Chapter Two: The Disaster
It was sunhigh; the warm golden glow of the sun overhead illuminated all in its path, painting the world a friendly shade of lightness. The mood was lighthearted; the dark brown apprentice Pebblepaw bounced excitedly alongside his mentor Mosspelt, who let her apprentice frolic about with a gentle look in her blue eyes. The other member of their patrol, the smoky tom Blackclaw, snorted with annoyance at the apprentice's antics, but seemed resigned. He, too, couldn't help but feel the youthful energy that Pebblepaw felt. It all came from the sun; its light energized the RiverClanners.
But nothing could energize them as much as their river. As the flickering blue water appeared before them, Blackclaw stepped up the pace, and like a young cat all three RiverClanners jumped into the river. It was a natural reaction for them; they were like fish born with legs, their true home in the water that bordered their territory.
Pebblepaw meowed happily as he treaded water, enjoying the cold water on his fur. It had been a hot and heavy day, after all. The patrol had been out hunting on land; now, they were in their river, and all morale lost from a hard day's hunting was being regained. Mosspelt splashed her apprentice with a good humored mrow, and Pebblepaw responded with a splash of his own. Blackclaw tread water as well, watching the current swirl around his body, and then made for the shore. There he crouched, eyes intently focused on the water, seeking out some fish to bring back for his Clan.
As he crouched, Blackclaw realized that he was on the ThunderClan side of the border. He was about to jump in the river and swim to the other side when he realized that ThunderClan was not there anymore. He was not trespassing, except on a ghost Clan's land. The absences of the other Clans used to excite the senior warrior; now, he felt lost without their presence.
There was no more glory in being a warrior. There were no more battles where one proved themselves willing to sacrifice their life for their Clan. There was only RiverClan, the last of the four Clans, a mere shell of themselves. Well fed they were, but their battle spirits were fading. All they had was the warrior code, and the RiverClan quarter of StarClan. When the other Clans had left, their respective ancestors had gone with them to cleaner skies. But RiverClan's ancestors loyally stayed. There had never been such a split in StarClan, or at least not that the cats remembered.
Blackclaw found himself caught up in old visions of glory. He was racing towards the Sunningrocks, rushing to take them back from ThunderClan. He had raced alongside Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Crookedstar, Leopardstar, or Leopardfur as she was known then…and here he was now, still alive, still a warrior, watching as he regressed in his battle spirit and pride as the legacy of the Clans wore away before his paws.
"Blackclaw! Blackclaw!"
The sound of his name jerked the warrior from his reminiscing. "What?" he snapped at Mosspelt, annoyed at being interrupted in his reliving of the past.
"The….river…" she meowed, sounding shocked and scared. Blackclaw stared at her in confusion, and then realized that the water before his paws was draining away. It was draining so quickly that Blackclaw couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it at first; how could he have been so ignorant?
Pebblepaw let out a wail of shock and confusion. He and Mosspelt scrambled up onto the bank on the RiverClan side. Bracing himself, Blackclaw jumped into the rapidly diminishing river and swam across to join them. Together they watched the river drain, up in one direction, towards...
"What…what is that?" asked Mosspelt shakily. Her blue eyes, formerly full of joy, now held only fear. This was something no warrior had ever seen before…perhaps something no warrior would ever see again.
"We need to get back to camp and warn the Clan," meowed Blackclaw, trying to sound calm, but even his voice was wavering and uncertain. He was just as confused as his Clanmates as to what exactly was going on.
"Come on, we need to go," he meowed forcefully when it seemed that neither Mosspelt nor Pebblepaw had any intention of moving, and never would again until they knew what was happening. And perhaps not even then, depending on the magnitude, would the two RiverClanners choose to get moving.
Thankfully to StarClan, Blackclaw's harsh tone seemed to snap them out of their shaken slumber. As one, the patrol turned and began to race back to camp. No longer did the sun gleam friendlily as before; in fact, the warriors hardly noticed its beauty and brightness as they ran back to camp. Like true Clan warriors, they were focused completely and utterly on their Clan in this time of oncoming crisis.
When they got to camp, it was in uproar. Being on an island, it was impossible for the cats not to notice the water draining away on every side. They seemed shell-shocked; in the history of RiverClan, nothing like this had ever happened. Leopardstar was sitting in the middle of camp, eyes narrowed and focused on the horizon, when Blackclaw and his patrol raced in. She noticed them immediately, eyes snapping to them with the authority of an unspoken command.
"We don't know what it is," meowed Blackclaw as quickly as he could in between breaths. "But we should get the Clan as far away as possible."
Leopardstar nodded in agreement. She stood up and yowled once, calling the Clan to her. As she did so, the sleek form of Willowpaw appeared from the medicine cat's den. The brown apprentice streaked across camp to Leopardstar and stood in front of her leader, panting.
