Nothing really to say before you guys start reading this chapter. Hope you enjoy :D

"Normal Talking"

"Eerie Dead Cats Approaching" (This'll be used differently later on)

'Thoughts'

'Mention of Past Terms'

"Dog Talk"

I do not own the Warrior cat series. All original references, characters, ideas, etc. belong in the ownership of the amazing Erin Hunter.

Chapter 9

The journey was long, and on constant alert for predators with them in the wide open. Though Briarlight tried to assure Maple that no cat she knew came up this far, the Savannah she-cat was still on the lookout for them. They also had to stop often for Briarlight to catch her breath. Maple gave her some dried up, nearly dead coltsfoot she found; she had mentioned on the way that her and SJ were taught the basics of finding herbs whenever in need of them. Dry though they were, Briarlight ate them gratefully, feeling at least a bit of content to her stomach.

However, soon hunger was eating away at her belly, making her wince every so often. She grew more tired easily, both physically and mentally. SJ had tried to hunt for something large, but she only came back to them with two moles, both of which she gave to Briarlight to keep her going. Maple didn't speak against this once, only eyeing her worriedly. They filled her up, making her continue on till it was almost sunhigh, though clouds were starting to darken above their heads.

The wind grew to a point that they had to stop and rest for a longer time. Maple, unfortunately, told them that they would have to wait till the wind died down enough for them not to be blow off their paws. That didn't happen till almost sundown.

They continued more, and Briarlight soon forgot completely how long and far they had travelled since Moonpool. But she had a feeling they were getting closer and closer to their destination the more they continuously walked. Sadly, her belly quickly became empty and painful again, as well as her legs. They were burning for her to stop, but she didn't, telling SJ and Maple that she was fine when she really wasn't.

By early nightfall, the trio had stopped for another rest, Briarlight collapsing on the ground dutifully with a sigh.

"You sure you're okay, sweetheart?" SJ persisted. Briarlight bit back a retort. She couldn't snap at a new friend who was simply worried, especially in the condition she was already in. 'At least she is not like Millie's constant nagging I guess…'

"I'm fine, SJ, really." She said, trying to sound better. But that only caused SJ to frown, clearly not believing her false words.

"No you're not," She said sternly. She nodded to her sister. "I'll stay here, Maple. Can you go and fetch some chamomile and a moss bundle of water if possible?"

Maple said nothing, merely nodded, as she vanished out of their view under the tree. SJ lied down next to Briarlight, wrapping her long furry tail around the brown she-cat. "You mustn't push yourself so hard, Briar. We don't want ya fainting on us just yet. We're getting close though, I know it. So does Maple."

Briarlight wanted to nod her head in approval, but it seemed too heavy at the point. Her vision grew dark and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

It didn't seem like long, for a paw was shaking her shoulder lightly. "Briarlight? Briar! Wake up!" It sounded like Maple.

The warrior jolted awake, shaking her head to quickly get the drowsiness out of her mind. She looked up to see the Savannah bending over her—despite already sitting down— as she nudged forward a small clump of moss and chamomile. "You had me worried there for a second, kitty cat." She said with a relieved smile.

"How long was I asleep?" Briarlight asked.

"Since Maple left. It's almost highnight." SJ spoke this time. She meant that it was the middle of the night now.

"Did you get any fresh kill?" She asked hopefully.

SJ's response was a half-eaten mole pushed next to the clump of herbs. She smiled. "Maple ate the other one, and I had half. Now it's your turn to eat, dear."

Briarlight thanked them both and ate up the rest of the mole, purring at the meat going down her throat into her empty belly. She looked beyond the she-cats to notice that the sky was clouded over in the night, no moon was out to light their way; and snow was falling at a steady pace.

"How much snow has fallen since I fell asleep?"

"Enough to slow us down a little more. But that's not biggie. I went ahead and found where the forest crowds up less. That's where we need to head. It'll be long, but that won't stop our spirits. And upside is that the snow will hide our tracks for the time being." Maple explained, her excitement eating away at her voice.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Briarlight went to get up, but immediately winced and fell back down on her stomach, groaning in pain. "Ouch! Wha-What's wrong with my shoulders?"

"Seems like you didn't stretch your muscles properly. Plus, you've been crawling far more than you're probably used to doing, Briar." SJ said, placing a paw on her shoulder and rubbing the knotted muscles to a relaxing point. She shook her head. "There's no way I'll allow you to continue like this, dear. You need more rest. You've been up for almost two days straight, are near starving, and not accustomed to this completely."

