I've been up all night watching movies (Lion King 1+1 ½, Lilo and Stitch 1+2, Lion Emperor Leo, and Tarzan; great movies) and I suddenly felt like writing, ha ha. (Am also somewhat hyper :o) I would have put this up yesterday, but I'm just so cruel.
I am aware that details were left out about Graystripe being banished and that was 'some what' intentional. You'll find out what he did rigghtt aboutt... no, not now... Soon, very soon.
Also, I'll probably only do one more update this month since I'll be going away during the Christmas break; Spending the Holiday's with my dad and grandparents.. yay.
The journey back to camp felt long and exhausting to Sandstorm. Her legs trembled slightly as she struggled to walk properly. She swayed slightly on her paws as she went on, limping every so often.
"Are you okay?" A concerned voice murmured beside her.
She didn't need to turn her head to know it was Graystripe. "I'm fine." She hissed through gritted teeth. In the corner of her eye she noticed Graystripe looked taken aback.
Sandstorm realized how she must have sounded so she lightened her tone. "I'm fine." She repeated, her tone warm. "But what about you? What happened?" She asked as her curiosity overwhelmed her. She had heard Graystripe tell his story to Bluestar, but she wanted more details.
The gray warrior sighed, his eyes staring at nothing in particular. "Leopardstar wanted to take Sunningrocks, no matter what she had to do. No matter who she had to hurt." He paused for a heartbeat, deciding whether or not to go on.
After an encouraging nod from Sandstorm, the young tom continued. "When Mistyfoot and Stonefur were taunting Bluestar, Leopardstar was going to attack her, too, even after you jumped in. I-I attacked Leopardstar to keep her from hurting Bluestar, or worse." He broke off, grimacing.
"But Bluestar wasn't your leader, why save her?" Sandstorm blurted.
"Even though I was a RiverClan warrior, my heart never really left ThunderClan. I didn't mind living in RiverClan, but I just wanted to come back."
Sandstorm nodded as she processed all he had said.
"So, Fireheart's really gone?" He asked.
After a brief hesitation, Sandstorm decided he should know what happened. "Yes. We think-well, we know that there was-is a dog loose in the territory, but Bluestar was convinced it was WindClan. She planned for us to attack them at dawn, but the night before our raid, Fireheart went to WindClan and had them send Ravenpaw to our camp, asking Bluestar to meet with Tallstar at four trees for a peace talk." She trailed off. How much more should she tell him? He probably wouldn't want all the details.
"Bluestar agreed to meet with Tallstar and they talked about the prey theft. When we got back, Bluestar called Fireheart to her den and he was..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. Not when she still didn't want to believe it herself. "Well, you know the rest."
Graystripe was shaking his head, a faint glow of bemusement lingered in his sad eyes. "That sounds like Fireheart. Always trying to work things out with words instead of claws."
Sandstorm muttered agreement as they passed through the thorn barrier. She saw Graystripe's eyes filled with dismay as he saw the charred and fire scarred camp.
They had done the best they could, under Fireheart's orders, to rebuild the camp but there was only so much they could do with leaf bare so close. The two warriors had gone half way across the clearing when they stopped. They stood in the shadow of the high rock.
The Clan were sitting in groups, either talking about RiverClan's attempt to take over Sunningrocks or licking their wounds before going to Cinderpelt's den.
"Who's he?" A voice squeaked from behind her, startling Sandstorm.
"Is he a prisoner?" Another voice piped up.
Smothering a sigh, Sandstorm turned to see Bramblekit and Tawnykit, Goldenflower's two kits, staring at her and Graystripe.
"He's not a prisoner," Sandstorm began. "He's a-"
"A Traitor." Darkstripe interjected. "But then according to Bluestar, we all are."
The dark warrior glowered as he stormed off, leaving the two kits alone with their curiosity and bewilderment.
"Yes, we won, and Graystripe's a ThunderClan cat, but he's just been gone for a while." She stated before the two kits could ask what Darkstripe had meant.
Bramblekit gave a little bounce. "Great! I'm going to go tell the elders!" Sandstorm watched as the two kits bounded off to the elders den, completely unaware of what had just happened.
"Their Tigerstar's kits, aren't they?" Graystripe meowed softly when they disappeared from sight, his eyes filled with sadness.
"Yes." Sandstorm sighed and a silence stretch out between them.
After several heartbeats she began to make her way to the medicine den when she heard Graystripe murmur. "It's never going to be the same, is it?" The comment was nearly inaudible.
