I think I can officially say that this is my longest chapter in Last Chance and maybe even in all of my fanfiction stories! It's frinking 8 PAGES on Microsoft word! And I thought it would only be four pages, or something like that! Wow.
"Fire! Wake up!"
The frantic yowl woke Yellowfang from her dream. She blinked once, then breathed in the harsh tang of smoke. "Cinderpelt!" She jumped to her paws. "Cinderpelt, get up for StarClan's sake! There's a fire!"
"Yellowfang," a voice groaned. "What is i-?" The gray-furred medicine cat opened her eyes. Instantly she leaped to her paws, her fur bristling.
"Hurry," Yellowfang growled. "Fireheart's alerting the rest of the Clan!" She bounded out of the den and into the center of the camp.
Fireheart was running around, urging warriors out of their nests and gathering the cats in the center of the camp. "We must leave the camp at once! Tell Bluestar the forest is on fire!"
The deputy raced to the elders' den. "The forest is on fire! Get out!" he caterwauled. The elders shifted in their nests. "Fire! Get out!" cried Fireheart again before rushing to the apprentices.
Yellowfang ran into the elder's den and prodded Halftail and One-eye with her claws. "Didn't you hear Fireheart? The forest is on fire!" she howled. The medicine cat glanced at the tops of the trees and saw with horror that a steady orange glow shone above the highest branches.
Cinderpelt limped behind her. "It's coming closer!" she mewed, her eyes wide and frightened.
Slowly Halftail's eyes cracked open. "It's the middle of the night!" he complained. "What're you-?" Suddenly he saw how bright it was and realized that it wasn't the sun. "One-eye! Patchpelt! Smallear! Dappletail!"
Satisfied that the elders were understanding the gravity of the situation, Yellowfang ran back to Fireheart. The Clan was already around him, and he was shouting. "Leave the camp! Head for the river!"
Yellowfang turned around and snapped at Cinderpelt, who was staring at the medicine cat den. "Follow the Clan! We must leave the herbs here!" She spun towards Fireheart. The rusty-ginger tabby was directing cats towards the camp entrance. He stared, worried, at the forest around them as the smell of smoke grew stronger. Yellowfang motioned to Cinderpelt with her tail. "Come on!"
Without looking back, the old she-cat bolted ahead, urging on the apprentices and elders. She heard Cinderpelt stumbling behind her. The Clan reached the top of the ravine, and Yellowfang saw Fireheart bolt from the camp entrance. He scrabbled up the ravine to the rest of the Clan. "Wait!" he called. "Is any cat missing?"
"Where are Halftail and Patchpelt?" wailed a voice. Yellowfang recognized it as Cloudpaw. The white apprentice almost seemed gray from all the ash raining everywhere.
"They're not with me!" meowed Smallear frantically.
"They must still be in the camp!" shouted Whitestorm.
Oh, StarClan! Yellowfang thought. The forest is on fire and at least two cats are missing!
"Where's Bramblekit?" Goldenflower's desperate wail rose above the fire's roar. ""He was behind me when I was climbing the ravine!"
Three, Yellowfang hissed in her mind.
Fireheart blinked. "I'll find them," he promised. "It's too dangerous for you to stay here any longer. Whitestorm and Darkstripe, make sure the rest of the Clan make it to the river."
"You can't go back there!" protested a cat, and the pale ginger form of Sandstorm burst through the crowd.
"I have to," Fireheart mewed.
"Then I'm coming too," Sandstorm told him stubbornly.
"No!" shouted Whitestorm. "We are short of warriors already! We need you to help get the Clan to the river!"
"Then I'll come!"
Yellowfang spun around to see Cinderpelt limp forward. "You mousebrain!" she snarled, but the young gray she-cat ignored her.
"I'm no warrior," Cinderpelt mewed. "I'd be no use anyway if we met an enemy patrol."
"No way!" Fireheart spat.
Cinderpelt opened her mouth to argue. Yellowfang growled and shouldered her way through the huddled cats. "I may be old, but I steadier on my paws than you," she snapped at the young gray she-cat. "The Clan will need your healing skills."
Fireheart nodded before Cinderpelt could protest. "There's no time to argue. Yellowfang, come with me. The rest of you, head for the river." He spun around and started down the slope back towards the smoke filled camp below.
Yellowfang cuffed Cinderpelt's ear and followed the deputy. She was no more than halfway to the bottom when a burst of smoke wafted towards her and she stumbled, choking.
Flames reached hungrily for the edges of the camp wall. Yellowfang hissed, and saw Fireheart run into the gorse tunnel. She bolted after him, panting.
The rusty-ginger tabby hesitated for a heartbeat, then leaped towards the elder's den. The fallen oak tree smoldered as the fire threatened to consume it. Yellowfang bristled as she saw the frail shape of Patchpelt slumped over, his jaws in Halftail's scruff. Both cats were unconscious.
