Chapter 2
Snake groaned as he stretched waking from his slumber. He yawned and got up. He shook his pelt and he saw his brother, ice with the white she-cat frost. What is he doing with her? he thought. He shrugged it off and grabbed a sparrow from the prey pile. “Hello snake.” a voice mewed; snake looked up from his prey to see the amber eyes of the she-cat, storm. “h-hello storm” he stuttered a bit. “Mind if I share with you?” storm asked as she dropped down a fish. Snake sighed; how do these cats eat fish? Snake shook the thought away and just smiled. “of course.” He mewed as he ripped the feathers off his sparrow. Snake and storm talked about the past days in the clans while they ate. “It’s time we move!” snake lifted his head hearing his leader speak. Snake groaned as he lifted himself up to his paws, “c’mon then storm, let’s not make echo angry.” Snake muttered as he nosed the queen to her paws. “I wonder what has her fur ruffled up.” Storm scoffed; snake shrugged. “I don’t know.” Snake huffed, “I hope we get to our new home soon; my paws are killing me.” Storm stifled a laugh. “We are all in pain snake, just have faith we’ll be their sooner than you can hunt a mouse.” She smirked; snake chuckled. “I doubt it.” Snake lifted his head and opened his mouth to taste the air, he heard the rocks rumbling and the breeze was calm, then as he searched, he tasted the scent of fresh river water, a smile crept onto his face. “I smell water!” a voice called from the back. Snakes smile faded, he smelled other cats, and they did not smell friendly, he growled lowering his ears. “Stay here.” He looked at storm then pushed himself through the crowd. “Who are you?!” he snapped unsheathing his claws at the strange cats. “Hey! Chill out.” A light ginger tom said laughing. “My name is dawn of setting sky, and these are my companions, snap of crying eagle, and flicker of light.” Echo scoffed, her claws scraping the rocky hard floor. “We are the tribe of roaring thunder.” The tom smirked, moth rolled her eyes in disbelief, storm snarled lashing her tail, hawk stood watching this, her blue eyes like stone, she twitched her tail signaling to the guards and all the guards shouldered their way through the crowd of cats. And sat at the front looking at the strangers with caution. “We are just passing through.” Dawn grinned, snake hissed at dawn, his eyes switched over to his leader echo, who whispered something in hawks ear, which he did not catch. “This? this is the great tribe of roaring thunder?” shadow laughed lashing his tail at the three cats. “For once I agree with shadow, you are massively outnumbered you can’t possibly be a tribe.” Ice muttered, as he stepped to the left, to sit beside snake. Echo flicked her tail to silence her cats. “But ma’am we can’t possibly-“ hawk cut herself off looking into
echo’s soft amber gaze, hawk nodded and stepped back. “You may stay for a little but once you fill your bellies, you will leave, and we must press on to our home.” Dawn nodded to the grey she-cat and gently pushed his way passed. Snake gave a side eye at dawn seeing the ginger tom grin. Snake pushed himself forward as he crouched low to the ground stealthy following dawn. He pricked up his ears as he heard voices coming from the side of the cave. “Dawn you cannot be serious. We should just grab prey, steal the kits, and run.” A voice hissed. “Calm down flicker, we will just grab the prey and eat, but once they aren’t looking, we grab the kits and run.” Dawn smirked; his cats gave silent purrs of agreement. A growl rumbled in snakes throat as he slipped away to his tribe. “Look who we have here.” Dawn smirked, flicker pushed snake down, snap pinned him keeping him still, snake struggled and spat at the cats harshly. Snap leaned to his ear, and she whispered, “if you fight, you’ll only make this harder for yourself.” Snake let out a silent gasp, then stopped struggling and looked up at dawn waiting for the tom to speak. “It seems you were spying on us, yes?” snake nodded narrowing his eyes, dawn unsheathed his claws and brought one paw to snakes neck, “we need someone like you.” Dawn grinned; snake was puzzled. Why did this tom need him? Was he needing a spy? a warrior? What was it? “What do you want from me you fox-heart?” snake snarled through a choked tongue, as snap still had her paw on his neck. Dawn looked at snake with an Icey grin, “we need a spy, and you are the perfect tom for it.” Snake curled his lip with rage. “Shove a mouse down your throat! Theres NO WAY I’m betraying my tribe.” he hissed. Dawn’s eyes narrowed and he flicked his ear, snap let go of snake and grinned, snake arched an eyebrow then turn his head to dawn, the ginger tom unsheathed his claws, snake’s eyes widened with surprise dawn swung his claws at the grey and white tom constantly. Snake tried to dodge, and did but only nearly, dawn snarled and bit down on snakes leg and clawed his torso, snake yowled in pain, after 20 heartbeats of the two toms fighting…snake gave in, “now, are you willing to listen to my demands you piece of fox-dung?” Dawn hissed his eyes narrowed menacingly almost as if he was challenging snake to fight again. Snake gave a nod and winced in pain. “What is it you want?” snake growled. Dawn smirked, “I need you to spy on those mangy flea-pelts, I want to find out their weak spots, where are they most vulnerable?” snake snarled, he can’t possibly go through with this!! snake kept in a hiss of rage and just nodded, dawn sheathed his claws and let snake go. Snake pushed himself to his paws and ran off. But just before he left, he
heard dawn speak, “looks like we have a new follower.” Rage inflamed inside of snake; he couldn’t believe he was going to do this! He was going to betray his family, his friends, his leader.
Snake ran back to his tribe, his heart pounding with guilt and shame. He couldn't believe what he had agreed to do. How could he betray his own tribe like this? He found Echo and Hawk talking quietly at the edge of the cave. He approached them with his head held low, unable to meet their gaze.
"Snake, what's wrong?" Hawk asked, concern evident in her voice. Snake took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he was about to do. He told them everything, about meeting Dawn, about the deal he had made to spy on their tribe. Echo's eyes widened in shock, her fur bristling in anger. "How could you do this, Snake? How could you betray us like this?" she hissed; her voice filled with disappointment. Snake hung his head in shame, unable to produce a good enough excuse for his actions. "I'm sorry, Echo. I don't know what came over me. I was afraid, I didn't know what else to do," he mumbled, feeling the weight of his betrayal heavy on his shoulders.
Hawk looked at him with a mix of pity and understanding. "We will deal with this, Snake. But you need to make things right. You need to find out what information Dawn is after and report back to us. We need to know what we're up against."
Snake nodded his heart heavy with guilt. He knew he had made a mistake, but he was determined to make amends and redeem himself in the eyes of his tribe. He would do whatever it took to protect his family and ensure their safety.
As he slipped away from the group, Snake knew that his loyalty would be tested like never before. He had a choice to make - to follow through with his deal and betray his tribe, or to find a way to turn the tables and protect his own. The decision weighed heavily on his mind as he disappeared into the shadows, ready to face the consequences of his actions.