"Next New leaf, you'll see." She whispered, unsure if he meant the destruction of the camp, or whether or not he could regain his former place in the Clan. "We should let Cinderpelt patch us up." She added hastily as she headed for the medicine den, not looking back to see if Graystripe was following.
"Cinderpelt?" Sandstorm called, looking for the small gray she-cat.
"Over here." a voice retorted.
With a small shrug she limped to the back of the rock cleft where Cinderpelt had made nest's for all the injured cats. Without waiting to be told, she chose a nest for herself and waited for treatment as she was swept up in dizziness.
"Great StarClan, Sandstorm! Any cat would have thought you'd taken on the whole patrol on your own." Cinderpelt chastised.
"It feel's like it." She muttered as she sat on the mossy bedding.
Cinderpelt sighed. "Okay, we're going to have to stop this bleeding first." Sandstorm nodded tightly as Cinderpelt grabbed a swath of cobwebs. Her bleeding had not stopped by the time they had reached the camp, and showed no signs of doing so now.
Pain seared through her side as Cinderpelt pressed cobwebs to her wounds and she struggled to compose herself. It just hurt so much. She had never had a wound this painful before.
"Stay still." Cinderpelt snapped as Sandstorm began shuffling around and working her paws on her mossy nest in the Medicine den.
Sighing in impatience, Sandstorm tried her best to stay still, though she found it difficult now that she was beginning to get dizzy.
"It's not working," The small gray she-cat murmured worriedly, sneaking a glance at Sandstorm. The pale ginger she-cat hissed as Cinderpelt applied more cobwebs. "I don't know why it wont stop."
"Who cares?" Sandstorm meowed tiredly, swaying slightly on her paws.
Cinderpelt's face creased with worry. "Lie down, will you?"
Sandstorm nodded slightly, and the room began spinning. She quickly plopped down on her side and watched as Cinderpelt mulled over ways to stop her bleeding wounds. With a defeated sigh, the gray she-cat bent over and began licking the fresh blood oozing from Sandstorm's flank. If she hadn't been watching the medicine cat, she would have hardly noticed what she was doing now.
A sudden urge to sleep washed over her like a crashing wave in the river. What's wrong with me?
"Sandstorm?" A voice called out to her, but she couldn't tell who it was. The black wave was already bringing her in, dulling her senses as she fell into unconsciousness.
Sandstorm opened her eyes to find herself alone in the medicine den. The only scent belonged to her.
As her curiosity got the best of her she brought herself out of her nest to see she wasn't injured anymore, her pelt unruffled and clean, and not a scratch in sight! She was completely healed.
She made her way easily to the camp clearing. It was empty of sights and smells; just like the medicine den. "Hello? Is anyone here?" she called out.
Silence. Complete and utter silence greeted her. Terror began to grip her as she realized the tree's here were not longer charred and burned out-but fresh and new, like it was greenleaf. She made her way to the ravine desperate to find another cat. Could they explain to her what was going on?
In the distance she saw a faint red-orange glow that was steadily making it's way closer. She was frozen to the spot.
To her amazement it was a cat; a fiery furred tom. In a moments realization she realized it was Fireheart. Her fear melted away into joy as she slowly made her way towards him, but a look in his eyes made her stop halfway.
Tilting her head in confusion, she watched as Fireheart backed away from her. His orange pelt glowed like fire in the sunlight, brighter than she had ever seen it before. With a startled yowl she reared back as Fireheart's pelt became flames and the young tom vanished, leaving behind a fire that reached two fox lengths high.
Before she could make a move to run, the fire began to fade away, slowly fading away until it was as small as a mouse. Then burned out all together.
Sandstorm didn't understand. She felt as if this was important to know, but she couldn't make of what it could possibly mean. What did a fire have to do with anything?
Fireheart... a fire...-wait. They were both connected-right? Was StarClan trying to tell her something about Fireheart?
"Fire alone can save the Clan, but the flames are fading as darkness rises." A voice whispered in an alluring lucidity along the breeze. Sandstorm shivered as she realized Fireheart needed to come back, or ThunderClan was doomed.
Oooh, what's going on here? (Aside from my bad ending and poor writing in this chapter). We'll we shall have to wait and find out.
Also, there is a poll on my page asking which warriors story of mine I should focus on and/or finish first. If you feel like it, you can go and vote on it.
I'll update when I have 22 reveiws (which means I want at least five people to reveiw). That shouldn't be too hard considering I got 6 reviews for the last chapter.