trespasser. Not this...eerily calm question-and-answer bit. It threw him off guard quite a bit, but he hid the confusion behind his half-smile, whiskers twitching as if he were holding back a chuckle.

"You really want to know why I'm here? Well, new acquaintance of mine, I was out for a walk when I lost all track of my mind and accidentally crossed into your territory. I realized where i had ended up and figuring I'd be in trouble no matter what I did or said, I decided to have fun while I'm at it." He shrugged. "Anyway, I've gone and been rude and forgotten to introduce myself. I'm Pigeonpaw. Who're yo-"

He had been about to ask the tabby she-cat her name when the ground shook beneath his paws, and following the instinct of flight, he ran out of the mouth to the set, nervous as the hares the Windclan warrior had recently caught. He watched, as he turned, noticing her scramble to get out un-harmed. Sadly, things never seemed to go that way if you weren't fast enough. He grimaced as a rock sent her flying into the back of the set, settling on her now-crushed front paw.

The shaking settled and he lurched over towards the now-collapsed set, where a hole had formed above her, so the view of the ensnared tabby was clear.

"Well, if you talk to me like that, are you giving me any reason to want to help you?" He growled, still scared that another tremor might come their way. "But if you really want me too..." Pigeonpaw trailed off, leaping down into the set, landing on that crushing rock, and then landing beside her, the shadows of the hole giving him an eerie look. Green eyes sparked with termination as he pushed at the mini-boulder with his head, accompanied by the occasional push with his paws.

The ground shook again, this time on a smaller scale, and it was only dirt that fell in this time, showering them both. "Listen. Don't move. who knows how unstable the ground here is right now? Just wait until I get this off." It took quite a lot of showing and a bit more exertion and endurance than he'd previously thought he'd had, but the rock was finally rolled away from Jaywing's paw.

"I hate to sound crude, but it appears that your paw is most definitely broken. Then again, I'm the furthest thing from a medicine cat, so I couldn't really tell you if it was or not."

He shrugged, hopped up onto the boulder, using it to help him out of the collapsed set. "Need some help getting out, or can you manage with three paws?"