Chapter 11

I stood at the boundary of the territory I'd grown up in. I'd never left this place. I knew every rock, every blade of grass, everything was so familiar, I was going to miss it so much…I loved this place. It held so many bad memories, but it was home. And in my heart I didn't want to leave. I took a deep breath and stepped over the border.

I took a few more steps. I looked back over my home, my life, then broke into a run. Suddenly I heard a tiny call from behind me. "Stop! Wait up!" I stopped. I heard the sound of tiny paws running after me. I turned around. It was Golden's little brother Feather. "Feather! What are you doing? Why aren't you with Golden?" "I like you better."

"FEATHER! Where is he? We have to find him!" "He's long gone Hobbs. He went the other way." "Feather, I can't feed us both! I don't even know how to hunt! This is terrible!"

"Y-you don't want me with you?" Feather's eyes were all wet, it looked like I'd hurt his feelings. "No, no Feather, of course I want you here but-" "Yay!! So where are we going?"

That was a quick recovery. "We are going to try to find your brother. I told you, I can't take care of you." "But Hobbs you CAN'T. He went the other WAY. And the only way to get back that way fast enough to catch up to him is to go back through the old territory, and if you do that Proudmane will KILL you. And me."

"What? How do you even know that!?" "I'm smarter than I look." squeaked the little cub, trying to look dignified. But, when I thought about what he said, it did make sense. If I tried going around the territory, Golden would be long gone, there would be no hope of finding him.

And if I went through the territory, Proudmane would certainly kill me. I dug my claws into the ground in frustration. How was I supposed to even keep this cub alive? I couldn't hunt! I sighed. "Then if there is no hope of finding your brother, we'll have to go after mine. That's where I was on my way to anyway."

"Your brother? Fire? But Fire's a coward! He just ran away when-" "Feather that's enough. My brother is a fine lion. Don't talk about him like that." "But he was friends with Proudmane!! He's a traitor!!" said Feather, unsheathing his little white claws.

I smiled at the little cub's passion. "It's not a crime to have friends. Proudmane probably wasn't that bad in the bachelor group." "Hmph. I don't trust him. Anyway, how do you know where he is?"

I paused. "I…don't…" "Oh. So we are just going to walk around hoping we find him?" "Um…yes…I guess…it seemed like a better plan in my head…" I mumbled. "Whatever. Sounds like an adventure! Let's go!" Exclaimed Feather, bounding forward energetically.

Feather and I had spent a month on our own. I knew how to scare off hyena's from what Hover told me, so long ago by the water hole when she had explained what I had done for her. Hover. I missed her so much.

She had been my very first friend, my very best friend, and it was her I missed the most. More than I missed my familiar home. More even, then I missed Golden. What hurt the most was that we had parted on bad terms.

I may never get a chance to apologize to her. I didn't even know what I would be saying sorry for, but if that was the only way to be friends with her again, I would have done it. But now she was gone…

Of the little food we had, I let Feather have most of it. At least I was keeping him healthy. Not even one of his ribs were showing. He still had the energy to move, and play. The opposite of me. Each one of my ribs was a distinguished lump on my sides. I was always hungry, but I almost never ate, there was hardly enough food to feed both Feather and I.

Everything on me hurt. I needed to eat, or I wouldn't survive for much longer. Feather used to chatter and chatter like a hummingbird, but as I got thinner and thinner, he got more and more worried.

When he asked me if I were getting weaker and weaker because he was there, I would always tell him no, and that I was fine. I knew from his nature that if I said this was happening to me because I was giving him most of our food supplies, he would run away.

Feather had become my life. The only reason I kept living, was so that I could help him live, to help him find food. I didn't care about my own life. Feather reminded me so much of Spark, I would not ever let the fire that burned inside the exuberant little creature go out. Life outside the pride was hard, but nothing was impossible.