Flames At Night: Book 1: A Shattered Path

Chapter Seventeen

Patterpaw

The hot sun was in the middle of the sky as Patterpaw, Swiftpaw, and Acornfall walked through a grassy field. Swiftpaw gazed determinedly ahead.

They reached the top of another hill and stopped. "What are those?" Acornfall hissed, stepping back.

"Horses!" Swiftpaw exclaimed. The tall, graceful animals were peacefully eating grass, just a few treelengths away. "I've heard about these at Gatherings. Apparently FlightClan sees them on the moor sometimes."

"Are they dangerous?" Patterpaw asked curiously, sniffing at the air. The horses smelled like hay and wood.

"Only if you spook them. We should be able to walk in their field, near the edge," the medicine cat apprentice said.

"You can," Acornfall interrupted. "I'm not going anywhere near those things."

The two apprentices exchanged a glance. "You wanted to come along," Swiftpaw reminded her.

"And it's not like you can go another way," Patterpaw added. "That hedge looks pretty thick."

"Fine," the golden-brown warrior huffed. "But if one of them comes close to me, I'm running."

The small group proceeded down the hill, towards a wooden fence. The gaps between the boards made it easy to slip through, and before long, they were crossing the field.

All of a sudden, loud barking sounded through the air. Acornfall's fur spiked, but the horses remained calm, placidly chewing on the plants. The she-cat leaped onto the hedge, clawing her way up, then reached down to help Patterpaw.

A large, fluffy dog raced towards them, yipping at the top of its lungs. It was closely followed by several more. Patterpaw struggled up the bush, the branches scraping her pelt. Next to her, Swiftpaw was hurling himself forward. His fluffy red tail was easily within biting range of the hounds, which were getting closer and closer every moment.

Patterpaw pulled herself onto the bushes, turning around to grab Swiftpaw. She and Acornfall yanked him up just as a dog's jaws snapped where his tail had been.

"Thank you," Swiftpaw gasped, crouching next to them. The wobbling branches made an unstable surface for them to stand on. Patterpaw's heart dropped as she counted the dogs and realized there were five large ones and two smaller.

"What do we do?" meowed Acornfall, staring at the hounds. "There's no way we can fight all of these. You should have listened to me when I said to go around the field."

"I can't believe this happened," Swiftpaw moaned. He looked around, searching for something to help them. Catching Patterpaw's eye, he shook his head and sighed.

The black and white she-cat pulled at the twigs beneath her. "We can go along the hedge," she suggested. Her gaze traveled along it, to where it stopped a treelength away. "Or not."

Acornfall stood and carefully padded to the end of the hedge. "There's another field here," she meowed. "But I think the dogs could come through the gap."

"Get down!" Swiftpaw hissed suddenly. A Twoleg was making its way towards the dogs, yapping angrily. Patterpaw burrowed into the bush, hoping not to be seen.

The dogs willingly followed the Twoleg back towards a small den, although some looked back at the cats and bared their teeth. As they disappeared from sight, Acornfall rose from her hiding place, shaking leaves out of her fur. "Thank StarClan that's over!"

And this was only the first day! Patterpaw thought. She was wondering whether this journey was a good idea. The black and white apprentice shook her head. Our clanmates need the herb! We have to do this.