Warriors Escape From The Dark
Chapter 8
"Swiftleap, you'll be with me?" A tom meowed to Swiftleap. Chestfall and a grey she-cat every cat named Gorsefang had come up with a plan to defeat Beaverstep and each of the cats had been organised into patrols with particular traits. Swiftleap had been placed in the sneak patrol. Splashheart was assigned to the heal patrol while Chestfall had joined the battle patrol.
"Why can't I be in the battle patrol?" A she-cat exclaimed in annoyance, she looked about the size of an apprentice.
What could have an apprentice done to have come here? Swiftleap wondered, a flicker of movement shone into his eyes and he turned to see Chestfall and Splashheart staring at him.
"We need to talk," Chestfall declared. Splashheart said nothing. Swiftleap agreed and followed them to a small clearing just out of earshot from the rest of the group.
"What is it?" Swiftleap asked his littermates. Chestfall sighed before facing him.
"Splashheart and I have come to an agreement" Chestfall meowed.
"What have you agreed on?" Swiftleap pressed, stepping a little closer in case any cats were listening.
"We have both agreed that if anything bad happens, that leads to…injuries, that we won't tell the clan when we return," Chestfall grieved. Swiftleap noticed his eyes were filled with concern and Splashheart's weren't any different.
"If it is what you wish then I agree, on one condition, we can tell our mother and our brother," Swiftleap agreed. Chestfall and Splashheart nodded reluctantly.
Were they really not going to tell them? Swiftleap commented to himself, he stood up and walked away from his littermates and back to his patrol, they both did the same.
"Swiftleap, this is no time for gossiping!" His patrol leader scolded. He quickly pelted to the group and followed them all out of the clearing. Their leader was heading towards his old training hollow, but just as he got close to it he turned and began to run, the rest of the patrol did the same until he came to a sudden stop.
"Each of you is to jump down these trees and into the sneak hollow below, this is where we will have our patrol meetings," The leader announced.
"What about the other patrols?" A she-cat called. Swiftleap couldn't see who it was but her voice sounded vaguely familiar.
"As far as your concerned, there aren't any other patrols, from now on we will be known as Sneakclan!" The tom replied, a few cats began chanting their new clan name while others simply stomped their feet hard on the ground causing the ground below to vibrate beneath Swiftleap's paws. It suddenly stopped and Swiftleap realised that their leader had raised his tail for silence. He jumped down from the tree stump he had been sitting on and started signalling cats down the trees. When Swiftleap's turn came he was a bit hesitant but he eventually got the hang of it, jumping from branch to branch until he was close enough to the ground. His clanmates all sat around a huge oak stump and waited for their leader to come down and sit on it.
"There he is!" A tom called. Swiftleap looked up and saw their leader leaping confidently down each branch, skipping a few at some points. Once he was close enough to the bottom he leaped down and landed silently on the ground and walked through his clan who had made a gap in between them. He jumped onto the stump and sat down so that he could face his clan.
"For those of you that do not know me, my name is Dustclaw, I will be leading this patrol," Dustclaw meowed to his clan, a few murmurs flew around the clearing but they soon fell silent so Dustclaw could continue.
"You'd think he'd be called Duststar," A cat mocked, followed by a cheeky laugh from another cat.
"Each of you have been personally selected, because you were great hunters in your previous clans. But not only are you great hunters but you also have great speed, agility and you're very light on your feet" Dustclaw praised. A few cats around Swiftleap nodded in agreement
"So what will that mean in the battle?" Swiftleap queried. Dustclaw and the rest of his clan turned around to look at Swiftleap.
"Good question, our patrol will be the first patrol that go into the battle, we will be attacking from above and below, while the battle patrol will attack in the centre of the battle," Dustclaw explained, agitated mutters spilt into the clearing.
"Why can't we fight, properly?"
"What's the point of fighting from above if there is a battle patrol?"
"How come the heal patrol don't do anything?" Soon after the clearing was filled with quarrelling cats, each having a different opinion. Swiftleap's head whirled at all of the accusations and he tried to block out the noise but it just seemed to be getting louder.
"Silence!" A she-cat growled. The clan fell silent once more and stared at her, her pelt was a dazzling silver and it seemed to be latched to the side of her lithe shape.
"Thank you, Reedpelt," Dustclaw nodded at the she-cat. She nodded as well without facing Dustclaw then proceeded to sit down, and glare at the clan.
"She's scary," A tom whimpered.
"She's amazing," Another tom gawked.
"Mouse-brain!" The first tom remarked, the two happened to be right next to Swiftleap and both of them had started play-fighting.
"Gingerfall, Shredspring, stop at once!" The two stopped quarrelling and looked at their leader. Gingerfall, the one that had commented on Reedpelt's beauty, was staring straight at her, while she held back a mroww of laughter with her paw.
"She's looking at me, straighten up, flea-brain!" Gingerfall gave Shredspring a harsh nudge with his side which caused Shredspring to fall sideways and land on the ground with a loud thump. He muttered something under his breath before getting up and sitting beside his friend, Swiftleap gave a little smirk because the two reminded him of him and his brother.
I would give anything to see him just one more time.