It's certainly been a while, guys! With the new semester at my school I was forced to push back my writing while adjusting to my new classes and schedule changes. Plus, I've been recently captivated by the Divergent series by Veronica Roth (LOVE IT), anyone know of it? But I finally got a chance to write and I'm pleasantly surprised at how it turned out.
Anyway, thanks to any reviews/favorites/follows this story has gotten.
Don't be afraid to review!
The diverse variety of trees towered over them as the patrol padded on toward the ShadowClan border. Dawnpaw had taken up the back and she trudged after Sorreltail, Whitewing, Honeypaw, and Bravepaw. She still felt the ache in her muscles from the fox attack just a few days ago. Leafpool was still worrying over her because that had been the second time within a short time period that she'd been hurt. It didn't help that she was Leafpool's sister's daughter, though.
Ferncloud and Daisy need the care more than I do, Dawnpaw thought. The two had actually sustained injuries after all. Ferncloud was allowed to leave because Leafpool just patched her up with marigold, but Daisy still had to remain in the medicine cat's den for now because it would take time for her fracture to mend.
Dawnpaw lashed her tail angrily, eyes flashing. I should have done something to prevent everything that happened to them, she thought guiltily, furious with herself. If it hadn't been for the return of the patrols the fox would have killed all of them and then would have moved on to the kits that were lying in fear in the nursery with only Brightheart to look over them.
There was still a ringing in her ears whenever she moved too quickly or when she ran too fast. At least the kits are okay, though. Dawnpaw sighed. She was frustrated not only with herself but also with StarClan. Redtail had refused to tell her about whatever betrayal was coming and she couldn't help but feel cheated. What did they expect from her? There was nothing special about her.
Her nightmare was back too, and she couldn't help but be anxious as ever. Snowkit in her dream had changed from an apprentice to an older kit and Dawnpaw felt a sense of horrible foreboding. Everything was still the same and Dawnpaw could barely look at Thornclaw in her waking world without the image of his limp, bloody form sprawled out in the center of the clearing. But he's still alive, he's still here, she told herself every time, but she wasn't even sure what was happening herself. Redtail had told her that there was a battle coming. Was this what he had meant?
"Dawnpaw?" Bravepaw's soft voice brought her from her musing, "Are you okay? You're starting to fall behind."
Dawnpaw blinked and she realized that Bravepaw was right. There were a good couple of fox-lengths between herself and the rest of the patrol. The others hadn't stopped but Bravepaw was looking back at her with concerned green eyes. With just a nod to her brother, she quickened her pace and followed more closely. Bravepaw didn't say more but he continued to stare at her for a few lasting heartbeats before turning his head away and making conversation with Honeypaw.
Leaping over a fallen branch to follow her Clanmates, Dawnpaw remembered the vision of the fox with Sundapple before her own encounter with the same creature. She was still puzzled beyond belief as to why she had seen it in the first place. The only tie that she had to Sundapple was her meeting Cloudwhisker just that one time. So why would she see some kind of memory of his past mate's life?
Dawnpaw shook her head, sighing in defeat. Her life had been so much more normal before her visit with Cloudwhisker. She had been a regular ThunderClan apprentice with her mind on battle strategies and hunting for her Clan, but now she was untangling a web of mysteries that managed to elude her.
Dawnpaw forced herself to push her worries to the edge of her mind at the reminder. She shouldn't have her head in the clouds at a moment like this. She was supposed to be focusing on protecting her Clan! She couldn't do that if she never learned a thing from Sorreltail because her thoughts were elsewhere!
Opening her mouth, Dawnpaw scented the air, tasting the comforting fragrances of the forest. She pushed past them, recognizing the individual smells of her Clanmates and she couldn't make out any trace of ShadowClan so far. They were nearing the border so none of the ShadowClan cats had strayed too far this way.
The border scent marks were fresh, but there were no obvious signs of hostility on the ThunderClan side. As Sorreltail and Whitewing scent marked, Dawnpaw, Bravepaw, and Honeypaw searched the nearby undergrowth for any traces of ShadowClan.
Dawnpaw sniffed around a patch of brambles and she started as the sharp tendrils trembled as a mouse darted from cover, racing wildly away right into the paws of Sorreltail. The tortoiseshell she-cat reacted swiftly and cleanly broke the mouse's neck with a blow to its neck.
"Nice catch!" Dawnpaw meowed and added sheepishly, "It scared me a little."
