Chapter 20: This Isn't The Place For You.

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"Goldenheart! Goldenheart! Mistyflight's kits are coming!" Falconblaze and Brackenclaw both came barging into the Medicine Cat's den. The pretty golden she-cat stood up calmly and gathered some herbs. Brackenclaw hissed with impatience, and ran back to Mistyflight. Falconblaze hung back.

"Goldenheart, please hurry up!" he pleads. Goldenheart grabs her herbs and looks at him with honey coloured eyes.

"Don't worry Falconblaze, your sister will be fine!" she purrs and leaves the den. Falconblaze stands still for a moment, and when he leaves through the fern tunnel Goldenheart was already by Mistyflight's side. Falconblaze runs after her, but stands a little pace away.

Mistyflight was on the ground, her belly swollen with the kits she is about to give birth to. She looks at Brackenclaw and purrs, but Falconblaze heard it was strained. Her fur was striped with sweat, and her beautiful blue eyes were rimmed with pain. She had been out for a walk when the contractions started, and she hadn't made it into camp. Now she had been moved a little closer and was propped up in the ferns that surround the camp.

"You'll be fine dear, you'll be fine!" Brackenclaw purrs. Goldenheart looks at Brackenclaw and purrs. She was Brackenclaw's sister, but her kind and loving heart was far from Brackenclaw's rough and temperamental nature.

"Brackenclaw, I think it's best if you stand a little further away, by Falconblaze." she mewed gently. Brackenclaw growled.

"I'm not leaving Mistyflight!" he looks defiantly at his sister, but she wouldn't relent.

"Brackenclaw, I'm asking you as your sister and as your Medicine Cat to step away." she meowed more firmly this time. Brackenclaw looked furious, but took a few steps back. "The contractions will be coming closer together soon, that means the kits are coming." Goldenheart turned her attention back to Mistyflight.

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Time passed, and Falconblaze could no longer stand the sound. Mistyflight's pain cries, Brackenclaw's padding back and forth while gritting his teeth, even Goldenheart's soothing! He excused himself hastily and ran into the forest.

Opening his mouth slightly he let the scents of the forest rush in and sooth him. Taking several deep breaths he started to pad through the woods. Above him the green leaves and thick branches swooshed in a faint breeze. In the bushes he could here prey scurrying around, and he decided to hunt a little.

Falconblaze scented the air one more time, this time searching fro prey specifically. He caught the trail of a rabbit that had strayed into the woods from moorlands far away. Instinctively he crouched down, keeping his weight light and equal. Slowly he came closer.

The brown rabbit was sniffing at some wild garlic, the long ears twitching with pleasure. The white tail bobbed as it jumped closer. Falconblaze stiffled a purr; the foolish prey didn't even LOOK for danger. Taking a mighty leap he yowled. The rabbit was so startled it leaped into the air with surprise. Falconblaze crashed right into it.

"OOF!" he grunted and looked around. The rabbit was nowhere to be seen, and he growled with frustration. He felt something tickle his stomach, and shift. He leaped up with a startled yowl, and the rabbit fled into the bushed and disappeared. Falconblaze laughed at himself.

"Beaten in a fight by a rabbit, how about that?" he chuckles. "I better remember that tickle attack next time I'm squished by an attacker." he jokes, fully aware that nobody was listening. He shook his dusty pelt and headed deeper into the forest in search of prey.

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When Falconblaze returned the sun was dipping behind the trees and stars had started to appear. He had caught a couple of mice and a black bird. The black bird was too big to carry along with the mice, so he had burried it for collecting later. He dropped the mice on the fresh-kill pile and went out to check on Mistyflight, ashamed that he had issed her kitting. To his horror, she was still lying there, with no kits yet.

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