The sun was going down when I lead Scout through the dense forest of the mountain.

Using our whiskers we found our way through the growing darkness.

Finally, the sun went down along with my confidence.

"Where are we?" I heard Scout ask in the looming darkness.

"I think it's this way-" I was cut off by a sudden gasp as one of my forelegs got caught by a root that stuck out from the ground, tripping me to go down the unseen slope.

I tumbled down in a shriek reaching out with my claws for anything to hold onto. Finally, my back bumped into a rock and I stopped thankfully. I peered down to see there was more and I would of fell to my death if it wasn't for the rock to stop me.

"Are you okay?!" Called Scout. He was still at the top of the slope. With the help of the moon, I could outline his small furry shape and his amber eyes looking down at me.

"Don't come down Scout, I'll come up to you." I staggered up to my feet only to stumbled back down. I winced in pain as I lifted up my sore right paw, noticing that I had sprained it.

Great. Just perfect.

I looked around. It was dark but with the help of night vision finally adjusted I could see how the mountainside was hard to travel on, especially at night.

"We should find a place to sleep." I heard Scout meow.

"Good idea," I say. Balancing on three legs I slowly climbed back up to join Scout. With Scout helping me along we continue to trek on. Using our nose we found a small stream beside a massive oak tree and decided to camp.

We came to the water's edge and lapped hungrily. I felt my tired self-become replenished, Scout found a group of mice at the base of the tree and with a little help, killed them with a crunch of his teeth.

We sat underneath the tree and shared the meal.

"This place is overrun with prey," Scout commented as he chewed. I nodded in agreement. Once we finished I heard a sudden growl in the distance. I perked my ears, trying to locate the sound.

It growled again but a lot more pronounced, it echoed in the darkness giving off an eerie feel.

"What was that? Scout whispered beside me.

Then a howl erupted, sending chills down my spine. Dogs. "Go up the tree, now Scout! " I commanded him. Scout didn't have to be told twice. He scrambled up the tree with me right behind him.

As I started to climb the pain in my right paw caught me off guard and I fell onto my belly.

"Nutmeg behind you!" I turned around to see three big dogs, they looked like huskies but no husky I ever knew was that big. Their tan fur ruffled in the small breeze as they stalked closer and closer. Snarling, baring their teeth.

"Scout, whatever happens, to stay in the tree," I growled. I stood before them and whipped my tail as a warning. Then I bared my teeth, flattened my ears and stood like a fence, raising the fur along my spine, in an attempt to look bigger and as a force not to be reckoned with.

Then the massive dogs leaped and attacked. I reared on my hind legs and fought viciously. Scraping them with my claws on their faces, gorging their eyes. Anything I could do to harm them to leave us alone.

Unfortunately, they had the advantage and two of them began to bite at my tail, my ears and my legs. Shaking it. The stench of blood replaced the sweet aroma of the pines and the undergrowth. I felt my body grow weaker and weaker.

I then realized that these dogs were different from what I knew.

Maybe a different dog breed, one I never seen before. Regardless I knew I couldn't stay I keep fighting. Then the biggest one pinned me down and made a move for my neck.

Just as I heard a furious snarl.

I saw a small dark furry thing flew from above and hit directly in the dog's face. It was Scout. My little brother was lashing his tail and scraping the dog's face until blood was spilling down his cheeks, even managed to scrape is eyes.

The dog howled in pain and Scout fell off his face into my jaws. I grabbed him by the scruff and out of fear made a run for it.

The two remaining dogs were barking up a storm as they chased me.

It wasn't long before they appeared on both sides, growling angrily.

Then I realized where we were, we were at the place where I had twisted my paw in the first place.

I then slid out my claws to stop me just in time. Fortunately, the dogs didn't stop in time and they fell down the slope. We heard them howl in horror until they suddenly stopped. I panted, all tired out and weak, I placed Scout between my forelegs as I took a breather.

But it wasn't over. I saw the sudden change in Scout's face before I heard the murderous growl behind me.

Even though now blind, the massive dog found us in no time. The cuts on his face were glistening in the moonlight, his eyes were wild looking at he growled. There were no signs of him being tired but only a true hunter stalked before us. I could not help but feel like being prey.

Then he launched at us, claws reaching out to snag our fur. We jumped and made the long way down the mountainside. We slid down our bellies screaming.

"Mama!" I heard Scout wail. Using my paw I pulled him closer and mention him to get onto my back.

I then saw the ground as we slid. It was patchy, and on it were the dogs limp in a pile.

Oh no, please don't let be like them.

I closed my eyes as we hit something soft.

Stunned and definitely winded I sat up to see we landed on top of the dogs. I looked over my shoulder to see Scout a bit dizzy and frightened.

"Are we dead?" He whispered. I poked him.

He winced

"No, we're alive." My voiced cracked.

I pulled my brother close licked his forehead calm him. Once he calmed down it was sunrise, and that was when I realized where we were. Before us, there was flat land stretching onto the horizon. As the sun rose, the land was transformed into gold.

I have never seen such beauty.

"Did we make it?"Scout piped.

"I think we did Scout."

Before we could say a thing, a deeper voice cut in.

"Who are you?!" It snapped.

The sun glare forced us to squint walking towards us were a band of cats. Their leader was a dark tabby with bright amber eyes, but I was more interested in the cat beside him.

He was a tortoiseshell, with a white body, black and brown splotches on his back, black paws, black ears and black brown rings on his tail leaving a white tip. His amber eyes frowned then widened in surprise.

"Nutmeg?

" Patches?" I exclaimed in shock.

"What are you doing here?" We exclaimed in unison.

..................................................................

A/N

YES!

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

Nutmeg and Scout have reached the Farmlands but more importantly,

PATCHES IS BACK!👏👏👏👏😁😁😁

It took a while and a lot of dragging but we finally reached!

Phase three is going along smoothly.

I just hope things will speed up a bit from now.

So are you surprised to see Patches again?

COMMENT DOWN BELOW.

I know I am, wasn't even planning on having Patches return but I thought it would be great to reunite the siblings on this amazing journey of life.

Now let's see, how many more chapters will be needed to finish this book?

Why don't you guys guess?

The one closest gets to be mentioned, followed by me, get good constructive feedback, votes, and get to name a character!

If you want these things, you know what to do, COMMENT!

See you guys later!

Let's hope it doesn't take me two weeks to publish!