Warriors - Burnt Skies

Chapter 2

Nightpaw opened her eyes, noting the constant thumping in her head. That probably wasn't a good sign. A rock cavern rose up around her and she was sitting on the bare, stone floor. This wasn't the WindClan medicine den. There would actually be nests, for a start. She tried to remember what had happened. Had she accidently tripped over and banged her head? No, that wasn't it. And then it came to her. The panic, the monsters, the Twolegs. Nightpaw tried to scramble up, but fell back down again.

"Oh, she's awake!" She heard a slightly familiar voice meow.

"Finally," a tom said.

"Blizzardpaw, we can do without the attitude," a she cat who was fairly close by snapped.

Nightpaw lifted her head slightly, seeing that the she cat was sitting directly in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Dawnpaw. You took a nasty bang to your head there and inhaled quite a lot of smoke and you're leg was sprained," the cinnamon silver tabby she cat meowed breathlessly.

"Umm.. ok. That doesn't sound too good," Nightpaw replied, still drowsy.

"Actually, you seem to be healing fine. Just take it easy the next few days and you'll be better soon," Dawnpaw meowed after sniffing her leg.

"Where are we?" Nightpaw asked.

"We found a tunnel that led from the edge of Fourtrees on the WindClan side to a cavern we think is underneath the Great Rock," the cat whose voice she seemed to recognise piped up.

"Oh it's you," Nightpaw groaned when she saw the calico tom who had tried to stop her going into battle before.

"You could at least try to sound a bit happy to see me," the calico tom meowed, a trace of hurt in his voice.

"Oh sorry. I just meant you were... recognisable?" Nightpaw meowed, trying to say something that wouldn't offend the tom anymore.

"I guess calico toms are pretty rare," the tom conceded. "I'm Emberpaw by the way, from ShadowClan."

"Well, you used to be ShadowClan," the other tom, Blizzardpaw, grumbled.

"I can see you're a ray of sunshine," Nightpaw said sarcastically, looking over at the long furred light grey tabby tom crouched in the corner.

"Unfortunately we're stuck with him. We're the only survivors," Dawnpaw meowed.

"Yeah, because everyone else is dead," Blizzardpaw said bluntly.

There was no response. Everyone was wrapped up in their own thoughts about their families, friends and mentors.

"Surely the leaders are still alive. They have nine lines, for StarClan's sake!" Nightpaw broke the silence.

"They had nine lives , you mean," Blizzardpaw corrected.

"They were pretty old, they were probably on their last lives anyway," Emberpaw said, ignoring Blizzardpaw's comment.

"What clan are you from?" Nightpaw asked, looking back over at Dawnpaw.

"I'm ThunderClan's medicine cat in training," Dawnpaw meowed proudly. "And don't you dare say 'was' Blizzardpaw."

Blizzardpaw muttered something under his breath as Nightpaw tried to stand up again.

"I'm going to look for survivors," Nightpaw said, looking for the exit.

"There's no point - we've already checked," Blizzardpaw replied.

"Well I'll go and look for some prey then, there's got to be something we can eat," Nightpaw meowed, heading towards the tunnel near where Emberpaw was sitting.

"I'll come as well - it's dangerous out there and there's safety in numbers," Emberpaw said, flicking his tail and standing up.

"Me and Blizzardpaw will go too," Dawnpaw decided, following Nightpaw to the tunnel.

"Fine," Blizzardpaw growled before they all headed out.

Nightpaw squinted in the bright daylight, her eyes adjusting to the sudden change in lighting. WindClan territory was spread out before her, but it wasn't the moor she was used to. All of the ground was churned up into mud and huge Twoleg monsters could be seen in the distance.

"M-my home," Blizzardpaw's voice cracked with emotion as he gazed in the direction of RiverClan's territory.

"Me and Blizzardpaw will go and search ThunderClan territory and Nightpaw and Emberpaw can go and search ShadowClan," Dawnpaw decided. "And let's hope we can find some prey."

Nightpaw headed into ShadowClan after Emberpaw, who knew the way. The ground was covered in a fine coating of ash and the trees were bare and leafless, allowing light to reach every part of the ground. It was definitely very different from the ShadowClan territory she had heard about - it used to be dark and mysterious, it's secrets only known to ShadowClan cats.

Nightpaw looked ahead at Emberpaw, wondering how he was feeling being in his old territory. She didn't think she would be able to go back to her old territory, not after what the Twolegs had done to it.

She froze as she heard the sound of Twolegs smashing a hard object against the brittle trees.

"Twolegs! Quick, hide!" Nightpaw exclaimed.

"Twolegs are exactly what we're looking for," Emberpaw murmured, darting towards the huge monster behind the Twolegs.

"What!? Why?" She hissed, hurrying after Emberpaw.

"All of the prey here have died - we've already checked - so we need to try some... unconventional methods to not starve," Emberpaw meowed, before crouching down and sneaking past the Twolegs.

Nightpaw followed, her black pelt blending in with the desolate landscape behind her. She eventually reached the huge monster and started behind it, finding Emberpaw crouched next to a pile of Twoleg scraps.

"Where did you get those from?" Nightpaw asked, slightly mortified by the fact she was going to have to eat Twoleg food.

"Inside the monster," Emberpaw replied, flicking his tail to where there was a high up opening in the monster.

"You want me to eat Twoleg scraps?" She meowed, sniffing them cautiously.

"Yes, unless you want to starve. They're quite tasty anyway," Emberpaw said before picking some up and bounding back towards where they had came from.

Nightpaw hesitated before picking the rest up and, after getting past the Twolegs, ran to catch Emberpaw up.

"I'll race you!" She said as she passed him, voice slightly muffled from the scraps she held in her jaws.

"Oh, come on! That's not even fair! How am I meant to win against a WindClan cat?" Emberpaw meowed before chasing after her.

They met Blizzardpaw and Dawnpaw in the cavern and spread out the scraps they had managed to get before tucking in.

"It's all right but not as good as a freshly caught rabbit," Nightpaw meowed through bites.

"Well you better get used to it because you're probably never going to eat a rabbit ever again," Blizzardpaw growled.

"This is what I've had to put up with all day," Dawnpaw said, flicking her tail towards Blizzardpaw.

"Are we going to live the rest of our lives here though?" Nightpaw asked. "Our territories have been taken over by Twolegs, so there's not much point in staying."

"We'll have to wait for direction from StarClan before making a move," Dawnpaw decided. "For now, we should get some sleep."

They all huddled up in a corner for warmth, Blizzardpaw muttering something under his breath, before falling asleep.