"What do we do then?" Panic filled Briarlight's belly.

Maple glanced at SJ, and a smile of mischievousness crawled over her lips. Briarlight gulped, having a feeling of regret from asking such a question to them.

Without saying a word still, Maple walked next to the warrior and dipped her head down. The Savannah she-cat's nose dug under her belly till her face started to as well. "H-Hey!" Briarlight squeaked, but was ignored as Maple's head poked out from under her chest. Squealing, Briarlight slid backwards, down Maple's neck and soon stopped where her shoulders were. Instinctively, she grabbed onto her neck and clung tightly. She felt guilty when a sharp gasp came from Maple herself.

"E-Easy, kitty cat! I need my neck too!" She said with a laugh. Briarlight looked down only to gasp in surprise. It seemed now that Maple was taller than before. She relaxed her grip and wished she, again, could use her back legs to still have a firm but gentler grip on the Savannah.

"Sorry…just not used to this as well." Briarlight said nervously.

"Well, you don't need to feel scared around me, Briar. Trust me, okay?"

"O-Okay."

Maple stood up straighter and began to walk once more, with Briarlight easing her grip when she was at a point that she didn't worry about it anymore. It felt rather nice to sit on Maple's back. She was willing to help in any way, and it calmed her.

As they trudged along, Briarlight continuously fell in and out of sleep, waking up at the slightest fault in Maple's rhythmic walk. SJ stayed close next to her sister, in case Briarlight started slipping towards one side.

At one point, Briarlight simply forgot the pace they were at and fell into a complete slumber. The warmth surrounding her was so comforting she felt herself dip further into the depths of her dreampaws. She opened her eyes to see that she was sprawled out in a grassy field, smelling of newleaf. She sighed blissfully, but it got caught in her throat when a sudden rush of cold made it turn to a sharp gasp. She looked down to see the grass had turned into water, cold like icicles, stabbing into her skin.

In a panic, she tried to jump away, but quickly discovered that her paws seemed to be implanted into the now dark ground. The cold water turned into a cold muddy feeling, and it disgusted her. She looked around, but saw nothing; just darkness.

"H-Help! Somebody help me!" She yowled, but nothing happened. The muddy water came up to her neck, then her nose, and soon it was over head. Briarlight tried to kick, but her whole body felt as if it was solid ice, frozen in time but everything else was real and deadly. Dark spots started flickering through her vision. She breathed in accidently, feeling her lungs be filled with water instead of air. It was thick and mucky.

'I can't die like this! No! I need to…to…protect…Thund…erCl…an…' Her thoughts were as blurry as her vision now. The black void surrounding her now swallowed her up.

However, before it could kill her off like she expected, a loud splash above her head followed by a dim light seemed to awaken her from the claws of death. Something sharp and firm—like a mouth—grabbed onto her scruff and pulled her up. She broke through the water with heaping coughs of water.

"Be careful of whom you trust, kit. It will destroy you if not led right…"

'A-Amy?'
"Briarlight! Briarlight! Briar! Briar! WAKE UP!" Voices screamed at her, pulling her farther and farther away from her dream turned nightmare.

"Briar please wake up!"

.

.

The warrior jolted upright, gasping in cold breaths of air. It was fresh, alive, not like the thick mud that she thought she'd swallowed. 'It was only a nightmare! But…I thought I heard Amy…' Briarlight thought as she coughed. She looked up to see both Maple and SJ gazing down at her.

Their faces registered horror and relief together.

"Wha-Wha..happened?" Briarlight asked shakily.

SJ quickly dipped her head down and rubbed against Briarlight, a choked sob caught in her throat. "You little devil! You scared nearly the fur off of us both! Don't ever do that…" She trailed off, purring loudly.

"What happened guys?" She asked again, this time in a much firmer voice.

"You fell asleep on me, Briar," Maple started, "but I didn't think that it was nothing to worry 'bout. That is…until you started kicking with your forepaws." She paused, her face turning grave. "I stopped to check up on you. But, for some odd reason, once you dropped into the snow you…you'd…"

"I what? What happened, Maple? Did I start crying out?" Briarlight asked in a hasty tone.

SJ shook her head and stepped in. "You'd stop breathing, Briar. Completely."

