Treacherous Skies

Chapter 15

Hailstorm shook his head to clear away the weariness. He'd nearly fallen asleep on his paws, again. He was supposed  to be on watch with Sunfur and keeping guard over the camp for the night, but he kept dozing off.

Sunfur looked at him, her eyes full of amusement. "I think you should rest, Hailstorm."

Hailstorm shook his head. "I can't, I should be on guard with you. What kind of warrior am I if I can't keep watch over our camp?"

"No cat blames you for being tired," Sunfur meowed gently, and Hailstorm turned back to look at the senior warrior. "After all, you did go hunting for the Clan all day."

Hailstorm nodded. He'd led a hunting patrol today, taking Raypaw, Clovertail, and Twigfoot with him, and together they'd brought back plenty of prey to feed the Clan. But they hadn't come back until dusk, so now Hailstorm was exhausted. He'd been ready to curl up on his moss and sleep when Eveningstar had asked if he and Sunfur would keep watch for the night. Sunfur had agreed immediately, and Hailstorm had, too, but he had felt regret swimming in his thoughts as he realized that he wouldn't be able to sleep, like he'd wanted to.

"I'm fine on my own, Hailstorm," Sunfur insisted. "You need to sleep."

Hailstorm looked at Sunfur. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yes, now go get some rest."

"Thank you, Sunfur," Hailstorm meowed gratefully at the she-cat. Sunfur dipped her head, then turned back to facing the bramble barrier, her orange-brown ears twitching, alert for any amiss sounds.

Hailstorm looked up at the sky, twinkling with stars. The moon, slowly growing larger from the half-moon that it was a few nights ago, would soon be full again. Hailstorm looked back down and walked wearily back toward the warriors' den, heading through the clearing. The night was silent except for the gentle breeze in the trees above him.

As he passed the medicine cats den, however, he heard a distressed whimper, and he strained his ears, picking it up as Yellowpaw's. "...had it three times now!" she was wailing.

Hailstorm heard the sympathetic voice of Goldheart inside the den, but he couldn't make out what the medicine cat had said. Hailstorm glanced around him, then quietly crept closer to the medicine cats den, guilt pricking his spine as he realized that he was eavesdropping on the two medicine cats. But curiosity pulled him forward, along with worry for his sister, whose troubled voice filled the stone den.

"It doesn't matter that you didn't tell me before. What is it?" Goldheart sounded worried.

"I... I have had the same dream, three times," Yellowpaw began, lowering her voice. Hailstorm angled his ears closer, listening intently as his sister continued. "I had it at the Moonfall, then yesterday, and now earlier tonight. I wanted to figure out what it meant on my own..." she trailed off. Then her voice raised again. "I thought I could, but now I've been having it over again, and, well, I think it's going to come true... It seemed like the kind of dream that was a warning."

"Tell me what it is, and I can try and help you figure it out," Goldheart prompted.

"Okay," Hailstorm heard Yellowpaw whisper. "It was dark, darker than normal. It was night, but it felt like not even the moonlight or starlight had reached where I was. Well, we were all standing in a circle, and—"

"We?" asked Goldheart, voicing Hailstorm's thoughts aloud.

"DawnClan, though I think another Clan was there too, but I couldn't pinpoint their scent."

A silence followed, and Hailstorm twitched his ears.

"Anyway," Yellowpaw continued, her voice faltering. "We were all encircling a pile of sticks, but they weren't just any sticks, they were shaped like paws, cat paws, at the ends."