Orchid woke up to a stinging feeling on her nose. She sat up, her ears flattened as she drew her tongue over her nose to, checking from a cut. She was surprised when she didn’t taste anything and surprisingly the stinging stopped. She realized that she was shivering and opened her mouth, watching her breath turn into a cloud. She flicked her tail uneasily. Is it…leaf-bare? She Thought, confused by the sudden change in weather.

She could hear sun waking up, the she-cat blinking her eyes halfway open and looking around “why is it so cold?” She murmured , curling her tail tightly around her. Orchid just blinked and turned back to the entrance of the den. “I think leaf-bare finally came” she mewed. “It’ll be a surprise for everybody, including the prey, we should try to hunt as much prey now as we can or we won’t have much later” Sun nodded and stretched, her injured leg held up above the ground. The forest around- them was silent, only the leaves rustled as chilly wind blew through them.

Orchid had her mouth open, drawing in prey scents while Sun trudged behind her, complaining every few minutes about the cold. Orchid caught the scent of a large prey area and turned towards sun. “Let’s meet back here, catch as much prey as you can" she mewed, her whiskers twitching. Sun nodded and turned, limping away and sniffing the air. Orchid nodded and then bounded deeper into the forest, her nose picking up many scents as she rushed deeper into the forest.

...

The orange sun set behind her as Orchid padded through the forest, a rabbit over her shoulder and a mice plus a small squirrel hung from her mouth. She trotted proudly, quite happy with her catch. She rounded a large oak tree and spotted sun laying on her belly and dozing. There was a pile of leaves and Orchid guessed that that was where she hid her prey. She purposely rustled some bushes with her long tail, waking Sun from her doze. The she cat stood up and stretched, her eyes tired, but they lit up when she saw her and she bounded up to her, “wow! What a catch!” she mewed, very impressed. Orchid felt her ears burn with grateful embarrassment and nodded.

The two cats began to head back to the den, cold snapping at their ears. Orchid could feel the cold air pricking at her skin under her fur and shivered, her pelt still needed to adapt to the sudden change. She thought about how this Leaf-bare could end up affecting them. Her thoughts were interrupted as a flurry of crisp leaves was thrown into the air and red russet fur flashed in her face. She barely had time to react as she was knocked off her paws and sent rolling into a tree, the prey she had been carrying flinging onto the cold ground. She shook her head and looked around frantically, confused. Then she saw it.

A large fox stood in between her and Sun, the yellow she cat stared in shock in fear as the furry creature turned towards her. Orchid rose to her paws, stumbling a bit before charging at the fox. She dug her unsheathed claws into the foxes exposed back and flattened her ears as it gave a furious screech. She yelped in surprise as the fox swung its massive head around and its teeth latching onto her fluffy tail. She was yanked off of the fox's back and thrown belly first onto the ground. She gasped as a large paw was set roughly above her, pressing her against the ground as she drew in harsh breathes. Her chest burned as she struggled underneath the large fox’s paw.

Suddenly the pain stops the weight on her back was released. She lifted her head up and gasped for air as the fox gave a yelp and a cat growled viciously. She turned to see sun clawing the fox's face. The fox violently shook and growled furiously. Orchid stood up and launched herself at the fox. She dragged her claws across its exposed underside and sank her teeth into its leg. Her hopes of winning were crushed as she heard a bone snap and then a tear above her and a ear-splitting screech tore through the air. She watched in shock as a lump of yellow and red was thrown into the ground. Orchid felt her heart drop as she stared at the unconscious Sun on the ground. She released her grip on the fox and darted towards the she-cat.

She gasped as she felt herself yanked back by her already wounded tail. She clenched her teeth to avoid biting her tongue as she was swung around as the fox tried to rip off the tip of her tail. She assumed the fox gave up for was suddenly swung up into the air. Time seemed to slow as the was tossed into the air, her claws swiping the air as she tried to grab onto something. The ground raced towards her as she tried to turn her body to land on her paws.

She didn’t know what happened. Her paws hit the ground but her head felt as if she landed on it. Her vision blurred as she could feel warm sticky blood dripping from her face and onto the ground. She stumbled and fell onto the frozen ground, though she never felt herself hit the ground.

End Of Chapter