Natus (the lynx)

The lynxes led the way to the tribe, through the forest. The sound of the flowing river flooded their ears as they went closer to the water course.

As soon as they reached the river, the prisoners shivered. Natus guessed they just weren't used to the water in their lives. He looked at the cream colored cat with brown stripes. He was shaking so much Natus thought he could be panicking. No, Natus was sure the cat was panicking. The lynx approached the shaking animal and touched his legs with his paw.

"What do you want?" The cat hissed.

Natus got really annoyed with that, but was able to control himself. He pointed his ears to a large branch that crossed the river.

"You go check if it's safe" He demanded.

"WHAT? No! What if it's not?"

"Then you'll die." Natus replied, in a normal tone

"YOU'D KILL ME ONLY TO CHECK IF IT'S SAFE?!?!?!??"

"Yes. You're our prisoner. You mean absolutely nothing to me. I'm willing to kill you rather than to kill one of my warriors."

"HOW COULD YOU? NOW YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR!"

"No fighting, guys!!! I'll go!" The dog said, putting his paw in front of the other prisoner.

"Then go now, before I teach your little friend a lesson." Natus said, facing the prisoner.

The dog nodded, and carefully stepped on the branch. It seemed fine. Then he took another step.

When he finished crossing, he turned to face them on the other riverbank, and screamed:

"It's perfectly safe!"

The lynxes then crossed, Natus nudging the cat prisoner to go faster.

Lenky

When they reached the other side, Lenky started to feel the scents of lynx get intensified. "They might be leading us to the tribe!" Lenky thought.

"What are you doing still? Keep moving!" The leader lynx groaned.

Lenky nodded.

"Hum... lynx?" he started

"Natus" The lynx said

"Weird name"

"I... are you leading us to your tribe?" Lenky asked, the lynx narrowing his eyes.

"Yes. And we like to call it THE Tribe... cat." he replied

"Lenky"

Natus mumbled something under his breath and kept walking.

After a short time, they reached a part of the forest were there was no grass.

"Why doesn't the grass grow here?" He asked a cream tabby she-lynx that was next to him.

"There were too many generations of lynxes stepping on the earth here." She answered. "I guess it just killed off all the grass."

Lenky nodded. Something in the she-lynx's soft voice seemed sad.

Suddenly, a piercing pain hit Lenky's paw.

"Meow!!!" He yelled, maybe too loud.

Everyone turned to him.

"Why the screaming? I was going to catch a rabbit! Now you scared it away!" Natus shouted

Lenky lifted his paw to see a little blood running down his pads. There was a huge, thick, thorn.

"I stepped on a thorn." He said

The cream tabby she-lynx he had spoken to rushed over to him and took his paw on hers. She examined the thorn carefully and mumbled:

"That's a big one"

She looked at Lenky.

"This is gonna hurt a little." She said.

"I can take it." He answered.

She nodded slowly. She bit the thorn and pulled it off Lenky's pad. A bit of blood was drawn out.

Lenky hissed. The she-lynx giggled.

"I told you this was gonna hurt."

Lenky nodded. He started to lick the wound.

"Let's go." Said Natus.

Lenky put his paw down. It wasn't bleeding anymore.

"Thanks." He said to the she-lynx.

"You're welcome. What's your name, by the way?"

"It's Lenky. And yours?"

"Bellus"

"Such a beautiful name." The cat thought.

They continued to walk, Lenky slightly limping because of his wounded paw. It still hurt.

As they reached a spot where two trees formed an arch, the cat's eyes widened in wonder. It was the entrance of the tribe's camp. They passed through the arch, Lenky's jaw dropping.

Natus looked at him and laughed.

"You haven't seen anything yet, cat"

He pulled a bracken off the way, revealing a bright clearing with some leaves on the top. Lots of lynxes entered and got out of dens, or walked around. A few young lynxes played fighting. Lenky spotted two kits rolling and hitting each other with their small paws, reminding him of his vision on the forest.

His thoughts were interrupted by Bellus nudging his side with her tail. Lenky looked at her. She pointed her head to a huge rock with a crack on it.

"Natus wants you two to go in there and talk to our leader. His name's Saluky" She said, softly.

Lenky nodded and started walking onto the den's direction. While he walked, the lynxes looked at him and Fang with confused faces. Natus led them to the rock, the lynxes lowering their heads slightly in respect.

"He might be the second-in-command or something" Lenky thought

When they reached the rock, Natus motioned for Fang and Lenky to sit down and wait.

"Saluky. We're back from patrol." He said

"And..." A voice from inside the rock den replied.

"We found a dog and a cat trespassing our territory near the Shouting Crow hill."

"Yes... did you tear them apart?" The voice growled

Lenky gulped when he heard that.

"N-no, leader. We captured them. They're our prisoners..." Natus seemed a little anxious

"Where are they?"

"Right here, sir." Natus instantly replied.

When he said that, a big beige lynx emerged from inside the den. He had amber eyes that were just like Natus'.

"I think they're kin. They look very alike"

Saluky glanced at Lenky and Fang, narrowing his eyes. He started to walk in circles around them, inspecting every single hair. He stopped when he saw Lenky's short tail.

"Where are you two from?" He asked, looking suspiciously at the cat.

Fang took a step forward.

"We came from outside the forest." He explained "We escaped from the humans' lab."

The leader narrowed his eyes even more. Then, he turned to face a golden tabby lynx.

"Acer! Take them to the prisoners' den! And make sure there's a guard outside." He said. "I'll think about what to do with them later."

Lenky opened his mouth to protest, but Natus started talking.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I could take them there myself."

Saluky turned to face him. His face turned to an expression of pure anger, as he unsheathed his claws and quickly hit Natus's face, knocking him down. A bit of blood was drawn out. This surprised Lenky.

"That's a warning, Natus. You don't talk to me like this. I'm your leader. You are lucky I chose you as my second-in-command, since we all know who your father was. For a punishment, you'll be watching the prisoners for the rest of the day. Now GO!"

The brown striped lynx nodded, his ears lowered and flattened against his head.

"Acer..." Saluky calmly said, looking at the golden tabby lynx. "Take 'em there."

"Yes, sir." The lynx quickly answered. He nudged Natus to get up, and quickly looked at Lenky and Fang.

"Come on, prisoners" he spat.

They followed him to a huge dark hole on the ground. It was humid and dirty, as if it hadn't been cleaned in years.

"Get in" Acer hissed.

Dog and cat obeyed, knowing it wasn't worth it to fight all of the lynxes to escape.

Natus stood outside of the hole, sitting there and cleaning his claws. Acer turned his back and walked away, muttering something about not believing Saluky had chose Natus.

After some time of disturbing silence, Lenky decided to speak.

"Hum, so... lynx, I mean, Natus..."

"Yes, prisoner?" Natus said, looking inside the den.

Lenky gulped.

"Are you and Saluky... kin? You two kinda look alike."

Natus huffed.

"Unfortunately. He's my cousin." The lynx scratched the moss on the ground. "I hate him with every single hair of my pelt! And he shouldn't even had become leader in the first place. I should have. But my father sealed my doom. I have to pay for HIS mistakes."

Lenky got a bit more curious about Natus's backstory.

"Who was your father?" The cat asked.

Natus sighed.

"We no longer say his name. He was the traitor leader. The lynx who betrayed the species by falling in love with a cat! I think I remember his name..."

Please don't let it be what I'm thinking...

"Oh, yes. I remember. His name was...

...Balthazar."

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Ugh, this chapter is so crappy...

And late...

Sorry...