I haven't posted in a while, but don't worry, I'm still working on this story. I've just been busy with school and practice. The contest from Chapter 1 is still going and the results will be revealed in the fourth chapter. Thanks to all who reviewed!
Chapter 2
…I have to save them!
Apple sprang to her legs in alarm. Her brother and many more cats were going to be ambushed and killed by the band of rogues! The rogues must have found out about the Prides' plan to ambush them. She leaped over her slumbering sister and landed before the hay bale stairs.
Raspberry was awakened by Apple's clatter and rose to her feet. "Where are you going? If you're going hunting, I-"
"No time. I had a dream and it told me the rogues are going to attack us!" Apple dashed down the hay and out the barn entrance. Raspberry was left scrambling to catch her.
"Apple, stop! You need to calm down!" Raspberry called to her sister.
Apple spun around and shouted frantically, "I had a dream. It must have been sent to me by the Pride of Stars and it showed today's battle patrol attacking the rogues, but then even more rogues came out and surrounded us! And Acorn was killed! I have to warn them!" Apple ran off leaving Raspberry stunned.
Raspberry muttered under her breath, "She's crazy." Then she loped forward and followed her.
Acorn ran in pace with Spider and Beetle. The ambush site lay ahead. His patrol of Weeds, Tangle, Sand, Beetle, Spider, and himself approached the group of cats preparing to fight. Acorn sensed little fear among his pridemates; everyone was almost…relaxed. They seem to think this is going to be easy, he thought. He wasn't even going to fight and he felt nervous. Maybe it will be.
Earlier, Weeds had gone over his role in the ambush. Spider, Beetle, Sand, and himself would pair up and take opposite points of the battle and watch for more rogues, which was highly unexpected, and go get back-up if the rogue group was bigger than estimated. His partner was Sand. So far she had not spoken the entire time, which was just fine with him.
The cat brave enough to be the bait in the plan, was Cicada. He didn't seem especially strong or fast. But Acorn had to give him credit for bravery. He was the creator of the plan and he said he trusted it so much, he would be the bait and held his promise true.
"Positions!" Swimminghawk whispered loudly in a commanding tone. Cicada began trotting into the ambush zone. He was completely calm; or he could just hide his emotions very well. About a dozen warriors took their hidden positions along the path Cicada was walking. Spider and Beetle dashed off to the right, senses pricked.
Sand nodded to Acorn and whispered, "Let's go." He nodded slightly and they hurried to the left. From his point, he watched as two rogues slipped out of the bushes and confronted Cicada.
A crack of a twig sounded not far from Acorn. "Sand, did you hear that?" He whispered. When she didn't reply, he turned to find her missing. "Sand!"
"Acorn!" A she-cat called out, but it wasn't Sand, it was Apple. Acorn was puzzled.
"What?" He yelled back. Suddenly, a huge weight was dropped on him. He quickly realized it was another cat. The rogue clawed painfully into his back. Struggling, Acorn shook him off. The rogue walked around him as he regained his wits and suddenly darted in, biting at his throat.
"No!" Apple slammed into the big rogue and slashed at his flank. The rogue momentarily was off-balanced, letting Apple strike again with her claws at his muzzle. Acorn, recovered, batted at his other side. The rogue lashed out at Apple, but she dodged and fell to the ground. The rogue moved forward to finish her off, but Acorn was too fast. The rogue focused on him and they fought. Apple regained her feet and tackled the rogue. She dug in to his back with her claw, holding on for her life as he bucked and tried to force her off.
"Apple? Where are you?" Her sister, Raspberry, stepped out of the bushes and shrieked.
Still clinging to the rogue's back, Apple shouted, "Warn the others!" Terrified, Raspberry ran towards the battle patrol. A huge paw slammed Apple from her perch, to the ground. Another rogue, she thought. She saw a flash of pale ginger to the other side. Oh, no! Not another! She cried in her mind, not able to speak.
The newcomer, already dripping in blood, turned out to be Sand. She screeched and flung herself at the new rogue. They fought three small cats, against two large cats. One of the rogues lunged at Apple. She swerved to the side and clawed the other rogue just as Sand battered into his other side. The first rogue had Acorn pinned to the ground and Apple slammed into the rogue, sending him off balance and gave Acorn a moment to escape. The fight continued on, draining her strength and energy. Her muscles screamed and fatigue was beginning to set in as her adrenaline lowered.
Abruptly, the loudest caterwaul she had ever heard was released, chilling her to the bone…The fighting stopped. It was like time had frozen as she and her friends stared at their enemies, panting hard. Then, like a crash of thunder, the rogues drained out of the battle field. More silence. Then cheers.
