Incoming Storm

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The cat bent over a motionless body, eyes raw with tears. It had been an accident, they knew, but now their mother was dead; gone. None of the other cats trusted them, and for good reason. The cat's mother had a deadly secret. She had been a clan cat; a cat all of them despised.

They felt fear run down their veins as they stared at their mother's motionless silver pelt. There was no cat they could trust when they bore half-blood of their nomadic group, and half-blood of the enemy.

There was also the other secret they knew, the secret that would change everything. Destroy the world if any other cats knew. After years of journeying in search of a lost group of cats, Storm had found the secret to everything.

Their mother knew, and now they did too, how the clans and the Wild Lands surrounding them came to be. The legend that had been lost to time. A legend which told of the desperation of the wild to survive as two-legs slowly destroyed and slaughtered them all.

It was a secret which was now theirs alone to bear, the cat realised, as they buried their head into their mother's cold pelt. A deadly secret that could destroy everything. One that was right in the heart of the clans in a secret set of caverns.

That was when the cat heard pawsteps from behind them. These paws were slow and deliberate; that of a stalker. They didn't care anymore, though, as they buried their muzzle deep into their mother's pelt. This secret was too big. It was better off going along with them.

The cat was almost upon them, and they turned to see a ginger cat. It was Odd, Pit's closest ally. Odd watched them through a slitted yet pitying stare. They tried to run away, but he stumbled onto a stone and into a river. Their head smashed against a rock, and the world went dark.

"Brownpaw?"

A warm paw pushed against Brownpaw as she trembled, groggily to her paws. The world was spiralling and spinning around her as she tried to focus her gaze on the cat that was calling out a name. Is that my name?

Brownpaw tried to get to her paws to confront the new figure, but she fell down again as the blackness threatened to close over her. Gasping, Brownpaw settled back into a lying position, eyes closed.

"Brownpaw you need to wake up!"

"Meee?" The words slurred out of Brownpaw's mouth as she said them. "Soooo tiiiireeed"

The paw shoved her again, more forcefully this time, and Brownpaw took a deeper gasp of air. Suddenly, her lungs were begging for more. Deep gasp after deep gasp made Brownpaw feel more in tune with her surroundings. There were pine trees with sharp green needles, a forest floor, and a black cat standing above her.

"Skipper?"

The cat's eyes widened in confusion as he stared at her. He glanced around as though looking for another cat. When there was no other cat, he hesitantly meowed out in a voice that was too deep for Skipper.

"Are you okay, Brownpaw? Is Skipper a cat you knew when you were a kittypet?"

Brownpaw stared at him and tilted her head in bewilderment. Suddenly, her gaze focused and her eyes widened. That black tom wasn't Skipper! For one thing, he was lanky and had a spiky tuft of fur on his head. This cat was-

"Moonshade?"

The green eyes that stared out at her looked enormously relieved. Moonshade took a deep exhale and stared at Brownpaw, eyes deeply troubled.

"I-I was so worried when you fell," he began. "I'm sorry; I was mousebrained and reckless, and I saw something in you that reminded me of someone. This is all so foxdunged."