Nightpaw woke to an excited mew coming from Emberpaw.
"Dawnpaw! Did you get a dream from StarClan last night?" Emberpaw mewed.
"No," Dawnpaw replied, her tail drooping.
"You'd think they at least have a spare cat that could be bothered to send us a message - a lot more cats have joined their ranks now," Blizzardpaw growled, his fur ruffled from sleep.
"If StarClan won't come to us, then we'll just go to them," Nightpaw said, giving her fur a quick groom.
"So how do you want us to get there? Die?" Blizzardpaw muttered.
"No, we can go to the Moonstone." Nightpaw replied, rolling her eyes at the comment.
"Great idea! Let's go there now!" Emberpaw meowed excitedly, hopping up and starting towards the tunnel.
"Not so fast, Emberpaw. We should probably eat something first," Dawnpaw said, nodding to the pile of scraps left from the day before.
After quickly devouring the rest of the scraps, they headed out. Dawnpaw led the way, as she had been to the Moonstone before, and Nightpaw trailed behind. Around her, what used to be her home, the moor, was a churned up mess of mud. There was the acrid stench of Twoleg monsters in her nose, so unlike the fresh, heather smell that had occupied the moor beforehand.
"We better hurry up. It's very exposed out here and the Twolegs will spot us easily," Nightpaw called from the back of the group, quickening her pace so that she fell in step with Dawnpaw in front.
"When will we arrive at the Moonstone?" Nightpaw asked, trying to distract herself from the moor around her.
"Probably just before sunset, so we will be able to get some rest before going into Mothermouth," Dawnpaw explained. "I would have prepared travelling herbs for us all but everything was destroyed - even the ThunderClan herb store."
Nightpaw and Dawnpaw continued talking in the front of the group whilst Emberpaw tried, and failed, to get a smile out of Blizzardpaw in the back. Dawnpaw tried to tell Emberpaw that she thought it was impossible for Blizzardpaw to crack a smile but Emberpaw was undeterred. He still managed to get a few laughs from the two she cats though.
Just before sunset, Dawnpaw stopped in front of a gaping hole in the side of a mountain. Mothermouth.
"Here we are," Dawnpaw announced.
"We should get some rest," Nightpaw meowed, scanning the area for a safe place to rest and spotting a large stone platform that would fit all four of them on.
"Can't we hunt? I'm starving," Blizzardpaw complained, scenting the air for prey.
"There's probably enough time for both. As long as we're at the Moonstone by moonlight, I'm fine with whatever we do," Dawnpaw shrugged.
Nightpaw looked at Emberpaw, who hadn't spoken yet. "What do you vote for?"
"I've got admit that I'm sorting of hungry as well," Emberpaw meowed sheepishly, acting like it was against the Warrior Code to agree with Blizzardpaw.
They headed into a nearby forest, alert for any signs of prey
"A mouse!" Emberpaw hissed, just as the smell of mouse hit her nostrils.
"Over there," Nightpaw whispered, flicking her tail to where a mouse was burrowing through the leaves.
She looked around for Blizzardpaw and Dawnpaw but they were nowhere to be seen.
"You should hunt it, I'm used to hunting on the moor," Nightpaw meowed, stepping back.
"We can hunt it together - you go behind the mouse, making sure to keep downwind, and I'll chase it into your paws," Emberpaw said.
Nightpaw nodded, slinking through the trees and crouching behind the mouse. She made eye contact with Emberpaw, who gave a slight twitch of his tail before pouncing. The mouse scrambled away, right into her paws. She gave it a swift bite to the neck.
Thank you StarClan for this prey, Nightpaw thought silently before picking it up and heading over to Emberpaw.
"Nice catch," he meowed, nodding to the mouse.
"I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help," she replied, before adding "although teamwork isn't usually ShadowClan's style, is it?"
"I like to do things my way," Emberpaw replied, flicking his tail. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what Clan we come from anymore."
"I think you've been spending too much time with Blizzardpaw," she teased before heading back in the direction of Mothermouth.
They shared the mouse and Blizzardpaw and Dawnpaw shared a thrush that they managed to catch before getting some rest. It was moonhigh when Nightpaw woke up. She prodded Emberpaw with a claw.
"Wake up sleepyhead, it's moonhigh," she whispered before going to wake the others.
When they were all awake, Dawnpaw led the way into Mothermouth. Nightpaw started getting increasingly uneasy as the tunnel started closing in around her, blocking any access to the sky. She focused on the rhythm of her pawsteps, ignoring the feeling of being trapped.
"We're here," Dawnpaw whispered as she stepped out into a large cavern.
"This is the Moonstone. I can't see-" Blizzardpaw was cut off as a small opening in the ceiling allowed the moons light to shine on a giant rock that sat in front of them.
Nightpaw narrowed her eyes against the light; the stone was glimmering so much that it was almost overwhelming. Everyone was gazing at the Moonstone in similar awe until Dawnpaw spoke up.
"Everyone, take your places at the Moonstone and touch your nose to it," she instructed, her green eyes glittering in the light.
Nightpaw crouched down next to Blizzardpaw at one side of the Moonstone before closing her eyes and touching her nose to it.
She was suddenly in WindClan territory again, what it used to be like, looking out over the moor with the mountains behind her. She felt a clench in her heart as she looked at what her home used to be like. Before it was destroyed.
She tried to turn her head to look in the direction of the mountains, but found that she couldn't. She was stuck facing away from them, towards ThunderClan territory and the Twolegplace beyond.
"Have you ever wondered what is out there?" A voice murmured in her ear.
"Find the place where the trees stand in even the worst floods. Find the place that no Twolegs can destroy. Find the place where there is silver in all seasons. And along the way, find the cats who you can trust."
YOU ARE READING
Warriors - Burnt Skies
FanfictionA fire. Caused by twolegs. And suddenly Nightpaw's entire life as she knows it has changed. The four clans that had ruled the territories for centuries have been wiped out. Now the future for any sort of clan rests in the paws of four apprentices. T...