"No message from StarClan, no warnings, for Mothwing or for me. We are on our own," announced the medicine cat apprentice seriously. She held Leopardstar's gaze evenly, until the RiverClan leader nodded in dismissal. Then Willowpaw ran across to the medicine cat's den again, disappearing inside to confer with her mentor on what to do with the herbs.
Leopardstar's proud, confident figure seemed to make her cats feel strong, too. They looked at her, eyes bright with uncertainty but also with expectation.
"Cats of RiverClan," began the she-cat. "An unknown threat is approaching us. For the safety of all, we are evacuating camp. I need all of you to help carry the kits, carry herbs for the medicine cats and help the elders. Mistyfoot and I will oversee this, so that we all get out of camp safely."
"Do you know what it is?" called a voice from in the crowd. Leopardstar recognized Dapplenose and focused her attention on her.
"We don't know. We don't know anything about this. However, all we need to know is that it would be a bad idea to be here when that….thing comes to pass."
"Do you know when we will return to camp?" asked another voice smoothly. It was Hawkfrost, his icy blue eyes emotionless as ever, though Leopardstar could detect tension in his body. It was tightly coiled like a spring ready to be unleashed, and quivering with energy.
"Whenever the thing has passed," replied Leopardstar evenly, eying Hawkfrost suspiciously. Hawkfrost was a clever warrior; such a question was beneath his intelligence. So why had he asked such an obvious question?
Hawkfrost nodded, and Leopardstar followed his gaze. It swept around the camp, examining every nook and cranny, and Leopardstar continued to watch with interest as his emotionless mask slipped and his blue eyes burned with a sudden, fierce love that shocked the leader to her core.
Love? Was Hawkfrost viewing the RiverClan camp with love? Was he worried about what would happen to it? Was Hawkfrost even capable of loving, even though he had flashed Tigerstar's famous ambition every now and then? Leopardstar didn't know what to think; this new revelation about her warrior interested and confused her.
The leader turned back to the crowd, and locked gazes with the keen eyes of her deputy. Mistyfoot had not seen what she had, but she had sensed that something had shocked her leader, and was looking at Leopardstar in concern. Leopardstar blinked her eyes once, and then looked away. She would tell faithful Mistyfoot later.
"Well, you heard me. Get to it!" she snapped, and strode towards the medicine cat den. She wanted to make sure that the Clan's healers got out safely; if anything happened to her Clanmates during their escape, they would all need Mothwing's skill.
The warriors of RiverClan worked quickly, taking comfort in the calm looks they exhibited for each other. Every now and then a warrior would catch eyes with one of his or her fellows and give a nod of reassurance. As such, the atmosphere was surprisingly positive as the RiverClanners prepared to evacuate.
The calm did not last for long.
A sudden yowl of terror was heard. Every cat snapped their heads around to that direction, eyes losing their calm mask and filling with suppressed fear. At the entrance to camp, the sleek silver apprentice Minnowpaw was bent into a crouch, her blue eyes wide with terror.
"The…sky…sun…oh StarClan…" she meowed, her voice quiet and tight with fear. The Clan followed her eyes and saw a huge mass of…something on the horizon. This something was crushing the strong, ageless trees of ThunderClan underneath its paws. It was coming straight for the RiverClan camp.
Terror exploded among the cats. As one, they turned to the entrance with whatever they were holding and sprinted away. The river had receded to such a level that they could wade across what was left of it at an astonishingly quick pace. As soon as they reached the bank they continued to run, not caring or noticing their Clanmates around them.
The cats of RiverClan were caught in a stupor. They did not live beyond the frantic beating of their own hearts, fueled by terror. Self preservation instincts, even if they had lain hidden for a long time, were revealed in a waterfall of horror, horror of the unknown.
At first, Leopardstar had run in a blind terror as well. The darkness cast by the thing rushing towards them was impossible to ignore, impossible to combat. An ancient instinct had been awakened in the RiverClan leader – the feral instinct to run. But as Leopardstar ran, naturally at the front as it was basically instinct to the leader to lead, she realized that she was blindly running away. She hadn't done this in all of her leadership – she was the proud, strong Leopardstar, after all. There was no reason for her to run, no reason to turn her head away from truth.
Ignoring all of her instincts, Leopardstar screamed to a stop and yowled a mighty yowl. The volume of it broke through the stupor the fleeing cats were in and they, too, screamed to a stop. They looked confused as to why they were stopping.
Leopardstar fixed each cat in the glare of her golden eyes. One by one, sanity and understanding trickled back into the eyes of her warriors. They were ready to continue. Leopardstar did not need to tell them what was wrong; the gleam of her eyes spoke louder than words ever could.
The RiverClan leader whipped around and took off, her Clan following in a very different manner from before. Now, there was organization, and sanity. Gone was the blindness of fear.
