Chapter 7:
When Flamewing got back to camp everyone was either out hunting or training. Slowly, Flamewing padded over to the warrior's den and curled up. She thought about the meeting that we were going to have.
Soon Flamewing fell asleep.
Flamewing was back in the clearing with Wetstar. "Wetstar!" She purred. Flamewing padded towards him. His eyes were closed so Flamewing sat and waited for him to say something.
"When the moon outshines the sun... sun... sun," Wetstar meowed in a voice that wasn't his own that echoed around the clearing. It seemed like all the cats Flamewing knew blurred into one voice.
Flamewing jerked up her head to look at the sun. Suddenly, the moon flew over it, covering its rays. As if the sun burnt out, the world went black. Flamewing gasped.
"The forest will fall... fall.." Slowly, the clearing grew brighter, just enough so Flamewing could see. Wetstar was gone, maybe in a tree somewhere. The clearing grew warmer and brighter but Flamewing heard the sizzle of a fire being born. As if on cue, a tree right in front of Flamewing burst into flames.
"Fire!" She yowled, turning tail and bolting into the trees. "FIRE!" Flamewing ran through the forest, trying to outrun the flames. But she knew she would need to stop and rest; for she wasn't a GrassClan cat. Flamewing ran until she thought her legs would burn off and she would die from lack of air.
Flamewing stumbled over a bramble which she knew wasn't there a heartbeat ago. She panted hard and heard the fire edging closer, as if it was stalking its prey. Flamewing scrambled to her feet and turned again to keep running only to be cornered between a large gaping pit and the pitiless flames.
Suddenly, she knew how mice felt when they were about to get killed from a cat.
"And..." Flamewing heard the weird Wetstar's voice coming from the sky. "The path of stars... will vanish..." Smoke rose from the fire as it crept forward. Smoke filled Flamewing's vision and lungs. "In the smoke..." The voices finished and echoed around Flamewing.
Suddenly, she lurched forward, vomiting from the overwhelming smoke and fire. Once she had finished, Flamewing curled up in a ball, away from the fire as much as possible without falling into the pit. Then there, she curled up in a tight ball and cried, "Fire! Help!" But she cried in vain; for the roaring of the fire drowned out all other sounds.
Wetstar appeared in Flamewing's mind, sitting on the rock when they first had met in Flamewing's dreams. His eyes were still closed and when he opened his eyes they were white and blinding as the sun.
For a split second, they turned dark then back to the normal amber eyes that Wetstar had. Flamewing pelted over to the rock and pushed her muzzle into his fur as he put his tail over her protectively.
Flamewing huddled closer; she wanted all the bad to leave. She wanted everything to go back to normal. Flamewing wanted to feel like a kit again, next to Rockpaw and Dawnflower, with nothing to worry about in the world with the warmth of her mother and brother next to her.
She had also wished that Wetstar had never died, because Wetstar was gentle and caring, not charging into battle but fighting for what he knew was right. Flamewing wished Glowpaw hadn't been such a mouse brain and tried to swim to the other side of the river. The river swept him away, with Wetstar at his heels as he saved the young apprentice... but not himself.
Soon, the smell of the flames died, the warmth of Wetstar froze and Flamewing fell into darkness.
Suddenly, Flamewing was fighting for her life in the cold water. Flamewing thrashed and kicked to swim to land but wherever she looked there was no land… only dark water. Something pulled at her leg, and Flamewing was forced into the water. She pushed at the ground and something stung my leg.
Flamewing gulped. Unfortunately, she gulped down a mouthful of salty water. Flamewing told her legs to keep kicking as they screamed for a break. Something pulled at Flamewing's right leg. She told it to kick. It refused. Flamewing was pulled under again and all she saw was the darkness of the water.
Suddenly, Flamewing heard something hissing but it wasn't a cat. It was a snake. It bit she and Flamewing swatted it away. She heard hissing again but louder this time. Adders were attacking. Flamewing tried to swim back to the surface, but the snakes coiled around her and bit Flamewing repeatedly. One shot out of the water and flew up into the air. Flamewing unsheathed her claws and slapped them away one by one then, she shot up to the surface.
"Help! Water everywhere! Adders!" Flamewing cried. "Swim!" Wildly, she thrashed around and finally found the shore, far away. Maybe I could get there if these adders don't kill me, Flamewing thought. With that, Flamewing pulled herself into full gear, and swam. Suddenly, a snake slammed into Flamewing's muzzle. She felt herself freeze to the bone and sink to the bottom of the sea.
Soon Flamewing heard a different voice. A milky white face of a cat appeared next to Flamewing, but it was blurry and unreadable.
"Flamewing, why do you sleep?" It softly meowed. "Get up and fight until the end!"
Flamewing stirred in her nest then suddenly woke up. It was the time for the meeting to begin. So Flamewing got up, gave herself a fast wash and headed out to where the meeting was held.
That voice sounded so familiar...
"Thornfrost!" Thornfrost quickly looked up to see Goldenblaze padding towards him. "Stop eating all the fresh-kill! Are you going somewhere or are you just hungry?"
"Well... um... I'm very hungry Goldenblaze. I just came back from..." Thornfrost tried to lie.
"I don't care where you just came from! Just stop eating all the prey in the forest!" Goldenblaze hissed.
"Yes, Goldenblaze," Thornfrost meowed, finishing my last bite of vole. His stomach was full of prey, a vole and a small frog but he was still a little bit hungry. Just one more mouse! Thornfrost thought. He gingerly padded over to the pile, as if he hadn't eaten in days, and snatched up the smallest mouse in the pile. Thornfrost chewed quickly and swallowed. Ah, that's better. He thought. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten that much prey... Oh well, it can't be helped. At least I wouldn't have to eat anything for a while.
