Brambleberry's Path

Chapter 18:

Hawkwing had curled up in her nest and her tail rested over her nose. Brambleberry stared at her from across the den as he lay in his nest before he rested his head on his paws and closed his amber eyes. Soon he drifted off into the black abyss of sleep.

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He was running through a meadow. The stars were in the sky and he stared up at them with wonder and determination as he sped across the wide open field. All of a sudden a shape loomed in front of him and he screeched to a halt. His amber eyes widened as the sky changed to a bright, sunny morning. As the wind blew through the grass and his fur, making the green strands wave and dance and his dark tabby fur ruffle, small white fuzzy dandelion seeds floated across the meadow.

There stood a young Hawkpaw, rolling around in the grass and swatting her paw at a dandelion seed as it floated down to her nose. She rolled over onto her stomach and spotted Bramblepaw. Her ears perked up and she sprang to her paws before she was racing towards him. Bramblepaw let out a grunt as she collided with him and both of them were sent tumbling into the soft grass. He let out a laugh and playfully pawed at her shoulder. They wrestled around on the ground until both of them were tired.

Bramblepaw purred and nudged Hawkpaw's cheek softly. The brown she-cat lay over his back and purred at him, flicking her tail. All of a sudden, the scenery changed again, and Bramblepaw was once again Brambleberry. He sat up and looked around, trying to find Hawkpaw. The sky had changed to grey and cloudy, the sun hidden among the sheets of dark grey.

He spotted her sitting down a couple fox-lengths away, and his ears perked up and he stepped towards her. She was Hawkwing again, and her back was turned on him.

"Hawkwing!" He called out to her, padding closer to her. She turned around and stared at him with bright emerald orbs. As soon as he was within a tail-length of her, her ears flattened against her head and her eyes turned cold and angry. Brambleberry's eyes widened and his head jerked back. Hawkwing turned away from him and started to pad away from the tom.

His ears flattened against his head and he opened his mouth to call out to her, but stopped when the scenery changed yet again. This time he was inside a warm den. It was night again, and he heard tiny mewls coming from somewhere in front of him. He looked down and saw a familiar brown pelt in a nest a couple mouse-lengths away. He padded forward and peered into Hawkwing's nest, his eyes wide with wonder and shock.

There were four kits, but their pelts were indistinguishable. He couldn't tell what color they were. He looked up at Hawkwing as she licked one of the kits, purring happily as she stared down at them with love-filled eyes.

She suddenly looked up at him and her eyes filled with confusion. She turned to Birdpaw, who was sitting next to her, and the ginger and white she-cat turned towards Brambleberry with confused eyes before turning to Hawkwing and the brown queen said something to the medicine cat. But there was no sound. Everything was deathly quiet. A couple minutes passed and Hawkwing shifted in her nest nervously. Birdpaw burst back into the den and her amber eyes were wide and sad.

Hawkwing mewed something, her eyes confused and afraid. Birdpaw stared at her paws and said something to the queen. Her emerald eyes widened and her mouth opened. But this time, Brambleberry could hear the sound. She let out a piercing wail of grief and tears leaked out of her eyes. Birdpaw quickly rushed to her side and tried to calm her down.

Brambleberry stepped back, eyes wide before he jerked forward to try to help Birdpaw, but everything changed again. He was standing down by the river, and he saw Hawkwing's form by the water, her shoulders hunched and her ears drooping. He tried to step forward to say something, but stopped when another cat that he couldn't distinguish padded up to her side and sat beside her. They turned to Hawkwing and she stared at them with confusion before her eyes widened and she burst out laughing.

It confused Brambleberry. For one minute, she looked sad, and then some unknown cat walked over to her and said something, and suddenly she was laughing. He took another step forward to try to make out the cat's features, but everything changed again. He was back in a meadow, but it was night again, and only the moon shone down on the empty clearing. Brambleberry's amber eyes widened with shock when he saw Leafpaw's starry figure before him.

His dead brother opened his mouth to say something, but then everything turned black.

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Brambleberry woke up with a startled yowl. Blazecloud was in front of him, his paw inches from the dark tabby's shoulder. Wide emerald eyes stared back into his before the ginger and white blotched tom stood straight and flicked his tail.

"He's awake!" He called over his shoulder, twitching. Brambleberry was sure he heard a crack. Suddenly Hawkwing appeared beside Blazecloud and stared at the dark tabby with narrowed emerald eyes.

"Well are you going to sleep all day? Or are you going to come on the patrol?" She asked. Brambleberry nodded his head and sprang to his paws, padding after the brown she-cat. He was shaking from the dream that he had the previous night and tried to stop all questions about it from entering his mind.

He shook the strange dream from his mind and followed Brightface, Icewing, Blazecloud, and Hawkwing out of camp.