Enjoy the last part of your triple upload!
Mousepaw jumped up in alarm and raced out into camp.
Gingerstar's paws were locked with Badgerstar's as they tussled. Rushflight and Frostshine were pummeling their paws against a black-and-white tom. A white she-cat had her jaws clamped in Pouncefoot's shoulder.
If I don't leave now, I never will. Mousepaw looked briefly at the camp entrance. Guilt. Suddenly she remembered her dream—her memory. You'll learn about it soon enough, her mother had said. Now, she was realizing what guilt felt like.
She was leaving her Clan. Her family. Icepaw's words stung. Her paws were tingling, though. Her heart was tugging those tingling paws once again to explore.
Mousepaw's last look at her Clan was a dreadful one. Badgerstar's paws were stained pink as he laid in a pool of his own blood. Thornblade and Coalfeather were fighting side-by-side, the tabby's white fur stained red and dirty brown. Adderpaw was managing on his own, but barely.
Turning away, and fighting everything she felt, Mousepaw fled.
Her paws skimmed across the surface of the moors as she ran faster than she ever had. Snow was kicked up by these paws until she had made a clear trail of it. Pawprints were scored deep and rabbit holes were not looked for.
The Thunderpath was cleared of this snow. Monsters roared past at impressive speeds. The fur on Mousepaw's cheeks was blown back each time one came by, and bits of gritty, black stuff littered her fur.
She exhaled, breath billowing in front of her face before dissipating into the cool air. Was she really going to leave? Her answer came instantly: yes.
Mousepaw looked back. Faint yowls drifted around her ears. She felt like a coward, for leaving her Clan when they needed her most. She felt like a coward for leaving her family and not even telling them. It would be up to Icepaw to break the horrid news.
But the fact that she was doing what few in the Clans did energized her. She looked past the Thunderpath into ThunderClan's territory. She could skirt around the edges and be in Twolegplace by sundown. Maybe she could find one of Firestar's old friends—if they were still there.
She looked left and right to make sure no more monsters were coming. Then she placed an ear on the hard surface to see if she could hear or feel any vibrations. None. She was safe. Mousepaw raced across, barely feeling the Thunderpath under her paws as she took one long bound. No monsters hit her. Taking one last look at her former life, Mousepaw took off towards ThunderClan.
Their territory was full of oak and maple trees and ferns and brambles. Her paws constantly got tripped up and caught in these bushes. Prey scurried in her vision, and she remembered with annoyance she forgot to eat before leaving. What prey would be in Twolegplace? Rats? Crowfood?
But she shook her head. She would find her father, finally. The truth seemed very important to her at this time. Maybe he'd been looking for Thornblade. Maybe he cared about his kits he didn't know about.
No patrols spotted her. Once, she hid behind a bramble bush—not the best idea, she realized afterward—to avoid one, but otherwise she had no trouble.
The sun was dipping. Mousepaw kept her belly low and her steps quick. Oddly, she knew where Twolegplace was. Something inside her heart traveled down to her paws and told her the direction it was. Her heart and paws seemed to work together a lot.
Her stomach rumbled. Mousepaw shook her head once more. No food, she told herself. I'll eat in Twolegplace.
And just as that thought occurred, she found it. Big dens of hard stuff. That was all she could think now, as she looked at them. Suddenly she wished she had listened to Puddlewhisker's stories more when she was a kit.
Nose to the ground, Mousepaw observed it. The grass was considerably greener. Crickets chirped and insects buzzed around her round ears. Lights flickered inside in the dens before going out completely. A large brown structure obscured her vision. Mousepaw craned her neck to look up at it. It ended in points which seemed sharp. Bunching her muscles, she leaped.
The top of the structure was not as sharp as she thought. It wobbled under her weight and she swayed for a couple of heartbeats.
"Whoa." Mousepaw tried to gain her balance and stuck her tail out straight. She put one paw on each of the pillars and looked to the dens.
This one had over-turned round things in the yard. The grass was clipped all the way to the ground. Smoke billowed out of the top of the den.
Mousepaw's eyes grew wide. Is it on fire? But no flames appeared and the smoke continued to flow.
There was a clear hole in the den where dirt and grass sat neatly inside of a reddish-looking round thing. Mousepaw cocked her head. Twolegs sure are weird.
Then her paws started to ache. In spite of this, Mousepaw kept standing. She wanted to see more.
And more she did see.
An orange tabby cat jumped onto the surface by the grass in the clear hole. A blue collar was wrapped around its neck. Green eyes gleamed. And then the cat disappeared.
Mousepaw was holding her breath the entire time and hoped to StarClan the cat did not see her. She breathed a sigh of relief when his plump form left her vision.
She walked along the structure, getting the feel for it. Eventually, her pads got used to the points and she kept her balance. The sun was gone now, but the little suns coming from the back of the dens illuminated the night.
My father. My father. What did he look like? Thornblade had mentioned nothing about that. Was he still alive? Still around here, even?
"You're not from around here, are you?"
Mousepaw squeaked and she lost her balance. She toppled off of the structure and landed face-first onto the clipped grass of the yard. Shaking her fur, she looked around wildly.
The orange tabby was calmly licking a paw. He stopped and twitched his whiskers. Mouth parted slightly, he reared back in mild surprise. "A wild cat?"
Mousepaw's eyes widened again. She unsheathed her claws and bared her teeth. "Yeah. We eat the bones of kittypets for breakfast and line our pelts with your nests! I mean, er, your pelts with our—"
The tabby snickered. "I know what you do. I want to know why you're here, and not eating some cat's bones."
