Rise of Secrets

 RISE OF SECRETS

Episode One, Season Two, of Rise.

Enjoy <3

Rise of Secrets
A moon passes. The clearing doesn’t look much like a mess anymore. I stare at it from the entrance of my den, trying to connect this new picture, fortified walls…more guards, to the image of the old camp, peaceful and serene.

I sigh and I feel a tail wrap around me. “Are we still going or what?” Terran teases softly, his blue eyes soft.

“We’re going,” I say firmly, “I just wish Nightshadow was okay enough to come with us.” The black tom was still recovering and Feathershine is busy fussing over him.

“He’ll be fine here,” Terran stands and nudges me outside, “He and Applepaw can watch your sisters.”

“True,” I muse, “I’ll miss them.”

Terran doesn’t speak until we get to the entrance of the camp, “We aren’t going for a long time,” he reminds me, “you said so yourself. We’re going to go in, search for answers, and head back out.”

I bite my lip and glance towards our den, where Jewel and Emerald must be scuffling with Applepaw. “I just worry about them,” I murmur, “they’re so young to be exposed to all this.”

“They all are,” Terran breathes out, his eyes sweeping over the kits of the Coalition, “you should let Jewel and Emerald play with the other kits.”

I tense, but Terran furrows his brow, “You have to let them adjust if you’re staying here. You can’t keep them away from reality forever. They both know.”

“I know,” I rest my head on his shoulder, “but it makes me feel better if they’re staying away from all this madness.”

“Better prepare them now,” Terran steps carefully away from me, “before it hits them harder.”

I take a shaky breath but the others arrive. Even Feathershine has finally gotten out of the medicine cat den to travel with us. “Ready to go?” Karina asks impatiently, “We should have been out hours ago.”

“The sun wasn’t up hours ago.”

“Who cares?” Karina tosses her head back, “Let’s just go.”

I roll my eyes and we leave. The Twolegplace looms up just past the border with the Vipers and I stare nervously at it. I’m not sure why I convinced Terran and the leaders that I had to go to the Twolegplace to find information on how to defeat Korin and the Vipers. Surely something in my old home was threatening enough that the Vipers would scour the area for new prisoners.

Terran, of course, insisted on coming with me. That brought Karina and Feathershine along too.

“Nervous?” Terran asks softly as we travel quietly past the Viper territory.

“Of course,” I breathe out, “Just about a moon ago I ventured back to get my sisters, Cloud, and Sara to try to help them back to the Coalition where I know they would be safe.”

Terran falls silent, knowing where this was headed. I don’t say the rest. Terran inhales, as if he wants to say something, but decides to remain silent. We walk the rest of the way without another word.

The arid scents of the Twolegplace hits me before we even reach it. I would recognize the smell anywhere. It didn’t used to be so bad, I reflect, I must have gotten used to the forest’s clear air.

The others react similarly. Feathershine gags and Terran frowns. Karina is the only one that stalks away, only showing her distress with a flick of her tail at the new climate.

“Where are we going first?” Karina asks impatiently, once we set foot on the barren, stony grounds. “This place gives me the creeps.”

“We’ll go to my den,” I say decisively, “some evidence must be there.”

Terran tenses ever so slightly, but I ignore him. My courage slowly melts when I draw near the familiar, broken down shack that my sisters and I had taken refuge in. My legs almost give away under me but I manage to walk to my den and slowly poke my head inside.

I’m not sure what I expected to find. Blood? Marks of scratches and scuffling of cats? But the den is as tidy as ever, with the exception of the cobwebs that now littered the den.

“Anything?” Karina’s muffled voice comes from behind me.

I back out of the den quickly. “Nothing,” I say shakily. Karina nudges me aside and steps inside herself to thoroughly examine it.

I back up into Terran, who just wraps his tail around me.

It doesn’t take Karina long to search the tiny shack for anything suspicious. She comes out with a strand of dried fennel. “A plant?” Terran frowns, “What’s that doing in there?”

Nobody has an answer. Feathershine goes back in with Karina to see if they could scour anything else while I stare blankly at the strip of fennel. “Maybe this was one of Sara and Cloud’s old stocks,” I finally say.

“Stocks?”

“Yeah,” I sniff at the plant, “They traded stocks with other rogues in the Twolegplace for prey. Mostly plants.”

Feathershine and Karina come back out with other leftover plants. “It was hidden in the corner,” they explain, “a clever stash.”

“They must have left them there when I told them we had to go,” I nose all the plants, “Of course they would have no need for these if we were leaving.”

“None of them are important herbs,” Karina notes, “what are these used for?”

I explain the concepts of the stocks to both Karina and Feathershine. Terran listens to it all again with a blank expression.

“Did you ever meet these other cats?” Feathershine asks softly, her eyes roaming over the plants, “Why would they have use for these plants?”

