New River

new book series about river otters! i'm very excited to write this tbh

one chapter is completed every week

This is the first book in my series.

Prologue
"Are we there yet?"

A quiet, whiny voice broke the silence of the starless night. A small chocolate brown pup traveled slowly through the tall, damp, crunchy grass. It was hard to see, and it was especially dangerous at night. A fox or a wolf could jump out of the grass at any moment and take an otter away. This is why we travel in groups, the small otter thought. So we can fend off the seaweed-fur foxes!

"We are not even close, Bear. Just keep up with the group, and you will be fine." A larger, tawny otter grunted. Before he could take another step through the tall grass, Bear whined back, "My legs hurt!" Bear ran after the larger tawny otter, but tripped on a small rock and fell over onto a pile of crunchy, green leaves. "Oh come on," the tawny otter muttered under his breath. Clearly tired, he pushed Bear out of the leaves tiredly. "We'll rest later. We don't have any time for fooling around." He scoffed. "I AM TIRED!" Bear screamed back, loud enough to wake the wolves. "Shut up!" The tawny otter snapped at Bear, who didn't know what he just did.

"Branch," a small, golden-brown otter called to the tawny otter. "Calm down. Bear is just a pup. He doesn't know any better." She grinned, but all Branch gave back was an eye roll. "Bear probably woke up all the foxes in the area, Ripple!" Branch yelled back at the golden-brown otter, Ripple. Ripple chuckled, saying, "Well, you probably woke up more foxes, and more of the members of our romp!" Bear stuffed his head in wet soil, and screamed, "LALA, CAN'T HEAR YOOOOU! LALA!" Branch grabbed Bear. "Shut up." Branch glanced back at his romp, before placing his gaze on his son again.

As Bear kept walking, his head hung low, and he sighed. Branch kept padding through the soil, before he heard a yowl. A yowl from a fox. "Fox," Branch yelled. "Hide!" He slithered away into a patch of cattails, and watched as the other otters followed his moves, hiding from the foxes.

Silence brushed the land, before the yowl became louder. The otters didn't move, and each had worry flaming inside of them. It was not safe to even peek, since the fox could be anywhere. Their paws made no noises. Another yowl shook the forest, and a fox stopped near the cattails, their golden eyes glowing in the moonlight. The otters froze. The fox was right in front of them. Each otter trembled in fear.

To their surprise, the fox turned away, and ran somewhere else far away. "We are safe," Branch declared. The otters walked out of the cattails, and there was a huge river with pebbles glowing in the darkness right near their paws. A long walk to the new river was worth it. It looked magical; if you leapt in it, you would be healed from all your wounds and become immortal. "We're here!" Ripple whispered excitedly. Her chocolate brown eyes glittered in interest. Branch watched the river flow. "I don't like this place," he scowled. "I feel like our old place was better." His voice was cold, like melting icicles on a cold, winter night. Ripple looked at her mate in surprise. "Branch...," She sounded worried. "We had to move."

Branch kicked a pebble into the river. "So what?" He growled. "That branch-brained Marsh Romp had to drive us out. I hope they drown." Anger tainted his voice. Ripple chirped in response, "Don't be so negative! I know they did something wrong, but we need to know that it happens all the time!" Branch only replied with a scoff. Ripple knew she couldn't do anything to cheer him up. "May we go in?" A cinnamon otter asked Branch, smiling. Branch nodded sourly in response. The cinnamon otter dived in, and many other otters joined in. Ripple grabbed Bear, and they both made a big splash in the river, and giggled as they looked up at the moon.

Branch only growled coldly. He was going to get revenge on Marsh Romp, and he would do anything to destroy them.

Chapter 1
A gentle breeze blew the trees, and grass danced along. Under the shade of one tree, an otter rested peacefully, looking at the cloudy sky. Marsh Romp was peaceful at last, after a large battle. Moth, a light tan otter sat in the shade.

Marsh Romp had driven out Rain Romp, since Rain Romp was trying to take Talon Tree, a huge tree with sharp branches, as if it was clawing the sky. Talon Tree was important to Marsh Romp, since it provided them shelter. Marsh Romp drove them out, and took more territory than Rain Romp had taken from Marsh Romp.