Sorreltail's chest rumbled with a purr. "Your senses will sharpen with time, as well as your reflexes. By the time I'm a stinky old elder you'll be the best hunter in ThunderClan!"
Honeypaw let out a mrrow of laughter. "You had better not let Mousefur hear you say that!"
Sorreltail shivered. "Oh, I forgot. Her hearing never faded with age." She did a great show of inspecting her surroundings, eyeing each hiding place with wide, fearful eyes.
Dawnpaw's tail curled in amusement and she could hear Bravepaw's muffled laughter from behind a clump of ferns. Whitewing nudged her friend's shoulder with her nose. "Don't worry. Her tongue and hearing may have remained through the moons, but her eyesight is another story. She probably couldn't tell the difference between you and Dawnpaw!"
"Dawnpaw's fluffier," Bravepaw meowed, sticking his head out of the ferns just outside Dawnpaw's immediate range of movement. "Like the sheep those WindClan apprentices were talking about."
"You mean the clouds with legs?" Honeypaw sniggered.
"Hey!" Dawnpaw batted her ear playfully.
"You're forgetting Cloudtail, Bravepaw," Sorreltail meowed. "He's fluffier than Dawnpaw and Squirrelflight combined!"
As Dawnpaw purred her laughter, she felt an overwhelming sense of peace. She loved being able to joke about things like this. But as Redtail had told her, a battle was looming on the horizon and it was only a matter of time until it was upon them.
"Mistypaw, wait!" Sunpaw called as the gray and white she-cat launched herself over the ice of the wide river. Looking down at the frosty-white stuff, she dapped her paw at it and brought it back as is stung her pad. Lifting her head again to see Mistypaw sliding further away with her fur fluffed in excitement. Sighing reluctantly, Sunpaw placed her two front paws on the ice and eased her hind paws onto the slick surface, immediately losing her footing. With a hiss of annoyance towards her friend, Sunpaw unsheathed her claws and sank them into the ice to get a firm grip of it.
Carefully picking her way over the surface of the ice, Sunpaw called again, "Mistypaw wait for me!"
By the time she had neared Mistypaw enough, she was shivering and her paws had gone numb from being in such close contact with the ice. "What is the point of this?" she growled to Mistypaw, her tail flicking agitatedly.
Mistypaw ignored her scathing tone. Instead, she squealed in delight as she spotted a shallow spot. Drawing closer, she peered down through the ice, leaving Sunpaw to roll her eyes and follow her slowly.
"Look at the water below that isn't frozen! There's fish!" Mistypaw exclaimed, her blue eyes as wide as the full moon.
Sunpaw looked through the clear ice and saw with a spark of amazement that Mistypaw was right. Aren't they cold? Sunpaw dimly thought as she watched the flashes of silver swim under her paws.
"It's deeper in the center," Mistypaw meowed, almost to herself, "There are more fish there."
She glided to the middle of the river and looked down, but her ears flattened in disappointment. "The ice is too thick here. Maybe if I just make a little hole…"
Mistypaw unsheathed her claws and she scratched at the surface, making tiny grooves but otherwise not harming the ice. Lashing her tail, she hissed in frustration.
Sunpaw clawed her way over. "I don't think you're going to be able to see anything here, furball," she observed with amusement, catching Mistypaw's ear with her paw.
"I know that!" Mistypaw cried indignantly, launching herself at Sunpaw and sending them sprawling over the ice, causing Sunpaw to slide over an unusual patch of thinner ice in the center of the river.
As Sunpaw moved to return to Mistypaw, a crack split the leaf-bare air and she yelped as the ice under her hind legs gave way. Gasping, she lurched forward just in time to catch her claws on a thicker portion of ice, keeping half of her out of the startlingly cold water. Her hind legs churned in the freezing river water and her blood had gone cold in horror.
"Sunpaw!" Mistypaw screeched and she hurtled over the ice to her, eyes stretched wide in terror. "Hold on!"
But she was slipping. The river water, though under ice, was still as swift as when it was thawed out and was dragging at her body and her claws weren't going to hold forever.
"Mistypaw! Sunpaw!" The new voice caught Sunpaw's attention and she looked up onto the ThunderClan bank to see Runningbreeze, Goldenlily, and Cloudwhisker racing toward them, parallel to the river.
