Uhh…I can explain! I was thinking about very random things and into my mind popped the words "fever dreams". Don't ask me how the hell I managed to come up with this, but somehow, I've formed a random drabble about an apprentice from each of the Clans falling ill one leaf-bare and how important dreams really can be. This will only have maybe 3 (the maximum is 4) chapters for each Clan, so bear with me. I'm just bored and blah, so I'm just trying out something new.
"Featherpaw! Featherpaw, can you hear me? Featherpaw!"
The longhaired silvery-white she-cat couldn't hear him. Her brother, Branchpaw, was calling her, yet she couldn't hear him.
"What…where am I?" Featherpaw mewed, opening her eyes and revealing deep pools of glimmering blue. There was a river beside her. She jumped aside; gasping and panting, fear sliding up her throat like bile. River. A river. She was…terrified of water. As a WindClan cat, she had nothing to worry about, but the sight of the lapping waves, the current tugging at the pebbles…just made her shudder.
"Hello?" Featherpaw managed to squeak out. "Is anyone there? I need help! Hello? Help me!" She found herself unable to move. Was she suddenly paralyzed? Featherpaw tried lifting her paw up out of the sand. It made a sickening thwock noise that made her want to vomit. It yanked at her paw until she finally set it down. Now dread was paralyzing her.
"Help!" she wailed. "Help me! Someone, please help! Oh, please…" Something scared her even more.
She was sinking.
Sinking under the ground, where corpses of dead animals and rubbish from Twolegs lie. It was the rubbish bone yard, as Featherpaw called it.
So this was what she got for her amazing fighting skills that she'd managed to develop in such short time. So this was what she got for being such a good friend to the innocent Blackpaw. So this was what she got for loving life and her brother the way they were.
Was Featherpaw dead?
It was dark. Pitch-black darkness swallowed her, whispering in her ears, creeping up Featherpaw's legs like thousands of tiny spiders. "Hello?" Featherpaw tried to call, but her voice was choked from the eerie silence.
"So the river is rising?"
A voice startled Featherpaw, and she suddenly landed on cold, hard stone. Where was she? It looked like an enormous cave. Cobwebs littered the corners and ceiling, while prey bones were piled amongst the floor.
"Yes, Rock. We must do something. Our kittens will die, and we need them to make our pack stronger."
The voice was getting closer. Featherpaw darted behind a large stone just in time for two cats to come padding into the cave from another opening along the wall. A big dark tabby tom led a smaller black tom into the middle of the cave and sat down.
"How are we supposed to fix this?" the huge tabby asked. The black tom shook his head. "I don't know. We should build a wall of stone to block the water from getting into the cave."
The brown tom growled. "Then how are we supposed to hunt, huh?"
"Oh." The black tom's face fell. "Maybe we should talk to The Pack of Stars about this."
"The Pack of Stars know nothing about this!" the big tabby snarled, swiping an unsheathed paw in the air, squarely missing the black tom. He flinched, but sat still.
Featherpaw had no idea who these cats were, but they seemed desperate, and maybe they knew how to get her back home. Gathering up her courage, Featherpaw stepped out from behind the rock. "I can help you."
Both toms spun around, bristling and eyes wide. "Who are you? Stay back! What do you want?" the black tom questioned.
"I, um, I'm sorry for eavesdropping," Featherpaw apologized, "but I couldn't help overhearing that your pack needs help?"
The brown tom nodded and took a couple pawsteps toward the WindClan apprentice. "What is your name, and where are you from?"
"My name is Featherpaw," she replied. "I'm a WindClan warrior apprentice. I know how to hunt and fight and everything like that!"
"Okay, so what is your plan?" the brown tabby asked, sitting down and curling his thick tail over his paws.
Featherpaw sniffed. "Maybe we could find a safer place for your pack to stay, like the open moors where there are no rivers. There are only ponds where we can get water from."
"We could never leave our cave!" the black tom gasped, but the tabby swiped his paw out, silencing his companion. "I'm listening."
"So," Featherpaw continued, "we could start today before the river rises even more." Suddenly, she remembered.
She was afraid of water.
"This could work," the brown tom agreed. "What do we give you if you help us?"
Featherpaw smiled, her whiskers twitching. "Just give me directions back to the forest."
