Chapter 13:

As we walked on, we soon found the edge of the forest. We found something new: a wide open space. The tall grass swayed in the wind and I saw a small rabbit hiding among it. The sun was slowly setting on the horizon and I meowed, "Come on, I don't want to sleep in a open space."

"Let's sleep here then travel in the morning," Darkblaze suggested. Flamewing gave him a hard look, then curled up in a small ball. I sat next to her and whispered, "We're almost there. I can feel it." Flamewing looked up and quickly licked my muzzle. "I know Thornfrost. We still need to cross over those mountains over there." Flamewing meowed as she flicked her tail towards them. I looked over and saw them. They're not that bad, I thought. But it might take a while to get over there. I lay my head on my paws and folded my tail neatly over them. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to consume my thoughts.

Sadly, sleep means dreams.

The forest lay spread out around me. Shadows ran across the ground and I heard the whispers of the trees' secrets. Soon, they were silenced.

I looked around in confusion as I heard something new. A roaring sound came from far away. The trees shook and bent over as the animals fled. At first I heard the rushing of the water very quietly then it grew louder.

Clan cats bolted past me and I didn't see the Clan leaders. Then I saw them: they were close to the rushing water saving a kit from drowning. I saw Beestar diving into the water to grasp the kit. But the water seemed to kick him out.

I pelted over and tried to save the kit myself. I felt my fangs clench the kit but each time I tried, they seemed to slip away. The kit was impossible to save. I panicked as I tried to swim back to the surface of the water.

I choked, swallowing a huge mouthful of salt. The water seemed to rise above my head as I tried to swim up. When I opened my eyes I was surrounded by bubbles and water. I called out to the Clan leaders to run, but they kept trying to save the kit. My lungs slowly emptied as I thrashed around, trying to save myself. The bubbles filled my vision and I felt myself lose strength. The water pushed me around in the bubble of water. The wave slowly came down on top of me. I pushed myself one more time and I broke into the air.

I gasped then I finally yowled, "Run!"

I awoke next to Flamewing. She was poking me with one of her paws. The taste of salt water still filled my mouth. " Here, eat this,"Flamewing told me. Still woozy, I sat up and saw a small pile of fresh-kill next to me. I looked down at my paws and saw a small mouse. "I'm sorry Flamewing, I could have helped you..." I meowed slowly. Flamewing purred a little as she meowed, " You were talking in your sleep when I woke up. I didn't want to bother any of you. I needed time to think clearly and be alone." I bit into the mouse and looked at Flamewing. The salt from my mouth slowly washed away as I ate. The dream still haunted my mind. " I had a dream last night Flamewing... I think it was my salt dream." Flamewing nodded, her eyes shining brightly. "Tell me, or we can wait until the others wake up."

"I'll tell you now. Well-" I told her a short summary of the bizarre dream. I meowed finally, "And it really felt like I was drowning. The kit that slipped through my fangs... It was like I was a ghost. The salt tasted so real too,"

"It was," Flamewing replied as she pushed her nest of leaves around. "StarClan sends it to us as a sign we are going the right way."

Flamewing cocked her head slightly. " You should tell the others when they wake up," Flamewing added slowly.

"Maybe we should wake them." I meowed. Flamewing shook her head. I nodded then went back to a dreamless sleep.

When I awoke everyone was awake except Tinypaw. I sat up and looked at Flamewing. Her eyes were glued on me. I thought, at least Flamewing didn't think my dream was crazy. Her eyes seemed to say, tell them. I wasn't sure about telling them yet. I nodded then meowed, "Guys, I had my salt dream... I think," Lily looked puzzled. "Salt dream?" she meowed.

"I'll tell you later," Brightstorm meowed. Lily nodded. Tinypaw stirred a little and sat up. "What?" He asked weirdly.

"My salt dream," I meowed slowly to him. I told them about my salt dream, with a little more detail then I told Flamewing. Then I felt myself describing the kit. "The kit was a snowy white and he had golden paws," I meowed, remembering the kit's sparkling gold paws. "Wait, white with golden paws?" Flamewing mewed. I nodded. Her eyes grew wide as she meowed, panicked "That sounds like Snowpaw!" She looked at me. "Do you think he drowned, or died?" Darkblaze shook his head before I had time to reply. "StarClan must have sent him for snow or a blizzard," he meowed " Not for death. Death would be blood or red." I looked at him and Flamewing looked at the ground. "Thank StarClan!" She sighed. "Snowpaw should be fine," I nodded. " Well, and that's all I can remember. We should start crossing the field," I meowed as I stood up. Tinypaw, Darkblaze and Flamewing did the same. Brightstorm and Lily still sat and I heard Brightstorm explaining to Lily about what the salt dreams were. Soon they stood and joined us in the field.

The grass prickled under my paws. The sun was over the far horizon, the clouds hovering around it behind the mountains. I looked across the flat land and at the mountains. They loomed over us as we slowly crossed over the vast land. We traveled in silence, stopping once in a while to rest. Soon Tinypaw spoke, "Will we need to cross over the mountains?"

"Yes," I meowed. "The sun is behind them and we need to follow the sun to the sun-drown-place." Tinypaw nodded.

Soon, day turned into evening. The mountains didn't seem any closer from where we started. My pads ached from the journey as we walked slowly towards the horizon. Night slowly came and soon Tinypaw collapsed. His leg was starting to bleed again from the long journey. Darkblaze meowed, "Can you walk?" Tinypaw shook his head, hard. Darkblaze bent over and tightly wrapped the cobwebs around his leg again as Tinypaw flinched. Soon, the blood stopped flowing as hard, but Tinypaw still couldn't walk. "We'll stay the night," Flamewing meowed to him.

In the vast open space, I felt strange. It seemed like the quest was still pulling me towards the mountains, like there was something important in them. I sat up and looked at the mountains. I could barely see the sun set behind the mountains and the mountains set off a warm glow.

I padded over to Flamewing to mewed to her, "Should we go hunting for them?"

"No," She meowed back as brushed her tail against my face. " We ate before we left." I nodded. I looked at Darkblaze then turned back to Flamewing. "Why do you think he challenged me?" I asked. Flamewing looked at me. "Maybe it's that we had friends. I have you, Brightstorm has Tinypaw... He doesn't have anyone. Darkblaze doesn't really know us."

I looked at Darkblaze again, who was sleeping away from us. "Give him a chance," Flamewing added. I placed my head on her paws. Soon, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

We were on the move again. It was about sunrise and we needed to reach the mountains before dark. We walked quicker than we did yesterday and Tinypaw's leg seemed better. He didn't limp as much but his leg still slowed us down a little. My paws felt prickly as we padded along the field. No one spoke, but Tinypaw broke the silence by mewing, "We're almost there guys. Just a few more steps..."

I looked up at the mountains and they were closer than before we started. The shadow of the mountains shaded us from the leaffall sun and Lily seemed the least energetic because of her thin pelt. As we padded up to the first rock of the mountain, we heard a rumble of rocks tumbling down the mountain side.

"Let's hope we don't run into a tribe," Darkblaze hissed.