Chapter Nine

Jealousy

After discussing more things about battle and hunting, Snowpaw and Wishingflower had a very awkward silence.

"What do you think the leaders were talking about?" Wishingflower asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know, but it haunts me." Snowpaw answered.

"Me too."

"Let's just hope it's leader business."

Wishingflower nodded and walked away, with Snowpaw hot on her paws. It was nighttime and she was tired.

As she slept next to Darkpaw, she felt nice and warm, in the chilliness of Leaf-Fall. She fell to sleep quickly.

Snowpaw arrived in the border near SunClan. She heard a cry, then another. Three cries of toms. She shuddered. It started to rain. The rain was made of blood. It spattered onto the ground, looking like a battlefield. Snowpaw felt pain in her chest. A voice called out, "Two will fade, it will rain blood, and you will hurt more than ever".

Snowpaw awoke, being prodded by Darkpaw. "Snowpaw, you were thrashing in your sleep! Are you alright?"

Although Snowpaw nodded, in her head she was troubled. She had just been told a prophecy. That had never happened to her before. She had not recognized the voice in her dream, or the screams of the toms, but the screams sounded familiar. What had the prophecy meant?

She stood up. "Darkpaw, I think it's time for our hunt together." Darkpaw's whiskers twitched. He got up, too, and followed her out of camp.

"Darkpaw, thank you for caring for me for this long. This has been helping me a lot lately." Snowpaw meowed, not looking at him.

Darkpaw didn't say anything.

"I really do like you, but only as a friend. I'm sorry. I was just..." She stopped. "just trying to make Pantherpaw jealous." She turned to make sure that he was looking.

Darkpaw smiled. "I had a feeling you were doing that. It's alright."

Snowpaw nodded, relieved that he understood so well. "Now, can I entrust something in you?"

Darkpaw meowed. "Sure you can. I won't tell."

Snowpaw began to tell him. "Well, I had this dream last night. It was," she looked around, "it was a prophecy."

Darkpaw raised his eyebrows.

"The prophecy said that 'two will fade, it will rain blood, and you will hurt more than ever'. I don't know what that's supposed to mean."

"Well, maybe it means that two will not be remembered, and there will be battles where you get hurt...?"

Snowpaw considered this. "Maybe. But I--" There were screams coming from camp.

The two rocketed back to camp fearfully.

Once the two cats arrived in camp, they saw cats battling. It was SunClan and her own Clan, FrostClan.

Again? Snowpaw said to herself. She rushed to a golden colored tom who was on top of a small apprentice. She grumbled and jumped onto his back.

The tom growled and tried to throw her off. Seeing that he was unsuccessful, he jumped off of the apprentice then ran away, yowling.

Snowpaw checked the apprentice to make sure he was okay. The white tom looked up at her. "Thanks." He meowed. Snowpaw nodded and stormed off.

She glanced to Darkpaw, who was batting at a she-cat who was much bigger than him. Snowpaw saw that he was doing well, so she tried to find another cat to fight with.

After searching far, she thought she could hear growls coming away from camp, going farther and farther away. She tried to focus on it, then found herself in front of a pile of dirt with a marigold on the heap.

She came back to the battle when she was knocked on one of her temples by a huge paw. She could feel blood coming out of her wound. She tried to get up, but fell down with a painful grunt.

Before she knew it, she saw a crowd of huge cats towering over her, raising their paws. "No, please! Why would you do this to a helpless cat?" Snowpaw mewed. She noticed, however, that these weren't SunClan cats. Instead, she thought they were rogues, from their odd odor. She closed her eyes to blink, then felt something ripping at her face, tearing her fur off.

She stood awake in the middle of the battle. She saw her Clan standing, huffing and licking their wounds. Some headed to Blossompelt's den. Snowpaw was shivering where she was, and she didn't realize it until a few seconds until her daydream was over. Had she just foresaw her own death?

She saw very little wounds on her, only one that was on her side. She spotted Darkpaw, whose sides were slightly heaving. "You should see Blossompelt. You look pretty bad." He had cuts and scratches along his side and on his back. Darkpaw nodded and limped to Blossompelt's den.

Snowpaw walked over to Wishingflower, who was talking to the same apprentice Snowpaw rescued. Wishingflower acknowledged her by twitching her tail.

"I was just telling little Airpaw how to deal with enemies like he faced." Wishingflower mewed.

Snowpaw nodded.

"By the way, great job in the battle. I'll talk to Eaglestar about you becoming a warrior!"

Snowpaw beamed. "Thank you." She squeaked, her eyes sparkling.

Before she could reply, a warrior nearby yowled. "Our leader! He's gone!"