CHAPTER 26-The Warm Place

As we headed north, out of the city, the ground became rockier and rockier until we stood right in front of the mountains. The mountain yawned and bared its jagged teeth at us.

Snowstorm bounded up onto a ledge and asked, "Hey, Rain, are you able to climb all the way up on your own?"

The she-cat rested her paw against the ground and winced. "Of course," she meowed.

We scrabbled onto the crevices and ledges, up onto stones and boulders that smelled of soil and storm clouds.

Rain carried Patch by the scruff of his neck, even though he protested and prefered climbing on his own.

I scrabbled upwards with my claws, hanging on tight lest the wind should blow me away. It was colder up here. The wind sank its teeth deep into my bones.

Don't look down, I thought.

At midday, we rested on a rocky shelf. Perched on the sturdy ledge, I peered down. We weren't that high up yet, but still, everything looked tiny. It was as if I was a giant, and if I set my paws on the valley, I would knock all the trees down.

The grey clouds were plump and ready to let down its rain, and I despised it. I was already cold; I didn't need the rain to make it worse.

Rain muttered, "You said you were going to take us to the warm place. Are you sure this is the right way?"

Snowstorm replied, "Um...I think so. I hope so."

The mountains seemed like a terrible place to live in. How could the Tribe stand it?

The storm clouds shifted and whispered among themselves, and pretty soon, it was raining. But the rain was different. It was soft and quiet, and drifted onto my fur as delicate as a rose petal.

It wasn't rain. It was snow.

I quickly leaped to my paws and gazed at wonder at all of the silken petals floating silently down from the sky.

"I love snow," I breathed. It was so beautiful. It glittered like numerous tiny stars, so pure, so magical. Patch leaped and bounded, trying to catch them.

Dewstep stared at the snowflakes dancing in the wind, and then he heaved himself to his paws and meowed, "We'd better continue on our way now. The last thing we need is to get caught in a blizzard."

I hesitated, but managed to tear myself away from the white trance of the snow. I hurried after the others.

The rocky path grew thinner and more precarious as we progressed. We had to walk single-filed so we wouldn't fall.

I couldn't help but glance down at how high up we were. It made me light-headed. The trees were crowns of brocolli, the rivers were silver snakes, and the city, way down at the horizon, was a doll's house.

The pebbles fell under me as I suddenly slipped. My breath caught in my throat. Luckily, Snowstorm lunged and caught me just in time before I plummeted downwards. "Careful now," he warned.

I blushed in embarrassment and nodded.

Snow began to pile up thinly on the ground. It snapped and crackled with tiny voices as we stepped on it.

Quietly, in the distance, I heard a shhhhh noise, like tiny whispers. The others heard it too, for they pricked their ears up and hurried towards it.

The noise thundered loudly. The rocks grew slippery and damp, and pretty soon, my head was swimming with the echoing noise.

It was the waterfall.

The water rippled down in large torrents, gushing down, down, and down into a large gap below. There was a pool underneath.

Dewstep meowed, "This is a dead end. We have to go back." He had to yell in order to make himself heard above the racket.

"Go back?" I shouted. "But this is the waterfall. The tribe must be somewhere nearby."

Dewstep's eyes narrowed. "How do you know?"

Snowstorm yelled, "We have to keep moving forward. The gap is small enough to jump over if we try."

The water bubbled and began to flood over the stone. I unsheathed my claws and tried not to let myself get swept away.

Rain picked up Patch firmly by his scruff and winced in pain as her leg brushed against the stone.

The sprays of icy water blinded me and the thundering noise was deafening. Water was flooding my legs.

Snowstorm shouted something, but the racket was too loud for me to hear him.

We started to scramble up the slope, but the flooding waterfall made it hard to do so. Every time we took a step, the current would send us hanging over the edge of the shelf.

Rain let out a startled wail, and I whipped my head around to see her horrified face disappear below the cliff of the waterfall. She had slipped!

I quickly rushed over and clamped my teeth over her tail before she would fall down into the pool. Patch was dangling in her mouth.

I felt my paws slipping. A panicked thought entered my mind, and I tried with all of my strength to pull her back up. Snowstorm leaped forward and fasted his teeth into my scruff, trying to keep all of us from slipping over the edge. The current snapped at us, lunged at us and tried to force us down with invisible claws.

Dewstep tried to use all of his weight to pull us back up, but it was too much.

The current roared and whipped us off the ledge, right down the waterfull. The spray blinded and choked me. I opened my mouth to let out a scream, but it was immediatley filled with water.

I was falling, falling, the air twisting past my whiskers, my paws grappling at the emptiness. The waterfall yelled and growled in my ears like a giant.

I imagined myself shatter like a porcelain doll once I landed at the bottom.

Please, no, I thought desperatley.

I felt a wet, stinging slap on my chest, the sight of the others plummeting down the waterfall after me, and then the whole world went black.

OoOOOoOoooOooOOoOoOoOOoooOOoOooOoOoOo

I opened my eyes to feel the warm, soft moss beneath me. I was confused. Was I back at ThunderClan?

I looked around, and realized that I was in a stone cave. A familiar, distant shhhhh noise sounded from far away. My eyes widened. The Tribe of Rushing Water. We had made it.

The others were sleeping away next to me, their sides rising and falling gently. I shifted, and winced as my muscles screamed in protest. The impact from the waterfall to the ground had jarred my bones.

Soft pawsteps sounded on the cold stone floor, and I looked up with a little surprised mew.

A cat entered, his dark grey fur caked in dried mud. My ears perked up in interest. This must be Stoneteller. His limbs were long and lanky, and even though he was thin, the muscles rippled underneath his pelt. He smelled of water and moss and of mountain thoughts.

Stoneteller dipped his head at me and said, "Greetings. I am Teller of the Pointed Stones, also known as Stoneteller." His voice was young and strong and sounded like the clinking of pebbles in the river.

I suddenly felt shy and intimidated in his presence.

He continued, "The Tribe of Endless Hunting has informed me that a cat will come, one with a black pelt as dark as the night. What is your name?"

"Um...Ashley," I murmured quietly.

"Ashley?"

"Just Ashley," I said, trying to sound confident.

He straightened up and meowed, "Very well, then. You may rest here, and then when you are ready, we will talk." I dipped my head as he padded away.

I was content. The air was warm and the moss was soft, and I had completed the journey. I could rest now.

As I closed my eyes, I heard the message that Firestar had given me: Don't leave without water, for it will guide you.

Water...

My paw twitched.

Snow and dew were forms of water. So, Snowstorm and Dewstep. Don't leave without them, for they will guide me.

And I thought about how many times they had helped me: Rescuing Snowpaw from the foxes, attacking the dogs, protecting me from the rogues in the city.

I sighed, and snuggled deeper into the moss, pretending that I had a warm blanket over me.