Briarlight felt her throat clench up in fright. "No…that can't be…it was only a nightmare…how can I die? Am I dead now? What's going on?!" She was started to pant.

"Calm down, Briarlight. You're alive and well now. It seems you were caught in an evil trap by some evil cats, but someone or something must've jumped in and saved you at the right time. That only happens to cats who can see ghosts as a gift. Can you?"

Briarlight nodded. SJ smiled. "I see…that explains the feeling I had before. But we mustn't worry about it now. Look where we are."

The forest was split apart by a trail, the gravel lightly covered with a layer of snow. Briarlight looked from side to side and noticed that it continued on till she couldn't see it anymore. The trees stood bare and weaved with the wind. A sense of calm washed through her heart.

"We…we're here. We made it." She finally breathed softly.

SJ nodded, smiling all the while. With a quiet grunt, she sat down. "Now, we wait."

"Wait for what exact—"

"Shh!" Maple hissed abruptly. Briarlight jumped, scared at the snake-like noise that came out of the Savannah's mouth. She looked around, wondering if another cat had followed them. She lifted her head and sniffed the air, but the wind was blowing in an almost circular motion around them. It roared like a lion, deafening Briarlight for several moments. At the last heartbeat, the brown warrior heard a loud snap of a twig.

But Maple had sensed it long before they did.

She whirled around and pounced in the direction of Briarlight. Before the she-cat could object to her actions, a hard swipe came from behind her and sent Maple landing hard on the ground. "Mapl—!"

Briarlight was cut off by a large paw, far bigger than hers slamming into her throat, causing her to choke on her words. She tumbled to her side, gasping for breath but not receiving any with the pressure being pressed into her throat. Squinting her eyes open, Briarlight suddenly wished she couldn't breathe at all with the sharply defined green eyes sneering at her.

A fox had trapped her underneath its grasp.

Hissing, she reached up and slashed at the fox's nose, coughing when it released its hold on her and shook its head. Not wasting time, Briarlight staggered up on her forepaws and began crawling away quickly. The fox snarled and charged after her, but was stopped by Maple, who got in its line of view and delivered a hard high blow to its ears. She maneuvered on her long legs just in time to avoid a fatal bite to the neck. With a proud yowl, she jumped onto the fox's back and began ripping at its fur and skin, shedding blood onto the white ground.

"Maple!" Briarlight screeched in terror for the large she-cat. A tail wrapped around her neck and pulled her in the direction of SJ.

"She'll be fine, dear. We need to hide. Now!" She said in a stern tone. Briarlight didn't disagree, but also didn't agree with it. The warrior she-cat followed her companion over to a dead patch of thorn bushes. She dove in and quickly reeled around to see if Maple was okay.

To say that Briarlight was shocked would've made her scoff in disbelief. She knew completely that Maple was and is strong, but she never in her wildest dreams would've thought that the Savannah would muster up remarkable courage as she faced an animal practically the same size as her, shockingly enough.

Maple growled low, ducking as the fox lashed at her face. In doing so, she bit down hard on its foreleg, pulling it out from underneath its and making the fox fall. Maple gave off a second "snake hiss" backing away, but still holding a fighting stance. The fox seemed to struggle in getting up, indicating that Maple's attacks had injured it to a point it was slowing down. But one glance at the feral glare in the fox's face made Briarlight's stomach fill with cold dread.

And a gut feeling flowed over telling her that Maple knew what was going to happen next, but she gave off no indication of so.

With unexpected speed, the fox pounced, tackling Maple over, who skidded back up and fell back into a clash of claws and teeth with it. But it leaned towards the fox with it threw Maple off her feet and stood over her with what appeared to be an evil smirk.

"Maple!" SJ yowled, struggling whether or not to jump out and help her.

Briarlight watched helplessly, the fox getting ready to dive down for the final kill. 'StarClan save her!' She cried out mentally.

A noise, much louder than Maple's snarl, echoed in the air. Briarlight then realized it was the sound of a dog, growing close quickly. She felt relief but new ignited fear as a white dog, slim and tall, snapped at the fox, its eyes hot and angry. The dog barked loudly, scaring the fox off of Maple. But Maple didn't seemed frightened by the white dog in the least.

In fact, she appeared almost…excited to see it.