Rain Romp surely did hate Marsh Romp. The ruler of the romp, Birch, was also angry at Rain Romp for trying to take Talon Tree, and Birch wanted to rest after the long battle. Moth wanted to comfort her, but Birch would always send her away. One time, she even became aggressive towards Moth. Moth had just wanted to help. She didn't want Marsh Romp to fall apart just because of a stressed leader.

Moth did not want Rain Romp to fall apart either. Although, they did try to take Talon Tree and Sunshine Spots, a small little part near the Marsh Romp's river where the sun always shined, Moth still felt bad for Rain Romp. Taking a journey to a new river and possibly losing some lives lost due to foxes or coyotes was stressful. Having the feeling that a romp hates you is stressful. Being driven out of your territory is stressful. It was too obvious that Rain Romp and Marsh Romp hated eachother equally. Hopefully hate does not turn into downright war, Moth thought silently.

"Moth!" The healer otter yelled loudly, their dark chocolate head peeking out from a giant, hollow fallen tree, that crossed the river. As soon as Moth heard the call, she knew what it was about. Moth volunteered to help Carp, the healer otter, heal the injured otters from River Romp's attack. Moth padded over, and walked into the huge log opening. Wet moss hung over the entrance, and sunlight beamed through the small holes in the tree. Carp quickly looked up, her beady black eyes shining in happiness. Her whiskers dripped with water, and a smile was spread across her face.

"Hello, Moth," Carp squeaked as the river water sploshed on the bottom the log, bubbles fizzing as they continued to travel in the stream. "Could you help me out a little?" Moth nodded happily, and made her way around the healers den. Moth stopped at a blackish-looking otter, who had a long scar down her back, a bitten tail, and a cut on her forehead with blood that dripped into her eyes. "Hello, M-Moth," she choked weakly, wiping the blood away from her eyes. "Could y-you fetch me-e some water?" Her brown eyes were filled with tears. Moth felt her heart break seeing the injured mother cry in pain. ''How could someone do this to her? Lotus is the sweetest otter anyone could meet!'' Moth nudged herself against Lotus, and licked the dripping blood that was about to trickle into her eyes. "Sure," Moth responded, exiting the den. She jumped on a few small stones to go to the patch of clethra shrubs, which were noticable by their green foilage, clusters of lovely white flowers, and their rather spicy scent.

There they were, soaking up the water as usual. The shrubs were almost always used to collect water for the injured otters. Moth grabbed a few stalks of it, and dipped them in the water one last time, before leaping across the rocks, and finding herself right back in the Healers Den. She padded over to Lotus, who had blood covering her whole face. Moth gasped, and quickly wiped it away with her tongue. "Lotus, h-here." Moth set the clethra shrubs down when Lotus saw her, and Lotus grabbed one. She squeezed the water out of the drenched plant, and licked her face happily after she finished. "Thank you!" She grinned. Moth smiled back, and watched as she squeezed the water out of another clethra shrub. Moth looked around, and saw scarlet blood creeping further down her forehead. Moth licked it away quickly, and spat out the blood onto a leaf.

"Do you need something for that cut?" Moth asked, as the blood started to make its way down Lotus' face again. Lotus nodded, saying, "Sure. Do you have any yarrow? I think Carp was planning a search for those." Moth thought for a moment. ''Yarrow does grow in the dry soils according to Carp, so that is why she sends a patrol every once in a while. It can't grow here. I wonder how long they travel to get that stuff.'' Lotus squeaked, trying to get Moth's attention. Moth nodded quickly, and walked over to Carp. "I need yarrow. We have any?" Carp looked at her blankly, then pointed to a pile of yarrow leaves with her nose. "Yep."

Moth grabbed at least 6 leaves, and returned back to Lotus, making her way around the other injured otters. One even coughed on her arm, probably on purpose. Moth found Lotus, and licked the blood off of her ear, which almost dripped into her eyes. "Yep, we have it," Moth said, before chewing on the leaves. They tasted bitter, which was a good taste, especially because licking up blood, which had such a gross taste that you couldn't explain, was tiring and boring. As the leaves turned into a thick powder, Moth spit it on her paw, and smeared it across Lotus' bleeding cut on her forehead.

To Moth, it felt weird, chewing on some plant and spitting it on one of the high-ranked otters. It felt like you disrespected them. However, Lotus looked thankful. "Thank you!" she exclaimed. Moth nodded, and quickly exited the healers den, not even saying bye to Carp. She quickly jumped out of the log, and curled up in a ball of grass to take a long nap. Carp won't mind.

