Ahem. Sorry guys, I typed this long ago but due to a problem with (or was it my computer?) couldn't upload it. So…here it is, al last. Enjoy!
Oh…and…I don't live in America, so my school holidays just ended yesterday. I might become a bit inactive. Sorry.
"Well…" Dustpelt took a deep breath, looking at the cats around him. "I…StarClan chose me…to be…your leader."
There was silence for a moment.
Then Webfoot spoke up. "Does that mean you're called Duststar now?" His green eyes shone.
The brown tabby shook his head. "No. I'm still Dustpelt. You see…I wouldn't be right for me to take charge of all the Clans. So I have nine lives, but no leader name." And I'm glad about that, he added silently.
"And…well, they gave me a prophecy too," he continued hesitantly. His doubts were returning. I've never been even a deputy before! How am I supposed to treat these cats? My cats?
Yet as he spoke the prophecy, given by StarClan, strength seemed to flow into him from the powerful words.
""Blood runs red over the forest and the Clans."
"The ragged ones must flee or die,"
"To the mountains, where the rushing water flows,"
"To mingle blood and not to spill it."
"Till the dawn comes when they, with the rushing water, can purge the blood from their home."
He nodded. "There. That's it."
There was a second silence, as he looked expectantly around at the cats.
Webfoot raised another question, his ears pricked in puzzlement.
"But what does it mean?"
Ears twitching in amusement, Dustpelt meowed, "Mouse-brain! It's a prophecy, for StarClan's sake. We're supposed to figure out what it means."
"Oh." That was Webfoot, his eyes gleaming sheepishly.
Dustpelt continued, his gaze travelling around the group and resting for a moment on each cat. "Well, the first part's quite clear, I suppose. Blood runs red over the forest and the Clans. BloodClan has defeated us." A note of sorrow crept into his voice as images of the many dead flashed into his mind. Fernpaw…
He pushed the thought away, and continued.
"The ragged ones left must flee or die."
"We're the ragged ones, and we're fleeing," Mosspelt meowed.
Dustpelt nodded approvingly. "Right. How about the next part? To the mountains, where the rushing water flows. I'm lost there…"
The one who spoke up was Featherpaw, looking rather shy. "I think we're supposed to flee to some mountains. As for rushing water…well, I don't know. But I don't know any mountains either."
Dustpelt considered. "Then it must be far," he said softly. "Far, far away."
"Yes," Webfoot meowed, gravely. "And the next part of the prophecy?"
"To mingle blood and not to spill it," Dustpelt recited.
"Mingle blood…mingle blood…I've got it!" Boulder, the silver tom who had been quiet all the while, suddenly meowed. "Maybe we're supposed to mate with some other cats? That would certainly be mingling blood, and probably stop any spilling of blood."
Dustpelt looked at him in admiration. "You're smart. That means that we have to find somewhere there are other cats…"
"And the last part?"Till the dawn comes when they, with the rushing water, can purge the blood from their home. I get the part about driving out BloodClan, but not the rushing water again."
Stormpaw looked up, his amber eyes serious. "Perhaps…the rushing water could refer to cats. That way, they'd live in the mountains we have to go to, and we could mingle blood with them, and maybe help us get rid of BloodClan."
Featherpaw gave her brother a lick on the ear, her sky-blue eyes shining.
"That's it!" Dustpelt meowed excitedly. "We should set off at once! I can't wait to be able to get rid of BloodClan!"
"Neither can I!" declared Sorrelkit, her amber eyes shining. The tortoiseshell kit leapt out from behind a tree, where she had been listening secretly.
The other cats – Mosspelt, Webfoot, Boulder, Stormpaw and Featherpaw, and Sorrelkit's siblings, who had followed her out, echoed the kit with amusement.
----------------------------------------------------
Dustpelt crouched at the edge of the Twoleg dump. He grimaced with disgust at the smell. "What a stink!" the tabby whispered to Webfoot, who was beside him.
The WindClan tom nodded in agreement, his ears fixed on the Thunderpath ahead. "Where are we?" he meowed softly.
"A Twolegplace. Not the one…back there," was the quiet reply. Somehow, he knew this was the way to go. StarClan's way of guiding him?
Turning his head, he looked back at the cats. They were waiting, their gazes fixed expectantly on him. Silently, Dustpelt sighed. So many expectations…could he fulfil them?
Taking a deep breath, he meowed loud enough for all of them to hear. "We're going to cross this Thunderpath. I think we need to go straight through this Twolegplace, and out on the other side. Follow me."
