A/N- Here's a pivitol chapter in the story of Dawnpaw, Stormpaw and Riverpaw, and it's well worth the read! I hope you enjoy it and a special thanks to all of you who review, you people are great! Anyway, please review when you've read, or i'll set Dawnpaw & Tigerstar on you! So, enjoy!
Disclaimer- I don't own Warriors, but i certainly enjoy reading it and can't wait for Outcast, even if i have to ship it from America!
Chapter 7
Dawnpaw was cold and alone.
She had been wandering for almost ten days now, hunting for prey wherever she could and sleeping under bushes. More than once had she come into contact with kittypets or rogues who had driven her away from shelter or good hunting and she now had several scars along her flank to prove that.
She had recently encountered a barn that was offering her shelter and food for the time being. It smelt like cats had once lived there, but she couldn't imagine what cats would want to live near such a giant and stinking Thunderpath as the one this was close to. Dawnpaw had only been here two days and the stench had already clogged up her nostrils so much she could barely scent the mice within the hay.
The former Skyclan apprentice was curled up in the barn when, for the first time since her arrival, a twoleg entered.
The twoleg immediately spotted Dawnpaw and roared at her, swinging one of its hind legs at her. Dawnpaw leapt out of the way and streaked out of the barn, into the freezing night air. She shivered as she ran for her life, the twoleg calling after her until she was out of earshot.
Dawnpaw almost sprinted straight out onto the Thunderpath when she checked herself and skidded to a stop.
"I've got to be more careful!" she meowed loudly to no-one in particular.
Ever so cautiously, Dawnpaw crept out onto the hard, stinking surface, and then dashed over to the grassy patch in between Thunderpaths. It was a long way and she only just made it before a monster growled behind her, so close the wind that rushed from it almost made her tumble.
Eventually, Dawnpaw had completely crossed the massive Thunderpath and had reached the other side. A short distance away she could smell twoleg nests and kittypets. Dawnpaw had no desire to become a twoleg plaything, but she figured she had no choice if she wanted to survive. She was terribly hungry; she had almost starved to death and could barely walk. The young she-cat almost collapsed twice as she made her way over to the fences.
With tremendous effort, Dawnpaw managed to leap onto a fence and survey the twoleg gardens and nests around the area. She looked at the one whose fence she was standing upon and noticed a small flap in the entrance, about the size of a cat. This feature giving her hope, Dawnpaw leapt down from the fence and over to the nest. Looking bedraggled and hungry, Dawnpaw meowed as loud as she could and scratched upon the entrance, hoping against hope that a twoleg would come and take her in, as it was the only way that Dawnpaw would save her life.
But it was also the one thing that would decide whether or not Skyclan survived…
--
As Orangestar sat in the centre of the Skyclan camp, Blackstar at her side, and gazed up at the moon, she realised it was half a moon and a day since her kits had been made apprentices. Normally, this would be enough to make a mother joyous beyond belief. But not Orangestar.
The prophecy had said that a moon after her kits became apprentices, disaster would strike her clan, and her offspring would be the only ones who could stop it. But Dawnpaw had been meeting with Tigerstar, and she was now no longer part of the clan. Riverpaw was still recovering from the injuries he'd received from the rogue, and just that morning, Stormpaw had been given a message from Starclan, warning her that,
'Disaster is still set to come to Skyclan; a repeat of the past'.
After receiving the message, Stormpaw had spent the entire day in the apprentices den, wild eyed and trembling, refusing to tell anyone anything else about the prophecy.
But Orangestar wondered what on earth could be so terrible as to do that to the normally strong Stormpaw?
And how long did that mean her clan had left?
--
Two days on, and Dawnpaw was starting to regret her decision to become a kittypet. She had spent the entire time cooped up within the nest, stuck there with a kittypet who actually spent most of his time outdoors in the garden, where Dawnpaw couldn't go.
The kittypet's name was Harry, and he was a mottle brown tom. He was about the same age as Dawnpaw and loved to roam around the garden, dreaming of a life beyond the fence.
In the beginning, Dawnpaw had tried to use her controlling powers on the twolegs. They worked fine on Harry, but the twolegs seemed immune.
Now Dawnpaw was stuck inside all day, watching the world go by outside and feeling detached, as if she was no longer part of everything.