Relief washed through Sunpaw, but she was still dangerously close to slipping into the river current and under the ice. Scrabbling at the ice, Sunpaw desperately searched for a pawhold to keep her from slipping but the cold, black water was at her chest now. Blood pounded in her ears and she recognized her heartbeat, but it was sluggish and her vision was slipping away.
"Sunpaw, hold on!" Mistypaw's voice rang in her ears as she leaned over her, casting a shadow over the gap in the ice.
"You're too small," Sunpaw choked out, not able to keep the trembling out of her voice. She was so tired.
Mistypaw twisted her head to look for something beyond Sunpaw's range of vision. "Hold on!" she repeated again, "They'll be here soon."
Water swirled around her, lulling her to sleep and she sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment before she realized that that wasn't the best idea. Snapping her eyes open again and almost let go of the ice in surprise as dark blue eyes bore into hers. They were reminiscent to Mistypaw's, but different all the same.
"Sunpaw, be strong for a moment more," Cloudwhisker told her and he leaned down over her, gripping the scruff of her neck with his teeth gently. Grunting, he hauled her up and out of the river, holding her over the ice. For a heartbeat, she felt almost like a kit again, being held by a much larger cat as he climbed carefully onto the bank.
Sunpaw shivered as Cloudwhisker deposited her on the cold ground, though warmer than the water. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
Before Sunpaw could answer, Goldenlily nudged him away, leaning over her kit. "Sunpaw!" she cried in anguish, furiously licking her face before moving to her soaking fur.
Mistypaw appeared beside her and she pressed her muzzle against Sunpaw's, purring. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
Sunpaw shuddered as a tremor passed through her. She was still so cold.
"Goldenlily, licking her is not going to help," Runningbreeze meowed softly, laying a comforting tail on her shoulder. "We have to get her back to camp to Clovershine before she freezes to death."
Goldenlily pulled away and Sunpaw immediately missed her warmth. Goldenlily nodded to Runningbreeze and she turned to Cloudwhisker. "Can you carry her? I don't think that she'll be able to walk."
"Of course," Cloudwhisker told her. He stepped forward and grasped Sunpaw's scruff again, lifting her off the ground. Sunpaw curled in on herself and held her tail off the ground so that it wouldn't drag. His breath stirred her neck fur lightly at the close proximity and she relished in the small warmth.
As they slowly moved forward, Sunpaw swayed in the air and rumbling of the comforting purr in his chest finally brought sleep upon her.
Dawnpaw gasped awake, quivering with cold. Her awareness strengthening after a few heartbeats, she recognized the steady thrum of rain drops on the roof of their den and she hissed quietly in disgust. The roof is leaking again. Rising to her paws, she shook out her damp fur and stepped out her soaked nest. Looking around the den, she realized that her nest was the only wet one, being at the edge of the den.
Suddenly, she shuddered at the sudden remembrance of her dream. It happened again, Dawnpaw realized, but Sundapple was younger this time. She was an apprentice this time—like me.
Suddenly, she felt an icy cold spread through her that had nothing to do with the rain and the fur along her spine bristled. Something was wrong. She could feel it.
Emerging from the apprentices' den, she flattened her ears against the rain that pounded on her from above and she looked out into the clearing. It was silent, not a cat in sight. Not even Brackenfur, who was supposed to be on watch.
Slipping along the perimeter of the clearing, Dawnpaw slid by each of the dens, pausing to peer into each before moving on again. Halfway through her venture, she pushed her head into the nursery and looked around. All the queens slept in their respective nests but on a closer look, Brightheart's kits, Snowkit, and Robinkit were nowhere to be found.
Dread pulled at Dawnpaw's belly as she pushed into the den and woke the nearest queen—Ferncloud—with a slight nudge with nose. The gray queen's eyes fluttered open and she blinked up at her.
"Dawnpaw?" she asked, bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"Where are the kits?"
Ferncloud turned her head to look at the empty space beside her belly and then snapped her head around to get a look at the other nests around her. As the realization hit her, Ferncloud jumped to her paws. "The kits!" she cried, rousing the other queens immediately. "They're gone!"
Anybody noticing a trend in these visions that Dawnpaw is getting? These little snippets of Sundapple's life will play a large part in the end. Is anybody getting tired of reading about it, though? I know that there have been a lot in the past chapters and I want to make sure that nobody is feeling reserved about them. If so, please review or PM me with some suggestions!
By the way, if anybody is feeling a little overwhelmed by these new characters (the ones from Sundapple's past), just about all of them are on my profile page.
