The Darkest Moons (Warrior Cats)

67. Rest

     Grains of sand worked between his toes as Palemist skirted along the cliffside, heart pounding so hard that he thought it would burst from his chest. Fog surrounded him, shadows racing at his sides as he climbed higher up the slope that never seemed to end. In the distance, he could see the shapes of fighting cats, but they only seemed to grow farther away. 

     I have to help them! I can’t let them fight alone! He pushed harder, but the sand began to roll under his paws, and he lost his footing and collapsed. “No!” He cried. “Help! No!” He was tumbling down the hill. No matter where he placed his paws, the ground fell from him. “Help me!” 

     Palemist jerked awake just as he hit something in his dream, and he sat up and gasped for air, looking around wildly. There was no sand in sight, no battles being wages around him, no slopes or shadows. The only noise he heard was the soft snores of the she-cat beside him as she slept peacefully. 

     It was just a dream. He sighed with relief. Thank StarClan. He stood, arching his spine as he stretched, and started to leave the den. 

     “Palemist?” A voice mewed. He looked back to see Spottedmoss’s amber eyes watching him, half-closed from sleep. “Up already?” 

     “I just woke up,” he answered, stepping back in and sitting beside Spottedmoss. “I had a nightmare. I was going to get some air.” 

     Spottedmoss hummed to herself and stretched outward, pulling herself towards him and pressing her nose to his flank. “Don’t go.” 

     Palemist couldn’t help but purr as she drifted back into a daze. Though it troubled him that she left her Clan, he was pleased to spend time with her. Without worrying about being caught, about getting back to camp on time, he had learned more about her in the past quarter-moon than he had since he met her. Because of this, he discovered that he loved her even more. 

     When he was certain she was asleep, he left the den and squinted in the sunlight. The sky was the color of robin eggs, wispy clouds trekking across the expanse. Warmth seeped through his fur, and he laid on his side and stretched out, soaking in the heat. Thank StarClan that was just a dream. He closed his eyes, sighing, taking in the scent of the grass. 

     When he opened his eyes, he found that the shadows had shifted. He had dozed off. Someone was grooming his side, and he turned his head to see Spottedmoss. “Hey.” 

     “It’s a lazy day, isn’t it?” Spottedmoss asked, smoothing some of his fur down with one paw.  

     “I guess so.” Palemist sat up and twitched his pelt. He glanced back to the now cloudless sky. The sun hung in the center. “I need to do the patrol.” 

     Spottedmoss tilted her head. “I’ll go with you. It’ll be nice to see more of the area.” She laughed softly. “I haven’t exactly explored much, have I?” 

     Palemist nudged her cheek with his nose and started through the alley, swishing his tail as a signal for her to follow. In seconds, she was at his side. “What was that nightmare you had?” The she-cat questioned. “I dreamt that I was swimming in the river and a pike grabbed my leg.” 

     “I was running up a sandy slope, and the sand kept slipping beneath my paws. I started rolling down,” Palemist explained as he took a left. “There were cats fighting at the top too. I was trying to get to them, but the closer I got, the further away they were.” 

     Spottedmoss shuddered. “Rolling down a hill scares me. There’s a little one that we bury cats on, and one time, Minnowtooth rolled down it after losing his balance. He twisted his leg so badly, we thought it was broken. Thank StarClan it wasn’t.”