“I’ve never met them,” I sigh, “Sara and Cloud didn’t want me involved in this sort of business. They told me to rely on hunting for prey.”

“So why did they do stocks?” Karina muses.

“To cut down on the competition,” I guess, though I’m not completely sure, “It was tough getting enough prey by hunting. So many cats were trying to scour the area for prey. Come to think of it, my parents were involved in stocks too.”

“It must have been a common thing,” Karina begins to circle the area, “Or else the streets would be flooded with cats who wanted to hunt. Or the Vipers and the Coalition would have seen more of the Twolegplace cats.”

I glance at Terran, who’s still staring blankly at the pile. “Terran,” I nudge him, “are you alright?”

He raises his blue eyes to meet my gaze. I flinch slightly away from his emotionless expression. Karina looks over and growls. She roughly pushes Terran aside and mutters something in his ear. Recognition sparks in Terran’s eyes and he pushes Karina away before stalking off.

I blink at the scene. “What’s with him?”

Feathershine shakes her head and Karina rolls her eyes, “Terran has a problem with the Twolegplace.”

When neither Feathershine nor I believe her, Karina sighs and uses one paw to play with the dried plants. “Okay, okay, he honestly just has a problem with this idea of the stocks. Mostly because unfamiliar plants – pretty much anything but the normal herbs – unnerve him. Honestly he hates getting treated with herbs because he doesn’t know the results.”

She breaks off slightly. Terran reappears at my side, his eyes stormy. I’m concerned about the white tom, but he just hisses, “Let’s keep going.”

Feathershine shrugs and follows him out but Karina lags behind with me. “If you want to know the whole story, ask him,” she tells me.

I can tell by the edge in Karina’s voice that it’s not a pretty story. Terran probably hates his weakness and I wouldn’t win any favors by asking him.

We keep walking.

It takes awhile before Terran drops back and I try to make conversation with him. “Are you alright?” I ask softly.

“Fine,” he says tersely, “just fine.”

I fall silent for a moment, unsure how to respond. Terran finally sighs. “I’m sorry for snapping, I just…I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“I’m sure,” I murmur, “There are some things that can’t be spoken.”

Terran gives me a long look and I try to pretend I don’t notice. I don’t want to fall into the lure of his sky-blue eyes, even if I want to forget the horrors around me and try to pretend we’re not searching my old home for answers.

“Bryce,” Karina interrupts the silence, “where are we headed?”

I snap out of my stupor. “I don’t know,” I admit, “I haven’t been leading.”

Karina curses rather loudly. “That’s great. That’s absolutely lovely. Terran, dear, where have you been leading us?”

Terran casts his sister a dark glare, who glowers back. “Nowhere,” he grunts, “I don’t know my way around.”

“Are we lost?” Karina all but shouts.

“Of course not,” I say hastily, “I know my way around. I just don’t know where we want to go.”

The dark gray she-cat purses her lip. “If I knew we were going to be wandering around this dank place, I would never have agreed to come.”

“Then you wouldn’t let me come,” Terran mutters.

“True,” Karina nods, “why are we here again?”

Thank the stars Feathershine has the patience to answer. While she cools Karina down, I take the chance to ask Terran what’s really bugging him.

“You keep snapping,” I say, furrowing my brow, “What’s going on?”

It takes awhile for the tom to answer. “Nothing, Bryce,” he answers huskily, “nothing is wrong.”

Of course, I don’t believe him, but I don’t have time to protest. The sound of claws scratching against the hard ground alerts me. Karina stops trying to argue with Feathershine and tenses. Terran’s eyes darken significantly and when I turn around, I see rows of Vipers lining up behind Korin.

“What a surprise,” Korin purrs mirthlessly, “my favorite cats, all in one place.” He zeroes in on me. “Ah, no surprise you would be here. I would have suspected that you would be an ally of them.”

Them? I don’t understand what Korin is talking about, and when I glance questioningly at Terran, he doesn’t either.

Korin doesn’t let me try to guess. “I’m not going to let you find answers here,” he sneers, “I’m going to take you all down today.”

I crouch, hoping my training sessions at the Coalition camp will help me. Nightshadow hadn’t taught me much, and I am still inexperienced.

But the Vipers surge forward and I can only throw myself into the battle alongside my friends, hoping to survive.

I lost sight of my friends immediately. Vipers swarm around me and I flail my paws desperately, hoping to drive away the mass of them. I feel their claws slice into my pelt and I try to shy away from their sharp claws.

I’m not sure how long it takes, but I get the sharp feeling in my gut to run. Run before it’s too late. I can’t see any of my friends but I know they must be fleeing also.

I turn and pray that I’ll find my friends and begin to run.

And run I do.

The End.