Hello. I have nothing to say… Apart from maybe the fact that my version of the forest territories is slightly altered, it makes the plot-line easier to follow.
I-Really-Hope-Not: Thanks for reviewing! Looking forward to your next story chapter too.
Snowkit narrowed her eyes at the medicine cat, who seemed to be staring right past her. She turned around and jumped as she saw a stranger next to her. He was of a shade of red that Snowkit had never yet seen, but that was not the detail hat caught the most attention. His amber eyes had a distant look to them, as if he were not truly here, and in them was a dull glint that looked dangerously menacing.
"Swallownose…" Waterpetal's greeting seemed hesitant.
"What's wrong with the kit," He mewed gruffly, talking about Snowkit as if the little grey she-kit wasn't there herself. Snowkit twisted her ears back painfully towards Waterpetal, wondering the same thing.
"Just a little cough, she'll be fine," Waterpetal answered, regaining her confidence.
"Hmm. Let me see," He cast her a doubtful glance that made Snowkit feel oddly out of place.
"No!" She nearly yowled, then caught herself, " I know what I'm doing, don't you trust me?" At those last four words his gaze took on a crazed look and Snowkit flinched back, feeling annoyed at their cryptic looks.
"Never mind that Waterpetal, there's nobody I can trust. Besides, her fur colour seems familiar..." He growled before padding over to Snowkit, who bristled before finally facing him fully.
Amber eyes met blue ones, and recognition seemed to spark beneath the murky depths of the amber ones, whose owner froze mid-pace. Then he seemed to regain his composure, although Snowkit couldn't be sure she wasn't imagining things when she thought that a trace of... Say-sanity... Seemed to have vanished from the ginger cat's attitude.
For a moment he stared at her, then he prodded her chest with a paw and she flinched, having only just recovered from the burning sensation. She forced herself not to cringe away from his haunted look when he leaned an ear towards the place where she assumed the thing her mother had called lungs were. Waterpetal seemed to be trying to distract him, bright green eyes flashing, but he simply ignored her, waiting and listening, then he rose with a growl, and Snowkit wanted to leave all the confusion behind as he and Waterpetal seemed to have a stare-down.
"And this," he hissed, "Is why you can never trust a cat." Snowkit narrowed her eyes, figuring that this meant that Waterpetal had truly been lying.
"This isn't a cough." He snapped, "This isn't a cough at all you mange-pelt! Don't you get it. SHE will destroy us!" He yowled madly, gesturing at the small grey she-kit, who felt the sudden instinct to run as far away from here as possible and never come back.
"Snowkit, go to your mother, it's time for bed." Waterpetal urged gently, but Snowkit was already half-way out of the den by then.
She rushed across the clearing and nearly tripped over her mother on the dark, the following warmly licking her head while asking her what the medicine cats had said. She shrugged her mother off, telling her that they had said it was only a cough, and her mother did not insist, instead deciding on going to see them the next day, but one question Snowkit needed to ask.
"Greyfeather, what's wrong with Swallownose?" She asked.
" It's not his fault, Snowkit, he just, saw things. Now go to sleep, you can not change what is concerning this."
Greyfeather fell asleep nearly instantly, but Snowkit took a while to calm down the beating of her heart, the confusion shrouding her thoughts being slowly lulled by a gullible sense of security in the shelter of her mother's tail.
Staring up at the den entrance, she could see that the storm was coming progressively closer, and the night had become darker than it would have normally been on a nearly full-moon. Closing her eyes, she let the tugging of sleep drag her into its ebony darkness.
A grey she-cat stood silently next to a crowd of cats.
The group was mostly shrouded in fog, and the muddy ground beneath them stained their fur.
Their eyes were the clearest, alight with confidence.
The leading she-cat signalled, and the scene suddenly flickered.
A group of cats, scents mingled, were facing an opposing group, led by the same grey she-cat, intricate blue-grey eyes glinting madly.
The groups then merged, battle hungry, and claws met claws, fang met fang, force met speed.
One single, eerie, desperate yowl rang as a ragged and defeated group of cats ran from the offending cats, whose eyes lit with a satisfied look.
Then the image was suddenly flooded with scarlet liquid, at first barely a claw-length, then tail-length, then consuming everything until-
Snowkit woke with a start, heart beating faster than it normally would during sleep. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she sat up for a moment, busy with convincing herself that it had all been a dream. Outside, the storm had closed in on the clans and it was pouring. Small droplets of water rebounded from the sandy ground, partly intersected with rocks, and landed on her fluffy kit-fur. She shivered, although it was unusually warm for leaf-fall, and huddled closer to Greyfeather, who mumbled something incoherent in her sleep. The constant thrumming of the rain was comforting, and Snowkit let it lull her back to sleep, that is, until an even darker shadow fell upon her, momentarily interrupting the rain pattern to leave place to the squeakier sound of paws in mud.
She sat up with a start. Looking wildly along the den, only to find herself looking back towards the entrance once more to where a large figure lay hidden behind a sheet of rain. Snowkit squinted to make out the identity of the black cat and took a surprised look when she realized that the dark green eyes belonged to none other than Blackstar. The latter silently padded into the den moments later.
"Why are you still up Snowkit?" He mewed with a hint of reproach to his tone.
