Chapter 8, Flashing Sleet
Icepaw rushed through the underbrush, desperate to get away from the gathering. Once she was a safe distance away, she sat down, panting. She turned her head up to the stars, but not even their beautiful glittering could calm her mind from its frantic racing. Her blue eyes darted around, as if expecting someone to come rushing after her. Finally, she closed her eyes, and began to lick her white fur. She numbly realized that she had scratches on her.
She sagged to the ground, and tried to think. She needed to sort things out. So Shadefrost isn't my father, she thought. Nightrose lied to me to make me think he was, so she could keep her secret one more day! Why can't I just be like other people? Why does my life have to be so hard? She steeled herself. Come on, girl. This is no time to break down, she told herself. Maskface is my father. My parents broke the warrior code. That's the basics. If I accept those, I can work on the next step to maybe having a normal life again.
After a while, Icepaw finally thought she had accepted the circumstances enough to start on step two. She sighed in relief, then abruptly stopped when she realized what step two must be. Step two is what to do next! She thought. She then went back to trying to accept the circumstances some more, as she thought she hadn't accepted them enough the first time.
The moon began to rise, slowly, lighting the ground around Icepaw. She had drifted off to sleep. The change in lighting awakened her, and she blinked her eyes open. She sat up, and looked at the night sky. So clear. It was so beautiful. She sighed. Her life wasn't simple anymore. Why couldn't it be simple? Why had her parents had to lie? She looked at the ground, and felt anger suddenly clench in her stomach. They betrayed me, she thought angrily. They destroyed my life. But what could she do? There was no one to talk to, no Nightrose to angrily confront. Her anger cooled, and she wished it hadn't. It was easier to be angry and alone than to be just alone. She looked back in the direction of the Gathering that she had ran away from. It was harder to see the way she had come now. She began to pick her way back through the underbrush. She would demand to know the reasons, and then she would figure out what to do next.
Icepaw let out a tiny wail. She was lost. Utterly, utterly, lost. She had bruised her paw, fallen down a steep slope, and was now caught in a bramble thicket, with thorns pricking her tail. She struggled, which only made it worse. Then a stinging nettle stung her nose she lashed out at it, cutting it off at the stem. A thorn cut her paw. She let out a scream of frustration. She became silent as it echoed back at her. Two thoughts came to mind. One was that she hadn't meant to shout that loud. The other was that there was no where in her territory that had an echo like that, apart from the gorge. She peered around the moonlit forest of rocks and trees. It didn't look like anywhere near the gorge. Finally, she came to the conclusion that she had wandered the wrong way from where she had been.
A startled mew came from near the bramble thicket. "Is someone there?" The cat sounded wary.
Icepaw immediately became quiet. It could be a cat able to help her, or it could be a hostile cat from another Clan or a hostile rogue.
"I know you're there," the cat stepped closer.
Icepaw let out a squeak and shrunk back. A pair of dark blue eyes stared at her. "Why, you're just a kit!"
"I'm an apprentice!" Icepaw squealed indignantly back.
The blue orbs blinked. "I'm sorry, it's very dark. Why, you are bigger than a kit. I'm sorry," the luminous eyes said.
It occurred to Icepaw. If that cat called her a kit, and knew what an apprentice was...
It was a Clan cat.
The same thought had occurred to the cat on the outside of the bramble bush. At the same time, it couldn't leave an apprentice trapped in a bramble bush. "Would you like me to get you out of there?" she asked hesitantly.
"I can get myself out!" Icepaw said warily.
The stranger stepped back, and the blue eyes faded. "Very well." The cat form started to walk away.
Icepaw screeched, "Wait a minute! Maybe I could use a little help."
The cat came back, and Icepaw could swear its whiskers twitched. "Alright, then." The cat used a dark gray paw to push back some brambles so Icepaw could get out. She squeezed under the brambles, and looked the cat up and down. "Thank you," she mewed gratefully. "Who are you?" she added curiously.
The cat looked down at the leaf sprinkled earth, then looked back at Icepaw. Their dark blue eyes linked. "I am Sleetflash, the ShadowClan medicine cat," she mewed.
The in response to reviews will be in the next chapter.