"Come and get me!" A white tabby cat shouted over her shoulder, breezing past an oddly familiar dark tabby. The wind rippled around her, parting her fur to reveal lean, strong muscles pushing her forwards. He let out a laugh, taking off after the she-cat. No matter how hard he pushed himself, there was no catching up to her. Larkpaw took off after the two cats, easily advancing on the tom. Strangely, he made no reaction to her outpacing him.
"Slow down!" He panted, slowing down to a halt. His sides heaved, taking in their surroundings. They had passed clan boundaries, now in uncharted territory. Strange land stretched around them, outcrops of rocks and pine trees filled the landscape. The apprentice stood right in front of the she-cat, but the other white tabby darted right through her. Am I in StarClan? Who are these cats?
Her gaze shifted to the tom, standing nose to nose with him. There was something familiar, on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't place it. His eyes were bright with joy, pure happiness, such of a degree that she had never seen before.
"Too fast for you?" She had turned back to meet up with the dark tabby. He turned to reply, but another voice interrupted.
"This is not your place, not yet." The voice said as cat padding out of the shadows. She could see the brush through him, and Larkpaw froze as she stared through the ghostly figure.
"W-Who are you? Where am I?" She demanded, meeting the cat eye to eye. Despite his transparency, she could see that it was a black and white tom.
"Little one, do not be afraid," He murmured, touching his nose to hers.
A cold chill spread throughout Larkpaw as their noses touched,"Am I dead?" She murmured, eyes wide. She hadn't remembered being sick or attacked, just that after the fishing expedition she went to sleep.
He laughed, which scared the apprentice even more,"No, you are not. StarClan is showing you something too early in my opinion, but do not forget this dream, young one. It will have importance." The strange tom began to disintegrate as Larkpaw struggled to take everything in.
Her ears were flat, fur on end, as she thought of the worst possibilities for this strange dream. Are they of importance? What do two strangers have to do with me? With IceClan?
"Do not worry," The raspy voice murmured in her ear,"While your future may not be easy, you have nothing to fear but yourself." With those final words, the starry cat disappeared, leaving Larkpaw alone in the darkness of her dream.
Fear consumed Larkpaw as she considered his words. "What am I going to have to do?" She whispered to herself, her voice high and strained in terror for the future. The pale tabby apprentice begun to pace in the dream, unsure if she could or even wanted to wake up at this moment. Her mind whirled at the prospect of what she'd have to do.
A shrill and panicked screech awoke Larkpaw with a start. The hillside had disappeared, along with any trace of the black and white tom or the other cats. She jumped to her paws, all concern for what the strange cat had said was evaporated. The apprentice scrambled out of the den, alert for any sort of threat.
Several other cats had awoken at the screech, emerging from their dens. Redpaw emerged from the medicine cat den, quickly making her away towards the nursery. The other warriors that had awaken crowded in front of the nursery, mutterings of alert and panic arose quietly.
Larkpawś jaw slid open to scent her surroundings. An odd, faintly familiar scent was leading a trail out of camp and farther into the forest. There was another scent, much more stronger, was of blood. She followed it to the entrance of camp, scared of what she might find.
A still, almost lifeless figure was sprawled out at the entrance of the bracken tumble. Larkpaw's heart sank when she realized, that through the blood, laid Lightfeather. "Help! Willowcreek! Redpaw!" She yowled, frantically licking a terrible gash over her shoulder. Her breathing was extremely shallow, eyes shut tight.
"Hold on Lightfeather…" She murmured,"Drizzlepaw needs you." The apprentice gently licked the wounded warrior, unsure if she'd survive. The attacker had sliced her from her shoulder down to her belly, and did a fair share to mutilate Lightfeather's face.
"Larkpaw!" Redpaw had run towards her after hearing her yowl, Darkpaw by her side. Both apprentice's eyes widened at the sight of Lightfeather,"Darkpaw, get Willowcreek and make sure Gorsestar is awake." The apprentice paused, likely about to say something smart, but turned and darted off out of the tunnel.
She began examining Lightfeahter carefully, "Who, or what, did this?" Redpaw sniffed the shoulder wound,"There was no mercy… Only to kill."
