Prophecy

Chapter 12: Darkpaw's POV

"Darkpaw," a voice echoed. "Darkpaw wake up!" Darkpaw had trouble opening her eyes, but when she did, she saw Shadepaw standing over her, and the patrol had the fox pinned.

"Are you okay?" Littleshine asked. Darkpaw nodded, even though it hurt. Wind had her paw under the fox's jaw, and hissed, "Now talk." The fox growled at her.

"I am not saying anything," The fox growled. Shadepaw and Littleshine looked up at the fox, astonished. Darkpaw attempted to stand, but fell. She kept attempting to stand, but Shadepaw offered herself to lean on. "How do you know how to speak cat?" Darkpaw asked. The fox just looked at her, shaking off Emberclaw, Wind, and Cloverbreeze.

"Whatever you want from me, you can't have," The fox snarled. Emberclaw whispered something to Cloverbreeze, and she ran off. Wind tried to pin the fox down again, but the fox dodged and snarled, "Your going to need to be faster than that!"

Darkpaw stood on her own, got into a hunting crouch, and lunged at the fox before she could dodge. "Now get off our territory," Darkpaw hissed, dizzily. The fox shot out from under Darkpaw's paws and ran. Darkpaw stumbled back a bit, shocked at the fox's speed. 

"Darkpaw should come back with us, but the rest of you can continue back," Littleshine clarified to Wind, who nodded and led the patrol into the forest. "That fox was strange," Shadepaw shuddered. "Tell me about it," Darkpaw rolled her eyes. "And she seemed to be in a hurry."

Littleshine swiveled her ears behind her and purred, "Foxes are strange creatures. The Clans may never know why they're like that."

The cats went quiet for the rest of the walk back, and Cloverbreeze was there talking to Coldstar and Tallshadow. Littleshine led Darkpaw into her den, and the medicine cat had her lay down in a nest. "Shadepaw," The elegant medicine cat nodded, "get some poppy seeds."

She turned to Darkpaw, "Are you in any pain?"

"My back and flanks hurt a bit," She admitted. Shadepaw grabbed a leaf an some small seeds. She loaded the seeds onto the leaf, wrapped it up, and brought it over to Darkpaw. "Eat the poppy seeds," Shadepaw instructed. "It'll put you to sleep while we check you for broken bones or sprains."

Darkpaw obediently ate the poppy seeds, and Littleshine added, "It'll also relive you of any pain you might have." The white-and-black she-cat nodded, and Darkpaw felt drowsy and slowly fell asleep.

*   *   *

"Good news, nothing's broken," Littleshine announced, poking Darkpaw in the flank. "You should be able to get back to training immediately." The apprentice nodded, realizing Shadepaw was not in the den. She looked around, and heard her talking to some cat in the clearing. 

"You may go now," Littleshine nodded as the gray app stood up and left to look for Shadepaw. She looked outside, and her friend was talking to Winterpaw. They seemed to really like each other, Graypaw and Icypaw always gossiped that they were more than friends.

"Darkpaw!" Shadepaw called her over, Winterpaw smiling at her. Darkpaw leaped over to the two apprentices. "Winterpaw is going to be a warrior!" Shadepaw announced. Winterpaw nodded, adding on "I passed my assessment, and Coldstar told me my ceremony would be tomorrow at mid-day."

Darkpaw felt envy for the cat. He was blind, but one of the swiftest and strongest cats she knew. He'd be a great deputy someday. The young tom puffed out his chest fluff with pride. "Lucky furball," She nudged him jokingly.

Shadepaw smiled as the patrol ducked back into camp. Emberclaw hissed something under his breath, then looked at Cloverbreeze like she was supposed to do something important. The she-cat looked away, Emberclaw bounding towards her.

The two cat's whispered, and the only thing Darkpaw could hear was "Fox.... I planned...... Wasn't supposed to.....  She'll be gone..... hopefully......"

Suddenly, Darkpaw's attention snapped back to Shadepaw. "Darkpaw? Are you okay?" The black and white she-cat chimed. "Hmm? Oh! Yeah! Just zoned out a bit!" She stuttered.

"Maybe you should get some rest?" Shadepaw suggested. Darkpaw nodded and headed to her nest. She curled up, tucking her tail over her face and thinking about what she heard from Emberclaw.

'Did he plan to kill someone?' Darkpaw suggested to herself. 'Surely not. He is loyal to this Clan! Isn't he?'

'Maybe he was conspiring with a fox and I'm just being an idiot. But what does Cloverbreeze have to do with this?'

Darkpaw pricked her ears when she heard Emberclaw say, "I'm going to talk to Tallshadow." The tom was sitting near the apprentice den. It was easy for Darkpaw to hear the toms talking. 

"Tallshadow, your still part of the plan, right?" Emberclaw hissed knowingly. Darkpaw sensed shock from her former mentor. "Of course! Darkpaw is obviously too fearful to join our alliance," he grumbled.

"Good. Darkpaw is no use to us then," The tom's scent grew fainter, as he probably walked away. 'I was supposed to be part of his plan?' Darkpaw's mind hissed. A wave of guilt swept from Tallshadow, flooding Darkpaw's senses. 'Does he not want to be a part of Emberclaw's plan?'

Darkpaw lifted her head to see Tallshadow ducking his head, Emberclaw leaving him behind and entering his own den. She put her head down again and tried to fall asleep.

'Tomorrow, I'll wake up and this will be a dream,' She told herself. 'This is all just a dream'

**Author's note** I'm totally not foreshadowing future events! Nope!