"Yeah! They retreated!"
"Take that, flea-bags!"
Swimminghawk yowled and all was silent, "We have won, but this is not over. All cats severely injured, go directly to the barn to be healed. Cats fit to help; carry Snow and Pine's bodies to their Prides. We will hold vigil for these brave warriors tonight. All who have fought with us tonight, thank you for your courage. Now go!"
Beetle was snoring when Raspberry approached her den. She sighed in relief, easing her tense muscles. She glanced around the barn's second floor; she was the only apprentice awake. She pricked her ears at the sound of a rhythmic patter. Grumbling at the sign of more rain, she laid down beside her sister, Apple.
When injures from the battle against the rogues were totaled, Apple found she only had bruised shoulder. Raspberry had been shocked. It was true that some of the warriors at the battle had only minimal wounds, but Apple was only an apprentice. She had been training for just over three moons and received the same losses in battle as a skilled warrior would have received. Or a lucky one, Raspberry thought. Maybe it was just that, Apple had got lucky; fate had gone in her favor. But no, Apple had fought just as ferociously as any warrior. At some point during her thoughts, Raspberry slipped into dreamland.
She found herself in palpable blackness, but it wasn't dark. It was…nothingness. She couldn't see anything, but she could feel the darkness. Also, she realized, she could feel stone beneath her feet, pure stone. No cracks, pieces, or roughness. Cautiously, she stepped forward towards…nothing.
Eventually, almost all at once, she could see. She could see where she had been, even though back when she was there, she couldn't. The path she was on was in fact stone. It was a pale gray and narrow. The area beyond the edges of the stone path was more nothingness. The only other visible objects were the moon and stars above her, twinkling down on the stone.
With no other option, she continued down the path. Soon, she found a river of water was following parallel to her path. Just like the path had done, she could see the river all at once, even behind her. It seemed friendly. Raspberry paused in her trek to wonder if that attribute was fit to assign to the river. She decided since it was her dream, the river could be her friend. The river brought comfort to her as she continued her travel.
Suddenly, a huge mountain appeared out of nowhere, exactly as the path and river had done. As she peered closer, it became apparent that it was not a mountain, but a dome-shaped cave. Once again with no other option, she followed the path into the cave.
Several things struck Raspberry as she entered the "cave". First of all, it was not a cave; it was more of a very, very tall stone ridge that went straight up forming a circle. At the top, there was no ceiling and the starry night sky was shining brightly above. Also, there were cats in this "cave"; familiar ones.
"Raspberry!" A golden-brown cat called out across the empty ground that was as flat as the stone path. The she-cat came closer and only now, because of the limited light in the "cave", Raspberry could recognize her friends.
"Apple!" She exclaimed and dashed over to her sister. Beside Apple sat Caterpillar, Shell, and Raccoon. Caterpillar, Raccoon, and Raspberry exchanged greetings.
"So now there's five of us." Shell noted in low voice. The four other cats turned to him.
Raccoon piped up, "What do you mean?" Raspberry searched the clearing and found no one other than Shell, Apple, Caterpillar, Raccoon, and herself. Caterpillar and Apple exchanged glances and understanding dawned on them of what Shell meant.
"We'll tell you, but first you have to accept this isn't just a dream." Apple mewed, obviously the four cats had already discussed this.
Raspberry had just been thinking how strange of a dream this was. But a dream was a dream. "Hmmm, but that's just what a cat in my dream might say."
"This is not a dream." Apple stated clearly, holding her gaze level with Raspberry.
"If you say so, dream-Apple," Raspberry mocked happily, now thinking of everyone as dream-cats.
Dream-Shell looked at her seriously, "So you're saying if this were a dream, Apple might say that?"
Raspberry nodded. "Since this is a dream, she did," she countered stubbornly.
"But if this wasn't a dream, what would she say?" Dream-Shell questioned, he seemed to know the answer.
"Well...maybe she-"
"And would you really have this clear of a setting and be able to argue with another cat in a dream?" Dream-Shell tactfully explained. Raspberry slowly nodded her head, defeated and embarrassed.
"Okay, so now that that is out of the way, I'll tell you what I meant. Notice the random openings in the sides of the sheer cliffs surrounding the hollow? There are exactly five. One for each of us. And we each came out of a different one, so I assume we will leave the same way." The four cats nodded at his wisdom.
After a moment of echoing silence, Raspberry asked an obvious question. "So why are we here? Or how are we here?" The question was also unanswerable.
"That's what we don't know," Caterpillar replied. "Unless Shell has another theory." He added sarcastically and looked at Shell, whose fur had started to bristle.
