Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter
Epilogue
Some Moons Later
The ground squished beneath his paws, the mud oozing though his toes and claws. The smell of damp ground and moss filled his nose, mixed with the terror of many cats. Their wailing was interspersed with coughing fits. The faint scent of smoke tickled about him on the breeze. His heart lurched. The wind wouldn't push the fire here would it? Was it even wet enough? The bog ground wasn't as damp as it used to be, the plants not as green. The branches overhead knocked together, creaking as if they too feared the fire.
There had been no rain during greenleaf. Leaf-fall was halfway through when the clouds finally came. But rain did not fall. Dry lightning and flames descended on the forest. Early morning, Crowstrike had smelled smoke first and led a patrol in the direction of the Moontree. They came fleeing back, terror on their faces, and smoke in their fur. It filled the forest with a thick mist, the heat growing ever closer. Ash, appearing as falling snow, fell around them, dotting the ground. Petalstar ordered everyone to flee toward the bog. Duststripe in the nursery with Lightberry had only time to grab one of their kits. Frog grabbed another and Lightberry the last. They fled just as the first sparks jumped to the fallen log of the warrior den, the flames licking not far behind, spreading across the dry yellow grass like a snake. The smaller prey animals raced around the cats as they ran for the bog. Through the hazy, red air Duststripe thought he saw cats fall behind, coughing. But he pushed on, clenching in his jaws, determined that the she-kit would not die.
Somehow the Clan out ran the fire. The flames might have been stopped by the ridges of sand, unable to go fast on the plant-less slopes. It swirled and ate the mid-forest, tree trunks falling in loud smacks.
Duststripe lowered Amber to the ground, gasping and gulping for air. The little kit mewled, staring up at him with red-rimmed eyes, coughing pitifully.
"Lightberry?" Duststripe wheezed. He looked around at the other cats nearby, seeking his mate. He couldn't see her familiar light brown and spotted pelt. Everyone seemed streaked in soot and ash. They stared at him, huddling beneath the leaning trees as they panted for breath.
"Keep moving, keep going!" Cloverleaf yowled behind them. She nudged the sitting cats. They slowly got to their feet and walked on, deeper into the bog. The tortoiseshell deputy spotted Duststripe and hurried over.
"Have you seen Lightberry?" he asked her.
"Keep going," she interrupted him. "Don t let anyone stop. Get them to the islands. We have to get far away as possible from the fire. Go."
She pasted him, moving onto the next group of cats. Duststripe lowered his head, licking Amber and picking her up, moving after the deputy. She was right. They couldn't stop. But that still didn't stop his worry for his mate or kits.
On they wandered, the air getting thicker as if the smoke were following them. The fire couldn't be too far behind then. He tried to pick up his pace, nudging the slower cats. The ground got muddier, squelching loudly. Some cat couldn't pick its paws from the muck. A fear gripped Duststripe's chest. Please, don't sink.
He put Amber down on a flat stone and went to pull out the stuck tom. It took effort, but finally the cat was pulled to firmer ground. "Use the trees," he wheezed. The tom stared at him, but jumped on a branch. It rocked, moss pieces falling on the cats below. They saw what he was doing and joined him.
"Find an island," Duststripe called. "Something with rocks and reeds."
He wasn't sure the cats heard or understood him, but he went back for Amber. The she-kit was trying to sleep, curling up on the stone, coughing into her tail. Hopefully a leafcat had something to help. If he could find a leafcat, or Lightberry. Amber would have to eat soon.
Duststripe leapt to a smooth branch, gripping hard with his claws. Somehow the action was familiar. He'd done this before hadn't he? Once, seasons ago, running for his life, carrying a kit in his jaws and he jumped across gaps between branches? Life seemed to repeat itself. He sighed and hurried along with the rest, careful not to trip and fall to the ground. A few cats did slip, but managed to hold on until they were saved.
At some point, someone saw an island below. One cat tested the ground before inviting the rest down. They eased in among the reeds and pointed stones. The smoky haze was less, but the thick tangy scent remained. Something wet slid down Duststripe's back. He tensed, placed Amber down and licked it. His fur was thick with ash. It masked his pelt. Even whatever had landed on him disappeared into it. He glanced at the others. No wonder he was having a hard time recognizing them, their scents and pelts were disguised.
"Cloverleaf?" he croaked.
One of them looked up. "Yes?"
"We should find the others."
"Of course." She got up, shook her head as if to drive away her grogginess and started for the trees. "Everyone, stay here in case someone comes to you."