The wave was coming closer; Leopardstar could hear the crashing sound it made as it flattened all of their camps. She chanced a glance behind her and saw what looked like a curtain of blackness rushing towards her Clan. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to go even faster. They just had to escape. RiverClan had to survive!
A sudden yowl of deep-throated fear and desperation came from the back of the fleeing Clan. The cats slowed down, wanting to discover what was wrong, but Leopardstar barked "Continue! I will deal with it!" in such a fierce voice that there was no choice but to listen to her. Mistyfoot blinked once at her leader before taking Leopardstar's position at the front. She led the cats in an unbroken stream onwards, towards some distant hills. Hopefully, if they reached the top, they would have cover from the monster chasing them.
Leopardstar raced to the back, where the thickset Heavystep was panting, a twisted paw held before him. Before she could even think of what to do, she heard the voice of Hawkfrost behind her.
"Go to the Clan Leopardstar. I'll take care of him," meowed the dark brown tom silkily. Leopardstar faced her warrior with surprise, not sure she completely believed or trusted him. Hawkfrost had always made his ambitions clear; Leopardstar half expected the tom to just kill her in the hopes of being named deputy when Mistyfoot became leader.
"Time is of the essence. Please, Leopardstar, you need to leave," pleaded Hawkfrost.
Leopardstar never thought she'd hear Tigerstar's son plead. Her shock induced her to numbly nod, and in a flash she was away and running. She would trust Hawkfrost with Heavystep. She needed to lead her Clan. Hawkfrost was right; time was something her Clan didn't have enough of today.
She caught up to them as they were cresting a hill, searching for higher ground. Panting, she padded up alongside Mistyfoot and nodded to let the gray she-cat know that she could take the lead. Her faithful deputy fell back gratefully, and Leopardstar took her position. With a yowl of encouragement, she continued to lead her Clan up the hill at a fast pace, while the sounds of destruction echoed from the forest behind them.
They had just reached the top of the hill when another horrendous cry echoed from the Clan. It was Mistyfoot that reacted this time. After exchanging a glance with her leader, the deputy raced to the back, where the dark tabby she-cat Swallowtail was obviously having difficulties. She looked exhausted; her sides heaved, and she was moving at a snail-like pace.
The wave was racing toward them; Mistyfoot knew that she didn't have much time. She placed her shoulder underneath Swallowtail's and half-shoved the elder up the hill.
"If we get to the top, we'll be out of reach. Please StarClan, please help us!" she begged under her breath. If Swallowtail heard her, she gave no sign of it. She was too busy trying to save her own life – and by reaching the top, she would also be saving the life of RiverClan's deputy.
They were nearing their destination now; only about five seconds had passed since Mistyfoot had gone back to Swallowtail. It just wasn't enough time, though. Mistyfoot glanced back in sheer terror as the black wave rose above them. It was trying to get them, trying to take their lives and destroy them like it had done the forest. With a yelp, she heaved Swallowtail one last time and then fell over the top, sprawling with her Clanmates.
The hill was like a cliff on the other side; it ended with a short drop at the top, back to level ground. Mistyfoot didn't ponder the weirdness of it; she was too busy heaving for air and trembling with exhaustion. The dappled golden Mothwing bustled over, obviously trying to keep herself busy lest she think of her brother's fate. Hawkfrost and Heavystep had not made it to the cliff. The Clan was praying to StarClan that, for the sake of the Clan and for Mothwing's happiness, Hawkfrost and Heavystep somehow managed to survive.
"Thank you Mothwing, I'll be fine," meowed Mistyfoot, heaving to her paws. She had to be strong for her Clan. Mothwing didn't look convinced, but still backed away to give the she-cat some space.
"How is Swallowtail?" inquired Mistyfoot. A look of horror spread across Mothwing's face.
"She was right behind me! She didn't make it?" asked Mistyfoot, shocked. She looked for Leopardstar, and saw the leader's grieved expression.
Mistyfoot remembered pushing Swallowtail up the hill, encouraging her, risking her own life for her.
"Nothing? It was worth nothing?" whispered the deputy. "Oh, StarClan, what have you done? Why didn't you warn us?"
Leopardstar looked up, listening to the sounds of distant crashing. "We will spend the night here," she meowed to her Clanmates, as though they had a choice not to. Her words were met with small nods. The Clan was unwilling to be expressive tonight, too shocked were they be the day's events.
"What would you have me do, StarClan? What do we do now?" wondered Leopardstar.
A different thought was running through Mistyfoot's mind.
"Was it fated that she would not make it? Or did I change destiny and make it my fault? Guide me, StarClan."
"Guide us all in our time of need."
Thank you for the review Amber342 :)
What will RiverClan find as they explore how the tsunami has altered the territories? Find out in the Chapter Three: The New World!