Thanks for the reminder, Iced Skim Decaf Mocha Latte! I'll try to update more often.
Chapter Seven
"Spottedpaw! Spottedpaw, wake up!"
Spottedpaw staggered to her feet and looked around wildly, panting slightly, her ears pressed flat back against her head and fur bristling. Redfoot, the cat calling her, was staring at her curiously, his head poking through the apprentices' den. Leopardpaw was watching her anxiously, with Stormpaw and Fawnpaw still asleep. Cloverpaw was already gone, the scent on her nest starting to grow stale.
I've got to tell Whitestar! She thought wildly. Something awful's going to happen! But, if he already knows…do I tell him or what? Well…I guess if he already knows, it's okay, she thought uncertainly. He is the Clan leader after all. He'll know what to do about it. She shoved her dream away and focused on acting like nothing was wrong.
"You all right?" Redfoot asked. Spottedpaw remembered what her mother said about not telling anyone else and gave a shaky nod. "Icestorm wants us to go out on a patrol. Check out the RiverClan border," Redfoot explained. "See you in a bit." He withdrew his head and left.
Spottedpaw gave herself a quick wash and, mewing a quick good-bye to Leopardpaw, rushed out to join the others. Redfoot, Bluestorm, and Raventail waited impatiently in front of the gorse tunnel, tails twitching and eyes narrowed, Raventail pacing back and forth.
Spottedpaw skidded up, her fur hot with embarrassment. "Sorry for being late-"
Redfoot grinned, slapping his tail over her mouth. "Don't worry. It's Sandfur we're waiting on. Whitestar's talking to him." He pulled his tail away. Spottedpaw sighed with relief and sat down.
Rosethorn, a young ginger warrior, walked past them and gave the patrol a nod of greeting, then paused and looked back at Spottedpaw, whiskers twitching in amusement. She padded up to Spottedpaw, delicately reaching up to pull a piece of moss off her ear. "There you go," she meowed. She winked. "Slept in, huh?" Spottedpaw smiled back - the ginger warrior was always cheerful and friendly.
"Hunting?" Redfoot asked.
Rosethorn nodded. "Yeah. The fresh-kill pile was looking low. Speaking of which, I'd better get going before Icestorm bites my head off for wasting daylight," she added, whiskers twitching in silent laughter. Spottedpaw purred in amusement with the rest of the patrol; Icestorm could be stern, but he was nice, not the biting-off-head- type. Waving her tail in good-bye to the other cats, Rosethorn turned and padded out the gorse tunnel. "Have a good patrol!" she called over her shoulder.
When Sandfur finally joined them, the patrol headed out at a run for the RiverClan border. Just as the patrol came into sight of Sunningrocks, the smooth gray boulders gleaming in the sunlight, Spottedpaw staggered, Redfoot, the rest of the patrol and Sunningrocks vanishing. She was hunting in another part of the forest, her ears pricking as she spotted a squirrel searching for nuts at the foot of an oak tree just a few fox-lengths away. She bunched her muscles and prepared to spring, but suddenly the squirrel sat up, nose twitching, and leaped away into the undergrowth with a squeak of alarm. She slowly stood in confusion, a prickle of unease shivering down her spine. The squirrel couldn't have heard her or smelled her, so what had it sensed?
Suddenly a heavy weight crashed down on her back; before she could so much as meow in shock, a biting pain met in her neck, and everything faded into darkness, the reek of freshly spilled blood in her nostrils.
Spottedpaw's eyes flew open and she gasped, panting for breath, the cold ground pressing against her cheek. Redfoot was crouching over her. "Are you okay?" he mewed worriedly. "You just kind of keeled over."
She staggered to her feet, not bothering to shake off the dead leaves stuck to her fur. "Something awful's happened!" she gasped.
Redfoot blinked. "I think you hit your head. I'll take you back to camp and you can see Jayflight-"
Spottedpaw lurched away, her heartbeat quickening with terror, with no thought in her mind but to stop whatever was happening from happening. "The camp!"
Behind her, she heard Redfoot yowling her name, but she didn't look back. Her mother's words echoed in her brain. There is a great darkness coming; already its shadow has fallen over the Clans…a great darkness...a great darkness…I was a mouse-brained idiot not to tell Whitestar!
Over the sounds of her own flight she heard someone chasing after her, probably Redfoot. She sped up, worried that if he caught her he would stop her from reaching the camp. And what will you do when you get there? She scathingly thought to herself. You don't have a plan! She racked her brain, trying to think of something before she reached camp. Bracken and ferns whipped at her face and several times she almost crashed into trees; the closer she got to the ravine she heard shocked and angry yowls tearing through the air, coming from the camp. She skidded down the slope of the ravine and barreled into the camp, sides heaving.
Immediately her eyes were drawn to limp, untidy heap of ginger fur slumped in the middle of the clearing, perfectly still. She stood, numb, her Clanmates' sorrowful cries battering at her ears. No!
It was Rosethorn.