Warrior Cats: The Thistle and the Feather

Chapter 16

   Thistlestorm winced as he attempted to get up. Gorsestorm dove under him as he started to fall and propped him back up on his feet.
   Sal-inja had thrown him at a tree a couple days ago, his left front paw seemed to be dead. He couldn't move it at all. He raised his foreleg, his paw dropped helplessly. Thistlestorm sighed.
   Gorsestorm sat in front of him and surveyed the "dead" paw. He jumped and put a lot of force on Thistlestorm's paw, but the warrior didn't even flinch.
   "Our testing is done," Gorsestorm rasped, "You have a dead paw, won't heal or nothin'. Gonna stay like that, better get used to it," he got up and walked away.
   Thistlestorm didn't say anything as the old cat walked away, his mind whirled with many thoughts. How could he fight now? Is he of anymore use to help solve the problem against Sal-inja? Is Sal-inja even defeatable?
   Featherwing came and sat down next to her brother, she took one look at his expression, got the message and looked away. She wondered what it must feel like to be helpless.
   "Now you've lost everyone," Thistlestorm sighed, staring at his paws.
   Featherwing flinched and stared at him, "No I haven't! Are you not right here?"
   "But I'm useless now!" Thistlestorm snapped, "I can't help you defeat Sal-inja, he's going to kill us all!"
   Featherwing didn't say anything, because she couldn't disagree. But instead she brought up memories of their friends, "Remember Hawk?"
   Thistlestorm flattened his ears, "Yes."
   "And Dawn?"
   The tom nodded, scanning through all the friendships he made, but something was missing. Dawn, Hawk, Shadow... wasn't there someone else?
   Featherwing was rambling on about how she thought Shadow could've possibly died, her rant came to an end as she remembered someone else.
   "Do you remember Soot? I wonder where she is now," Featherwing looked around camp, observing Blossomheart giving orders to the cats. The two siblings didn't have to do anything, Nettlestar believed they've been through too much and deserved a break.
   Thistlestorm turned his gaze from the ground to directly in front of him. Soot. The gray she-cat ran around playfully in his mind, her amber eyes danced behind her. She wasn't playing though, she was running from something... from a large bulky brown figure? A dog!
   "Soot!" Thistlestorm jumped up, but stumbled back down.
   "I miss her too," Featherwing stated solemnly.
   "No! She's in," Thistlestorm was able to stand on his feet, "Soot's in danger!"
   "You've lost me," Featherwing turned her head to look at her quite alarmed brother.
   "Follow me!" Thistlestorm's mind raced as he ran and stumbled. It was getting easier to maneuver himself around now that he's had more practice, but he's still as useless as a rotten mole. 
   An image of Soot appeared in BreezeClan territory, the dog snapping at her tail. Thistlestorm quickly turned, unaware that Featherwing was following him. He ran straight over the border and stopped. Soot was running straight for BreezeClan's camp! He ran faster and tripped, his face seemed to eat all the sand as he quickly found a grip and kept going. Featherwing caught up with him, running faster than he could. She hissed and jumped on the dog's back as soon as it came within reach. A little bit further..
   Thistlestorm jumped and landed on the dog's back leg. The dog was now growling at the two cats upon it. Soot stopped, realizing she wasn't being chased anymore. She looked at the dog being attacked by her former two friends. She grinned and and ran towards the dog and leaped at its muzzle and raked it's eyes with her claws. The dog shrieked and shook off the three cats and ran away fearfully.
   Thistlestorm looked at Soot. She stood proudly staring at the dog as it became a dot in the distance. He hadn't realized how much she had grown since they met. She was as tall as Featherwing, but her fur wasn't dark gray anymore. If anything it was white, like dark gray splatters on her pelt. The splatters seemed to be wearing off.
   Soot caught his stare and turned to look at him and smiled, "Most of us aren't actually gray or black, I was only a kit when I was stolen. My mother had begged for me to be spared and for her to be..." She stopped, choking on her words, "And for her to be killed instead of me."
   Thistlestorm limped towards her and wrapped his tail around her, "I'm sorry. We've lost our mother too." Tears  dripped down his face as he remembered how Timberleap had sacrificed herself to save them and their friends from the fire. He hadn't thought much about her since it happened because of all the chaos that had occurred, but now he felt incredibly bad about it.
   Since Timberleap's death had interrupted his thoughts, Thistlestorm hadn't realized Soot was resting her head in his fur and sobbing. He lay his own head on top of hers, murmuring to her that it would be all right.
   Featherwing was going to interfere protectively, but she decided not. It was obvious that Soot and Thistlestorm were pretty close, she hoped it wouldn't get any closer.
   "Soot is my mask," Soot murmured through sobs, "I am not Soot, I am Snow."
   It was a beautiful name, Thistlestorm purred and nuzzled his nose in her neck fur.
   "Sal-inja," she started, Thistlestorm flinched back, the mention of the cat's name ruined the moment, "is planning to take over GloomClan."
   "GloomClan won't have their pride ruined by some piece of fox-dung," Featherwing hissed.
   "They may have no choice," Snow turned her head to look at the young she-cat.
   A hiss seared a jolt into the three cats, it came from Waterdrop and Eaglepaw, "What are you doing in our territory? Lounging in the sun that LightningClan cats never get?" Waterdrop scoffed.

   Thistlestorm hissed back, "I'm sorry we just chased a dog off your territory!"
   Waterdrop widened her eyes and took a step back, "I apologize, but it does seem you all are lounging about."
   "Look, BreezeClan doesn't know this yet, but there is a huge threat coming into every Clan's way. RainClan has already suffered," Featherwing added.
   "Aye, I'll make sure we go to the Gathering to hear more," Waterdrop turned around to leave but stopped and looked back, "But it'd be nice if you could still leave our territory."
   "Right," Thistlestorm nodded and the three cats ran back to LightningClan. Featherwing couldn't help but notice that Thistlestorm seemed to lag behind more so he could be closer to Snow.


A/N
   Longer chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. More rising action is coming up!