Snowkit wanted to answer, but she found herself frozen in place, staring back at the leader with a hesitant look look in her eyes.
"No matter, we needed to come get your anyways," he mewed, prodding Greyfeather awake.
The dark grey she-cat hissed, than asked, "Why are you waking me in the middle of the night?"
"The water level's rising, we need to evacuate, Brookpath is alerting the others." At these words, Greyfeather shook her fur with a solemn face before turning to her daughter just as Blackstar's yowl rang down the camp, " Cats of Riverclan, we need to evacuate, now!"
"Snowkit, you will need to stay very close to me, understand, I will help you cross the river when the time comes." Greyfeather mewed, and without waiting for an answer, she exited the den, glancing back to make sure her daughter was still behind her.
A heartbeat later, Snowkit followed, fluffing out her pelt, which had yet to grow into the typical water-shedding Riverclan fur. Outside, the storm seemed to have an even greater intensity than it had moments before. Gusts of wind sent waves of rain shooting across camp like ripples Ina bond before abruptly smashing into the reed walls that sheltered the camp, and beyond that, she could clearing hear the rushing of the river, which seemed to have been amplified ten times over. Finally, the distant sound of lighting could be heard crashing over the moors and forests.
It only took the travel through half the clearing for her to be sinking belly-deep inside muddy water, her steps awkward, paws lifting higher with every step to be able to move forwards. Greyfeather turned back, grabbing her by the scruff, and Snowkit did not protest, at least until Blackstar came padding back towards them. Freeing herself of her mother's grasp, she landed in a puddle that sent a splash all around her, pooling around her in a matter that would have made her laugh if this weren't the middle of the night. Although, considering she did like the night, and the rain, and water, she let out a small grin anyways, which everybody else overlooked much to her relief considering the apparent gravity of the situation.
She pulled herself out, shaking her fur, although the rain soaked it once again moments later. Stopping to listen to what the cats were talking about, she caught a few words of their conversation before they were whisked away by the howling wind.
" -rising too fast. -help the elders - 'll take care of Snowkit." Blackstar's voice could hardly be heard above the rushing of the river, and Snowkit gaped, she knew that they were trapped, surrounded by river, water level rising, guarding escape.
Next, her mother spoke, " OKAY!" And she left while Blackstar scooped Snowkit up. Snowkit felt vaguely annoyed at the fact that a slightly unfamiliar cat were holding her before looking down again, knowing that she could not swim and the water was too deep for her. She craned her neck in confusion as she saw that they were heading the opposite way from the others.
"Blackstar, where are we going?" She mewed, "The flood-camp is the other way." By then they were at the edge of the river, and she could clearly see that it was foaming dangerously, speckled with broken branches, and even a tree farther down. Stepping one step closer to the edge of what used to be the river bank, Blackstar stopped, and Snowkit squirmed, uncomfortable at the near sight of danger.
Suddenly, another figure appeared through the downpour. She shivered as she saw that it was Swallownose, who appeared ominously satisfied. He padded down to join them, and Snowkit scrabbled to get back down to steady ground.
"Blackstar?" She squeaked.
"Forgive me Snowkit, it's for the good of the clans." He mewed decisively, and Snowkit felt fresh air hit the spot where the black cat's grasp had been holding her moments ago. The last thing she heard before everything was swallowed by the storm was a gloomy howl whose sharp note wouldn't be carried far past the edge of the river.
What they did not notice was the pair of bright green eyes watching them through the reeds, and that they would not see them again until moons later. The cat's eyes narrowed in fury, and she hissed before crossing the river, following it downstream, following it the Skyclan.
Long later, few yowls of despair were let out into the stormy night, yowls for their two missing clanmates, two missing, two loudest of all as sister searched for sister and mother searched for daughter.
Snowkit gasped as she hit the water, which was nowhere as warm as the rain and humidity of the night, but all that this helped to do was fill her mouth with water, sending her spluttering for oxygen. She desperately flailed her paws, survival instincts taking over her frantic thoughts of indignation, confusion, and abandon. She was suddenly submerged by an oncoming wave, which disoriented her until she had sun so many times she could barely tall which way was up. Luckily, the last trace of air she held let her float up to the surface.
She struggled to find a grip, but she knew that an unusually small kit was no match for a river. She then felt the tug of the current growing stronger, and from the few mist-shrouded glances she could get, she could see ahead of her what the elders had described as 'rapids'. Succumbing to panic, she thrashed wildly, and uselessly, and felt herself plummeting through the water, lungs screaming for air.
Then a moment, barely a heartbeat, time seemed to slow, and a she-cat's figure appeared overhead, glowing like embers through the night. At the same moment, a crash was heard overhead, then a loud groan,and before Snowkit could even attempt to get out of the way, a huge overshadowed figure was falling towards her. The old oak tree, now lightning-struck, crashed into the river, momentarily creating a current in the river that engulfed her. The last breath in her lungs was forced out of her as she collided with the tree, or was is the tree colliding with her?
She couldn't tell, all of her senses muffled and confused after all this tumbling, but what she could tell was the pain that exploded through her, particularly in her chest, as black spots crowded around her vision and she stopped struggling through the current, swept away by darkness.
Hi. I know this is a spoiler but, SHE'S STILL ALIVE (for if anybody was wondering). Oh, and please review (reviews are entertaining to read, even criticism).
Please review?