Hi everyone!
The reason the chapters have been so short is because I'm typing them from paper. Hopefully this is longer. Please review!
Cindershine's point of view.
Cindershine looked around the warrior's den. Mossfern sat up to and blinked at her with an expression that read; you're still here? Suddenly defensive, Cindershine hissed at her and ignored her affronted expression. She clambered out of the warrior's den, trying to wake as many cats as she could. Warriors mulled out behind her, yawning.
Just as she was about to address the cats in front of her, she was interrupted by a squealing noise as Hawkfur herded her kits out of the nursery. Sorrelwing followed her. At the same time Spiderstar emerged from his den. The two kits cried with delight at the appearance of their father and launched themselves onto him. Swiftkit crashed into his father whilst Godenkit missed him and instead found herself at the feet of Snowpetal, who spun around, her hackles raised, before she realised who it was.
She purred happily before mewing to Hawkfur "They're beautiful, how old are they now?" Hawkfur responded proudly "Two moons." Meanwhile, Spiderstar had managed to untangle himself from the two kits. He turned and meowed to Cindershine. "I'd like to lead a hunting patrol, if you don't mind, I need to stretch my legs." Cindershine nodded. "Sure, take whoever you want." He turned to his mate, who was now halfway across the clearing, telling Swiftkit off for annoying Sorrelwing. "Hawkfur." He called, "Care to join me on a hunting patrol?" "Yes," Came the yellow-and-brown she-cat's reply. "Definitely."
Hawkfur gave her kits a stern glare. "Be good." She warned, and then followed Spiderstar out of camp. Cindershine watched her go then turned to the warriors. "Dawnberry, Blackmask, Ashwhisker, dawn patrol, remark the border and keep an eye out for trouble." The three warriors nodded, then set off. "Stormcloud and Iceflower take your apprentices and do some battle training." Iceflower came up to Cndershine, "Can I have the day off duties, I feel awful." She mewed. Cindershine nodded. "You look awful, too. Go to Duskflower and get yourself sorted out." The white she-cat nodded, then headed off to the medicine den.
She turned to Darkstorm. "Can you go with them?" The fluffy brown tom nodded, then joined the party of warriors and apprentices, then they all headed to the grassy clearing where the clan usually trained. She turned to the remaining cats. "Redbriar, Cinnamonleaf and Mossfern go hunting, bring back as much prey as you can." With the hunting patrol gone, she addressed the other warriors and apprentices.
"Honeyfall, you and I will take our apprentices hunting." Now only Snowpetal and Larchtail were left. "You two, fortify the camp, with leaf bare here, we don't want any cat cold." Then She and Honeyfall collected Silverpaw and Lilypaw and headed off.
It was now about midday, and they had reviewed their apprentices' hunting techniques, then told them to go and hunt, bringing back as much prey as they could. The results of that were two mice and a wood pigeon. They were heading back to camp; Silverpaw held her pigeon while Lilypaw held the two mice she caught by their tails.
When they were close to the camp, Cindershine thought she scented something odd. Lifting her head and sniffing again, she picked it up clearly. With a jolt of horror, she realised what the scent was. "Fox!" She gasped. As soon as the word was out, a menacing russet-coloured shape emerged from the bushes. The fox lunged at Lilypaw, and the apprentice dropped her catches and let out a squeak of terror. But before it could do anything, Honeyfall launched herself at the fox, spitting with fury.
"You won't ever harm my kit!" The usually gentle queen spat, furious. Reacting slow but efficiently, Cindershine flew at the fox, raking her claws across its muzzle. The fox threw her off and Cindershine landed hard in a heap of legs and fur on the ground. She whipped around, to see Silverpaw fluff out her gray tabby pelt and yowl defiantly, springing at the fox and biting down hard on its back leg.
With another horrible realisation, Cindershine saw that Lilypaw was gone. The cowards run off! She thought furiously. Then, shaking the dust off her pelt she jumped forward, and raked her claws along the side of the fox, then she jumped on top of it and bit down hard on its neck. The fox let out a squeal of pain but managed to shake off Cindershine and she found herself on the ground again. She looked around. Silverpaw was lying on the ground, motionless, and Honeyfall was still fighting, but getting weaker and weaker. In a desperate attempt to help, Cindershine somehow managed to get of the ground, one of her legs was limp, and spasms of pain shot up it. StarClan help us! She thought desperately.
All of a sudden, the fox shook of an exasperated Honeyfall and made a lunge for Cindershine, with a clear intention of killing her, but just as she was preparing to join StarClan, a cry split the air and strong, fresh warriors needed for battle stormed into the battle. Cindershine flopped down, exhausted, and saw the warriors and apprentices she had sent to do battle training and Lilypaw. Lilypaw! She thought. She didn't abandon us after all!
Overwhelmed, the fox let out a cry of fury before running off.
Much later, Cindershine lay in the warriors' den, her leg sending out dull throbs of pain. It hadn't been broken, just dislocated, but it hurt. Now, she was just waiting for every warrior to drift off, so she could leave. The night before had been a disaster, and Cindershine was very surprised that Amberpaw hadn't spread the news of her attempted escape all over the camp. But beside everything, the main thing that worried her was Iceflower. Duskflower had said that the pretty blue-eyed she-cat had been poisoned. Poison. The word haunted her mind. Could this be a catastrophe? Could this be the beginning of the end of her clan? She didn't know.
When she was sure every warrior was asleep, she crept out. She had purposely chosen a nest at the edge of the den. Creeping silent and low, she slipped past Dawnberry, who was on watch. And out of the camp. She padded on determinedly and quickly, and before too long she was at the edge of HiddenClan's territory. Some unknown emotion struck her as she realised how far she was about to go from her, friends, family and the place she called home. Shaking it off, she kept going.
She padded over to a contraption made by twolegs. It was basically poles stuck in the ground joined together by weird shiny stuff. Puzzled for a moment, she decided the only way to get through it was to go under it. Cindershine wriggled under the thing, then found herself in a vast open space surrounded by those odd twoleg things.
Realising she needed to settle down for the night, she looked for a place to rest. She soon found one. In the corner of two twoleg things stood a small tree, providing the shelter she needed. Grateful, she padded over to it and made a rough nest from bracken and leaf mould.
When sleep came, it came as a dark blackness, covering her, threatening to choke her and suffocating her senses.
Somehow, she managed to break away from the suffocating dark and she woke up, trembling and gasping. Then, she was struck down by a horrible thought. There's no going back.