sorry it took me so long to update!!! I made a longer chapter though! yay! :) R&R!
Disclamer: I don't own warriors....but maybe.....naa..i couldn't own warriors....dang it.....
I awoke to a black and burnt forest. My mother slept next to me, breathing quickly, still wet, fur black with ash. She must have been the one to pull me out of the river, I realized. I was dry, too.
Icestream must have gotten me out of the river, warmed me, and dried my fur and in doing that forgot to dry and warm herself. I padded over, my paws barley making a sound on the sandy forest floor.
I lay down next to her and started rubbing her fur, the wrong way, to warm her up. Though she was fast asleep, she woke when she felt my paws on her fur.
"Thank you, Sunpaw" she purred, but broke off coughing.
"Mother, are you sick?" I meowed worriedly, afraid of the answer I knew was coming.
"I'm not going to lie, yes, Sunpaw, I am sick. I know a few herbs, one that will get me better, too." The silver and white she-cat meowed.
"Which one? What does it smell like? What does it look like? Where can I find it?" The flurry of questions, raced from my mouth, before I could stop. Then another question leapt out of my mouth, "How do you know about these herbs?"
Purring, Icestream told me the herbs, scent, where I can find it and what it looks like. It was a herb I had heard of before.
"I know about all these herbs," began my mother. "My mother taught me when I was young, about all these, so I would know how to take care of myself if I got hurt or sick. She taught me many of the clan's ways. That is also how I was able to teach you to hunt and fight, when you were younger."
I listened, and realized that our life was more like a Clan Cat's life than just a life of two loners.
"Now go get the feverfew and lavender, while I try and make this little hollow warmer." I nodded and sped off.
It was really cold out and the icy breeze felt as if it were claws, cutting through me. Though, I had forgotten about the fire that happened a few sunrises ago, the memory was brought back by the breeze and air being laced with the smell of smoke and ash.
I stopped in a grassy clearing and scented the air. The river was right ahead, and Icestream had told me that I would find the feverfew, not on or by, but behind the trees of the riverbank.
I walked forward, scenting, and nearly trampled a big clump of feverfew. I bent down and softly picked enough of it to last for a while, then ran off to find the lavender.
Lavender, the sweet scent, immediately filled my nose as I neared. I set the feverfew down, and started picking the stems out of the ground, trying not to waste any of their sweet juice.
I then picked up the feverfew up with the lavender already in my mouth and pelted back to my mother.
My eyes were watering as I ran from a mixture of the strong feverfew scent, smoke and ash in the air, and the ash being kicked up by my paws as I ran.
I neared the hollow, and dread filled me. Fox. And a screech filled the air and a moment later, I saw the fox bolt out of the cave, blood pouring from multiple wounds. Thankfully, the fox didn't think I would make a good meal and ignored me as it sped out of the cave. I couldn't decide if it was the fox who had screeched or if it was my mother…
I jolted myself out of my daydreaming state and bolted into the hollow and the smell of fox was all around me. I panicked; I had left my mother here, what if the fox had killed her?
Dread filled me from nose to tail-tip when I smelled the scent I prayed I wouldn't. Blood and fox scent mixed. There had been a fight that was for sure. I ran deeper into the hollow cave den and found my mother's body, torn up and bleeding.
"Mother!" I wailed. "Don't leave me!"
"Sunpaw, there is nothing you can do, I am going to join StarClan." She rasped. "There is something I have always known I needed to tell you, but I wanted to wait till you were older. I won't get another chance to tell this so listen carefully."
"When darkness falls, sun meets moon, and the light will shine." She meowed in a dark voice, eyes glowing red. The strange color of her eyes and her dark voice slowly faded back to the normal light.
She was panting now, struggling to hold onto life. "You must go to the old forest and find the Clans."
"But how?" I meowed louder than I needed to. "I don't even know the way!"
"You will find the way…" the light that once was, was dyeing from her eyes.
"Mother!" I screeched. "Isn't there something I can do to make you not die?"
"It is too late for me now, remember, I love you…" And with that she took her last breath and left for StarClan.
I reared up on my hind legs and yowled louder than ever. "No!!! Mother!!" I settled down beside her and pushed my nose into her fur and whispered: "Goodbye mother. I love you."
That night I lay next to her, in vigil. I knew I couldn't fall asleep; it was another clan tradition that my mother had told me. Just thinking of her made my heart ache.
Finally the dawn light flooded the trees with a golden sunlight. I warmed my cold pelt, though, not much. I sighed, where should I bury her? I decided I would bury her by her favorite place; the river. Even though it had nearly taken my life and her's, I was a beautiful place when the river wasn't raging.
I picked up her heavy body. Sadness radiating off me. And started the journey to the river. I was panting heavily by the time I had gotten to the river. Though, it was still early dawn, it was warm out and had the promise of being a sweltering hot day. From being dragged through the leaves on the ground, my mother's body was now covered in ash and dirt. I sighed and settled down to groom her, wrinkling my nose at the foul taste of ash and dirt. Finally Icestream's pelt was shining with the sunlight. I decided that under a willow tree would be a nice place; she had always loved willow trees.
I started to dig and found that it was much harder than I would've thought. The ground was charred and hard from the fire that had swept through a few sunrises ago. I decided upon that as to be the reason that it was so hard to dig.
As the sun was climbing up into the sky I had finished my mother's grave. I grabbed her scruff and gently laid her down in the hole. I felt bad to put her in a hole like this, but figured, it was just her body, and her spirit was probably up in StarClan now.
As I covered up my mother, I felt as if I was leaving her behind. I padded away, tail dragging, head low in despair.
I just noticed my belly growling, I hadn't had anything to eat since, well, I couldn't remember.
I heard a rustling and froze, mouse. I crept up to it and pounced, the mouse didn't even have a chance as I swiftly killed it with a bite to the neck. I purred in satisfaction. In no time I had caught another mouse.
I didn't want to go back to the hollow that my mother had been killed in, so I found a bush overhanging to make a good den. I lay the mice down and covered them up with leaves, so while I was gone looking for moss, no animal would take them.
The moss wasn't hard to find and soon I was making myself a nest underneath the bush. I settled down to eat, letting the sweet flavor of mouse seep into my mouth.
However, I only got through the first mouse as I fell asleep. "When darkness falls, sun meets moon, and the light will shine." I woke with a start. The prophecy! I sat there and though about what it could mean. Was it really meant for me? What is the darkness? The light? What does it mean by "sun meets moon"? Was "sun", me?
These questions swirled in my head as I once again drifted off into sleep, wondering what the next day would bring.
So, how did you like it, ya, it is kinda sad...I didn't want to kill Icestream, but i had to....:(.. Remember to R&R! I love my reviews!
oh and i promise to get the next chapter up asap!
Now stop reading this and Review! :)