New Dawn: Dark Sky

Chapter 12

Act 3 - Cowards Glory

Dragonpaw stared up at the gradually darkening and rain-cloudy sky as the CreekClan cats once again pulled to a stop, but this time they were at the collapsed cavern, one of the highest points of the mountain. Silkpaw showed them the entrance she had made and the cats squeezed through in single file. Once Dragonpaw was through he stepped aside the flow of CreekClan warriors and waited for Ratpaw, who was bringing up the rear.

The CreekClan cats found space amongst the rubble to settle down and rest; the queens carried their kits to an elaborately formed circle of boulders, the warriors communed in the centre of the cave, the elders hobbled to the corner of the cavern and rested, and finally Willowstar, along with Hareleap, sprang up onto one of the boulders and sat there, overlooking the clan.

As the last of the cats, Creamfrost and Foxscar entered, so did Ratpaw who came in next to Lagoonpaw. Dragonpaw waved to Ratpaw with his tail and the white and beige tom nodded to his grey tabby companion before prancing over to join his friend.

"It's nice." Ratpaw purred. "Not the cave, but being so close to home." The BirchClan tom stared forward into the tunnel, which was the only part which hadn't seemed to cave in. Dragonpaw nodded his agreement, then asked "What are you going to do when you get home?"

Ratpaw answered immediately. "See Mousepaw, and apologise about my disappearance. Then I need to... work it out with everyone in BirchClan." He cast a sideways glance at Deerpaw, sharing tongues with Silkpaw, with Lagoonpaw laying nearby.

"Understandable. Everybody must be a bit confused about our absence." Dragonpaw sat by a mound of littler rocks and cleaned his pads of gravel and smaller stones. Ratpaw settled next to him and twisted to clean his flank. "What're you planning to do? Reunite with that medicine cat crush of yours?"

Dragonpaw accidentally sunk his teeth into his pads while trying to extract a stone from in between his paws. "You still remember that?" He groaned as fresh crimson liquid spilled over his teeth and nose. Ratpaw chuckled. "Yeah. I held that to me." The black and white tom licked the blood from his face and turned to his bleeding paw again. "I was so small when I told you that." He said in realisation. As he was swiping the last of the blood off his pads he noticed Willowstar attempting to catch his eye. Silkpaw, Deerpaw and Lagoonpaw were already stood with her. Dragonpaw nudged Ratpaw and gestured towards Willowstar, and he marched over. Ratpaw followed.

"I have to say, thank you. For all of this." Willowstar inclined her head in thanking. "But I must tell you something." The apprentices flicked their ears forward to listen to her. "If CreekClan turns up unannounced into the clans, we might put ourselves in danger again. That's why I am telling you that I intend to stay here for now.". Silkpaw made a small, unidentifiable noise of confusion. "'For now'? What do you mean by that?". Willowstar twisted her head to look at a couple of squealing kits, then looked back at them. "I mean that I want you to go back before us. Set a date that all three of your leaders can come to fourstumps, and one of you come to contact me, so I can meet them. Don't tell them that you're bringing me, however. They might back out of the meeting, and I don't want that. I want you five to go now, so we aren't stranded here for much longer."