Falling Star [1]

Chapter 11

  Rainleap hurried through the night,
the glistening trees covering his escape. He ran to the border, Fernpaw already there. "Hey!" She said excitedly. He smiled. "Guess what? I became a warrior today!"
   She squealed. "Really? What's your new name?" 
  "Rainleap." he said.
"Now it's weird though," she said.
"I mean I'm still an apprentice."
   He laughed. "Becoming a warrior doesn't change my feelings towards you. Besides, you'll be a warrior soon, too."
   She sighed. "Well I guess you're right. I am only a half moon younger than you!"
She touched her nose to his, giggling.
  "Rainleap?"
It wasn't her voice.
  "Rainleap!"
Something prodded his side. He sat up to stare straight into the bright yellow eyes of Ashpaw. "Wake up."
   "Been there done that," he yawned. "Did you need something?" He tried to hide how deeply his dream had affected him. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You sort of checked out after that patrol yesterday. What happened?"
   He hesitated, not wanting to explain.
"It was nothing."
"Don't lie."
"It's just-"
She sighed. "Something I'll understand when I'm a warrior. I get it, you don't feel comfortable talking about it."
   He gave a shaky laugh. "Just wait three more moons. I promise I'll explain everything then."
   She nodded.
"What's that?" He asked. Her ear bore a small tear. "Oh, it's nothing," she said. "Just something I got from a bramble bush yesterday."
  She was lying. "I guess we both have secrets to keep."
  They each gave nervous laughs.
"Well that's all," she said, turning to leave. "Bye."
After she left, Rainleap began to shake. Having a meltdown infront of Ashpaw would lower any self esteem he had left. He had to keep it together. For her.

Having spent a few silent moments
of thought in his nest, Rainleap finally joined them outside. Flametail ordered for him to join her on a hunting patrol along with Ashpaw and Barkwhisker.
   Once they were close to the SunClan border and near the center of the valley, Flametail halted. "Stop," she said quietly, her mouth open as she tasted the air. "I smell-"
"A fox." Ashpaw finished her sentence, her voice shaking. Foxes were the only thing that scared her. The only thing that she couldn't fight.
   A clump of bushes rattled a few tail lengths away from the group, two bright yellow eyes staring back at her. She shivered, seeing her own eyes instead of her enemy's. It leapt at them before Flametail could give any attack orders, aiming straight for Rainleap. He froze in fear, ears down as he hissed uselessly at it.
   He was pushed out of the way at the last second by Ashpaw. The fox landed on her, growling and biting furiously at her shoulder. She howled in pain, falling to the ground on her wounded side. She couldn't feel anything but the pain, the blurry figures of her clan mates dancing around in her vision as they tried to defeat the huge beast. She saw it turn to her, teeth stained with blood.
Her blood.
She tried to move, but her shoulder was so badly injured that she could hardly stand. It pounced on her once more, and before she could finish inhaling her breath, a white hot searing pain spread across her entire face, starting at her right eye. She couldn't see anything as she aimlessly threw her paws out, searching for help. The fox was thrown off, and it's growling was the last thing she heard before unconsciousness overtook her mind.