Eagleflight's Battle

Chapter 3

Warning: Mild mentions of blood, kit death, and some depictions of violence. In this chapter and chapters to come. Read with caution. 

***

Eaglepaw's eyes batted open to a field of darkness and cold. Snow coated everything in sight, nearly shining in the blackness. Eaglepaw no longer rested on moss, but a slate of smooth stone. All around him were cats, coughing, hacking, and wheezing. The smell of sickness leaked from each of them, creating a horrible smell radiating from the group. One, a small brown tabby, hacked up and a mouthful of blood. Eaglepaw struggled to his paws. 

Every cat was seemingly faded, gray and black in the dim lighting. Eaglepaw felt horrible, sick himself, like he was going to vomit like the rest of the cats. The group was huge, consisting of kits, apprentices, warriors, and a few elders. Every cat was limp and weak, and some still bodies smelled purely like death. Holding back a gasp, Eaglepaw leaped clumsily over a small, limp dead body, next to a black queen. 

Her jaw open, defined and powerful looking, the queen was recognizable. Her scent, under all that death and sickness coming with it, was of Peakclan. The kit. Orange and striped, was distinctly Peakclan too. Distinctly dead. Eaglepaw sobbed, choking on tears. The kit Fogpaw and him were supposed to save, dead. 

With a choking sob, Eaglepaw collapsed again, letting the smell of sickness leak from himself. What was the point? A booming voice came from his ears. It consumed him. 

Do you hear that? Clans, nothing but a dancer spinning on a tightrope. A simple push away from falling. Share your songs with the mountains. Sing them to their heights. Ichor runs in your veins. Swallow it. Ingest the losses, become a god. Cry to the skies. 

Needles pricked at Eaglepaw's skin, paralyzing him. A thing hovered above him. Its eyes glowed with viciousness, yet Eaglepaw knew it was gentle. It hovered, staring, watching. Protecting, guarding something. Had it spoken? It made a clicking sound, a bird to its young. Something, rain maybe, dripped from it. Iron. No, it couldn't be. It was pure black. God's blood. 

Eaglepaw closed his eyes, and dissolved into it. 

***

A paw rocketed into Eaglepaw's side, making him startle. His eyes opened to darkness, but it was more starchy, and calming. More familiar. Eaglepaw blinked while his dream- no, nightmare, he knew- slipped quickly away from him. There were only chunks left by the time another paw was stuck into his side. 

"Quit it," Eaglepaw winced, whipping his head around sleepily. Fogpaw's small form crouched nearby, his eyes clouded with worry. Eaglepaw scrabbled around for a second, a bit panicked. Where was the moss beneath him? 

"I will, if you hurry," Fogpaw's harsh voice piped up, "So get to your paws, I know where to go already." Eaglepaw blinked once more, blurry vision getting used to the dark quickly. He was outside of the den, on the cold soil. Now that he was fully conscious, the tom could see it wasn't quite dark yet. Clouds rolled over the navy blue sky, wispy and plucked around the edges. Like cotton. Like kit fur. Eaglepaw remembered why Fogpaw had woken him. 

"Fine... Fine," He murmured, hoisting himself up, "Did you drag me out here?" Fogpaw curled his neck backward quickly, a small smile appearing on his face. Eaglepaw pouted, tail lashing once. How much of a deep sleeper was he? No, how much of a deep sleeper was Hayflower?  Eaglepaw rolled his eyes at Fogpaw's puffed out cheeks, holding bellows of what was most likely laughter.

"You sleep walked, I was just here." 

"Liar." 

"So what, got you up."