Chapter Three
Erin stalked carefully through the forest, glancing every once in a while at Bailey, who looked terrified and kept looking around with wide eyes as if Freddie or Jason would come out and kill them. Erin had told Bailey everything about her dream, and how they were destined to be turned into cats and save the clans. But the question she couldn't answer was what they were saving the clans from, and how.
They had traveled through the forest for what felt like an hour, trying to see if they could find any of their other friends. They were bound to be cats also, and had to be somewhere in this forest. "But where are the clans?" Bailey asked, her voice trembling. "I haven't seen them."
"Well we don't even know what clan territory we're in, although I don't think it's RiverClan since we haven't seen or smelled a river," Erin pointed out sensibly. Bailey said nothing; she had never read the Warriors books. "Let's just keep looking until we find everyone and then figure out what we can do."
Bailey nodded, still looking scared. Erin couldn't help but feel for her; it was hard for her too, to have suddenly changed into a cat without being able to say anything against it, although she was better at controlling her fear and anxiety better than Bailey was. They had to calm down if they ever wanted to find their friends, or a badger or fox might make a good meal out of them. She shuddered, but hid it from Bailey. She had to be the leader now, and Bailey would freak if she didn't have someone to follow.
"What was that?" Bailey suddenly whispered. Erin halted, paw in mid-air, and sniffed silently. There was another cat nearby...one of their friends? But it wasn't a scent she recognized at all. Bailey huddled quietly beside her, pressing her thin body against hers. Erin glanced at her, a little exasperated. Bailey would have to get over herself if there was a fight.
There was flash of white and ginger, and Erin was down on the ground, struggling feebly as strong paws held her down. She felt claws sink into her flesh, and yowled at the pain. She felt teeth connect with her ear before a harsh voice whispered, "Get off our territory!"
Erin widened her eyes; it was a clan cat! She looked up to see clear, dark blue eyes and long white fur. Could it be…? "Cloudtail?" she whispered. The white tom froze, staring down at her in surprise.
"How do you know my name?" he hissed, raising an unsheathed paw menacingly.
Erin looked up at him fearfully. How could she explain how she knew him? 'Cloudtail, I know you because I read about you in a book!' That sounded even stupider in her mind. She racked her brain, trying to figure out some excuse…
"Princess!" she finally gasped. Cloudtail stared at her. "Princess told me about you! My friend and I were journeying and we met her and she told us to keep an eye out for you!"
"My mother…?" Cloudtail muttered, his blue eyes shining. "You saw my mother? What did she say? Is she all right? Does she really miss me?" Erin let out a silent sigh of relief. Cloudtail believed her.
"Cloudtail what are you doing?" exclaimed another deep voice. Erin turned her head and saw a ginger tom pinning down Bailey, whose eyes were as big as moons. Erin immediately guessed who it was; Brackenfur, the mate of Sorreltail, another ThunderClan warrior with whom she had always liked. Although it could've also been Thornclaw…they both had the same description in the book.
"Brackenfur!" Cloudtail exclaimed, proving her guess correct, "this cat knows my mother!"
"Your mother?" Brackenfur looked at Erin in confusion. "But she lives all the way over in our old territory!"
"I was traveling with my friend when we met her!" Erin told him, glancing at Bailey with a look that said clearly not to contradict, although it was hardly necessary; Bailey looked as if her voice had been stolen right from her tiny throat. Then remembering, the main reason why she was a cat and her dream, she said, "We need to see Firestar."
"How do you know about Firestar?" Brackenfur growled, looking suspicious.
"Princess told me about him too. They were brother and sister after all," Erin quickly answered. Bailey gave her a wild glance.
"I see…" Brackenfur replied, looking put out. "But why must you see Firestar?"
Cloudtail flexed his paw on her neck.
"Because…" Erin paused, and then decided to tell the truth. "We were sent by StarClan."
Both of the toms gasped and glanced at each other. "You know of StarClan? How?"
"I do know of them," Erin replied slowly. "They have visited me in a dream, and I must talk to Firestar about it."
Brackenfur and Cloudtail exchanged a glance, hesitating. "All right," Brackenfur finally sighed. "Follow us and don't dare think of running away."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Erin agreed grimly, glancing over at Bailey, who had finally been released by Brackenfur. Her fur stood straight up as she stalked tentatively over to Erin, whom Cloudtail got off of.
"Come on," Cloudtail grumbled, still looking at Erin with interest. They padded through the forest in silence, Bailey keeping her eyes on the ground, Erin barely keeping her trembling in check.
"What are your names?" Cloudtail finally asked, glancing back at them. Erin noticed that he only looked at her. Her fur flushed hot.
"I'm Erin," she mumbled, "and this is Bailey."
"Strange names for cats," Brackenfur mused. Erin shrugged. They weren't strange for humans.
"Yeah, well, what can ya do?" she said.
"Here we are!" Cloudtail announced, waving his snowy tail. "Just through the thorn bushes." Erin nodded and followed him eagerly; she had always wanted to see the ThunderClan camp in real life.
Bailey stuck close to Erin as they crept through the thorn tunnel and then burst into the camp. It was amazing. Cats were bustling, heading back and forth between dens made from thorn bushes and ferns. Some were gathered around a large pile of prey, talking animatedly and laughing. Kittens scuffled outside of what Erin guessed to be the nursery, mimicking the moves of the apprentices, who were slightly bigger than them. Some cats were sunning themselves or sharing tongues, as their custom was called. Erin could name some of them by their descriptions. There was Sorreltail, the only tortoiseshell in the clan, and Brambleclaw, a dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes, and then there was Brightheart, who was instantly distinguished by the fact that half of her face was covered in scars. She looked uglier in real life than she had thought, but Erin only felt pity for her. And there were Mousepaw, Hazelpaw, Honeypaw…Thornclaw, Whitewing, and, Erin gasped, Graystripe! She loved Graystripe!
