Distant Sun - Clouds

Chapter 8

"She really just left?" Amberheart asks in shock.

"Yeah, and the Clan just... followed her!" Greypaw exclaims. "I couldn't believe it."
"Me either," Fallenpaw agrees.
"I wish Whitestar had let us go," Firestrike mumbles.

"I don't think you would have wanted to," Fallenpaw assures.

"Fallenpaw! Come on! We're going on patrol!" Silverstripe calls.

"Gotta go, bye guys," Fallenpaw dashes after Silverstripe, who was sitting with Darkstep, Snowflower and Ashstone. The pink-ish-red skids to a stop in front of her mentor and grins up at the older she-cat.
"Let's go," Silverstripe meows, rolling her eyes.

The five cats exit camp, Silverstripe leading them to the rogue border.
"So, Fallenpaw," Snowflower meows. "How's training going?"

"Pretty good!" Fallenpaw meows, smiling up at the older she-cat. "Silverstripe promised to show me some more advanced battle moves soon."

"That's good. It means you're pretty close to finishing your training," the black and white she-cat smiles.

"I wouldn't say that. I'm not that good," Fallenpaw grins sheepishly.

"I would say that," Snowflower purrs. "Your mother is one of the best warriors WillowClan has had. And I should know, I've been here a long time. It's in your blood, Fallenpaw."

"Thanks, I guess," Fallenpaw sweeps her tail across the ground.

"We're here," Silverstripe announces. "Look out for those rogues. They'll probably be a little angry since BirchClan has one of their groupmates in captivity. I don't want any fights being started. That means you, Darkstep."

"I got it, I got it," Darkstep meows.
The patrol starts walking along the border, remarking it along the way. Suddenly, Fallenpaw pauses, scenting something that smelled awfully similar to rotting wood.

"Silverstripe! I think-!"

"Ah, ah ah," a smooth voice purrs and a tail covers Fallenpaw's mouth. "Let's not be too hasty. Wouldn't want your friends over there getting hurt."

Fallenpaw swallows down her fear. The fur of the tail was brown and the voice sounded like a tom's. Scars littered the cat's tail and clumps of fur seemed to be missing. Fallenpaw tries to crane her neck to better see the tom's face but he swipes a paw over her muzzle.

"Stay still," his voice had lowered into a growl. "Move any more and you'll have more than just a couple scratches to worry about."

The tom uses his shoulder to shove her over the border, forcing her to watch Silverstripe and the rest of the patrol move farther and farther away. Fallenpaw's captor removed his tail from over her mouth, but kept close behind her. He's quickly joined by another tom, who was grey, black and white like Ashstone, but his eyes were a fierce blue. Scars littered his back and underbelly, leaving Fallenpaw to wonder if he had battled a bird of prey of some sort.

"Who are you?" the pink-ish-red she cat asks after a while of walking.

"That doesn't matter," the brown tom hisses. "Keep walking."

Fallenpaw falls silent again. They finally reached a flat part of land riddled with stumps that smelled of rotting wood. She wrinkles her nose at the smell. The grey tom puts his tail in front of Fallenpaw, forcing her to stop.

"One-Foot!" the grey, black and white tom calls. "We've returned."

Fallenpaw anxiously waits for the cat called One-Foot. This cat sounded like someone who would kill her.

That's when an amber she-cat limps out of one of one of the stumps. Inside, Fallenpaw could hear the mews of kits. A large grey tom steps out behind the amber she-cat, leaving the stump empty except for the kits and the form of a she-cat.

"You found out where Cloud is?" the grey tom asks in a gruff voice.

"No, not yet," the brown tom meows, padding up to join the amber she-cat and the grey tom. The brown tom turned out to be smaller than Fallenpaw had thought. He was maybe the size of a new apprentice like Gempaw and the others. His fur was littered with more scars and his eyes were a bright yellow. One of those yellow eyes seemed duller, however. It looked empty, much like the eyes of Moonclaw, a blind elder who had died several moons ago.

The amber she-cat looks at the grey, black and white tom. "Then why are you two back?" she hisses.

"We, uh, we found the other cat you asked us to find," he responds, motioning to Fallepaw with his muzzle.

The amber she-cat seemed to finally realize that the pink-ish-red she-cat was sitting there. "Oh! You did!"

Fallenpaw shrinks away as the amber she-cat limps over to the pink-ish-red she-cat. The amber she-cat's red eyes shone with excitement. As she limped in a circle around Fallenpaw, the she-cat's grin grew bigger and bigger. That's when Fallenpaw realized why the she-cat was limping. One of her front paws was gone. Replaced with a stump leg covered in scars, just like the rest of her fur.

"Fallenpaw, it's so good to see you," the amber she-cat, who Fallenpaw knew must be One-Foot, purrs. "I've been ACHING to see you again."

"Hold on, 'again?'" Fallenpaw asks, curling her tail around herself anxiously.

"Oh, Fallenpaw, can't you recognize your own sister?"