Stormpaw took a step back, her ears flat against her head. "No," she whispered in horror. "No. That - they - they wouldn't..."
"Stormpaw, the whole reason they decided to fight us in the first place was for our territory," Wildpaw told her. "It would be pretty mouse-brained of them to kill us all and then not try to take the territory, wouldn't it?"
"I suppose," Stormpaw conceded. Her mind was whirling right now, and she could hardly think straight. One thought kept repeating itself in her head: If Slash and his cats were coming to take over the camp...
"We've got to get out of here!" she screeched wildly. She turned and ran into the camp; she saw a flash of golden fur out of the corner of her eye as Larchpaw followed suit. When she burst through the ferns surrounding the hollow, she saw that Daypelt was already gathering the elders and the kits for leaving. She looked up in surprise when Stormpaw burst through.
"Are they here yet? Do we have to leave?" she asked.
"No," replied Larchpaw, "not yet. But Redpaw and Wildpaw think that they're coming onto our territory right now."
"Redpaw and Wildpaw? More cats are alive?" She looked up with the faintest hint of hope in her light blue eyes.
"No, Daypelt," Stormpaw replied. "It's only me, Larchpaw, Redpaw, Wildpaw and Rainpaw."
"Well," hissed Daypelt, "that's going to have to do. Come on; we're leaving."
"Now?" Stormpaw couldn't help but utter the word.
"Yes, now," Daypelt responded. "If we don't leave now, Slash's cats will catch up to us before we even get out of the camp."
"If they're coming in the first place," Stormpaw muttered darkly.
"For the time being, it's better to believe that they are." The speaker was not Daypelt, but one of the two other elders in the Clan; Duskcloud. The dark golden she-cat was looking down at Stormpaw with knowledge in her eyes. "If we wait around for Slash's cats to show up, we'll never be able to get out of camp in time. It's better to get a head start on them."
"Duskcloud's right," Daypelt put in, nodding. "We're going to have to leave now."
"O-okay," Stormpaw agreed, a bit shaken up - here she was being asked to leave the home she had lived in all her life, and for what? The life of a rogue, presumably. With Beechstar and Runningleap - the Clan deputy - probably dead by now, how could they call themselves a Clan?
Stormpaw shivered. I shouldn't think about that right now, she told herself. I need to focus on helping get my Clanmates out of here.
"Creampaw and Breezepaw have already left," Daypelt told her. "Creampaw's injured leg makes it hard for her to walk, so we sent them away ahead of time - and we'll catch up with them when we leave camp."
"Okay," Stormpaw meowed. "Then... we leave, I suppose?" She turned around without waiting for an answer and headed toward the camp entrance.
"No - wait!" Daypelt called. "This way," she explained. "We're taking the back entrance."
"You mean going through the stream by the Talloak?" Stormpaw asked. The small stream that ran by the oak where Beechstar made her announcements and Mousefoot had his den carved a small path through the ferns that encircled the camp.
"Yes," Daypelt replied. "Creampaw and Breezepaw have already left that way. Come on."
Taking one last glance at the camp that she had lived in for so long - she didn't want to forget this place, didn't want to forget that she had actually had a home before Slash's cats invaded - she turned and followed Daypelt out of the camp.
The stream was freezing, and Stormpaw felt as if her paws were about to fall off. Despite the fact that it was the middle of leaf-bare, there had been little rain recently, and the stream was easy enough to walk through. But that didn't stop it from being wet; soon her paws were soaked and she was shivering. She followed Daypelt as the tortoiseshell elder climbed out of the stream, heralding two tiny kits - Iceriver's kits, she realized with a pang; only two moons old - between her black paws. The kits were mewling in protest as Daypelt nudged them along with her nose.
"Why can't we go back to camp?" the smaller of the two - Morningkit - was complaining. "Why do we have to leave? Where's Iceriver?"
"Iceriver's not here," Daypelt cooed gently. "She... you won't be seeing her again."
"Why not?" the other kit, a pale tabby tom, whined. "Why couldn't she come with us?"
Stormpaw felt a wave of pity for the tortoiseshell elder, having to explain to these kits that Iceriver was dead.
"You'll see her again, I'm sure," Daypelt meowed, trying to reassure these kits. "You can't see her now, but... one day you will, I promise."
"But I want to see her now!" Morningkit's plaintive mew made Stormpaw flinch with sorrow. She did not envy Daypelt right now.