Fireheart stopped in dismay. Yellowfang rolled her eyes and bounded past him, grabbing Halftail with her teeth. "Don't just stand there," she growled. "Help me get them out of here!"
Fireheart shook himself and started to drag Patchpelt towards the camp entrance. Smoke was pouring into the clearing, and Yellowfang struggled to keep moving the elder she carried.
The deputy was stronger than her, and was ahead of her as he pulled Patchpelt through the camp entrance. Yellowfang scrambled through as the crackling of the fire grew even louder.
She left the gorse tunnel and dragged Halftail out. The old tom moved feebly and coughed up black mucus. Yellowfang blinked; his lungs were smoke-scorched. She pressed her nose to the elder's fur.
Just then a huge roar made her jump. Yellowfang's eyes widened and she stepped back as the trees around the camp burst in flames. Fear suddenly flashed through her and she turned to see Fireheart staring at her. The warrior crouched down, ready to leap and help her, when a terrified mewling cut through the thunder of the conflagration.
The two cats looked up to see a tiny kit dangling from a branch. As Yellowfang watched, the trunk of the tree smoldered and caught fire.
Fireheart sprang for the kit as the flames raced up the dry wood. He bit down on the kit's scruff just as the pitiful shape let go of the branch was clinging to. Glancing down at the growing flames in horror, Fireheart edged along a thin tree limb. It swayed under his weight and the fire scorched his pelt. The deputy leaped away from the inferno just a loud crack rang in the forest.
Yellowfang snapped her head down to see that the flames had eaten through the tree's trunk. It wobbled once, then snapped and crashed away from where Fireheart had landing and towards the camp entrance.
Yellowfang yowled as the tree hurtled towards her. She grabbed Halftail and dragged him back into the gorse tunnel just as the flaming wood smashed down where the two had had stood a heartbeat before.
The flames licked at the dry thorns. Yellowfang gasped in horror as the tunnel exploded into a whirl of fire and smoke. The gorse that had protected the Clan for so many moons was now trapping the cats and spreading the blaze to the rest of the camp.
A snapping sound caught Yellowfang's attention, and she looked up just as the thorns overhead caught fire. Sparks rained down on her and Halftail. The medicine cat yowled in pain and smelled the acrid stench of burning fur.
Halftail coughed again and rolled over. Yellowfang blinked at him, then glanced up at the roof of the gorse tunnel. It cracked and withered away as she watched. The old she-cat gritted her teeth, then grabbed Halftail's scruff and ran through the curtain of flames that was blocking the exit.
She burst from the gorse just as a roar sounded from behind her. Yellowfang spun around to see the tunnel flare up and collapse into a pile of burning thorns.
Agony ripped through her as she turned around again. Yellowfang flinched and realized that her pelt and skin had been burned. She stared around and saw her den, partly obscured by smoke. Maybe if she could get to the herbs…
For what felt like the millionth time, Yellowfang grasped Halftail and dragged him with her. The tom's eyes fluttered open for a moment when they were almost to the den.
"The fire! The fire!" he screeched. Yellowfang jumped, startled, and dropped him. Halftail turned his terrified gaze on her, then wheezed at more smoke blew around them. He convulsed and gasped for breath, then suddenly was still.
"Halftail!" Yellowfang choked. She nudged the elder with her nose. "Halftail!" A roar sounded around her and she leaped back just as a flaming branch thudded down. The medicine cat jerked around and stumbled into her den just as the fire penetrated the camp wall.
The trees sheltering the camp crackled, then blazed as the fire spread ravenously from branch to branch. The heat was unbearable; Yellowfang sucked in air, coughing. She staggered back, then tripped as she reached the medicine cat den. Her burns shot agony through her mercilessly. Yellowfang felt tears well up in her eyes and angrily shook them away. Ignoring the pain, she reached out for a crinkled leaf, but fell back. The hurt was too great.
Suddenly a roar different from the inferno boomed above everything else. Yellowfang glanced up through the tips of the ferns and saw storm clouds roiling above the bright flames.
A storm… a storm… oh, thank StarClan… The first raindrops started to pour down, and the cold water splashed on Yellowfang's scalded body as it ran down the sides of the den. She winced as the cool drops hit her burns, but after a minute she became used to the slight pricks of pain. Without realizing it, she rested her head on the ground and let darkness cover her.
Her eyes fluttered open. They stung, and the she-cat shook her head weakly, flinching as pain coursed through her neck. She suddenly remembered what had happened and tried to scramble up, but failed. She glanced at her ragged fur and saw that it was burned away.
Yellowfang groaned as she struggled to stand, then choked and coughed. A charred shape caught her eye and she saw Half-tail's blackened body at the entrance to her den. She shuddered. He had breathed in too much smoke. Anxiously she hoped that Fireheart had gotten Patchpelt to safety.
And the kit…The kit he had stopped to save. Instead of her.