"Will she live?" Larkpaw whispered, uncertain if she wanted to hear the answer.
Redpaw thought for a moment as she began to lick the wound,"I do not know. After what happened yesterday, she knows Drizzlepaw will need her more than ever. All we can hope is that the wound doesn't get infected…"
Larkpaw nodded, resting her head on the ground next to Lightfeather. Willowcreek emerged from the camp, mouth crammed with leaves and one paw wrapped in cobwebs. "Larkpaw, you may go." The medicine cat murmured in her ear,"Talonshadow needs your help."
The apprentice nodded and quietly got to her paws. She padded towards camp with one last glance over her shoulder, desperately hoping that Lightfeather would be okay. Warriors were rushing to comfort their queens and mates, Larkpaw became aware that something else had happened. She lifted her head, seeing her brother run towards her. Gorsestar was behind him, but dispersed to talk to Talonshadow.
"What happened?" She asked when Darkpaw stopped next to her.
"Some rogues came in and stole Flightsong's kits." He meowed somberly,"Lightfeather must have been guarding and whoever wanted them mauled her…"
"This is terrible… Lightfeather didn't deserve this, whatever fox-hearted coward did this is going to get his eyes scratched out and be left for the crows." Larkpaw growled, whisking her tail.
"Calm down Larkpaw," Hawkfire had been conversing with Gorsestar and Talonshadow,"it'll be me and you searching down river, Darkpaw, you go back to sleep." Darkpaw opened his mouth to protest, but he decided against it and padded away to the apprentice den.
Hawkfire lead the way out of camp, bounding out of the tunnel quickly. Larkpaw followed, her stomach clenching when they passed by Lightfeather and the medicine cats.
They had carefully tracked the strange scent to Deer River, where the scent split off into two separate groups,"We mustn't waste time. We will split up, you head towards the Twolegplace, and I'll check near the FireClan border."
"Alright." Larkpaw nodded to her mentor, taking off downstream.
She followed the scent closely, not even taking notice to her surroundings. The apprentice froze when the scent increased, now mingled in with several others. She was still in IceClan territory, but the Twolegplace was in sight. Rarely did a kittypet cross over the border, although loners and rogues weren't uncommon.
Her hackles rose as she heard murmurs coming from the shadows. "She could be of use…" One of them hissed from above, likely lurking in the tree tops.
"She could… And she will." Came a harsh whisper from the treetops. Three rogues leaped down from the surrounding trees, four more emerged from the shadows. Larkpaw gasped when she saw that two of the cats held two kits, from what she could tell, were Flightsongs' kits.
"Come with us." A sandy tom growled, flicking his tail. The group of cats gathered around the IceClan apprentice, their eyes narrowed.
"No." Larkpaw lifted her head,"I will not." She crouched, ready to spring at whoever moved. The only cat who moved was the sandy tom, who turned quickly.
"You will learn fast," Before the apprentice could react, he launched himself at her, clawing her right flank,"To not disobey."
She stumbled forward, but caught herself. Blood trickled down from the claw marks that stretched from her right shoulder to hind leg. "Now we go." He growled, pushing himself through the tight circle of cats. The group ushered her forwards towards the Twolegplace.
Larkpaw limped along, confusion and worry weighed her down. After the peculiar StarClan dream and Flightsong's kits being taken, she was exhausted. What do they want? Why did they take the kits and me?
"Whisper, make sure she doesn't fall behind." The leader growled to the smaller ginger and white tom next to him. He nodded, falling into step with Larkpaw.
"I can't run away, so why do you have to lurk besides me?" She growled, eyes narrowed as she glanced at her.
"Dusty said to make sure you keep up, so I am." Whisper kept his amber gaze on the path ahead.
Larkpaw let out a quiet snort, ears flat against her head. She said nothing to him throughout the rest of the walk to what would be a prison, her thoughts only went to one thing, Darkpaw. He'd be alone now, and alone he would struggle greatly to become the phenomenal warrior she knew he could be.
They hadn't been walking too long before they squeezed through a hole in one of the Twoleg fences. Whisper let her go in first, likely to make sure she didn't turn and run.