"Run!" Leapingpaw cried and began to pelt away with Goldenpaw at her side.
The dark brown monster slammed into the trees where the apprentices were standing. The trees fell down with such force that the wind almost swept the two apprentices off their paws.
"Hurry, Goldenpaw!" Leapingpaw wailed as she noticed her friend as lagging behind.
"I'm trying!" Goldenpaw cried, but he knew he could go no faster. Ever since Goldenpaw broke his paw, he had to practice doing everything over again, and he had never practiced running before.
Stupid paw! Why can't you work right? Why can't you—
Goldenpaw's awry paw suddenly got caught in a bramble tendril. The young apprentice went flying and landed a few pawsteps behind Leapingpaw; his face lying in the snow.
"Goldenpaw, get up!" Leapingpaw cried and gently nosed her friend. The sound of thundering pawsteps made Leapingpaw freeze in her paws. "Get up!"
"I'm getting there!" Goldenpaw complained and managed to get to his paws.
"We must hurry!" Leapingpaw cried, but it was too late. The creature had caught up with them. It let out another roar and once again surged forward with claws out. Both apprentices closed their eyes, waiting for those sharp and deadly claws to rip through their pelts and for StarClan to call them.
But those claws never tore through their pelts.
Because someone leapt at the last second.
That cat sunk their teeth into the creature's muzzle and bit down hard. Their claws raked at the creature's black eyes and on its dark gray nose.
"Run!" the cat barked and let out a wail as the creature hooked him in its claws and threw him aside.
"Cloudpaw!" Leapingpaw cried and rushed towards her brother, leaving Goldenpaw with the creature.
"Don't…worry," Cloudpaw managed to meow. Blood was spilling from the fresh wound on his side and his voice was weak. "Stripedwhisker…is coming…"
At the sound of his words, Stripedwhisker emerged from the snow with a patrol behind him.
"Goldenpaw, Leapingpaw, get out of here!" Stripedwhisker ordered. "We'll deal with this bear!"
Trusting that Stripedwhisker and his patrol would be fine, Goldenpaw pelted forward to Cloudpaw, whose breaths were becoming shorter.
"Cloudpaw…how did you know—?" Leapingpaw cried, but Cloudpaw interrupted her.
"I followed your scent…trail and when the bear came…I went to…" He clenched his teeth together. "Fetch help…and since I was going to…die…anyway…I wanted to use…the few moments I have…to make a difference…to show…that…I am…worthy of…becoming a…warrior…"
"Oh, thank you, Cloudpaw!" Leapingpaw cried and rested her muzzle against her brother's. "You truly are a warrior at heart…"
Cloudpaw didn't respond.
He let out one final gasp…and then laid still.
"He's in StarClan now…" Goldenpaw meowed and gave Leapingpaw's shoulder a swift lick.
"I know…" Leapingpaw whispered, her gaze not leaving her brother's pelt. "Even though he died as an apprentice…he'll be Cloudheart up in StarClan."
Goldenpaw nodded and turned his head to see Stripedwhisker padding towards them.
"Cloudpaw…told us that you were being attacked by the bear. He ran ahead to help you two before we arrived," Stripedwhisker explained.
"He's Cloudheart now," Leapingpaw explained.
Stripedwhisker nodded solemnly as he picked up Cloudheart's body in his jaws and began to carry him back to camp.
Flyingcloud draped his tail over the two apprentices' shoulders as they marched back to camp.
Goldenpaw sat outside the apprentices' den. Outside, a few cats were still sitting Cloudheart's vigil.
Nightstrike and Spottednight took Cloudheart's death especially hard, since they were his adoptive parents. Even their three kits: Shadepaw, Dustpaw and Mintpaw stayed at Cloudheart's vigil for a little bit. They always thought of Cloudheart and his siblings at their older brothers and sister.
Skypaw didn't say anything during the vigil. Even when Nightstrike tried to comfort him, the gray and white apprentice pushed him away, but didn't dare to leave his dead brother's side. Leapingpaw had explained earlier that Skypaw was in pain, but he is a proud tom and won't admit his feelings to anyone but his sister.
Leapingpaw was also there during the vigil. Unlike her brother, she accepted other's comfort when they padded by. Everyone in the camp felt bad for her and wanted her to know that they cared. The light brown and white she-cat simply smiled at their kind words, but you could easily tell in her eyes that she was feeling great sorrow.
Goldenpaw padded out of the den and gently nosed Leapingpaw, who was lying on the ground next to where her brother used to lie.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah…I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Goldenpaw asked, not believing her for a heartbeat.
Leapingpaw let out a sigh, know that her friend was waiting for the right answer. "Okay, I'm not. Happy now? How would you feel if you lost one of your siblings?"
Goldenpaw paused for a moment, not knowing what to say. "I'd be lost if anything happened to Mousepaw or Pumpkinpaw; especially Pumpkinpaw."
Leapingpaw's eyes lit up in confusion. "Pumpkinpaw?"
Goldenpaw nodded. "Even though he's a huge pain in the tail, he's still my brother. I can't imagine life without him."
Leapingpaw shrugged and got to her paws. "Yeah…I guess—" She stopped for a heartbeat, pricking her ears and her eyes grew. "Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?"
