Flamepaw's Destination

Chapter 21

Flamepaw stood, frozen, near the top of the hill, glancing down at her clanmates below. She could not believe that she had finally found them though she had never expected to find them in this way.

She began to race forward when Barkpaw shouted to her, "Flamepaw, what are you doing?!"

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed. "We have to help!"

Mothwing and Barkpaw raced down to her, stopping her from running down the hill any farther.

"We can't be stupid about this. We can't just rush into battle!" Mothwing exclaimed.

"No, but we have to try to save them," Flamepaw argued angrily, shocked that Mothwing was acting like such a coward. "Maybe we can sneak some away. We have to try, Mothwing!"

And with that, she took off once more, continuing to race down the hill.

"FLAMEPAW!" Mothwing shouted from the hill's edge, but Flamepaw had already raced off into battle, desperate to find her clanmates and lead them to safety.

As she came toward the bottom, she was immediately trapped in a crowd of fighting cats. Yowls and hisses hung in the air, and there was a stench of blood. Already she could see some of her clanmates fighting weakly, and she knew she had to save them.

As she turned her head, she noticed a large, musky colored tom screeching at the fighting cats, including the RiverClan members.

That must be Swampstar, she guessed. What surprised her even more was to see Korosu by his side, glancing around maliciously at the fighting cats.

Flamepaw gasped, realizing the she-cat must've been in league with Swampstar all along. But why? What did she want to do with him?

Flamepaw's thoughts were cut off as a cat leapt toward her. She screeched and clawed at the cat's belly, pushing him off of her.

"No, I'm not on any side!" she yelled.

With the cat still attempting to pursue her, she disappeared further into the crowd of cats, dodging fighting cats left and right. She was looking around for familiar faces, but the crowd was so tight, it was hard to distinguish any cats.

She leapt up onto a nearby rock and glanced down into the battle below. Her eyes suddenly caught sight of Goldstar fighting nearby, and she sprang back down into battle, throwing a claw or two here and there as she made her way to her leader.

"GOLDSTAR! GOLDSTAR!" she shouted, rushing to the leader.

As she came closer, she froze, frightened. Goldstar looked much worse than she had only a few sunrises before. Dried blood clung onto her face, and she looked to be very thin and weary.

Goldstar turned her head, her eyes falling on Flamepaw. She froze for a moment, giving enough time for the large black tom fighting her to swipe at her side. She shrieked and fell to the ground.

"Get off of her!" Flamepaw shouted, lunging herself at the tom. The tom, however, did not seem to want to be bothered, and he took off, leaving Goldstar lying on the ground in a pile of her own blood.

"Goldstar, Goldstar!" Flamepaw shouted again.

Goldstar let out a raspy cough.

"No, Flamepaw, I told you not to come," she rasped.

"We had to, Goldstar! You needed us! Mothwing and Barkpaw are here too!" she exclaimed.