Daypelt was saved from having to say anymore as a loud yowl sounded behind them. Three cats burst through the ferns that surrounded the camp, their pelts rippling with muscle. Daypelt attempted to hurry the kits along, and Stormpaw ran ahead, her black-and-gray fur bristling, but the cats easily caught up to them. One of them attacked Daypelt, the other went for Duskcloud and then Stormpaw found herself facing down a huge tabby tom.
"Don't kill me!" she shrieked with fear, backing away from the tom.
"Oh, I wouldn't bother with a scrap of fur like you," the tom purred. Stormpaw, insulted, bristled out all her fur in an attempt to make herself appear bigger.
"Ha! Look at that," the tom laughed. "This kit's trying to be brave." He raised one paw, claws unsheathed, and swatted Stormpaw aside like a piece of moss. Stormpaw scrambled to her paws and glanced around wildly. The tom was attacking Nightstorm, the third SkyClan elder, and the other two elders were fighting off their attackers. Larchpaw, Rainpaw and the other apprentices were telling the kits to run away while they attacked the intruders; the kits, however, did not seem to grasp how important it was that they get away.
"Just go!" Stormpaw hissed, pushing her way between Larchpaw and Morningkit. "You attack the intruders! I'll get the kits and Creampaw and Breezepaw out of here."
Larchpaw milled around, uncertainty in his amber gaze. "I don't want to leave you alone here," he meowed. "Will you be all right?"
"I'll be fine," Stormpaw hissed. "Just help the elders!" She turned without bothering to listen to Larchpaw's response and looked around at the kits. "Follow me," she whispered, and began to run away, but she was called back by Breezepaw; the pale tom was standing by Creampaw, doubt clouding his gaze.
"How are we supposed to go fast with Creampaw injured?" he inquired. Creampaw ducked her head; Stormpaw could tell that her sister was embarrassed that she had to be treated this way.
"I have an idea," she meowed. "She can get on your back, Breezepaw." Breezepaw's blue eyes lit up in surprise.
"What? But..." he began, and then trailed off. "It might work," he conceded eventually. "Climb on my back." He crouched down, and Creampaw managed to haul herself onto his back. Stormpaw could see that Breezepaw was narrowing his eyes in pain, but he did not complain as he stood up, wobbling as he tried to find his balance with the much smaller she-cat on his back.
"Come on, then," Stormpaw hissed, and began walking away at a brisk pace - the fastest she could manage without causing Breezepaw too much trouble. The sounds of the fight still echoed behind them.
And when they were within sight of the far border of SkyClan territory, a flash of fur out of the corner of Stormpaw's eye made her turn and look; it was the other four apprentices, heading toward them with their fur bristling with fear and their eyes wide. Stormpaw, upon seeing them so distraught, instinctively began to bristle out her fur.
"What happened?" she whispered.
"They got the elders," Rainpaw replied. He was sporting a claw wound in one ear; blood dripped down his shoulders and stained the springy grass below his paws. "The intruders got the elders, and Daypelt told us to run away and come find you."
"Well, I can see why!" Creampaw put in. "SkyClan's going to be destroyed if we don't get out of here!"
Stormpaw and Larchpaw exchanged a dark glance. Creampaw was right: they had to get out of here, and fast. "Come on!" she hissed, turning away from the apprentices and heading back to the front of the bedraggled group. The other four apprentices followed her up. Stormpaw saw Wildpaw turn around to look behind them.
"They're gaining on us!" she screeched, her tortoiseshell fur spiky with fear. "We have to go!" She shot forward, leaving a stunned Stormpaw in her wake. The dark-colored she-cat shook her head to clear it and ran forward, trusting the other apprentices to help the kits and Creampaw and Breezepaw behind them.
The faintest of scents reached her nose, and Stormpaw stopped in surprise and smelled the air. It was SkyClan scent. This must be the border.
"I guess they only ever check the borders with the other Clans," she commented, noting how stale and old the scent was.
"There isn't any need for them to check borders here," Redpaw told her. "After all, it's not like cats come here often."
"Well," she meowed, stepping over the scentline, "we're officially out of SkyClan territory." She turned around to see how far away the intruders were. To her surprise, they were standing several fox-lengths off, looking at the fleeing cats hostilely.
"Leave them!" she heard one of the cats command sharply. "They're only kits. They'll starve to death out there in no time." And with that, all three cats turned and headed back, deeper into the forest.