"You stay here," Brackenfur ordered. "I'll get Firestar." He bounded away and up badly carved stone steps that led to a ledge glued to the rock wall. And it seemed that the moment Brackenfur left their side, every cat in the clan turned to look at them, finally noticing the unfamiliar scent. They broke into whispers, and Erin flushed, pressing against Bailey. Cloudtail looked as if nothing strange was happening, just smiled serenely.
"And these must be the two strange cats!" came a ringing voice that was filled with power. Erin turned and gasped. Firestar looked even more magnificent in person. His fur was indeed the color of flame, and it glowed in the light of the sun. His green eyes gleamed with interest as he looked down at Erin and Bailey.
Cloudtail nodded. "Yep, these are the two. We found them in our territory near the SkyOak saying that they needed to talk to you."
Firestar nodded. "Brackenfur explained the whole story." He turned to Erin and Bailey. "But he hasn't told me about this strange dream of yours. Care to explain?"
Erin hesitated, glancing at Bailey. She was still shivering, trying to look as small as possible by pressing herself to the ground. Erin saw a russet-colored tom give her a sympathetic look, and guessed that the tom was Foxpaw, an apprentice to-be. She gulped. Bailey couldn't help her with decisions like these; so what would she tell Firestar? Should she tell him the whole truth, that they were really humans, or two-legs in their language, and were sent by StarClan to save them? Would he believe her? She gulped.
Firestar waited patiently as she collected her thoughts, and when their gazes met, he gave her an encouraging smile. Erin suddenly felt braver.
"Bailey and I are rogues," she began, flicking her tail side to side. It still felt strange, but oddly comforting. "We travel from place to place, meet different cats, and see different sights, when we met your sister, Princess. We were hungry and she gave us food, and told us the whole story of the clans. She told us how much she missed you and about you strange ways." It was surprising how truthful her lie sounded, as if StarClan was giving her the power to make it true. "And then that night, I had a dream. A blue-gray she-cat came to me and told me her name was Bluestar. She told me that we had to find the clans and…join them." Erin decided not to mention the saving them part. It would seem ridiculous, when they didn't even know what they were saving them from. "And…that's why we came here," she finished lamely. She could feel Bailey's gaze burning into her pelt, but she ignored her.
Firestar said nothing, just looked thoughtful. "I see…but how do we know this is true? How do we know that you were telling the truth about your dream?"
"I know Bluestar's name don't I?" Erin retorted.
Firestar nodded, unfazed. "Yes, but I have mentioned Bluestar to my sister plenty of times. How do we know she didn't just tell you?"
Erin found nothing to say to that. He was right; they had no evidence that they ever had this dream. Heck, he probably thought they were spies. She snuck a peek at Bailey, who looked even more terrified than ever. All of the clan cats were staring at them now, accusations in their eyes. She gulped.
"I think they should leave!" a black she-cat called. Erin blinked when she realized it was Hollypaw, one of the main characters in the third series of Warriors. She had never really liked Hollypaw…she was too…stuck up, and bossy. The clan immediately took up her opinion, yowling and screeching their disapproval. Erin flinched and backed away, pressing close to Bailey, who liked like, if she was still human, would pee her pants.
Erin squeezed her eyes shut. They were going to die. The ThunderClan cats were going to murder them, or if they were lucky, give them a few nasty wounds and then chuck them out of their territory. Erin shuddered as the image of blood and gaping wounds filled her mind, and she tried her best not to puke her guts out.
"FIRESTAR! FIRESTAR!"
Erin jumped and whirled around, the voice, which had somehow remained gentle even with the volume, belonged to a small but pretty light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes, and a white chest and paws. Leafpool, the medicine cat, followed by her apprentice, Jaypaw! The clan cats instantly fell silent, looking eager as to why their medicine cat had called their leader's name so urgently.
"Leafpool!" Firestar exclaimed, looking startled. "You're finally back! I thought I would have to send out the dawn patrol earlier just to find you."
"Sorry," Leafpool apologized, breathless. Jaypaw looked confused next to her. "It's just; StarClan has given me an important message. We must expect visitors!"
There was silence, and Erin had a sudden urge to hug Leafpool. If only she were still human.
And then Firestar's face broke out into a large grin. "Looks like they've already arrived.
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Russetfur lunged, claws outstretched, but he dodged them neatly, swirling to the side at the last second while lashing out a paw, catching her on the hind-leg. She hissed in surprise as he swung around, sinking his claws into her flesh and kicked out at her, knocking her down. She tumbled in the dirt, before rising shakily to her paws. She glared at him.
"You fight like a tiger," she hissed. "What clan are you from?"
He shrugged. "I am not from any clan." Fighting was something he had been good at, even when he was human.
"Well you are now," Russetfur replied, smirking as she sheathed her claws. He smirked also, standing tall. His black fur rippled, his amazingly red stripes gleaming, his violet eyes glinting. He had no idea why he was a cat now, but he felt like this was something he had to accept.
"It's good to be home," Alex whispered to himself.
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A/N Again, sorry for the long update! I've had so many things to do! So I hope this chapter makes up for it, read and review!
The Devil's Shadow
