Sorry about the fox-fighting. I tried to tone it down as much as I could.
She tumbled into the river. Cloudpaw broke the surface, gasping and frantically paddling the water with her paws as the river swept her downstream.
I have to get out! The water splashed her into her eyes, and the blue spirals of the water blinded her even further. But through the dim moonlight that pierced the clouds, she managed to see the bulky shape of the bridge up ahead. As she moved towards the bridge, she stretched out her paw and managed to get a hold of it. Cloudpaw hauled herself up, her fur dripping. She started to walk along the bridge,padding across the bridge, then ran to ward off the chill, but it had already reached her bones. I need a fire.
All Fireclan cats were taught to build fire as kits. Cloudpaw veered off the trail, walking just beside it and putting her paw to the side every so often to check she was still next to the path. She walked forward until she found a collection of a few unburnt logs. An abandoned fireplace by a Fireclan cat, perhaps. Cloudpaw gathered kindling for the fire, then she lit it. A warm glow lit up the forest. Cloudpaw sighed with satisfaction as it warmed her fur. She sat by the fire until
her fur was warm. Cloudpaw quickly extinguished the fire and continued on the path back to camp. But before she had taken more than a few pawsteps, a stench even worse than the badger's filled her nose. She whirled around in time to see a ginger tail disappearing into the bushes.
Fox! She had forgotten that fire could bring other animals to her. Cloudpaw's feet thrummed on the ground as she fled. When she reached the entrance to camp, panting heavily, she smelled fox again, stronger than ever.
I have to defend the camp! She turned around and swiped at the fox, who was right in front of her. It was young, barely a cub, just like her. It couldn't have been more than a moon old,just out of the den. Cloudpaw leaped on its back and clawed furiously with her hind paws, ripping fur. The fox growled and shook her off, and the tortoiseshell apprentice fell to the ground, dazed, but she managed to bring her paws up to claw at the fox's vulnerable belly, while the fox landed blows on her flank. After a few moments, the fox had had enough and ran away .
Cloudpaw got up and stumbled into camp. The clearing was deserted. She began to trudge towards the nursery before remembering she was an apprentice now. She turned to the apprentice's den. At the very edge of the den, was a nest made of soft moss. The lack of scent indicated to Cloudpaw no cat had slept in it. Right now, though, she was too tired to care. She collapsed into the nest, her eyes already closing. Cloudpaw fell into sleep.
Cloudpaw found herself standing in a forest. The trees were all dead, on the verge of
falling over. Instead of grass or moss under her paws, there were bare rocks.
Something else seemed different, wrong...there was no sound! The rustles of leaves and chattering of birds, which she had always taken for granted, were not here.
"Is this the Dark Forest?" she asked out loud, remembering the legends of The Great Battle. Her voice sounded small. She looked around at the dead trees. There was no living thing in sight.
Cloudpaw turned around and saw a cat padding out of the gloom. A mist seemed to hang over her, disguising her pelt. She could only see her eyes, which were burning orange.
"No, this is not the Dark Forest," she purred.
"Then what is it? And who are you?"
"This is where cats go after they are gone from the Dark Forest-or Starclan," she meowed, pointing with his tail to a misty barrier.
"Then what's it called?"
"It doesn't have a name. No cat outside of here even knows it exists."
"Well, I don't live here. But I know it exists," Cloudpaw retorted.
"But that's because times are changing," the she-cat meowed. Her voice was solid, reassuring, persuasive.
"They are? How?" Cloudpaw asked.
"Oh, you are still a young cat. Clan life will be hard on you. But if you listen to us, you will have a great life."
Cloudpaw was still suspicious, but she could feel the cat winning her over. "Come back!" she cried as the dream dissolved into mist. "Who are you?"
When Cloudpaw woke, sunlight was filtering through the roof of the apprentices' den. All the other nests were empty.
That was a weird dream, she thought. Could it be real?
Of course not. Why would an apprentice get a dream like that?
Because you are special, the voice from her dream whispered in her mind.