They all nodded. The tortoiseshell left them, jumping above like a squirrel.
"We need to hunt," Duststripe meowed, his voice still harsh. "We'll find something in the bog."
"I'll go," meowed the tom Duststripe had saved earlier. It kind of sounded like Dan. (When the tom finally returned to camp moons ago, he'd refused to change his name.)
Duststripe nodded, checked that Amber really was sleeping and wouldn't wander off. Then he left her in the care of Stormynight and went for a walk in the reeds. He and the other tom, Dan, team hunted. Each one scaring up a frog or even a vole, chasing it to the other. They avoided the wetter areas and places where their paws stuck. When they got back, a new cat was moving between the others. It was Longreed, the leafcat. His apprentice name had been Reed. Duststripe felt grateful when he saw the tom.
"Did you take care of Amber?" he meowed, dropping the fresh-kill. Longreed nodded. "She's young and the smoke was bad for her lungs, but she didn't inhale too much. She'll just be sore for a few days. When I can, I'll get her some honey." The ginger leafcat glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the fire. Duststripe knew whatever honeybee hive the leafcats got their honey from had probably burned. It would take some time to find another hive.
"Is everyone else all right?"
Longreed paused, one ear lowered. "I was on another island with three other cats. I'm not sure. Sorry."
"It's all right," Duststripe meowed. He left the leafcat to his business and went to Amber. He curled about his kit, keeping her warm, wishing he knew where everyone else had gotten to. More wet drops sprinkled around him. He glanced up. The thick branches disguised the sky. Even if it had been sunhigh, it would have been too dark to tell with all the moss and thick leaves. But it was very dark. That meant the clouds were still there. Was it finally raining? A drop landed on his nose. He licked it off. The water was soothing to his dry, bitter throat. More came, quicker now, sliding down the moss and branches, trickling onto the cats below.
"I hope this puts out the fire," Stormynight meowed. The thick furred she-cat shook her head, drops flying from her whiskers and ear tips. The water ran through her fur, washing out the ash. Duststripe moved Amber to some reeds, pulling down the stems to make some sort of den to keep her dry.
Later that day, the rain ceased. The smoke still clung in the air, but the terror had left the other cats. Cloverleaf had returned. She brought the three cats that had been with Longreed on their island. Risingtide and Mint-tail and Sleek.
"I found the others," Cloverleaf meowed.
Longreed's ears rose.
"Dancingeyes and Petalstar were the last out of camp," Cloverleaf told them. "She's not in a good way."
"Who? Dancingeyes?" the junior leafcat demanded.
"No, she was burned, but she's not too bad. It's Petalstar. She can hardly catch a breath and most of her fur was burned away." Cloverleaf glanced away, pain in her yellow eyes.
"What about Lightberry and Frog and the kits?" Duststripe spoke up anxiously.
"They're on the other island," Cloverleaf meowed. "I'm sorry, but Sparrow didn't make it. And no one can find Fox."
"I'm sorry," Longreed muttered while other cats pestered Cloverleaf with questions on their loved ones. "His back legs couldn't support him. I got him into the forest, dragged him most of the way, but he finally collapsed and told me to go on. He was caught in the fire."
Duststripe wasn't clearly listening. They'd lost Sparrow. The little tom was no more. And Fox. Well, he'd never gotten close to that other son. At least Flyingbee was friendlier and tried to get to know his father and brother he never knew, probably encouraged by Lilyfern. Duststripe hoped her two kits were safe. They were nearly old enough to become apprentices. They'd all been out of the nursery on a forest adventure when the fire came.
"Cloverleaf," Duststripe meowed.
She looked at him. He knew he was looking at his future leader. Petalstar probably wouldn't make it. She must not have had many lives left after the battle and if her lungs were damaged like Dancingeyes must have suspected, she wouldn't last much longer.
"Take me to the other island. Amber needs to be with Lightberry."
Cloverleaf nodded and the pair took to the wet trees. Little Amber hanging from Duststripe's jaws, not yet aware she would never see her brother again.
-Line-
A red shape formed in the middle of the circle. The apparition became solid, the chest starting to rise and fall in easy breaths. The eyes open, yellow discs that glanced across the faces of cats.
"It's over, isn't it?" she meowed.
The black tom with the yellow eyes nodded. "Welcome to StarClan, Petalstar."
Her eyes lowered to her paws. The grass under her body was cool and soft, not like the prickling dry stands she'd become used to back at camp. But that was no more. Her camp was no more. She closed her eyes, caught in the memory of the red and yellow flames shooting skyward to the clouds above. There had been jagged streaks of lightning clawing across the gray mass. Thunder echoing across the sky, shaking trees. And no rain. Her Clan running, fleeing.
