Chapter II
Stormpaw awoke in the middle of the night yet again, chills racing down his spine, sweat beading at his neck. It took him a moment to get his heart to stop beating out of control, to relax himself into not panicking.
Unfortunately, this woke Thunderpaw, who blinked widely in the darkness. "Stormpaw," He whispered. "Are you feeling alright?"
Stormpaw could barely speak- but he managed to nod shakily. "It's just dreams, Thunderpaw. Don't worry- I'm fine."
"Skywing said that if you had any more of those dreams you had to see Redleaf. You can't keep this up without going absolutely insane."
Stormpaw gasped. "You promised you wouldn't tell!"
"Will you two shut it." Came a new voice, hostile. Both brothers whipped around to face Rosepaw, whose dark eyes were narrowed in annoyance. "If you insist on chattering like a pair of chickadees, please excuse yourselves and go outside. It was so much quieter until you two moved in."
With that, she grumpily turned around and folded her tail over her nose.
Thunderpaw gritted his teeth in loathing. "I hate her. We've barely been here for half a moon and she always acts like she has a stick shoved up her-"
"I'll shove a stick up your nose if you don't shut up." came Rosepaw's reply. "You'll wake the rest of us up."
Thunderpaw muttered something unintelligable that he'd definitely heard from a warrior before curling up as far away as he could from Rosepaw and falling asleep. Stormpaw took the short time in the quiet and dark to get himself together. He needed to stop thinking about the fate of the she-cat in the cave, and he wouldn't have these dreams. He just wish he didn't feel so sick when he should've been celebrating this cat's soon to come death.
He swallowed hard, and wound himself around his brother before trying to fall back into sleep.
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads. All three of you needed to be outside at dawn, not sun-up."
Stormpaw opened his eyes, which were sticky and heavy. His vision blurred with sleepiness as he stumbled to his paws, clearing as they focused on the face of his mentor, Skywing's, frustrated blue eyes on him. He spotted Ravenfeather waiting in the distance. Hurriedly, he pushed Thunderpaw with his claw.
"Wake up, mouse-brain! We're late!"
Thunderpaw yawned, and opened his mouth to complain. His eyes focused on the angry look of their mentors and decided against it, immediately shooting to his feet.
Rosepaw was already hurrying out of the den, her expression livid, following her mentor, Swallowheart, who was disappointed. "Oh my stars, Rosepaw. Your brother and sister have already left! Do you want to fall behind on your fighting lessons?"
Stormpaw heard them arguing about her being late, and almost cracked a grin when he heard her whining about him and Thunderpaw. He swiveled around to face his mentor.
"It won't happen again." He said in apology to Skywing's frustrated face. "We swear it."
"Good. You two are late again tomorrow, and the only thing you'll be hunting is mouse bile for Peachflower's ticks."
Stormpaw wrinkled his nose at the thought of the disgusting smell of mouse bile. When they were first assigned to tick duty, the stench had made him so dizzy he'd nearly puked, and Thunderpaw had to carry out the work. The mere mention of the word made him feel disgusted. He hated getting sick.
Ravenefather and Skywing led them to the edge of the forest for the two to practice stalking on ground without so many leaves. They both picked up leaping very easily. Thunderpaw could never keep his tail high enough to not drag on the ground and low enough to not wave in the air. He always got too excited to learn and would mess up. Stormpaw, however, was a natural. Hunting felt like second nature to him.
He was great at weaving in and out of trees, being as quiet as a mouse on the forest floor, and leaping from branch to branch like a squirrel.
It was that same tactic of leaping through tree branches that led him to his first and only catch of the day, a squirrel almost as large as him. Even Thunderpaw managed to hook two shrews when they passed by the mud banks on the river diving the territory with Lightclan.
They arrived back at camp at sundown, and both brother's spirits were raised even more as they watched Rosepaw stalk in, empty pawed.
As they curled together to sleep in the Apprentice's den, Stormpaw hoped he didn't dream.
But of course, that was impossible.
His unconscious mind brought him back to that abandoned cliff, back inside the cold, dark, wet cave. Back to the cat, whose silver coat gleamed in the moonlight filtering in from the small entrance. The old events always followed: the evil laugh, the cave filling with blood.
He awakened again in the darkness, panting and gasping for breath. Carefully, he untangled himself from Thunderpaw and slipped out into the cool night air, taking deep breaths in through his nose. Why did this keep happening to him?
He needed to clear his head. He looked to the edge of camp, where two trees guarded the entrance, built up with twigs and mud to form an arch. Two warriors, Silverdust and Hopfoot, guarded it.
He took the path from the elder's den outside into the trees. He needed to get away from the Fireclan camp and let himself breathe for just a few moments.
He hopped over some stones by the den and up the steep ravine side into the trees. The feel of the tall oaks around him made him feel safe and secure, and he didn't stop until he reached the river, glowing a crystal blue in the moonlight, where he breathed in the cold air.
He should go back, he thought. After all, if he wasn't up at dawn tomorrow with his brother, they'd both be scrubbing the elders for a day.
As he turned on his foot to go back the path he had come from the clan, he heard a sound that made his hears perk.
Pawsteps.
Not thinking, he looked around in a panic. If it was a warrior out patrolling and they saw Stormpaw, he'd be in deep trouble. The thought of doing the Elder's ticks for a week sent him into a panic. He was a great climber, so he quickly unsheathed his claws and hauled himself up a tree, scampering up into the branches where he awaited with held breath.
But what he saw emerging form the shadows was not just any normal Fireclan cat. It was Leopardstar.
Eyes wide in alarm, but also a fierce curiosity, he dared to breathe as he watched her spotted coat slink around a tree in a direction he had never gone before. He waited until the coast was clear before dropping down the forest floor, trying to be as silent as possible, though he hadn't yet mastered soundless falling.
His head told him to go right back to camp, curl up in the apprentice's den, and fall asleep before his brother found out he was missing. But he couldn't. He physically couldn't, not when he had just seen Leopardstar acting suspicious.
His heart, which had been practically chasing adrenaline and adventure since he was a kit, couldn't let go of the picture of Leopardstar disappearing into the dark forest. He couldn't stop wondering what she was doing, where she was going, what her task was.
Or more importantly, if she was going to The Cave.
Stormpaw knew it was a serious offense if he were to be caught.
But that was, if he was caught.
End of chapter two! As always, read and review! Don't be afraid to ask questions, because I will probably do a Q&A at a midway point in the story.