I am sooo sorry this took so long to update! D: My internet was out for a while and I lost most of this, so I had to re-write it. I've had writer's block, been swamped with HW, been doing school projects, working on other stories (including ones not fanfiction). *sighs* But here's chpt 9! Yay!
Sam opened her eyes, only to be blinded by the morning light coming through a crack in the cave.
"Stupid light . . ." She hissed, angrily pawing the air. Jayfeather, laying beside her, twitched his whiskers in amusement. Carly and Lionblaze were out hunting and Hollyleaf and Freddie were just outside. Jayfeather yawned and padded out. /Where's Crow?/, he thought. The black tom was nowhere to be seen. This left the medicine-cat apprentice very suspicious. He padded over to Freddie and Hollyleaf.
"Have you seen Crow?", he asked. They both shook their heads.
"He left before I woke up.", Hollyleaf said. "I hope he comes back soon." She sighed. "We're as good as lost without him." Freddie agreed, even though he didn't want to admit it. The snow covered the clan cats' and the ICarly gang's tracks, so they couldn't find their way back to camp. Every inch of the snowy forest looked the same, so wandering around wouldn't be wise either. Jayfeather gave his sister and the brown tom a nod before padding off. He wandered away from the cave and deeper into the forest. Finding Crow was the only thing on his mind; he didn't consider the fact that he was blind and padding around alone in foreign land. Jayfeather paused for a moment, and when he continued, he stepped in some cat's pawprint. /These must be Crow's tracks!/ He felt around for more, and soon the trail of prints led him far west. He went over hills and across wide stretches of land. /Starclan, where'd he go?/ Jayfeather rested at the trunk of old tree after many hours of walking. ((But he didn't realize he had walked that long.))
"Jayfeather!", Sam called. Jayfeather pricked his ears and turned his head at the sound of Sam's voice. He could hear the snow slushing, which meant paws were nearing. By the sound of it, Carly, Freddie, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze came, too.
"Sam, wait up!", Carly said. Sam stopped right in front of Jayfeather and he stood up.
"Where were you?", she asked. "Why'd you leave?"
"I was just walking.", he shrugged. Lionblaze huffed.
"You 'just walked' for countless fox-lengths? Jayfeather, you should've had more sense than that!", Hollyleaf scolded.
"I'm so sorry, Squirrelflight. We all know I'm as helpless as a newborn kit.", Jayfeather mewed sarcastically. Hollyleaf lowered her ears.
"Sorry, I-I didn't mean it like that.", she apologized. "But you should have told someone where you were! No one knows their way around here except Crow, so we don't know the dangers-"
"Hollyleaf, I'm fine, okay?", Jayfeather mewed. "I can take care of myself." /I hate when every cat babies me just because I'm blind. It's not like I'm helpless./ He tried to pad away, but Sam stepped in front of him. Jayfeather's ear twitched in surprise, but he said nothing.
"Jayfeather, you're right.", she mewed. "But Hollyleaf's right, too." Her eyes were filled with concern and for once, her voice was gentle. "Something could've happened to you." Jayfeather didn't reply, and the other four cats padded ahead. /So, does she think I'm helpless, too?/ He lowered his head and Carly, Hollyleaf, Freddie and Lionblaze padded ahead.
"If you ever want someone tagging along to. . . er . . . to get Hollyleaf off your back, I'm up for anything.", Sam said.
"Hmm?", Jayfeather murmured, looking up. Sam smiled.
"Carly's always telling me to be careful and stuff . . . I love her like a sister, but the kid's too overprotective. Yeah, I know what it's like. But we can take care of ourselves, right?" A grin, very small, but still there, appeared on Jayfeather's muzzle.
"Right.", he said. The two cats caught up with the others, but all six stopped a few fox-lengths away from the old tree, now near what seemed to be a fox-hole. They all looked to the sky, now a dark-blue shade. Night's darkness was seeping in fast.
"We should settle here for the evening.", Hollyleaf said. Carly nervously glanced up at the treetops.
"Are you sure it's safe?", she asked. Sam and Jayfeather let out a long sigh.
"Hey, where's Crow?", Lionblaze asked. "I haven't seen him all day."
"Well, if you hadn't come after me . . .", Jayfeather mumbled, walking towards the fox-hole. A bird's shrill cry pierced through the air and sent a wave of alarm through the cats' bodies. Everyone froze and looked up.
