Chapter Eight

I hardly slept all night. It was mostly on and off. For that one moment, I thought things would be okay. But as usual, it was quickly snatched away from me. Silver slunk into the den."Come, Dreamer." He said to me."My name is not Dreamer." I grumbled like an angry elder. Silver rolled his eyes."Yes it is." He summoned the two toms in and they both grabbed my scruff. I was ready to dig my claws into them, but not after the look my father gave me. I could never fight him. I was dragged into the clearing, then onto the huge boulder.

"My fellow rouges." Silver called loud and clear. Every cat listened with intention."I am happy to say our Princess is found!" They all cheered. My father was pretty good at this announcer stuff."I will be holding a contest for who gets her." My head zipped to look at him."What!?" I snapped."Dreamer, it's nothing bad. Just let the toms do the work." That seemed to really light my fuse. "I can't believe this." I muttered. I felt so used and helpless. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of ginger in just outside the clearing. I craned my neck to see better, but a tom shoved me to look at the cats.

Silver turned to me."Who do you want in the contest, Princess." He asked me."Nobody. I want to go now." I said with a smile. Silver pushed his face into mine."You're are not leaving. Now pick some!" I looked sadly among the toms, then to my surprise I recognized a face. It was Lionfritz! He stood casually at the edge of the crowd."Fine. I pick....him......him.....and him." I looked at two toms that looked discouraged, then at Lionfritz. Luckily, my father didn't seem to notice that he hadn't been there before."Very well."

The rest of the cats backed away, and the three stood."You three shall battle. Whoever is left standing wins." Lionfritz looked worried."You mean kill? I could never do that?" Silver shrugged."Sure you could. Look at you." It was true. Lionfritz was more well-built than the other toms."But I would never kill anyone! It's-" before he could finish, both toms crashed into him."Stop preaching and lets get down to business!" One snarled."Lionfritz kicked them off easily, but they were stronger than they looked. The both charge at him and bowled him over.

After tussling for a while, the toms had Lionfritz pinned, and one raised a paw threateningly. I can't let this happen! I screamed suddenly and threw myself out of the grasp of the guards. I ran down and head-butted one tom. The other stood in confusion, then I hissed at him and he ran. Lionfritz got up and stood next to me. Silver stormed down the boulder and over to us."What was that Dreamer?" He said angrily."That's against the rules." I scoffed."Like I care. We're leaving." Silver laughed."You think one of my followers would help you out?" I smiled."Nope. Let's go Lionfritz."

"What?" Silver looked and Lionfritz in confusion. He then realized he hadn't been there before."Bye, Silver. You aren't my father." I said before he could snap out of it. We turned and ran. It was quite a while before we finally heard Silver tell them to come after us."Follow me." Lionfritz said and suddenly turned. I followed him, realizing that we were running along the edge of the ravine. As we pounded along, I saw five pillars of rock in the ravine."Come on." Lionfritz easily jumped on each, as did I. Without looking back, we tore into camp.

"Dreamingstrike!" Snowbird flung herself onto me and tackled me down. I laughed."Good to see you too." The clan slowly migrated over."Lionfritz helped me out." I explained a little later. They all praised him, but he didn't seem proud or anything. He just gave me a humble smile now and then. Meltingblade padded over to me."So, now that you're back....." I sighed."I need to go to something right now." Leaving him dumbfounded, I went to Lionfritz."Thanks, I wouldn't have gotten out without help. He smiled and nodded."No problem. I didn't understand why the clan just stopped. Meltingblade told them it was helpless." My eyes narrowed and I turned to him for a brief moment.

I suddenly felt a chill go down my spine. Meltingblade and Poundstep conversed quietly, both had dark looks on their face. Was Meltingblade really what he was posing to be? I knew already that Poundstep worked for Flick, and the way they were speaking didn't look to promising. Lionfritz rested his tail on my back."You okay?" He asked, his voice unusually gentle. I shook my head and turned back to him."Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go to Whirlwind and Snowbird."