The Journey

Chapter 1

 * Rabbit crept over the hill, smelling no prey. He didn't know where he was, but he knew he was close to another creature.


 * He could smell it.


 * Next to him, his mate, Yew, stood, her swollen belly sticking out.


 * Rabbit knew that they would have to stop soon. He wanted to get to shelter beforehand.


 * Yew turned to him. "What if we don't make it to a forest?"


 * "We will, Rabbit assured her. "I can see one in the distance. We'll be safe, and surrounded by prey. I ''promise."


 * Yew grunted. "Let's go."


 * Rabbit nodded and set off, the wiry she-cat following. He trudged across the moorland, smelling nothing, hearing only the wind.


 * He could taste the cold.

Chapter 2

 * They reached the forest as the sun was beginning to set.


 * Rabbit let Yew lie down while he went hunting, searching for moss to put underneath his mate.


 * He caught two mice, found moss, and went back to his mate, who was shivering as the moon rose.


 * "Here," Rabbit murmured. "Warm moss, and a freshly killed mouse. Eat, while I prepare your nest."


 * "Our nest," Yew murmured. "We'll keep warm."


 * Rabbit nodded, and began to arrange the moss. "We need something to shelter us from the rain and the snow," he mewed.


 * "That can wait," Yew mewed.


 * Rabbit nodded, and bit into the warm body of another mouse, savoring the taste.


 * When he finished, Yew was waiting, and they curled up next to each other.


 * "They'll come soon," Yew murmured. "I can feel it."

Chapter 3

 * A quarter moon passed. Yew was now permanently refined to the den, which Rabbit had built around her. Nothing could get through it.


 * Rabbit spent his days caring for Yew and the coming kits. He collected herbs, which he knew almost nothing about, he was just to leave the dark red berries and the leaves that made you sick.


 * He collected cobwebs, which he knew stopped bleeding, and poppy seeds, which calmed Yew, and borage.


 * He was always ready, waking at moonhigh to check on his mate, and lick her flank.


 * "They'll be coming today, I know it," Yew said every day.


 * Rabbit nodded his head, and then he tensed.


 * "I love you," Yew murmured all the time. "And I know you love me."


 * Rabbit would purr, and tell her to get some sleep. He would always have food for her when she woke.


 * When she was awake, he never left her side.


 * And, one day, with no warning, Yew shivered, groaned, and mewed, "They're coming."