"What was that?", Sam demanded. No one answered her, but the cats moved closer together. ((now Jayfeather, Sam, and Hollyleaf are at the mouth of the hole, Carly and Freddie are right behind them, and Lionblaze is in the very back)) The bird shrieked again, startling Lionblaze. The tom instinctively ran forward, but crashed into Carly and Freddie, who crashed into Sam, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf. All six cats went down the hole, yelling and flailing their limbs as they tumbled. What they thought was a simple fox's home turned out to be a tunnel. /Oh, Starclan, what have I done?/ , Lionblaze thought. /Where are we going? What's going to happen to us?/ He, like the others, couldn't see a thing. Though not seeing wasn't anything new for Jayfeather, he was terrified. The tabby-gray medicine-cat apprentice reached out, hoping to find something he could latch onto. His paws met only air, but he could feel the earth and rock slip and slide off of his pelt. He felt every twist and turn of the tunnel, not to mention the weight of the other five cats. As they fell deeper, loose dirt smacked Jayfeather square in the nose. He tried to shake it off because he couldn't breathe, but each time he succeeded, more and more dirt took its place. Jayfeather let out a howl of pain as sharp rock pierced his side.
/Starclan, make it stop!/ Like the answer to his prayer, the tunnel ended and the cats toppled out.
"Whoa!", Jayfeather and Carly exclaimed. Sam, Hollyleaf, Freddie, and Lionblaze shouted a chorus of "Ahh's". They landed in a dog pile-er . . . cat pile with Jayfeather on the bottom. He writhed under the weight and the others slid off him.
"What just happened?", Sam asked. She looked around, even though she couldn't see much at this time of night. "Where are we?" Freddie and Hollyleaf looked to dark the sky while Carly and Lionblaze looked to the trees. Jayfeather rose and immediately fell back down, groaning in pain as he did so. Sam looked at his right side and saw a deep, dark red wound.
"Guys, Jayfeather needs help.", she said, concern and fear evident in her voice.
"I'm fine.", Jayfeather said through gritted teeth. Sam dropped her jaw to protest, but was interrupted by another bird's cry. The six cats heard someone growl.
"What are you doing out here?", a strange voice asked in a panicked tone. A cat, white with brown patches, appeared from out of nowhere. "Don't you know better than to be out here at this time of night?"
"We're not from around here.", Freddie explained. The strange cat padded closer and shook it's head. The cat was about Hollyleaf's height and the way it walked and talked, the clan cats concluded she was a girl.
"All the same, you should leave.", she said. "Earthring has lost many brave warriors on the dark paths of this mountain."
"Earthring?", Lionblaze piped in. The she-cat nodded and gasped.
"What's wrong?", Carly asked.
"Run!", she said, bolting off towards the forest. The cats exchanged a look and heard another growl, but this one was gravely; angry. They whipped around saw what the brown and white feline was afraid of: two brown foxes. Big ones.
"Run!", Hollyleaf repeated. They didn't need to be told a third time. Everyone ran off in different directions, but Sam stayed close to Jayfeather. Or tried to, anyway. The medicine cat was a fast runner, and was hard to keep up with in the growing darkness. Sam tripped on a root sticking out of the ground and fumbled forward. The wind was knocked out of her, but the sound of approaching paws promped her to get back up. She got to her feet, and the paws she was going to run from stood still; the sound stopped. Sam glanced around nervously, looking for any sign of the foxes. When she was greeted with silence, she called out "Jayfeather?". A moment of silence passed and the golden warrior took a few pawsteps forward.
"Jayfeather!" Silence still. /Where'd he go? I'll find him./ Sam dipped her head and began to walk, following Jayfeather's scent just as Carly had showed her one day. /What happened to him? They couldn't have got him, could they? No! T-They couldn't have-/ Sounds of struggle snapped her out of her thoughts and she raised her head.
"Jayfeather?" She blindly ran towards the source. Trying desperately trying not to trip and fall again, she threw brief glances at the forest floor as she zoomed through the dark. Sam gasped and stopped dead in her tracks. She took a step back and looked down. Just a pawstep ahead of her was the edge of a cliff, and she almost ran right off it. But that wasn't why she gasped. Her eyes grew wide and her ears lowered in fear.
"Jayfeather!"
OMG! What happened to Jayfeather? :D Bet you wanna know, huh? Review and the next chpt will be up asap!