Chapter 2
"Moth! Moooth?"

A small voice called out. As a brown otter with hints of violet and silver in their eyes stumbled through the grass, and pulled back a patch of grass, where Moth was sleeping. "MOOOTH!" They yelled. Moth woke up and leapt back in surprise. "Oh, uh, Violet? Why are you here?" Moth asked, licking some soil off of her ruffled fur. Violet tapped his paw on the ground, and replied, "I don't think Carp told you to sleep. Maybe you should, I don't know, return to her?"

Moth looked away, and flicked her sleek tail. "Yeah, Violet. Maybe I should," Moth itched her ear, and awkwardly grinned at Violet. Violet moved away from her, and padded slowly to the large log. Moth made her way out of the patch of grass, and felt damp soil beneath her paws. She ran to the log, and watched as Violet started to pick up his pace as she beat him to the Crossing Stones. Moth made it over easily, and jumped into the log, where Carp shot an irritated glare at her. "Moth. I never said you could sleep yet!" Carp snapped. Moth tried to apologize, but Carp shushed her every time she tried to open her mouth.

Moth muttered something under her breath, and saw an otter with fur missing on his shoulder, a bitten tail, and a few scars on his neck. As soon as he saw her, he asked, "Could you get something to relieve me pain?" Moth nodded and turned to where the yarrow was, and dug around to find something. Carp had never told her what she should use for cats that were in pain, but Moth had to guess. She took a rock, and took a thick piece of bark, hoping that one of those were good for relieving pain.

Padding over to the injured otter, Carp saw Moth carrying the rock, and ran after her. Carp stopped her, and Moth dropped the rock and bark. "Don't make him chew on rocks. Rocks are used to fix dislocated joints." Carp reminded her, snatching the rock, and seemingly disappearing. Moth sighed, and walked over to the injured otter. "Here," Moth said, giving him the bark. Grinning, he said, "Thank yaw." Moth smiled back, and looked around for more otters.

Lotus waved at Moth, and Moth could see her chocolate fur, and the scar racing down her back. Moth waved back, and carefully made her way to Carp. Carp greeted her with a sweet smile when she saw her, but as she approached, Moth did see that her eyes shot a disgusted glare right at her. Maybe Carp shot it someone else. "Anythinng... I caan"—Moth fell down in exhaustion—"dooo...?" A few otters shot a confused glance at Moth for a moment. "No. Just sleep." Carp quickly answered, making "shoo!" gestures at the other otters. Moth slowly got up, and scratched her head.

"Yeah, I'm going to go now," Moth blurted, racing out of the den quickly. As she ran across the Crossing Stones, she slipped, and she yelled, landing in the water with a loud splash. Water soaked her fur, and water splashed in her eyes. Yelping, she tried to swim back to shore, but failed. "Help!" She yelled, flailing in the water like a fish without water. The currents swept Moth under, and she tried to fight back, taking huge gasps of air whenever she could reach the surface. "Help!" She yelled again, but louder. Moth finally was able to swim, but she felt like sinking every minute.

"Moth!" Violet appeared, yelling at Moth. He dived into the river right on top of a giant patch of seaweed, trying to copy another otter that shared a few strands of seaweed with another otter. The seaweed was mushy and muddy, but Violet didn't care. Violet paddled after Moth, balancing well and frantically swimming after Moth, who was sinking slowly, but pushed herself up, struggling. "Moth! Wait!" Violet yelled, swimming faster than he ever could before. His heart and legs ached. He watched as the beautiful golden otter was slowly giving in to the water. "NO!" Violet sped up after Moth.

Moth saw Violet, and tried to swim to him. Violet tossed the seaweed her way, and quickly leapt after her. Moth grabbed the seaweed, holding onto it for dear life. Violet appeared near Moth, with a small fish in his jaws. "Moth... Are you fine?" He looked at Moth with concern in his silver eyes, tinged with violet. Moth took heavy breaths, and looked at Violet when she stopped gasping for air. Moth's shining brown eyes gave Violet the "hello there." look, and Violet looked right back at her.

"Thank you." Moth finally said to Violet, grinning. Violet returned the smile, and tried to swim over to a shore. He arrived to a small little shore, and Moth jumped over on land, and Violet followed. "I caught a fish!" Violet grinned. Moth nodded, and laughed.

"Not something to celebrate when I nearly drowned!"