Yellowfang shook those thoughts from her mind. She was old, and the kit deserved to live. Then she winced. You're making it sound like you won't survive…
All of a sudden voices yowled in the distance. Yellowfang tried to raise her head, but she was too weak, and she could only twist around enough to see a sliver of the sky outside of the den. The medicine cat noticed that the fires were all out and the sky was a stormy gray, but suddenly that didn't seem to matter.
An anxious mew made her look up. She could just see two large cat shapes outside of the fern tunnel. One of them, a gray warrior, started towards the seared body of Halftail. "I'll bury him," a voice meowed. "You look for Yellowfang." He picked up the limp form and started to drag it away.
The other cat stood frozen for a moment, then dropped his head. He took a step forward, then padded slowly through the fern tunnel to the medicine cat den. "Yellowfang?" he called softly. He tasted the air hopefully. "Yellowfang?"
Yellowfang opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She swallowed and coughed with smoke-scorched lungs, and a rasping mew escaped her.
The cat placed a paw inside the den and stared around. Yellowfang blinked, and the warrior bounded over to her. With relief, the medicine cat recognized the tom as Fireheart.
"Yellowfang!" cried the deputy. He pressed his nose into the old she-cat's fur.
"Fireheart," Yellowfang croaked, meeting his green gaze. "I'm glad it's you who came."
"I shouldn't have left you here," the ginger tabby wailed. "I'm so sorry."
Yellowfang coughed harshly, pain jolting through her. "Did you save Patchpelt?" she panted.
Fireheart shook his head, and Yellowfang closed her eyes for a heartbeat. "He breathed in too much smoke."
"Halftail too." The she-cat laid her head on her paws.
"But we saved Goldenflower's kit!" the tom mewed desperately.
Yellowfang blinked. "Which one was it?"
"Bramblekit."
Yellowfang squeezed her eyes shut. So… Tigerstar's son. But kits don't always turn out like their parents… Raggedstar was far more noble then Brokentail could ever have been. Suddenly she realized she had to tell Fireheart everything, before she –
Her eyes snapped opened again. "You're a brave warrior, Fireheart," she whispered. "I could not be prouder of you if you were my own son. And StarClan knows how many times I wished that you were instead of –" she drew in a rattling breath. "Brokentail."
Fireheart flinched visibly. His eyes shifted around for a moment, then he leaned forward to lick her ears, evidently trying to soothe her.
"I killed him. I poisoned him. I wanted him to die." Yellowfang blinked up at the young warrior, then doubled over as she started to cough painfully.
"Hush, save your strength," Fireheart mewed, and Yellowfang realized that he had known she had killed Brokentail all along. "Here, let me get you some water,"
the tom continued.
Yellowfang shook her head slowly. "Water's no use to me now. I want to tell you everything before I-"
"You're not going to die!" Fireheart snarled, as if he could turn back death just by saying it forcefully enough. "Tell me what I can do to help you!"
Toms! The medicine thought scornfully. "Don't waste your time," she rasped angrily. "I'm going to die no matter what you do, but I'm not afraid. Just listen to me."
Fireheart reeled back and fell silent, staring at her.
"I wish you'd been my son," the she-cat told him. "But I could not have borne a cat like you. StarClan gave me Brokentail to teach me a lesson."
"What did you need to learn?" Fireheart protested. "You are as wise as Bluestar herself!"
"I killed my own son!" Yellowfang spat. Don't you understand?
"He deserved it!" Fireheart hissed.
"But I was his mother," breathed Yellowfang. "StarClan may judge me how they will. I am ready."
Fireheart opened his mouth, then stopped. He blinked, his expression changing, then he dipped his head and began licking her matted fur. The old she-cat closed her eyes, lulled by the rhythmic lapping. She felt a shiver run up her spine as a shadow crept up on her, dulling the pain from her burns. She had always known it would be like this…
"Fireheart," Yellowfang mumbled.
"Yes?" The ginger tabby hesitated.
"Thank you for bringing me to ThunderClan. Tell Bluestar I have always been grateful for the home she gave me. This is a good place to die. I only regret that I will miss watching you become what StarClan has destined you to be." Her voice trailed off, and she breathed in quickly, her flanks heaving as she struggled to breathe.
"Yellowfang! Don't die!" Fireheart wailed.
Yellowfang tried to look up at him, but her body wasn't obeying her. Almost with relief she felt the smell of smoke that was burned into her lungs fade away, leaving the cool scent of a starry forest.
"Don't be afraid of StarClan!" a voice called. Yellowfang twitched and felt the pain disappear as Fireheart's desperate meow grew fainter. "They will understand about Brokentail! You will be honored by our warriors ancestors for your loyalty to your Clanmates and for your endless courage. So many cats owe their lives to you. Cinderpelt would have died after her accident if you had not tended to her. And when there was greencough, you fought day and night…"
The words kept coming, but Yellowfang could not hear them anymore. She had already fallen into soothing darkness and a forest full of stars.