Amaranthine/part two

Cherry woke me up before dawn again. This time, it was also before Elzora and Nashca. She padded briskly out of the camp and toward the training grove. The sky was still a dark purple, but tinges of pink were sneaking into the pre-dawn sky. She had a lot of energy, considering it wasn't even dawn yet. Still groggy with sleep, I followed her to the training grove, where Onyx and Magnolia stood. They seemed even more tense than normal, and every once and a while exchanged whispers with each other. Their tails twitched nervously every one and a while.

Their whispering abruptly stopped when Cherry and I entered the grove. Onyx's gaze never left us as we sat down in front of them, but eventually, it dropped and they continued their whispering. I could only make out a few words, something about "scouts" and "on our borders".

The rest of the cats slowly arrived. Cherry gazed at Elzora with a smirk on her face. Elzora glared back at her. She hated to be outdone, especially by a common-born cat.

Elzora and Nashca definitely knew what was going on, as they had been in the Council meeting. They too exchanged many whispers. Elzora glanced Cherry once and a while, a haughty expression on her face. Cherry returned the glance, her narrow eyes even more so.

When Wren and Raven arrived in the grove, the whispering stopped for good this time. Onyx stood up and began speaking, his gaze falling upon each of us in turn.

"Today, we will be practicing battle tactics," he meowed, his voice meaningful. "We are at peace right now, but you never know when you might need them in the future."

Cherry glanced at Magnolia, who gave her a sharp nod. Cherry's mouth dropped open for a second, but she quickly closed it and listened to Onyx's orders.

"Divide into groups of four. The first group to reach the end of the other's side wins.  No claws, no deaths by blunt force trauma.  I hope you are capable of training without injuries."

Even Onyx's tone betrayed the fact that something was wrong. The tom was usually uptight, but his voice was even more choppy than usual.

The training continued on, the air swimming with tension. Even Blizzard could tell something was wrong. Battle training had always been minimal, and always designed for dealing with a fox, badger, or dog. We had never used tactics against cats before.

When we were finished with that training session for the day, we padded back along the flowery trails toward the camp. The sun hung above our heads, casting short shadows beneath us. It followed up to the two lines of dens that made up our camp, with the Great Den and leader's chamber at the end of them. I always wondered how they got those cherry trees to grow around the Great Den. It gave it an important, regal look.

We continued our daily routine, sitting down and sharing a couple of rabbits between the four of us. Blizzard insisted on being the one to gnaw on the legs, and eventually, the rest of us complied. I glanced up from the juicy rabbit to see the leader, Astor, heading up to the Great Rock that stood in front of the Council meeting chamber, followed by a group of Aristocrats and Champions, as well as his daughters.

Raven nudged me excitedly. "Look!" Her muzzle was tipped toward the Great Rock where Astor stood. "The group is gathering!"

I noticed Cherry standing close to the bottom of the rock. Her expression was far from excited. My sister's face was twisted with worry and fear, seeming out of place in the world of petal-coated streams. She paced back and forth, eventually sitting down directly in front of the rock. I saw other cats following, then Elzora sounded a yowl that we all knew meant meeting time.

We abandoned the rabbit and loped across the camp to the Great Rock, sitting beneath it in the ever-growing cloud of cats. Astor sat on its peak, flicking his tail impatiently. As soon as the majority of cats had joined the cluster, he began speaking.

"As you may have noticed, our Council met yesterday." His confident yowl echoed off the beautiful garden we stood in. "We were discussing a rather... troubling matter."

Blizzard's face looked even more excited. Cherry was the opposite. It almost seemed like she might explode with fear at some point. She clearly knew most of what was going on, but that made it worse.

"Another group has moved into the territory near ours. They have not yet crossed the borders, but our scouts report that there are many cats there and their numbers threaten ours."

Blizzard nudged me. "They might accelerate Cadet training!" His mew was quickly punctuated by a glare from Scarlet, a she-cat sitting near us. Raven's expression was neutral, while Lark seemed slightly scared by the news. I still wasn't sure how I felt. They might not pose a threat to us if they're just living on our borders, but if they cross them...

"The Council has voted to take immediate action. We will be scouting out their lands, numbers, and any plans they may have, as well as attempting to send a diplomatic visitor to them. We must also prepare for battle."

Even though we all knew it was coming, Astor's last words sent a ripple of surprise through the crowd. The Twilight Hunters hadn't faced a war in twelve seasons because every nearby group knew of our strength and power. The cherry trees that surrounded the Great Den had been planted forty seasons ago, a sign of our long-lasting power. No cat had the nerve to challenge that. Or so we thought.

Astor dipped his head as a sign the meeting was over, then the Council members padded off the rock. I spotted them returning to the Great Den, likely having another meeting.

It seemed the peace of the spring was ephemeral.