The fox seemed to have lost all of its feral courage once the beast jumped in and saved Maple. It snarled once, standing right above Maple, and made the fox turn tail, fleeing into the bushes.

Many pregnant pauses passed, no one moving from their postures. Finally, the dog whipped around and tackled Maple down with large licks to the face. Briarlight stared, aghast.

"H-Hey! I'm glad to see you too, Lucinda!" Maple squealed, pushing the white slim dog away in order to nuzzle in its neck fur. Getting up, Briarlight stifled a laugh when she noticed that Maple was covered in a light layer of drool. Maple paused to shake it off, a bright smile never wavering from her lips.

"You know this dog, Maple?" Briarlight couldn't help but ask, though she did so in a quiet tone. Unlike her, however, SJ burst out to rub against the dog on its other side.

"Yep! Her name is Lucinda." Maple looked at her companion. Clearing her throat briefly, her voice got gruff and Briarlight didn't understand what she was saying.

"What did you do there, Maple?"

"I spoke in dog tongue."

"How did you do that?"

"I've learned how to speak that way since I was little. My father and mother told me how to talk to dogs. It's quite easy once you get used to the gruffness of your own voice. SJ even knows how to do it," Maple grinned widely. "What I said to her is that your name is Briarlight and that you're my new friend. The same one I've mentioned about many times."

'So a dog knows who I am. Just great.' Briarlight thought with a grumble. Suddenly, another, much deeper, bark came from behind Lucinda. Her blue eyes whipped around just in time to see a huge dog—obviously a male—white like her but with gray-black ears and tailtip. He was panting hard, sharp brown eyes scanning over to where she and the cats stood.

"Hey King!" SJ mewled, smirking as the white male dog strutted over to her. "It's good to see you. A sight for sore eyes, don't you think?"

But all King did was snort in annoyance before his attention fell on Briarlight. He stared long and hard at her, as if judging her appearance. Briarlight didn't know until now that she was shaking.

'Suck it up, you mouse-breath! He can't hurt you, for Maple would stop him.' She told herself, instantly feeling more relaxed at it.

"I wonder where Mama is," Maple chirped. "She never lets these two out of sight unless they're herding…"

Something clicked in Briarlight's head. "Who's 'Mama'? No one has said a word about this 'Mama'."

Apparently, it hit Maple and SJ harder than expected. They glanced at each other, worry filling their expressions. Lucinda and King even looked like so too.

"Um…well, that was what we were…worried about telling you, Briar. There are things you probably hate about us and of her if we told you…"

The feeling of dread started building up in her stomach, making her shudder. "Please tell me. Who is this Mama—"

Low and hard thumps trailed in their direction. Briarlight almost thought a stampede was happening. She looked around frantically, but nothing showed up right away. She waited for two heartbeats before giving her attention to Maple to order her what was happening.

But it never came.

A figure came closer down from the path. However, as it drew nearer, Briarlight's dread exploded into pure terror.

Skidding a stop and standing several fox-lengths higher than all of them, was a female Twoleg, panting a little out of breath.

"Hi Mama!"

Ahh, Cliffhangers –dodges bullets and spoiled food- I just love 'em B) You'll have to wait until the next chapter~

Interesting Facts Time!

From what I've watched and quickly researched on, Savannah cats are also known for their trait, 'the snake hiss' Unlike many cats, Savannahs have a deeper, much raspier hiss that sounds much like a snake's hiss. They hiss and growl for in danger, AND when playing (especially with feathers, oddly enough). When playing, it's not because they are ticked off; it's really because their predatory side comes out, so people who own Savannahs shouldn't be all too surprised at this. When they want attention, they hiss to get the attention of their owners sometimes (they don't want to hurt you in the least XD) This all comes from their—surprisingly—very close lineage to the Serval, which played the key part in a Savannah's birth, size, speed, and jumping abilities. The Savannah was first successfully "bred" as an experiment between a male, properly "domesticated" Serval (owned by Suzi Woods) and a female domestic Siamese cat on April 7, 1986. Because of their 'snake hiss' many got the wrong impression, thus the Savannah cat is a rarity itself, both in anatomy and price-wise, since they can be bought, in many cases, up to $20,000.

Just a quick wrap up and spoiler (I guess in some cases), I felt that a cat such as the Savannah would have an interesting role in the story, along with a mix-up between an Oriental.

Sorry for the rambling, but I hope you all at least learned something new :)

Until next time~!