He waited till a gap in the huge monsters that roared by appeared, then darted across as fast as his legs would carry him, belly flat against the black ground, ears back against his skull, simply a brown streak. If he had been a second slower, he would have been fresh-kill for the crows. As it was, a huge monster with terrible staring bright eyes caused a wind that made him fur stand on end as it passed, its roar drowning out every other sound.
He tumbled onto the grassy verge at the other side, panting. Gradually, his heartbeat slowed. That was close!
Dustpelt stood up and looked at the cats on the other side. They were watching the Thunderpath with wide, frightened eyes. His heart sank. How were they going to get across? He had been lucky…
The next moment, Webfoot darted out onto the wide black strip, Sorrelkit dangling from his jaws. He practically shot across the Thunderpath, arriving beside Dustpelt with his eyes wide, and setting the small tortoiseshell kit, her eyes tightly shut, tenderly down on the grass. "Whew," was all he said.
The other cats were not as brave. Dustpelt watched in alarm as Mosspelt hesitantly placed a paw on the Thunderpath, then pulled it back quickly as a monster rushed past. She backed away, shaking her head and bristling.
"Mosspelt!" he called out desperately, his voice faint above the noise of the monsters. "It's okay! Take Rainkit and come across!"
Her head shot up and she stared at him anxiously. Then, seeming to gather courage, the RiverClan queen picked up the grey kit firmly in her jaws and ran across.
Dustpelt gasped. A monster was coming straight for her, and she wasn't aware of it. Eyes filled with panic, she was running blindly, oblivious to the monsters that swerved and blared, trying to avoid her. "Mosspelt!" he yelled, terrified for the she-cat.
At the last moment, the Twoleg monster swerved away, barely avoiding crashing into another of its kind. The Twoleg in its belly stuck his head out of the monster and shouted something angrily, shaking a clenched fist.
Mosspelt skidded to a stop and slumped onto her side, quivering. "I never, never, never want to do that again!" she hissed softly. Rainkit scrambled out from under her, his downy grey fur bristling. The kit buried his face in his sister Sorrelkit's side, shaking like a leaf in a storm.
Dustpelt gave a reassuring lick on her ear, refraining from meowing that they might have too sooner or later. He looked back at the other side. Three cats left. Stormpaw, Featherpaw and Boulder.
The three cats seemed to be talking, Boulder trying to convince the apprentices that it was safe to cross. Dustpelt felt his regard for the lean silver tom grow. Of course, a former BloodClan cat would know all about Thunderpaths.
Finally, Stormpaw and Featherpaw nodded and started towards the edge of the Thunderpath. Stormpaw looked at his sister and mewed something inaudible. Then the tom stepped out and streaked across the road, a dark grey blur nearly invisible against the black surface of the Thunderpath.
He arrived safely, and immediately turned to look at his sister. The love between the siblings was obvious as he gave an encouraging nod to Featherpaw.
She smiled back, nervously, and then darted across. For a moment, Dustpelt's heart stopped. She was hidden from view by a monster for a few terrible seconds that seemed to stretch for years. Then the small silver tabby reappeared again, and crossed the last few tail-lengths quickly and safely. She pressed against Stormpaw's side, eyes wide.
Boulder was the only one left. He carried Sootkit in his strong jaws. Unlike the rest of them, he seemed completely unafraid. Dustpelt supposed that living in Twolegplace had hardened him to this sort of thing.
As soon as the tom's paws hit the road, he was off, running faster than Dustpelt had believed was possible. Boulder wove surely and skilfully between the monsters, darting between gaps and slipping between monsters. He arrived with the rest, barely panting, and set Sootkit down beside Sorrelkit and Rainkit. Nearly every cat was gazing at him with admiration
Dustpelt finally let out his breath, not realising he had been holding it. "That's one obstacle down," he meowed. Come on.
He added silently, bleakly, StarClan knows how many more to go.
Longtail's Loyalty It was Ashfoot, not Ashfur. But to make it more realistic, I had to make a cat die. :(
Freedomstar999 In chapter two. Go read again. :)
Purefeline Oh, really? Thanks! Well, I don't think this chapter was really sad. XD
fallingautumnleaves –blushes- thanks a lot. I just like writing.
Grizzlepelt I think it's all right if he doesn't tell them the details, just that he got nine lives. If not, how were they supposed to know:) Sorry for not updating for a long time.
Hickoryflower I will write more, I promise:)
Frostpaw Yeah, Sorrelkit's cute isn't she? Well, I've updated!
Featherstream Thanks! Sorry…everyone seems to be saying it's sad because of the dead cats. XD