Mousepaw flattened her ears. Every time the cat spoke, a tinkling came from his collar. His fur was short. His body was fat. Obviously, he had never chased a wren. Or a mouse. She straightened up and fluffed out some of her fur. "I want to find my father. Do you know him?"
He scoffed and stretched. "I might. What's his name?"
"That's just it," Mousepaw meowed, feeling downfallen already. "I don't know."
"Well, I won't help you. Off you pop." The tabby turned tail and started walking towards the den.
"Wait!" Mousepaw called. "Do you know a Thornblade?"
He halted. Mousepaw's trickle of hope turned into a pool. The fat cat turned around and lashed his tail once. "Used to know a Thorn. Prowled around here. Real pretty. Real pretty. Fancy cat. I asked her what her favorite brand of milk was and everything—"
Mousepaw pricked her ears. This cat knew her mother. He knew her. He knew. She kept repeating this to reassure herself. Then she had a sudden thought. "It's not possible by happenstance that you're my father, is it?"
"Ha!" The orange cat parted his jaws in a laugh. "She was already preggers by the time I saw her. We shared food and stuff, but I wasn't going to mess with her."
Mousepaw sighed. "Okay. Do you know who she was with?"
He shook his head. "I wish I did."
"Okay," Mousepaw said again. She leaped up the structure again and looked down at the cat who was trotting towards the den once more. "Thanks!"
His tabby tail disappeared behind a hole in the den, and he was gone.
With a huff, Mousepaw looked around Twolegplace. Thornblade was here. Maybe, just maybe, others would know her too. Eventually, her father would be found.
Please, she begged. Let there be food.
But she didn't want to find food now. Looking up at the sky, Mousepaw realized it was much too late to go prowling around in uncharted waters. Besides, this kittypet might have food. Mice might even be scurrying in the bushes near the brown structure. Hesitantly, she jumped down onto the neat grass again, curling up in a corner of the structure. She'd sleep here, and be off first thing tomorrow. Soon she drifted into a calming but jittery sleep.
Mousepaw's green eyes snapped open. The area around her was warm, as if in greenleaf. Cats leaped from boulders onto mice, sunned themselves on rocks.
StarClan, she realized with a jolt.
"Pretty, isn't it?"
Mousepaw started. Just beside her was a black cat. The same black cat with the white streak and the green eyes and the stars in his fur.
"Yes," she answered. "Why am I here?"
"So I can talk to you." The cat flicked his black tail behind him, and it swayed on the short grass.
Well, go ahead.
"You remember what I told you, right?"
Mousepaw, focusing on a brown tom, snapped her attention back to her speaker. "Of course."
"Do you see now how the hunters are hunted?"
Mousepaw shook her head, fumbling with the grass underpaw. "No."
He jerked his head to the side. "Come with me."
They passed a stream, where sleek-furred cats drank. A white she-cat was lying near the bank, and her eyes drifted open as the two cats walked through.
"Hi, Lilynose," the black tom greeted.
The white cat dipped her head and closed her eyes again.
The black tom went on, but Mousepaw stopped. Lilynose. Badgerstar's mate. Then she looked wildly around. Where's Badgerstar?
"Come on!" the tom snapped.
Reluctantly Mousepaw followed him to a marsh. Water seeped through her claws as they walked on it, and she kept flicking them to rid herself of the wet—to no avail.
"Look," he whispered.
Mousepaw peered down. The marsh dropped off abruptly. A fine line was cut through the entire sky, where she could clearly the Clans below moving about. A yowl pierced her ears, so shrill it was like nothing she'd ever heard. Turning her attention toward it, she saw a horrific sight.
Another cat caught in a trap. This time it was a kit, his fur so fluffy it covered him, making him seem like a full-grown apprentice. His forepaw was caught, and he yanked it endlessly, yowling into the night sky. The forest around him seemed to still as no one came to help.
Mousepaw looked at the black tom. "Can't we help him?"
"StarClan cannot prevent death," he murmured, still looking at the kitten.
Heartbeats passed. Then, to Mousepaw's left, a sound started, like the river when it was churning fast. A form appeared, a small white kitten with one orange dash on his forehead. He stared around in confusion. A cat came up to him, tucked him under her belly, and hung her head.
"His mother's mother," the black tom whispered. "His caretaker in StarClan."
Mousepaw gaped. "How many times has this happened?"
The cat shook his head and looked away. "Too many for us to count."
"Like, a whole Clan full?" Mousepaw pressed.
He glared at her through the corner of his eye. "More cats have joined StarClan in the last three moons than in the past season."
In shock, Mousepaw sighed. "What are those traps?"
"Twolegs brought them. Why, we do not know."
The brown apprentice looked at the Clan territory again. She could make out multiple pine trees surrounding the clearing where the kit had been caught. His body lay lifeless, blood seeping into the ground and turning the surrounding snow a pinkish color. How long it would take for someone to find him, she did not know. Pine trees. ShadowClan. Mousepaw felt pity for all of the Clans. Is there any place those traps are not?
The tom resumed his look at the Clans with Mousepaw. "You have to get rid of them, One Who Seeks. Find the traps. Set them off before we lose all of the Clans before leaf-bare is over."
"How?" Mousepaw pleaded.
"You'll find a way."
How will Mousepaw do in an unfamiliar territory? Will the ginger kittypet come back to help her? Can she find her father and get back to the Clans in time to save them?
Find out soon! Remember that reviews are the only way for the story to progress.
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