"Something's going to happen, but I don't know what…" Leapingpaw trailed off and stared into the distance.
Goldenpaw looked around and noticed that his Clanmates were acting strange also.
Redstar was lying on top of Hanging Branch and kept his ears pricked.
Steelclaw and Lilybreeze stopped eating their fresh-kill and glanced around.
Leopardnose was trying to stop her mate, Ryeleaf, from pacing, but the tom could not stop and Leopardnose only watched her mate with worried eyes.
Shadepaw and Mintpaw had stopped chasing each other and nervously scanned the camp.
Again, another surge of pain flooded in Goldenpaw, causing his legs to give away and he flopped on the ground.
Not this again!
The ground cracked before him and he suddenly felt nothing holding his paws up. He tumbled down into the crevice, yowling for help.
Just as fast as it came, it vanished and the pain began to ebb away.
"Again?" Leapingpaw asked as she nosed her friend up. "Will you now tell me what's with those…things of yours?!"
"I can't!" Goldenpaw meowed.
"Why not?" Leapingpaw stubbornly asked.
"Because I have no idea what they are, either! Why do you keep pestering me about that when I don't know myself! Maybe you should've thought about that first, Leapingpaw," he suddenly snapped.
Leapingpaw's green eyes grew wide at his sharpness and Goldenpaw suddenly realized his mistake.
"I-I didn't mean it—"
"Yeah, I know exactly what you meant," Leapingpaw muttered darkly. "I'm nothing but a pestering nuisance!" She then turned around and fled out of camp, but Goldenpaw didn't fail to catch the pain in her green eyes.
"Leapingpaw, wait!" Goldenpaw tried to call, but his friend had already vanished through the dead ferns.
Great StarClan, why can't I keep my mouth shut for once?
He was prepared to go after her when all of a sudden the ground started to vibrate. The vibrating suddenly changed into violent shaking and every cat was tossed around. A large creek was heard and suddenly the Hanging Branch tree tumbled down taking Redstar with it. Cats were screeching left and right as the violent rumbling continued.
"What's going on?" Jayspirit rasped from the elders' den.
"StarClan save us!" Moonshadow hollered into the morning sky, waiting for a response.
A loud crack was heard and suddenly a giant fissure formed right in the middle of the camp. The rift grew larger as it surged toward the CreekClan cats, straight for Goldenpaw.
Goldenpaw, who was frozen in fear, kept his eyes wide and didn't move.
"Goldenpaw, move!" Ryeleaf yowled, but his son didn't move. All he kept staring at was that crack.
It's just like my vision…only it's happening for real!
With a final push, the crack split further and suddenly stopped…right at Goldenpaw's paws.
The rumbling stopped and so did the shaking.
The cats only stared in awe at the way the crevice halted in front of a lowly apprentice.
A sudden screech of pure terror brought Goldenpaw back to reality. Frozenspots, a black and white she-cat, was hanging off one side of the crack with her back legs dangling.
"Help!" Frozenspots cried as her claws began to slip.
"I'm coming little sister!" Risingwinter cried as he rushed forward, but he was not fast enough. Frozenspots' claws gave away and she tumbled down the split in the ground.
"No!" Risingwinter cried and was about to jump in after her when Wingflight grabbed his scruff and dragged him away from the death crack. "What are you doing? Frozenspots needs our help!"
"Don't be a fool, Risingwinter!" Wingflight managed to growl. "You'll also be killed if you jump down that hole!"
"But she's your daughter!" Risingwinter insisted.
"And she wouldn't want you to kill yourself!" Wingflight hissed and then spoke softer. "She's gone, my son. She's with Cloudheart now."
Risingwinter's tail drooped and he let out a loud moan.
"Wait, where's Leapingpaw?" Spottednight asked. "Leapingpaw!"
"She went into the forest!" Goldenpaw explained. "I'll go find her!" Before anyone could object, the golden tabby tom rushed into the snowy forest, leaping over snow piles and dodging barren trees to follow her scent trail.
She's gotta be somewhere around here…but where?
"Help!" Leapingpaw's panicked-filled cry echoed off the trees. "Help me!"
"Hang on, Leapingpaw!" Goldenpaw cried back and began to run as fast as his paws could carry him in the direction of her screech. He soon located Leapingpaw in the hands of a hairless creature. The creature was tail-lengths taller than Goldenpaw with surprisingly hair only on its head. It wore a bright green pelt and had brown hind paws and the strangest of all it stood on its hind paws all the time.
The hairless creature opened a giant silver-white monster and stepped inside. He closed it up and was prepared to climb inside again when Goldenpaw bravely stepped out.
"Release my friend, you…monster!" Goldenpaw hissed.
The tall animal padded towards Goldenpaw and swiftly scooped him up.
"Hey, let me go!" Goldenpaw spat and tried to wriggle free, but the strange animal had a strong grip. He opened up the monster again and shoved Goldenpaw in a tiny den and closed the door. "Let me go!" Goldenpaw cried again when the monster was suddenly brought to life. "Great StarClan, what am I going to do now?!"
Well, that was a pretty crazy chapter, huh?
Read and review please!