Flame Rising

Chapter 2

Puddlekit woke up gasping, thinking he was still in the field with Flamestar. He swivelled his head wildly, until he realized he was in the nursery. He took deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. Once he calmed down, he recalled the dream. The strange message lingered in the back of his mind, but Puddlekit shook his head and shoved the memory to the back of his mind.

Sweetflower padded into the nursery, a mouse dangling from her jaws. She dropped the prey on the ground. "You all right?" she asked Puddlekit, "You seem troubled."

Puddlekit nodded. "I'm fine." he replied. "Just a nightmare."

Sweetflower's eyes narrowed but she bent over to eat her mouse. "Your littermates were waiting for you to wake up to see if you would share a rabbit with them. They're at the fresh-kill pile."

Puddlekit nodded and dashed out of the nursery, hoping to forget the dream. He spotted Cinderblaze and Duckwing sharing tongues under the halfrock. Crowflight was sending Thornpelt and Stripepelt on border patrols, while Squirrelfur and Robintail gathered cats for a hunting patrol.

As he approached, he spotted Marigoldkit's bright yellow pelt glinting in the sun.

"Hey, Puddlekit!" shouted Seedkit. "Hurry up and we'll share a rabbit!"

Puddlekit padded up faster, just as Shimmerkit pulled a rabbit off the fresh-kill pile.

The kits dug in, and in a few moments, the young rabbit was demolished. Puddlekit had almost forgotten the ominous dream completely, but when he and his littermates stood up, it for some reason reminded him of the nightmare. He twitched his tail, the dream bugging his mind. With a flick of his ears, he decided that he would tell someone.

"Um..." Puddlekit groaned, "I'm going to see Yarrowleaf. My belly hurts."
Puddlekit felt guilty, lying to his littermates, but this was important.

"Are you feeling okay? What have you eaten lately?" Shimmerkit asked, frowning. She seemed unusually intent on figuring out what happened.

He padded off to the medicine den, moaning to pretend his belly hurt.

"Yarrowleaf?" he called once he got in.

Yarrowleaf walked out from around a corner. "Puddlekit?" Yarrowleaf asked, "Are you hurt?"

Puddlekit shook his head. "I had a dream." he confessed, "This cat named Flamestar said to me 'Thunder is in danger from itself. Only four or the leader's kin can use their power to see through to the rotten inside.'" The gray medicine cat was silent the entire time.

"Sounds like a prophecy to me," Yarrowleaf said once Puddlekit finished.

"What's a prophecy?" Puddlekit asked.

"A prophecy is something that StarClan sends to you, usually in a dream, that predicts the future, or leads a certain cat a certain way." Yarrowleaf explained, and Puddlekit suddenly understood.

"But who's Flamestar?"he asked again remembering the ginger tom.

"He was the leader before Stonestar." she told him, memories glittering in her eyes."He died saving Stonestar from a group of rogues."

Puddlekit nodded, knowing that the memory would bring many cats grief, so he stayed silent.

"Okay," he mewed to Yarrowleaf, "Thanks." he padded away, back to the nursery. He didn't want a prophecy. he just wanted to be normal!

(Try and guess Flamestar's warrior name!)