"Can do. I'm Rock," the tabby meowed, dipping his head. "This is Raven." The black tom nodded slightly as well and spoke. "We'll take you to our pack." He turned and scampered into a hole that was across from the one they'd come out of earlier. Rock and Featherpaw followed hastily.
Featherpaw found the route they were taking quite long, but she didn't complain. There was something gooey and sticky along the walls, and sharp stones scraped her flanks and paw pads. It was completely dark, and she was pretty scared, but she followed Rock and Raven's scents so she wouldn't loose them.
Finally the three cats reached an open clearing. The cave had a few tiny holes in the ceiling, and there were more little caves where a couple cats were sleeping. Two kits were playing with a scrap of damp moss, and a she-cat was sharing a finch with a gray tom.
"Attention, Pack of Caves!" Rock called, leaping onto a tall rock. "This is Featherpaw from something called WindClan. She is here to help us. Featherpaw, please tell us what the plan is."
Nervousness and fear swept over Featherpaw. What if the pack hated her idea and chased her out, never to help her find her way back to WindClan? Swallowing hard, Featherpaw bounced onto the rock and announced, "Um, hello. My plan is to move the pack across the river and, um, to the open moors. The moors have no rivers and lots of prey. I think we should, um, maybe move today before the river rises too high to cross over."
"I think that's a wonderful idea, Featherpaw!" an elder called from the small crowd of cats. Featherpaw exhaled in relief and leapt off the rock.
"Come get to know the pack," Raven called. "This is my sister, Moon." A beautiful black she-cat with white paws dipped her head and smiled. She seemed nice, and Featherpaw hoped to get to know her better, even if she was way older than any apprentice.
"Those are the kitten mothers. The light gray tabby she-cat is Mist, the pale ginger she-cat is Rose, and the dark gray she-cat is Violet. Their kittens are playing over there in the kitten den."
Featherpaw was surprised the kits had their own den, but she nodded friendlily to the queens and padded on after Raven, keeping up quite well even if her paws hurt like crazy. She was pretty sure her pads were raw and ripped, and she had snagged two claws already.
"These are the soldiers," Raven announced. "Pebble and Stone, Rock's brothers, Wind, Soot, Jay, Lightning, and Hare. Rock is considered the king and the queen is that white she-cat over there named Star. We have to respect them very much."
Featherpaw nodded. "Who are they, over there? Are they the apprentices?"
Raven looked confused. "Apprentices? Oh, those are the trainees. Toad, Bear, Daisy, and Sun. They're all training to be soldiers. The she-cats aren't usually taken into battle or raised into high positions, like the king or queen."
"Do you have a medicine cat?" Featherpaw asked.
Raven shook his head. "We don't need a 'medicine cat'. All kittens are taught the common herbs and berries to heal themselves."
"Makes sense." Featherpaw nodded. "So, when do we leave?"
"That's up to the king and queen. We must wait until they are ready." Raven sat down and began grooming a black paw. "You can go talk to some of the pack, if you'd like."
Featherpaw nodded again. "Okay. Thanks." She stood and immediately headed to the trainees. "Hi, I'm Featherpaw."
A brown tabby tom looked curiously at her. "Featherpaw? What a strange name!" A ginger tabby she-cat giggled.
"My name is Toad-paw," the tabby joked. "Nice to meet you, Featherpaw. I'm just Toad." He dipped his head.
"I'm Daisy," the ginger tabby mewed, still giggling a bit.
"I'm Sun!" A ginger tabby she-cat who looked exactly like Daisy stepped forward. "We're sisters. That's Sky over there. She doesn't talk much."
Featherpaw remembered that Raven hadn't included Sky's name when he was listing the trainees. Sky was a blue-gray she-cat, staring at the ceiling in a corner.
"And my name is Bear!" A big dark brown tabby tom bounced forward. He was acting like an overgrown kit! Featherpaw took a pawstep back and grinned weakly.
"Kitten mothers, gather your kittens! Pack of Caves, get in a group beside the exit!" Star was calling from the top of the tall rock. "Featherpaw, please lead the way."
Yeah, it was pretty long. I just need to fit this whole "adventure" into three chapters; so, sorry if the chapters are too long. I try, really.
xx-Starfall-xx