At the precise moment in time when the world changed, and the true fate of Skyclan was decided for definite, Dawnpaw was sat on the windowsill, within the twoleg nest. 'Windowsill' was a word she'd learnt from Harry, along with 'window', 'dish' and 'chair'. Dawnpaw had wondered why twolegs even needed windows, why couldn't they just leave the gaps open? It worked well enough for the entrances to dens in the camp.
As Dawnpaw was sitting on the windowsill, Harry jumped up next to her. Like her, he often sat there, gazing at the outside world, observing. Normally, when he was there, like Dawnpaw, he never said anything, he just watched. So he then took Dawnpaw by surprise when he spoke to her.
"Y'know, there used to be clans of wildcats who lived out there, a long time ago."
Not only was Dawnpaw startled that Harry had actually spoken to her there, but she was also intrigued by what he'd said. It wouldn't have surprised her to find wildcats had lived there once. You often got large groups of cats who lived together for mutual protection and benefit. But it was when he'd said the world 'clans' that her interest had been sparked.
'Clans' was a word used by the Clan cats and Dawnpaw knew of no other groups who went by that name, so could it be that the other four clans had once lived here?
In the two days that Dawnpaw had spent in the twoleg nest, and the ten days before that in which she'd wandered, a desperate longing to return to clan life had been kindled within her, and now she'd found the beginnings of a trail which could take her back to that. It may not be the clan she'd lived in before, but right now, any of the other four clans would suite Dawnpaw just as well.
"Oh, really?" she asked, trying to sound casual, and keep the note of desperate longing out of her voice. "What were they like?"
"They were savages, most of us 'round here reckon. Some say that they used to slaughter each other in big battles just over a couple of rabbits, but old George, four nests down, he claims that they had well-organised groups, and that they only fought to defend their prey when they needed to. He says it's a shame they had to move on all those seasons ago, or he says he may have just joined them!"
Dawnpaw's hope flared intensely. This had to be where the four clans had lived once, for sure!
"Of course, it's all a load of nonsense, if you ask me," Harry continued, "If any cats did live there once, they would have died out when the twolegs built their great Thunderpath, and also, George even claims to be descended from the sister of one of their leaders! How stupid is that?!"
Dawnpaw's hope flared even higher. The stories of the other clans claimed that Firestar, the cat who'd rebuilt her clan, had had a sister who was a kittypet. Could George be descended from her?
"Did he say who the leader was? Just out of interest, mind. I'm only asking for something to say."
Harry nodded and answered,
"Yeah, he says the leader was called Fire-something, I'm not sure what."
"Firestar?"
"Yeah, that's it. How'd you know?"
"I heard stories about him once. When I was a kit."
Harry gave another nod and jumped down off the windowsill. A few moments later, Dawnpaw heard the swing of the cat flap as he went out into the garden.
Once again, hope flared in Dawnpaw. Hope that she could find a clan. Hope that she could enjoy clan life again, and make up for the mistake of ever doing a deal with Tigerstar.
And also, as much as she was bored with just being there with Harry, she did have to admit that she had taken quite a fancy to him. Maybe, when she left, she'd ask him to come with her. Maybe they could even have kits one day.
Full of hope and excitement at the promise of a life in the wild again, Dawnpaw leapt off the windowsill and went to get something to eat.
--
That night, curled up in her nest, for the first time in almost half a moon, Dawnpaw found herself in the Dark Forest.
She was stood facing Tigerstar, her eyes wide with the shock of finding herself there again.
"Hello again, Dawnpaw. You haven't been here in a while."
Dawnpaw took a step back, but confronted Tigerstar all the same.
"You lied to me! You said my clan would die if I didn't learn from you. And look where that's got me! Stuck in a twoleg nest as a kittypet and banished from my clan!"
Tigerstar, instead of shouting at the ginger cat, or attacking her, laughed coolly.
"But, poor, innocent little Dawnpaw, I'm afraid it is they who have betrayed you. The fact still remains, if you don't learn true power from me, you'll never save your clan. You see, even Starclan know this. They've warned your mother of it, but she was afraid of what it might mean, and she thought banishing you might send it all away."
He slid his claws into the frosty earth.
"She was wrong."
Dawnpaw took a step forwards, and asked Tigerstar,
"What must I do now?"
The dark tabby fixed her with his amber gaze and told her,
"If you have any wish to save your clan, you must first seize control of it. It is the only way you'll ever get them to listen to you, so you can save them."
Dawnpaw gave a slow nod and questioned,
"And how do I do that?"
Tigerstar took a step forwards, so he stood face to face with Dawnpaw, and began to whisper in her ear…