In his defense, Shell did give it a try, "Maybe so us apprentices can train more?" The answer was logical, but not likely.
"Hey! What about me?" Raccoon protested. "I'm still a kit." The others thought uncertainly of the answer. The entire situation was strange.
"You will be an apprentice soon." Apple pointed out, remembering Raccoon and Raven would become apprentices any day now.
"Oh. Yeah!" Raccoon eagerly replied. For a moment, he imagined the five chiefs of the prides standing in a row, while the senior chief, Runningtwist, called his name to announce him an apprentice. An unknown cat's voice brought him back to his surroundings.
"Welcome, I am Swimmingfawn." The cat confronting the five friends who called herself Swimmingfawn was a sleek light brown tabby and white tortoiseshell she-cat and strangely, the light from the moon and stars seemed to dance on her fur and twinkle in her eyes.
It appeared her gaze was focused on Raspberry, so she spoke shyly. "Hi, I'm Raspberry, and this is-"
"Yes, I know who you are." The starry she-cat focused on each awed cat as she spoke their name. "Raspberry, Raccoon, Shell, Apple, and Caterpillar."
Caterpillar took a step towards her and with a tone slightly aggressive and slightly afraid, he questioned, "How do you know who we are?"
Swimmingfawn smiled fondly, "You are the five we chose to fix something. Something that has gone wrong. Or will go wrong, from your point of view." She spoke as if they should understand exactly what she meant, but they didn't.
"The rogues?" Apple blurted out, terrified at the thought that they might have to stop the rogues themselves. The other four either shuddered or shrunk back.
"No, but all will be answered soon." The she-cat flickered with brightness from the moon.
"And who is this "we" you mentioned?" Caterpillar probed, still bristling with anger and accusation.
"As I have said, we are in the Pride of Stars, your ancestors. This pride has selected you five." When Caterpillar started to retort, the Pride of Stars cat glared at him. He stopped and she continued. "This particular spot is called the Starry Hollow. It is one of the few places here where we can bring living cats. Every night, you will be able to meet here, but you must leave before that star," she pointed her tail to an extra-bluish star very close to the walls of the Starry Hollow, "Is concealed completely by the walls."
"But it's almost there!" Raspberry burst out. Swimmingfawn nodded in agreement, calm at the imminent danger.
Raccoon wondered nervously, "What will happen if we haven't left by then?"
Swimmingfawn sighed and replied, "If you still are here after that star, the Blue Star, is concealed," She paused solemnly , "You will never return to the living world." Raspberry gasped and the others were shocked.
"Then we'd better leave now!" Apple yowled and dashed towards the closest exit. Caterpillar, Raspberry, Raccoon, and Shell scrambled to follow.
"No!" Swimmingfawn cried out. "If you don't go back through the path you came in, you will lose your way and become lost there for eternity." The other cats froze and located their path, fearing the consequences of not.
Raspberry dashed to her path and exited the Starry Hollow. She turned to glance at the Blue Star and was transfixed by its light. She stood motionless there as the star descended to its destination. Suddenly, the light of the Blue Star disappeared behind the hollow walls. Raspberry jolted back and looked around, afraid something horrible had happened. She realized the Starry Hollow had disappeared. Strange, I never saw it disappear, she thought.
She moved close to where it was, and felt it as she brushed up against the wall. It was there, but colored with nothingness. The stars and moon had disappeared now…and so had the path she was standing on.
Raspberry shrieked and leaped to a splotch of colored ground, the path before her was normal, but the nothingness color was seeping towards her. She began walking at a steady pace and the problem stayed behind her. She began to wonder why SwimmingFawn, who she had concluded to have been the previous leader before Swimminghawk, had told them, 'If you don't go back through the path you came in, you will lose your way…' Then, she saw the reason.
Countless paths winded through the empty space, all looking identical. Raspberry felt overwhelmed by options. They hadn't been there when she came through. Or had they?
She caught the faint noise of gurgling water and remembered the stream. With a jump, she spotted the river and eagerly ran to it.
Its rhythmic sound comforted her and she found herself beside it. Curiously, she dipped her paw in it. It was cool and moist; the water hugged her paw friendly. The edge of the river splashed invitingly at the adjacent ground. She stepped forward and dove into the crystal blue water.
Instinctively, she began to swim and the calm river guided her to where she had entered this bizarre universe. As she stepped out, the water instantly dried. At the end of the stone path, it was circular with a translucent blue stone in the middle. When she stared at it, she felt drowsy and curled up beside it. When she opened her eyes, she saw hay, barn, and morning creeping through windows.
Don't forget to submit an entry to the contest at the bottom of Chapter 1 and review!