She thought she could remember Dancingeyes pulling her from the burrow. She'd fled down below, after making sure the camp was empty. But by the time she tried to leave, the clearing had seemed surrounded by fire and heat. She'd dived into her burrow, hoping that somehow the fire would pass over it. But down Dancingeyes had come pulling her forth and into the line of fire. There was harsh pain and she'd blacked out once, a life quickly gone. When she'd awoken again, some how they'd reached the bog, two cats carrying her the best they could, Dancingeyes stumbling by her side. She'd passed out. Later she thought she could remember Dancingeyes whispering to her as she rubbed cool mud across her body. There had been some cats nearby, but not all of her Clan.
"Are they safe?" she demanded, opening her eyes. "Did they survive?"
"Most of them survived," Darkfire meowed. "But there were four other deaths. Sparrow, Fox, Squeakingmouse, and Dapplefoot."
"So young," Petalstar closed her eyes, grieving for the dead cats. And for the living. What their world would be like now was hard to imagine. She only knew it would be hard. The territory burned, prey fled, friends dead. She sighed and opened her eyes, glancing around the meadow she'd awakened in. The cats of StarClan milled about, hunched over anxiously peering about. They knew about the fire then. She could spot some familiar faces. Only not the four recently dead, Darkfire and the others must taken them someplace else. She could see the warriors of her youth, the elders she used to care for. And there was one older cat whom she'd known the longest. He walked over to her, confidence in his step, his blue eyes shining.
"Waterdrop," she meowed. She got to her feet, nuzzling his face.
"I'm so glad to see you," he whispered, licking her ear. "I know you wouldn't have wanted to leave the Clan like this, but I am glad to see you."
She nodded and glanced at Darkfire. The other cats who'd waited for her to enter StarClan drifted off. Only one dark brown she-cat waited with the black tom.
"Where's Raven?" she asked.
"He and the other leaders and leafcats are by the Lookingpool. They're watching the Clan."
"Then we have to go," the red she-cat meowed, flicking her tail.
"Come on," Waterdrop meowed. He motioned her along to a grove of trees. The sun shone above in a clear sky. There seemed to be the faint sound of, well, something. That odd sound she heard whenever she met StarClan. Like a heartbeat and singing birds. They'd tried to explain it to her that it was music and they made it with something called instruments. She wasn't quite sure if they were serious or not.
The air was warm, but not unpleasantly. It was always greenleaf in StarClan. Waterdrop led her to the grove. The cats who'd given Petalstar her nine lives sat on ledges overlooking a small bubbling pool. They were the leaders. The base of the ledge had crumbled beneath it, leaving the stony overlook. A small stream led away, trailing through the ferns. The leafcats sat around that. Raven, a tortoiseshell tom, the cat who'd formed Summerheat first, heard their approach and motioned her over.
"The fire's over. It's raining finally," he meowed. She sat by him, Waterdrop on the other side. She looked into the pool. The water wavered, stones beneath the surface rippling, and then were replaced with the face of Cloverleaf leaning over a nearly furless body. Duststripe was nearby with his mate. Lightberry suckling two kits. They spoke quietly, sorrow in their eyes.
"Where's Sparrow?" Petalstar asked, suddenly remembering that the kit was dead. No wonder they were sad. But at least no other kits had died.
"Among us," Raven answered quietly. "He didn't make it. Hollyleaf has him with the other kits. She wanted him distracted."
Petalstar nodded. It would be best. The hard questions would begin later when he wanted his parents.
"She's the leader now," Petalstar meowed, gazing at Cloverleaf. "Is the Moontree still there?" Crowstrike had traveled in that direction that morning in search of the smoke.
"It is there," Raven nodded.
"And the Clan, will they be able to go back to the territory?"
"In a moon or so. You'll have to tell Cloverleaf about the Moontree. She should receive her nine lives and call a deputy."
"So soon? She can't leave the Clan alone!"
"They'll be safe in the bog. They've food and shelter. It is better than the camp currently. The animals have fled there."
Slowly Petalstar nodded. "All right. But I don't think Cloverleaf will sleep. Not her. She'll be too busy."
Raven nodded. Silence fell between them and they waited on the ledge above the Lookingpool. She just wanted to be sure her Clan would survive. She didn't want them falling apart. The rogues, still knew to proper Clan life, might find it too hard trying to provide for others and go back to their solitary ways, far away in some better territory. And Cloverleaf, could the deputy really be a good leader? Petalstar had always known the tortoiseshell was quick to fight. But the Clan did need a defender and maybe a cat who wouldn't give up would help them through the fire's aftermath.
