Warrior Cats: Spider

Prologue

I am the spider
and you are the fly.
Our web slowly builds
whilst your clan slowly dies.
My silk thread has promised us
Strength        or        Demise
By next summer's moon
spider will take
its prize.
________

Seedscatter woke with a start, his head buzzing with static. His pelt felt hot and thick, much too heavy to be his own. Humidity hung like molasses in the air, and his thoughts trailed behind him, sluggish and incomprehensible. But he couldn't sleep, not now.

His dream... If only he could remember it in greater detail. Words jumbled up in his head as the images slowly became muddier and muddier until the entire thing had blended together into an indiscernible mess. He could just barely recollect the sleepy, rhythmic words of some prominent figure before the picture faded from his mind entirely. He couldn't shake the feeling of things burrowing through his fur, however. Maybe it had been a nightmare; he had always hated insects of any kind, even the harmless ones. They made his pelt feel itchy just watching them crawl around with beady eyes and long, spindly legs.

Seedscatter needed a walk. He simply needed some fresh air to clear his head. Then he might be able to return to his nest. As he stirred, so did the body next to him. His sister's similar tabby pelt bristled as he stood, and her shaggy head lifted from the moss, eyes blinking drowsily.

Seedscatter restrained a huff, bending down to lick his sister's head comfortingly. "Where... Where you goin'?" She asked blankly, her voice clumsy and slow.

"I'll be right back," Seedscatter whispered, effectively dodging the question. He didn't actually know where he was going to head off to - probably just an aimless stroll around the territory, not going too far, or anything.

But Goosewing seemed to have different plans. She ambled to her paws, muttering an apology to the light-sleeper in the nest next to hers. "Let's go," she meowed, and Seedscatter knew there would be no diverting her attention now - it didn't take much to convince Goosewing of something, even if that wasn't your end game.

The siblings picked their way through the den, tails hovering far above sleeping cats so as not to brush against the pelts of others. They had already disturbed one cat on this starless night, and both were convinced in their ability to refrain from waking the entirety of FieldClan.

Soon, the dusty clearing that served as the camp bled away into bleached grasses, taller than a cat was long and thickly set if you knew where to look. In the spots around camp, however, the grass was sparse and thinning, and barely reached Seedscatter's chin in height. In tickled his whiskers as he walked by, making him sputter out a mix between a cough and a sneeze (a snough, if you will).

Goosewing laughed, flicking his shoulder with her tail. "You alright, there?" She asked, her tone laced with humor.

Seedscatter could do nothing more than make faces at her back as she padded ahead, her eyes straining to see past the cloud cover that blanketed the sky.

"Maybe we'll get some rain," she murmured, her voice nearly inaudible over the chaotic thrum of crickets in the distance. They could have been huddling in the cats' ear fur, for how loud they were being.

"Shrewtoe sure seems to think so."

"Shrewtoe couldn't tell an omen from a juniper berry these days," was Goosewing's harsh response. Seedscatter cringed at her hateful words.

The pair remained silent for a moment, just basking in the nightly choir as it continued it's feverish music. The camp was a mere memory in the distance, disguised thoroughly by the field.

"I had an odd dream," Seedscatter said suddenly. Goosewing turned to him with a curious look in her eyes.

"Go on," she meowed, motioning with her tail.

"I-I can't really remember all of it, but bits and pieces stick out. There were bugs, lots of bugs; little black beetles, and shiny centipedes, and clicking cicadas..." The night seemed to go quiet as he trailed off, though the silence was quickly filled, and it was as if the falter had never occurred. "And a yellow spider." At that moment, just as Goosewing had parted her jaws to speak, a draft of cold air spilled over the litter-mates. A prickle of unease settled at the base of Seedscatter's scruff.

"Like the little jumping ones that make webs in the barn?" Goosewing asked gingerly, as if afraid to bring on another frost-tipped wind.

Seedscatter shook his head rapidly, his eyes a bit wild. "No. No, this one was huge. It was bigger than my paw-" he held up his left forepaw. "-and it was... At least I think it was... Was speaking. To me."

Both cats went silent for a long time.

Then, finally, "What did it say?"

Seedscatter sighed. "I wish I could remember."

Silence, yet again. Seedscatter's whisker twitched, his ears flicked, and his paws danced over the sandy soil. His sister's lack of a response was getting to him.

"Well," Goosewing started again, slowing down until she came to a stop. "It was just a dream, wasn't it?"

Seedscatter murmured his assent

"Then what do you have to worry about?" she let her tail rest on his shoulders. As much as he wanted to, the tabby tom did not shake off her dismissal. "Besides, there are better things to be putting your mind to work on.

"Such as?" Seedscatter asked curiously, already knowing the answer before it came toppling out of his sister's mouth.

"Cloudleap and I are expecting kits!"

The dread that he felt in the pits of his stomach could not have been blamed on the fresh kill he had eaten earlier that day. Seedscatter was starting to realize that the dream couldn't have just a dream, either. A storm was brewing. There would most certainly be rain.