"Hey, Thornfrost! Is it me or are you fatter?" Thornfrost heard Treefoot call. Thornfrost looked down as he padded slowly to the edge of camp meowed, "It's just you! I'm not fat!"
Thornfrost heard Treefoot snicker. He leaped down the cliff side and spread his paws out. The wind pushed him up, so it slowed his fall. The skin between his shoulders and ankles helped him glide and was what made CloudClan, CloudClan. Soon the ground appeared under Thornfrost so he put out his front paws to land.
The entrance to the camp was inside and through the cliffs. It was a maze and only a CloudClan cat could get through. If there was an emergency, you would go around the cliffs on a path Weedstar dug out. CloudClan's camp was in the heart of the cliffs. That's why CloudClan hardly got invaded. If they did, they must have been spied on.
When Thornfrost landed, he started to walk to Fourtrees. There was a short cut through the river so Thornfrost decided to go that way.
When Thornfrost got to Fourtrees, he sat and waited for a while. He was the first one there. With all the prey in his stomach, Thornfrost felt drowsy. His eyes sagged slowly, but surely, and after a while, Thornfrost promptly fell asleep, snoring.
As Flamewing walked to Fourtrees, she still had the taste of salty water in her mouth. Oh no, Flamewing thought, reminding herself. I still have to cross that smelly Thunderpath! And my legs still hurt!
Flamewing padded up to the Thunderpath, looked for any monsters coming then ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
Thankfully, they didn't stop.
When Flamewing crossed over the scent marker and into FourTrees, she saw Thornfrost and Brightpaw. "Whoa!" Flamewing meowed. "You had the dream too?"
"Yeah!" The she-cat mewed proudly.
"If I had known that, I would have met you long ago!" Flamewing joked. They all purred with laughter.
"Where is Tinypaw?" Thornfrost asked them when Flamewing sat down next to him.
"He's getting the herbs… oh and I'm Brightstorm now," Brightstorm meowed softly.
Suddenly, the dark brown tom that Thornfrost jumped over padded into the clearing. "Oh, it's you guys," He hissed. "Great!" The tom rolled his eyes. "Who are you?" Brightstorm mewed.
"Darkblaze." He sat next to Thornfrost, but not more than a tail length, and began washing himself.
Soon, Flamewing told them about my salt dream and the other dream with the flames. Fourtrees was silent and Flamewing didn't get an answer until Darkblaze spoke.
"Maybe it's from StarClan." Darkblaze mewed roughly. "Salt could mean the sun-drown-place because there is salt water there...Let's go there to look for dawn." We all agreed.
"The other dream could have been a prophecy for us." Thornfrost piped up. "When the moon outshines the sun... I think that might mean nighttime maybe..." Thornfrost trailed off uncertainly and glanced at Brightstorm for help.
"The forest will fall, maybe the forest will get destroyed somehow. But what? Fire maybe? The path of stars? Maybe StarClan?" Brightstorm shrugged. "Maybe we'll try to figure it out along the way."
"That's a lot of maybe's," Flamewing mused. Darkblaze grunted in agreement.
She sat down next to Thornfrost who put his head on her flank. Thornfrost sat up and licked her muzzle. Flamewing started to purr with happiness.
Soon Tinypaw came out of the bushes. "Here guys… eat this." He meowed. He handed the group a bundle of herbs.
"Okay! But how did you get them without being seen?" Thornfrost asked eagerly.
Tinypaw shook his head. "I had to lie a little, even though I don't like lies." He shook his head again.
"Thanks, Tinypaw. Maybe you should come with us!" Brightstorm purred proudly.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Darkblaze meowed. "He can't come! The prophecy said only four cats could come. Not five!"
"Darkblaze, he already knows. He could tell all the Clans and make them come look for us!" Brightstorm narrowed her eyes. "That would be more than five cats!" Brightstorm paused for Flamewing to speak.
"What could go wrong if he comes along?"
"Well, one he could die, and two he could get eaten by an eagle or badger!"
"Those two things are pretty much the same!" Tinypaw pointed out.
Darkblaze turned to face him. "Exactly!"
Tinypaw sighed as he pawed at the herbs to separate them.
As soon they finished the bitter herbs the five stood and planed for what they needed to do before they left. "We should go hunting so we can get more strength for the long trip." Brightstorm meowed, as Flamewing washed Thornfrost's ruffled fur. As if on cue, there was a flash of black fur in the bushes. Flamewing stood slowly and stalked towards the animal, thinking it was a rabbit. Quickly, she pounced but the animal darted away.
Flamewing fell onto the cold and damp ground. Thornfrost whipped around to look at what Flamewing had saw. He found out that it was a very small kit. It was black with dark ginger eyes and light amber paws. From the smell of it, the five cats could tell it was a kittypet. It looked at the Clan cats in surprise. Brightstorm gently meowed to it, "What are you doing out here, little kit?" It looked at us and mewed, "Do you have an UpWalker?"
"What?"
"An UpWalker." Thornfrost nudged Flamewing.
"I think she means a TwoLeg." She blinked.
"No… What's your name little one?" Brightstorm meowed.
"Lily," she answered.
"I'm Flamewing. This is Thornfrost, Brightstorm, Tinypaw, and Darkblaze." Flamewing meowed, as I pointed to each cat in turn.
"So," Brightstorm meowed. "Can you show us where the TwoL-" Tinypaw give her a reminding look. "I mean, the UpWalker Place is?"