Time passed slowly as they watched the Clan. Cloverleaf, unable to sleep, had gathered the Clan together on nearby islands. There was a fresh-kill pile of animals in the bog. The younger cats were forbidden to wander. Rain fell again, cooling the ground and forest where flames still flickered. A vigil was held for the dead cats. All the time above Petalstar, the sun moved downward in the StarClan sky.
"Raven, Raven!"
The leaders and leafcats looked up. Darkfire was running through the ferns, Coonie in his wake where he'd parted the long ferns. The smell of blooming flowers came with them, and Petalstar could identify four cats she'd known in life. Three of the recently deceased.
"What happened?" the tortoiseshell tom was on his feet, concern in his orange eyes.
"Fox. He left StarClan. We were taking the new cats to the gorge between StarClan's. He sensed the border near the arching bush. He crossed over and disappeared into the unmarked territory."
The leafcats muttered, shaking their heads.
"One so knew?"
"We'll never see him again."
"Unmarked territory?" Petalstar asked.
"We only have a section of the sky," Raven quickly explained. "It is marked by us. Anything out of it is Unmarked and unpredictable. Cats can get lost there. Why did he cross over?"
"He was saying something how he didn't belong here," Coonie meowed. "That he wouldn't stay someplace his brother would come. He said it was Frog's fault he even was in StarClan, that if he's legs had worked, he could have outran the fire. So he just ran for the border and disappeared."
"Can't you get him?" Petalstar asked.
The dark brown she-cat shook her head. "Once he's there, no one knows where he's at. It's a big place out there. The only cat who's ever returned was Sunstorm. She's more adventurous than some and she crosses between StarClans."
"Then could you get her to find him?"
Raven shook his head. "We haven't seen her in moons. When she comes back we'll ask her. But by then. . . who knows what will happen to Fox. What about the others?"
"They're fine," Darkfire assured him. "The she-cats are with their mentors."
"Then we let him go. We can't hold any cat here against their will. May some unknown force be with him and keep him safe."
The leaders and leafcats agreed. Petalstar glanced at Waterdrop. The gray tom wasn't quite as perplexed as she was, but he seemed disappointed the cats wouldn't do anything. But Petalstar didn't know what they could do. Fox was lost apparently. And her Clan was in turmoil. She was torn.
Darkfire and Coonie were still talking to Raven when the red she-cat turned back to the Lookingpool. She gazed at the clear water, the images suddenly appearing. the Clan was sleeping now. Most of them still in shock from the fire. Even Cloverleaf was having trouble staying awake. Soon Petalstar would visit her. Soon the she-cat would become the leader of Summerheat.
"Cloverleaf," Petalstar meowed quietly. "I trust you. Hold our Clan together."
The sun set through the forest, the orange light slanting across the trees in an imitation of the fire that had ravished the forest below. A small beam shone on the Lookingpool, blocking Petalstar's sight, for a moment she no longer saw the bog and the cats sleeping below. The water rippled, the sun-flames dancing across the stones like a haunting memory. Suddenly a cat appeared. A tortoiseshell. For a moment Petalstar thought it was Raven. Then she recognized Cloverleaf. The flames leapt around her, but where she placed her paws, the grass grew, green and tall. The orange light faded from the water, a great forest towering about her, the ferns rustling with prey, but the vision did not end. Cloverleaf passed from Petalstar's sight, guiding the Clan behind her. Petalstar saw all those living. She saw Risingtide, Duzie, Duststripe, Lightberry, old Whitetoes, Dancingeyes, Fleet, and the others. And last of all came Amber, the little she-kit. The white and red-speckled kit paused, looked up at Petalstar and smiled.
"We'll be all right."
Petalstar blinked and in that instant Amber grew larger, became a warrior, with warrior scars. Then she too left, the vision fading around her. Yes, the Clan would survive. Summerheat would always be there. StarClan guiding it as the ages passed. The red she-cat looked up from the pool and met Waterdrop's gaze. She smiled at him and leaned against him, closing her eyes and breathing in the coming night air.
THE END
Thank you for reading and I bid you all farewell. This was my final story here. All the readers I had in the beginning have gone on to their own things and lives. It is now my turn. My thanks to all the reviewers in the past and to the readers of the future. I hoped my writing pleased you.
Keep writing your own stories.
