Sandfur took Petalkit out of the nursery. The camp was in panic, cats were swarming over the clearing and she saw Hazelpelt dart out of the elders den, ushering Otterclaw ahead of her. Snowstar leapt onto the high rock, her blue eyes blazing as they swept the camp.
"Elders and kits out first then apprentices!"
Sandfur was already heading for the tunnel, Petalkit saw a grey pelt flash past them and turned.
"Hey, wait!" but Shadepaw was already gone and Sandfur was already in the tunnel and passing out into the forest. Petalkit felt a thrill of excitement as she looked around at the trees towering around them, but it was quelled as she felt the fear of her clan-mates and she felt a stab of anxiety as Fireeyes ran past, his pelt bristling.
"This way!" he called and Sandfur leapt after him, racing through the trees, leaves and branches of bushes whipping past them. Petalpaw saw haziness between the trunks of the trees, misty white tendrils of smoke coming forwards, curling towards white floating through the air towards them, she opened her mouth to ask what it was and breathed in mouthful. It stung her throat and eyes and made her cough loudly, she quickly clamped her mouth shut but it started to burn her nose too.
"It's spreading fast!" a cat yowled and she felt a prick of anxiety from Sandfur.
"This way" Firestar yowled and Sandfur sprang after him at once. They raced through the trees, weaving between the trunks. Petalkit tried to look around but just when she had focused on something it was whipped past in a blur.
The smoke was getting thicker, even though Petalkit supposed they were running away from the fire, she coughed again and she could hear someone coughing behind her.
She saw something glint out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to see red flicker through the leaves and orange sparks shot into the sky. She flinched in alarm, her eyes widening and stinging in the smoke. Something cracked in front of them and orange shot into the air as Fireeyes and Sandfur skidded to a halt. This must be fire. The flames flicked and danced towards them, twisting and darting, it reached a bush in front of them and crept through the leaves. The bush glowed red hot for a second then there was a whoosh and it was engulfed with flames, cracking and spitting. Fireeyes backed away hurriedly and hissed, his ears flat against his head then he turned to face them.
"Where are the others?" his orange eyes were bright with alarm.
Sandfur turned and Petalkit saw Otterheart and Gingepaw behind them, the elder was coughing and Gingerpaw's eyes were wide, apparently unable to tear her gaze away from the burning bush in front of them.
"I-I don't know," the apprentice mewed, "one minute they were behind us and the next.." she trailed off. Petalkit noticed her paws were shaking but she held her head high.
"Where are we going?" Sandfur asked, Petalkit could hear her breath wheezing near her ear.
"Shadowclan," Fireeyes replied, "it won't have reached there yet," and he leaped forwards past the burning bushes. Petalkit felt the heat sear her pelt as Sandfur followed and cringed as she smelt burning fur.
A great wall of flames leapt up in front of them. Firestar backed away as the flames climbed the tree trunks, licking the bark. He was looking up at the flames engulfing a branch above them, then he turned towards them.
"Right, Gingerpaw, go now with Otterheart."
"Don't make me go first, let the others go-" Otterherat grumbled but they ignored him, Fireeyes nosing him ahead while Gingerpaw helped him as he hobbled forwards. Firestar turned back.
"Sandfur, go," he mewed and Sandfur leapt forwards, Petalkit bumping against her chest.
Suddenly there was a loud crack overhead. Petalkit saw Gingerpaw turn and look fearfully above them. Sandfur half-turned towards the noise and Petalkit saw a flash of flame above their heads.
"Hurry!' Fireeyes yowled and sprang forwards as Sandfur leapt out of the way.
With another loud crack the branch snapped and fell, trailing flames in its wake. It landed on the ground, missing his tail by a whisker, with a crunch and an explosion of sparks, Petalkit yelped in fear and shrank back against Sandfur, she could feel her heart thrumming against her ribs. Fireeyes took several steps backwards.
"This way," he said in a slightly shaky voice and led them away from the burning tree.
Petalkit hardly noticed when they crossed over the scent line, she was coughing and her nose was full of acrid smoke. But as the smoke thinned and she started to smell unfamiliar scents around her she realized they must be in Shadowclan territory. Fireeyes stopped in a clearing, they had left the crackle and flicker of flames behind them and Petalkit could smell the tang of leaves again. Sandfur put her down and started to cough herself. Firestar's looked around, Petalkit was suddenly glad that she was not named after fire as she watched his eyes flicker around the trees, glowing like the flames.
"Where are they?" asked Sandfur.
"They'll be here," he said, but he sounded as if he was trying to convince himself as much as them.
There was a rustle and two cats suddenly appeared a few paw-steps away at the edge of the clearing, their eyes glinting. The Shadowclan cats had managed to sneak up on them without them even noticing, a black-furred she-cat and a tabby tom with a short tail and amber eyes.
"Typical Thunderclan," said the she-cat, her bright green eyes narrowing slightly, "never listening. Why are you here?"
"The fire," said Fireeyes, standing up to face them.
The Shadowclan cats hesitated, Sandfur half-moved in front of Petalkit and she felt a thrill of fear, they weren't going to send them back, back to the to the fire, were they? Then the tabby nodded and Sandfur relaxed. Petalkit let out a sigh of relief then started to cough, the Shadowclan cats looked at her.
"That little one needs a medicine cat," said she she-cat. Petalkit's throat was so sore she didn't even protest at being called little, just swished her tail.
"Where are the rest of you?" asked the tabby.
"They're coming," Firestar sounded strained.
The tabby nodded.
"Poionclaw," he said to the black she-cat, "get Nightstar and Dawnsong."
The she-cat nodded and turned, vanishing into the trees, Petalkit blinked and her black coat had merged with the shadows between he trees.
There was a noise behind them, voices and pawsteps, Petalkit turned to see Snowstar, Nightfall and Whitecloud come into the clearing, she let out a loud purr of relief as she saw Shadepaw and Darkpaw behind them, with the rest of the clan.
"Petalkit," Shadepaw darted towards her, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine," said Petalkit hoarsely.
Whitecloud passed them, the white warrior was now grey with soot.
"You're all black now." Petalkit looked up and saw Darktail standing beside them, looking relieved.
She turned round and saw that the white spots on her pelt had been smeared to a dark grey.
"Oh," she tried to wash it off but the harsh bitter taste it left on her tounge made her want to retch.
"Darkpaw," Iceberry, her pelt now grey like Whitecloud's, called him over as a black she-cat and a grey she-cat appeared from the trees. He got up and joined her as the grey she-cat dropped a bundle of herbs at their paws and mewed a greeting. Petalkit felt a slight pang of alarm as the she-cat lifted her head to look at the Thunderclan cats and she saw that one of her eyes was amber and the other green. The black she-cat padded up to Snowstar and Petalkit saw her leader raise her head, her eyes bright even though she looked exhausted.
Darkpaw padded back over to them with a wedge of something yellow in his mouth.
"Honeycomb," he said, his voice muffled and he broke off some for her and Shadepaw. Cautiously she licked some up, she blinked in surprise as it soothed her tongue and throat immediately and she ate the rest, letting out a faint purr at its slightly sweet flavour.
"Petalkit," Petalkit turned to see Sandfur beside her.
Sandfur lifted her up again and carried her towards the Shadowclan cats.
"You'll have a warm nest to sleep on soon Petalkit, don't worry," Sandfur mewed.
Petalkit didn't reply, but felt a pang of apprehension as they padded deeper into Shadowclan territory, the strange scents surrounding her. Yes, she would have a warm nest, but it would be in Shadowclan..
